"BRC" Burrito Bowls

Today I have another budget friendly meal for you on the table.  Growing up my mom’s go-to fast food was usually on the way home from soccer practice, stopping by El Pollo Loco and getting about 15 “BRC’s” (Bean, Rice, and Cheese burritos) to feed the family. She has obviously come far since the fast BRC runs for the family, but the BRC will always hold a nostalgic place in my heart.

The premise of the dish is very simple, just layering beans, rice and cheese (and salsa!) in a bowl. But its delicious, cheap, AND filling (an important part in my household for my manly man).

Pomegranate Super Salad + Thanksgiving Side Dish Ideas

Over here at Everyday Veggies we're pretty crazy about Thanksgiving. I don't think it's a stretch to say it is our favorite holiday. So this month we're giving you two different simple Thanksgiving side dishes. It's really easy to go crazy overboard on preparing food for Thanksgiving. I've found that it is really helpful to have at least one simple dish that is easy to prepare or even make ahead. It seems to make meal preparations that much easier.

Lots of Thanksgiving side dish ideas from our archives:

• Roasted herbed spaghetti squash
• Simple garlic green beans
• Sweet potato hummus
• Smashed potatoes and leeks
• Maple-glazed carrots
• Spinach-pesto pull apart bread
• Homemade pumpkin puree
• Creamy zucchini rice 
• Tips on making a side salad 
• Veggie-stuffed twice baked potatoes
• Spinach artichoke dip

Today I've got a really, really easy (almost embarrasingly easy) side salad for you. This recipe uses a mix of spinach and kale, but if you find kale too bitter, use all kale. I also have a recipe for a really delicious yogurt and tahini dressing that I basically lifted from the cookbook It's All Good by Gwyenth Paltrow and Julia Turshen. If you have no interest in making your own, my favorite dressing from Trader Joe's and this poppy seed dressing from Briana's would both be a great substitute.

I get two generous servings or four small servings out of this salad, so if you're expecting a crowd make sure to double this recipe. As is often the case with salads, the measurements below are more "guidelines" and it's pretty easy to eyeball this and make adjustments as you see fit.

On to the salad!

Veggies 101: How to Roast Spaghetti Squash

With the holidays coming up, I wanted to share a favorite fall-time basic recipe: How to roast spaghetti squash. This is a veggies 101 post that is simple, but really necessary for every household. Growing up, spaghetti squash was a staple in my mothers home. As I got older a lot of people I would talk to absolutely despised spaghetti squash, and then when I ate it at their house I realized why so many people disliked the squash. It’s a squash that definitely has to be done the right way.

Preheat oven to 425.

First you’ll want to find a fairly large squash, and chop the stem off. Carefully cut the squash into two halves, trying to cut it as evenly as possible (yes, much easier said than done).

Scoop out the seeds and stringy innards with a spoon and discard. (The seeds also roast up nicely like pumpkin seeds.)

Drizzle each half with about 1½ teaspoons olive oil, and sprinkle with salt a pepper. I like to use garlic salt, but normal salt is perfectly fine.

Place squash face down on a foil lined baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Check on squash at about 35 minutes. It should start to look dark brown and easily pierced with a fork. Let cool for 10 minutes and shred the squash with a fork. It should come out looking like long “spaghetti-like” strings.

Now comes the DIY part. You can really do anything you’d like here, but a few of the essentials need to be 1) garlic, 2) melted butter, 3) one or two herbs and 4) crushed red pepper. I used fresh basil from my garden that had been frozen in butter, and some rosemary. Growing up my mom would use whatever fresh herb she had on hand. My favorites were always fresh rosemary or dill. Mmmm. So customize it, give it some flare!

Once your spaghetti squash is all strung out, put it in a bowl and add the 2 tablespoons of melted butter, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 2 teaspoons of dried rosemary and your chopped fresh basil. Mix well and salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Recipe by The Everyday Veggies 

1 large spaghetti squash

1 Tablespoon olive oil, divided

Salt and pepper

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped basil, fresh

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Chop the stem off, and carefully cut the squash lengthwise into two halves. Scoop out the innards and discard. Drizzle each half of the squash with 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. 

