Brunch

Chorizo and Potato Frittata

June 14, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Breakfast for lunch on Tuesday!

Or dinner, or anytime. Because chorizo.

We don't eat a ton of big breakfasts, but I made this last weekend; I'd bought some chorizo impulsively and needed something to do with it. Truthfully, this was more like sausage with a ton of paprika in it, I think I'd classify the flavor as Spanish-style, but this was a raw sausage, not hard cured chorizo that you find on a cheese plate, if that makes sense. So, use any kind of chorizo you like, but you want it to be raw like sausage.

Then we have crispy potatoes, some veg for our arteries, cheese, eggs....it's perfect, basically.

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5-Ingredient Asparagus Quiche

May 18, 2016 by Lindsay 1 Comment

I didn't set out to make this some kind of heroic 5-ingredient thing, it just happened. 1, because I'm lazy, 2, because I'm REALLY lazy and didn't want to make pie crust.

Anyway. Last year at the beach when Jay broke his leg my sister-and-brother-in-law (all the hyphens mean that they're BOTH my in-laws, right? riiiiiight) made this killer quiche for breakfast one day. I'm really seriously not a huge quiche fan, but I am REALLY a pie crust fan, so I can be talked into quiche in the right circumstance. The base recipe (cream and eggs) is from the fam, and add-ins are SERIOUSLY up to you. Cheese, broccoli, bacon, mushrooms, onion, garlic....I've done this a thousand ways and it turns out wonderfully every time.

Let's make it!...

Open-Faced Scallop Po Boys + Spicy Remoulade

May 12, 2016 by Lindsay 1 Comment

Jay is a huge fan of a po boy. You know, a fried seafood sandwich with some veg and a creamy-yet-spicy sauce. He tries them at lots of restaurants, but we were discussing how bread + mayo + fried doesn't make the most healthy sandwich you've ever had in your life.

We also discussed that we didn't really care.

I really wanted to make a po boy with scallops because I had some in the freezer (been buying the bags from Trader Joe's, love them more than life itself), and an open face sandwich just kind of felt right, you know? You could of course make this on a roll and eat it with your hands, but there's something about scallops that to me deserve utensils. And so, this sandwich that isn't really a sandwich (honestly, open faced just means bread on a plate) was born. You'll flip.

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Tofu Summer Rolls {vegetarian}

April 18, 2016 by Lindsay 5 Comments

In an effort to maintain consistency in this blog, let me say it: THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE FOOD.

No but really.

A few weeks ago we threw Olivia and Katie an engagement party, and this was the one food they requested. I made my usual other party food, chicken salad, pimento cheese, roasted tomatoes, all that, but this was new just for them. Apparently the girls order them a lot at Asian restaurants, and it seemed ridiculous to me that I'd never made them. They're easy, fun, healthy, and SO delicious. You can make them with almost any ingredient you can think of, and I've had versions with pork, shrimp, different herbs, noodles. All of them are equally yummy, so this is really more about the method - how to prep and wrap, etc. The dipping sauces are super key too - they're ridiculously easy but hugely flavorful.

Let's roll. Get it? GET IT?!!?

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Leftover Hummus Pasta Salad {vegetarian}

April 12, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Or fresh hummus, whatever. But mainly, leftovers! I think that hummus is just one of those things born to be delicious and then languish in the fridge until it finally molds and you give it to the dog, amirite? For us at least it's always a party staple, but we never really eat it in the day-to-day. I had some leftover hummus recently and made 2 new recipes from it because I just don't think I'm in the only one who has this leftover hummus issue.

Indulge me, will you? Up first is this super simple creamy-yet-healthy pasta salad. It's a pretty standard version with any mix-ins you'd like, but the hummus flavor instead of a regular oil + vinegar or mayo base is really special. Plus, hummus in the dressing means that there is protein coating your pasta, which makes it a perfect meat-free meal.

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Spanish Tuna Salad + Avocado

April 5, 2016 by Lindsay 2 Comments

I'm a huge Spanish food person. One of my favorite restaurants ever in the world is this Spanish tapas place in Asheville, and I just think that Spanish food is so accessible and delicious without being difficult or fancy.

I'm difficult (name that movie), but really not fancy at all.

