• 1 can condensed chicken noodle soup
• 2 cans of water (this is more than the recommended)
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• several pinches of canned fancy cut spinach (refrigerate the rest)
• black pepper
• tarragon
• marjoram
• paprika

The spices and the spinach are what really makes this dish stand out from a boring can of reheated soup. This type of recipe is great for people who aren’t used to stocking their pantries with fresh food. As much as I loathe microwaves, you could even prepare this meal with the microwave.

Reheat the condensed soup following the instructions on the label but use twice the recommended amount of water. Don’t be afraid to leave the heat on for too long with this one because the technique I used involved placing cold rice and cold spinach into the soup right before serving. This means that you can add a dash of paprika and a pinch each of the marjoram and tarragon while bringing the soup to a simmer. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste.

After several minutes of simmering, add the rice and spinach straight from the refrigerator. The reason I use this technique is that the heat transfers from the hot soup to the cold rice and the cold spinach warming the latter while cooling the former, allowing you to serve the soup almost immediately.

Spinach, carrot, cucumber and apple

• 1 large carrot
• 1 cucumber
• 2 small handfuls fresh spinach
• 1 palm full sliced white onion
• 2 small apples
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ground cumin

I started with a bed of spinach with which to lay everything upon as I prepared the produce. If you know have a technique or a tool for slicing things very thin, almost as thin as what a peeler would produce, use it here on the carrot. Otherwise, this could end up slightly dry. Arrange the carrot slices across the bed of spinach and feel free to overlap them. If you want to get fancy, place the carrots in overlapping groups of three and that will make the final product come out in sections.

The cucumber doesn’t need to be sliced as thin, here. Slice your cucumber and arrange in a layer on top of the carrots. Follow the same rule of threes here as you did with the carrots.

If not prepared correctly, the next step could cause the salad to look unappetizing. Apples tend to brown quickly so as we are slicing our apple wedges, approximately one-eighth-inch, we are going to have a plate of lemon juice ready. Gently rub each side of the apple in the lemon juice before placing on top of the cucumber. At this point sprinkle a light layer of cumin on top of the salad. I’ll describe the dressing next.

A single serving would ideally be three slices of carrots, three slices of cucumber, some bits of onion and a quadrangle of apple on a small bed of fresh spinach.

Creamy spice dressing

The dressing is almost as simple as the salad but with a couple twists. I honestly didn’t pay attention to the amounts of each ingredient I used so you may have to experiment until you reach the desired flavor.

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider (juice will work just fine)
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 2 pinches marjoram
• 2 dashes black pepper
• 1 pinch coriander seed
• 1 pinch cumin
• 2 tablespoons milk (half and half or cream would work as well (not whipping))

This will be a sort of creamy vinaigrette. Start with your oil and add your spices. This will allow the oil to take on some of the flavor of your spices. Feel free to crush up the coriander seed just slightly so the flavor can leech into the oil. After a few minutes mix the apple cider and vinegar together in a separate container and whisk into the main dressing. Whisk the milk or cream next and splash the dressing generously onto the salad. This is a light dressing and compliments the salad perfectly.

Here’s a closer look at the salad. You can’t really make out the spinach or the carrots but it was prettier when eating. I added some crumbled dried bread to the top.

Closer look

• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 1 dozen spinach leaves
• 1 can pink salmon
• 1 can whole tomatoes
• brown sugar
• 1/2 pound shredded cheese
• 1/8th of a read onion, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic
• oregano
• sea salt
• black pepper
• crushed red pepper
• lemon juice

Pre-cook your lasagna noodles just under al dente. Rinse them off with cold water and butter the bottom of a baking pan. Arrange one layer of noodles, I used three for each layer, on the bottom of the pan and top with the spinach. I drizzled a teeny bit of olive oil and then generously sprinkled black pepper on this layer. Add another layer of noodles and fill this layer with your salmon. I could have added capers here if I would have thought about it, but instead I just splashed some lemon juice and sea salt with a pinch of garlic powder onto the salmon layer.

The next layer will be another row of noodles and then your can of tomatoes along with the thinly sliced onions and garlic. Sprinkle some brown sugar across this layer. You can break up the tomatoes with your fingers, no need to slice them. Spread some oregano and crushed red pepper on this layer before topping with one last row of noodles.

The top layer is just the shredded cheese with some more oregano and bake it in the oven at about 375 for approximately thirty-five minutes or so. You know it’s done when the cheese starts to brown slightly. Use the next to bottom rack if you can.

For a side, I made some green onion soup in a beef broth. Both of my dinner guests loved this concoction and ate three servings.