Category Archives: Dose of Veggies

Cheesy Cheese, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Lamb Lambs!, Pasta, Turkey (Gobble!)

Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna

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turkey-sausage-spinach-lasagna-ck-l

It’s no secret that I love Cooking Light, well I’m obsessed with all of the food magazines I’ll admit, but I love that Cooking Light can still throw a mean punch even with one hand tied behind it’s back. While others can lean on butter, tons of cheese, fatty meats etc, Cooking Light has to bring flavor AND nutrition to the table and this Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna recipe is perfect example of how they can nail it. KAPOW!

Our little one was still sick and had actually gotten worse (cursed daycare!) and while she was screaming and yelling, I still wanted to get a home cooked meal on the table for us both. You need something to keep your strength up right? When I looked up what I had chosen for the night, I sighed loudly and thought about making something else given that we have a screaming kiddo and lasagna can take time and patience, both things I was running very short on at the moment. However, and maybe it was the heat of the moment, the lack of sleep or both, I whizzed through this recipe in no time. It was in the oven and done and what felt like five minutes later my husband and were gobbling this up. I’m not a ricotta fan at all and really shy away from lasagna at most places for this reason, but, because Cooking Light can’t put in too much ricotta this recipe was right up my alley. It’s a very different take on lasagna and to me (and David) it was just perfect. So perfect that even I went back for seconds which is something I rarely do since I want to get to my dark chocolate after-dinner treat as soon as I can.

Once we were done hoovering our food, we looked up at each other, bleary eyed and covered in who knows what of bodily fluids (I never knew so much snot could come out of something so small), holding hands we went back to her room to check on our little sick one. I have to say, I have a whole new appreciation for my parents, and any parents for that matter, now!

Dose of Veggies, Global Flavor, Italian, Soup, Vegetarian

Italian Vegetable Stew

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“A bowl full of health” is what David calls this Italian Vegetable Stew from Bon Appetit.  I made this a few weeks ago for the two of us when the plague was attacking everyone and everything in Austin, including the three of us. It was the first time little Lila was sick and I was on pins and needles but just like everything else with kids, you get through it and you learn that your “gear” is everything. Bless the NoseFrida, the humidifier and saline spray is all I can say.

David and I were so impressed with this stew the first time around we decided to make it again for friends last night for dinner and once again, it didn’t disappoint.  I did make this without adding in the bread since two of our friends are gluten-free and served up toasted garlic bread on the side so everyone else could dip as much as we wanted. Also, I did add a splash of red wine vinegar at the end just to give a hint more acidity, which seems counterintuitive given all the tomatoes but actually, we all agreed it needed it.  Winter does seem to be winding down so be sure to put this into your rotation before the hot summer months get to you…heck, it’s already 80 degrees here today, yeesh. Mangia!italian-vegetable-stew-646

Chicken, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, French, Global Flavor, Italian, Lengthy recipe but worth all the whisking, sweat and tears, Salad, Uncategorized

Food & Wine Week!

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Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved recipes from Food & Wine magazine but I’ve noticed as of late that they have really inspired me to want to cook. Like these whimsical Garlic Bread “Fries” with Marinara “Ketchup” or the three bomb diggity dishes I made the past two days.

Lila just started daycare and while she’s fine, I’m the one losing it with worry and well, missing the heck out of her. So, while I was waiting for her and David to get home, I did what I know will help calm me down and keep my mind off of things…COOK! What better way than to honor the Chef who found sheer joy in cooking than the one and only Julia Childs. I tried this Julia’s Favorite Roast Chicken recipe from Food & Wine and to start, it was divine! Roasted chicken always sounds so simple but to nail it, it takes great timing, and a few simple ingredients to really make it shine and shine this one did. I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot to this but I didn’t mind the effort given the return when it was done. We both raved about this and I followed the instructions to a “T” to ensure I honored Miss Julia. As recommended, I paired it with the Bread Salad with Currants and Pine Nuts.  This was bonkers good and perfect with the roasted chicken. I would recommend a smidge more dressing than it calls for since I felt it needed it at then end to dress it up and add a little more flavor. Otherwise, perfect.

