Every week or so, I get a phone call or text message from my little brother Andrew asking for some kind of cooking advice. His questions have run the gamut from how to roast chiles in his electric oven to what he should make for lunch. I do think one of my favourite phone calls was when he rang me on a Friday night standing in the wine aisle of his local HEB in Brownsville, Texas asking me which bottle he should buy to take to a friend’s pizza night. Unfortunately since I live in Las Vegas, I was unable to know exactly what kind of wine they had on the HEB shelves, but I hope that I helped steer him in the right direction. I love getting these phone calls, and both me and Carlo smile whenever my phone rings at dinner time in Texas and it is Andrew.

Over Christmas, I persuaded Andrew to buy Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian despite his dislike of cookbooks without photos. He has emailed me a couple of times telling me about the different recipes that he has made from the cookbook. Last week he told me that he made this Couscous with Cauliflower and Almonds, which he said made for a great lunch.

On Friday, I was stuck with the dilemma of what to eat for lunch and even though I really wanted a Reuben sandwich, I was unwilling to pay $13 (?!?!) for one at the Jewish deli by our house, nor did I want to go to the store to buy all the ingredients to make one at home. Rustling through my fridge, I saw that I had a head of cauliflower from the farmers’ market, so I thought about the email that Andrew had recently sent me.

I got How to Cook Everything Vegetarian off the cookbook shelf and turned to the recipe. Turns out that I had everything else that I needed in the pantry, so I made this for lunch. While it was no meaty Reuben sandwich, I completely agree with Andrew that this makes a tasty, filling, and quick lunch. Even Carlo, who was hesitant about the almonds in the dish, agreed! So it was a successful lunchtime save and saved us a ton of money since we ended up eating at home–Thanks Andrew! This recipe makes enough for 4 lunches at 87 cents per serving.

Couscous with Cauliflower and Almonds, from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
1/2 cup whole almonds
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, minced
1 small cauliflower, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup couscous
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
freshly grated Manchego or Parmesan cheese as a garnish (optional)

Place a dry deep skillet with a tight fitting lid over medium-high heat. Once it is hot, add the almonds and dry cook them, stirring constantly, until they are toasted and fragrant, about a couple of minutes. Remove them from the pan and set them aside to cool.

Add the olive oil to the pan and then cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft and it begins to colour, around 2 minutes. Add the finely chopped cauliflower and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until all the cauliflower pieces are coated in the oil and start to pop and stutter in the pan, around 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the couscous and keep stirring until it too is coated in oil and begins to toast, about another 3 to 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the mixture with the smoked paprika and stir everything together. Stir in the stock or water and bring to a boil. Cover the pan with the lid and turn down the heat to very low. Let the couscous cook for 5 minutes (15 minutes if you are using whole wheat couscous).

While the couscous is cooking, chop the almonds as fine as you can get them. Once cooked, add the almonds and chopped parsley to the couscous and gently fluff it with a fork. Return the lid to the pan and turn off the heat. Let the couscous rest for a minute or so, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately topped with a little bit of grated cheese, although this couscous tastes just as good the next day cold out of the fridge.

Happy Pancake Day! I have been dreaming of lemon and sugar pancakes all day and can’t wait to make them tonight. I’m still debating about whether to make enough pancakes so they can become dinner, or half the recipe and just make a small batch for myself as dessert.

Pancake Day reminds me of the powerful traditions that food can play in your upbringing. It was always one of my favourite holidays, and I loved how my mum always made pancakes for me, even though my sister and brother never really liked them that much. I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one who is continuing the Pancake Day tradition now in my family and I know that I will make sure that any children we might have will obsess about pancakes as much as I do!

Speaking of family food traditions that only me and one parent enjoyed when I grew up reminds me of my dad’s Bubble and Squeak. Bubble and Squeak is a traditional English dish made of leftover potatoes and cabbage, or in our house brussels sprouts, that you mash together and then cook in a frying pan until it bubbles and then squeaks (hence the name). I grew up with my dad making this for breakfast after every Christmas, and later when we moved to America, after every Thanksgiving. It is one of the few dishes that my dad makes, but it is my favourite. He always adds any other leftover vegetables from the holiday meal like carrot and turnip mash, and the bubble and squeak then gets served with a fried egg, brown sauce, and baked beans to make a mean English breakfast. This breakfast was only ever enjoyed by me, my dad, and occasionally my mum. My little brother would always reserve his leftover roast potatoes so they wouldn’t get used in the bubble and squeak. Although Carlo thinks that the name bubble and squeak is ridiculously English and silly, he always slides up to the dinner table the morning after the holidays for some of my dad’s breakfast goodness.

