shallot and thyme mashed potatoes

• 1 bag of yukon gold potatoes
• fresh shallots, chopped fine
• fresh thyme, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• olivio
• coarse salt

Peel and chop potatoes into large cubes, boil over a high flame for 10 minutes or until they are soft and slide off a fork. Meanwhile, saute shallots in a little olivio over a medium flame for 10 minutes. Add cooked potatoes and shallots to large bowl, add cream and olivio, salt and thyme to taste, mash until smooth.

The dish: I've said it before; it's hard to find a dish that's more well liked and yet as easy and versatile as mashed potatoes are. Boil some potatoes, add some dairy and seasonings and wham- an instant crowd pleaser that goes with pretty much any dish. As you can tell from reading these pages I tend to like potatoes with some thyme in them, but pretty much any green herb will work. Any variety will work, but in a tradtitonal "meat and potato" recipe, splurge and go for the yukon golds, they're well worth the extra few pennies. I really try to not depend too heavily on salt in these recipes, but potatoes are one of those few things that just need a little to bring out their natural flavor.

panko crusted salmon

• boneless, skinless salmon fillets
• Dijon mustard
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Combine panko and parsley in bowl. Brush one side of the salmon fillets with mustard, using care not to dip the knife that was just on the raw fish back in the jar. Either use a squeezable container or spoon a fair amount of mustard into dish and discard remainder after done. Sprinkle panko on the mustard covered side of the salmon until well coated. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

The dish: Panko is just a fancy Japanese word that means "large bread crumbs". They give the fish a lighter texture than if you were to use traditional bread crumbs and play nicely off the flavor of the mustard. Don't wait for them to turn color in the oven, even when they're fully cooked they retain their gleaming whiteness. If you've been reading this blog you know that we like salmon and this is one of our favorite preparations as it's easy, healthy and unlike most anything else we cook at home. We served it alongside some Green Giant digestive health veggies, which is a nice mix of navy beans, spinach and yellow carrots.

Champagne crab cake sandwich

• 1 can lump crab meat (I used chicken of the sea)
• 1 pouch fresh crab meat (it will be refrigerated)
• 2 packages imitation crab meat, chopped finely
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2/3 cup of bread crumbs
• Dijon mustard
• 2 large eggs
• mayonnaise
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• old bay seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar (or any white wine vinegar)

In a skillet over medium heat brown the onion for 3-5 minutes in a little olive oil or until just opaque. Combine all the crab (making sure the imitation is chopped finely), onion, bread crumbs, a tablespoon of mustard, eggs, old bay and vinegar in a large bowl. Mix together and form into sandwich sized patties. Using same skillet as onion, cook each crab cake over a high flame in a little bit of oil until just browned. Transfer cakes onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 350. Stir together equal parts mayonnaise and mustard and add parsley. Serve crab cakes on nice rolls with shredded lettuce and sauce.

The dish: Imitation crab stick, as the name implies, is not crab at all. I refer to it as "bologna of the sea", but that's not really accurate either. Beef bologna is made from the parts of a cow that you can't sell in any other way. The crab stick has no crab at all in it (even the undesirable parts) and instead is ground up Alaska Pollock, a plentiful, flavorless whitefish that's in crazy abundance up in northern Alaska and Japan. It's not at all bad for you and can really work well in a dish if done right. I use it in the crab cakes because it's as cheap as the breadcrumbs and gives a great texture and flavor without being too fishy. The Champagne vinegar was a bottle I got on sale at Marshall's and have just been looking for ways to use it, but any white wine vinegar would work well. This recipe made 8 BIG crab cakes, so unless you need a lot you might want to cut back, but like meatloaf, this recipe is very forgiving about not using exact amounts of ingredients.

Beyonce fries

• 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fry shapes
• cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 3 tablespoons high quality maple syrup

Toss fries with salt, pepper and olive oil. Spread out evenly on a large baking sheet and cook in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until desired doneness. Stir syrup into sour cream and mix thoroughly. Dip fries into sauce and enjoy (was this sentence really necessary).

