Friday: chop suey

Such a New England dish - one that at the ripe young age of 11 I came to know from the school cafeteria, or "caf" as they called it in Vermont. It was so much fun to be a foreigner from the midwest and not know what "soda" and "hamburg" and "chop suey" was! Since that time, it's been part of our meals here in chez schwake - in a variety of forms. Mine comes with the dreaded soy crumbles and rice pasta, due to my issues with all things wheat and animal. Rainer however was at the stove last night and whipped up a pretty darn good version as you see it below. It's easy to change out your personal favorites for the main ingredients too, so please. Take liberties!

Boil a 12 oz box of elbow rice pasta, rinse and drain (change out for your favorite elbows)

In a large deep pan cook down two cans of Cento diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, garlic and chopped onion to taste.

In another fying pan cook up a pound of ground organic turkey (or you use my soy crumbles in the next step)

Drain and mix into the tomato mixture. Add the noodles and stir until hot all the way through.

Serve with a variety of cheese toppings. We like parmesan, feta and as pictured, my choice: crumbled goat's cheese. C'est manifique!

Thursday: Collard greens and beans Italiano

A light vitamin packed salad for spring and summer, easy again to make and good to make ahead for a meal later!

Boil up one chopped bunch of collard greens in salt water.

Drain and cool.

Place in a bowl and top with:

1 sliced and halved organic plum tomato

3/4 cup organic kidney beans

1/3 cup thinly sliced zucchini

Drizzle balsamic vinegar to taste over the top, with a splash of olive oil and a good grinding of black pepper and seasalt.

Keep cool until ready to eat - right away or the next day is fine too. Serve with a nice crusty bread and a slice of cheese.

Wednesday: Coconut pancakes

I know you are missing these in France dear daughter. When you told me that, however, I had little sympathy - what with croissant, baguette, pain au chocolat? Mais non, today I made these just for you and realized how they are not too shabby and plain. You of course can make them too in your petit cuisine!

In a small bowl:

Whip an egg with

1/2 cup soy or moo milk

1 to 1 and 1/2 cup flour

3 tbs melted butter or oil

1 tsp baking powder

healthy dash of cinnamon

Add more flour to make puffier pancakes (see the amounts above). Heat up a frying pan with a tiny bit of butter until quite hot. Pour the batter on and then sprinkle a tablespoon of coconut on the raw side. When golden on the underside, flip and cook until done!

Eat with maple syrup if you are able to - or I was thinking Nutella would make these babies dessert - an Almond Joy!

Tuesday: Beet Salad

OK ... this week was crazy busy but I will catch up, right? Here is the latest on the salad front. Spring has sprung and salads will be on the rise here in the posts.

Boil or roast (if you can) four large beets. (Keep the greens for another dish!)

When they are cool, peel them and cut them into bitesize pieces.

Arrange in four bowls some romain lettuce leaves, trimmed and sized to fit in the bowl.

Top with the cooked beets

Chop into tiny cubes 2 oz. of organic cheddar cheese - or crumble some feta - equally good!

Sprinkle over the top 1 oz of balsamic vinegar and salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

That is it!