This Bubble and Squeak Soup gets its name from the combination of brussels sprouts and potatoes, and tastes like a grown up twist on cheese and broccoli soup for any non-English people who have never heard of bubble and squeak! This recipe makes enough for 6 bowls of soup at 91 cents per serving.

Bubble and Squeak Soup with Aged Cheddar, adapted from Riverford Farm Cookbook
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 bacon slices, chopped
1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 pound turnips, peeled and diced
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
1 pound brussels sprouts
2 ounces aged cheddar cheese, grated
sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook it for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the bacon and cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add the potatoes and turnip, and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.

Pour in enough stock so that all of the potatoes are covered by an inch or so. Let the soup simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chopped brussels sprouts, and cook for 10 more minutes. Use an immersion blend to puree the soup. You can take out and reserve a couple cups of vegetables and return them to the puree for a more rustic soup. Season the soup with salt and pepper, and serve topped with grated aged cheddar.

We have never been the kind of people who cook and eat a prescriptive diet. There are no pork chop Wednesdays or spaghetti Thursdays in our house, and the same 5 or 6 dishes aren’t cooked week in and week out. We have always enjoyed making different meals to taste and always anticipate cooking something new and different. It helps keep cooking fun instead of a chore as we hunt down the best sounding recipes in cookbooks and magazines for the week. Normally we go a while before remaking something because we always make extras for leftovers so after a few days of eating the same thing, you get kind of bored with a recipe. But this adapted Winter Vegetable Chili recipe from the front cover of February’s Food and Wine is a pretty rare exception.

I made a large batch of the chili a couple of weeks ago, and both Carlo and I loved it. It is so filling, full of flavour, and is obscenely good for you since it is crammed full of veggies and beans. You could eat it just plain, but I think it tastes best over some brown rice or couscous, and then topped with tons of chopped red onion, avocado, sour cream, and a few tortilla chips thrown in there as a little guilty indulgence. We ate all of the first batch and then I made it again the following week, which never happens. Neither one of us complained about eating so much of this chili, which I think stands as a pretty good testament to just how delicious this chili is. I dare you to try it and see what you think! This chili recipe makes enough for 8 meals at 95 cents per serving, toppings extra.

Winter Vegetable Chili, adapted from Food and Wine, February 2010
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, grated or very finely chopped
2 large red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chile powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
salt
1 28-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes
2 canned chipotles in adobo, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
1 1/2 cups water, plus more water as needed
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, drained

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until they slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers, butternut squash, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chile powder and cumin and season with salt. Cook for 1 minute.

In a blender, puree the tomatoes and their juices with the chipotle, adobo sauce, and water until it is very smooth. Add the mixture to the casserole along with the frozen corn and kidney beans and bring to a boil. If the chili is too thick, add more water as needed and stir it in well. Cover the pan partially and let the chili simmer over a moderate heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Season with salt. Serve the chili with brown rice, chopped red onions, cilantro, sour cream, avocado, and tortilla chips.

We had a couple of friends over on Sunday night to try out a few recipes from the cookbook Tacos that Carlo got for Christmas. We started off the night with chips, salsa, our friend Mike’s great guacamole, and this queso recipe. We ended up eating so much of the appetizers that all of us were too full to really enjoy the delicious tacos that Carlo made, but we all agreed that the queso was just too tempting to not finish it off!

You need Mexican cheese for this recipe, which you can find at some good grocery stores, or you can do what we did and hit up the local Mexican grocery store since it is cheap and plentiful there. This recipe makes enough to feed 6 people as an appetizer at 95 cents per serving.

Queso con Rajas, adapted from Mark Miller’s Tacos
1 1/2 large sweet bell peppers, roasted, peeled, cored and seeded
2 large poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, cored and seeded
3 jalapenos, roasted and seeded
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano
pinch of salt
3/4 cup Mexican crema, or sour cream
8 ounces grated queso Oaxaca or Chihuahua cheese
1 1 /2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

We roasted all of the peppers on the bbq until they were nice and charred on the outside and then peeled and deseeded them. Cut the roasted peppers into 1/4-inch thick strips (rajas) and set them aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion until translucent, around 3 minutes. Decrease the heat to low, add the bell pepper and chile strips, then stir in the cilantro, oregano, salt, crema, queso, and grated Parmesan. Cook everything over a low heat, stirring continuously until the queso melts, about 5 minutes. Don’t let the mixture brown or scorch. If the queso is a bit too thick, add some more crema until you get the desired texture and thickness.

Remove the queso from the heat and serve immediately with warm tortillas or chips.