Brunch

Samosa Pie

November 30, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

OK YES. Just yes.

This is yet another of Jay's brilliant ideas for winter - a vegetarian version of a pot pie, basically, but with Indian flavors that mimic a samosa, the street pastry that sometimes comes as an appetizer at Indian meals. 303

So basically it's pie crust wrapped around a super thick curry and the vegetables make it a health food.

I LOVE this because 1. it's vegetarian but 2. it's super comforting and warming and hearty just like a meat dish would be, and I feel like this time of year a lot of the comfort foods we're presented with are meat-filled. NOW, this is great for me because I love meat, but my other half doesn't like dead carcass so we need lots more cozy hearty dishes to fill our carb longings this time of year whether or not meat is involved.

So that's exactly what we did.

...

Easy Pumpkin Spiced Brownies

November 23, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

These pumpkin spice brownies are the most easy pumpkin brownies recipe ever! With just three ingredients, we take help from a brownie mix and canned pumpkin puree for one of the easiest dessert hacks ever. If you have extra pumpkin, make a batch of brown butter pumpkin blondies too!

World, meet the easiest dessert ever.

I think I've talked about this before, and you've probably seen it floating around the interwebz - you can healthify and simplify most boxed dessert recipes by using canned pumpkin in place of the water/egg/oil/butter, bake, and go. It's easy, and if you add some pumpkin spices you, like, totally basic-bitch your dessert UP and make it totes seasonally appropriate.

Which is exactly what I did. Brownie mix + pumpkin + spices, boom. Mother effing seasonally appropriate brownies that are in the oven in MINUTES, and in your face in under an hour.

...

Baked Tomatoes with Parmesan

November 2, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

Ok, now that it's November I don't feel as bad presenting you with alllll these side dishes. Because Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we need to PLAN, man. We do!

Jay's birthday this year fall ON Thanksgiving and that makes me super duper happy. There will be cake.

And maybe there will be this side dish! Our tomato was super duper strange this year in that the tomatoes didn't start happening in our yard until September, so we ended up with a ton of fresh-but-not-great tomatoes that are still coming, actually. Since they weren't wonderful even though they were straight from the plant they were better to cook with, and this is one of the things I made! You can use old tomatoes, yucky tomatoes, or just regular old Roma tomatoes that you can find year round that frankly never taste that great. Whatever you can find is just fine - the topping is really what we're all about anyway.

...

Grown Up Uncrustables

October 5, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

So, parts of our state are fully underwater and there is no power and you have to boil water and school and work are on hold.

But for everywhere else, you should totally cure Monday with this.

Remember Uncrustables? I LOVED them. No, they were never once purchased for us in our house because "do you know how overpriced and gross that is for something we already have?" but when I got my hands on one I was seriously in love.

In related news, I like creamy processed peanut butter better than all-natural twice as expensive healthy stuff. Sorry.

So, since we probably all agree that Uncrustables are gross, even though we might love them, why not gross them up a little more with pastry? Let's do that. I have two version here, but this is much more of an idea/method than a recipe - use whatever you'd like for these! PB&J and turkey+swiss are two of my fav "normal" sandwiches, so that's what I made. You do you, though!

...

Banana Cake

September 3, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

It's a new favorite dessert!

But, in reality, it's the oldest favorite dessert on the ever-loving planet.

I've been making this since high school, guys, which means 15 years. That's a long time for someone not yet 30, so go with me on it. Old! When I was in high school in Japan I was a cheerleader, and for a few years we had this epic coach named Rochelle. She was a fabulous cook, and so were several of the girls on our team (I hate the word squad), and so once upon a time she compiled a little booklet of some of the fav recipes we had at our sleepovers, and this was one of them. When I was cleaning out the soon-to-be nursery I found the booklet, and WHOA have I ever been so happy to find a recipe. I'd though about this cake off an on the past few years, and here it was, ready for me to make it again.

Ashley's banana cake. I made this all. the. time. in high school, and it was and still is just the perfect recipe. I used to make it in a 9x13 pan, but this time I made it in a springform pan, which worked GREAT and was really pretty for a birthday. There's no banana extract or anything fake in this recipe, so we're looking at a super decadent banana bread. But...maybe not for breakfast. Or maybe for breakfast! It's got dairy and fruit, after all.

...

Corn + Black Bean Chopped Salad {vegan}

August 31, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

What a weird week, right? On the one hand, we're gearing up for a holiday weekend that's still totally summer in feel. On the other hand, we're about to enter the months that end in 'ber, which means UGGS and casseroles and chilly mornings and BABIES. It makes me happy my mother-in-law got us a fall wreath a few years ago, I'll tell you that much.

