garlic onion refrigerator pickles

• 1lb small cucumbers (I've seen them called kirby and kuke, so I have no idea what is right)
• pickling salt
• fresh garlic, chopped
• 2 onions, sliced into rings
• cider vinegar
• sugar
• fresh dill
• mustard seed

Combine about 1.5 cups of salt with 4 or so cups of water. Make sure that salt is well dissolved and pour over cucumbers in a tight container. Let sit at room temperature, out of the sun, for two days. Drain and rinse the cucumbers well. Combine 3 cups cider vinegar with 1.5 cups of water and 1/2 cup sugar, cook and bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Let cool for 20 minutes. In a tight fitting container, layer the cucumbers with the garlic, onion and dill with a few shakes of mustard seed. When vinegar mixture has cooled slightly, pour over the mixture and refrigerate for 1 week.

The dish: I once remarked to our favorite farmers that making pickles was more of a commitment than marriage was. I was being facetious, but there's an element of truth to that statement. There's no one step in making these pickles that's difficult, but if you skip one or screw it up your finished product will suffer. You can screw up in marriage pretty frequently and it can all end well anyway. Much like marriage, pickles are worth the effort, you'll never want to eat a pickle from a jar after you make your own. We used these on top of some pulled pork sandwiches and the taste was out of this world.

cucmber salad with yogurt dressing

• 2 cucumbers
• 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• fresh parsley, chopped
• coarse salt

Dice the cucumbers into bite sized pieces. Stir the lemon juice into the yogurt until well blended. Pour dressing over cucumbers, add parsley and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt.

The dish: Growing up in suburbia has its advantages: good schools, big houses and bigger yards. The one main drawback is the mid-teen realization that there's nothing to do. Like many other kids in my town, I spent countless hours at the Monroe Diner nursing my chocolate milk and gravy fries for as long as I could before the waitresses would kick us out or it would be curfew time. On any given weekend night 2/3 of the school would be piled into booths, hanging out and complaining that there was nothing to do. For all of the whining I did at the time I look back fondly on those years and realize that there's not much to do anywhere if you take that attitude. All those hours spent at the "teenage wasteland" that was the diner helped formed friendships that are still active to this day and it also opened my eyes to Greek cuisine. Pairing cucumber and yogurt together is a no-brainer as it is the basis for gyro sauce (yeah, I'm not even gonna try to spell it for real- too many consonants). John Lennon said that "life is what happens while you're busy making other plans" but for kids growing up in suburbia life is frequently what happens while you're complaining that there's nothing to do.

bbq peach turkey tenderloins

• turkey tenderloins
• 1 bottle of bbq sauce
• 2 jars baby food, peaches

Combine baby food and prepared bbq sauce. Brush liberally on all sides of turkey and grill until done.

The dish: If you believe the theory of birth order, then Kim and I are doomed. A relationship of the two last born children will spiral out of control as it will seem like no one is in charge, and even the youngest can only take chaos for so long (would it be a bad time to mention that we had zebra cakes for dinner tonight?). I bring this up only because being the youngest child means that you grow up with limited experience in matters like diapers and baby food. I've never had to feed a younger sibling baby food who promptly spit it up or threw it on the floor, so it doesn't mean much more to me than just being that generic mush in the little jar. I wanted to try something new and yet easy with traditional bbq sauce, so I figured I'd give this a try. It gave a really great taste without adding too much artificial flavor or sweetness. Just for kicks I still cut my meat into little pieces and pretended my fork was a locomotive heading toward the tunnel of my mouth, but I do that at least two nights a week, so I don't think there's much of a connection.

baked salmon with lemon and parsley

• salmon fillets, boneless and skinless
• 1 lemon
• whole garlic cloves, peeled
• fresh parsley, chopped

Marinate the salmon in the garlic and juice of the lemon. Cover fillet in parsley and bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes or until cooked to desired doneness.

The dish: This is a pretty simple preparation, so make sure that you use only the freshest ingredients, as they have no sauce or crust to hide under. For the longest time I was never happy with the fish I made at home, but then it dawned on me that I was buying it from a guy named Larry out of the trunk of his Impala. I switched, and now I buy it at a local produce store and it's as fresh as can be. The stuff you buy "fresh" at the supermarket has been previously frozen, which doesn't always matter, but don't expect a simple dish like this to shine using it. If you haven't already you really should start adding some salmon to your diet as it's about the best source for Omega-3s which do everything from slow cancerous growths to boost your mood. Your body needs Omega-3s and can't store them so the only way that you can be sure you have enough is to make a point to eat more fish, fatty ones like salmon in particular. If you're undecided about what to do for dinner, click on the salmon link before and pick out one of the many recipes on here that appeals to you. Your body will thank you.

basic coleslaw

• 1 bag shredded coleslaw mix
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or more if you're not already sweet enough)
• poppy seeds (optional)

Combine the mayonnaise, lime juice, vinegar and sugar together. Pour over the cabbage mix and add poppy seeds. Toss to coat. Let mixture sit at least one hour prior to serving. When made, the mix should look a little on the dry side as it will moisten as it sits.

