Last year I discovered that roasting lemons brings out their natural goodness – and it makes the rind edible. So, the other morning when I woke up craving juice (and then sadly realized that we didn't have any in the apartment) I decided to make a breakfast tabbouleh with roasted lemons. It was incredible. It was so good that I finished it in two mornings. And that was a boon for me, because it's a simple meal to make and the bright lemony flavor is perfect for a quick morning pick-me-up.

(Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Carrots and Lavender)

Saint Patrick's Day isn't all about hitting the first open bar at 9 a.m. and then eating lunch sans pants.

To me it's a day to celebrate the potato. My cousin and I even have a Saint Patrick's day tradition where we call each other and shout out the names of potato dishes, before we mutually clink the phone with our whiskey glasses.

However, as a woman with a whole lot of Irish in her, I always feel guilty laughing at the old John Belushi skit, "Bad Luck of the Irish." Especially when he yells, "Potato famine! Still scares 'em doesn't it!"

But, let's not think about that. Instead, let's go through some of my favorite potato dishes that have graced our plates over the past 12 months.

On Sunday I was craving something different for our lunch. Even though winter has just reared its ugly head I'm a little souped out, and I didn't want a cold sandwich either. Then lo and behold in our refrigerator we had ham, swiss, butter and milk. In other words we had everything for a little Croque-Monsieur. A Croque-Monsieur is a sandwich that is a mainstay on brunch menus, and was practically a starring character in the hilarious film "It's Complicated."

And we had everything to make that delicious sandwich, but the bread. However, peeking shyly from the top of our cookbooks, though, was a package of english muffins. I realized that by using english muffins instead of bread, I would be making a lighter version of the classic sandwich because I wouldn't have to fry it in butter first. Alongside a salad of good greens...well this is practically low fat.*

Flavored cream cheese is good, but cream cheese that makes beads of sweat appear on our forehead is even better.

For some reason bagel shops are closed on Sunday in our neck of the woods. So, in order to have a bagel with a schmear we have to plan ahead. And along with remembering to grab bagels on Saturday, we also grab plain cream cheese in order to spice up our own concoction. When we lived in a larger city we used to grab “Mexican” cream cheese from our local shop on Sunday mornings. Since we can't get that, we've mimicked theirs.