I have a reasonable collection of cookbooks. But there is only one I turn to as my stand by, my no-fail cookbook that will probably give me a recipe for which I have all the ingredients. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook was first published in 1896 and I now have the thirteenth edition which was my only cookbook in college. It’s small, no fuss, easy (for the most part), and perfect for the current economic grocery climate. Here are a few of my favorites - I highly recommend investing in this book. Your basic fridge and pantry supplies will go far.

Something I love to do is “accidently” forget to eat all our bananas and as they get darker and more ripe, begin my plans of making banana bread. I also found a half full bag of Nestle Toll House in my pantry so I dumped those in and made a great banana chocolate bread. Here’s the recipe:

3 ripe bananas, well mashed ( I had 2, use whatever you have)

2 eggs, well beaten

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (if you have them, this is traditional, or add chocolate chips)

1. Preaheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan. Mix the bananas and eggs together in a large bowl. Stir in the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

2. Add the walnuts or chocolate chips and stir to blend. Put the batter in  the pan and bake for 1 hour. Remove fromt he pan to a rack. Serve warm

I found a great deal on blueberries at Whole Foods this week and turned that into a week of breakfast goodies for us. This recipe is more like a scone, not a super sweet cake which I prefer with my coffee. As I was looking for recipes I came across this gem from Ina Garten - but again it’s an additional trip to the grocery store and a possible coronary from the butter. Fannie required no extra trips or cash.

2 cups white flour, divided - reserve 1/4 cup for blueberries.

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 pint blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Butter muffin pans or line with baking cups.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, and butter, stirring only enough to dampen the flour. Reserve a 1/4 cup of flour and sprinkle over your blueberries. Stir into batter. The batter should not be smooth. Spoon into the muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

This isn't the exact dish, but it gives you the idea!

Well, it’s about 5 ingredients plus your usual suspects salt and pepper and olive oil. We’ve made this dish twice in 2 weeks. It’s cheap, really cheap and simple and the fresh oregano is a perfect winter herb. Definitely get the fresh oregano, it’s not the same with dried. The second time around I used drained diced tomatoes instead of going through the tomato peeling process you’ll see below. You could also use leftover mashed or boiled potatoes to cut down the assembly time. Chicken thighs are a cheap cut of meat, so try to splurge for the organic/free range, plus it tastes better than chicken breasts (boring!). It only serves 4, and you might want seconds so it doesn’t stick around your fridge for too long! Bon Appetit!

Crispy and sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed new Potatoes and Tomatoes (Jamie at Home)

Serves 4

1 3/4 lb new poatotes, scrubbed

12 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on. Cut off the bone into about 3 strips per thigh

1 1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes, in the summer you can use the pretty multicolored ones.

A bunch of fresh oregano, leaves picked

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

Red wine vinegar

1. Put the potatoes into a large saucepan of salted boiling water and boil until cooked.

2. While the potatoes are cooking away, preheat your oven to 400F. Place the chicken thigh strips in a large bowl. Rub the meat all over with olive oil and sprinkle with slat and pepper and toss. Heat a large frying pan, big enough to hold all the chicken pieces snugly skin side down, you can also do this in batches. Toss and fry over a high heat for 10 minutes until almost cooked then remove with a slotted spoon to an ovenproof pan or dish.

3. Prick to tomatoes with a sharp knife. Place them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for a minute or so. Drain and when cool enough to handle, pinch off their skins. Drain the potatoes and lightly crush them by pushing down on the with your thumb

4. Bash up most of the oregano leaves with a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar, or a Flavor Shaker. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil, a good splash of red wine vinegar and some pepper and give everything another bash. Add to the chicken with the potatoes, the tomatoes and the rest of the oregano leaves. Toss everything together carefully. Spread out in a single layer in an appropriately sized roasting pan ( I used my 13×9 Pyrex). Bake for 40 minutes in the oven until golden.

I think this is a great dish when you’re thinking of spring, of primavera. This dish is adapated from Serious Eats, and besides the bit of cream it was very healthy. I’d also recommend using wheat pasta although you don’t get quite this bright almost neon green sauce. Johnathan hates peas but ate this disguised dish gladly. Here’s how it goes:

Serves 2

1/2 pound of pasta, any kind you have

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 medium onion diced

1 package of frozen green peas

3/4 cup of cream

3 slices of Canadian Bacon cut into bite sized pieces, browned

salt, pepper, parm for finishing

1. Bring pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the box - al dente is best.

2. Meanwhile, heat a teaspoon of butter, or olive oil, or I like Smart Balance in a medium skillet. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 2 minutes until they sweat. Add the frozen peas and cook another 2-3 minutes until they’re cooked through.

3. Transfer peas to a food processor or blender. Blend and add the cream until it’s thick and pulverized. Place a sieve over a small saucepan. Pour the pea purée into the sieve, pushing it through with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Discard solids. Over a low flame, warm the purée through. Remove from heat and season well with salt and freshly ground pepper. Optional: a pinch of ground nutmeg will accentuate the sweetness of the peas.

