• Food

    Thai Quinoa Salad

    Quinoa. We dated a few years ago. I couldn’t commit. We parted ways. Then I was introduced to the quinoa salad at Zoe’s Kitchen (ahh mazing!), and I realized that perhaps I shouldn’t ditch this little grain just yet. Perhaps I just needed to find some better recipes. Perhaps quinoa is really a keeper. Perhaps. So I found this recipe scouring the depths of Pinterest. The sauce was reminiscent of one of my fav dishes (Simple Asian Peanut Noodles), and so I felt like it had some real potential. Y’all – this stuff is good.  As Blake described it to Brogan last night when he asked what was for dinner:…

  • Food

    Greek Orzo Salad

    Now that it’s summer it’s time to roll out the salads! I first made this orzo salad for a bridal shower last spring. It was a big hit then, and so I made it about a dozen times throughout last summer. Somehow though, I never got around to blog about it! Well, I made it again last weekend, and so here it is! This salad is light and fresh. It has just as much (or maybe more) veggies than pasta, and is dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. The feta cheese and artichoke give it the Greek flare and it’s really hard to eat just one bowl. Hope you…

  • Food

    Sweet Potato Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans and Cranberries

    I may have said this once or twice, but I swear I mean it this time… this may be the best thing I’ve ever made. Seriously.  I was partly inspired by a sweet potato salad dish made by the wife of one of my co-workers. Hers is made with gorgonzola and red peppers. So yesterday when I was trying to come up with something to do with my sweet potatoes, her idea of mixing cheese with them in salad form came to mind. As some of you may know, due to my oldest son’s allergies, tree nuts are off limits in my house. So when we received his diagnosis last…

  • Food

    Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

    We enjoyed this salad with our Pork Tenderloin Marsala last night. I can’t take all the credit on this one… I knew what I wanted this to be in theory, but had to call in the real chef (Blake) for the execution on the warm bacon vinaigrette. It turned out great – and the different color tomatoes made it a beautiful salad as well! This would be a great addition to any meal (or make a meal by itself!). Some of the quantities below are approximate – real chefs don’t have time to measure 🙂 Just taste and adjust as needed. Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette Salad Fresh spinach…

  • Food

    Apple Basil Chicken Salad

    Chicken salad is one of my favorite things.  Truthfully, I love just about anything with mayonnaise, but there’s something about this chicken salad with a fresh crunch and sweetness that makes it really good.  I’ve been making the same chicken salad for about 2 years, and I thought I had perfected it.  Then when we found out a few months ago that my oldest has tree nut allergies – one of the star ingredients, roasted almonds, had to go.  So as I tried to think of what I could add in place of delicious almonds, I looked to my fridge and saw basil.  I thought about this for a couple…