My bff Heather is into Spanish food too, so much so that for my birthday a few weeks ago she had a whole tapas spread for a happy hour she threw for me. It was delicious, and while it was nice to have my friends there, the food was so good that I might have preferred to be alone with the food. It sounds sad, but in my mind its not.

One of the things Heather made that night was this tuna salad, full of veggies and creamy from avocado instead of mayo. It was really delicious, and I made it at home within a week of having it at her house. I've eaten it a few ways now, with bread or crackers, straight from the bowl, over greens for a salad...there is NO wrong way to eat this, and it's definitely worthy of telling everyone else to go away so you can eat in peace.

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Rosemary Walnut Chicken Salad

March 28, 2016 by Lindsay 1 Comment

Great news! I made this 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

No joke, and there are no leftovers. Half of Greenville has tried this ish and I haven't gotten a bad review yet.

So that tells you something, right? It's a chicken salad with no celery but with deeeeelicious flavors of walnuts and fresh rosemary. Not too much mayo. Some onion and garlic powders for flavor. Pan-seared chicken for that brown meat flavor that just can't be replicated. Trust me. You need this ASAP.

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Bok Choy Farro Salad + Salmon

March 23, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Spring has sprung.

It's one of my fav things about my birthday, being born on the first day of spring. Or the second day, however you look at it. Our "spring" has already been kind of weird, we had an 85 degree day last week and temps in the 30s the past few nights, and Beck just has no clue how to dress for this weather and I keep telling her layers, but do kids ever listen?

Nope, they don't.

This salad, though is great for all temperatures. It's super easy because you only cook the farro and the salmon, and the dressing reminds you of Asian Chicken Salad but less sweet and less middle school, and raw bok choy needs to become a thing in your life RIGHT this instant. It's like a crunchier, more watery cabbage, in a good way because sometimes raw cabbage can be a little bit raw, amirite?

Plus, seared salmon. Buttery and healthy and sexy.

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Kale Caesar with Parmesan Crusted Shrimp, Avocado, and Pickled Shallots

March 7, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

In other words, the best salad ever.

EVER.

Monday worthy. You know I'm not a big fan of trying to erase the weekend's pitfalls with salads and quinoa on Mondays, but thiiiiis salad we can make work. It also kind of reminds me of something I'd make at the beach, which kind of reminds me of spring break, which makes me wish so. bad. that I worked in a school-based setting and could have spring break. And summers off. And Christmas off.

You get it.

This salad, though! It's a really lemony dressing, over baby kale. Kind of like spinach but heartier, not like reg kale in case you hate that. Then it's the super quickest sweet and sour pickled shallots. Or onions if you don't have a shallot, whatevs. Then smoky and spicy and salty shrimp crusted in parmesan, which means the cheese gets toasty and almost burnt but intentionally so and is there ANYTHING better than almost burnt but intentionally so cheese?

No, no there isn't, is the answer you're looking for.

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Rosemary Walnut Mac w/ Caramelized Onions

March 3, 2016 by Lindsay 1 Comment

It's my birthday month!

That means that calories don't count.

In my world they kind of never do, but ESPECIALLY not in the month of March, ever. You know, starting a new year right and all that. Har dee har har.

This mac, though, should be a part of your life IMMEDIATELY. It's vegetarian (up to you, you can throw in a chicken bouillon cube or not depending on who you're making this for) but has tons of flavor from the walnuts and onions so you don't miss bits of bacon or whatever, and features more rosemary from my sister's yard, so it's basically organic, which makes it healthy.

You need this, birthday or not. Promise.

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Spicy Turkey Burgers + Garlic Lemon Mayo

February 29, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Yep, recycling a recipe.

BECAUSE IT'S SO GOOD. One of the most fun things about WordPress for an obsessed-with-numbers person like me is the stats page, which I look at several times a day to see what you people are into. I can see how many readers have been around, which is about the same each day, but I can also see what random posts are getting a lot of attention. Sometimes they'll get picked up by HuffPost or whatever, but sometimes Pinterest does the work for me and all of a sudden a random recipe will be getting lots of traction.

That's this recipe! These turkey burgers from last summer, and it's kind of perfect because it's MONDAY so why not have a burger, and the weather here is warming up and we're talking about yard work and new flowers and grilling out, and a burger just fits so nicely into all of that. I'm having some serious 3-month-old-baby-and-stress-at-work hormonal issues, too, and unhealthy foods help me feel better a lot. And then I complain that I still look pregnant, BUT LET'S DEAL WITH THAT LATER. ...

