Cauliflower Mushroom Marranca

Last night I adapted the Cauliflower Marranca recipe from Mollie Katzen's The New Moosewood Cookbook, and though it had some problems, I think it's a keeper. The problem was that the top dried out. I had foreseen that dryness might be a problem and tried to correct for it by adding a sauce and shortening the oven time, but the problem was I didn't add enough sauce. I went to my pantry to get out the nutritional yeast for the sauce and --SURPRISE--there was less than 1/4 cup there. So I had to cut down on the amount of sauce I made.


The recipe that follows is my corrected version; it's how I will make it next time. So, if you follow this, your Marranca should come out nice and moist. If during cooking it starts to look dried out, cover it to keep the moisture in.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Marranca

1 1/2 cups raw millet
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups chopped onions
1 pound sliced mushrooms
freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons basil
1 large cauliflower,cut into 1-inch flowerets
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
paprika, to taste
Sauce (blend all ingredients well):
1 cup water
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light miso
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Place the millet and 2 1/2 cups water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

While the millet is cooking, heat 2 tbsp. water in a large, deep skillet. Add onions, mushrooms, pepper, and basil and sauté for about 3 minutes, until the onions soften. Add the cauliflower, salt, and garlic and cook, covered, stirring frequently for about 5 more minutes. The cauliflower should be approaching tenderness but not completely cooked. Add 1 tbsp. lemon juice.

Mix the millet into the cauliflower, along with the prepared sauce. Press the mixture into an oiled (or sprayed) 9 x 13-inch pan, sprinkle paprika on top, and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes, until hot but not dry. Cut into rectangles and serve.

Even with the dryness, this recipe was a big hit with my husband and me. E. was a different story; I'm afraid it's been a long time since I've cooked millet, so it now falls into the category of "new foods" to her. If you've ever had to feed an almost 9-year-old, you probably know that new foods are like the Antichrist or something: they run screaming from them. I'm not going to give up on millet, though. Once she's seen it a few times, E. will come around.

I served this with our favorite kale recipe: Kale with Cashew Cream Sauce.


If you have kids who won't eat greens, try using some of this cashew sauce on them (the greens, not the kids!) E. always eats all of her kale and even goes back for more. In fact, when the marranca was too dry for her, I got her to eat most of it by putting cashew sauce on it. It's a wonder food!

All together, this meal is a nutritional bonanza--cruciferous veggie plus greens! That's why I'm sending it as my first contribution to Sweetnicks ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Catch-up Time

I've just come off a very loooonng weekend, one of those when everything seems scheduled to happen at once. To top it off, my husband was out of town most of last week so everything fell to me to get done. Fortunately, he's back just in time to salvage what's left of my sanity. I'm just happy I managed to get through it without sending the puppy back to the shelter or the kid to boarding school! (I'm kidding!!! Please don't write telling me what a bad pet owner/mom I am!)

Being the good husband that he is, D. took us out for dinner as soon as he got off the plane last night. So, since I have cooked nothing new since Saturday, I thought I'd take today and do some badly needed updating of my Fatfree Vegan Recipes website. Lots of people have sent in new recipes, but I've been too busy to post them to the site. Today I plan to rectify that.

And, if I have time, I'll post a list of some of the good non-vegan-yet-useful blogs I've come across lately.

Stay tuned...

Date-Nut Slices

Here's the other dish that I made for last night's dinner. These were a big hit with the adults, but not so much with the kids. Well, my kid at least didn't like the cardamom in them, but that just left more for us adults! This recipe doesn't make a lot--probably about 12 slices.

(By the way, I stole this recipe from One Hot Stove--minus the cream and whole milk, that is! )

Date-Nut Slices

1 cup of pitted dates
1/2-3/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Chop the dates coarsely. (I used a food processor to do this.)

Chop the walnuts coarsely. (You may toast them if you wish, but I didn't.) Grind the almonds to a powder (again, use the food processor).

In a small saucepan, combine the dates and 1/2 cup soy milk. Bring to a boil and then simmer on medium-low heat, stirring often, till the dates break down and the mixture cooks into a thick consistency that leaves the sides of the saucepan. If it seems to be drying out before the dates break down, add some more soy milk, up to another 1/4 cup.

Turn off the heat. Stir in walnuts, cardamom and a pinch of salt and combine well. Let the mixture cool almost to room temperature.

Place the date mixture on a plastic sheet and form it into a long roll. Roll it in almond powder to get it coated.

Place the roll in the freezer for an hour or more, then cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the slices if desired. (Supposedly you can store these in the freezer for a quick treat, but I wouldn't know; they were all gone pretty fast when I served them.)

