Roasted Butternut Squash & Arugula Salad
LITTLE EFFORT, BIG IMPACT. That's how I'm living. I almost typed livin' but I don't know if I'm that cool.
Maybe I am. I dunno.
I've got a lot on my plate these days and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm working, podcasting, organizing, mom-ing, wife-ing, cooking, making...In other words, there are a lot of ings in my life right now. The most important ing in my life has been and will ALWAYS be eating. You could have guessed as much.
Since I'm a busy lady with a love for new dishes, most of the recipes I've been clipping out have been simple and short. A lot of them require mostly pantry staples with a few fresh produce elements thrown into the mix. This one does just that! I had everything in my kitchen except arugula & apple cider.
Aaaaaand wouldn't you know that with all the my grocery planning, I totally forgot to pick up the apple cider! It was probably those 3 unplanned minutes spent in front of the kombucha shelf figuring out what flavors to get. Guava? Mango? Passionberry? Oooh Strawberry! Tough decisions. When I got home, I made the executive decision to add the orange juice I already had in my fridge to the warm vinaigrette and it worked like a charm!
This salad has all my favorite things:
Toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, Parmesan, arugula & roasted butternut squash.
Loving. Can we make that the new WINNING? Please?
Sushi Roll Edamame Salad
You guys! I'm going through some SERIOUS Oprah withdrawals. It's really bad. Last week I had a crazy dream where I was trying to find a pair of sunglasses and all of a sudden I was in Walmart and Oprah (who was wearing FLIP FLOPS!) handed me a pair. I woke up before I could hear her sweet voice. Sigh. THEN yesterday while I was driving to work, I pulled up at a stop light and a shiny black suburban passed by. OMG it was Oprah driving the car. Well...not really. It was a woman that looked just like her.
While figuring out what to type in this paragraph, I did a google search for "Oprah Vegan" because I remembered the show where she went vegan for a week with all of her staffers and LOOK! that post was a year ago! WHAT WHAT?! I think this means we're destined to meet. Or if not, maybe someone who knows her really well could get her drunk on Moscow Mules and have her call my voicemail? All I want her to say is TRACY SHUTTERBEAN in her voice. It would seriously make my decade.
I wonder if Oprah would like this salad? I'm pretty sure she would. Besides the base of romaine lettuce, there's a bit of brown rice, avocado chunks, cucumber, nori shreds, edamame, carrots & sesame seeds. It's hearty yet light! I bet she'd ask for more green onion miso dressing. Of course she'd ask for more dressing! That dressing IS SO DANG GOOD.
Without further adieu...
SUSHI ROLL EDAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME SAAAAAAAALAD FOR EVERYONE!
Did I tell you that Cooper can do the Oprah voice now? It's glorious.
Potato Feta Gyros
I lived as a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years during my college career; it was the dorm food that sealed the deal. For the first year of my vegetarianism, I was more of a cheese-atarian. I lived in Oregon and it was Tillamook EVERYTHING. My roommate and I ate cheese, pizza, french fries, hummus and stir fry like there was no tomorrow. For a college student, it was all about convenience. Having our own fridge with our OWN food (not managed by parents) was really an exciting thing. That's why I gained a Sophomore 15 (I managed to avoid it Freshman year due to the crappy food). I clearly needed help!
A few months ago during the busy holiday season, I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author/cool mom Pam Anderson & catch up with her daughter Maggy at a fabulous dinner for her latest cookbook, Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals: Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians. Let me tell you, these two are as good as it gets! I know that if they lived closer, Maggy & I would be tied at the hip. Both these fine ladies have a tremendous amount of love to give and their passion for food and helping others is downright contagious!
What I love Pam's new cookbook is that it's vegetarian home cooking in an easily digestible format. Pam covers many cooking basics and gives a tremendous amount of tricks & tips for the aspiring vegetarian cook. She's basically teaching you how to cook without a book! Each recipe has Pam's suggestions to change things up a bit. For example, there's a bran muffin section where she shows you the muffin base and then lists add-ins & extras so you can build your own flavor profile. Her suggestions will keep your brain turning with ideas! I love it. Reading through this book is like having a cool mom teach you how to cook and fend for yourself in a vegetarian world. It would have made my college years as a vegetarian a BREEZE!
As a part time Vegetarian, I fell in love with this Potato Feta Gyro recipe. I made it earlier this week and boy was it incredibly satisfying and simple to execute. The mashed potatoes are flavor packed due to the feta & roasted garlic and the cucumber yogurt sauce is straight up ADDICTIVE. If only I had this recipe in college!
Here's the deal!
I have an extra copy of this book that I want to give one to a lucky reader!
Please leave a comment below and you'll be entered to win!
Giveaway ends on Friday January 13th (ooh creepy!).
****CONTEST ENDED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!!******
Crispy Fried Brussels Sprouts
I'd like to think that if there was a Youtube video of me frying these Brussels sprouts, it would have great potential of going viral.
