Butternut Squash: Red Curry with Squash and Tofu

Photos by Meghan Rose

Squash and tofu in red curry is a common menu item in Thai restaurants and is easy to recreate at home. It can be served over rice, rice noodles, or on its own as a soup. This pictured bowl would have been prettier with a fresh basil garnish, but it was a winter night in Wisconsin and I didn't feel like making a run to Asian Midway Foods for fresh basil.

Toffee: Toffee and Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are thin, crispy cookies that are the perfect reason to own a silicone baking mat. The toffee pieces tend to stick a bit to ordinary cookie sheets, though a few broken ones can just be the rejects that have to be eaten immediately. It's a personal choice.

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 cups unsalted butter

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped toffee pieces

1 cup dark or bittersweet chocolate chips/pieces.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Cream butter, brown sugar and white sugar in a mixing bowl and beat in eggs. Add flour, salt and baking soda and stir until blended. Add toffee and chocolate pieces and mix. Drop onto a cookie sheet using a spoon or fancy cookie scoop. Bake 9-12 minutes at 375 or until cookies are light brown. Wait a few minutes to cool on cookie sheet and transfer to cooling rack.

Oranges: Glazed Citrus and Raspberries

Photo by Douglas Detert

 This is a variation on a recipe from Julia Child's "The French Chef Cookbook" published in 1968. It can be a great chance to practice your fancy knife skills by making only orange and grapefruit supremes, though I have a shortcut that works almost as well and saves more of the fruit. For recipe, click on blog title or "read more".