Thai Butternut Soup

I whipped this soup up in about 15-20 minutes and it has so. much. flavor. The original recipe (cooking light) called for red curry paste, but I since I have a big tub of a green curry paste in the fridge that I love, I used that instead – use whatever you like.

Another note about the curry paste. I have to insist that it really is worth seeking out an asian market for some authentic stuff. That little jar of thai kitchen curry paste isn’t doing you any favors in the flavor department. I really love the tub of curry I found at my local Super 88 which is Maesri brand, but I’ve also heard that Mae Ploy is really good too.

Creamy Panera Broccoli Cheddar Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese inspired by Panera. Actually, it’s inspired by Pinterest since I’ve never even had Panera’s mac and cheese. When I do indulge in mac and cheese, I tend to prefer it to come from my kitchen and to be of the baked variety. I am a sucker for those crispy ever-so-slightly burnt edges. That said, I’ve been (always am…) craving Panera’s lethally delicious Broccoli Cheddar Soup, so I decided to meld the two. So, while I can’t say that I know this to be an exact replica of Panera’s popular mac & cheese, it was yummy, easy, and decadent, and the original recipe is said to come from Panera itselft. AND, it included one of my very favorite, and very under-rated cheeses, the American Cheese, white, thinly sliced from the deli. Yum.

Lighter Chili Rellenos

So you’re probably thinking, “this thing is covered in cheese, how is it ‘lighter’?” Well, friends, this thing is usually sans veggies, deep-fried AND covered in cheese. This is actually a vegetarian meal you can feel pretty good about. Yes, there’s cheese. But cheese makes the world go ’round. And it’s covering loads of corn and veg. Now, I will warn you, poblano peppers can be a little inconsistent in their heat levels. I’ve had them when they’re very spicy or very mild – tonight we sure got some spicy ones! But just dollop some greek yogurt or sour cream on top and all is mellowed out.

Artichoke Bars

I’m a little obsessed with this dish. I’ve made it a handful of times over the summer for parties and it’s always a big hit. Besides the cheese, it’s a total pantry dish, too. But really, who doesn’t always have cheese? I know I always do.

Middle-Eastern Spiced Beans (Fasoulia)

I love eating beans with eggs for breakfast, so now that the temps are dipping a little lower, I thought now would be a good time to make a big pot of these Middle Eastern-spiced beans to eat throughout the work week for breakfast. Topped with a fried egg, of course.

The recipe calls for kidney beans, but I used a mixture of kidney beans, chick peas, and black beans to use up what I had on hand.

Lentil Soup in August

It’s the end of August and I made the best veggie lentil soup for you. Actually, I made the best veggie lentil soup for you and ten of your friends. This recipe makes a TON of soup. I plan on eating it everyday for lunch this week and freezing the other half. I love Ina, but I did change the recipe a wee bit. I added some curry powder and chopped kale to the recipe to veg it up a bit – other than that, it’s pretty close to the original. And it’s awesome.

Three Bean Salad

This recipe jumped off the page of my latest Cooking Light mag and I will be making it a lot. We’ve been buying big bags of trimmed haricot verts from Costco and I always have these other ingredients on-hand. Side dish no-brainer.

Orange-Chipotle Black Beans

I love to serve beans alongside mexican (ish) fare, and this was a great find. This recipe comes from weight watchers and is yummy and easy! I did make a few changes to boost the flavor a bit.

Caramelized Onion and Zucchini Quiche

I poured through this month’s Cooking Light Sunday afternoon while sitting by my parent’s pool yesterday and immediately changed my menu plan for the week when I saw this quiche recipe. I love recipes that you can mostly make ahead and then just have hands-off time the night you want to eat it. Of course, when I told Brian that we needed to buy 13 zucchinis (5 for this recipe, 8 for another later this week), he was a little scared. Given that we consumed about a dozen of these babies last week, I’d say his fear was pretty understandable.

Zucchini Pappardelle with Cannelini Garlic Sauce

It’s zucchini fest at my house this week. First the veg lasagna a few nights ago, now this pasta…not to mention the stuffed zucchini boats I’ve got made-ahead for tomorrow night. About this pasta dish: It is the best thing I’ve made/eaten in a long while. A huge pile of thinly sliced long zucchini ribbons mimic my favorite pasta – pappardelle – all wrapped up together in a garlicky and creamy (and healthy…) sauce. To die.