Ok and just baby and just for us, but you know what I mean. A new season is upon us even though blahblahblah fall doesn't "start" for a few more weeks, but there are some days that still really feel like summer.

So today we have one of the last summery recipes, totally fresh and light and healthy and you could get every single ingredient for it from your farmer's market if you're into that kind of thing. Or a grocery store would work too. I made this a few days ago for my dad's birthday as a part of a larger healthy Mexican-style meal, but REALLY the salad itself can stand alone as a meal given that there are beans in it. My bff heather makes a version of this that's chopped just slightly smaller and calls it "salsa," and I make the veggies slightly larger and call it a salad. The beauty of this dish is that it works as a condiment or a side dish OR a main dish salad, can incorporate any veggies you like, and of course is great with some cheese and sliced grilled chicken on top if you're not on the vegan bandwagon. It's a bank canvas kind of a dish, and you need to be making it all the time, summer or not.

...

Marinated Grilled Chicken Croissant + Chipotle Mayo

August 17, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Monday, go eff yourself.

Amirite?

Jay is having his first day back at work today, and he's READY. He's been working from home for 2 weeks, and the week before that was working at being a bump on a log and not screaming from pain too much. We're beginning week 4 post-op, and he's READY to be out of the house 1. without me and 2. for more than 2 hours at a time.

He's also graduated to using a cane most of the time instead of a walker, which does wonders for his self esteem and sex appeal.

Not that walkers aren't sexy.

Anyway, lunch. With calories and flavor and just YES. These are great for dinner too, of course, and there's just something about a croissant instead of bread, right? These actually came from Starbucks on Saturday in a fit of genius when I knew I wanted to make a marinated chicken sandwich but bread just never fits chicken breasts quite right, you know? But croissants fit perfectly. And so it was written.

...

Blueberry Coffee Cake

July 23, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

So, we all know I don't bake because it takes time and that I don't eat a lot of sweets.

Until I got pregnant.

In the first trimester, some of the only things I could stomach were fruit, I think maybe because I was all of a sudden thirsty and a person can only drink so much water? And then in the second trimester the appetite is RIDICULOUS, and to get through the night I usually have 2 servings of dinner, dessert, and THEN fruit. I'm not kidding. Almost every single night unless dinner is a burger or something huge. On nights I don't I wake up famished at 3am and one night I almost whacked Jay awake to make him go get me OJ so I didn't pass out going to the bathroom. This kid is a leech. And also I'm very dramatic when half asleep and have to pee while hungry.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese

July 21, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

....that you can, like, totally, so literally eat for any meal of the day.

Jay really loves it when people say so and literally all the time. See also: the reality show that featured the company I work for.

But let's not talk about how kids these days are turning the country into crap. They probably aren't, we're just probably old. Probably.

I made this sandwich because it was mid-day and we hadn't eaten and I'm all into breakfast food right now and CHEESE, and then Jay ate it as fast as I've ever seen him eat anything and then he said it was amazing and delicious BUT THEN 4 hours later we went to the movies and I got popcorn and at the counter I said "are you going to eat any?" because I order more if he's going to eat some, duh, and then he said "I don't know, that breakfast was just so fatty and there was nothing healthy on it," kind of while making a shitty face, and I got offended because pregnancy hormones and told him he didn't have to eat it and then he ate half my popcorn anyway.

#marriage #thatwasonesentence
...

Feta + Watermelon and Mint

June 25, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Ok, this isn't really a recipe because it's SO easy. But, it's super summerlicious and is inspired by my beautiful friend Deb.

Deb owns the cafe in the back of our yoga studio, and makes ridiculously delicious and healthy foods all the live-long day. She's incredibly talented, and people adore her food. Last summer she started making something she calls Watermelon Tonic, which is pureed watermelon with lime juice and fresh mint. It is one of my obsessions this summer, especially being pregnant and thirsty all the damn time. The ingredients are so simple, but the mint and the lime juice just do something to the flavor of the watermelon that is out of this world.

So, being the health nut that I am, I figured why not make it into a salad and add some cheese?

So that's what I did.

...

Balsamic Glazed Salad with Chick Peas {vegan}

June 16, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Look out! It's one of my new favorite side dishes for summer, and this one is GREAT.

Every year I try to think of new things to take to cookouts besides macaroni, potato salad, and the regular old standby's. There is NOTHING wrong with those, but I find that they're often doubled or even tripled at summer parties, and who wants to be fighting for attention with 2 other really good but nearly identical side dishes? Not me, that's who.

Enter, the balsamic marinade. My dad actually makes a version of this several times per year, and it's always hugely popular and NEVER duplicated. My version has chick peas for a little extra oomph, so you COULD make this a main dish if you were feeling super duper healthy. Over greens with some parm or feta it'd be a perfect lunch!

