BBQ Chicken Salad

The days are longer, the sun is shining, and I feel summer coming! I love summer food. The barbecues, the watermelon, salads, the popsicles, did I mention watermelon?  A family favorite of ours is BBQ chicken salad. It is incredibly fast, delicious, and screams summer.

Chimichurri (or Green Gold)

Our society has a bit of a love-hate recipe with Gwyneth Paltrow, and I'm no different. I subscribe to the GOOP newsletter, but I regularly end up deleting it with an eye roll. The recommendations are often completely out of touch with my normal-person lifestyle. $400 cleanses? Travel guides for the Hamptons? $900 candlesticks? That said, the woman knows how to cook, and I'm a big fan of her cookbook "It's All Good." Although not all recipes in the cookbook are slam dunks and a few are plain ridiculous (fish roasted in salt anyone?), there are also some real winners.

Homemade "Ranch" Dressing

We are big condiments fan at our house. I think we have 10 different mustards in my fridge as we speak (not kidding!). They are so fast and easy to add flavor to a lot of meals. One condiment or dressing that my kids and husband love is ranch dressing, but I have such a hard time buying or even using the bottled stuff full of 1000 ingredients. So per usual, I remade a classic into a Natalie-approved but family taste-approved dish. Behold, a diary, sugar free, preservative free ranch that is delicious.

Broccoli-Bacon Baked Omelet

Over the past few months I have been striving to get a good portion of veggies in during breakfast. It's so easy to pour a bowl of cereal, but it lacks so much good, hearty nutrition. Plus veggies are filling, low in calories, and pack in a lot of nutrients. Long story short, eggs with veggies seem to be my go-to filling breakfast because they pair easily with vegetables.

The other day our friends came over for a General Conference breakfast and brought a quiche. It's been so long since I had had quiche, and I forgot how delicious it was! I really wanted to make one, and then I remembered how calorie-laden and fatty pie crust can be. I like to save that for a special occasion, not just a throw-together any night of the week meal. I realized that a baked omelet is pretty much just a crustless quiche, so I threw together this beaut and it completely lived up to my hopes. Yum. 

You only need eggs, milk, bacon (I LOVE pre-cooked bacon for this type of thing), broccoli, and an onion. Easy.

Cauliflower Rice n' Greens Black Bean Bowls

I really, really love rice and beans. Really. Sometimes I think I should have been born in Brazil because I'm just crazy about it. When I was in college, one of my roommates introduced me to her family's favorite recipe for rice and beans and I was immediately hooked. It called for rice, beans (duh), lime juice, salt and pepper, avocado, and green onions. It was simple, tasty, and really easy on my college budget. I may even admit to eating it EVERY DAY for a week or so. (Poor college student, remember?)

I still LOVE to make up this black beans and rice recipe, but nowadays I have to scale back a bit on the rice consumption. This particular recipe was born when I came home after a particularly long day to a particularly empty fridge. All I could think to make was rice and beans, then it dawned on my that cauliflower rice would be a much better alternative. After Claire posted her excellent tutorial on making cauliflower rice, I started making up a really simple cauliflower rice and greens dish and I knew it would complement the dish well. Fortunately I had a package of cauliflower rice squirreled away in the freezer and a few handfuls of leftover greens. Thank heavens for hoarding tendencies.

The recipe is really simple and perfect if you are cooking single servings. I live alone and it can be really tricky to find recipes that don't leave you sitting with gallons of leftover chili (or whatever). I don't know about you, but there are only so many days I can gag down leftovers before throwing in the towel and ordering pizza.

Asian Meatballs

Last fall I had the most perfect baby girl. My wonderful mother came to stay and help for a week after I had her. When she left I had a clean house, a freezer full of meals, and pantry full of cookies. She also left a big bag of homemade frozen meatballs. At first I questioned when we would eat that much spaghetti and meatballs? But they turned out to be our favorite fast meal! It was a quick easy protein to throw on a salad, throw on a glaze and have mini meatloaf, eat as a lettuce wrap, or to put over some zoodles or spaghetti squash. They are now a stable in my freezer. Each time I make meatballs I try to add different spices and veggies to change them up. These "Asian" meatballs are our favorite right now.