Cherry Sage Compound Butter

February 18, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Meaning, stuffs mixed into butter. Natch.

This is the recipe I wrote to go with Matt's epic bread yesterday, but really the bread is so good that plain butter is perfect. but I had some fresh sage and frozen cherries and omgkerrygold, so why not? It takes five extra minutes of your life and compound butter is SO legit.

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Homemade Country Bread + Make A Wish

February 17, 2016 by Lindsay 5 Comments

Guys! We have a huge treat today. My friend Matt is taking over the blog to 1. teach you how to make bread (his. is. awesome.) and tell you about a fundraiser he's a part of for Make-A-Wish. Spoiler alert: if you donate you get bread from him! Matt is one of our oldest friends and one of the better people I know in this world. Read. Make Bread. Donate!

Tomorrow we have a compound butter to go WITH the bread, so there's that, too.

I always think back fondly to making bread with my grandmother and the delicious smell of crackling crusts emanating from the kitchen. I’ve never gotten over that memory, which drives me into the kitchen every week to make another bread.

Many people mistakenly believe that making bread is difficult and time-consuming. While the end result of opening your oven to a rich, homemade loaf does take time, much of that time you don’t even have to do anything. Just let the dough do its thing and manipulate it as needed during every step.

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Lamb Pita with Pickled Squash

February 16, 2016 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

I love a good pita. A pita or a wrap, really. The problem is that often wraps or pitas fall apart, and that makes me SO sad. I get why sliced bread is the king of the sandwich outers, but I really love other options.

ESPECIALLY when the innards of a sandwich are so special, like this one. They just beg for a different kind of bread that works with the flavors - pita is totes Middle Eastern imo, as is lamb. A perfect pair! I made these sandwiches a few weeks ago on a Saturday, and as per the usual the pita fell all over the place and we ended up kind of slopping bits of this into our mouths because it was still SO good. So here's what you need to do - get some really good, sturdy pita, and go. to. town. Because lamb patties.

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Spicy Candied Bacon

February 3, 2016 by Lindsay 4 Comments

This spicy candied bacon recipe features just a few ingredients and a quick bake in the oven. Oven baked bacon means no mess, and sugar + spices give huge flavor for the best appetizer, brunch item, or snack! Bacon should always be a snack, let's just agree on that.

Well, well, WELL.

The vegetarian husband has glazed us some bacon.

Last week when we had the epic snow that was very non-epic, my sister stayed the night because her power went out (a light breeze knocks the power out on her street, it's really remarkable), and since calories don't count on snow days Jay made us burgers on Saturday. They were EXCELLENT and involved caramelized onions and super juicy patties and onion buns, but the best part was this bacon on top of the burger. It was so good, in fact, that I decided it could stand alone, and boy can it. I made this last week for my fairly-healthy, mostly-vegetarian family, and it was GONE in approximately 4 seconds.

Now, the Green Jar Spice is famous in our family, we all keep a can around and find that it just fixes any number of sins food-wise. If you have another Cajun or Creole seasoning you like, by all means use that. You can also use my recipe for homemade blackening seasoning if you'd prefer - it's completely up to you.

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Beer Cheese with Kielbasa - 2 ways!

February 1, 2016 by Lindsay 1 Comment

Ok so here's our next recipe for the Super Bowl.

It's this weekend! What are you doing for it? What are you making? And, most importantly, why is the Monday after the Super Bowl not a national holiday?

This is a real question.

The other real question is HOW would you like to eat this beer cheese? The eating it two ways kind of happened as an accident - I wanted this to be more like hotdish - a casserole topped with tater tots, kind of like an awesomely ghetto shepherd's pie. So I did that, but then the tots all sank into the cheese while it baked, which was delicious but not appetizer-ish enough for a big sporting event, imo. SO we have two options: both start with beer cheese and kielbasa and kraut. One involves baking tots right on top and eating this on plates for the best most unhealthy dinner of. your. life. The other option involves keeping the tots and cheese separate and serving it like a dip. You can also skip the tots completely and serve the cheese with pretzels like a good German.

