Brown Rice and Avocado Salad with Vietnamese Dressing

Everyday home cooking is often about using what you have on hand. Each evening when I look in the fridge and cupboards, I have to make something to eat with what I find.

Sometimes I plan a week's worth of meals and then each evening's job is easy. At other times I have no plan. But food must still be produced. And I refuse to eat (or serve) something boring. At least not more than once a week!

This super easy dinner is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. She made it originally with black rice and prawns, but the headnotes suggested avocado as an option. I usually have leftover brown rice on hand, and I made a few substitutions in the dressing. That doesn't really matter, don't you think? As long as an interesting meal is produced and enjoyed from what is available, I am happy.

cucumber salad with garlic and mint

Cucumber is fresh and crunchy, the perfect accompaniment to roast meat or grilled fish; it also belongs stuffed in a lamb kebab. I am attracted to recipes like this one because I adore the thriftiness of mundane vegetables such as cucumber. (I find myself gravitating towards all the dull vegetables: carrots, cucumber, and broccoli, for example. I like to think they can be exciting, too. Psychology, anyone?)

hasselback potatoes

Say hello to the easiest potato dish ever! Yet somehow so impressive, with the fanned out slices of roast potato. These tiny taters are perfect party food, ready to be nestled in the corner of your plate piled with pot luck goodies. They are from my new-to-me Nigella Lawson cookbook, Forever Summer. Nigella's recipe is simple and unfussy, but contains a gem-like tip for slicing the potatoes for this recipe.