This almost feels like cheating because I can’t think of a faster dinner than fish tacos. Mostly because you literally can’t cook fish very long. It’s like two minutes on each side. The longest part of this dinner is cracking into the avocado.

Fast Fish Tacos

Serves 4

STEP 1

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, cumin, cayenne, paprika, and garlic.  Rub spice mixture over fish on the side without skin or both sides if the fish is skinless. 

STEP 2

In a large bowl, toss cabbage, radishes, lime zest and juice until well combined.  Set aside.  

STEP 3

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Pour a thin layer of oil in the bottom of the pan to cover the entire bottom.  Lay fish carefully into the pan, skin side up and cook 2 minutes.  Flip fish over and cook another 2-3 minutes until cooked through.  

STEP 4

Lay fish pieces in a warmed tortilla and top with cabbage slaw.  Serve with chopped cilantro, avocado, and sour cream.  

Note: Tilapia is a common fish for fish tacos, but it’s not always the best choice.  If you purchase tilapia, make sure it was raised in the US or Canada.  Other white fish options are easily found – wild caught is best.

1.5 lbs white fish; rock fish, red snapper or halibut

2 tbs chili powder

2 tsp cumin

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 clove garlic, grated

1 head cabbage, finely shredded

6 radishes, finely sliced

2 limes, juiced and zested

2 avocado

1 bunch cilantro

½ cup sour cream

2 tbs canola oil

corn tortillas for serving

hot sauce

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Have you ever fried paneer? OMG it’s life changing. Cheese that fries without fully melting but becomes rich and gooey?? It’s the dream. And when you top the hot cheese on this cold salad, it’s an experience.

There are a lot of bits in this salad, but it is WORTH IT. It’s limited chopping, lots of tossing, and can be made WAY ahead and kept in the fridge until dinner time. Then just pop the cheese in a skillet and dig in. I promise if you take this to your kids baseball game in containers, everyone else will be green with envy. And you’ll look so extra.

Marrakesh Salad

Serves 4

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Whisk together cumin, coriander, paprika, lime zest & juice, and honey. Toss chick peas in half of the dressing. Reserve the rest for later.

Roast 15 minutes until crispy

STEP 2

Toss the vegetables and the herbs, then add the remaining dressing and toss again.

STEP 3

Pour roasted chick peas into the salad.

STEP 4

Heat olive oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet.  Add slices of paneer and cook over high heat for 2 minutes (or so) a side until brown and crispy.  Pop on top of the salad.  

1 can chick peas, drained

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp paprika

1 lime, juiced & zested

1 tbs honey

2 carrots, shredded

4 scallions, sliced

1 cup cooked quinoa

½ cup raisins

1 cup dried apricots, diced

¼ cup chopped pistachios

1 cucumber, chopped

1 cup tomatoes, chopped

1 tbs fresh mint, chopped

1 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped

4 oz paneer

1 tsp olive oil

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

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I love a chop chop salad. It’s the perfect way to eat a lot of delicious food in one single bite - thanks to an inordinate amount of chopping. Think of the chopping as therapeutic and you can make the whole thing pass easily. You can make this early and not dress it until you’re ready to eat - so it’s great for making early.

This is also the perfect thing to serve as we start to be able to entertain friends! You can dish up each person’s serving in individual jars to containers to avoid using the same serving vessel.

Spring Chop Chop Salad

Serves 4

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  

Place raw eggs in a pot of cold water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain off hot water and fill pot with ice and cold water to immediately cool the eggs.

STEP 2

Toss potatoes with olive oil and salt.  Place on a baking sheet and roast 10 minutes until fork tender.

STEP 3

Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Fill a bowl with ice and water and set aside.  Quickly lower asparagus into hot water.  Cook until just bright green – about 2 minutes.  Remove from water and pop into ice bath.   

Repeat with the peas.

STEP 4

Mix together 2 tbs bacon drippings, red wine vinegar, dried basil, honey, and Dijon mustard.

STEP 5

Chop all ingredients and toss together with salad dressing.  