...

Strawberry Crumble + Whipped Mint Ricotta

June 9, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

I know, all about that farmer's market ish just like every other dang blogger in the world.

SORRY.

It's a thing. Because produce! Because local! Because pictures!

Mainly because holy delicious, amirite? Jay and I are watching Mind of a Chef and Chef's Table right now on Netflix, and all the chefs are all "omg you can't possiblyyyyyyy use out of season produce, it just tastes like nothing," and they kind of whine it all pretentiously. And then I snort because I'm American and if I want kiwi in December I'm going to get it, damn it, and I don't care if it tastes like nothing or not.

Until, of course, I taste fresh, local produce in season that really does taste so much better, and then I apologize to the television, as you do when you're wrong.

So I made a crumble. Or a cobbler. The crust is kind of a mixture of both and the filling is just the sexiest local strawberries, but use any old berries you can find and don't beat yourself up about it, especially if you have no local berries. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have crumble. It doesn't, I promise. Additionally, I made these in individual ramekins because I think they're cute that way, but you could make this all in one dish and every other instruction would be identical. Your choice!

...

Mussels and Chorizo in White Wine

June 8, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Remember when I used to write restaurant reviews? I barely do, either. I don't know why we stopped, we just....did. I like recipes and stories better, but sometimes I miss the days of photographing food and talking to people online about the experiences we had. BUT, out of all those reviews we wrote back in the early days of the blog, we never photographed anything at or wrote about my favorite restaurant in Greenville, The Lazy Goat. Lazy Goat is part of a restaurant group called Table 301, and we actually love most of their restaurants. This, though, is Spanish Tapas AND the head chef is a woman AND I honestly can say that in years and years in Greenville and tons of trips to Lazy Goat, we've never had ANYTHING we don't like. So, there's your review.

Our absolute favorite dish at Lazy Goat is mussels with chorizo. Theirs comes in some kind of a sexy almost-but-not-quite creamy broth with cured chorizo and a parmesan crisp that gets all soaked in the broth. The dish comes with charred bread for dipping and we ALWAYS order more because the broth is THAT good, and the salty chorizo is just incredible. A bottle of wine for 2 plus the Goat's mussels is the best happy hour this city has to offer, IMO, and if you go on a Thursday bottles of wine are half off.

BUT THAT ISN'T WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. Since we can't always be rushing out to fancy happy hours on a Thursday, it's really nice (and, duh, cheaper) to be able to make your own fav apps at home, amirite? This, to me, is the perfect community appetizer. You can prep the ingredients well in advance, then just add the mussels and steam them right in the broth 15 minutes before you'd like to serve. Then you serve right out of the pot with glasses of chilled wine and blackened bread (maybe on the grill?) and everyone just goes for it. Emphasis on fighting for the broth, you really don't want to miss out on that part.

...

Cheddar Bay Breakfast Shrimp Sandwich

June 4, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

Yep.

Red Lobster can .... well, they can keep their delicious biscuits and I'll leave them alone. BUT, I made a breakfast sandwich on a homemade biscuit with all the flavors of a cheddar bay biscuit plus some seafood plus some bacon plus and egg and HOLY SHIT YES WE WIN EVERYTHING.

It was Jay's idea, as all the good ideas are. He loves eggs and loves shrimp and those biscuits were just screaming for both. We originally had thought about flavoring the biscuits themselves, but I really wanted a plain biscuit recipe to have for various applications and then a separate sandwich that was delicious and tasted like those chemical-laden Red Lobster beauties we all know and love.

When's the last time you were in a Red Lobster? I can honestly not tell you when I was, but I'm pretty sure it was before I met Jay, and I feel almost as confident that he hasn't been to one the whole time we've been together.

Still, though, everyone knows about the biscuits, amirite?

...

Buttermilk Biscuits

May 31, 2015 by Lindsay 2 Comments

We're baking today!

I know, something I hardly ever do. This is one of those test-of-manhood things for me, like, everyone seems like they can make biscuits but I totally stink at baking but I really wanted to know how to make them so I told myself AGES ago that this needs to happen and then I looked and looked at recipes and read method after method and finally just did it one day and here's what happened!

I'm such a fraidy-cat. I've actually never bought a packet of yeast, much less attempted to used it. Maybe when I'm 40.

The biscuits, though, require no yeast, worked the first time, and were delicious. Winning all around! I used this recipe (there are several on this page, I used the very first one) and zero special equipment except a food processor. No rolling pin, no pastry cutter, no biscuit cutter, NOTHING. I knew I wanted to make these square or rectangular because I don't own a rolling pin, and the square biscuit approach means that you cut biscuits ONCE and lose zero dough. Again: winning all around.
...

