A Quick Halloween meal

 Halloween can be a fun day but it can also be nightmare for parents trying to plan lunch or dinner. It's hard to eat let alone cook between answering the door and taking the kids trick or treating. what to do? Think simple.  A simple meal is a b ig help here.

Sandwiches are the way to go for lunch. Have cold cuts and bread or rolls on the ready. Use leftover chicken or roast beef from Sunday's lunch for a delicious lunch. Make yourself a hearty one if you're planning on heading house to house afterwards. Think a hero stuffed with not only your favorite slices of ham or salami but also with different cheeses like Provolone and mozzarella. Add tomatoes and pickles too. Extras like chips or pretzels can round it out. A hot lunch on a chilly day is a boon because you'll feel warm afterwards. If you're ambitious then spend tomorrow making a homemade soup that can easily be served on Monday. A good cauliflower or potoato one is not only filling but also delicious too. Round out the lunch with toasted cheese rounds using Italian ro French bread crisped up in an air fryer and a salad. Kids may just want to skip lunch and get to the trick or treating. Don't allow this to happen. Pack a favorite sandwich and a juice box if they refuse to eat at home. Take along napkins and wet wipes so there are no grubby or dirty little fingers begging for candy.

Another meal that will be affected by the holiday is dinner.Again you could also use Sunday's leftovers for Monday's supper. Cook extra pasta or sides to stretch the meal. That way you can concentrate on handing out treats. If the family still wants a hot dinner, consider take out. The addition of pizza , Chinese or burgers only adds to the excitment of the holiday. However if you feel the need to cook something fresh, then think easy. Pasta is a snap to boil and serve with a variety of sauces. Dont go homemade. There are plenty of good commercially made ones that can fill the bill. Acme and Stop & Shop have a wide range of tasty sauces,  Get a tomato basil or a four cheese one. Again make an easy garlic bread in the air fryer to sop up the sauce. A French dip sandwich is another tasty warm meal that's easy to make.Buy sliced London Broil or roast beef and long rolls. Use already made gravy and heat it up in the miicrowave. The result is a hot sandwich that will keep you filled long after the last trick or treater has gone home.

Don't let Halloween trick you into skipping lunch or dinner. Have a full meal before trick or treating or handing out goodies. It's a treat that will keep you going all day.

Invite To A Big Lasagna Party

We all need a big get together and party right now.Luckily there is just that thanks, to regular New York Times Food contributor, Samin Nosrat, She is hosting a gathering this Sunday 7 PM Eastern standard TIme. on Instagram. Come one, come all.

Chef Nosrat is not new to dinner parties and gatherings. Since her college days she has thrown together meals that ranged from paellas cooked on a rusted fire pit in a yard to churning out gallons of ice cream in her apartment. She has thrown parties in abandoned airplane hangars and deserted beaches and sprawling farms. Then there were the  get togethers at Tartine, the famed San Francisco eatery, where their corner bakery was set up to feed the restaurant's bakers. The group enjoyed Chef Nosrat's shrimp boils, brisket and latkes. She baked twelve layer lasagnas and billowy  souffles they all enjoyed. Now
 Chef Nosrat is coming into our homes as we go into her Southern Californian one.Her dish of choosing? An old fashioned lasagna, perfect with a bottle of red wine. For some of you novice chefs out there freaking out right now, don't worry. You can make your own creation, whether it's spaghetti and meatballs or just a sandwich. Just so long as you're there. That's what matters.

Is Chef Nosrat's recipe an easy one? It's a classic one, familiar to those who have grown up with Southern Italian recipes and big Sunday pasta dinners. The filling is ricotta along with fresh or even frozen spinach. She suggests using string cheese - fun - if you don't have Provolone or mozzarella handy. There's also grated Parmesan Asiago or Grano Padano. You can use dried Italian seasoning or fresh basil along with fresh Italian parsley and chives. There is the Bechamel sauce, an easy mix that can also go over chicken or fish. Again it's just flour, butter, milk and nutmeg mixed together. The tomato sauce can be your favorite jarred one or the one from the NY Times Simple Tomato sauce located in NYT Cooking. If you're really ambitious make the sheets of lasagna noodles yourself (again the recipe is on the NYT Cooking site). There's more cheese added. from Grano Padano to string. Assembling it may be labor intensive however if your family is joining you, then employ them to help. As for the wine, Chef Nosrat suggests Chianti or a barbera from Piemonte. The kids can have a celebratory soda or chocolate milk.

Mark  this Sunday at seven as a dinner date. Make Chef Nosrat's lush and classic homemade lasagna or not. Just be there to enjoy good food and good talk.

The Rhode Island Sloppy Joe My Spin

The recipe in last Sunday's NewYork Times magazine looked too good to pass up. Sam Sifton wrote about it .It is Matthew Hyland,'s, owner of Emily and Emmy Squared  restaurants of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nashville.He first made it at the deli marketplace at Clements Marketplace in Portsmouth. Rhode Island when he was an undergrad at nearby Roger Williams University in Bristol.It sounded good and vegan convertible. It had to be made.I added my own spins on it.
   It calls for green peppers. I used red because they're sweeter and would work well, offsetting the spiciness of the vegan chorizo I used.

One pepper was sliced , seeded and coarsely chopped. I then added crumbled vegan chorizo.

It comes in a plastic casing  which has to be discarded. (note to self - remember this the next time you cook with it).

Chef Hyland's recipe calls for red onion. I had a quarter of a yellow one left over so I decided to use that. Of course there was garlic, finely minced.

The recipe also called for cumin seeds which I didn;t have, Powdered cumin worked just as well.

Two teaspoons.

It was all mixed together with a cup of crushed tomatoes and half a cup of water.

It was a delicious mix.Everything was stirred over a medium flame.

It cooked up very well,  like a Sloppy Joe. which it essentially it is.

It should be layered with kale or spinach and a slice of Provolone cheese but I thought the two may be too much. I did add a liberal dose of celery salt as required.It gave it a Springy green flavor.

I preferred mine on a crusty hard roll, which is what Mr. Chef Hyland recommends.

This was a great sandwich. Next time  I will layer on spinach leaves and Provolone cheese for the whole experience. It was definitely a must do and a tasty one at that too!