The dish: I'm not even that old, comfortably in the second half of Gen X, and I went to public schools, and yet I still took Latin. Six years of it. Being a dead language and all, it has limited usefulness when trying to order a drink on a different continent, but it's great for finding word derivatives. Take for example coleslaw; I can tell you that the Latin word for cabbage is colis. I think the term slaw was invented by lazy southerners who never received the memo about annunciation, but I'm certain where the first half of the word came from (I can also tell you where plumbers got their name from, but that's a different story). Latin actually turned out to be one of my favorite classes in high school, thanks to the fact that there was a small group of us taking it and we all got along pretty well and Mrs. N (anonymous to protect the innocent, et cetera- damn, more Latin!) kept class amazingly relevant and fun. So go ahead and carpe diem and try e pluibus unum the recipes from this blog. Ilia acta est on your dinner plans for tonight, just make sure to ubi sub ubi.

rotini with summer squash and peas

• 1 lb rotini
• 1 bag of frozen peas, thawed for 1/2 hour
• 3 summer squash, cut into bite sized pieces
• Olivio
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• Parmesan cheese
• fresh basil, chopped

Boil pasta in lightly salted water until just about fully cooked, maybe about 7-8 minutes. Scoop about 1-2 cups of the water (I recommend a pyrex measuring cup for the task) and set aside. Add squash and peas to pot and continue cooking over a high flame for about 2 minutes or until pasta is al dente. Drain mixture and return to the same pot, add 3 tablespoons of Olivio, lemon juice and enough of the reserved water to make a sauce that will cover all of the ingredients. Toss until Olivio is fully melted. Add basil and cheese and serve.

The dish: If you live in the beautiful Empire State, then you're going through this funky time where it's pretty hot out but constantly raining. I hate using the stove during the summer, but when it's wet out it's a necessary evil. This dish is great because it's a true one pot meal that only takes about 10 minutes to cook, so you can go from start to finish before your kitchen is even heated up. As always, try to use the pasta that's fortified with some good stuff like fiber and omega 3s, we like Barilla Plus or Hannaford has a similar house brand. You won't even taste the difference and you can feel good about eating a nice big plate of pasta.

white truffle mushroom cheeseburgers

• 1.25 pounds of chop meat
• provolone cheese
• good quality bbq sauce
• white button mushrooms, sliced
• white truffle oil
• sesame seed rolls

Form meat into four even sized patties, using your palms as sizing guides. Heat mushrooms over a medium high flame in a little olive oil. Cook until mushrooms have shrunk to about half their size, reduce heat to low and add a little bit of white truffle oil. Meanwhile, cook burgers to desired doneness (if you're older than 12 it should be medium rare at most- just sayin) on the bbq, adding cheese during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Assemble on bun with sauce on bottom, then burger, then mushrooms.

The dish: It's official, bbq season is among us and the redroom moves outside to the tiny balcony. Grilling is a great way to cook pretty much any food and you can expect to see lots of different meats and veggies on these pages over the summer, we just had to kick off the start of things with a good old fashioned cheeseburger. This was also a prime opportunity to answer faithful reader Rebecca's request for more recipes using white truffle oil. As a pound of truffles cost about as much as my car, white truffle oil is a great way to dress up some plain mushrooms and give the dish a great flavor without having to mortgage your house. Just be sure to look at the ingredients and make sure you're buying an oil that's actually made from truffles and not artificial flavors. If you haven't already, go out and clean your grill because we'll make sure it gets plenty of use this year. Enjoy these beautiful spring days everyone!

boccoli with a balsmic orange sauce

• fresh broccoli florets
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

In a large pan cook orange juice and garlic over high heat until it reaches a boil, reduce heat to medium high and simmer for 20 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Meanwhile, steam broccoli until just cooked. When OJ is reduced (and if committing petty robbery in Vegas doesn't bring you down then what... never mind) add vinegar and cook for an additional 5 minutes over a medium low flame. Place cooked vinegar in bowl and strain sauce over it, discarding the garlic.

