Goan Black Eyed Pea Curry

Mince 1 small yellow onion (about 1 cup) and saute in oil until browned. Add in your wet masala:

1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4-1/2 tsp chili
1/2 tsp cumin

saute for another minute, then add 1 tomato, diced. Cook down for a minute and add in 2 cans black eyed peas, preferably Goya. Stir to mix

Add in 1 cup hot water. Bring to boil, cover, and simmer 10 minutes

Add 1 cup coconut milk. Simmer 10 more minutes

Add 1 T lemon juice and 2 T chopped cilantro.

Eat with naan or as a soup.

Black Bean Avocado Salsa

Salsa! Salsa!

1, 15 oz. can black beans
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
3 green onions, sliced
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 can tomatoes , including juice (use Rotel with chilis for hot)
1-2 avocado, diced
Lots of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp or more garlic, minced
2 TBS lime juice
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 TBS olive oil

Combine all veggies, whisk juices, oil spices and seasonings. Combine and chill.

Serve with scoops. Enjoy!

Sauteed Eggplant Pasta

Chop up one-two small eggplants into bite size pieces. Saute in oil (lots) with a cover, stirring frequently, until the eggplant is very tender but not total mush.

Meanwhile saute onions(green or regular), some garlic, and a dozen fresh tomatoes, diced. Cook down until you have a nice sauce. Add the eggplant, some herbs, and salt.

Toss with pasta and top with crumbled GOOD feta and garnish with fresh parsley. Olives would be good too!

Pigeon Peas with Mango

Heat oil in a pot, add cumin seeds until they sputter. Throw in a can of pigeon peas, which you might be able to find in the Goya section of the supermarket.

Chop up a mango and throw that in, too. Add a lot of garam masala, turmeric, coriander, salt, garlic, and sesame seeds. Throw in a big pinch of curry leaves, or if you don't have any curry leaves, any leaf that will be a pain to dig out of the dish at the end will substitute just fine.

Cook it for a while and then pick out the curry leaves. Smash it up a bit with a spoon; the mango should be pretty well pulverized at this point. Add chopped cilantro and serve!

Taken very generally from The Times.

Banana Gingerbread

I've listed below the flours I used with great success but you can use all purpose flour or barley flour or any other combo.

1 cup spelt flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 tsp ground ginger
generous sprinkles of cinnamon, all spice, clove, and nutmeg

Combine the above dry ingredients (I sifted them kind of). Then make a hole in the middle and drop in:

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1/3 cup+ brown rice syrup
1/4 cup orange juice

Combine. Add 1 cup raisins

In a separate bowl, mash 3 very ripe bananas and fold into the batter.

Pour into an 11x7 pan that has been lightly oiled and lined with parchment (on top of the oil).

Bake 40 minutes at 350

Xmas Granola

In a very large bowl combine 15 cups of oats, lots of toasted and chopped pecans, walnuts and cashews, a few handfuls of salted whole almonds, 2 cups flax meal, 2-3 cups wheat bran (can do combo of wheat bran and wheat germ but I was out of wheat germ), and 1 cup packed brown sugar.

Helpful hint: For the pecan, walnuts, and cashews I toasted them and then put them in a plastic bag and used a meat hammer to crush them into bite sized pieces. Much easier than a knife!

In a sauce pan combine 2 1/2 cups honey, 1 cup canola oil, 2 Tablespoons vanilla, and 1 1/4 cup water. Heat until bubbling.

Pour over oat mixture. Mix until evenly coated and then bake in batches on baking sheets at 325 for 20 minutes, stirring in the middle. I have a convection oven so I could two sheets at a time.

Let cool and then add lots of good dried fruit. I used fancy raisins.

Cranberry Orange Cornmeal Cake

Preheat to 375. Grease a 10 inch springform cake pan.

In one bowl combine
2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t soda

In another bowl mix together
3 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 T vanilla
1/4 cup plus 2 T oil

In a third bowl mix together
3/4 cup plus 2 T (1 3/4 sticks) butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/4 t salt
zest of 1 orange

Incorporate egg mixture into butter mixture
Add 1/2 of flour mix and mix quickly. Then the rest of the flour and
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 1/4 to 2 cups cranberries

Mix all together, but do not overmix

Pour batter into pan and top with
1 1/4 cups cranberries and 2-3 T sugar

Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.