Imagine a short clip of me trying to take pictures of this recipe in my kitchen. You'd see me set the camera down and then slowly place Brussels sprouts in the hot bubbling oil. You'd immediately laugh at the look on my face when I realize sprouts are prone to making the oil splatter ALL OVER MY KITCHEN. I shout out a few expletives and then I do some stealthy maneuver into my kitchen island to get the oil splatter shield. Then I run like a maniac into the pantry to grab my apron while slipping on the oily kitchen floor. In the last few seconds of the video, I step back, watch the frying process and laugh at myself for this absolutely ridiculous moment. It's really a shame that this video doesn't exist. It really could have been the next Chocolate Rain.
Say hello to one of the best things that came out of my kitchen in 2011. I know that's kind of a bold claim, but I can't remember the last time I've been so smitten with something I've made. I've ordered fried Brussels sprouts in restaurants several times, but never thought to make them on my own. No longer will I be shelling out $8-10 for a teeny side dish of Brussels sprouts. Nope! The sweet/spicy citrus dressing on this sprouts is TO DIE for! The outside of the sprouts are crunchy while the insides are super tender. If Casey wasn't home when I made them, I could have easily polished off this entire batch. Truth!
Kale Salad w/ Coconut & Sesame Oil
While everyone was reheating their leftover Thanksgiving dinner Friday night, I rushed out to the grocery store (which was nice & empty BTW) to fill up my cart up with vegetables to juice and kale to inhale. It seems that last week I ate like my life depended on it; it's the holidays!
Saturday morning I woke up and juiced, went for a walk, cleaned house, worked in the kitchen, decorated our house for Christmas, drank water like a fish, juiced again and made this amazing kale salad for dinner.
One of the reasons I picked this recipe from the Super Natural Every Day Cookbook was that it looked extremely healthy, yet filling. I also thought it would help get my taste buds in check since they were accepting nothing but pumpkin pie and my mom's stuffing for 24 hours straight. I found myself scarfing down the salad, but it wasn't because I was super hungry. The toasted coconut and the crispy kale coated in olive oil, sesame oil and shoyu created a buttery/salty/ crunchy effect that I like to call instant crack! It's a delightful thing when "health food" becomes addictive, isn't it?
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash & Cranberries
Are you a person who cringes when your foods touch? Don't answer that. I don't want to ruin my impression of you because I happen to really like when my foods touch. I like seeing what certain things taste like together because you never know when you'll find a random winning combination. When I was 8 years old I had an epiphany when part of my dinner salad casually slid into my french fry ketchup mound. That day I discovered that ketchup on salad tasted just like 1000 island dressing without the mayo. I spent a good year putting ketchup on my salad while enduring the looks of disgust from my family. Have I lost you?
The other day I decided to eat comfort food in the form of Thanksgiving dinner (for lunch) from Whole Foods. I got home, opened the cardboard to-go box and saw that all of the contents had shifted. Delightful! The Brussels sprouts and roasted butternut squash were saturated with gravy and cranberry sauce and I thought, "We're really onto something here." I decided to give you a recipe that I like to call a happy accident, even though I did it on purpose. I just want your taste buds to thank me for something new and different. In this dish, sweet roasted cubes of butternut squash mix with savory browned Brussels sprouts, bits of apples, onions, smoked curry powder and the surprising tang of cranberries. It's like stuffing but without the bread, a roasted medley that's perfect for all the vegans, vegetarians & gluten-free diners at your Thanksgiving table. You could eat it on a random fall afternoon because you're ridiculously excited about Thanksgiving dinner. It's really up to you.
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Roasted Spaghetti Squash w/ Mushrooms
TEXT MESSAGE BETWEEN HUSBAND & WIFE:
Husband: What's for dinner?
Wife: Spaghetti squash w/ mushrooms
Husband: K. be home in 15.
After texting his wife, husband drives home with the thought of digging into a big bowl of creamy/carb dense spaghetti with mushrooms & a full glass of wine. When husband walks up to the kitchen table, he looks deflated after realizing he's been duped AGAIN with spaghetti squash! Why does his wife always try to pull a fast one? Doesn't she know he's not vegetarian?
Knowing this might be the case, wife plans ahead and makes a small batch of garlic bread to compensate for the lack of carbs. Turns out husband (a carb lover who doesn't love mushrooms) actually enjoys this Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms recipe. Wife is satisfied with the dinner she concocted and is happy she is able get a huge bowl of vegetables into her husband's belly. Good wives know that the key to a man's heart is through garlic bread.
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SNACK TIME: Avocado + Charred Tortilla
I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite snacks.
Avocado + Charred Corn Tortilla, meet Shutterbean Readers.
Shutterbean Readers, meet Avocado + Charred Corn Tortilla.
Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about this favorite snack of mine. It's really simple, absolutely tasty and worth it when you find an awesome avocado. I think I've only had two really good avocados this year. What gives? Sometimes I eat this tortilla & avocado number with an egg in the morning. Sometimes it's a full blown lunch or maybe it plays the role of an afternoon snack. The protein of the avocado works wonders!
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