The dish: Steamed veggies are one of the greatest things you can eat, but almost nobody does without a small army of salt and butter to "dress" them up. We've been experimenting with different ways we can add flavor without adding too much bad stuff at the same time. This is a nice preparation that leaves the broccoli with a sweet and tangy taste that will make sure that you don't miss the salt and butter.

asparagus and seared shallots in a lemmon butter sauce

• 2 bunches fresh asparagus, cut on the bias (at an angle)
• 5 shallots
• 2 tablespoons butter (or Olivio)
• 1/2 lemon

Melt butter over medium flame, add shallots and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add asparagus and saute for about 5 minutes or until asparagus is a bright green and crisp, but not raw. Turn off heat and add juice of lemon half. Season to taste with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, stir until blended.

The dish: Almost every time I see asparagus it's hiding out beneath a blanket of hollandaise sauce. It's not that I don't enjoy that preparation, it's just that I got curious and looked up how to make that velvety yellow sauce; take about a third of your body weight in butter and egg yolks and add some lemon to the mix. I'm not too strict with keeping a healthy diet, but I can't justify being that decadent without at least looking for an alternative. This dish gives you the fresh lemon and butter flavor without drowning the greens, and the shallots add a nice earthy touch. The ingredients for this dish were purchased in the middle of the night with faithful reader, Mike from Brooklyn. If you ever want to meet your blogger just go to Hannaford long after all the same people are done shopping for the day and look for the dude comparing heads of lettuce, that's most likely me.

orzo and chickpea salad

• 1lb orzo
• 4 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• fresh dill, chopped
• juice of one large lemon
• high quality extra virgin olive oil
• honey
• adobo

Cook orzo according to package, then drain and rinse with cool water. In a separate bowl whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and honey. Combine orzo, chickpeas and dill to taste (I used a lot). Toss salad with dressing, season to taste with adobo or salt. Serve chilled.

The dish: Orzo is basically rice shaped pasta, and it works perfectly alongside the chickpeas. The flavor of the dressing is dependent on plenty of fresh lemon juice. Remember, in a dish this simple, using lemon juice out of the bottle (or plastic lemon shaped thing) will yield less than desirable results. To get the most out of each lemon, use them at room temperature and roll them a little under your palm before you slice it. I squeeze the juice before I add any of the other ingredients so that if I get a seed I can easily pick it out.

udon and vegetable salad

• udon noodles
• snap peas
• broccoli florets
• baby corn
• shredded cabbage
• 1 large yellow pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 large orange pepper, cut into matchsticks
• green onion, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 lemon

Combine juice of lemon, with mirin, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Mix well, set aside. Cook udon noodles (available in the Asian section of the supermarket) according to package. Drain cooked noodles and rinse with cool water and combine with vegetables and dressing. Serve cool.

The dish: Successful cooking begins with keen shopping and a well stocked pantry. If you want to cook your own Asian dishes you first have to build your Asian pantry. I suggest starting with keeping these basics on hand:

• a good quality light soy sauce
• sesame oil (if adding to anything hot, put it in at the last minute as it's a very delicate oil)
• wok oil (flavorless oil with a high smoke point)
• rice vinegar

Don't be afraid to keep these on hand as they will keep forever and your Asian dishes will improve so much that you'll use them often. If you'd like to branch out from there, I suggest:

• mirin (sweetened sake- use sparingly as it's 8% alcohol)
• Chinese 5 spice (never use more than a tiny pinch)
• black sesame seeds

Keeping this stuff on hand will open you up to a whole new selection of dishes that you can easily prepare. I've had great luck with the sushi chef and house of Tsang brands, and both are available in most supermarkets.

green beans almondine

• 1 pound fresh green beans, caps snapped off
• sliced almonds, unseasoned
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 lemon

Boil green beans in large pot for 4 minutes or until cooked but still crisp. Drain and rinse with cold water (to stop them from cooking further). Saute almonds in butter for three minutes over medium high flame. Add green beans, squeeze juice of lemon over mixture, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

The dish: Two keys here: 1. Make sure that the green beans are cooked, but not too much. You want them to be firm with a snap and a bright green color. 2. As always, fresh lemon juice is imperative. That bottle in the fridge is OK for emergencies or when baked into a dish with many ingredients, but with so little going on in this dish you want to make sure that each component shines. No matter what the label says, that stuff in the bottle is not made with real lemons, it's made with some crazy chemicals in a plant along the Jersey turnpike that looks like it should be producing something much different than food flavorings.