All of these recipes came from the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Cookbook which I bought at my meeting a few weeks ago. (It appears you can get it used on Amazon but not new. Although I like it SO MUCH I am going to recommend you find a WW storefront and go pick one up.)I apologize for not linking all the recipes the way I usually do, but they’re not online (although I suspect a Google search would turn up close-enough approximations)(not that I would suggest you use plagiarized recipes)(but since technically you can’t copyright a recipe it’s probably not illegal)(good God why am I still typing this paragraph?)

I’ve fallen off the diet wagon a few times over the past few weeks and the hardest part of getting back on is cooking at home – it’s so easy to make a “healthy” dinner that gets totally out of control with the portion sizes. But these recipes made with actual real ingredients (as opposed to some extremely popular diet cookbooks that use a lot of scary substitutes – soft yellow butter flavored oil-based spread vs. BUTTER) and were eaten happily by everyone.

Except for the soup, since E hates soup. I KNOW. YOU tell him how ridiculous that is.

1. Smoky Shrimp and Corn Soup
2. Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Lemon
3. Rosemary Chicken with Balmasic-Glazed Onions
4. Wasabi Steak and Snap Pea Stir-Fry

1. Asian Turkey and Noodle Salad
2. Texas Chicken Soup
3. Falafel Sandwiches with Lemon Yogurt
4. Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Spring Vegetables

What did you have for dinner this week?

I just spent 45 minutes trying to decide if I should start this post with a disclosure about how it is NOT SPONSORED or if I should just write the damn thing and because there is no disclosure people will know I’m not being compensated. I’ve seen a few posts/Twitter conversations recently where readers are torn on the subject – they HATE that bloggers do a non-disclosure disclosure for every single post where they mention a brand or a product (“This post is NOT SPONSORED by unicorns! Unicorns have no idea I exist!!”) but they ALSO hate when they get to the end of a really nice, heartfelt post and they get a surprise disclosure (“This post about how awesome toe nail fungus is was sponsored by the United Coalition of Toe Nail Fungus Enthusiasts – but I REALLY DO love toe nail fugus! It’s so great!!”) Obviously I decided to go with a disclosure – in a sort of rambling, round about way – because it is about a diet program and in the blogging world there’s a lot of diet sponsorship.

So. Let me explain. No, there is to much. Let me sum up: I am a paying member of Weight Watchers, a program I’ve been using for a few months and love. I bought this cookbook and all the groceries with my own money. Weight Watchers has no idea who I am – beyond someone who pays them and has lost 15 lbs so far.

One of the most bountiful but most unused items in my CSA bag each week has been the hot peppers. I made the mistake of thinking one was a mild pepper a few weeks ago and ended up crying into the sink as I scrubbed under my nails and sprayed water into my burning eyes. Today’s free tip: ALWAYS ASSUME PEPPERS ARE HOT.

Since that incident, I’ve been stockpiling my peppers in hopes of coming up with a better plan than Horrible Pain A La Face. So when I found myself adding my beloved sriracha to an omelet for the third time in a week, a red hot little light bulb went off over my head.

In case you are unfamiliar, this is what sriracha looks like:

I would show you a picture of what it tastes like, but that might be to racy for this website. Let’s just say it’s like sassy little angels dancing on my tongue and making my diet food tastes a lot less like diet food.

So what better to do with my abundance of hot peppers than make my own hot sauce?

Simmering

My homemade sauce is surprisingly similar to the bottle sriracha in taste, although it has the pepper seeds in it (like the chili sauce version I also have in my fridge). You could seed the peppers before cooking and run it back through the food processor post-cooking to get a smoother texture, but it would be less spicy.

Homemade Sriracha
Based on the recipe found here

Ingredients:

Approximately 16 hot red peppers*
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 T vegetable oil
15 oz can tomato sauce (I used Hunts)
1 small can tomato paste
1 T fish sauce
2 T soy sauce (I used low sodium)
3 T rice vinegar
3 T sugar

Cut the stems off the hot peppers. Be sure to wear gloves when you’re using them, or at least scrub your hands REALLY REALLY WELL afterward. Mince them well (I used my mini food processor, but don’t put your face right over it when you take the lid off because the fumes are STRONG) and set them aside.

Add the oil, minced garlic and minced shallots to a saucepan over medium heat and saute for about 3 minutes until fragrant. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste and peppers and stir it all up well. Increase the heat a little bit and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook for approximated 8-10 minutes until sauce is saucy and well combined. The bits of pepper will start to fall apart a little.

Remove from heat and let hot sauce cool completely.

