Your choice of herbs with respect to kind and quantity, fresh or dried:
Provence – chervil, lovage, lavender buds, thyme, parsley, dill, pepper
Mediterranean – basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary, pepper
Indian – cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon, basil, kalonji

Preparation:
1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and cook the onion until translucent or less if stronger onion flavour preferred.
2. Add the celery and wine (may substitute water)
3. Rinse the beans and add to pot.
4. Add the garlic.
5. Add the spinach and balsamic vinegar
6. Add the seasonings (fresh or delicate herbs should be added at the end of cooking)
7. Heat through, and then simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve with rice or polenta and a salad. This dish reheats well.

Inspired by “Beans with Garlic and Herbs” from “The Herb Book” by Arabella Boxer and Philipa Back.

Roasted vegetables:
0.5 to 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 or 2 yams sliced into bite size pieces
1 eggplant – cut into bit size pieces
½ to 1 cup nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts or mixture of same)
oil
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Cumin
Lemon juice

Citrus – Tahini sauce:
¼ to 1/3 cup of sesame seeds
1 to 2 tbsp of sesame seed oil
1 tbsp oil (olive or canola)
2 cloves of garlic (minced or crushed)
1 to 2 tbsp Lemon or lime juice
1 tsp molasses
1 tbsp soy sauce
Dried coconut (optional)
3 to 6 tbsp water

Polenta:
1 cup corn meal
3 cups of water
Salt
Garlic or other seasoning if desired

Garnish:
Romaine lettuce
Cucumber (finely diced)
Fresh herb (parsley, basil, or whatever is available)
Roasted sesame seeds

Directions:
First off – toast the sesame seeds, reserve some for garnish if desired.
Grind in a mortar and pestle or food processor
Mix in sesame seed oil to yield something approaching a peanut butter consistency

Then toast the other nuts if you are including them, set aside until the end.

Cut the cauliflower into florets and place in a bowl.
Pour over some oil and lemon juice
Dust with turmeric, ground cinnamon, and ground cumin as desired.
Mix the cauliflower and let marinade

Cut the yam and microwave until they are soft to touch but remember they will have another 20 minutes of roasting ahead.
Let cool a bit and then mix with cauliflower

Prepare the tahini sauce by heating the oil and cooking the garlic just a bit to take the edge off of it.
Add the ground tahini prepared earlier
Add the other ingredients except coconut. (Note – for a lighter appearance, substitute a bit of salt for the molasses and soy sauce.)
Heat for 1 or 2 minutes
Let cool and then add coconut if desired.
Start the polenta water heating and bring the oven to about 400F
Cut the eggplant and then mix with the cauliflower and yam.
Spread the vegetables out on a cookie sheet and roast for 20 minutes, flipping them once or twice during roasting.
When the water for the polenta boils, add the corn meal, stirring constantly until all corn meal is added. ( you may have to remove it from the heat source).
Add the garlic or other seasoning you would like.
Stir until there are no lumps, remove from heat.
When the vegetables are done, return to marinade bowl and add the toasted nuts, a little almond or olive oil, and some salt and stir.

Serving:
On each plate, put some polenta in the centre.
Circle the polenta with romaine lettuce ripped into bite-size pieces.
Put roasted vegetables atop the polenta.
Dress with the tahini sauce
Garnish with the cucumber and/or fresh herbs and/or toasted sesame seeds.

Topping:
2 Cups (500 ml) diced parsnip
4 Cups (1 L) diced potato (feel free to use some sweet potatoes for a more colourful topping…I suppose that adding butternut squash might be interesting too!)
2 Tbsp. (25 ml) butter
1/4 (.25 cup/50 ml) cup whipping cream (optional and I used some 5% cream and a bit of milk instead and probably a bit more than tha 1/4 cup…judged the texture)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup (250 ml) of grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese  (I used Swiss for the pot-luck)

Process:
1)  Cook the lentils until just tender.  Drain.  Set aside.
2)  As the lentils are cooking get the topping on the go by preparing the potatoes and parsnips and getting them on the boil.
3)  Heat the filling butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the leek and cook until soft.
4)  Add the garlic, thyme, carrot, and celery (I think that I also added some sliced mushrooms here).  Cook until the vegetables are tender.
5)  Stir in the flour, tomato paste, and half of the stock.
6)  Continue to cook until slightly thickened.
7)  Add remaining stock and lentils. Season generously with salt and pepper (and whatever suits your fancy!).
8)  Spoon into greased 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.
9)  Drain potatoes and add butter.  Mash until combined but still a bit chunky.  Stir in the cream and salt and pepper to taste.
10)  Spread the topping evenly over the lentil mixture (this is a bit tricky to do without intermixing the lentil part…I dolloped all of the potato mixture in blobs over the mixture and then gently spread with a large spoon.)
11)  Sprinkle with the cheese
12)  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the topping is slightly golden.

