Serves 4 to 6

Once you get the hang of stir-fried rice, then you will look at any pot of leftover rice as an opportunity for a new dish.  Leftover pork chops and some broccoli that was starting to look a bit tired were the inspiration for this one.  You can absolutely use any kind of meat or vegetables and the proportions can also be varied.  Stir fries are a very forgiving dish.  If you skip the meat all together, you’ll have a vegetarian dish, and if you want to skip the eggs, then you’re in vegan-land.

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Lemon chicken

Serves 4

This is just a very simple roast chicken, but because it uses chicken parts instead of a whole chicken, you don’t have to worry about carving if before dinner.  Let the chicken sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, which allows it to reincorporate its juices. This is great served with orzo or other small pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, any comforting starch, and a salad (click here for an easy vinaigrette recipe).  Serve the pan juices over the starch, or offer up crusty bread to mop it up. You can also add the sugar glazed snap peas as a nice side dish (recipe below).

• 2 lemons, halved
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 tablespoons teaspoon olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 chicken (3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. In a large bowl or a large zipper top bag, squeeze the lemon juice from the lemons, and toss the skins right in.  Add the garlic, oregano, olive oil and salt and pepper and stir or squish to combine.  Add the chicken parts and toss until they are well coated (if using a zipper top bag, just seal the bag and shake around until everything is coated.)  Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, if you have time.
3. Place the chicken with the marinade poured over, skin side up, on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast the chicken, until golden brown and cooked through, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Soy glazed sugar snap peas

Soy sauce and butter might seem like an unusual combination, but it really really works.  You can use snow peas instead of the sugar snap, but they usually aren’t quite as sweet.

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Boy, this is easy.  And it was a huge hit with the kids and the grown ups.  I suppose if feta is too much for your kids, you cold go with a milder cheese, but it really makes the dish more interesting.  The pasta is not quite fully cooked in water so it still has a chance to soak up the seasoned chicken broth and become more flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• Kosher or coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 shallots, finely minced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 pound spaghetti or linguine
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
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Yeah, yeah, I know, your kids don’t like fish.  But really, when is the last time you tried offering it to them?  This recipe works well with many of the mild-tasting white fish, and even though traditionalist Italians wince at the thought of using cheese with any fish or seafood, they might be willing to reconsider when they taste a piece of well-cooked, simply seasoned fish with a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.  And boy, is it worth getting the real Parm for this – you only need ¼ cup, and it makes such a big difference in the outcome.

A handful of basil leaves, very thinly sliced (know as a chiffonade of basil) scattered across the top adds color and fresh herby flavor, for those who might be interested.

Ingredients:

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This is lighter and fruitier than many fried rice dishes, and has an appealing sweetness to it. You can chop up the shrimp more finely, and you can also use chicken or pork, but using bigger pieces gives this nice texture. Day old cooked rice is best for this, or rice that is slightly dry, so that it stays separate.  If you like, you can offer extra soy sauce at the table.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

• 1 pound large peeled and de-veined shrimp, halved crosswise
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3 cups cooked white rice
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger,
• 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup shelled edamame or peas, defrosted
• ½ cup thinly sliced scallions, white and light green parts
• 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in juice, drained
• 3 large eggs, beaten

Directions:
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By Dee Brun from CocktailDeeva and www.twitter.com/cocktaildeeva

Unless your holiday party guest list includes Kid Rock , Lindsay Lohan, P Diddy and Amy Winehouse, stocking your bar for these festive events is really quite simple. The key thing to remember, is that just as in life…you canʼt make everyone happy. If Uncle Ted enjoys a nip of a good 100 year old scotch every now and then…Uncle Ted is just gonna have to B.H.O.S. (bring his own scotch) . Your goal is to create a warm, inviting atmosphere for friends and family to come together and enjoy an evening of good cheer. If that bombs, you definitely donʼt want to be stuck with a liquor cabinet full of crap you will never drink…

Here are the top 5 must haves for your swanky holiday home bar:

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By Karen of Notes From The Cookie Jar and Everything Mom

Nothing evokes childhood memories more than the smell of fresh bread, and this bread is no exception. The sweet, homey smell always sends me back to my childhood, where we would race to the kitchen to see who could grab the first bite of buns fresh from the oven. Warm, smeared with butter or home made jam, we declared them the most delicious snack in the universe. Buns were a staple at my house; Mom baked them about once a week, and if we visited my Grandma out on the farm, buns always were thrust into our outstretched hands when we were hungry. These days, I don’t bake bread often. Many people i know have turned to breadmaking machines, but I still love the feel of the dough beneath my fingers and this recipe, passed down from my Mom, is the only one I use.

