Spiced Pork & Chickpea Stew
Soups and stews are great for an easy, worry-free dinner. All you need to do is combine the ingredients and let the pot work its magic. If you have other things to do, or don’t feel like slaving over your stove, I highly recommend making a soup or stew. Me being the spice lover that I am, I like to go buck wild when making mine. You would have to add a LOT of spices to mess up… When in doubt always give it an extra shake. It is also important to taste along the way with soups and stews as well though, just in case the flavor needs to be adjusted. I usually try to wait until the end before adding any salt.
This stew is healthy and delicious. If you were a fan of my Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup, I suggest making this one as well. Many pork stew recipes use hominy, but I opted for using chickpeas because they are packing with nutrients and are much healthier than a corn based product. If you like your stew spicier, add a bit of cayenne pepper to this recipe. This is great serves with a toasted loaf of French bread.
Throwback Thursday: Purple Plum Pie
This week’s Throwback Thursday recipe is probably my favorite pie recipe that I have made to this day. The plums have the perfect amount of tartness that makes this pie so amazing. Also, if you ever have the opportunity to pick your own plums, take advantage of it, you’d be surprised how many plums you can get from even just one tree! =)
Balsamic Glazed Carrots
Do you ever get that feeling where all you want to do for dinner is grill a steak and microwave a potato? Sometimes simple is better, but you don’t have to sacrifice flavor! This recipe is a simple way to add a little extra flavor for those days when your motivation is lacking. It is quick, easy and healthy!
Pizza Party!
After cooking many meals for friends, I realized that nothing excites people more than a delicious pizza. This week I threw a pizza party with friends. We only had one oven and two pizza trays, so we could only cook two pizzas at a time. In the end, I made six 14″ pizzas. We cut each pizza into ten slices, one for each person, and sampled one slice of each pizza. We would decide which pizzas were coming next while the previous two were baking. By the sixth pizza, we could barely take another bite!
We made all sorts of pizzas- from BBQ Chicken to Chicken Alfredo to Meat Lovers all the way to Hawaiian. Each time a new pizza was taken out, everybody was riled up- “This one is my favorite!” “Wait, no, THIS one is my favorite!” “Ah, no, THIS one is definitely the best!” I have never seen my friends so excited about something I cooked. This made me being to think about the wondrous pizza pie. A fresh pizza crust is like a blank canvas for a chef. You can combine any flavors you want to create your own unique masterpiece. I suggest to all of you that you make homemade pizzas at some point. My advice? Be adventurous, take risks, mix unlikely combinations- you’ll be impressed with the outcome!
Throwback Thursday: Hot Spinach & Red Pepper Dip
This week’s Throwback Thursday recipe is a hearty spinach and pepper dip; great for a cold winter day. There is something nourishing about a warm cheesy dip with bread. This recipe is a great pick-me-up. It goes well with chips or bread and is a great recipe for a potluck or party, and can easily be doubled if need be.
Sausage, Potato & Cheddar Waffles
What could be better than sausage and cheesy hash-browns? Sausage and cheesy hash-brown waffles! All of your favorite breakfast foods, combined into one delicious waffle. An old Everyday With Rachel Ray magazine gave me inspiration for this recipe.
These are great for a weekend breakfast- probably especially good for a weekend hangover as well. I must warn you, these waffles are not meant to be made healthier… I tried making them with turkey bacon also and they turned out a bit bland. The sausage gives a ton of flavor to the waffle, so if you insist on leaving it out, be sure to add other seasonings. I think that these waffles would be really good with onion added to the mixture as well. Play around and combine your own flavors if you would like!
Throwback Thursday: Baked Salmon Filets w/ Tomato Coulis
I want to begin this week’s Throwback Thursday by thanking all of my followers, especially anybody who was reading my blog at the time when I originally posted this on Tumblr. I have come a long way in a short time; I am officially a featured publisher on FoodBuzz!
This recipe was one of the first things I made after beginning my weekly cooking lessons with my mom this past fall. It is easy to make and teaches you some culinary basics, such as blanching and peeling tomatoes to make a concasse. This dish is one of my favorite go-to recipes for dinner with guests. It would also be a great surprise for your Valentine this Monday! 😉
Moroccan Stuffed Acorn Squash
I love exploring the flavors of foreign cuisines. Each country has their own unique way of doing things, that gives an exciting new twist to many foods. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest looking into the different flavors from around the world. I think that knowing different flavor combinations helps expand your cooking and keeps you from making the same dish over and over again.
This week I had some squash from my mom’s farm that needed to be used. I was in the mood for something a bit sweeter, so I decided on this Moroccan-style recipe. This dish has the perfect balance of sweet and savory. The raisins are a definite must, I even decided to add a few more to the recipe. It can also easily be made vegan/vegetarian by using vegetable broth and taking out the chicken. This recipe is simple to put together but looks sophisticated, a great idea for dinner guests.
Buffalo Chicken Chili w/ Blue Cheese Garlic Bread
Super Bowl Sunday means finger food and a messy kitchen right? Wrong. This Sunday you can make a delicious- and filling- full meal. Plus, it won’t keep you in the kitchen all day away from the company. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t always make some messy finger food to go with it! This chili, adapted from my mom at Cooking With Michele, has the buffalo wing flavor, combined with healthy ingredients like carrots and celery. Adding blue cheese to the chili and the garlic bread completes the dish and gives you an authentic buffalo wing feel without the mess- or the fat!
Throwback Thursday: Beef Goulash
I have decided to start a new tradition- Throwback Thursday. Each Thursday I will re-post an old recipe from my Tumblr blog, until all of my recipes are finally listed on this site. This way you can find everything you need all on one site! This week’s throwback recipe is a Hungarian beef goulash that I made while in New Zealand last summer. Enjoy!