1 bunch Asparagus

1 cup Fresh peas

6 Radishes

2 cups Artichoke hearts, cooked and sliced

6 Hard boiled eggs

¼ lb Tiny red potatoes – sliced in quarters

2 tbs olive oil

8 strips Bacon

2 tbs Chives

1 head romaine lettuce

DRESSING

2 tbs reserved bacon drippings

2 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard 

½ tsp Dried Basil

1 tsp Honey

If I ever need to perk up my kids I bring out the sprinkles. There is literally nothing that seems to lift spirits like a healthy dose of sprinkles. I keep a jar in the pantry to add to waffles, hot cocoa, and - it turns out quite often - cookies. This snickerdoodle recipe is perfect on it’s own, but rolled in sprinkles seems to take it totally over the top. And that’s my favorite place to be.

SPRINKLE-DOODLES

makes 2 dozen large cookies

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

5 ½ cups flour

 STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together sugar and butter.  Blend in eggs, milk, and vanilla until completely incorporated. 

STEP 2

In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.  Working in three batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet incorporating fully after each addition.

STEP 3

Roll two ounce balls of dough and press into sprinkles.  Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

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Spring is a weird time of year for the weather. One day it’s lovely and sunny and the next there’s torrential rain and hail. That weird weather makes it tricky to plan a dinner that’s “seasonal” but also “seasonal.” The joy of soup solves that problem.

Minestrone just means “big soup” and this is totally a big soup. Traditionally, it has what ever vegetables are around plus beans and a pasta of some sort. I always make mine with chicken stock, but there are some who make it only with bean broth. That would add some thickness, but it’s not something I keep in my pantry. If you do, knock yourself out!

This spring version is filled with things that are fresh right now. I think this is the perfect soup for a Friday because it can just use what ever vegetables are left from the week. Enjoy!

Spring Minestrone Soup

Serves 4

STEP 1

Chop all vegetables into basically bite sized pieces and cook in a stock pot with olive oil until a little brown on the edges.  Season with salt.  

STEP 2

Pour in garbanzo beans and stock and bring to a boil.  Season with oregano and basil.  

STEP 3

Add asparagus and pasta to the pot and cook 3 minutes until the pasta is done.  Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

STEP 4

Serve with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

1 zucchini, about 1 cup chopped

1 fennel bulb, sliced

1 leek, whites sliced thin

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 bunch asparagus

2 cups green beans, chopped

2 tbs olive oil

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 can garbanzo beans

4 cups vegetable stock

1 cup orzo

2 tbs fresh basil

¼ cup parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper

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I do love carrot cake.  It's really the only cake that I like to eat.  It's possible that's largely because of the cream cheese frosting.  I love a good cream cheese frosting.  When I think of Easter, carrot cake naturally floats to the top.  But ugg, I don't want to eat cake.  

But I love love love cookies.  Cookies are the best.  I could eat cookies all the time.  So I had an idea - can I turn carrot cake into a cookie?  It makes the ultimate dessert mash-up/solution.  I don't have to eat cake, but I still get the carrot cake + cream cheese frosting.  Well, this one is really icing.  But you get the idea.

Oh, and for the love of pete, grate your own carrot.  It takes one minute and it's so much better than those weird carrot sticks you can buy "pre-grated."  

Carrot Cake Cookies

how to

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and all of the spices.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together sugar and butter until smooth and fluffy.  Add apple sauce, egg, and vanilla.  Beat until incorporated.  Stir in carrot and raisins.  

Scoop batter on to a baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes until browned on the edges, but still a little soft in the middle.  I smash down the tops when they come out of the oven so they don't 'bump up.'  Let cool on a cooling rack until completely cooled before icing. 

icing

4 oz cream cheese, melted

2 oz butter, melted

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together cream cheese and butter.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Dip cookies in soft icing.  Let cool.

ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 egg

1/2 cup grated carrot

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup raisins (optional)

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I love corned beef. But I never love corned beef more than when you put it between two slices of rye bread smeared with thousand island dressing, oozing with cheese and piled high with sliced corned beef. A reuben sandwich is my favorite. Take me to a dive bar that serves a greasy reuben and I’m in heaven. It’s literally the best thing ever.

This time of year, a reuben sandwich is the perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but also not feel stressed out by the cooking portion of eating. Deli sliced corned beef is perfect - unless you make a giant slab of corned beef and you have leftovers, then leftovers are dreamy here.

Reuben Sandwich

Serves 4

1 lb sliced pastrami 

8 slices rye bread

2 tbs butter

2 tbs Dijon mustard

1 cup Sauerkraut

8 slices Swiss cheese

½ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup ketchup

2 tbs lemon juice

STEP 1

Combine together mayonnaise, ketchup, and lemon juice.  Let rest.