For tonight’s State of the Union speech we made this Antipasto Salad with Bocconcini and Green-Olive Tapenade from another icon of women chefs, Nancy Silverton. Simple should be this recipes middle name and out-of-this-world delicious would be its last. YUM. We snarfed this down in no time, and while I was hoping for leftovers the next day for lunch that was just not the case. The only thing I added was toasted bread to add a bit more crunch and texture to the salad.

I’ve got to say that roast chicken recipe was probably my favorite. It’s lengthy and a bit more of a food workout than normal but worth it! As Julia would say, Bon Appetit!

Antipasto Salad with Bocconcini and Green-Olive Tapenade

© John Kernick
Beefy McBeefy, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Global Flavor, Includes Alcohol, Italian, Pasta, Potato, Quick and Delicious

“A David Favorite”

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These are three words I love hearing during or after a meal from my adorable husband David. One of the many things I loved about him right off the bat was his love and appreciation of food which was very important to me when I was looking for “the one”.  I love exploring new foods, restaurants, wines and cocktails and David is always right there with me having the same great time. What I’m even more excited about is that we get to pass this love and appreciation for food on to our daughter (10 more weeks if you can believe it!). I can’t wait to share baking tips with her, or the right way to balance a dish, or heck, how to enjoy a good ol’ slab of chicken fry.

I know it’s been a while since I posted, and in between being insanely busy with The Pie Society (check it out! http://www.rd.com/recommends/at-last-two-bite-pies/) to getting ready for baby, it’s been a whirlwind past few months. Who knew that preparing for a thing so small could be so much work? Between appointments, getting the house ready, hospital details, I feel a bit like I’m getting off a Tilt-A-Whirl sometimes. Any advice from marathon moms out there?

Back to food! We had a lot of these “A David Favorite” moments going on in the house when I did have time to cook and let me just say, all of these are Emily favorites too. What I appreciated about all of them was they were fast, easy-to-follow, and very, very tasty. If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the Summer Beef-and-Rice Casserole from Everyday Food. We had leftovers for days and it kept getting better and better each day. Here’s our round-up of all of them and next up, my new favorite restaurant in Austin!

Everyday Food’s Summer Beef-and-Rice Casserole: YUM with amazing leftovers for days or an hour if you are pregnant. http://www.marthastewart.com/931667/summer-beef-and-rice-casserole

Everyday Food’s Gnochhi with Quick Meat Sauce: Fast and easy. I used pre-made gnocchi from Whole Foods Market because they do amazing with those little potato pillows and that meat sauce is fantastico! Look it’s a demo video! http://www.marthastewart.com/931672/gnocchi-quick-meat-sauce

Bon Appetit’s Kerla-Style Beef Stew: reserve this for a night when it gets a little chilly and enjoy with some buttery toasty bread. You’ll thank me later. Oohh this was a stunner! http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2012/09/kerala-style-beef-stew

Cooking Light’s Crisp Chicken Marina: This felt like a fun spin on chicken Parmesan that was healthy to boot. I stirred in a cup of spinach until it wilted for an additional veggie oomph. You’ll be glad you had leftovers lambs. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/crisp-chicken-marinara-50400000123576/

 

David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Seafood, Southern

Friends, Foodies and Corn Lovers, Lend Me Your Ears

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Every food magazine I thumbed through this month has featured golden, delicious, fresh corn. I have always loved me some corn so I didn’t mind some outside-the-box ideas with this crunchy, sweet vegetable and two recipes that piqued my interest were in Cooking Light magazine including Corn Pancakes with Salmon and Lemon-Chive Cream (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/corn-pancakes-50400000122463/) and Saucy Crawfish with Whole Corn Grits (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/saucy-crawfish-50400000122462/).

I just adored both of these for their creativity and combination of flavors in each dish. With the corn pancakes, I definitely have a new entertaining dish I can serve when we have friends over. This is an impressive looking and well, more importantly, tasting dish. It’s elegant and refined and heck, y’all, it’s a corn pancake! We loved the fresh salmon and the absolutely perfect pancake. Put a dollop of the lemon-chive cream on top and it was mouth-wateringingly good. I served with a fresh side salad of arugula, feta and lemon-oregano dressing.

