It is officially Christmas time in the Hopkins’ home. Connor drove home from Flagstaff on Wednesday afternoon, Marissa flew in from San Francisco yesterday afternoon, and Dave’s mom, Pat, flew in from Illinois last night. The gang’s all here, time to celebrate! Nothing like a nice hot bowl of soup to get the party started, well that and a glass of wine…

When you taste this creamy, thick, and rich soup you will swear that is it loaded with cream and fat… but no, the only fat comes from 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and that is divided into 12 servings, so nearly fat-free!

And the color, oh it is lovely – thanks to the last-second addition of a bunch of spinach leaves. Check out this photo of the soup with and without the addition of spinach, just to show you the lovely transformation the spinach makes to the end result.

Healthy? Oh, this soup is plenty healthy… cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, and spinach – on mine! Plus it uses the usually discarded broccoli stalks. I almost never discard broccoli stalks, they are flavor-packed and delicious! For instance, when I stir-fry, I use a vegetable peeler on the tough outer part of the stalk and then slice them up and throw them in the wok. No need to peel the stalks for the soup, they will get plenty tender during the simmering stage.

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Turkey!?! Is it too early to begin worrying and wondering what you’re going to do with your leftover turkey?  Since Thanksgiving is one week from today, I don’t think so.  After turkey sandwiches,  I think leftover turkey works best treated with a Mexican or a Western flair, so that’s what I’ve provided for you today.

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This is the recipe using smoked salmon that I told you about a couple of days ago, the one I found in an old Gourmet Magazine and wanted to try for my smoked salmon-loving husband.  It is a winner!!! Perfect for picnics, tailgating, or lunch brown-bagging.

If you made the Brussels sprout salad from yesterday’s post, then you have extra mustard vinaigrette leftover… use 1/4 cup of that and just stir in the shallot listed here… then skip making the vinaigrette in this recipe, and you are ready to rock and roll.

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A gâteau (pronounced ga-toe) is a French cake, often specifically a sponge cake.  1. a rich or fancy cake. 2. food baked or served in the form of a cake.

After my Wednesday appearance on Valley Dish, I had a stack of about 30 herb crêpes left over. Crêpes freeze very well, so a dozen were wrapped, labeled, and frozen for future use. Fortunately, I had seen this, just the Sunday before, on my favorite daily shopping website; One Kings Lane:

Spinach Gruyere Crepe Gâteau

This savory cake is a work of genius. It is 6 inches in diameter and features a seemingly endless stack of delicate crepes, each layered with classic flavors – aged Gruyere cheese, tender onion, and spinach. This is rich, soul-satisfying fare, with an absolutely stunning presentation. $65 Retail; One Kings Lane price $45

That inspired me to make my own version with the addition of luscious duxelles. (Duxelles is a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms, shallots, and garlic sautéed in butter and reduced to a thick mixture with cream. Often used as a stuffing; notably, beef Wellington, or as a garnish.)

An alternative smoked salmon gâteau (much quicker and easier) is at the bottom of the post. Either version makes a perfect light dinner, lunch, or brunch dish.

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About two weeks ago I told you that I was on a “special, highly covert, high-security assignment” for The Arizona Republic. Well, today is the day that the result is appearing as the cover story of the Food section. You may recall that the assignment was to develop recipes using Hamburger Helper. I have to admit that when Karen Fernau, the Food editor, called me and asked if I’d develop recipes for the cover, I was excited as could be. Then as she continued and told me exactly what it entailed, I was disappointed and – well, honestly – disgusted! Eww! But after diving into the task at hand, I have to say, I found it seriously challenging and that made it fun! Surprising all around! Here is one of the three recipes that I developed, with a couple more pictures than you’ll get from the newspaper. It was voted the family favorite in our house. And here is THE LINK to the full story and the other two recipes.

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There is a multitude of things I like about this soup; #1 It is super green – one of my favorite colors, #2 It is super healthy – no roux or cream to thicken, and #3 It is super versatile.

Plus, it is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day thanks to its super greenness (only about 23 days away – yes I do count it down- I can’t help it – I’m 100% Irish !) It is already plenty healthy as is, but even more so when prepared vegetarian style using vegetable broth and tofu instead of chicken broth and chicken. And it is perfect for Lent, just replace the chicken with cooked and diced shrimp and you’re all set for a Friday night meal.

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My darling daughter, Marissa, requested I post some yummy and easy sides. How about an outline – sort of a guide on how to make quick improvisational sides anytime you want? I made this dish with what I had on hand in my produce drawers. You begin by gathering your hard vegetables together; such as onion, carrots, celery, bell peppers, fennel, parsnips, squash, etc. Clean and chop.

Next, pull out your soft vegetables; things as spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, leftover cooked potatoes, etc., and prep them. Sauté the hard vegetables together until soft, add in the soft veggies, and season, that’s all there is to it! You can add in other items too, such as canned drained beans, chickpeas, frozen corn, chopped olives, or artichoke hearts…getting the idea?