Noodle-less Veggie Lasagna

This clever lasagna uses thinly sliced zucchini and eggplant in place of traditional lasagna noodles, and to be honest, I could barely tell the difference. I made a quick marinara, but store-bought could easily be used to make this a bit faster. Also, you really need a mandoline for this recipe to get nice, uniform, thin slices on the veg. Invest in one – I love mine and use it all the time!

Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

I realized yesterday that all of the meals I planned for this week were vegetarian – totally unintentionally. Well, not 100% unintentional, I suppose. I have been trying to eat less meat, especially since poultry has begun to ick me out. I even briefly considered doing a full-on 2-week vegan experiment for kicks, but, alas, cheese won out in that debate. My real goal for this week’s meal plan (a process on which I intend to do a separate post) was to cut the grocery budget a bit, and cutting meat is the best way to do that.

This black bean and quinoa burger appealed to me as soon as I saw it in its reincarnated form as quesadillas on foodgawker. I love the idea of “round 2″ recipes, especially since I have less and less desire to spend an hour in the kitchen at the end of a long day.

We both really enjoyed the burgers, but since I didn’t change much about the recipe, I hesitate to post it here. BUT, then I remembered the original purpose of this blog for me – to document recipes that I would like to make again. These burgers definitely fit in that category. We served them on toasted english muffins (probably my favorite sandwich vehicle) with some cilantro-lime mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato. Avocado and sriracha would have been nice additions too.

Massaged Lacinato Kale Salad

I am OBSESSED with this salad. Obsessed. To be fair, I love kale, but I’m convinced someone not familiar with kale would love this too. This is the first time I’ve ever tried kale raw, and now I would like to eat a gallon of this salad every day. Dressed simply with a lemon and garlic dressing, this salad is a perfect side dish for summer as it requires virtually zero cooking.

Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion, and Goat Cheese Wellingtons

First, let me apologize for the dreadful picture. We had a couple friends over for dinner last night and I just plain did not feel like taking the time for fancy pics. Hence what you have here. BUT, as I was eating it, I said to myself that I couldn’t not post this recipe. I really toiled for a quite a while trying to find a vegetarian entree suitable for entertaining, and I was pretty psyched with how this turned out. The original recipe I found had mushrooms, but me and mushrooms aren’t getting along right now so I decided to switch it up. Goes to show that really any recipe can be customized to what you like. Get to it.

Mini Brie and Dill Popovers

When I saw this recipe I immediately thought of my mom as she looooves popovers. Since my lovely mother is on an extended one-month vacation in Puerto Rico right now (jealous…), I decided to make these to hopefully make her a little jealous in return

(I’d rather be in puerto rico, but these popovers are addictively delicious)

Warm French Lentil Salad

I’ve been craving lentils lately, which is extremely random. It all started with a purchase of prepared lentil soup from Trader Joe’s. I typically avoid prepared soups because of their horrible sodium content, but I had read some good things about this soup and decided to give it a go. It was de.lic.ious. And so good for you! Just that same week I saw a re-run of Barefoot Contessa making a warm lentil salad. I knew I was on it. Well, like two weeks later I was on it. And despite questions from the peanut gallery/brian, which included “what IS a lentil, anyway?” and “what the heck is in that pot?”, the dish was enjoyed by all. And, after reviewing some of the humble lentil’s fantastic nutritional info, we might just be making these on a regular basis.

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

What’s a soup without a dipper?! You’ve got to have a dipper, as far as I’m concerned, and these easy biscuits were fab. Based on a “copycat” recipe of the famous Red Lobster biscuit, these definitely hit the mark. Yum.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

Brian and I are both feeling a bit under the weather so I thought soup was in order. I sifted through dozens of tomato soup recipes and I finally just threw my hands up and winged it. It turned out perfect and I’ll definitely be making this again.

Roasted Brussels and Sweet Potatoes

I asked Brian what he would like to say about this veggie side dish and he said “oh, that it was a great combination. Firm and soft…sweet and salty…” Dirty old man. And even though his description doesn’t really make sense, it really was a good combination. Yum!

Spanish “Rice”

I’m trying to avoid carbohydrates for a while, and have been curious about some of the faux-cauliflower recipes out there. This faux-rice is kind of awesome! I mean, if someone fed you this blindfolded, you wouldn’t necessarily know it was rice, but it sure looks like it! And you can flavor it however you like. To go with my stuffed peppers tonight I wanted a mexican/spanish flavor, so I went with some onions, peppers, salsa, tomatoes, and taco seasoning. I will definitely be using this method again…probably this weekend to go along with beef and broccoli for the kids! Let’s see if the kids will buy it…that will be the true test.