When the familiar scent filled my kitchen, it was obvious that some things never change-my teenager was soon nearby ripping a bun apart greedily and declaring it a culinary victory. Make these delicious buns at your peril; either your family will beg you to make them every weekend, or you will eat them all yourself-neither of which is probably a good idea. Don’t be scared off by what looks like along and complicated recipe; they really are not that difficult.

Use the recipe just to make buns, or go crazy and use half the dough for extra sinful cinnamon buns. The recipe is also very easily halved.

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Serves 4 to 6

A simple buttermilk dressing is very refreshing and — while creamy — not too heavy, thanks to the buttermilk, which contrary to its name is very low in fat.  You can add any other veggies to this salad, such as mushrooms, radishes, cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced cucumber, but it also nice as a simple plain lettuce salad.  It’s nice with slightly spicy food, since the dressing is cooling.

• 8 cups shredded romaine, green leaf or Boston lettuce
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon finely minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

1.  Place the lettuce in a large serving bowl.

2. In a small container with a lid, combine the buttermilk, sour cream, salt, olive oil, white wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, parley and pepper.  Shake well, and pour over the lettuce. Toss to combine.

Serves 4

Chicken and rice soups are found in many cultures, and it’s comforting nursery food at its finest, perfect for fussier palates.  This version leans on Asian flavors, and the kicker is rich and toasty sesame oil, which, as long as you don’t use too much, is kind of ephemeral.  Start with the teaspoon called for in the soup itself, and then if you crave a stronger sesame flavor, drizzle a judicious amount of additional oil on the top of the hot soup.  The aroma alone is pretty intoxicating.

You can use meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or a super-duper two-for-one thought is to roast two of your own chickens, enjoy one for dinner tonight, and shred the meat from the other to make this soup later in the week.  Roasting two chickens takes about 5 more minutes than roasting one, and then you are halfway to another meal, which is the best use of 5 minutes that I can think of.
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Serves 6

This is a robust lasagna, with assertive flavors.  The cheese involved are ricotta, Romano, and Parmesan, and the meat is sausage, which means seasonings that bounce around in your mouth.  Like most lasagnas, it’s even better the next day so if you can plan to make it ahead you’ll be rewarded with fuller flavors and a dinner that just needs to be warmed in the oven.

• 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 pound fresh sweet sausage, either pork or turkey, squeezed from the casing
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoons dried basil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese, divided
• 6 ready-to-bake (oven-ready) lasagna noodles

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large sauce pot, heat the 1 teaspoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, breaking up the meat so that it’s crumbly and browned throughout, about 4 to 6 minutes. Turn it into a strainer and let it the fat drain off
2. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the same pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano and basil and cook, stirring for 2 more minutes, until you can smell the garlic and herbs. Add the canned tomatoes and stir to combine everything. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked sausage, lower the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Taste, and season gently with the salt and pepper.  Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then stir in the ricotta, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and 1/4 cup of the Romano cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spread each of the 6 lasagna noodles with the ricotta mixture.  Spoon a little of the sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 9-inch baking pan, and lay two of the noodles on the bottom.  Spoon over 1/3 of the remaining sauce evenly over the boodles, and sprinkle over 1/3 each of the remaining grated cheeses.  Repeat the layers two more times, using up all of the sauce and all of the cheese.  Bake for 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  If you are planning to serve it right away, allow it to sit for at least 10 minutes so that the lasagna slices neatly.  Otherwise, let cool slightly, cover with foil, and reheat in a 350°F. oven for 30 minutes, covered with foil, right before serving.