I will definitely make this again. E. will just have to get used to the taste of cardamom.

Thanks to Nupur at One Hot Stove for the great recipe!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food low-fat

Rigatoni with Zucchini and Eggplant

If you're a vegan and you're invited to a dinner, banquet, or other large party involving food, you usually have two choices: either eat before you go and find a lettuce leaf to nibble on or offer to bring some of the food. Last night I attended a dinner at our local Unitarian Universalist church, and one of the great things about this group of people is that there's almost always someone else bringing a vegan dish. Last night was no exception, but, since most of the food was provided by a local barbecue place, I offered to help out with a couple more vegan options.

For a main dish, I chose to update one of my old favorites, Rigatoni with Zucchini and Eggplant. (The photo above is not a good representation of the dish. Though there is a high proportion of vegetables to pasta, there really is more pasta than the photo shows!)

This is a layered pasta dish, similar to lasagna, that doesn't really stay layered when you dish it up. Tofu stands in for ricotta cheese, and the nutritional yeast (available in natural food stores) lends a great cheesy taste. The original recipe used jarred spaghetti sauce, but I wanted a fresher taste, so I used Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes. If you haven't tried these, you must! They have a lovely sweet, smoky taste. You can find them in natural food stores or in the organic/natural section of some supermarkets.

1 large zucchini -- sliced in 1/4" half moons
1/2 medium eggplant -- cubed
1 large onion -- chopped
1 bell pepper -- seeded & chopped
3 cloves garlic -- minced
3 tablespoons water -- (more as needed)
12-14 ounces tofu -- (lowfat) mashed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil (divided)
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (divided)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes -- (optional)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons salt -- (divided)
8 ounces pasta -- rigatoni or other small tubular pasta
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes (fire roasted, if available)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
soy Parmesan (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Boil pasta according to package directions, cooking until just barely tender (a little undercooked is better than overcooked). When it's done, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water before draining the pasta.

While the pasta's cooking, sauté the eggplant, zucchini, onions, bell pepper and garlic in 2 tbsp. water in a nonstick pan over medium heat, adding more water if needed to prevent sticking. When the vegetables are tender, add the reserved pasta cooking water, 1 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. oregano, the rosemary, 1 tsp. salt, tomatoes, and tomato sauce; stir, and keep warm.

Combine the mashed tofu with the pine nuts, parsley, nutritional yeast, and remaining basil, oregano, salt, and red pepper flakes. Stir the cooked rigatoni into the tofu.

Lightly coat a 4-quart casserole with vegetable oil spray. Spread a thin layer of the vegetable mixture over the bottom (you just want a little sauce there to keep the pasta from sticking). Place a layer of half the pasta mixture, then cover with half the sautéed vegetables; repeat layers.

Cover the casserole and bake it for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 minutes. Before serving, sprinkle with soy Parmesan cheese, if you want.

This is a great dish to serve to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Unfortunately, if you bring it to the Unitarian church in my town, you won't have any leftovers to bring home!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Tropical Sweet Potato Delight

I was baking sweet potatoes last night, planning to serve them in all their natural glory (i.e. "plain") when suddenly the pineapple on the counter caught my eye, and this idea was born. I'd already been toying with the thought of putting lite coconut milk on sweet potatoes, and fresh pineapple just seemed like a natural companion.

Here's how I did it. (These instructions are for one large sweet potato.)

First I cooked the sweet potato in the microwave until done. For two really big potatoes in my microwave, that took about 12 minutes, turning once, but your microwave time may vary. Once the sweet potato was done, I put it into the toaster oven at about 375 F for 10 minutes or so to get crispy.

Once it was crispy, I took it out of the oven, put it on a plate, and cut a slit from one end to to the other. I opened it up, scooped out most of the flesh, put that into a bowl and mashed it.

To the mashed potato, I added about 3 tablespoons lite coconut milk, a squirt of agave nectar, a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, a dash of salt, and about 1/3 cup chopped fresh pineapple. I mixed it up well, and carefully stuffed it back into the potato shell. Then I arranged more chopped pineapple on top, drizzled it with another tsp. or so of coconut milk and another tsp. of agave nectar, and sprinkled on a little more cinnamon. (Walnuts would have been great too, but I didn't think of that until now.)

I put it under the broiler for a few minutes to lightly brown the pineapple, and then I ate. It was heavenly! (Unfortunately, I couldn't get E. to even try it. She enjoyed hers with Earth Balance vegan margarine.)