3. Place squash face down on baking sheet and roast for 35-45 minutes, or until its looking brown, and easily pierced with a fork. Let cool for 10 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, shred the squash with a fork. It will come out looking like long spaghetti like strings. 

4. Place in medium sized mixing bowl and add the red pepper flakes, melted butter, garlic, rosemary chopped basil and salt. Serve immediately. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Savory Apple Cheddar Cobbler

Several years ago I ran across this recipe for apple cheddar soup. It sounded a little weird, but I thought it was worth a try. It became a fall staple and I look forward to making it every autumn.

I've been really interested in making a savory cobbler for the past few months but hadn't gotten around to it. This year I was buying the ingredients for my favorite apple cheddar soup and wondered if it might make a tasty cobbler.

Well folks, I'm pleased to tell you that the answer is yes. I've been toying around with this recipe for the past month (and eaten A LOT of cobbler as leftovers), but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

It is POMEGRANATE SEASON!! Superfood Pancakes (Cocoa Pomegranate Pancake)

Collette here. I'm back with another pancake variation. This time, we use our same base recipe (found here, here, and here), and load these pancakes with cocoa and pomegranate making these the antioxidant breakfast of champions. Also, I LOVE pomegranates. In fact, we sisters grew up with quite the pomegranate farmer (our dad) and large pomegranate tree in our back yard. We take our pomegranates very seriously.

Pomegranates (and we have just hit their peak season!) are loaded with nutrients like fiber, protein, vitamins C and K, folate and potassium. They have have punicalagins and punicic acid (powerful antioxidants) and pomegranate juice has 3 times the antioxidant activity as red wine and green tea (according to advanced Biomed Research Journal and my wicked smart med school brother-in-law).

This is what the arils look like once removed.

Dark chocolate, especially in the form of cocoa with all of its polyphenols, is an amazing source of antioxidants. Like, better than most fruits. Check this out from the mayo clinic. 

So why do we care about these antioxidants anyway? Antioxidants eat up free radicals. Free radicals are any atom or molecule that are missing an electron in their outer membrane (or an unpaired electron); they will do anything they can to fill that space including harmful damage to DNA, proteins, and cell membranes in order to get that missing electron and feel zen about their little chemical/molecular lives.

Simply put, we need to hold on to our electrons and not gift them to free radicals (or any chemicals) and avoid oxidation in our cells. These (not always) can have the potential to become cancerous cells (among other things). So, to avoid oxidation we need to load up on foods rich in antioxidants to help eat up those cells that can cause us harm. All of my sciences geeks...check this out!

Ok, now on to the food. :)

Broccoli 'Cheese' Soup

Fall is here and that means lots of soup in our house. I love soup. It is warm, filling, full of veggies, and my toddler always slurps them up. A favorite fall soup of my families is Broccoli Cheese, or Broccoli Cheddar soup. I always have a hard time making them though because they are chalked full of things like "processed cheese food" or others words like "cheese product." I just can't do it, because cheese shouldn't come in a can or look like plastic. So after a few trial and error products I finally came up with a recipe that we love and has no "fake" cheese product, loads of butter, or flour! I went with my trusty sweet potato base from this recipe.

Veggie Packed Taco Salad

When my husband and I first got married, it also happened to be the time that Taco Bell released their new green “Salsa Verde” sauce. I have always had a strange love/hate relationship with the food chain, but after that green sauce came out, it was definitely leaning towards more of a love thing.

We only went to the food chain about once every quarter, but we would always get massive amounts of the little green packages. Some to take home, and others to pour all over our iceberg lettuce topped taco-bell meals (like tostadas, hard tacos, and seven-layer burritos). Mmmmmm. Those were the days.

I has been about about two years since I’ve been to Taco Bell and the other day I was thinking about it and I got this strange craving for a ground beef taco covered in crisp iceberg lettuce and a drizzle of sour cream. There is just a distinct smell and taste that comes with that combo, and I was craving it something fierce.

The following day my sister Natalie texted me about an amazing ground beef taco filling she had created; about 10 minutes later I stumbled upon Taco Salad Skillet dinner from Budget Bytes. It was like the world of Mexican food was speaking to me, and so this dish was created.

Easy Zoodles with Garden-Fresh Tomato Sauce

Behold the great Zoodle!