Mmmm, moving on to the grits recipe. I’m such a Southerner when it comes to food and this reminded me of my childhood in a big way. When I was little we would go to this super fancy place called Johnny Cace’s in Longview – still one of my Mom’s favorites. This place is an institution in East Texas and and they can serve up some serious Creole y’all: http://www.johnnycaces.com. At first glance it can seem like there’s a lot going on but this dish came together quite quickly. Those grits are to DIE FOR with the fresh corn, as is that sauce…yum, yum, yum. I substituted shrimp instead of crawfish but could see this being killa with some mudbugs. I urge you to make both of these before the summer fresh corn is gone.

Oooh the new Bon Appetit and Cooking Light have uploaded to my Kindle – must go read!

Asian, Chicken, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Global Flavor, Uber Healthy, Vegetarian

Glazy Afternoon

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Last Sunday I wanted to make a fun Sunday chicken dinner but with a little oomph. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good roast chicken but I really just wanted to try these Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs and Miso Grilled Vegetables (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/miso-grilled-vegetables-50400000122487/) as soon as possible. Yumeh ya’ll! If you like applying the brush to your food then these two recipes are for you. I really enjoyed them together on the plate since you have a bit of Asian influence in each to make each other sing. It’s funny, I was talking to another friend who is also pregnant and she mentioned that she is now just cooking to her whims and cravings instead of having any real reason for making her meals each night. I’m trying to hang on to the thinly veiled mask of things making sense together but who wants to place the first bet that stops in a few weeks? I bet you my husband will be first in line. He’ll probably double down on that it will specifically be spaghetti and meatballs with a side of mashed potatoes and red bean mochi to top it off.

Back to the glazing! Gosh, these Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs (http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/maple-soy-chicken-thighs-50400000122485/) from Cooking Light were insanely good and easy to boot. David liked them because of the maple syrup factor (of course) and I loved them paired with my favorite Asian ingredient miso in the grilled veggies (also from Cooking Light). Plus, you get to sit and glaze the heck out of stuff. I think kids might have a good time doing this in the kitchen with you if you’ve got an avid little cooker at your knee. This was simple, healthy, and filling enough to be a perfect Sunday family dinner. I know David and I both made it one of our favorites!

Chicken, David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Lengthy recipe but worth all the whisking, sweat and tears

Perfection

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Sometimes there are recipes that from reading it for the first time, to prepping and cooking and finally enjoying it at the dinner table, it  just makes you incredibly happy. Last night I had the pleasure of this experience which I must say is rare. Let me clarify, that all the recipes I put on this blog I love for many reasons and would never lead you astray lambs, but it’s kind of the equivalent of seeing a double rainbow when you have one that gets it juuuuuust right on every single front if you know what I mean. Enter this Roast Chickens with Pistachio Salsa, Peppers and Corn from Bon Appetit and Chef Jeff Cerciello from FarmShop in Los Angeles: http://www.farmshopla.com/. This was the bomb in so many ways, let’s start counting why shall we?

(1) It’s roast chicken which never sucks in my opinion, especially when the chicken is smothered in a killer marinade and then stuffed with thyme and lemon. The recipe called for the perfect temperatures and cooking times for these little beauts (45o for 30 minutes then 350 for 30 minutes) that led to super-moist and flavorful chickens. All David kept saying last night was “You NAILED this chicken!”

(2) A nut salsa! A while back we made a flat-iron steak with an herbed-nut salsa that we loved: http://cookinginsidethelines.com/2011/09/girl-power/ This got us thinking that we need more nut salsas in our lives and we were more than happy to give this one a try and rate it a 10 out of 10 on the nut salsa scale.

(3) Peppers and Corn! “Really,” you might be saying, “you’re excited over peppers and corn? You might need to get out more.” Well maybe, but still. This was a perfect complement to the moist, delicious chicken, nutty/spicy salsa and the pitch-perfect heirloom tomatoes I served alongside to round out the meal.

(4) This might seem like a lot of prep, but alas, it wasn’t. In fact, I felt it was kind of fun to put it all together and it’s a stunner when it’s plated and ready to go. I think this would be an amazing crowd pleaser for summer picnics or dinner parties since it would be easy to do large batches of chicken and the pepper/corn mixture.

(5) If it’s possible, the leftovers the next day were just as amazing as our dinner. I snarfed it in fact.

As I said, PERFECTION. Please try this one, in fact, I’m making this for Sunday family dinner this week. Can’t wait to try it again, yes, twice in one week!

