cookbook challenge, weeks 11& 12

A little behind again! But
since Ryan stayed home
with a stomach virus today,
I can finally catch up...

Black Beans with Garlic and Cumin is even easier
if you cheat like I did and
use canned beans. This is
certainly simple and tasty as is, but in the future it would make a great filling for enchiladas, burritos, etc. Nothing with lots of garlic and onions can be bad, right?!

We've been getting heaps
of cucumbers from the
farm lately, so I tried
this bare bones recipe
for Cucumber Salad. I
really hesitate to even
refer to this one as a recipe
it's so basic, but that's
okay, it was a way to use
up some cucumbers.

And so was this Cucumber
and Yogurt Salad. I had a
WholeSoy plain unsweetened
yogurt that was perfect for
this. Yogurt, mint, pepper...
refreshing!

And I've been combing the
discount racks at the back
of the supermarket for cheap produce lately to save money...

This Sauteed Zucchini
served to remind me that
sometimes it really is
best to keep things simple.
I didn't have any fresh basil
left in the fridge, so I used
dried, and it was still just
delicious.

I scored a big package of
slightly sprouting red
potatoes too, and used
them to make Oven-Fried
Potatoes. Nothing unusual
about this recipe at all, but
the suggestion to sprinkle
them with cider vinegar at
the end reminded me of my
days visiting Baltimore as a teenager. Boardwalk Fries introduced me to the concept of fries and vinegar, which is quite amazing in my opinion.

Up until this week, I'd
really only made one
recipe so far from Tomato
Blessings and Radish
Teachings that I didn't
care for, which I think is
pretty good considering
how many I've made.
However, these New Flaky
Biscuits fall into the "will
never bother with again"
category. But to be fair, I substituted a stick of cold Earth Balance for the butter, and one servings of prepared egg replacer powder for the egg. I was already hesitant to make these with the suggested whole wheat flour, but regardless, they didn't rise and they were really dry. Though AJ called them cookies, so I guess they weren't that bad. Topped with raspberry jam, or white bean hummus & cherry tomato halves, they were edible at least.