Tortilla Breakfast Casserole

May 26, 2015 by Lindsay 3 Comments

Welcome to the easiest breakfast in the world. We've been trying to make a better effort to actually EAT breakfast these days, and, as you can imagine, eating a healthy, quick breakfast is a lot easier when there are things around that are healthy and quick.

Like this casserole! My method is: make on Saturday, bake on Sunday, enjoy for Sunday brunch. THEN, leftovers are just microwaved in wedges all week, and it's perfect. Love a good breakfast that reheats well too, amirite?

The inspiration for this, if you can call it that, came from two things. First, Jay loves eggs and I could really take them or leave them. UNLESS they're baked in something like a quiche. Or this tortilla casserole! Eggs are cheap and great for you, so I want to use them more but also want to, you know, enjoy them. Because otherwise what's the point? Then, we had a package of tortillas that someone had opened from the bottom and then stuck back in the fridge gaping open so half of each of the tortillas was rock hard and kind of crispy, while the "inside the package" half was still basically tortilla-like. And I hate throwing food away. SO! We made a casserole that soaks eggs and half and half into old tortillas and brings them right back to life. You obviously don't HAVE to use ancient tortillas.

...

Spring Onion Kale Pesto Crostini

May 14, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Welcome to my new favorite thing for summer.

Which, I realize, I say all the time, but still.

This pesto is one of the other things I made for Mother's Day last weekend, and it's as fresh and trendy as that macaroni salad was creamy and classic and comforting. Interestingly, they went gloriously together in the same meal, and people ate a ton of both.

This pesto, though, was probably the winner. People were dipping their fingers in it, sneaking tastes after dessert, all the stuff I LOVE to see after I try a new recipe on my poor unassuming family. It happens a lot, and so I love it when they LOVE something as much as I do.

Also. Pesto. Raw. Quick. Versatile. Use it for anything! In this case I did it on charred bread, but of course this would be great with pasta, over chicken or another protein....sky's the limit!

...

Easy No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

May 7, 2015 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

I am giving you the easiest dessert in the entire world, telling you that it's REALLY NOT THAT BAD FOR YOU, and suggesting that you make it for Mother's Day.

Because here's the thing. A quick Google of the holiday indicates that either super fancy desserts or super fancy (read: expensive) brunches are how we prove to our mamas that we love them. Is that how it is in your family? I'm sorry if so, or jealous that you're a better baker and/or more wealthy than me?

In my family, however, my sweet mother is all "don't spend your moneyyyyy! I don't need anythinnnnggg!!" Not really shrill but just kind of ... guys. I know you love me. Money doesn't change that. Thank goodness, because I have precious little money. I'm also relatively terrible at baking complicated things because I have zero patience, but WHO among us doesn't love a good sweet especially for a holiday celebrating the very one that gave us life? Or raised us? Or did motherly things for us? People with all sorts of definitions of mothering deserve these bars, is my point.

Here's your answer. If you're celebrating anything or anyone this weekend and want to make a nice gesture without breaking the bank or spending half the day on something that might fail, MAKE THESE. They're simple, taste like an effing Reese's, and have peanut butter (antioxidants), graham (probably definitely a whole grain), and peanut butter (protein, duh). So, basically a health food.

...

Chocolate Avocado Pudding {vegan}

April 23, 2015 by Lindsay 1 Comment

So, I realized recently that we haven't done any new 1. desserts or 2. weird trials of foods that are annoyingly healthy and popular and trendy.

Weirdly, I am neither exceptionally healthy, popular, or trendy. So, there's that.

So, I decided it was time! I think that pudding is such a funny kid thing to eat, and I'll admit that every once in awhile I buy pudding cups - usually sugar free or the fancy grown up mousse stuff, but STILL. Pudding cups. Probably not necessary to be spending money on, OR good for the environment. The use of avocado as a base for pudding has been around for years, and so I Googled and found a recipe from a blog I love, Two Peas and Their Pod. Mainly I love the title? Besides the pictures being way better than mine (sigh, I'm a work in progress), the recipe was easy and featured all ingredients that I had at home, which was good because I didn't feel like leaving the house.

So pudding happened!

...

Herb-Crusted Shrimp Sandwich

April 8, 2015 by Lindsay 3 Comments

Well, well, well.

Remember that green goddess dressing I made? Welp. I had herbs leftover from it, and Jay had been talking a ton about using the green paste I use for green rice in something besides just rice, which was a STELLAR idea. So, I used his idea and the leftover herbs to make a sort of hybrid - kind of green goddess, kind of cilantro-based, but very sexy mixture. Then I made sandwiches, and ate 10,000 potato chips in the process.

It was a good day.

...

Brunch

Footer

Archives