James Stewart

This recipe is not authentic but tastes awesome.

• 1 cup cous-cous (the quick cooking kind)
  
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/2 zucchini, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
  
• 1/3-1/2 cup garlic salami, caorsely chopped
  
• olive oil
  

Start boiling water for the cous-cous. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Chop the vegetables in the order above and add them as you chop, pausing between the zucchini and the pepper until the zucchini starts to get soft. Cook until the fat has come out of the sausage, like 5 minutes.

Transfer all of that to a serving dish and cover. Prepare the cous-cous in the sauce pan. This will cause it to soak up some of the flavors hopefully and means one less dish to wash. Mine calls for another tablespoon of olive oil then 1 cup of water. After that I cover the sauce-pan for 5 minutes. Fluff it with a fork and serve it in bowls with the sausage and veggies over top.

For a veggie version you'd have to add some salt and maybe some garlic or garlic powder in place of the salami.

The above serves 2 as a smallish portion (most cookbooks' idea of serves 2) or one very hungry person.

All of the following are recipes from a tex-mex dinner I cooked last Saturday night: ( tortilla soup, cheese enchiladas, mexican rice, black beans )

I also made guacamole, pico de gallo, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

For lack of a better name, I'm calling this southwest minestrone.  It's got chili peppers, beans, and pasta.  I've made this three times, once vegetarian.  I'll give both variations here.  Please use some judgement with the measures; I never measure anything when I cook so these could be a bit off.  Beginning to end, the whole thing probably takes 2 hours.  At the measures below it serves 3-4.

A week or so ago I went to Whole Foods for lunch since I was out running errands and feeling an acute lack of greens. There I had a salad and some Cuban black bean soup. It was very good but I thought I could improve on it. Tonight I was craving it again so I looked up a recipe on the internet and gave it a shot. It came out very edible but still needs some work. The recipe I followed.

Here's what I made:( recipe )

36 basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
150 g (5 oz) pine nuts
100 g (4 oz, 1.25 cup) freshly grated romano and parmesan
200 mL (7 oz) good quality olive oil
salt and pepper

wash basil, pat dry. blend in a food processor. with garlic. add nuts. add cheese. add oil until texture is appropriate.

Great for bruschetta (spread on ciabatta or other good white bread, toast in broiler or on a grill). Not really proper bruschetta, but it tastes good nonetheless.