 

We love zoodles at our house. Especially since we got my new favorite gadget: the spiralizer. 

I picked mine up on a super sale on Amazon last year and have been spiralizing everything I can get my hands on. 

Zoodles can be very wet and watery, so my fool-proof version with a garden-fresh tomato sauce is a real hit. The key is to saute the zoodles, add lots of flavor with herbs, and (most importantly) to strain them like you would pasta to take out the excess moisture. 

Beet n' Berry Scones

So let me just get this out of the way first: I don't like baking and I am a terrible baker. It just takes so much. . . precision, you know? All the measuring and weighing and worries about humidity affecting the dough and the frantic warnings about overworking the dough. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T OVERWORK THE DOUGH the cookbooks all scream. It's enough to turn anyone off - or at least me.

Despite this, every once in awhile I suddenly get an urge to bake something. Awhile back I got in a scone-backing frenzy. I used my sister's berry scone recipe and which makes a really lovely, dense-but-not-too-dense scone. After awhile it dawned on me that beets and berries would make a lovely combination.

After a lot of trial and error, I figured out the best ratio of beets and berries and I'm really happy with the results. The beets add a really lovely earthy flavor and the berries are bright and sweet. You could also try mixing in shredded beets to your favorite berry scone recipe - no need to follow everything I do here exactly. And as I think about that last sentence I just typed, I'm realizing the urging not to follow every direction is not good guidance for baking. I guess I'll never learn.

Spanish Rice

I love a good Spanish rice, there is something about the combination of sauteed onions and peppers with skillet browned rice and slowly cooked with tomatoes. Delicious. It is the perfect side dish to your favorite taco or enchilada or a great filler with beans in a delicious taco salad.

Start off by chopping one onion and green bell pepper. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute' pan and add chopped onions and peppers. Cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.Add two cups of rice to the pan. Cook until the rice starts to just barely brown, stirring frequently. It will brown fast.

 

Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoon of chili powder, and stir to coat the rice.

 

1 can of diced tomatoes, stir to combine. If you have extra tomatoes around (anyone else have an overload of garden tomatoes?) feel free to add 2 cups of fresh chopped tomatoes.

Add three cups of chicken or veggie broth - or bouillon and water.

Cover, turn to low, and cook until all the liquid is adsorbed and the rice is tender - about 20 minutes.

Spanish Rice
Serves 8

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cups long grain white rice
1 can diced tomatoes ( or two cups of fresh chopped tomatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups of chicken or veggie broth

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute' pan. Add the chopped onion and green pepper and cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the rice, stirring frequently, cook until the rice starts to brown lightly. Add the salt and chili powder and stir to coat the rice. Add the tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the broth. Cover and cook on low until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
 

Baby-Led Weaning (Solids)

When I found out I was pregnant (almost two years ago) one of my first reactions was “holy cow, how on earth do I take care of a BABY?!” I was excited, obviously, but realized I really had no clue how to take care of a newborn. Then came my reading obsession about babies; if there is a book about babies on the library shelf, there is a 99.9% chance I read the book. Because of all the reading and researching I felt like I knew every “method” of baby raising, and I was able to modge podge all of my favorite’s into my own version of child rearing. (which turned out great, by the way. Baby sleeping through the night by 10 weeks? Yes please.)

When time got closer for Calvin to start eating solids, the same thing happened (book frenzy). I remembered my sister Natalie telling me about Baby-Led Weaning, and how it worked wonders for her little man, I decided to pick the book up, along with a few others. I instantly fell in LOVE with the idea; bonus, the thought of feeding my child rice cereal kind of gave me the heebie geebies.

Like the whole newborn rearing, I definitely made my own version of BLW, and both my husband and I felt comfortable with the way we ended up introducing solids, and let me tell you; almost everyday I get a comment like “Claire, he is SUCH a great eater!”

Here we are; now that I have given you that rather lengthy introduction, you can choose to go to another web address, or just stick with me as I take you on the journey of BLW.

