Mom's Slow Cooker Lentil Soup

1 cup lentils, french ones, preferably
4 cups liquid, preferably vegetable broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 carrot, chopped
Black Pepper to taste
Dash cumin, whole or ground

Place all in slow cooker, cook at low for 10 hours.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread - New York Times

Recipe: No-Knead Bread - New York Times

I have not tried this, but will very soon...

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Meredith's Recipe

Cream together:
2 sticks of salted butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar

Beat in:
1 & 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, one at a time

In a separate bowl, mix together:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rolled/instant oats
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Incorporate dry ingredients into butter/sugar mix 1/2 cup at a time. Fold in 1 & 1/2 cups chocolate chips. (And one cup of chopped pecans if your dad asks nicely.) Drop cookies (about the size of a tablespoon) onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7-9 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown.

Guacamole

Meredith's Recipe

Mash with a fork or pastry masher:
2 ripe avocados (they should give a little when you press the skin with your finger, but not too much)
juice of half a lime
1 tsp salt

Stir in:
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small fresh tomato, chopped
1 can mild roasted green chilies, drained

You can add a little bit of garlic powder, chopped jalapenos, or a dash of cayenne pepper, but it's best to keep it simple. It's really all about how good the avocados are. Also, you can add more or less salt or lime juice to taste.

Coconut Rice (Indian)

1 cup brown basmati rice
1 - 2 cups chopped onion*
1- 3 cloves minced garlic*
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed ginger*
2 - 3 tablespoons Oil, preferably coconut
2 - 3 tablespoons curry paste (madras or other)
1/4 to 1/2 cup (or more) shredded or desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
2 cups water (or broth) (!.5 cups in pressure cooker)
Salt to taste

Heat oil in pan, add onion and saute until soft or carmelizing.
Add garlic and ginger, saute another minute.
Add curry paste and rice and saute 1-2 minutes.

Add liquid and coconut and cook by preferred method (rice cooker, microwave or in loaf pan in oven)

For Instant pot, 20 minutes on high and release for about ten minutes should do it.

The onion, garlic and ginger area all optional, but really make it taste much better.

Bombay Potatoes

Potatoes
Curry paste (mild, madras or byrani are good)
Chopped onion
Oil

Parboil potatoes, then cut into large chunks.

Saute onions in oil briefly, then add curry paste and potatoes.

Stir and cook over medium heat, like home fries.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

1 lb Boneless chicken (1/2 kg approx, cut into cubes)

4 tsp Store bought tikka masala paste

2 large Onions, chopped fine.

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 T Oil (more if needed to saute onions)

Ciantro leaves (for garnishing)


Instructions

Saute onions in oil until soft. Add tikka paste and the chicken and saute briefly.

Add tomatoes and simmer 20 -30 minutes.

Serve with rice or naan.