The dish: I work two days a month in an office that has a plethora of People magazines. If I'm there and I get a lull I often thumb through one and catch up on what's happening with the stars. One of them reported that Beyonce was trying some new diet that didn't involve much other than eating cayenne pepper and maple syrup, something about the different tastes satisfying cravings. I think it's a great example for all of her young girl fans that she should be so concerned about her body image and turn food (something that on patches of this planet is still in short supply) into the enemy. Hopefully Ms. Knowles realizes that eating is not the issue, but rather what and how much you eat. Sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamins A, B6 and C, as well as fiber and a host of antioxidants, and when you "fry" them in the oven in olive oil you cut out the really bad sat fats. I never really cared about the differences of maple syrup before I married a girl from Canada (pretty much) and she got me hooked on the good stuff, adjust it to your taste here. If you want perfect cut fries go to Bed Bath and Beyond and spend $12 on a fry cutter, otherwise any shape works.

vegetable beef soup

• 3 cans tomato soup
• 1 box good quality beef stock
• 1.5 pounds stew beef, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 large bag of frozen mixed vegetables (or two small ones)
• fresh or dried green herbs

Place all ingredients in crock pot, season with salt and pepper, cook on low for 8+ hours. If using fresh herbs, wait until the last hour to add them. I used a little dried basil and fresh parsley.

The dish: Congratulations, you just made the easiest dinner that you'll love and everyone will swear you put in much more effort than simply combining ingredients. There's really no need to brown the meat ahead of time on this one as it picks up some nice flavors and comes out really tender. This soup is my version of the great vegetable beef available at Denny's. It took a few batches to perfect, but close to equal amounts of beef stock and tomato soup is the key here.

mashed potatoes with leeks and thyme

• 3 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
• 4oz fat free sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• fresh thyme
• 1 large leek

Slice potatoes and boil until tender in salted water, drain. Chop thyme and white section of leek finely, saute in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil for 5 minutes over medium flame, stirring occasionally. In large bowl combine cooked potatoes with leeks and thyme and add remainder of ingredients. If you like very smooth whipped potatoes beat with a hand or stand mixer, otherwise a spoon works just fine. Once mixture is at your desired consistency, season to taste with kosher salt and serve.

The dish: Potatoes are a great canvas to run with and add pretty much anything you can dream of. The thyme and leek combo worked well, but I've added all kinds of crazy things to the mix. You can omit the sour cream and add pretty much any creamy dairy that suits you; more milk, heavy cream, butter, buttermilk or even yogurt if you get down with the active cultures. I made this mix a little creamier than I would have normally, but I wasn't sure when we'd be eating and as with pretty much everything but our own bodies mashed potatoes tend to firm up as they sit around.

chicken with mushroom and parsley gravy

• 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms, I used baby bellas
• gravy master
• wondra flour
• fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

Season chicken with kosher salt and fresh pepper. Add swirl of olive oil to a hot skillet (cast iron works best) and cook chicken through, about 4 minutes each side. Once cooked, place chicken on plate loosely tented with tin foil. Add stock to skillet and reduce heat to medium high stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, after 3 minutes add mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes. Add two dashes gravy master to the mix and whisk in two healthy shakes of the wondra. Add parsley and more flour as needed. Turn off heat and continue whisking until gravy is correct consistency, spoon over warmed chicken and serve.

The dish: I read an article in the Wall Street Journal awhile back about a chef at some ridiculous restaurant in NY or LA or Tokyo or some such place where a meal probably cost more than most of the cars I've owned in my life, and he had a confession: every sauce and gravy he makes begins with a dash or two of gravy master. He said that he couldn't get the right color or flavor without it. I went right out and bought some and I'll be damned if my next batch of gravy I made wasn't my best. I became a huge proponent of the stuff and Kim even got me a gravy master t-shirt, don't ask me where, she has her sources. The other half of good gravy is using wondra flour, not as exciting as the master but it won't clump.

pulled pork sandwiches

• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• adobo
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• liquid smoke
• 2 chili peppers, seeded and chopped fine
• 1 bell pepper (I used half a yellow and half an orange), chopped
• 1 boneless pork shoulder roast
• prepared bbq sauce, or homemade if you need a hobby

Combine paprika, cayenne pepper (just a little), adobo and black pepper, spread mixture evenly on roast, cover (Tupperware or saran wrap is fine, but never tin foil) and refrigerate over night. The next morning mix together vinegar and brown sugar (over heat works best, but right in the crock pot will do), add a few dashes liquid smoke, peppers and roast, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Right before serving, drain roast in colander reserving a few drops of liquid on the meat, return to crock pot and shred with fork or wooden spoon and add some bbq sauce (I usually try to make my own, but went with Dr. Pepper flavored sauce this time and it worked quite nicely). Serve on your favorite rolls (Rockland bakery in the burgh if you're local) with extra sauce on the side.