But you might not be German, so you might not care about being a good one.

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Buffalo Oven Fries

December 28, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Ok, so I fully intended to save these for the Super Bowl, but then I realized that 1. that is a long way off, 2. these are delicious, and 3. there is football this week! Right now! Not to be ignored!

So I'm showing you these now. I actually made them a few weeks ago while I was still pregnant on a Saturday when we were organizing baby things and watching football as a family of 2, which is really weird to think about. Now there's a BABY in a swing next to me that I am supposed to take care of. Fo life.

I'm cool with it.

Anyway. These potatoes. I absolutely love buffalo anything, as has been displayed on this blog throughout the years. One of my fav dishes is a buffalo chicken wrap, the kind you can find at almost any sports bar, and dang if it's been awhile since I've had one. I'm more of a ranch + buffalo kind of girl, but blue cheese will work in a pinch for sure. The problem with 99% of buffalo stuff in restaurants is that it really doesn't work for vegetarians, so I try to make a few things here and there without meat so that Jay can have the buffalo flavor minus the meat.

All THAT to say, if you have football-watching plans this weekend like we do Thursday at 4pm, you might want to shop for ingredients for this snack - they'll disappear in a heartbeat and are oh-so-buffaloey.

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Pignoli Amaretti Cookies

December 20, 2015 by Lindsay 2 Comments

Aka Italian Bakery Pine Nut Cookies, aka pine nut almond cookies, aka my favoritest cookies ever when I go to NYC because Italian bakeries in Greenville, SC aren't really a thing.

OK, they aren't a thing at all.

We do go to NYC every year, though (last year I was pregnant and didn't know it, this year we might go with. a. baby. or as babyless parents), and our friend Dan sometimes gets me a version of these almond pine nut cookies from a bakery we went to together once - he's one of Jay's high school BFF's and lives with his wife in daughters in Hoboken. One of the absolute highlights of our NYC trip each year is seeing them, and any cookies that are involved are just an added bonus.

If you've never had these, they're completely all about the almond flavoring AND gluten free so...nut-loving health nuts (see what I did there?) unite! The almond paste is right on the baking aisle, and apparently it comes in cans but the stuff I found is boxed - 2 boxes is what you need for this recipe. The almond paste and pine nuts make this a slightly pricey recipe, but still infinitely cheaper than a plane ticket to somewhere that has these in a bakery. Also, they're EASY to make.

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Kale + Wild Rice Winter Salad {vegan}

December 8, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

What is a winter salad? I seriously don't know.

I see these recipe titles and roll my eyes and then just...write them anyway just like everyone else, right? Such a sheep.

Anyway. Winter salad. Maybe because of kale because it's heartier? This-here salad has zero ingredients that are winter-specific, but somehow all together they feel a little cozier than a lighter salad....maybe something with no rice makes a summer salad?

I'm overthinking this.

ANYWAY. Jay and I were watching ye olde Foot Network, as we do, a few weeks ago, and Bobby Flay made something like this on a Thanksgiving special. Kind of like this, not really. And it looked delicious, and Jay was all Regina George "I wanna lose three pounds...." so I set out to make a salad with rice and call it a winter salad.

And so I did.

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Crispy Cod Cakes + Easy Tartar Sauce

December 2, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

So this is weird. This is what I made this year for Thanksgiving!

No but really. Sort of. We celebrated Thanksgiving last week with my family on Friday, so on Thursday we decorated the house for Christmas (got our first real tree!) and putzed around in the baby's room and since it was Jay's birthday I asked him what he'd like to eat and he said "fish balls." I think originally he had something Asian in mind but then started talking about lemon and parmesan and I was all THIS IS WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

Also, I did originally plan to make these round, not flat, but I have a hard time keeping balls round - I find they always kind of end up with a flat edge anyway, so I figured why not just beat the flattening to the punch?

So what we have here is this: little mini fish cakes with CHUNKS of cod, not ground up to smithereens, and a leeetle bit of filler for flavor and to hold everything together. Then it's coated in parm and panko and fried so gently AND THEN we have a tangy but creamy dipper with dill and other yummy flavors. I photographed this as an appetizer first, then tossed some of the sauce with lettuce and made a cod cake salad, and no one in this house was mad. You will adore these.

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