So I was inspired. Here is my easy peasy recipe.

You Need:

1 cup uncooked basmati rice

roughly 3 cups of mixed vegetables – I used a store bought mix of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower, plus 1 potato and 2 giant button mushrooms

1 onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2-3 generous teaspoons curry powder or bottled curry seasoning in oil

1 sachet creamed coconut (this stuff is fantastic. I’d assume you can get it in the States at any health foodie store.)

Optional: milk or light cream or chicken/vegetable broth

a handful of fresh mint, chopped or torn

oil or butter for sautéing

Begin by cooking rice according to package directions. When rice is finished cooking, add the mint and toss lightly.

While rice is cooking, chop the vegetables into bite sized pieces. You want uniform size for uniform cooking. Don’t worry about having big chunks of onion, sautéing will mellow out the flavor. Set the onions and mushrooms aside.

This next step sounds like a pain but will help you immensely. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and blanch all veggies except for the onion and mushrooms. To blanch, simply boil the vegetables for 2 or 3 minutes then rinse in cool water. If you like soft potatoes and crisper broccoli, do this in batches. Pre-cooking the potatoes will cut down on stir-frying time.

Next, melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it begins to turn translucent. Add in the garlic and the drained, blanched vegetables and stir. After a minute, add the mushrooms. You may need to add a quarter cup or so of water or stock to keep things from sticking. Add the creamed coconut and curry powder. Stir well, adding a bit more water, milk, cream, or chicken broth. Lower heat, and check for seasoning.

When vegetables are uniformly cooked and sauce is creamy, remove from heat. Spoon curry over the mint rice and enjoy.

If you’d like a meaty curry, simply add some diced chicken/lamb/flank steak/whatever when you begin cooking the onions. Omit the butter, and use olive oil only.

Serve this pull-apart treat to your man for breakfast with a good cup of coffee and he’ll never leave you.

1 16 oz can refrigerator biscuits

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup (most of a stick) butter, melted

In a small bowl, mix sugars and cinnamon with a fork. Pop open your can of biscuits and cut them into bite sized pieces. Each biscuit should give you around 4. Dunk each biscuit piece in melted butter, then roll in sugar mixture. Place biscuit pieces evenly in a well-greased Bundt (circular) pan. The buttery butter wrapper is great for greasing pans; just let the butter soften slightly before unwrapping, then slide the greasy paper around your pan. When all biscuit pieces are coated and arranged in pan, pour any leftover sugar and butter over top. Bake at 375° (or whatever temperature your biscuit package recommends) for 17 minutes or until top is crispy. Invert Bundt pan on a plate and let cool slightly before pulling the pan away.

Pull apart and enjoy! This is best the first day or two, but monkey breads never last long. This would be even better with a simple glaze frosting, but I had a hungry boy so that didn’t quite happen. I’ll perfect my recipe and post it later!

Crisp, crunchy, and elegant, these fries are munch-y enough for game day but fancy enough for date-night.

1 bunch of asparagus

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

salt (1/2 teaspoon), pepper(generous pinch), and seasonings of your choice (try 1/2 teaspoon of an Italian herb blend, a sprinkle of garlic powder, or some cayenne pepper)

1 egg

2 tablespoons olive oil

Optional: Ranch dressing or a 79¢ packet of Hollandaise sauce cooked according to directions, for dipping.

Preheat oven to 425° F. Snap the ends off the asparagus. You can cut them, but the tough ends should snap off easily if you try. In a shallow bowl, beat the egg with 2-ish teaspoons of water. Pour the breadcrumbs onto a plate and stir in the seasonings with a fork. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, pour on the olive oil, and jiggle the pan to coat. Using foil is optional, but will be enormously helpful if you don’t like scrubbing greasy cookie sheets.

One or two at a time, dip stalks of asparagus in beaten egg. Roll in breadcrumb mixture to coat, and lay on oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, turn them over, and bake for another 5-8 minutes. Remove from oven. I put mine on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb a little oil before serving.

See, easy peasy. Serve on a pretty plate with Hollandaise sauce or ranch, depending on your mood. I highly recommend Hollandaise for date night. Hollandaise is very sexy. Don’t know why. It just is.

I meant to take a shot of the finished product, but I inhaled these wayyy too fast to photograph. Repeat batch coming soon!

The College Date version is kicked up a bit with a bottle of beer and plenty of spice. If your only memories of meatloaf are cafeteria-style, now’s the time to give it another chance.

1 lb ground beef (or lamb, or turkey)

1 bottle of dark beer (taste tested with Boulevard Brewing Co. Bully Porter)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 of one onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. dried basil

2/3 cup dry bread crumbs (you can find packaged bread crumbs anywhere)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (technically optional, but really makes a difference)

salt (start with 1/2 teaspoon), black pepper (generous pinch), and garlic powder (two generous sprinklings)

your choice of topping (see below)

Put the ground beef in a large plastic bowl. Pour in 3/4 cup of beer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder and stir gently to combine. Be gentle; you’ll be mixing more later and you don’t want to pulverize the meat. Just make sure the beer is evenly mixed in. Cover and refrigerate for as much time as you have, no more than a day.

Note: If you don’t remember to marinate in advance, no biggie. Just remember to add the beer later on.

Add eggs, bread crumbs, chopped onion, basil, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir with a fork to combine, adding another sprinkle of salt, pepper, or garlic if you feel the need. Slide the whole mixture into a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. If you don’t have a loaf pan, turn the meat onto a greased cookie sheet or glass casserole pan and shape your own loaf. Slide into a preheated 350° oven and bake for 1 hour.

After one hour, remove the loaf and choose one of the topping options below.

Like Momma’s: mix 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar OR molasses, and a teaspoon dry mustard OR one teaspoon of regular yellow mustard. Spoon over top of meatloaf and bake for another ten minutes.

BBQ: before baking, skip Worcestershire sauce and add 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke. The stuff exists, trust me, and it’s deliciously weird. After baking one hour, spoon 1/2 cup BBQ sauce over the top. Bake another ten minutes.

Restaurant Style: prepare a 79¢ packet of mushroom gravy according to directions. Cook meatloaf for 1 hour and ten minutes total. Drizzle gravy over finished meatloaf. Don’t forget to throw away the packet where your honey can’t see.

Take that bad boy out of the oven. Let sit for ten minutes or so, slice, and serve with mashed potatoes.

1 10 oz. package frozen spinach

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk most traditional French recipes use heavy cream. I used 2 percent and the finished product was still plenty rich. Trust me, you won’t miss it and you’ll still fit into your pants.

1 T. olive oil

salt and black pepper

half of one onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 6 oz package feta cheese

1 deep dish pie shell

Put the spinach brick (you did buy the brick, didn’t you? If it’s in a bag, make sure what you purchased is just plain spinach and doesn’t contain some kind of hydrogenated butter sauce) in a microwave safe bowl and thaw. Drain excess liquid and set aside. Sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat. After 2 minutes, add the garlic. Sauté until softened but not translucent and remove from heat. Beat eggs and milk. Add spinach, crumbled feta, and sautéed ingredients. Stir lightly to combine, season with salt and pepper. Feta’s super salty, so go easy. Pour mixture into uncooked deep dish pie shell and bake uncovered in a 400° F oven for 50 minutes.

Quiche is done when the filling is puffed and feels dry when touched lightly. Unlike cookies, quiche is much better overcooked than under. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.