Yogurt cake, chocolate mousse cake, apple pie and fruit: Jody's and Suzanne's chefs d'ouevre at Robin's birthday party. A visibly impressed Chef Jacques Imperato from Cafe La Mediterranee: "pas mal."

Armenian Lentil and Apricot Soup

Adapted from "Please to the Table," a Russian/Former Soviet Union cookbook. I love this soup--takes on a beautiful red color if you use red lentils and a warm golden brown if you use brown. Mom used to make it years ago and now I make it for some variation in my usually savory bean dishes. I'm posting it for Michael's benefit, as he won't have a meal plan this year (horror!) but will have a slow cooker.

Saute 1 chopt onion, 2 chopt cloves of garlic, and 1/3c chopt dried apricots in 3T EVOO.
Pour this mixture into your slow cooker along with 1.5c washed dried lentils (red is preferred, but brown will do), 5c veg stock, .5t cumin, .5t thyme, salt, and black pepper to taste.
Set the slow cooker to lo for 8h. After about 5-6h, add 3 med plum tomatoes (peeled, seeded & chopt--using canned tomatoes saves you some work).
At the end of the cooking time, remove half of the soup and puree in a food processor or blender. Return to the rest of the soup and season w/ 2T lemon juice. Simmer for a few minutes and serve. Top with parsley and/or sour cream.

Mango Lassi

Another Joy of Cooking Joy!

Place in blender:
10 ice cubes
1.5-2c yogurt (I used plain skim)
1 chopt mango
2T sugar

Blend. Divide into two chilled beer glasses over ice.

Do not chop the mango on a chopping board that you just used to dice a large red onion.

Naan

I finally tried to make naan (continuing my Indian food spree) and found it to be surprisingly easy.

Place 2c bread flour, 1/2t salt, 1 1/8t active dry yeast (I used bread machine yeast), 3/4c yogurt (or buttermilk), 2T melted butter, 1t-1T+ water (I needed almost 2T) in the bread machine bowl. Use the small dough setting.

Place pizza stone (or upsidedown, heavy cookie sheet) in oven and preheat for 45 min on 475. When the dough finishes, punch down dough and divide into 4 pieces. Roll into balls, cover, and let rest for 10 min.

Roll each ball f dough on a floured surface into an oval ~1/4" thick. Brush the tops with 1-2T melted butter or olive oil. Place ovals on baking stone without touching and cook until each is puffy and just beginning to turn golden (6-7 min).

Next time I think I'll try garlic naan.

Simple casserole

More lean stuff. I found oil- and egg-free pasta spirals (flaxseed and whole wheat flours). Boiled maybe 1 cup dry spirals with 1/2 vidalia onion. Meanwhile steamed swiss chard. Rinsed the cooked noodles/onions and spread them in a casserole pan. Mixed in the cooked chard and a can of diced tomatoes. Added a fair amount of black pepper and then 3 oz. or so of veg. stock to keep the noodles from drying out. Sprinkled ground flaxseed on top. Baked at 350 for 1/2 hour. Not exciting but ok.

Butternut Squash, Chickpea, Lentil etc Soup

Throw into heavy pot for the day (or, ideally, a slow cooker) and serve:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
• 2 1/2 pounds kabocha squash, (see Note) or butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup red lentils
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron, (see Note)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

White peaches!

Glorious white peaches! Suzanne found a halibut recipe in the Post (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2010/07/28/five-spice-rubbed-halibut-peach-ginger-relish/) with a peach relish. I dutifully eliminated the fat and made it as follows: I cooked the peach dice to provide liquid in the pan. I minced the ginger root and added it, likewise the onion. I forgot the vinegar but added a little diced jalapeno. It was lovely on top of the halibut, which I simply poached in vegetable stock.

Ingredients:

For the relish

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, cut into small dice (2/3 cup)
• 1 teaspoon grated or minced peeled ginger root
• 2 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon water, for serving (optional)

For the fish

• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
• Two 4-to-6-ounce skinless halibut fillets
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for the grill rack
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives (from several long stems), for garnish

Going Lean with . . . tofu, eggplant, & pepper

Another effort to cut back on olive oil: The trick is probably the convection oven.
Halve two eggplant and score as much as the flesh as possible into small dice, leaving it all in the skin. Same for a vidalia onion. Wash and remove stem and core from two red peppers. Roast them all in a convection over for an hour or so at 350. They'll get crispy brown. It's the crisp that makes the dish.
Scrape the dice into a roasting pan with a box of diced tofu. If you have leftover teriyaki marinade from salmon, pour that in. Mince two garlic and about 1/2 " of jalapeno and put into a small cup. Add rice vinegar and soy (as much as 1/2 c. total if you didn't have teryaki marinade) so that you can mix and distribute the garlic and jalapeno among the tofu and vegetables. Roast this for maybe 20 min at 350, regular oven.