*I don’t know exactly what KIND of peppers these are, but you could use whatever you want. Just remember you’re making sriracha, not the kind of terrifying sauce they put on wings for Man vs. Food. Don’t kill anyone.

Enjoy on eggs, potatoes, pizza, french fries, fish, chicken, steak, tacos, or any food served on a Navy submarine (says my husband). It’s pleasantly hot in small quantities, mouth burning spicy by the tablespoon, and I love it so much I plan to take my jar with me on vacation. I’m not even joking.

Galette: n, a general term used in the French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or free form crusty cakes. But it’s not really a cake. It’s like an unemployed pie that’s stopped brushing its hair in the morning. A tart that’s had four tequila shots and is getting sloppy. A pastry getting a liberal arts degree in underwater basket-weaving and whose mother keeps asking what it really wants to DO with its life.

It’s easy-going, is what I’m saying. And easy to make – no lattice tops or fancy crimped edges here.

Up until about a month ago I had no idea what a galette even was. And then damn Martha Stewart went and mentioned them on TV and ever since I’ve been stalking recipes like it was my job. But it’s been a zillion plus degrees and baking is hard with two babies trying to crawl into the oven so this weekend was my first chance to attempt one.

But because I’m an overachiever, we had a galettefest on Sunday and I made (and invented recipes for!) both a savory galette and a sweet galette. One from scratch, one the easy way. One was husband approved (I’ll let you guess which one) but both were delicious.

Farmer’s Market Galette

Ingredients:

1 ready-made pizza crust
2 ½ cups ricotta
1 medium squash
1 small eggplant
½ onion (red or white)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoon tarragon, chopped
2 Tablespoon dill, chopped
2 Tablespoon parsley, chopped
3 Tablespoon milk
1 egg
1/2 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza stone with cooking spray & roll out pizza crust. Spread 2 cups of the ricotta over the crust (like pizza sauce) leaving about 2 inches around all the edges. Thinly slice the squash, eggplant and onion (a mandolin makes this extra easy, but a knife works too) and put it in a medium sized bowl. Toss in the garlic and herbs and stir to combine.

Spread the veggie mixture out evenly over the ricotta and fold the 2 inch edge up over the filling. Beat the milk, egg and last 1/2 cup of ricotta in a small bowl and drizzle it over the veggies, starting near the edge (too much liquid in the middle will make your crust soggy)(trust me on this). Top the galette with the Parmesan and pop it in the oven for 25-35 minutes until the crust is browned and the middle is firm. Let it cool a little before shoving it into your face parts.

(Notes: This would be even MORE DELICIOUS with goat cheese, but E is anti-goat cheese so I made it with ricotta. He still didn’t eat it, so next time it’s goat cheese all the way. If you’ve never had fresh tarragon before, smell it/taste it before tossing it into your galette. I love it but it’s got a very distinctive flavor. Feel free to use whatever herbs you have sitting around. Same with the veggies: anything you love and can slice would be great.)

 Berry Almond Galette

Crust

3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup butter
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup water

Filling

1 pint blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp almond extract

Topping

½ cup almonds
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

For the crust, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and use a fork to press it into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs (or use a food processor, but you won’t get the awesome arm workout). Add the almond extract then the water a little at a time until you can press the dough together to make a ball. Try to touch it as little as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for a few minutes.

Toss all the filling ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine. Let it sit while you make the topping.

Combine almonds, brown sugar and butter in a food processor. Process until almonds are finely ground and topping looks all crumbly.

Get your chilled dough from the fridge. On a well-floured surface using a well flowered rolling pin, roll out the dough into a big circle. Roll it up around your rolling pin, transfer it to a cookie sheet and spread it out again. Pour the filling into the middle of the circle and fold up at least 2-3 inches of the edge all the way around and press the pieces together so none of the filling leaks out (or you’ll have to scrub it off the bottom of your oven after it’s burnt on)(trust me on this).

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle almond-sugar mixture over the berries. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes until golden brown. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes or you’ll burn yourself. Top with whipped cream or ice cream for extra bonus yum.

(Notes: I had too much dough when I folded up the edges so I tore some of it off to make sure I had enough berries showing to top with the almonds. Pretty much ANY fruit combination would be delicious in this recipe. ANYTHING.)

I’m adding the recipes to the Tasty Kitchen site tonight, so you can save them to your recipe box over there (if you’re a member) and find other amazing galette recipes for your summer produce.

Oh hey, so have you notice my new design includes those super cute social media icon buttons (designed by the super awesome Sarah – seriously talented & very affordable for all your bloggy needs) on the left hand side? The one for “recipes” is a link to my Tasty Kitchen profile, where I store all the recipes I’ve submitted plus the many many many What’s for Dinner recipes I’ve found using TK. Unfortunately, you have to have a membership to see my recipe box but FORTUNATELY, it’s free and easy to do and I can’t imagine why you WOULDN’T want one.