The dish: I'm blessed to be 33 and have both my grandmothers still be alive. I could always tell when my birthday was 2 days away because I would get two cards, one from my maternal grandmother that had a bunch of scratch off tickets that were ALWAYS winners, and one from my paternal grandmother that would have a check for $20 inside. Usually the proceeds of both were spent acquainting myself with a host of designer inebriants, but I would always tell my grandmothers I spent the money on something more benign: no nan, I didn't get loaded with your birthday money, I bought a nice shirt. About three weeks before my 26th birthday I decided that I wanted a crock pot. "What a perfect idea" I thought, I can even tell my grandmothers I spent their bday money on it. By the time my day rolled around my pot already had some mileage on it and I was looking forward to telling my nans. I was shocked when the cards came but nothing was inside, apparently 25 was the cutoff for such things- who knew? I wound up telling both my grandmothers the full story and they got a kick out of it, but they also reminded me what being 26 meant, you've got to love the depression era. I've since used the hell out of my crock pot and have convinced many of my friends to buy one, becoming a champion of a kitchen gadget that probably reached the zenith of its popularity when I was in diapers. Pulled pork is always one of the first things I advise people to make. The recipe above is the advanced one, for ease you can just throw the roast in the cooker with some bbq sauce and be amazed at the results. If you're not down with the other white meat you can use beef, and if animals aren't your thing then lentils work well also, just cook them a little ahead of time.

macaroni & beef

• 1 pound short pasta
• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 1 14.5oz can of tomato paste
• 2 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• assorted Italian herbs, fresh or dried

Boil water in large pot with a pinch of salt, cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, in large skillet, begin browning meat over medium high flame. After about 3 minutes add garlic and a tiny amount of olive oil, continue browning, stirring frequently. Once meat is browned (about 5 minutes) stir in can of tomato paste. Once paste is worked in, add other tomatoes and herbs and a pinch of Adobo, or just garlic powder if you don't have, cook over low flame until pasta is done (but just done!), then mix together with drained pasta. Add cheese to garnish if you feel there isn't quite enough plaque in your arteries.

The dish: Kim wasn't feeling so hot today, which worked out well for me because it meant I could take her shiny new car to the office. I offered to make or bring in whatever she felt like eating and while I would have expected won-ton or homemade chicken noodle soup, a homemade version of Stouffer's macaroni and beef threw me a curve. I haven't had the frozen dish in years, but took a good look at it while at the store and figured it out pretty well. I used dried oregano and basil, but fresh parsley. Had Kim not been sick this definitely would have some cheese on top, but we didn't really miss it as is.

Mediterranean Boboli pizza

• 1 Boboli crust
• prepared pesto
• fresh spinach, chopped finely
• pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 425. If you have a pizza stone leave in and make sure it gets all hot, otherwise cook it directly on the rack, but if you're wondering why pizza you make at home sucks it's because you don't have one. Meanwhile, spoon dollops of pesto and ricotta randomly on crust and cover with rest of ingredients being generous as most of this stuff is pretty good for you. Cook in hot oven for 10 minutes or until toppings are hot and crust is crispy.

The dish: There is no substitute for real New York style thin crust, so when I make pizza at home I don't even try to replicate it. Boboli makes a pretty good and very easy crust and I try to load it up with all kinds of things I would never ask the dude with the vowel-heavy name behind the counter at the local pizzeria to top one of his slices with. Themes work well, this Mediterranean one is great for loading up on veggies, but you could just as easily be non-virtuous and have a bbq chicken or meats from around the world pie.