If you’re at all like me, you often find yourself with odds and ends in the kitchen – ingredients from something else which, while not needed for said something else, will indeed go bad and make you feel shamefully wasteful if they do. Also, you probably like having tasty condiments around with which you can spruce up any drab leftovers of the already-cooked variety. I had just such a situation recently, and ended up making something surprisingly delicious from it.
My odds and ends:
1 Fuji apple, still crisp but on the verge of going soft
2 stalks of celery, which I refuse to refrigerate because it kills the flavor and so they must be used ASAP
1/3 of a yellow onion, also unrefrigerated, left from making something else
3 strips bacon, and why would you waste that?
I always keep on hand, and thus had: cloves, sugar, flour, white pepper, olive oil, cider vinegar and water.
I diced the onion, and sliced the celery (not too thin!), and put these in a saute pan over medium heat to let them begin to caramelize. While that was happening, I made sauce.
I added two pinches of white pepper, a teaspoon of sugar, three cloves, and 1 tsp olive oil to a pyrex glass. I then removed a few pieces of part-cooked celery and onion from the pan, and added them to the glass as well. I covered it all with 2 tbs cider vinegar and 1 cup boiling water, beating in 1 heaping teaspoon of flour.
With that all together, I diced my apple and cut up the bacon into little bits. This I added to my pan once the onions and celery were about 2/3 done. When the apples were beginning to soften and the bacon had maybe half cooked, I upped the heat to high and stirred in my sauce mixture, mixing for about a minute.
When the mixture was all bubbling and hot, I put the heat back to medium-low, and let it reduce until nice and thick, like a compote.
I ate this plain over leftover brown rice, which was more delicious than I’d expected, and will be making it again to put on pork chops, grilled tuna, or, for that matter, more rice.
Adding raisins (sultanas?) instead of the sugar might be a good future variation, as might be adding allspice, perhaps in place of the cloves. But, just this way, it is bloody delicious!

Here is an article from Guest Blogger: The Slapdash Sewist. The original entry is from February and is located here and includes step-by-step pictures. The lovely blogger in question and I were eating rice crispy treats in Teasm recently and she graciously offered us one of her recipes.
-JAY
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Quiche is an easy (though not quite quick because of the long cooking time) dish for a satisfying brunch, and you can make it in almost infinite variations. Here’s one of them.
Caramelized Onion Quiche with Potato Crust
3-4 medium sized red potatoes
Medium onion
Swiss Cheese
Eggs
Cottage Cheese
Milk
Thyme
Ground Bay Leaf
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
1. Slice the potatoes very thinly, about 1/8 inch. I use my mandoline for this. No need to peel. Place in cold water on the stove and when it comes to a boil set the timer for four minutes. This will parboil the potatoes to make sure they are not crunchy when the quiche comes out of the oven. Drain. When cool enough to handle, oil your pie pan and layer the potato slices to form a crust.
2. Thinly slice an onion. I used the 1/4″ setting on my mandoline for this. Heat a pan over medium heat and when heated pour in some olive oil and add the onion. Saute until it turns golden almost to brown. Spread the caramelized onions over the potato crust.
3. Grate cheese over the onions. I like to use Swiss cheese because it has a strong flavor that stands up to the other ingredients.
4. Mix up the filling. For this 9 inch pie I used 3 eggs plus the white of an egg I had leftover from another recipe, about half the container of cottage cheese (1 cup), and about half a cup of milk. There’s really no need to measure, just make it liquid but not soupy. Use herbs and spices to your liking. For this one I used thyme, ground bay leaf (it’s Badia brand from the Hispanic foods section), salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. I normally wouldn’t add salt, but I accidentally bought no-salt-added cottage cheese. If I had made spinach quiche, I would have used basil and oregano. Mushroom would have been thyme and sage. Pour the filling over the crust, onions, and cheese. Don’t get too ambitious in how much filling you make, because it will puff up during cooking and could overrun the pan if you’ve filled it to the very top.
5. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes, until it is firm in the center and the top is beginning to brown. The outer potatoes will be very dark and crispy (but not burnt). If you had any potato rounds leftover, toss them in olive oil, place on a baking sheet in a single layer, sprinkle with salt, and throw them in the oven with the quiche for some oven potato chips.
And you have a quiche! Serve warm, tepid, or cold. I prefer warm, but I don’t like cold foods. I made this the night before and refrigerated when it was cooled. To serve, I cut two slices, grated a little extra cheese over the top, and heated in a 200 degree (Farenheit) toaster oven until warm. Yum!