Shredded Veggie Rainbow Salad

I recently returned from a week-long trip to Israel with some family members. One of my key takeaways was to never visit Israel in August. It was blazing hot! We kept hearing "heat wave, heat wave, blah blah", but man we roasted. Second, and far more exciting to me, Israel has AMAZING produce. I'd heard that Israeli farmers do some impressive things, but it wasn't until I visited that I realized how impressive it is. We saw all different types of farms and orchards and fields and the produce in the markets was always fresh and gorgeous.


One of my favorite meals we had (and we had some really great meals) was at a lovely restaurant in a small town in upper Galilee. We sat, sweating, on a lovely veranda overlooking the valley and gushed over the amazing food. I absolutely flipped over one of the salads we were served. It was a combination of simply-dressed shredded raw vegetables topped with candied walnuts and Parmesan cheese. The light flavors of the raw vegetables balanced out the rich nuts and cheese and dressing just perfectly and it was so lovely in the heat. (Technically it wasn't actually my salad, but I'm confident the rightful owner didn't mind that I ate most of it.)

In all of of its grainy glory, here is The Salad. So delicious we're making it a proper non.  

My sister and I went back and forth trying to break down the ingredients. She was convinced it was dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, but I just couldn't believe it was that simple. We finally asked the waiter in what turned into an embarrassingly long ramble about "how much we loved the salad and how we wanted to make at home and could he please oh please tell us what was in it because we couldn't quite figure it out, and would he be so kind as to tell us, please and thank you." He stared at us for what seemed like way too long and then, with what I'm sure was a heroic effort at suppressing an eye roll, confirmed that the salad was dressed simply with lemon juice and local olive oil. Bam.

Of course, I knew immediately I had to recreate this salad. Dear readers, these are the lengths we go to for this blog: embarrassing ourselves in front of Israeli waiters and a healthy lack of self respect. Dedication, folks. Dedication.

Veggie Lasagna Roll-ups

We love lasagna over at our house, especially since we can fill it with delicious veggies and it is always a hit. I tried numerous recipes for lasagna and lasagna roll-ups over the years and through trial and error this recipe was born. The beauty of this recipe is how completely versatile it is, you can add meat or leave it out. You can use an mix of vegetables that fits your fancy, or what you have in your fridge. I happened to use a mix of things that I had on hand from the garden for this batch.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie

For a few weeks this summer my husband went to Rhode Island for his Navy Officer school. While he was gone I ventured out on some trips and ended up in Las Vegas with my parents for the last few weeks. My mom is gluten free and has a wonderful America’s Test Kitchen Gluten Free cookbook, which I frequently used. One night I was flipping through the book and saw a shepherd’s pie that looked absolutely delicious. It was a success, but as I was eating it I instantly came up with ideas to lighten and spruce it up a bit!

Two Bean Salad

I have another easy and perfect-for-summer side dish for you today. This one was inspired by the three-bean salads that are served so often during the summer. You probably know what I'm talking about - they're generally green beans plus chickpeas and red beans pickled in a strong vinegar and sugar base. I always like the idea of the three-bean salad and occasionally I find one that tastes pretty good, but usually I'm disappointed.

A few months ago while flipping through an old Everyday Food magazine I ran across a tuna-green bean-salad-thingy recipe that looked pretty tasty. I didn't love the original recipe, but I played around with it for awhile and it easily adapted into a really great three-bean salad update. I ditched the third bean and kept the other ingredients really light and fresh. It's just terrific for the summer and I LOVE serving it with grilled fish or tuna sandwiches. The green beans are just barely cooked, so they're fresh and crunchy and pair really well with the creamy white beans.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, Everyday Food was a little magazine from the Martha Stewart Living company that I absolutely loved. Sadly, it went out of publication several years ago. So many of my staple recipes came from this publication and I was a real shame that the publication went under. Fortunately, it evolved into a terrific video series and you can sign up to get daily emails from them, which I highly recommend. Also, I hoard old copies and find myself pouring through them for ideas more often than I care to admit. Nostalgia runs in my family so I'll just blame it on the genes.

Simple Summer Squash

I found a recipe similar to this in a magazine years ago when I was in college and still trying to figure out the "cooking for myself" thing. I remember the recipe being very forgiving for a novice cook, quite fast, and easy on my college budget. I don't remember where I got the recipe and the oil-spotted clipping I loved so much has long-since gone to the great compost pile in the sky, but I have mostly committed it to memory. Over the years I've tinkered around with what I remember and I'm excited to share with you my current version.