Note about the fat: The amount of lite coconut milk I used has about 3 grams of fat, which is not much, at least not to me. If you want to leave out the coconut milk entirely, go ahead. The pineapple is much more essential to the delicious taste.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food low-fat

A Really Good Cup of Tea

We interrupt this blog to bring you...



...a really good cup of tea.

Since last night's dinner was unexciting (potatoes, peas, broccoli, and pineapple, singly, not in combination) I thought you might enjoy this picture of a cup of tea. But wait! It's not just any tea, it's Yogi Green Chai, quite possibly my new favorite tea.

More gingery than your regular Chai and less "green" tasting than other green teas, this tea is perfect for sipping in front of the fire on a cold afternoon. Oh, who am I kidding? I live in Mississippi and it's been in the 60's. I just drink it because it's delicious!

(I am not affiliated or employed in any way by Yogi Tea. They'd have to ask nicely.)

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian tea

Mexican Sushi

Even kids aren't immune to the power of the internet. Ever since my daughter saw the Vegan Lunch Box blog, she's wanted me to post a photo of her lunch. Today she took this photo of her favorite lunch-box meal, which we call Mexican Sushi (because she wishes she had a mother who would get up at 5:30 and fix her sushi!)

We warm up some fat-free refried beans, heat a fat-free tortilla, and then spread the beans all over one side of the tortilla. Then we put a strip of black olives, grape tomato halves, and lettuce down the middle and roll it up, jelly roll style. I cut it into four pieces and pack them in a cheapy plastic container (see photo). E. says that these stay nice and soft and she doesn't need to heat them up (which she could do since she has access to a microwave).

Not shown: $4.00 butterfly lunch-box

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Cajun 15-Bean Soup

Last night, along with the collard greens, I served Cajun 15-Bean Soup. I made it a little differently than my usual recipe, so here's my updated version. (The old version used Gimme Lean sausage, so if you're into fake meats, you might want to check it out.)

Cajun 15-Bean Soup

20 ounces dried mixed beans (you can find these prepackaged in most grocery stores), rinsed
12 cups water
1 large onion -- chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic -- minced
juice of one lemon
15-ounce can stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
1 1/2 teaspoons salt -- or to taste

Last night I saved some time by putting the beans into the pressure cooker with 8 cups water, cooking at high pressure for 12 minutes, and then releasing the pressure and cooking until the beans were completely cooked. If you use a pressure cooker, I advise letting the pressure come down naturally rather than quick-releasing. And if you have a quick-release setting on your PC, do not use it! I had beans stuck in my valve when I tried that.

If you don't want to pressure cook them, then place the washed beans in a pot with 12 cups of water and boil covered 60-75 minutes until beans are tender.

While the beans are boiling, brown the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic in a non-stick skillet.

Add onion mixture, stewed tomatoes, and lemon juice to beans along with the spices and simmer 30-45 minutes. (If you started the beans in the pressure cooker, add 2 cups water at this time too.) Add liquid smoke and salt at the end. Serve with bread or over rice, or just by itself, as I did.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

What I did with those collards....

Well, I have to admit that they looked prettier in the garden, but they were pretty tasty. Since these were such young, tender greens, I decided to cook them in a non-traditional way.

Not Your Mama's Collards
(or Collards and Peppers in White Wine Sauce)

1 medium onion, chopped
2+ tbsp. water
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1/4 cup vegetable broth
8 oz.-1 lb. collard greens, center ribs removed if necessary, and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/8 cup white wine

Heat the water in a large, non-stick pot, and begin cooking the onion over medium-high heat. Cook and stir the onion, adding more water as necessary, until it begins to caramelize, about 6-8 minutes. It should turn light brown but not dry out or burn. Add garlic and stir for one more minute.

Add the vegetable broth, greens, and sliced pepper. Cover and cook for about 6 minutes, until greens are tender yet still bright green. If your greens are older, it may take longer.

Add the wine and stir and cook for about 2 more minutes. Season to taste with salt, if desired, and serve.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Smoky Chipotle Guacamole

Lunch for me is usually an enormous salad topped with some kind of beans, either in the form of hummus or, when I'm in the mood for a Taco Salad, refried or chili beans. Today was a taco salad day, and since I had two avocados that had reached their peak of ripeness, I decided to top that salad with some guacamole:

Smoky Chipotle Guacamole

1 med-large tomato, diced
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 avocados, diced
2-3 tbsp. diced red onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
1-2 tsp. chipotle chilies in adobo, minced
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix the diced tomatoes with the lemon juice, and then dice and add the avocado and remaining ingredients. Stir well. You can allow the flavors to mingle for a while in the fridge, or if you're impatient like me, you can dig in right away.

