This hadn’t originally jumped out at me but as I was flipping through the cookbooks looking for vegetarian dinner ideas, the Baked Orzo and Artichokes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers presented itself as a great almost-farmer’s-market-season option.

This was another easy one to throw together. I made it in my dutch oven, because while I do have an oven-proof skillet it’s stainless steel, and I knew the dutch oven would clean up easier. I think I sacrificed some crispiness but I was OK with that tradeoff.

My only note on this one is that I added too much black pepper. Deb calls for “many grinds” and my interpretation of that was perhaps a little much. I believe I’ve also seen her say someplace that her pepper grinder is set to a very fine grind, so “a lot of pepper” will mean very different things based on the grind, not to mention your taste. Use your judgement, but personally I made a note in the book to use “some” pepper next time.

Deb notes in the headnotes that this is more of a side than a main, and I’d agree with that. I served it with side salads which helped a bit. It’s been great for lunches though, especially since I’ve been doing a smaller lunch accompanied by second breakfast and an afternoon snack. Anyway, I don’t usually think of pasta as a side, but it’d be easy enough to throw some chicken thighs or salmon in the oven to go along with this.

I came across this one while searching for things to make with some red potatoes we had knocking around. Since we happened to have sour cream and heavy cream (things that are not typically in our fridge) it seemed like I was fated to make these Crushed Ranch-y Potatoes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers.

The red potatoes I had were larger than the ones called for, so I cut them in halves and thirds. They took a little longer to cook, but I figured they would and had factored that in. The sauce for this came together very quickly and I recommend getting everything ready before you start.

Even with adding an extra clove of garlic, the flavor of these was very mild, the leftovers even more so. I served them with accidentally over-salted chicken so it balanced out okay, but these didn’t really do much for me.

The Slow-Simmered Lentils with Kale and Goat Cheese from Smitten Kitchen Keepers didn’t initially catch my eye, but when I saw someone mention them online somehow they immediately got on my list.

We wound up with bagged, pre-chopped kale in our grocery order, so I didn’t try out including the steps. (They are in the bagged stuff, but it’s already a pain to sift them out and strip the leaves off the bigger stems.) Other that that I made it as directed, adding half the cheese at the end since I only needed two servings.

The only real thing to be aware of if you make this is that it needs to simmer for close to an hour, so don’t start it too late in the evening. (You could easily do your prep ahead though – sort through your lentils and prep the veg and it’d be very fast to throw it all in the dutch oven.) Deb doesn’t cue for this but make sure to check your lentils a couple of times and taste to see if they’re cooked through or not. I didn’t need the entire hour, I think mine took about 45 minutes.

I didn’t have the recommended country bread or sourdough to toast alongside this, so on a whim I made some corn muffins since I happened to have everything I needed for a recipe that had floated across my radar recently. In my opinion the bread would have been better, providing ore contrast than the muffins. But my husband liked that he could break pieces of the muffin up and scoop it along with the lentils.

I’m always on the lookout for vegetarian dinners and I liked the sound of the Creamy Coconut Rice with Chili-Lime Vegetables from Smitten Kitchen Keepers. I used to make this Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu with Coconut Rice to take to work for lunch, and the rice was always very good. And we like roasted veggies, so it seemed like a no-brainer.

For this I used an entire head of cauliflower and a small acorn squash. I subbed a jalapeno for the red chili, and decided to forgo the cilantro.

I used a 9×13 pan for the rice as apparently I don’t have a 3 quart casserole. It came together very quickly and I threw that in the oven while I chopped the veggies. I don’t think the timing would have been quite right, but I was hungry and wanted to get a head start on the rice, which needs to bake for 40-45 minutes.

Sadly for me, at 45 mins there was still a lot of liquid left in the pan with the rice, though it did seem like the rice was cooked. It turns out I’d set the oven temp too low, so I turned it up to finish off the veggies and poured the rice into a skillet. I just brought it to a gentle boil and stirred away until it got to the consistency I was looking for. At that point I decided the veggies were done and threw everything together.

Even setting aside my own issues making this, I’m not sure it’s a keeper for us. We tend to make dishes with very bold flavors, and this is pretty mild. In my opinion it needs a condiment, or more seasoning on the veggies. I kept thinking back to the spicy stir-fried tofu, which is coated in a spice mix that brings a lot of flavor to the dish. I would usually add some broccoli to it to round it out and to stretch the meal. I might just bring that back into the dinner rotation, we’ll see.

We are big on shrimp in this house, and usually have it every couple of weeks or so. When I saw the Crispy Chili Garlic Butter Shrimp in Smitten Kitchen Keepers I knew it was something we’d have to try.

This came together in a flash for me because the shrimp we typically purchase come with shells on, but already deveined. (For local friends, we get these from The District Fishwife at Union Market.) To serve the two of us for dinner, I made a half batch.

Deb calls for either hot smoked paprika or crushed red pepper, so I did a combination of regular smoked paprika and crushed red pepper. We do like spicy so I definitely could have added more. Don’t skimp on the lemon juice, I thought it might be too much but you really want it to cut through the butter.

If you don’t want to use wine you could substitute some broth (ideally seafood broth, but a light chicken or veggie broth would work too). If you do that, be mindful that you don’t over salt and consider adding a little more lemon juice at the end.

I did not have any appropriate bread on hand and regretted not getting any to serve with this. (I skipped it because I served this with the Green Angel Hair with Garlic Butter.) We wouldn’t have needed much, just something to enjoy the rest of the sauce. A slice or two from a baguette would have done the trick.