4. Toss the pea sauce, pasta and Canadian bacon together in a large bowl and serve with freshly grated parm.

When I started this site, I was so excited about cooking. I wanted to try everything, especially if it was a classic and required technique and presented the greatest challenge. I enjoyed cooking dishes from my childhood, Jamie Oliver and Julia Child. But 6 months of cream, butter, creme fraiche, and homemade pasta have caught up with Johnathan and I. Alas, it is a new season for my cooking, but I promise to keep it interesting. There will be a lot less butter, if any at all, and I’m learning the miracle of fewer ingredients, frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes. In the article previous to this, theres a great recipe for veggie chili that’s chock full of good things. Here I’ve also created a warm comforting tortellini soup that blows Rachel Ray’s 30 minutes out of the water. This is something I’ll take to work and reheat and feel a lot better about rather than joining my boss in her BLT binge to cope with the economy. Here’s to a happy and healthier new year!

Quick Tortellini Soup

Serves 4-6

3 Cloves of garlic minced

1 carton of Chicken Stock (32oz, about 4 cups)

1 package of frozen tortellini - mine was 14oz

1 package of frozen spinach, thawed

1 can diced or stewed tomatoes (14.5oz)

Dash of fresh oregano

the usual suspects - Olive Oil, Salt and Fresh ground pepper

1. In a large saucepan or stock pot, heat about one teaspoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and brown. Add the chicken stock and frozen tortellini. Cover and wait for it to boil. Uncover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, oregano, and spinach and simmer uncovered for about 5 more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

This was another dish I wanted to make before Thanksgiving. It’s light and fresh, but still looks festive with the green cucumber and red tomatoes. Cornbread is also on everyone’s mind right now as well. I’ll admit I used a cornbread mix (gasp) but I had make something for dinner in between making turkey stock, gravy base, and pumpkin cheesecake for Thursday. The cucumber was $.50, I used half the tomatoes of a package that was $1.89, and we’ve been using the Fontina since last week and this was the last of it. This would also be great on Friday after you’re stuffed and tired of the heavy food (if you are that is). There’s no cooking, and you might just have all the ingredients on hand. Here’s Giada’s recipe.

So obviously this is Thanksgiving week and prep will begin today! Last week, I will admit, we didn’t eat at home much which indicates the holidays are in full swing. I’m out all day and pick up a falafel sandwich on my way to somewhere else and Johnathan usually just eats pretzels for as long as possible if I’m not there to feed him. This week probably won’t be much different. Turkey prep and holiday shopping take a lot of time and hutzpah. We’re also gearing up for a week in the UK for a wedding, so there’s shoe repair and clutch searching to be done as well. That aside, I still have to think of some quick dishes for us this week. I still have cheese from last week as well as tomatoes and a good stock of canned goods. I see pizza in our near future, and the panzanella I didn’t make last week. Here’s what I’m thinking:

Monday - BLTs with Fontina

Tuesday - Panzanella with cornbread

Wednesday - homemade pizza with gruyere and pepperoni

Thursday - Thanksgiving - I”m making the bacon dijon turkey from Bon Appetit

Friday - Leftovers, and into next week. I saw Sunny Anderson make these fried stuffing balls - yes please!

This week I’m going to have to do my grocery shopping in batches, so I’m going to break down the prices by meal, referring to various receipts. You’ll see the totals below each meal. This is one of my favorite easy sauces - carbonara. Not so healthy, but oh so delicious. Bacon is the only meat I’m buying this week. My sister-in-law had carbonara at a restaurant last night, so I thought I’d try to be remotely healthy by adding some broccoli. I used frozen chopped broccoli - it was on sale for $.99 and didn’t have anything added to it, so I did it. I’m not familiar with using frozen veggies but this worked great. We also made our own pasta since we had all the ingredients and didn’t want to buy any. This is quick classic that feeds a lot - warning - it doesn’t reheat that well, so try to eat it in one day or one sitting. Here’s how it goes:

Serves 4

Pasta Recipe

8 Slices of Bacon, coursely chopped

1 package of frozen chopped broccoli - or fresh, or any other veggie that suits you, maybe zucchini?

4 egg yolks - you can save the egg whites for an omlette!

1/2 cup of heavy cream

Couple handfuls of Parm

Fresh Thyme - I didn’t have any, so I just used my dried stuff.

Fresh ground pepper, salt

1. Bring a salted pot of water to a boil (or put it on the stove and just wait, ours takes forever). In a small bowl combine egg yolks, cream, and one handful of Parm. Don’t mix too much, just enough to combine everything. Set mixture aside.

2. In the largest fry pan you have - 14 inches is great - heat over medium heat and add a couple turns of olive oil. Add chopped bacon and fry until crispy and brown. Defrost broccoli, and add to the bacon and oil. Let is soak up the bacon oil and fry just a little bit. Season generously with pepper - you want it to have a bit of a kick. Add thyme to taste - about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.

3. Cook pasta and reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and transfer to the fry pan. NOW, TURN THE HEAT OFF. Add about half of your cooking water and the egg and cream mixture. You can even let the pan cool for a few minutes, you just want to make sure you don’t scramble your eggs - they will cook through, but you want them silky not scrambled. Mix everything together and add more water so the sauce is silky and loose. Add the other handful of Parm and serve immediately with fresh ground pepper. You probably won’t need more salt because of the bacon, Parm, and salted pasta water. Bon Appétit!

Grocery Totals:

Eggs, Semolina Flour, Thyme, Salt, Pepper, Oil, Parm - Already had, some carried over from last week.

Frozen Chopped Broccoli - $.99

Heavy Cream - $2.29 (used only 1/2 cup)

Bacon - $4.99 (used half of package)