Flyer Foodie

A little cheese went on, followed by my obsessive/compulsive placement of the zucchini and caramelized onions, followed by a little more cheese and some seasonings.

This makes a lot of food for two people; it served as my lunchtime leftovers until midweek, and seemed to get better and better by the day. Another idea is to divide the shells into two smaller dishes, and bake one while freezing the other.

This recipe takes packaged ramen and amps up the flavor with additions like soy sauce, grated ginger and sesame oil. And instead of leaving the ramen naked, I like to add on plenty of fun and delicious toppings, like thinly sliced shiitakes, green onions, cilantro, and a blob of chili paste.

What starts as perfectly yummy stovetop popcorn gets amped up with the addition of truffle oil, parmesan cheese and a nice blend of zesty spices, and mellowed out with plenty of melted butter. It’s perfect for a cozy night in with a movie.

The flavor combination can’t get much better – cheesy tortellini paired with crunchy green veggies and toasty pine nuts, creamy avocado and zesty sprouts, with a garlicky, lemony pop from the dressing.

While the end result is worthy of a standing ovation, the steps to get there are mind-numbingly simple – dipping canned biscuits into melted butter, rolling them in sugar and orange zest, and piling them all into a Bundt pan.

We still have several months of winter weather ahead of us – let’s keep things warm and cozy with plenty of soup, shall we? Without further ado, the final recipe of the Soup Series: Chunky Tomato & Fennel.

It starts with simple baked potatoes and turns into a creamy, cheesy pot of soup with some straight-forward help from a little flour, milk and cheese. On a chilly night when you want something hearty and comforting, this is the soup for you.

On the first day, it’s a lovely brothy affair, with just the right consistency of a chunky soup. On the second day, the pasta has absorbed more of the broth, and what was once soup has morphed into a brothy pasta dish.

For the inaugural recipe for the soup series, I propose a toast: To eating well, eating wisely, and eating with plenty of friends in 2012. Until next week, friends!

Gluten-free baking is a different beast altogether, using ingredients that I don’t usually carry in my pantry. The texture and the flavor are surprisingly convincing, though, and the batter behaved just like a regular cupcake batter.

This is a classic, quintessential, flawless recipe, and I beg of you to keep it just the way it is. One small warning: You will want to eat the entire dish, in one sitting, by yourself, with a big bottle of Malbec, and Bill Withers on the hi-fi.

This may come as a shock, so let me just rip the Band Aid right off: I didn’t cook anything for Thanksgiving dinner – in fact, I went out to eat. I know. I know! I’ve broken the rules.

These quesadillas are great as appetizers before a bigger meal, or on their own with all the fixings, like crumbled cotija cheese, fresh pico de gallo, sour cream, and thick slices of avocado.

What’s interesting about these little guys is their lack of cinnamon, which is usually prevalent in most sticky buns. Instead, toasty pistachios are whizzed together with brown sugar, to make a sweet, crumbly filling.

In order to offer an explanation, clear their name, and dispel any rumors, mushrooms have issued a statement, which I will now share with you.

I began by roasting the peppers under the broiler, to impart a deep, smoky flavor, and combining them with some other classics: sautéed onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, a little white wine, and tomatoes.

The starring ingredient in his chili is stout beer. The stout leaves a lingering bitter flavor in the chili, but can be counteracted with a few tablespoons of brown sugar.

As the temperatures turn cooler, my hankering for hot, crusty, bready things grows exponentially. This weeknight pizza includes apples, goat cheese and an usual ingredient I don’t often condone.

Unfamiliar with chocolate fridge cake, I was pleased to see that it’s basically like making fudge with a bunch of crunchy, chewy, chunky stuff thrown in the mix.

The addition of briny green olives at the very end gives a little twang to the dish, and the whole thing is served up on soft, pillowy rice. Even if your version of doing yoga is simply sitting on a sticky mat and shoveling a bowlful of stew into your face, then so be it.

The ingredients are inexpensive and a big pot lasts for several meals, and it’s hard to get any heartier than sausage and potatoes. My secret ingredient? A bottle of beer for depth of flavor.

Smeared on a piece of good bread with butter, the slightly wild flavor gives you the feeling of being in the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, eating exotic fruits and lounging in a hammock.

I have embraced the earthy flavor of beets, and I just know that something so vibrantly colored has got to be doing amazing things to my insides, besides making them look like I’m dyeing Easter eggs in my mouth.

This is the perfect dish to have on a cool September night, when the temperature outside is teasing you with the idea that fall is just around the corner. It’s warming, it’s hearty and it’s perfect for leftovers the next night.