This recipe cooks the squash for a short time over high heat, almost like stir frying. The mix of crisp-tender squash, sweet corn, and melty cheese is just so satisfying, plus it cooks up really quickly and requires very little time over the hot stove. Since I do not have air conditioning, this is extremely important to me! I often serve this along side baked fish or a grilled cheese sandwich. Although the recipe feeds 4-6 as a side, I've also been known to eat half a batch for dinner and the other half for lunch.

This recipe is in heavy rotation at my place during the summer when summer squash is cheap in grocery stores and when friends and neighbors are unloading their zucchini surplus in a near panic. I'm happy to give you an excuse NOT to make another loaf of zucchini bread.

Simple Lime & Paprika Salmon

My husband is away for a time doing some Navy training, so that left me some time with my almost-one-year-old sidekick to do some traveling. A few weeks back I went up to Idaho to visit my sister Natalie. My mom was there visiting, and Natalie's mother-in-law was coming over for dinner. My mom was making pineapple shrimp salad (delicious!) and then we remembered last minute that there was a salmon filet that needed to be used up that night.

All three of us use the famous family marinade for salmon about 98% of the time, which requires actual time to marinade. Nat and I just looked at each other, and both said something along the lines of "don't people usually slather a bunch of mayo on their salmon and call it good?". As we ran around the kitchen trying to find a way to make a delicious, simple, quick salmon, this recipe was born. Boy, the outcome was DELICIOUS. My little goober gobbled it up, and we were all wishing there was more salmon by the end of the dinner.

Let me just tell you again. This is SUPER easy and quick. No real preparation ahead, and it's perfect if you have some fish in the freezer if you need to use it up (I usually keep at least one fillet of fish in the freezer at all times for things like this).

Blueberry Coconut Smoothie

I love a good green smoothie. They are fast, easy, filling, and loaded with good things. We usually have them a few times a week at our house. That is unless I am pregnant. My taste buds get completely out of whack with pregnancy and unless the smoothie taste like Jamba Juice I can not stomach them. I was really surprised with my first when this happen and it is no different the second time around. I can taste ever "bitter" undertone of the veggies and it just doesn't sit well. This recipe is my fool-proof smoothie that is completely delicious, veggie packed, and (best of all!) I can handle with my wacky taste buds. Any non-green smoothie lover will love this as well (plus it is not green...so some are less "scared"). My toddler side-kick has dubbed this "Blueberry Coconut Explosion" (has anyone else found their toddler boys gobble anything up if it has the word explosion or monster in it?).

Summer Tuna Salad

A few years ago I was spending about 3 days of every week doing business in NYC. I became very familiar with the local hot spots of mid-town Manhattan. Every time I had a meeting at Rockefeller Plaza around lunch-time I would try to sneak into Dean and Deluca. One summer I discovered their tuna salad sandwich and my life was changed (yes, I am that dramatic). It had a nice crunch with carrot and red onion and I became obsessed.

I set out to duplicate, and even hunted down the recipe from the Dean and Deluca Restaurant cookbook, but, quickly realized it need to be heathified...stat. My version is loaded with peppers, kale, celery, carrot, parsley, and much more. The base cuts out much of the heavy mayo (does anyone else hate mayo like I do??) and adds in pickle. It is delightful and much easier on the waistline.

Try it with fresh watercress, avocado, and extra sliced pickle. My favorite way to enjoy...on a bed of buttery Boston lettuce and sliced avocado.

Cousin Carol's Carrot Salad

A few months ago my sister was in town visiting and we went to visit a cousin who live nearby. I got really excited when she insisted on lunch because she is a great cook and, of course, we were not disappointed.

She served the most delicious carrot salad and I simply could not get enough of it. In that past I've avoided carrot salads because they usually include pineapple and/or raisins and, frankly, I do not care for that combination. This one, though. This one was different. My sister and I both downed double servings. Even my 2-year-old nephew seemed to really enjoy it (although if I'm being honest, he may have been more motivated by the lemon San Pellegrino we were bribing him with. . .). Only the thinnest barrier of social propriety kept me from grabbing the serving bowl and shoveling the rest of it in my mouth Cookie Monster style.