David Favorite, Dose of Veggies, Emily Favorite, Uber Healthy, Vegetarian

Fantastic Farinata

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What is a farinata you ask? Don’t worry, I didn’t have a clue either but I thought the recipe sounded delicious. Hailing from Genoa, a farinata is a sort of pancake made with chickpea flour. Bonus to all of you gluten-free eaters out there.

This was skosh on the prep side, but I breezed through it pretty quickly and talk about getting your veggies. I felt healthy just by looking at this dish on my plate, let alone eating one, OK two, helpings of this. We both liked the dish for it’s freshness and the farinata was something totally new and unique that it felt like we were having a little bit of food fun for a typical weeknight meal. I could see this being perfect for a wedding or baby shower, or a brunch where you can do the basic farinata recipe and then do a veggie topping of your choice and a meat option with crispy pancetta, onions and cheese. Nom, nom, nom. Mangia y’all and give this one a try, it’s going in as an Emily and David favorite, I guess I should just start saying Kealey favorite eh?

Dose of Veggies, Menu Plan, Uber Healthy, Vegetarian

Bon Appétit’s Food Lover’s Cleanse

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The holidays are by far one of my favorite times of year, but let me tell you, I might as well start stapling cheese plates and desserts directly to my thighs and get it over with! That’s why I’m glad Bon Appétit has created their Food Lover’s Cleanse complete with recipes, menu plan and a shopping list. We did our shopping yesterday and yes, you will be SHOPPING until you drop, but, keep in mind, this is for two week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and desserts. Also, after reading a few reviews from readers who tried last year’s cleanse, you shouldn’t feel compelled to do the entire plan or worry if you don’t want to spend mucho deniro on all the vinegars, crackers, produce, dairy blah, blah, blah. We were pretty committed to doing the entire thing but I still wanted to keep costs down regardless if it was two weeks worth of food, and the bulk bins at Whole Foods Market have become my super besties; trust me, they will save you money and time. Although, after having our first two meals on the cleanse, maybe I should have gotten boxes and boxes of quinoa, lentils and the like!

I’m sitting here typing the post and David just looked up at me and goes “I really liked that salad. I’m stilling thinking about it, that dressing was amazing! That was a labor-intensive though right?” Not in a million years actually. I think I’ve found a new crush and it’s white miso. Nom, nom, nom. Salty and savory and makes a saucesome salad dressing. We loved it on today’s butter lettuce, avocado, and orange salad, plus the lentils were a perfect and tasty addition to round out the plate. Having just had our lunch, and thinking about our 10-grain hot cereal breakfast, I can tell this is going to be very filling meal plan without making you feel like a million pounds. We still have a pumpkin smoothie to make and tonight’s dinner of Black Cod and Caramelized Onions and Apples looks amazing! I’ll keep you posted on our progress but so far, we are loving these recipes…let the cleansing begin!

Dose of Veggies, No-Cook Meal, Seafood, Side Dish, Uber Healthy

Here Fishy, Fishy

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It must be all of this cursed indulgence the holidays provide, but as I was menu planning last week I wanted something light, healthy and delicious. So, I laser-focused on salmon and lots and lots of vegetables. Food & Wine, I love you. I tried three amazing dishes this week and as I’m sitting here typing this we are eating the last of this AMAZING Crunchy Cabbage Icebox Salad.

 

Crunchy Cabbage Icebox Salad (Photo by Jenn Louis)

Let’s start with the beginning of the week. I made this delectable Slow-Roasted Salmon with Tarragon and Citrus and Cumin-Braised Swiss Chard for dinner. Ooooh, this was SO GOOD. I love slow roasting salmon since it tends to bring out its sweeter side and the blend of tarragon and citrus juices on top were perfect. To be honest, I chose the swiss chard dish because I really wanted a nice healthy green but hadn’t given it too much thought. Umm yeah, yowza. This was so amazing. For a side dish? Really? I could eat this every day!

Slow-Roasted Salmon with Tarragon and Citrus (Photo by Floyd Cardoz)

So I saved some salmon for the next night’s meal which was the infamous icebox salad. Poodles, you need to make this for your next dinner party. First of all, it’s stunning in the bowl, second it’s so satisfying with its crunch and mixture of textures, three it’s quite healthy, and four, if you do like I did and add salmon you will be sending me thank you cards. 😉 Definitely give all three of these a try as soon as you can or in the New Year, when those resolutions kick in…cue dry heave.