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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:…
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The Perfect One-Pot Pasta Side Dish
I’m always on the hunt for a good easy homemade substitution for the foods I used to love. And when I come across a really great alternative, I’m super excited to share. This recipe takes the place of the box pasta that I’d make once or twice a week (Pasta Roni, Lipton’s Noodles or Knorr’s Pasta Sides). While you can’t make this for less than $2, it is a one-pot side in less than 15 minutes, and I assure you the flavor will blow the others away. Plus, it’s free of all the preservatives and MSG that make the box options a no-go for me these days. I found this recipe…
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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…
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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…
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Scalloped Potatoes and Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken
I love a good side dish. Sometimes, more than the “main course”. For me, scalloped potatoes have the potential to trump any meat, any day. And while this honey mustard grilled chicken was really good, the scalloped potatoes were great. I’ve attempted these half a dozen times before, but never got it just right. All that practice paid off with these bad boys. Issues I’ve had before – not enough/the right cheese, potatoes not cooked through and overall too bland were solved with using parmesan cheese (and lots of it), cooking it at a high heat (425 degrees) and flavoring it with thyme and green onions. Viola. Awesome potatoes. Scalloped…
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Fried Okra
One of the gems of Southern cuisine… fried okra. My mom made this for me growing up, and so it has a nostalgic quality for me. It’s one of my favorites – because I’m pretty sure that when you fry a vegetable, all the bad things associated with frying gets canceled out… right?? Oh, and it is definitely Brogan’s favorite. He also associates this with my mom (aka Gigi), and even made me call her when I made this for him last week. This recipe is pretty basic, but I assure you the flavor is not. If you’ve never tried it, you should. Enjoy! Fried Okra 1 lb fresh okra, stems…
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Broccoli and Blue Cheese Casserole
Next up on the Thanksgiving recipe line up… Broccoli Casserole. But this one has a little something special – blue cheese. I got this recipe from my aunt and have been making it for years. Even before I was a big blue cheese fan, I have loved this casserole! It’s a great from-scratch recipe with no cream soup but a whole lot of flavor. I served this at our office Thanksgiving lunch today and they ate it up! Broccoli and Blue Cheese Casserole 3 bunches of broccoli (about 9 stalks – see pic below) 4 tbsp butter 4 tbsp flour 1 tsp salt 8 ozs cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup…
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Creamed Spinach
The official kick-off to my holiday season is the Thanksgiving lunch at my office. It’s always the Monday of the week before Thanksgiving, and so it’s sort of a warm up (for cooking and eating) before the big day. My contributions to the lunch are: Pumpkin Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Broccoli and Blue Cheese Casserole, Squash Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach. I’ll eventually post all of these recipes, but I will start with the spinach. A couple of years ago I sought after a Boston Market copycat recipe for their creamed spinach… and this one is really close (and maybe better). As is true with my other Thanksgiving casseroles, no…
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The Taco Night Superstar: Spanish Rice
I’m a sides kinda girl – sure the main course can be great, but I love a good side dish! (Just wait until Thanksgiving!!) So tonight I planned to make tacos and I thought all day about what else I could make to go with it. I decided I’d try to make Spanish rice (an old time favorite of mine). Although I had never made this from scratch before, I am pleased to say that my experiment turned out delicious! This is a really simple recipe and cooked while I was making the taco meat, so it definitely qualifies as weeknight-worthy. If I had planned ahead, I would have added…