After the gentlest of prodding, Carol graciously passed along her recipe, which was mostly an ingredient list because she just eyeballs it (told you - great cook!). I have been tinkering around for awhile and came up with a slightly modified version that I love. I've found that it the trick is to let it sit for at least a few hours or, even better, overnight. Be warned that this recipe makes a lot of salad, but there are worse things.

The best thing about this recipe? It is so easy. The salad goes particularly well alongside sandwiches (grilled cheese and egg salad are my favorites) or cooked fish. Or straight from the mixing bowl, Cookie Monster style. No judgement here.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have a love hate relationship with spinach artichoke dip. While it is delicious, I can't get past the heavy creams, cream cheeses, and other heavy bases. This recipe is by no means "healthy" or "guilt-free," but it is a little lighter then the traditional dip with a base of Greek yogurt and it is packed with great flavor. This is a real winner on an appetizer line up. 

Brown Rice and Arugula Salad + Mason Jar Salad

I have a a darling little boy who is ten months old. When he was born last summer my little sister, Layne, came to help out and spend a few days with us. The afternoon we all came home from the hospital I walked into my house and my table was set beautifully with this scrumptious looking salad. It may be all of the positive feelings associated with this salad, but it is definitely one of my favorite salads in America. This is technically Layne's recipe, but since she is off gallivanting around Jerusalem for the summer, I am going to share it with you. It really is incredibly simple, I could hardly call it a recipe, more of an ingredient assembly, if you will.

Baked Brown Rice

It's no big secret that I am slightly obsessed with America's Test Kitchen. Every month or so I pick up a different ATK book from the library, and almost every cookbook they have released has this amazing brown rice recipe. It was a dream come true because I love brown rice. It has the nuttiness and heartiness that plain white rice lacks, but it seemed the brown rice NEVER turned out correctly. I tried the rice cooker, stove top, and boiling, but it always seemed to fail me, until I came across this recipe. I give you my word that it will turn out every time.

Yes, you may notice that brown rice is not a veggie-based recipe, nor does it have any veggies in it. I have a recipe coming up on Friday that needs this recipe, so go ahead and bake your rice and have it prepped for the recipe coming Friday!

Veggie Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes

I have a shameless love affair with most anything that is potato based. Add in a bit of cheese (my favorite food and word), and I'm done for. I blame it on my Idaho roots. Having said that, I rarely enjoy twice-baked potatoes. It's sad, really. I always want to like them, but I can't get past the gloopy, fatty mess of a filling that typically bears little resemblance to an actual potato.

A few years ago my mother passed along a recipe for twice-baked potatoes, but ones that actually looked pretty good. The recipe included lots of vegetables and I liked the idea of combining a vegetable-herb sauce with the potato flesh (that word just sounds so gross to me every time I type it). However, something about the recipe just wasn't quite right. It did not have quite enough veggies and there was a shocking lack of dairy.

After a lot of tinkering I hit on a combination of vegetables and mushrooms that was just perfect. I also mixed sour cream with the potato innards (is that word better?) because sour cream is everyone's favorite part of a baked potato, right? I added a dusting of paprika - 'cause it's pretty - and of course, I had to top it off with cheese. Potatoes and cheese - I think it's the law or something.

Lemon "Poppy Seed" Pancake

Hi there, pancake lovers. So this post is a bit of a cheat; there are no vegetables in this pancake. I know, I know. But trust me, you'll thank me after you try these.

This pancake follows the same base recipe as my other heath-ful pancakes recipes (Green Monstah and Butternut Pecan Pancakes). Oats, quinoa, almond milk, banana, egg, and some sort of flavor enhancer. This time, it is a massive hit of tart lemon. For the "poppy seed", I use chia seeds, which add a nice boost of Omega 3's. These, as are most of my oat/quinoa based pancakes, are highly customizable. Try using poppy seeds, chia seed, broken up fresh raspberry (my son's personal favorite), or blueberries.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

Meet the Rhubarb- that weird vegetable plant that is extremely tart and no one seems to know what to do with. Rhubarb can be extremely tasty especially when paired with the right flavors.

