your goose is probably only half-baked at this point

"... you better not pout, I'm telling you why.  Healthy lunch is coming to town~" It's not even Christmas season, but that's stuck in your head now.  You're welcome.  Also, I'm not expert on Santa Claus, but I'd be willing to wager he'd appreciate you leaving this out with the chocolate chip cookies.  Not instead of, but with.  No coal in your stocking this year if you do that. Got the butternut squash recipe from this site , but I'm putting it here because a) things sometimes disappear off the internet and I don't want to lose track of this one, and b) I've added broccoli and egg to my dish, and it's best to keep it all together. You Better Watch Out, You Butternut Squash (with broccoli) Ingredients 1 butternut squash (around 3lb) 1 Tbsp olive oil (I so eyeball this) 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I eyeballed this, too) Scant 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/4 tsp fresh ground black ...

(Title from Han Solo's answer to Leia's "I love you" in Empire Strikes Back because I just can't not have a Star Wars reference in things, have you met me.) Writing is a funny thing in many ways (and by "funny" I mean "often torturous," but nevermind), but the most ... useful, I suppose? side-effect I've had from writing is that, when I'm writing characters eating a meal, even if I'm not describing the meal they're eating, I start to crave that meal.  Doesn't matter what it is -- pizza and beer, granola bars, eggs and toast ... or in this case, broccoli cheese soup. (Seriously, never once do I specify that they're eating broccoli cheese soup.  Just "soup."  And yet.  And yet .) This fine recipe is adapted from  this recipe , which I have adjusted to be a) better-suited for the lazy and b) bigger, because leftovers are the best thing EVER.  It makes, so far as I can tell, around ten normal-size serving...

I honestly don't remember why we bought the enormous bottle of sweet Thai chili sauce that's been in our refrigerator for the past ... probably three years. I suspect it was for a Thai dish (duh) but I make so many of those, that doesn't really narrow it down, like at all. Anyhow, because the bottle's been in the 'fridge for ages, and it had seriously like 2 oz used out of a full liter, we figured we should use it up. Or use it at all, you know. So I went online and looked for recipes that used sweet Thai chili sauce, and happened upon this recipe , which was pretty damn excellent, especially after an hour of DDR, 25 miles of bike-riding, a trip to the hardware store (I got to buy a power saw, I am SO EXCITED), and some pathetic attempts to do press-ups and chin-ups. Semi-related note: my arms have way more in common with cooked soba noodles than they should. I am ashamed. Here's my version of the recipe, complete with more veggies, less leek (seriously, l...

This recipe is a Frankenstein monster of several recipes, created one night when I was hungry, didn't feel like ordering out, and didn't feel like making do with foraging. On the one hand, I'm a little bit horrified that my kitchen contained everything I needed to make this creation (full disclosure: I used frozen Brussels sprouts instead of broccoli the first time, and would do again), but on the other hand, I'm rather proud that my kitchen contained enough healthy stuff for me to cook amazing things on a whim. Terribly conflicting. Anyway. Give it a go. It only makes two meals, so it's a bit of work for a one-off, but by the same token, I can make the whole mess in about 15 minutes, so it's not really THAT much work. Especially not when you consider the pay-off, which is just plain delish. Teriyaki Tofu Triangles with Broccoli and Cellophane Noodles Ingredients The Main Cast 1 large head broccoli, cut into florets 3 oz dry cellophane noodles 7-10...

I learned how to make a really stupidly outstanding orange-glaze tofu  yesterday, but didn't have anything good to serve it on (the quinoa mix I initially tried was an utter, devastating FAILURE). Tonight, I made the tofu again (and by the way, it's so good, I'd totally make it by itself and eat it straight from the pan) and made some veggies to go with because, hey, veggies! I expected it to be good. I mean, how could it not be? Tofu prepared  in a way I knew  I liked, served atop foods prepared in a way I know I like - that sounds like a recipe for success, doesn't it? I wasn't expecting it to be this  good, though. The flavors and textures all combine into something that really just ... I don't know. I usually try to be funny in my blog-posts, but this meal is so straight-up unbearably good - and good for  you, when does THAT ever happen - that I'm all out of jokes and really just want to share the recipe with the world. Here it is. Try it. You'll...

Many thanks to the imgurian who posted  this recipe , which served as the inspiration for a lunch recipe  that my dear partner was heartbroken to learn was for his lunch, not his dinner (despite the fact that I was cooking it at dinner time). Curried Chicken and Broccoli with Quinoa Ingredients 3.5 cups water 1.5 cups quinoa, rinsed 1 medium onion, coarse-diced 1 medium sweet potato, chopped into pieces ~1"x1/2" in size 2 heads broccoli, cut into bite-size florets 1 heaping tsp minced ginger 2 tbsp minced garlic 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup water 2 tbsp curry powder 1 tbsp chili powder 1 tsp black pepper (I so eyeballed this it's not even funny) Instructions 1. Put your water on to boil in a medium saucepan. Rinse your quinoa and set it aside. 2. Cut up the onion, sweet potato, and broccoli. Put the onion with the garlic and ginger. 3. Cut up the chicken into little bite-size pieces. 4...

We do fondue all of once a year, always on New Year's Eve. We talk a lot about doing fondue other times throughout the year, but it never seems to happen. Probably because fondue tends to be on the pricey side of things, and something about eating a huge pot of cheese when my cholesterol is flirting with being problematic just seems like a really bad call. Still. Fondue is tasty times. And as a send-off to 2013, we found a  really freakin' good fondue recipe , one so good, it'll probably be our tradition from now on to use it on New Year's Eve. Maybe use it on other days of the year, too. Who knows! (Note: This is a large meal for two people, a satisfyingly small meal for four. I think I'll double it for four people next year, even though three of the four of us are trying to lose weight.) Cheesy Send-off New Year's Eve Fondue Ingredients 1 tsp [2 tsp] diced garlic 1 cup [2 cups] white wine (I used Riesling because that's what I had on hand) 1 ...

Christmas 2012 did its level best to dispose of me and my partner. We both caught the flu, with symptoms manifesting 3 hours into the 14-hour drive back home to Ohio. We spent the entire visit sick, which meant we didn't get to visit some of the folks back home we wanted to visit and ended up sleeping way more than we should have. And then, on the 14-hour drive back home to Massachusetts, we got caught in a blizzard somewhere in Maryland and had to stay the night in a motel that, to this day, haunts my nightmares. One of the few good things that came out of Christmas 2012, that said, was the wok my father-in-law gave us. It's a big ol' thing, has a nice sturdy bamboo handle on it, and the stuff I cook in it is easily some of the best stuff I cook, hands-down. This recipe came about from my partner's request that I learn to cook with tofu. I don't know what I did wrong on the first go 'round, but the tofu kind of fell apart. I think I need firmer tofu refrige...