Erica

Chipotle Chocolate Chili with Baked Polenta

April 14, 2014 by Erica

Chipotle Chocolate Chili with Baked Polenta

So much for seasonally-appropriate meals.

Maybe I should be posting light dishes filled with tender spring vegetables, but this right here is called a chili craving that doesn’t care about the temperature. And I have to share it with you because it’s just so tasty! Plus I’m sure there’s still a spring chill in the air for some of you out there.

For some reason, I had the intense desire to make chili last week. Or maybe it was the intense desire to eat chocolate for dinner? Either way, this chili was born. And as luck would have it, the skies really clouded up before I had the chance to take these pictures. Sigh. Well, I guess you weren’t going to eat chili on a sunny day anyway, were you?

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Warm Curry Salad

April 11, 2014 by Erica

Warm Curry Salad

Happy Friday!

I am breathing a sigh of relief that this week is over. It was a busy one, that’s for sure. Not that that’s unexpected, but just… phew. Friday. I would imagine you feel the same?

Usually my Friday posts tend to be fewer meals and more desserts, breakfasts, snacks, and the like. Let’s face it – I am tired by the end of the week, and that is the kind of recipe that gets me excited to tie on my apron and get in the kitchen over the weekend. Healthy meals? Meh. I get enough of those Monday to Thursday. BUT today we are bucking the trend with this warm curry salad. Mostly because I got over-excited about polenta earlier in the week and just couldn’t save that post until Friday. But also because I think it’s worth throwing together a pot of this over the weekend, if not because you’re super excited about it at the time, then because you most certainly will be excited about having healthy leftovers in your lunchbox come Monday or Tuesday.

But let’s back up. Warm curry salad? What the H-E-double-hockey-sticks is a warm curry salad?

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Breakfast Polenta

April 9, 2014 by Erica

Breakfast Polenta

Hello friends, and welcome to my life, which has become dominated by a raging polenta obsession.

Polenta in the morning, polenta in the evening, polenta at suppertime!

I made polenta once last year with fresh corn, but never (before this weekend) had I ever made it with cornmeal. I was inspired to do so by Andrea and Sarah, who have both posted polenta dishes in the past month. And now that I got around to trying it myself, I have no idea what I was waiting for. So easy it was life-changing! And so nice I made it twice.

This was kind of the weekend for repeat meals… beet pesto, polenta, wine, repeat.

On Saturday it was dinner, but on Sunday it was breakfast.

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Beet Pesto Toasts

April 7, 2014 by Erica

Beet Pesto Toasts

Return of the beets. I think we all saw it coming!

Truth be told, I had no intention of making beet pesto this weekend. Then again, I also had no intention of drinking half a bottle of wine on Friday night before my long run on Saturday morning. So you know, you can’t always control where life takes you. Anyway, on Friday night I found myself at home after work with a big container of basil and a ton of leftover beet puree… and this happened.

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Muhammara Pita Flatbread

April 4, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara Flatbread Pizza

So I have kind of been holding onto this recipe for a while. Well, “recipe” is maybe a bit of a stretch – this is really just another of my favorite ways to serve that delicious muhammara. But you see, I didn’t want to overwhelm you with muhammara recipes, so I paced myself. Kinda.

In case you missed it a few weeks ago, muhammara is a Syrian red pepper and walnut dip. It’s super flavorful and guaranteed to jazz up anything you use it in. This flatbread is a prime example!

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