Once you have the vegetables cooked, use them in pasta, salads, quesadillas, wraps, or on their own as a nutritious, colorful side dish.  I like to keep a small bowl on hand to add to scrambled eggs for a quick, satisfying, and “no-brainer” breakfast. (because who wants to think too hard in the morning?)

Here, I am adding them to some brown rice as a side. Instead of the rice, mix it up by serving on top of couscous or quinoa. Also pictured at the bottom, I’ve chilled the rice and veggie mixture, and formed it into patties (mix in a tablespoon or two of sour cream, mayonnaise, beaten egg, crème fraîche, or soft cream cheese to help bind the mixture, if needed). Bread the patty with a mixture of Parmesan cheese and panko, chill the breaded rice cakes for a couple of hours, then cook in a little olive oil, to brown and crisp them, and serve on their own or with a bit of hot marinara sauce. Versatile, right?

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Two of the most “frequently asked questions” I get when I’m entertaining or teaching a cooking class, “Do you eat like this every night!?”… and… “What kind of things do you make for weeknight dinners?”  The answers: “No, I only eat like this when I’m entertaining or teaching a class.” and “The sort of things I make for weeknight dinners are dishes that come together without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!”

This pasta is exactly that sort of dish. If you were to drop by my house and look in my fridge, you’d always find things like fresh spinach, romaine or mixed greens, basil, citrus, and bell peppers. And my freezer is never without IQF (individually quick frozen) shrimp, scallops, and chicken breasts. The pantry is stocked to the brim; a variety of pasta, jars of olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and the list goes on. When your kitchen is stocked in this way, the possibilities are endless and you’re always able to make a meal without the trip to the store.

I know exactly what you’re saying to yourself now…”Sure, the possibilities are endless… for you, because you can just ‘make up a recipe’ without a cookbook.” And that is true, but I’m going to turn you on to a website where you can just plug in one of the ten ingredients you have on hand, and magically dozens of recipes will appear so that you can make with what you have!  In fact, I went there and put in all the ingredients from this pasta recipe and it came up with 88 different recipes for me!  Sounds awesome, doesn’t it!?! CLICK HERE for that link. Next, be ready to cook that way, by going to my Basic Pantry  (just CLICK HERE) and stock up, so you can create something new “at the drop of a dime” too.

P.S. This pasta is a great vegetarian dish, just leave out the shrimp!

P.S.S. The live TV shoot yesterday went swimmingly, if you would like to view it, go to the “In The News” page up at the top-left of this page and choose the Valley Dish – Ravioli Lasagna post.

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Tonight my husband, Dave, is off at a Company Softball Game. This is a new thing for his office – participating in softball. They played their first game last week and lost. Tonight is a double-header, so there’s a 50/50 chance they might win one, right? I don’t know, he’s the CPA, so my life-long mental handicap in math is kept in business without a need to ever have to do any sort of it that doesn’t involve measuring cups, degrees, ounces, and pounds, etc. And I thank God for that on a daily basis! If they do start winning, maybe I’ll go watch a game, but there has to be at least a chance of a win for me to get excited enough to go! Something that does excite me?…I went to lunch today my BFF, Peggy, I love, love, love, her and love to spend time with her!  So after a lunch out, I needed a light and quick dinner tonight and this one fits the bill. BTW, Peggy had a very yummy Corn Chowder that I will be trying to duplicate for her, so she can make it at home. Look for that in the next week or so. Back to the recipes at hand, here are a few tips and techniques to make this dinner truly quick and easy. Usually I think of Potato Pancakes as a bit heavy, but these really are light and oh so tasty. Part of the secret is adding the 0% Greek yogurt, I keep pushing here, instead of milk and butter for the mashed potatoes. Chilling the mashed potatoes before forming into cakes is also important to the texture of the finished product. I had leftover Brie cheese from the salad a few days ago, so I actually made 4 of the cakes with Brie and the other 4 with Parmesan. Honestly any type of cheese you like or have on hand is fine to use and I couldn’t really tell any difference in texture or enough difference in taste between the two versions. Next, what are Panko breadcrumbs? Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs. They are made from crustless bread and are a coarse grind which are more like flakes than crumbs. These fakes have a larger surface area, that not only absorbs flavorings and seasonings well, but absorb far less oil or grease and stay crispy longer. They are readily available in the Asian section or where you would find breadcrumbs in your grocery store.  Use them in any and every recipe that calls for dried breadcrumbs, from now on, and you will be a happy camper!  Lastly, for the salad, you’ll notice that all of the vegetables are julienned. If you don’t know what that means, hey, I’m not going to tell you here! You will benefit by going to my July 27 post “the basic kitchen: glossary of cooking terms” and learning about it there. All of the July posts are “the basic kitchen” and are a wealth of information, so check it out! This is a colorful and healthy salad anytime, but especially if you have carrots in your garden or pick them up at a farmer’s market. It is “The Best” with fresh carrots! If you don’t have access to them, just purchase a bag of shredded carrots (which are the same size and shape as hand-cut julienned) from the grocery store and use them, it is delicious and convenient that way!

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