1 acorn squash (or any squash)
1 yam, large
2 potatoes, large

1. Cut squash in half and remove seeds.  Bake in a dish with about 1 inch of water in it for about 40 minutes in a hot oven. Ready when soft.  Scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
2.  Bake the yam at the same time or microwave it (a good trick is to wrap it in a tea towel and microwave for 5 minutes), then remove skins when done.
3.  Microwave or boil the potatoes and remove skins.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mash it until it is as smooth as you like it.  Add some butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste.  Top it off with some maple syrup.
Re-heat if needed.
Serve and enjoy.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium oion chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds packaged baby carrots, from produce section
• 6 cups chicken stock, available on soup aisle
• 1 tablespoon mild curry paste or 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• Coarse salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• Plastic condiment bottle or medium plastic food storage bag
• 6 blades fresh chives, cut into 1-inch pieces

Directions

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions and carrots and saute 5 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock, curry and cayenne, and about 1 teaspoon salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes. Place pot on a trivet next to food processor. Process soup in 2 or 3 small batches until soup is smooth and carrots are fully pureed. Transfer processed soup into a large bowl as you work to make room for more soup in the food processor. Return completed soup to the soup pot and place back over low heat. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock, up to 2 cups, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings. Place sour cream in a plastic condiment squeeze bottle or into a medium food storage bag. Cut a very small hole in the corner of the bag with scissors. Ladle soup into bowls and squirt a swirl of sour cream around the bowl from the center out to the rim. Drag a toothpick from the center of the bowls out to the edges, forming a spider web design on soup. Pile a few pieces of cut chives at the center of each bowl to resemble green spiders in their webs! Cool!

20 servings                        Prep Time: 20 min                        Chill Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients:
1                                         medium apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 (12oz.) (340 ml)           bag Fresh Cranberries
1 cup (250ml)                 Splenda Granular OR Sugar
1 cup (250ml)                 Water
4 Tbsp. (45ml)                Orange Juice Concentrate
1/3 cup                             Golden Raisins

Directions:
1.    Place cranberries, Splenda or Sugar, water and orange juice concentrate in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil 3-4 minute3s or until cranberries start to thicken and water has reduced by about half.
2.    Remove from pan and place in medium bowl.  Cover and refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight.
3.    Add diced apple and half of the raisins to cranberries.  Stir well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Just before serving, sprinkle remaining raisins over cranberries as a garnish.  Serve chilled as an accompaniment to roast or poultry or Angel Food Cake as presented at the Potluck.

1 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
½ cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients and add them all at once to the dry ingredients.
Blend and immediately pour into a greased pan (8” x 8”).
Bake in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes and serve warm.
Note: This cornbread is gluten-free.  Goes well with chili con carne.

Napa
3 green onions
1/4 – 1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 pkgs. Mr. Noodles noodles
½ cup sesame seeds

1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. soya sauce

Noodle Mixture:
Melt butter/margarine in a frying pan. Add noodles (Crushed), sesame seeds and almonds, stirring and frying until toasted.
Dressing:
Simmer next 4 ingredients about 5 minutes until sugar dissolves; cool before using.
Slice Napa thinly. Chop green onions; add to Napa.
Just before serving, moisten Napa with the dressing; toss with 1/3 of noodle mixture. Store remaining noodles mixture and dressing in the fridge.

1 head of broccoli, chopped
¼ c onion, chopped
(6 slices of bacon cooked crisp for bits – optional ingredient)
1 cup raisins
1 c roasted sunflower seeds

Dressing:
½ to ¾ c mayonnaise
3 to 4 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh is best)
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 level teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
½ cup rolled oats
½ to ⅔ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, washed and well drained (about 1 pint)
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cloves, or slightly less

Combine sugar, water, lemon juice and lemon rind in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, cook 3 mins, remove from heat, and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Cut in the butter with two knives until the mixture resembles very course bread crumbs.  Add the rolled oats and then the milk, ½ cup at first, then a tablespoon more at a time, stirring lightly until a stiff dough is formed.  Gather the dough together, knead lightly, and roll to form a rectangle about 8″ X 14″.
Brush the dough with the melted butter and cover with the blueberries.  Sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cloves and roll up, like a jelly roll, starting at the 14-inch edge nearest you and tucking in the blueberries as you go.  Seal the edges by moistening the dough with a little water.  Cut into 12 slices, a little over an inch thick, using a floured knife.
Arrange the slices, cut side down, in a buttered 9″ X 13″X 2″ baking dish.  The slices expand and fuse during baking.  Pour the cooled sugar-lemon syrup over all and bake at 400F for 25 to 30 minutes.  Serve warm, wither plain or with whipped cream or ice cream.
(Note: A 7½ X 11¾ X 2″ dish works as well)