While this was the result of opportunistic scavenging, it was quite amazing enough to write down.

• One nice grilling steak
• World Spice’s Piri Piri
• crumbled peppercorn Boursin cheese

Rub the steak with piri piri, or another peppercentric rub, and char it on the grill until medium rare on the inside. When you take it off the grill, lay it on a light dusting of the cheese, just enough to melt and mix with the spicy blood of the steak to form the most sensual of carnivorous experiences.

Ok, so it’s not really like a pizza, but kind of it is. It is cooked on a pizza pan…

• Two large russet potatoes, cleaned and thinly sliced
• a handful of shallots, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, sliced
• World Spice’s Dukka and Urfa Biber
• olive oil
• herbed goat cheese, crumbled

Lightly coat potato slices in olive oil and place on perforated pizza pan. Sprinkle garlic, shallots, and mushrooms over the top as well as a nice dusting of dukka and urfa biber. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, then add goat cheese for the last ten minutes. I served this with a wine reduction sauce made after pan searing a nice peppery steak. mmm!

• 2 lbs chicken breasts, cut in large pieces
• 1 Mango, diced
• 1/2 White Onion, diced
• 1 huge garlic clove, diced
• red pepper flakes
• Kansas City Style BBQ sauce
• Red Ale
• buns

Poach and fork-pull chicken. When chicken is nearly done, begin to saute the garlic and onion. Add mango and red pepper flakes. When ready, add a bunch of BBQ sauce and a bottle of beer. Bring to a boil and add chicken, simmering until thickened. Serve on buns, with more beer on the side.

I needed to feed my mechanic, as promised, and only had two single serving pepperoni frozen pizzas…. the square kind that puff in the oven. I needed to make them edible. This works great with any toppings, though I normally prefer to buy the Digiorno pizza crusts and add my own cheese and sauce (I suppose I should write those up as well).

• two frozen single serving pizzas
• two large garlic cloves
• four small shallots
• mexican oregano

Saute garlic, then ad shallots and saute as well. Add oregano, saute some more, and then top pizzas and cook.

• Orzo (1 box)
• two heads brocolli
• 1 mango
• 1 bag snow peas
• World Spice Baharat seasoning
• garlic

Cut mango into little pieces and roast. Saute garlic, snow peas and brocolli until they just begin to turn bright. Add orzo, water (per box instructions), and baharat. Bring to boil, then cover and cook for 7 minutes. Add mango, stir, and serve.

I made this up for a party at my house, thinking I had dried cherries. I did not, so I substituted fresh pear and changed up the recipe somewhat.

• 1 bag chocolate chips
• 1/3 c. half and half
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 bosc pears
• blood orange rind
• vanilla cognac (Navan)
• World Spice Mayan Cocoa Mix (about three tbs)

melt chocolate over low heat with butter. Add half and half and cognac when nearly melted. Zest the blood orange and chop the pear into little squares and add to chocolate. Spoon onto waxed paper and put in freezer for a couple of hours.

To be fair, I got this idea from a very fancy tapas restaurant I went to, but added a few things. Theirs had morels, which I don’t know how to work with yet.

• farro
• marscapone
• shallots
• crimini mushrooms
• garlic

Boil farro for 45 minutes. While that’s happening, saute some minced garlic (about three cloves) and add sliced shallots and mushrooms until mushrooms are nicely shrunken. When farro is finished, add sauted veggies and a little tub of marscapone. It’s an incredibly unique side dish and is incredibly, incredibly good cold the next day.

• 3/4 lb chuck roast from a local butcher
• 1 16oz jar pepperocini
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 (or more) yams
• 5 cloves garlic
• World Spice Madras Curry Mix, about four tbs

Chop onion into large pieces, cut yams in half. Put all ingredients in crock pot, including the pepperocini juice. Turn on low and let sit for 26 hours. All the vegetables will blacken into an unrecognizable mash that, when spread on the meat, is simply the best thing ever. …I’m not joking

Very tangy, incredibly flavorful.

In an online discussion on waffles (as upon buying some candles that smelled just like waffles, it became imperative my housemate and I buy a waffle iron immediately) I was pondering savory waffles and came up with the following idea. Now to start, I used the basic waffle instructions from Joy of Cooking, then added my own mix of savory items.

• 1 3/4 c. flour
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 stick melted butter
• three eggs
• 1/4 lb shaved Boar’s Head Smoked ham, cut small
• 1/5 lb shaved cave-aged gruyere, cut very small
• 2 tbs rosemary

Combine first set of dry ingredients and whisk. In second bowl, combine milk, eggs, and butter. Whisk the two together, then mix in ham, gruyere, and rosemary

Make waffles and spread some marscapone on top. I served these with peach juice mimosas. ZOMG! Win.

My friends were having a Mexican Potluck, so I spent my afternoon creating a new burrito filling. It was delicious – I wouldn’t change a thing about it and will certainly make it again and again.

• 1.25 lb. flank steak, cut in thin, small slices
• 1 mango, cut in small cubes and roasted
• 2 sweet potatoes, cute in small cubes and roasted
• 2 clove garlic
• 2 serrano peppers, sliced
• 1 can black beans
• 1 yellow onion, cubed
• frozen corn
• fajita and taco spice blend (from World Spice Merchants)

While potato and mango are roasting (325 for 30 minutes, tossed lightly with olive oil and aleppo pepper), prepare other ingredients and get large skillet (I prefer a large sauce pan with high sides) warm on medium heat. Add minced garlic to pan for a minute, then add onion and serrano pepper. When onion just begins to lose opacity, add meat, rubbed with the spice mix. When meat is cooked thoroughly, add frozen corn. Add beans and when heated, add roasted sweet potato and mango.

Served in a toasted tortilla with a bunch of fresh tomato and a little sour cream.