vegetarian

Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

May 1, 2013 by Erica

Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

Happy May!

I think this fruit salad is the perfect way to start off such a glorious month.

Fruit salad just screams “summer barbecue” to me. It doesn’t make an appearance unless you have warm weather, a grill, and enough friends present to make a dent in a huge bowl of fruit. Yep, it doesn’t get much better the kind of occasion that features fruit salad.

But I’m not a fan of what I’ve come to think of as the typical fruit salad: pineapple, melon, and grapes. Maybe I’ve eaten too many continental breakfasts, but that just does not appeal to me. It always seems to sit out too long, the pineapple is all sour and hard, and does anyone actually like the melon in that salad? If so, the world – or at least hotel breakfast buffets – needs more people like you. And fewer people like me, who pick out all the grapes for themselves.

So instead, I created this Thai-inspired fruit salad featuring my favorite spring and summer flavors. No melon required.

Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

…

Roasted Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Miso Ginger Dressing

April 29, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Miso Ginger Dressing

Sometimes doing the same thing over and over again is a bad thing. It’s called getting stuck in a rut.

But sometimes doing the same thing over and over again is a good thing. You’re hitting your stride. Perfecting the art. Getting it down to a science.

What I just learned from writing those sentences is that sports, art and science all involve doing the same thing over and over again. And I often feel like cooking is all three of those things! Definitely art. Definitely science. If you’re skeptical about the sports bit, you should see the sweat I can work up trying to get three dishes ready at the same time. It probably counts as my workout for the day, right? I thought so.

Roasted Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Miso Ginger Dressing

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been roasting a lot of vegetables lately. I’ve put them in tacos, I’ve had them on lentils, I’ve eaten them as sushi, I’ve called them poutine. April has kind of been The Month of the Roasted Vegetables around here. Stride = hit. Art = perfected. Science = …gotten down to? Sure. All of those things.

And so, just as the weather is getting warm enough here in Salt Lake that I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be wanting to turn my oven on, here is another roasted vegetable recipe. And it’s a really good one, too, this time over kale for Dole National Salad Day on Wednesday.

…

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce, Spinach & Quinoa

April 19, 2013 by Erica

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce, Spinach and Quinoa

It’s been a long week in these parts. Monday was not the best day, obviously, and that set a heavy tone for the week. I also started off the week already excited for to our trip down to Moab today. And waking up on Monday morning looking forward to the weekend is NOT a way to have your week pass by quickly!

Thank goodness Friday is finally here! My hiking shoes are packed, my gas tank is full, and Nate and I are psyched to drive down to Moab after work/school this afternoon. The one slight issue: my enthusiasm for planning is trumped only by my enthusiasm for grocery shopping. Also, I tend to think that I can cook 5 or 6 dinners in a week. Wishful thinking. I cooked twice this week? But as always, I got a little overzealous in the produce section last Sunday, and forgot that I don’t have the weekend to cook up any odds and ends. Goodbye asparagus, avocado, and bell peppers. Good thing you aren’t like the three most expensive things I could have purchased.

Anyone want to come over and clean out my fridge? I’ve got some wilted asparagus for you.

I won’t be in the kitchen this weekend, but should you be inspired to whip up a tasty brunch, lunch, or dinner, may I suggest these baked eggs:

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce, Spinach and Quinoa

We don’t often have eggs for breakfast, since I will pick sweet over savory any day, but I did make these for lunch recently. I think they’d even make a great dinner (I mean, they have spinach!), especially if you’re in the mood for a breakfast-for-dinner-ish type thing.

…

Edamame Guacamole (Guacamame)

April 17, 2013 by Erica

Edamame Guacamole (Guacamame)

Not gonna lie, after Monday’s events in Boston, it still doesn’t feel right to post a recipe.

Boston is my hometown, and most of my friends and family are there. Nate has run Boston several times and has lots of friends in the Boston running community. Marathon Monday is one of my favorite days of the year in Boston, and I was seriously bumming on Monday morning not to be there… and then I was quickly very happy that Nate didn’t run this year and that we were thousands of miles away.

All our friends and family in Boston are safe, thank goodness. But I’m very sad for those who were injured and killed, their families, and the Boston community. And I can’t just carry on with a guacamole recipe without mentioning how sad and shaken up I’ve felt. So, love to everyone from home – glad you are safe!

Now that I’m thoroughly depressed, let’s talk about food.

Edamame Guacamole (Guacamame)

Guacamole is always a crowd-pleaser, especially when the crowd includes those of us who can eat enough guacamole for the rest of the crowd. And this guacamole is extra-special because it has two secret ingredients. Of course, I’m not good at keeping secrets, and I already gave away one of them in the title of this post.

…

Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

April 12, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

Well, I think I can say that I’m a changed woman.

After just a brief period of cooking with strictly what I have in the house, my creative juices are starting to flow. It really wasn’t that difficult, either. Granted my “pantry cleanse” has turned into more of a fridge cleanse, but that’s OK. I’m realizing that both are a great source of inspiration for new recipes, and I’m getting more comfortable throwing things together without knowing how they’ll turn out. Not everything is blog worthy, that’s for sure, but nothing has turned out too badly, either. I know it comes as second nature to some, but for this type A planner, this is a light bulb moment!

So I’ll chalk up a win in the creativity column, but unfortunately, my cabinets still merit hoarder status. While I’ve used a lot of pantry items that had been languishing for a while, I haven’t necessarily used up any of them. And so it continues…

Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

My go-to dish during this effort has been a big bowl of roasted veggie goodness, like Wednesday’s sushi bowls: Some sort of grain + roasted veggies + sauce or dressing + a little extra flavor on top. Here I picked lentils instead of a grain for some extra protein, especially because I was already using starchy potatoes. Also, you saw in Monday’s post that I have a ton of legumes, so I had to use at least one kind this week! I realized afterwards that this dish is actually pretty close to my cauliflower steaks with lentils and this same sauce. This time, though, I only had half a pepper to use in the sauce, and successfully resisted the urge to run to the grocery store to grab another one. I also had most of a big can of tomato puree that I wanted to use up, so I just threw it all in. Despite those changes, the sauce was just as good as I remembered; I honestly couldn’t even tell the difference with less pepper and more tomato. Veeeeery flexible – I like it.

…

Connect