carrot and endive tossed salad in balsamic vinaigrette

• fresh leaf lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
• plain or mixed carrots, cut on the bias
• endive, chopped fine
• fresh dill, chopped
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• sugar
• croutons (I used Texas Toast garlic and herb)

Combine lettuce, endive, carrots and dill. If you cannot find mixed carrots, or don't feel like paying more for them, plain works just fine. In a separate bowl whisk together equal parts vinegar and olive oil. Add sugar to taste and continue to blend. Serve salad in bowls and drizzle dressing on top.

The dish: This is the method for a basic vinaigrette. I used balsamic, but you could use sherry or champagne or any other wacky vinegar you have on hand. Where to find such succulent sounding condiments? On close out, of course. Stores like Marshall's or TJ Maxx or Home Goods are great for finding cheap and unique provisions. I've found the ones I've mentioned as well as lemon infused olive oil, orange infused olive oil, white truffle oil, raspberry champagne vinegar, Cabernet vinegar and many others. These are bottles that originally were much more than any of us would spend, but now you can have them for around $7 or less. Good vinegars can be cooked or used raw, but good oils should be reserved for when there's very little or no cooking involved. Go ahead and get the cheapest stuff you can find to saute with, but if you're going to use it as a dip or dressing splurge and pull out the good stuff.

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.

flan with blackberries

• 1 box flan
• fresh blackberries

Prepare flan according to instructions on box. We used and loved the Dr. Oetker brand, but I'm sure any will work. Garnish with berries and serve.

The dish: Faithful readers know; dessert is best when instant. I'd put the taste and texture of this flan against any that I've ordered out; it was just that good. I'm not sure if it was difficult to make because I outsourced that to Kim (Chinese name and she has 3 jobs- coincidence?), but it was easy to eat. We had this as the finale to our Cinco De Mayo meal, but I'm confused because I've ordered flan in both Mexican and Italian restaurants, and this brand was made in Canada, so I have doubts about theme continuity, but what the hell- dessert is a common language among all cultures.

cilantro lime shrimp soft tacos

• corn tortillas
• 1lb large shrimp, shelled
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• lettuce, shredded

In a little bit of butter (or better yet, Olivio) brown onion and garlic over a medium flame for 5 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium high, continue sauteing until reduced, about 5 minutes. Add shrimp to pan, reduce heat back down to medium. Meanwhile, warm tortillas in oven for 3-5 minutes or in separate pan for about 30 seconds. Once shrimp is cooked (it will turn pink), add juice of lime to pan along with cilantro. Spoon mixture over lettuce placed on tortillas.

The dish: Back when your creditors could kick your ass for not paying (a possible solution to the sub-prime mess?), France invaded Mexico for being deadbeats. Cinco De Mayo is the celebration of the unlikely victory of Mexico in that battle (the French lost a fight- no way). Here in America us gringos use the day as an opportunity to eat spicy foods and drink tequila (not me, the last time I touched the nectar of agave I wound up on a bus going to Toledo wearing someone else's pants- but whatever). Cilantro, lime and tacos are three basic building blocks in Mexican cuisine, so putting them together was a no-brainer (which is good as I have a limited supply after the Toledo incident). I added the butter and wine as a nod to the French, as without their aggressive debt collection May 5th would be just another day. This dish worked well, but it could easily have been chicken or pork, or burritos or enchiladas. I served it alongside some poblano roasted corn and guacamole. This year more than ever we all need to celebrate the heritage of our neighbors to the south and forget all about that nasty cough so many of them seem to have. Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!!

corn with roasted poblano

• 1 bag frozen white and yellow corn
• 1 whole poblano pepper
• 1tsp Olivio (or butter, if you want to die)

Roast whole pepper in 300 degree oven for 20 minutes, remove. Once cooled, chop into little pieces. Cook corn according to package. Mix cooked corn, chopped pepper and Olivio together.

The dish: Growing up I didn't own one single baseball card. My childhood heroes were not men who threw balls and swung sticks, but rather men of social and business importance, specifically, Lee Iacocca. Against the advice of my fourth grade teacher I did my biography book report on his best selling autobiography and when he got canned from the Ellis Island project I wrote him to let him know at least one fifth grader was pissed off. Amazingly, he wrote back; it was the proudest moment of my young life. My love for Lido has not faded over time. I proudly own an old Chrysler and when it looked like there was going to be a "car czar", I was ready to go to Washington and lobby like hell for him. If you know anything of Mr. Iacocca, then you know of the immense love and profound sense of loss he holds for his first wife, Mary. Mary died nearly 30 years ago after a long struggle with diabetes, and to this day Lee is probably the strongest advocate on the globe for diabetes research, donating millions of dollars towards research and treatments. Olivio is a buttery spread made with olive oil that is much less destructive to your internals than either butter or margarine, and it tastes and spreads awesome. Developing and marketing the spread was just Lee's way of giving people a healthier, better tasting alternative, while furthering his philanthropy. I'm proud to say that my 10 year old self did a pretty good job at picking hero's.

unstuffed cabbage

• 1 head of cabbage, chopped
• 2 yellow onions, chopped fine
• 8 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 orange pepper, chopped
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• fresh oregano, chopped fine
• red pepper flakes
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1lb ground turkey
• cooked brown rice (take out or instant works fine)

In a swirl of olive oil, saute the garlic and onions over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, or until just browned, then add to crock pot. In same skillet, brown turkey over a medium flame until done. Add all ingredients except rice to your crock pot (remember, we just don't give a damn about generecizing trademarks), cover and cook on low for 6+ hours. Serve over rice.

The dish: Stuffed cabbage is one of those dishes that I'll order out because it's both delicious and a pain in the ass to prepare. Cabbage leaves are more delicate than you'd think and getting the whole mix cooked evenly without burning parts of it is a true art. I'm not sure how I came up with the idea of doing it like this, but you get about 95% of the flavor with about 10% of the work of the original. That and like every other slow cooker recipe you can prepare it in the morning, or even the night before if you're using a crock pot that was made after leg warmers went out of fashion. You can add cheese if you wish, but I think it works well without it. As always, feel free to subsitute dried herbs for fresh ones.

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.