Quick Beans

E: I am a big fan of beans and Southwestern flavors. As a sometimes-vegetarian (and generally trying and succeeding to eat less meat than I used to, with a few minor setbacks like bacon here and there) I’ve been thoroughly wooed by the heartiness of beans and vegetables. This recipe owes a lot to Susan’s baked beans, with which it shares many of its ingredients. However this is something you can successfully make with any kind of beans in about 20 to 30 minutes, in basically any quantity you want.

We make this or some variant quite often for lunches as well as dinners. I imagine it is a great way to use up any extra vegetables you have in the fridge. We always seem to have extra carrots, so that’s usually what we make this with. I’ll give you the basic amounts of things and you should play around with it to suit your liking.

Pumpkin Muffins

J: So, here I am again after a long hiatus.  The last couple of weeks have been insane for me in terms of grad school eating my life (proof: I was at school yesterday from approximately 9:30am to approximately 11:30pm. It was not happy.), but I have finished my last major thing for a few weeks so I’m free to post!  And fittingly, I’m coming back with pumpkins.  Pumpkin muffins are easily my favorite kind of muffin, almost certainly due to memories of cool, crisp New England mornings, hot coffee, and a pumpkin muffin keeping me awake in early classes in college.  Those pumpkin muffins were not the greatest ever, but they were in fact the beginning of my love for (read: obsession with) all things pumpkin-flavored, so I certainly have them to thank for that.

Naturally, then, we had to make pumpkin muffins this fall — as soon as one could reasonably claim it was fall, of course.  We merged two recipes that we found from two equally amazing food bloggers, The Pioneer Woman (for the spicing) and Smitten Kitchen (for everything else).  These were absolutely delicious for breakfast or dessert — or lunch… or dinner… or midnight snacks… just make them, is what I’m trying to say.  You’ve got time; pumpkin season is still on at least through Thanksgiving!

Hawaiian Veggie Burgers

E: This is a “burger” in that it is a bunch of food stacked on bread. It is not a burger in the traditional sense of ground materials formed into a patty. I guess this should more properly be called a Hawaiian veggie stack, but I’ve called these burgers for a long time and so it will remain.

I got this recipe from my mother, who acquired it during a trip to Hawaii (specifically, it’s from a restaurant in Lahaina, Maui) many years ago. It has been a family favorite since then. I’ve changed the recipe a little due to my tastes, but I include as optional some of the original ingredients that I usually omit.

These burgers are really quick to make. Ours took some time because we made more of the brioche buns ourselves. But if you have buns already, or wish to use bread or English muffins (as the original recipe specifies) you can probably whip these together in 30 minutes or less.

Jerk Salmon

E: The summer has pretty much rolled to a close here, though I can assure you it is still warm enough to impersonate July. But September has reached us with alarming alacrity. Joanna is back to school. My birthday is here. And I think it is about time for another tasty recipe. But first, a little reflection is in order.

We are getting close to a busy time of year for annual events. Both our birthdays, and the first year anniversary of the start of this blog, land in the next couple of months, and that’s along with Thanksgiving and the start of the winter holidays. It is weird to think of where I was a year ago, especially as it concerns this blog. Blogging is a good way to remind yourself of past successes and failures, but it is also a good way to learn stuff. With a couple disasters and a couple new techniques under my belt, I am definitely better than I was a year ago. I have learned something. But it isn’t a miraculous elixir, and I’m still frustrated that I’m not better than I am. I’ve decided on a new strategy of reading through things like the Joy of Cooking page by page to try to gain some more kitchen know-how. We’ll see how long I can keep that up. That said, I’ve found the experience so far rather therapeutic, even though it can be frustrating at times. So bear with us as our cooking adventures continue.

Inside-Out Burgers

J:  Here we go, kids.  We’ve kept you in suspense for a couple days with the promise of an awesome burger recipe to come, and here it is.  These aren’t your mama’s cheeseburgers.  They are thick and juicy, with a hunk of oozy cheese in the middle — yes, you heard right.  These cheeseburgers have the cheese on the inside.  Though of course, you’re welcome to add more cheese on the outside, if the center doesn’t give you that cheesiness you’re craving.

Seriously Real Falafel

E: So, as the title should tell you, this falafel is seriously real! Now, I’m no authority on falafel authenticity, but this is by far the best I have had anywhere. The recipe is also pretty easy, so this should be a short post about a quick meal. For those of you that aren’t really familiar with falafel, it basically consists of fried chickpea patties with herbs, spices, and, at least in this case, some onion. They really aren’t that bad for you (the only unhealthy stuff comes from the oil you fry them in), though I wouldn’t call them an out-and-out health food. But what they are is certainly warm and comforting. So let us take you on a journey about how to create some seriously good falafel!

Arayes: Lebanese Meat-Stuffed Pockets

J:  One night recently, as we so often do, Erik and I were trying to figure out what we were going to make for dinner that week.  Ideas were hard to come by, so we turned to a resource we knew would probably yield a couple ideas: the Food Network website.  We ended up settling on a recipe by Aarti Sequeira, of “Aarti Party” fame, for Lebanese “meat-stuffed pitas,” or arayes.  We made a few minor changes and additions, but mostly this was quite a tasty (and really quite easy) recipe.

One of the bigger changes we made was substituting ground turkey for the ground beef as the meat, since we don’t eat a whole lot of red meat.  This was perfectly tasty, but we lost a bit of the hearty earthiness that the ground beef would have imparted.  Fortunately a few add-ins compensated for that: if you go the ground turkey route as well, try adding some barbecue sauce and/or some grated cheese (go with something fairly strong and earthy; we used a combination of cheddar and asiago).  Heck, even if you do go with ground beef, you can try adding those things as well!  And let us know how it turns out for you.

Slow-Cooked Chickpea Curry

E: The slow-cooker is the fire-and-forget missile of the cooking world, and that’s something that comes in handy when you are busy around dinner time, say, for example, you have to bring your laptop in for an appointment at the Apple store (which you just know is going to start and end late). Then, if you have one of these nifty devices—mine comes courtesy of Joanna’s parents as a graduation present:  thank you both! I’m sure we’ll get lots more use out of it—just load up the ingredients, press the proverbial little red button, and come back from your Genius Bar appointment—or wherever else you’ve been—to find fresh curry awaiting your return.