I have no idea how many "normal" people this serves because it didn't last for 10 minutes after my other two family members discovered it. Since we didn't have any tortillas in the house, they ate it with reduced-fat crackers. I couldn't get them to eat it on salad.

About the chipotles: I used the chipotles that are canned in adobo sauce. They're found in the Mexican or "ethnic" sections of many grocery stores. If you can't find them, you can substitute chipotle chili powder or any other chili powder. Chipotles are smoked jalapeños, and they give a smoky spiciness to this dish. Be aware, though, that they are very spicy, so use the "add a little, taste, add more" method if you're sensitive to heat.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food

What's Cooking in...My Garden

Last night my daughter and I ate leftover Ethiopian food and Vegetable Couscous, so I have nothing exciting to report from the kitchen. I thought I'd use this space today to show you what tonight's supper looks like about 10 hours before it's cooked:

The great thing about living in the south is that you can grow something edible at any time of the year. I just stuck these collard greens and some broccoli plants in the ground a couple of months ago, tossed on some compost from our pile, and let nature take over. Later today I'm going to harvest about half of the collards and cook them tonight.

The broccoli need a little more time, but here's a photo of the biggest one:

Tags: vegan vegetarian cooking

Vegetable Couscous

Last night's dinner was a cooperative effort: D. chopped the veggies, E. opened cans and boxes, and I threw everything together on the stove. As a result, this old favorite of ours came together in record time, about 20 minutes from start to finish. While it was cooking, I threw together a salad to complete the meal.

The recipe for Vegetable Couscous is straight out of Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin, except that I've eliminated the oil and butter she uses to sauté the onion and to cook the couscous. You don't need either, in my opinion. In a good skillet, either non-stick coated or well-seasoned, you can cook the onions over medium-high heat with a tablespoon or two of water and achieve the same results without added fat. And there's absolutely no reason to add fat to couscous; this quick-cooking pasta will come out fluffy and moist if you use the correct amount of boiling water and just take it off the heat so that it doesn't dry out.

For those of you who, like me, are cutting refined foods out of your diet, please feel free to serve this over a whole grain such as millet, quinoa, or brown rice. I had some leftover rice in the fridge, so that's how I ate mine. My daughter, AKA the "Pastavore," devoured hers with the couscous. I don't mind her having a little refined food every now and then, as long as she's getting plenty of veggies along with it.

Besides being tasty and quick, this recipe is dear to me for sentimental reasons: it was one of the first dishes D. cooked for me when we were dating. I was so impressed with a guy who could cook vegan! Of course, that was before we moved in together and I chased him out of the kitchen. Well, most of the time. I still let him do the chopping and washing up.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Ethiopian Night

I've loved Ethiopian food since I first had it on a visit to Washington, DC, years ago. Ever since then, I've looked for Ethiopian restaurants every place I've traveled because I never seem to be fortunate enough to live in a place that has one. The closest one to me now is about 3 1/2 hours away in Memphis, Tennessee. When I found that little restaurant, Memphis's appeal went up considerably!

Since I can't travel just in order to eat (though I can hardly think of a better reason!), I've managed to learn to make some passable Ethiopian-style dishes. Normally, Ethiopian food is served on and with a flat-bread called injera that is unlike any other bread I know. It's flat, but it's soft and spongy, not dense like a chapati or a tortilla. The food is served on top of one large injera, while additional injera is eaten with the food. You tear off a piece of injera and use it to pick up and eat a bite of food. It's brilliant! No utensils to wash!

Making injera at home is time-consuming, but it can be done. On run-of-the-mill nights I almost never go to the trouble. I rarely eat bread and prefer to stick to whole grains, so I serve Berberé Stew, a spicy lentil stew, over brown rice. The seasoning is rich with cinnamon, cloves, and nine other spices. I make up a big batch of the spice mix and keep it on hand to make this quick-cooking dish. It's simple, but it's one of my favorite recipes.

Last night I made a new dish to go along with the Berberé Stew. I had fresh green beans, so I decided on Ethiopian Green Beans and Potatoes. I made the recipe mostly as written, but I used 12 ounces of green beans instead of 8 and increased the seasonings a little to compensate. This was a much less spicy dish than the lentils, but its mildness was a good complement. It wasn't an exciting dish, but I'd have it again.

Now to start planning my next trip . . . .

