Cook's Corner

Welcome to the Cook's Corner.

Announcing the details of the Chili cooking contest. Send your entries for the chili cooking contest to cookscorner@townweb.com. Entries are open until February 8. The winners will be announced at the end of February. I and the other members of the townweb team will be doing the judging. The winners will have the option of a free cooking class with me, or a free advertisement on townweb. Your recipe will also be featured in an upcoming Cook's Corner, we can include your picture too.

Happy New Year to everyone. This week to help those of you who have made a New Year's resolution to reduce the fat I am including a delicious Italian dinner.

Lots of warming recipes - soups, stews, casseroles. More low-calorie recipes and we will explore vegetarian cooking too. We will also be featuring the food pyramid in an upcoming article.

Cook's Corner can also be accessed through the columns section of the Herndon/Reston web.

Please continue sending me your comments, inquiries and suggestions.

On to the recipes:

1 teaspoon oil

3 Tablespoons diced onion

1 can stewed tomatoes, lightly chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

broccoli florets

sliced zucchini

grated or sliced carrot

sliced mushrooms

cauliflower

spinach, lightly chopped

red pepper (optional)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon basil, oregano and parsley

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil. Add the tomatoes and cook briefly with vegetables and spices and your choice. Put the lid on the pan and you can quickly steam the vegetables with the tomato. Toss the sauce with noodles of your choice. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired. Both linguine and spaghetti would be excellent pastas to serve with this sauce.

This would be excellent served with some crisp French bread or focaccia (recipe follows).

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

olive oil, salt, rosemary

Add the ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine except for the olive oil, salt and rosemary. Process on the dough cycle. Remove the dough and divide into two pieces. Press each half of dough into a circle about 9 inches. Let the dough rise covered. Press finger into dough to create dimpling. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and rosemary. Bake in a 450F oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned.

If you do not have a bread machine you can use a loaf of frozen bread dough. Allow it to defrost and rise. Divide the dough into two pieces. Press each half of dough into a circle about 9 inches. Let the dough rise for 5 minutes. Press the finger into the dough to create dimples. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and rosemary. Bake in a 450F oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup pitted and sliced green olives

Add all the ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine except for the olives. Add the olives at the first beep when using the sweet bread cycle. This is a high rising loaf which smells a little like pizza when it is baking. Excellent served just with thin slices of tomato and a little mayonaisse. This makes a one pound loaf.

This also makes excellent rolls. Just shape into rolls and bake in a 375F oven for 15-20 minutes.

4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon parsley

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 can whole tomatoes, chopped

Layer the potatoes and onion in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Combine the garlic powder, parsley, oregano and chopped tomatoes (include the juice from the tomatoes). Pour the tomato mixture over the potatoes. Bake 15 minutes covered with foil at 350F. Uncover the pan and bake for another 25 minutes at 350F or until the potatoes are fork tender.

2 cups peaches, pureed

3 cups water

3/4 cup orange juice

1 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons plain gelatin

Combine the peach puree, orange juice and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Boil the sugar mixture for 5 minutes, covered. Do not stir the sugar mixture while it is boiling for 5 minutes. Dissolve the 2 teaspoons of gelatin is 2 Tablespoons of cold water. Add the gelatin to the hot sugar mixture and stir until it is incorporated. Chill the sugar mixture. Combine the sugar mixture and the peach mixture. Pour into small dessert cups and place in the freezer. Stir the ices every half hour to create a smooth consistency and smaller ice crystals. It takes 2-4 hours, depending upon the amount of fruit mixture used, for the ices to freeze.

Thank you for stopping by the Cook's Corner. There will be new recipes and suggestions next week. Please send your favorite recipes, suggestions, comments and questions to cookscorner@townweb.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Lisa Carlson has been a cooking instructor for over three years with the Fairfax County Adult Education program. She also teaches cooking and art classes for children and adults at the Herndon Community Center. She studied cooking during her junior year of college in Scotland, while she traveled throughout Europe, and during her year long tenure in Japan. She has appeared in 9 television programs on cooking, puppetry, and gift basket design on the Fairfax County public access channel.

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