Almost all my recipes this week are from my two summer cookbooks: The Big Book of Backyard Cooking by Betty Rosbottom and Grilling by Louise Pickford. We bought a new grill when we finished the patio and I am THRILLED to be doing all my cooking outside. I did a little Googling and tried to link to online versions of the recipes whenever possible so you can add these to your own meal plan if you want.

1. BLT Pasta Salad – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
2. Turkey, Apple and Cheddar Clubs – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
3. Bratwursts on Toasted Rolls with Caramelized Onions and Creamy Horseradish Sauce – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (Actually, the only part of that recipe I followed was how to caramelize onions. I put some herb mayo on my brats and E just ate his plain.)
4. Extra Special Tabbouleh with Avocado and Feta – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (OMG tabbouleh is my new favoritest favorite ever. Super easy, healthy and delicious. Just TRY IT you’ll LIKE IT.)
5. Turkey Burgers with Honey Mustard, White Cheddar, and Crisp Apple Slices and Parmesan Black Pepper Coleslaw – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
6. Lamb Chops with Roquefort, Figs, and Rosemary – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (Cooking lamb on the grill was hard. So was finding figs and Roquefort cheese so mine is dates and feta. Still delicious, if a liiiittle undercooked) and also Grilled Rosemary Flatbread – Grilling

7. Chili-Rubbed Sirloins with Guacamole Salsa plus grilled corn on the cob – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (link is to an old CBS article but the recipe is in there, I promise)
8. Bacon-Wrapped Filet Steaks Topped with Roasted Garlic Butter plus roasted mini-sweet peppers – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
9. Jerk Chicken and Veggies – Here’s my recipe: pour Lawry’s 20 minute marinate over chicken and veggies. Wait 10 minutes before you decide you’re too hungry to wait. Grill chicken and veggies. Eat.
10. Lemon Crunch Pie – Yeah, I invented that. Recipe is here on the blog & also on Tasty Kitchen.

Before you get too impressed and say “OMG Suzanne, how do you make all this food!?” let me tell you this was 2 full weeks of food – so there were pizza and burgers and even a popcorn for dinner night in between – and that it wasn’t that long ago that my entire meal plan was just ground beef. If I can teach myself to make new food AND get my husband to EAT that food then you can too.

So this one time, I was at the grocery store with my husband and he tried to buy a gross, pre-made pie in a box from the bakery section. I was like, “DUDE, I BAKE.” and he was all “But can you make a LEMON CRUNCH PIE?” and I was all “You’ve heard of GOOGLE right?” But then I was like “Oh no, none of these recipes on the internet look like the pie from the store! I’ll have to make it up as I go!” and he was like “Oh geez, that sounds hard. Do you think you can really do it? and I was all “Watch me, bitches.”

So I invented a Lemon Crunch Pie. The end.

Lemon Crunch Pie

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
4-5 tablespoons ice cold water

Throw the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Toss in the shortening too and then mash it up with a fork until it’s in little pieces. Don’t mix it TOO well, since the little pieces of shortening in the crust is what makes it flaky. Add cold water about a tablespoon at a time until the dough is sticky enough to hold together. Do most of your mixing with the fork but make sure you test it by squishing it together with your hands or you’ll end up adding too much water. Roll it out, press into a 9 inch pie plate and crimp the edges.

Bake the crust at 400 for 7 minutes.

(If you MUST, I will allow for store bought pie dough but only if you recite the Pledge of Allegiance while rolling it out to prove you’re not a communist.)

Filling:

Juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 well-beaten egg yolks
1 1/4 c. boiling water
3 egg whites

Separate egg yolks from whites. Zest and juice the lemons. Pour 1 ¼ cup water into a medium sized sauce pan. When it comes to a boil, mix in juice, sugar, cornstarch, and well-beaten egg yolks. Stir until well blended and cook until thick – this happens pretty quickly so be sure to keep stirring. Remove from heat. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold the lemon mixture into the whites.

Pour into baked crust.

Topping:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 crushed graham crackers
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons chilled butter

Toss it all in a food processor and mix for a few seconds, until it’s crumbly but not too fine. Spread out over filling, bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until topping is slightly brown & all the butter has melted.

Refrigerate for a couple hours and serve cold.

Not the prettiest pie I’ve ever made, but really really delicious.

I linked up my recipe to Mique’s Pity Party at 30 Handmade Days