I created this strawberry rhubarb cobbler over Fathers Day for my dad who loves strawberry-rhubarb pie. While I love a good pie, nothing screams summer to me more then a cobbler. It brings on all the memories of summer BBQ's, cooking over a campfire, and all things glorious and warm. After combining a pie recipe and my favorite cobbler recipe, I do believe we have a winner. My husband says I am the only person in America that doesn't like the "traditional" easy cobbler dump recipes that use the boxed cake mix. I just am not the biggest fan of the cake taste and consistence, and prefer making my own topping. Try using this topping for your favorite cobbler fillings. It is divine with peach cobbler also.I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. Feel free to use this recipe for the oven or in a dutch oven with briquettes.

Balsamic Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Pasta

About two months ago I checked out an America’s Test Kitchen cook book from my local library. I absolutely loved it! The technique I fell in love with was roasting tomatoes with balsamic vinegar. The oil and balsamic vinegar made a nice sauce for pasta and it was positively delicious. For me, this opened up a whole new realm of possibilities and this recipe was born. One other notable thing about this recipe is that it is very easy to prepare a few hours before hand, and it’s not something that will send your kitchen and dish pile into shambles.

Our Favorite Kitchen Tools

We've been wanting to mix things up on the blog for awhile and thought it would be fun to talk about some of our favorite kitchen tools. A few weeks ago we realized that none of us had anything ready to go for this week's post (Internet high fives all around) so it is the perfect time to give this a go.

So without further ado, here are a few of our "can't live without" kitchen tools. 

Southwest Soufflé

My sister, Natalie, is a chicken whisperer. She keeps about 7 chickens in her backyard coop. She has a constant supply of amazing fresh eggs and when she recently brought me a fresh batch, I knew what I had to make.

I made my first soufflé about 6 months ago. I love to cook...but a soufflé? That is chef-level culinary skill. I was intimidated. What if it fell? What it if did not have that subtle buttery outer-layer? Also, how do I get more veg in that rich and decadent dish? Well, I did it. I was so proud of myself that I started making soufflés as often as I could. My first was a watercress and feta soufflé...delicious. I dabbled with all different versions that I could make up. I finally landed on my all-time favorite version. The best part, it was significantly more healthful (almond milk and less cheese and loaded with veg). You are welcome. :)

This recipe is totally customizable and is a great way to get in small diced or chopped veg into a yummy package. It uses whole wheat pastry flour and almond milk and much less cheese than normal. It's a great way to bump up the nutrient content and still have a impressive and decadent dish. Bonus, this is very friendly on the grocery budget. Eggs can be inexpensive and so is veg, so win-win!

Don't be intimidated by this dish. If you can beat egg whites, not open the oven door, and use a wisk...you can make a soufflé. I challenge you to challenge yourself and try something new.  You can make a soufflé!

Asian Steak Lettuce Wraps

My mom and several of the older sisters were able to travel to Korea for a "sister city" high school exchange program a number of years ago. On their travels they fell in love with the traditional Korean BBQ beef, bulgogi. In my moms traditional fashion she was wanted to recreate this dish for her whole family when she got back,  not being Korean or having any Asian culinary experience she created her own version which became a fast favorite in our family. We loved these tasty lettuce wraps and the versatility of them. I still request them for my birthday every year, so my husband has become a "Wixom-style bulgogi" master. I should give him credit for this post because all these pictures were taken when he actually made them.

Simple Garlic Green Beans

Food doesn't always need to be fancy. Sometimes the simplest treatment - a drizzle of good olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, or a bit of fresh herbs - is enough to make flavors sing. Simple food treatments are incredibly quick and easy, two things I highly value in cooking. Well, in anything really.

After many years of overcooked green beans I finally wised up and applied this concept to green beans - so often treated as a side dish afterthought - and found that green beans really shine when treated with the lightest hand. After some trial and error (mostly error) I hit on an easy and simple cooking method that works really, really well EVERY TIME. (Very important!) The beans crisp-tender and the garlic and lemon juice add just enough flavor without being overwhelming.

I almost didn't post this recipe because I thought it was too easy and simple. But then I realized that this is something people would actually use - not just pin and never look at again. On top of being really, really easy, this recipe is just about perfect for spring and summer. Since I pretty much live for summer, it's really a win all around.