STEP 2

Butter one side of each piece of bread.  Spread the other side with Dijon mustard.  

STEP 3

Layer a slice of cheese on top of four slices of bread (on top of the Dijon).  Add pastrami equally divided amongst sandwiches.

STEP 4

Top pastrami with sauerkraut and another slice of cheese.  

STEP 5

Top cheese with remaining slices of bread and toast the sandwiches over medium heat in a skillet.  

STEP 6

Slice and serve with homemade Thousand Island dipping sauce.

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Rainbows and St. Patrick’s Day go hand in hand. Usually this time of year I make sugar cookie cut outs of shamrocks (don’t worry, I still will) but I thought it would be fun to mix it up. I don’t think anything is better than those fluffy soft cookies that stay soft and fluffy even when they’ve been out of the oven for more than an hour. These stay fluffy for a whole week. It’s like they’re fresh out of the oven even when they aren’t.

I’m addicted to these. And there’s nothing stopping you from having rainbow cookies all the time.

SOFT RAINBOW COOKIES

makes 3 dozen cookies

1 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg

2 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sprinkles

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

STEP 2

Add egg and vanilla to the sugars and beat until combined.

STEP 3

Add flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix to combine. Then add sprinkles and just combine. Don’t over mix!

STEP 4

Scoop out cookie dough and bake 12 minutes until just set. Let rest 5 more minutes on the baking sheet once the cookies are out of the oven. Store up to one week in an airtight container.

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Gnocchi are the best! Do you agree? I’m such a fan of those little potato pillows and you can buy them - made - at almost any grocery store. I like to buy the ones in the fresh case, but they do sell them on the shelves as well - they just aren’t as tender and fresh.

This time of year when things are finally going to be ripe again, I get so excited about fresh vegetables like those tiny little spring zucchini and fresh peas! I just realized today I forgot to plant peas over the weekend so I need to pop out today and get those planted. My grandfather always planted peas on President’s weekend and it’s literally the only reason I remember when to plant them.

As soon as those little guys are ripe, this is one of the first things I make. Until then, you can always use frozen. Those frozen peas are actually pretty good. As long as you don’t over cook them! They just need a hot second.

Spring Gnocchi

Serves 4

16 oz Gnocchi

2 tbs olive oil

1 cup peas

1 zucchini, chopped

½ cup white wine

2 tbs fresh mint, chopped

2 tbs fresh basil, chopped

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic

½ cup bread crumbs

STEP 1

Cook gnocchi in 2 tbs olive oil and sauté until browned.

STEP 2

Add zucchini, peas, 2 tbs butter and white wine.  Stir to incorporate then cover and cook until gnocchi is tender.  

STEP 3

In a separate pan, heat olive oil and grate in garlic.  Add breadcrumbs and stir until lightly toasted.

STEP 4

Remove gnocchi from heat and toss in basil, mint, and parm.

STEP 5

Serve with breadcrumbs on top and additional parmesan cheese.

It seems like every St. Patrick’s Day the interwebs are full of green food. While I’m here for pesto and vegetables, I don’t know that we need to dye EVERYTHING green just to be festive. Which is what got me thinking about adding Guinness to a stew! It’s festive and fun - but also not green. So it’s a perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day!

GUINNESS STEW

Serves 4

1lb sirloin steak, cubed

2 tbs olive oil

2 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs flour

1 20-oz can Guinness beer

2 cups beef stock

4 cups red potatoes, chopped

1 package puff pastry, defrosted

¼ cup grated white cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

Salt

Pepper

STEP 1

In a stock pot, cook steak and garlic in olive oil until browned on all sides.

STEP 2

Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook until the onions have softened and the fond stuck to the bottom of the pan has come up. Season with salt and pepper. (5 mins)

STEP 3

Sprinkle the flour over the top of the vegetables and stir well until completely coated.  

STEP 4

Pour the Guinness into the pan and stir to completely incorporate all of the pot.  Bring to a boil, then add beef stock.  Add potatoes and cook until the potatoes are fork tender.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.

STEP 5

Roll out puff pastry and cut into four shamrock shapes.  Brush the tops of each shamrock with the egg yolk then top with cheese.  Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Serve on top of soup!

Since you only use one beer in the stew, that leaves you three left for dinner! Cheers! Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.

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