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free ethiopian

Monterey Frittata

Last night I decided to give myself time off for good behavior. After being on my feet all day, I did what people down through the centuries have done when they're too tired to cook: ordered Middle Eastern food. Or at least that's what our ancestors would have done if they'd known the joys of hummus, tabouli, baba ganoush, falafel, and lentil-rice dish thingy and had had the Mediterranean Grocery and Café right down the street. Alas, folks, it was not fat-free. Now you know: I'm human, too!

To make up for last night's laziness, bright and early this morning (around 9) I got up and decided to cook breakfast. I'm not normally a breakfast person; a couple of pieces of fruit suit me just fine. And truth be told, a Monterey Frittata is complicated enough that I usually serve it for dinner. So don't try this on a workday morning.

This recipe was inspired by one on the back of the box of Fantastic Foods Tofu Scrambler . I've never been to Monterey, so I don't know why this frittata is named after it, but I liked the sound and decided to keep the name. I used Tofu Scrambler for years before deciding to put together my own scrambler mix, so if you want to save time and use the bought version, you won't hurt my feelings.

Monterey Frittata (serves 4)

1 pound firm or extra-firm tofu, drained (NOT silken!)
2 green onions, minced
1 can sliced or quartered artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
10 button mushrooms, sliced (or mushrooms of choice)
2 large roma tomatoes, sliced
vegan parmesan (optional)
black olives, sliced

Seasoning Mix (mix all together):

1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. red pepper
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. corn starch OR 2 tbsp. instant mashed potato flakes

Cheeze Sauce (based on a recipe by Bryanna Clark Grogan):

1 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. powdered garlic
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 tablespoon tahini

Mash the tofu and add the seasoning mix, green onions, and artichokes. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon or so of water in a small non-stick saucepan; add the mushrooms, green peppers, and garlic and cook until the mushrooms exude their juices. Drain the liquid off, and add half the mushroom mixture to the tofu.

Brush or spray a large non-stick skillet (use one that has a lid) with oil and heat to medium-high. Add the tofu to the skillet, and stir and cook it for a couple of minutes. Then flatten it, pressing it evenly over the entire pan. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for about 10 minutes.

While it's cooking, make your Cheeze Sauce. Blend all ingredients together in a blender (I actually use a hand blender and do it right in the pan) and pour into a saucepan. Heat it at medium-high, stirring constantly, until it boils and thickens. Add enough water or plain soymilk (a couple of tablespoons) to make it just pour-able. Keep it warm until ready to use.

Once the tofu is heated through, place the sliced tomatoes on top, and sprinkle the remaining mushroom mixture over them. (If you'd like, you can add vegan parmesan at this point, too.) Drizzle cheeze sauce over the top, using as much or as little as you'd like. (I use about 2/3 of the recipe and reserve the rest for another use.) Sprinkle black olives over the cheeze, replace the cover, and cook until the tomatoes are done (about 5 minutes). Slice carefully, and serve. Or better yet, put your feet up and have someone serve you!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Yep, I'm famous!

Now that Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of the hot cookbook Vegan with a Vengeance, has mentioned me both on her livejournal and on her forum, you might think that my head would be getting too big for my modest-sized kitchen. And you would be right. I met my husband at the door with a big, "You won't believe who complimented my blog!" He knows who ICM is because he bought me her cookbook for Giftmas, by my request. So he was suitably impressed. But he did stop me from changing the banner at the top to a new one shouting, "As featured in the PPK forum!"

All this is by way of saying Thanks, Isa. And I don't mind at all that you stole that photo of my pumpkin soup. Now, if you could just help me get a book deal....

Hash Browns and Black Bean Burgers

Our meal time keeps getting later and later. Last night it was closing in on 7:30, and I still didn't have a clue what I was going to fix. I just knew that it was Friday night, and I did not want to be in the kitchen all night. (My husband, who does the dishes, also asked that it be a one-pot meal, but I callously ignored that.)

I decided to fix oven-baked hash browns before I knew what would go with them. While I weighed the merits of scrambled tofu or barbecued beans, I got the hash browns started. Here's what you do:

Preheat your oven to 400F. Start a pot of water boiling. Cut some small potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. I used about 10 2-inch diameter organic red potatoes, but you can use yukon gold or whatever. Since I leave the skin on, I wash them extra-well beforehand. When the water's boiling, toss the potato cubes into it and boil for 5 minutes.

Drain the potatoes well, and lightly oil, spray, or otherwise lubricate a cookie sheet. Spread the potatoes out on the sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes. Then turn them with a spatula and bake for 10 more. Check them for brownness. When they look almost done, you can toss in a handful of chopped bell peppers and onions and cook for 5 more minutes. Or you can