Have I ever told you how much I love vegetables?  I do, you know.  I LOVE them.  I don’t know how it happened.  There were few meatless meals (macaroni and cheese! grilled cheese!) in my childhood and I was often forced to finish my broccoli or Brussels sprouts until I threatened to barf.  Yet somehow as an adult I grew to appreciate and crave their crisp, tender sweetness.  I love complex, interesting salads but what I really, really enjoy are roasted, caramelized vegetables.  Seared, grilled or roasted I love how the natural sugars in most veggies come together and develop into deep, rich colors and flavors.  This sandwich is so much more than a bunch of vegetables.  It is tender, meaty, sweet and bursting with flavor.  The best part?  Portobello mushroom caps only take about 5 minutes to cook to the perfect done-ness.  Pair them with a smoky Gouda and prepared pesto and you have dinner in a few minutes.  Click here for the recipe »

I never really appreciated how difficult it is to be creative after a nine-hour work day.  After spending nine hours running, standing, escorting, greeting, consoling, apologizing, cajoling and generally going full throttle around the hospital it is really, really hard to put much energy into dinner.  This fish comes together so quickly that I was loading the dishwasher within an hour of hanging up my suit and kicking off my heels.  Not only is it a super fast meal but the result is a moist fillet with a wonderful crust that’s perfect for any meal-not just a weeknight!

Fish can be a difficult sell but this is the kind of fish dish I really enjoy.  The thick, meaty white fish steaks are indulgent yet healthy.  It is a simple technique: a pinch of sugar sprinkled over each fillet yields a beautiful caramelized crust without any extra sweetness.  I quickly steamed some broccoli in the microwave and warmed up some leftover quinoa or we would have been having fish alone for dinner.  The fish comes together so quickly that you really need to have your side dishes ready or close to before you even start it.   Click here for the recipe »

I remember reading an article once where Mark Bittman said that steel-cut oats are an “Aha!” moment.  As in: Aha! This is was oatmeal is supposed to taste like!  I would have to say that my first experience with steel cut oats was exactly that.  Oatmeal has never been my first choice for breakfast.  Or second.  Or fifth.  It has a weird texture, smells funny, and requires so much sugar to be edible that I might as well enjoy some Fruit Loops for less work.  For some time I had heard how much people liked steel cut oats, yet I figured they were the kind of people who enjoy oatmeal in the first place.  Unfortunately eating oatmeal has become almost synonymous with being healthy and it is difficult to find a diet or lifestyle blog/article/book that doesn’t encourage it.  So I suffered through a few disgusting, over-sweet bowls of watery oats and decided to take the plunge, make the effort, and whip up a batch of steel cut oats.  And now I am going to encourage you to do so too.

Steel cut oats truly make for a completely different oatmeal experience.  They are nutty and chewier, the porridge thicker, with more texture and richness.  Think of the difference between a slice of basic wheat bread and a slice of complex, multi-grain bread with flecks of seeds and nuts throughout.  They still need to be flavored, but they stand on their own a little stronger-a little fruit and maple syrup is all they need.

But wait, have you tried your oatmeal savory?  With a fried or poached egg?  Truffle salt, Parmesan cheese, and hot sauce make steel cut oats into a savory risotto-like dish you could eat any time of day.  Click here for the recipe »

We used to have a potluck nearly every weekend at work.  Because if you had to be stuck at work on the weekend, at least you could spend twelve hours eating and laughing.  This broccoli salad is a great addition to the heavier dishes and sweets that invariably make up potluck fare.  I have never been a big fan of raw broccoli but in this salad the dressing softens and removes the woodsy texture from the florets.  The combination of grapes, sharp cheddar, bacon, and nuts results in a sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy hit of a salad.  Be sure to mince your ingredients so everything is around the same size and each bite will consist of a bit of each component.  I prefer the textures and flavors after a night in the fridge and the broccoli is hearty enough to hold up for several days- if it lasts that long. Click here for the recipe »