What I eat when I eat alone:deconstructed tomato sandwich

Toast about six inches of good baguette or other good bread. Scrape outside with one clove garlic, sliced in two. Tear open bread, and fill to overflowing with chopped really good tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Eat. (If I make it right, I have to use a knife and fork. "Drizzle" is usually "drown".)

Green bean and okra stir fry

I might be allergic to okra but it is so delightful I continue to eat it. (I suspect inulin.) Down in this giant city thing, the only places to buy okra are those famed inner city convenience stores and farmer's markets catering to Asians. I serve this as a side dish to the Annapurna dal.

Heat 1 tbs oil on high heat and add 1 tsp. mustard seeds. Stir until seeds start to pop. Add 1/2 pound okra, 1 chopped serrano chile, and 1/4 pound green beans, broken into pieces. Cook, stirring frequently, until okra is tender and beans are bright green.

Sprinkle with salt and cumin. Serve.

Tomato Cucumber Indian Salad

I've been making the Annapurna dal a lot this summer, but I've been using quick cooking mung beans and throwing them into the rice cooker. Since sludge is our goal, it's great to not have to worry about burning. This is one of the side dishes I favor.

Slice three or four good tomatoes and a couple of pickling cucumbers. Sprinkle with cumin and salt. Stir and serve.

Few ingredients, an entire dinner that doesn't require a stove- life in summer is pretty good.

Fava Bean Puree

Hey, once again spring saps me of any desire to write about food. There's no photo either- envision a pale green paste that pretty much ends up directly in my mouth.

Fava beans are the original European bean. They aren't very good and so are no longer a staple. Since they have a stronger flavor than other, significantly better beans, they can be used to make a tasty canape topping. The paste can also be spread on crackers as part of the solution to the 800 calorie problem.

Makes enough puree for lunch for two days or appetizers for a reasonable number of guests.

Shell one pound of fava beans. Blanch and peel beans, and if necessary cook until palatable in salted water. (About five minutes.) Grind two cloves green garlic (or one clove regular garlic) and a scant handful of parsley in a food processor. Add the beans and pulse until smooth. Salt to taste, and add the juice of one lemon and 2 tbs olive oil. Stir until combined. Serve on crackers or bruschetta- it's nice with arugula on top.

I mostly like it because it's Pre-Columbian European and reminds me how much chewing life used to require. It is not calorie dense.

Insalata Primavera

I think I might be the only person on Earth who eats pasta primavera and thinks "What's with all the annoying pasta?" I prefer to have this flavor dense salad. If you wanted to turn this into pasta primavera, you could add 1/2 lb of cooked spaghetti or penne at the end.

Shell about a pound of fava beans in the pod. Unless the beans are very young, (smaller than a pea) peel off the outer coat of the bean. Take a moment to be happy that you eat this foundation of pre-Columbian European cuisine once a year. Yay Phaseolus domesitcation events!

Slice the white parts of two or three bulbs of green garlic- or 2 or 3 spring onions- or all of the above. Saute gently in oil in a large pan for about five minutes.

Stem one pound (one bunch) of asparagus. Break (or cut) into two inch slices. Add the fava beans to the garlic pan and saute for about three minutes. Add the asparagus and continue to saute until bright green.

Remove from heat and drizzle with olive oil and a generous coating of black pepper. Add about 1/2 cup of chopped Italian parsley. Stir. Eat.

Popcorn is Totally a Meal!

The mid-sentence caps in the title give it unnecessary gravitas.

Popcorn is technically a whole grain. This means that sprinkling popcorn with lemon, olive oil, and nutritional yeast is technically a healthy lunch.

Homemade Ricotta: a Five Minute Solution for my First World Problem

The milk sometimes starts to go bad before we drink it all. This didn't happen when we drank conventional milk, and it wouldn't happen if my husband didn't reject the milkfat percentages available in smaller cartons.

Someday, after the fall, I will read this post and hate myself. Look at those out-of-season blueberries, future self. They were a dollar. I served them with agave nectar and a sprinkle of cocoa powder.

Hey, at least you still have electricity... And ricotta cheese is always delightful, right? No matter what?

Take six parts almost-bad milk and one part cream. (Milk is almost-bad when it tastes fine, but then five minutes later your mouth tastes like sour milk.) Heat it gently until it is boiling softly. Add two tbs lemon juice for every three cups of milk. Stir vigorously until it separates into curds and whey. Appetizing, right?

Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth or two layers of paper towels. Place colander in a slightly larger bowl. Gradually pour the curds and whey into the colander, occasionally pouring whey out of the bowl as needed.

Allow to sit for about an hour, and then remove the drained whey. Put the ricotta into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for up to four days.

Six cups of milk makes just over a cup and a half of cheese.