Delicious Living is a free magazine that is distributed at Teaism. The magazine’s tagline is “Real food – Natural Health – Green Planet” and it features some good recipes.
This month, they have recipes for 5 exotic sounding rice dishes and a few winter salads.
Previously, they printed this recipe for spicy toasted almonds. You know this stuff is addictive…so expect the FDA to ban it soon. When I make these almonds, I use Hungarian sweet paprika and a combination of orange rind and mixed color peppercorns, which I grind in a peppermill.

As has been made pretty clear in the past, I really love pumpkin. We’re nearing the end of pumpkin season, so here’s another great (and very simple) vegan dinner featuring those wonderful gourds. It’s also an all-orange meal.
You’ll need:
2 sweet potatoes
1 medium pie pumpkin
Ginger
Mustard seed (optional)
Cider Vinegar
Bragg’s (or light soy sauce)
Olive oil
Cut up and seed your pumpkin, and peel your potato. Steam them in your microwave until they are soft (about 5 minutes for the potato and 15-20 for the pumpkin, unless you peel it first then less). If you didn’t already scoop the pumpkin from its shell, let it cool some and do that.
While those are cooking, mix your olive oil and cider vinegar in a glass – about 1/3 cup each. Mince as much ginger as you want in as well, and grind in a little bit of mustard. Add a splash of Bragg’s/soy, and maybe some white pepper if the mood strikes you. Emulsify the crap out of this.
Roughly mash your potato and pumpkin in a glass bowl. Now, beat in your dressing, and either (a) serve hot, or (b) chill and serve cold like potato salad.
I like it cold, but either way you’ve got a filling, delicious, and vegan dish loaded with orange goodness (vitamin A) and a nice sharp kick. Adding fresh Serrano peppers probably wouldn’t hurt either.

It’s been a while since Thanksgiving, and your leftover stuffing’s gone, leaving you craving a delicious starchy new form of starchy goodness for your plate. Here’s a really delicious suggestion.
This classic Bajan (that’s Barbados, kiddies, not Mexico) dish might be best described as ‘tropical grits,’ but that misses the point. Cou-cou is a wonderful foil for stronger-flavored foods like salt fish or grilled meat at any meal, or as a dish on its own if you like. It’s pretty good with a fried egg and hot sauce on top too.
You’ll need:
About 2 cups yellow (course) corn meal
About 3/4 lb. fresh okra, cleaned and cut
1 can of cocnut milk
Water
Salt, pepper, and any other spice you like
Butter
Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, add salt, and add your okra. Cook that about 8 minutes, or until it’s almost soft enough for you, and use a slotted spoon to remove the okra to a bowl. Pour off half of the water, and return the rest to a boil. Now, beat in your cornmeal, making sure it gets all nice and wet. Once it is, begin beating in your coconut milk, plus another cup or so of water (or more milk if you prefer a stronger flavor). Mix in your spices, cover the saucepan, and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cou-cou is done when a wooden spoon stands up when placed in the middle of the pot.
During cooking you may want to adjust quantities of milk, water, or even add more cornmeal … you can do that, but be careful that you don’t get dry patches or a soupy mix – that’s no fun! You can change up the flavor by adjusting how much coconut you use, and which and how much spice. Adding allspice might be tasty, or maybe try some herbs.
Serve right away, and store leftovers in tupperware in the fridge. To reheat, add a little bit of water and microwave gently.