Yes, this is definitely a dish for one of those lazy days, not lazy “like sitting on the sofa”, but lazy “like not feeling to cook” but with a desire to eat something good.

After waiting for a while after for people all day, first to come check out some windows for replacement (and not showing up), for phone calls unreturned, you get into a strange mood and wondering what is wrong. Is it the muggy weather? Is there something up in the air that makes people unreliable? I have no idea. I guess some days are just like that. Well so for one of those days, this is the perfect little thing to do, that will not leave your kitchen messy.

Verrines have been quite popular in France, you just fill them with whatever you like for a fun presentation. Basically, the glass is filled with layers of quinoa, pesto, goat cheese. It can be served lukewarm or cold as a salad or appetizer.

Ingredients for 4

• 250 g quinoa
• vegetable broth
• 6 tbs chick peas (soaked in water or canned)
• 3 zucchini, sliced crosswise
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 4 tbs goat cheese

For the pesto

• 70 g peeled almonds
• 1 garlic clove
• 40 g parmigiano Reggiano, grated
• 50 g basil
• zest of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Steam quinoa in vegetable broth by adding enough broth to cover the quinoa by 1/2 inch. Bring broth to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to the minimum. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. The other and quicker alternative is to cook quinoa in a rice cooker. When quinoa is cooked remove pot from the heat and let it cool a little.

Add chick peas to the quinoa and mix well. Grill zucchini in a grill pan and add to the quinoa-chick pea mixture. Add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil and adjust with salt and pepper.

For the pesto, combine all ingredients together in a mixer to obtain a semi fine paste.

In a glass, add one layer of quinoa, add a layer of pesto, then a layer of goat cheese. Start over with a layer of quinoa. Top it off with some goat cheese, a slice of grilled zucchini and a basil leaf.

I went for a little walk downtown today since my car did not run, the internet and the phone were completely dead, so I decided to take a day off rooming around the city. It had been a while I did not get the chance to do so and that was the perfect excuse for it. When technology decides to let you down, just go back to the basics.

You can feel the holiday spirit all over the city, all the Christmas colors are out, what an exciting feeling! Let’s not jump right onto Christmas since Thanksgiving is not here yet, it’s right across the corner and I haven’t yet decided what to serve for dinner. All the beautiful stemware and dinnerware in display makes me want to buy it all. I love a beautiful table for special occasions and was trying to find some special theme for Thursday night dinner.

In France, we serve turkey for Christmas, La dinde de Noël traditionally served with chestnuts. So that’s the way I will prepare my turkey, with chestnuts and with lots of vegetable side orders. I will call it “Thanksmas”.

We also serve many trendy appetizers like this one called verrines. They’re usually served in small glasses and in small quantities. Un Verre = A Glass. Verrines can be exotic, classics, sophisticated, it all depend on the ingredients. I bought beautiful golden beets and wanted to use the ricotta with them. Beet’s sweetness goes wonderfully well with soft cheeses such as goat cheese, ricotta, etc… You can add some sundried tomatoes on top of the ricotta or a crispy pancetta slice. It’s also delicious served with toasted country bread on the side, so you can spread some of the beet/ricotta mixture on top.

Ingredients for 4 verrines

For the beets

• 4 medium size golden beets, thinly diced
• 2 tbs sunflower seeds
• 1 tbs red onion, thinly chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp raspberry vinegar
• salt and pepper

For the ricotta

• 8 tbs ricotta
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• 1 tsp parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash beets and cook them in water or steam them for about 30 minutes or until they’re cooked all the way through. When cooked let them cool and peel them. Cut them is small cubes (1/3 of an inch). In a container, add beats and all other ingredients. Set aside

In a bowl, mix ricotta with all the ingredients.

Using a small glass container, add 2-3 tbs beets (depending on the size of your glass). Place 2-3 tbs ricotta on top. sprinkle with fresh pepper and a little olive oil. Decorate with chives and a cherry tomato cut in half.

Eat with toasted country bread.

Did it ever happen to you to really want a dessert but just something light, refreshing and fruity? no chocolate, no cake, no cream, just a light dessert? Well today that’s what I really wanted. I had two beautiful mangos that I would have preferred to eat fresh, sliced and not cook it, but I needed a nice fleshy and sweet fruit for my mousse, so I killed those two mangos with a lot of regrets. They were so sweet that I did not add any sugar.

I love fruit based dessert and this one is a winner. If you are trying to watch your weight, but still have a little craving for something sweet, this is perfect for you. It has very low calories, I used the non fat Greek yogurt “Page”, you could use the 2% fat also.

Ingredients for 4 verrines (glass cups)

• 1/2 lb Greek-style yogurt (non fat or regular)
• 2 tbs powder sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbs almond milk
• 2 gelatin sheet
• 2 ripe mangos
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 vanilla bean

Preparation

Mix yogurt with sugar, beat well. Heat almond milk and soak gelatin sheet in it and add to the yogurt. Mix well. Beat egg whites and add to the yogurt mixture. Place in the refrigerator

Peel the mango and cook at low heat. Cut vanilla bean and scrape beans, add to the mango, add lemon juice. Cook until the mango are cooked and make a jam-like mixture. Let it cool, then add on top of the yogurt mousse. Place in refrigerator overnight or at least for 6 hours to enable the mousse to thicken.