Roasted Chickpea Buddha Bowl w/ Red Pepper Sauce
This recipe has been delayed for quite some time, sorry for the wait! This is another delicious take on the Buddha Bowl idea from Well and Full. The chickpeas add a spicy crunch to this bowl, while the red pepper sauce adds a bright punch. And yes, I confess that I added some rotisserie chicken to this dish, as you can see in the photos- BUT it usually is completely vegan. The Daily Burn describes Buddha Bowls as, “similar to macrobiotic aka macro bowls in that they incorporate the eating principles of Chinese and Japanese medicine and include raw or roasted veggies, beans, a whole grain, like brown rice, farro or quinoa, and sometimes fish, with every meal. This way of eating is thought to be “ideal” for reducing toxins in the body and lowering your risk of chronic diseases.” If you are into this recipe, you will love the Mango Chicken Buddha Bowl as well!
Shrimp Crostini w/ Artichoke Tapenade- SRC Post
Today is, yet again, the reveal day for Secret Recipe Club! I have been up to my ears trying to finish up school and get everything together to graduate while also preparing for my move to Hawaii in January. Needless to say I have hardly had any time to cook or come up with new recipes of my own. Luckily, Secret Recipe Club gave me a great blog this month to browse, which led me to a new festive recipe for the holidays.
Chicken Breasts w/ Mozzarella, Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper
After over three months of not having a job, I forgot how hectic things can be with one. Sometimes it is hard to get motivation to cook a nice dinner after you have been working all day; I’m sure many of you are nodding your heads in agreement. BUT! Even when you have had a long day, you don’t necessarily have to sacrifice your dinner! This is a great recipe for those nights. It is quick, easy and looks like you tried harder than you have to!
Spicy Caribbean Pork Chops w/ Rice & Peas
If you have been reading my blog for a while, you already know how much I love trying new exotic flavor combinations. The weirder the combination, the more interested I seem to be. I’m not sure why this is but it’s kind of funny to me now because I was such a picky eater as a kid and never was interested in trying new things. The only vegetables I ate until about high school were peas, corn and mashed potatoes… how things have changed.
Baked Tex-Mex Egg Rolls
I recently saw the idea for Southwestern egg rolls on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and was instantly interested. For one, I have never made egg rolls; they are still on my list to make. Secondly, I love Mexican food. I was surprised to see that they were inside tortillas instead, but figured that is probably a better idea anyway. I decided to make my own combination of ingredients for the filling, because I wasn’t a huge fan of the black beans in the recipe I saw.
Throwback Thursday: Sesame Chicken Chow Mein
I have finally transfered almost all of my old recipes to my new blog, only one or two more Throwback Thursdays after this one. I am going to start a new weekly theme idea once Throwback Thursdays are over. I would love to hear your input about what you would like to see. I was considering a few things. First, I was thinking about focusing on a different country each week and discussion the traditions, flavors and any other interesting things behind the culture. The other idea I had was to really focus on the senses, since that is what my blog is really about. I was considering zoning in on a different sense description each week and showing how it is represented in certain recipes. For example, I would use the word “tangy” one week and discuss what that really means and give you a recipe that really represents what the word “tangy” means. Please let me know what you think of these ideas and let me know if you have any others that you would like to see!
Sun-Dried Tomato, Flank Steak & White Bean Stew
I feel the need to start this post by saying that this was supposed to be a recipe for Mexican Posole. Of course, I had a bit of trouble with the one ingredient needed to make an actual posole- the hominy. I have heard many people say that they usually used canned hominy, but I decided to use dry hominy since that was what was in the pantry. Recalling my artichoke disaster, I am noticing a trend that apparently canned food works better for a lot of things. Luckily, I had a feeling the dry hominy would take a long time to cook and decided to cook it separately, rather than cooking it in the stew. I must have refilled the pot with water at least four times, but the hominy still wasn’t getting soft. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I had to improvise from there. I decided that white kidney beans would be a good substitute for the hominy, since they kind of have a similar texture.
Throwback Thursday: Green Chile Chicken Corn Chowder
The title of this Throwback Thursday recipe may have some of your running for the door because it is a soup. Also, I know it may be hot where some of you are, but that doesn’t mean you have to cut out hot food! I know you will have a chilly night when you are craving a delicious soup and this recipe is going to hit the spot. It is a spicy, cheesy chicken corn chowder that is just the kind of heat you want in the summer time.
This soup is packed with green chiles, red peppers, onion, cheese, chicken and potatoes. If you are not one for spicy food you can simply just leave out the green chiles and cayenne pepper. This soup goes perfectly with the Ciabatta Bread from last Thursday’s throwback recipe. Dig in!
Shrimp & Goat Cheese Quesadillas
I am back at it again with the goat cheese. I recently read that goat cheese has a large amount of tryptophan in it, the same stuff in turkey that makes everybody so sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner, so if you are having trouble sleeping you might just want to try one of these quesadillas before bed, or maybe the Smashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Parsley. Tryptophan is not only good for sleeping, but is an essential amino acid that has been shown to boost your mood and help you relax as well. If that isn’t enough to get you eating goat cheese, maybe this recipe will.
Baked Lamb & Spinach Manicotti Bundles + Awards!
While continuing my quest for unique Italian meals that aren’t pasta dishes, I came across an article in Clean Eating magazine on ways to make hearty Italian food a bit healthier. Although I didn’t take their advice on using fish instead of red meat, I did take their advice on using low-fat dairy products and whole wheat pasta. For this recipe I was sure to add lots of spinach for added nutrients.