Veggies 101: Roasted Broccoli

I've had a thing for roasted veggies since I can remember. Something about roasting vegetables takes their flavor up a notch- more than just steaming- and I absolutely prefer most vegetables roasted (there are obviously exceptions here). Being completely honest here, one of my favorite snacks is a big plate of roasted broccoli. It's filling, nutritious and SUPER low in calories. I literally eat the stuff like candy, but without feeling regretful and guilty after like candy would.

Red Velvet Smoothie

While I was visiting my sister several weeks ago she recommended the cookbook "Superfood Smoothies" by Julie Morris. This cookbook is really outstanding. I've been really impressed with most of the recipes I've made and it's given me an excuse to blend up a storm with the Blendtec I got for Christmas. The only dud I've made is the cauliflower chocolate smoothie, but I guess I should have seen that one coming! The only downside I've seen to this book is that she sometimes uses ingredients that are neither easy to find nor easy on the wallet (camu powder? dried white mulberries?). However, I've found that the funky ingredients are pretty easy to work around.

One of my favorites was the "Red Velvet Cake" smoothie. This recipe gets its gorgeous color and bulk from cooked beets and it's flavored with cocoa powder, so basically you can't go wrong. I played around with this particular recipe and found that it works really well with dates. They add the perfect amount of sweetness. You can use a medium frozen banana or an alternate sweetener (honey, stevia, etc.) in place of the dates, but I think dates taste best.

Another favorite smoothie from the book is the Pineapple Watercress smoothie. While making it I had this crazy flashback to "green drink," a horrid concoction of pineapple juice, spinach, parsley, and celery my mom used to make when we were kids. I still vividly remember the texture and smell of that horrid drink and to this day it makes me shudder. Fortunately this version is actually quite delicious, but I was reminded that in the end we all become our parents, right? :)

Riced Cauliflower + How to make prepped and frozen riced cauliflower

As I talked about last week, I did Whole 30 last month (yesterday was my last day!). One of my favorite hacks was discovered when I was shopping at Trader Joe's and found prepped and frozen cauliflower rice. I grabbed a few bags, and as I was checking out the cashier noted "It's a good thing you grabbed a few of these things. They are like gold around here!" And so it held true, I couldn't ever really find them again when I went, as they were always selling out a few hours after they were out on the shelf.  So I decided I would have to just make my own frozen version, and it has done wonders!

Avocado BLT Egg Salad

Hello there! It's been a while since I have posted. The holidays kept us busy around these parts. The holidays also left us feeling also heavy. Oh goodness, I always forget how much delicious food I end up consuming between the months of October-December. Between the dinners, holiday parties, goodie-baking for friends, the list just goes on and on and the scale just went up and up and so did the head aches.

When January came around I was so ready to start feeling good again, and after a lot of contemplation I decided to give Whole 30 a whirl. While I don't feel like eating this way is sustainable, nor healthy for long periods of time (too much meat, and I think grains are a healthy part of any food table, in moderation) , I have found it to be incredibly cleansing as well as powerful when it came to defining my relationship with food.

Spinach and White Bean Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I saw something similar to this recipe in a cookbook years ago and tried to recreate it for some friends recently. Basically, my version was terrible but I still loved the idea. Then I remembered a miso maple sauce I had eaten awhile ago at a terrific restaurant and wondered if it would help out the mess I had created. After a quick Google search I learned that the sauce was basically equal parts vinegar, maple syrup, and miso paste. Boom - perfect! It tasted like I had spent hours working on the sauce but only took about 15 minutes to cook. The perfect fake out food!

I love fake out food - recipes that taste fancy and taste like they take a lot of time, but take minimal effort. I've found that the secret to adding flavor without a lot of effort is to add an umami ingredient. What is umami you might ask? Umami is sometimes called the fifth flavor and adds deep, rich, savory flavor that comes from glutamine. Foods with umami flavor include meats, especially stocks and other slow cooked meats, tomatoes (especially tomato paste), mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, shellfish, and fermented foods (among a few others).

For this recipe I used miso (mee-so) paste, which has a deep, lovely flavor. Miso is pretty foreign to many home cooks, although it is becoming more common. Basically, it is a salty, thick paste made out of fermented soybeans. It sounds super weird and kind of creeped me out at first. Once I got the hang of it, though, I really grew to love miso. I generally always have at least one tub of it in my fridge and it lasts a LONG time so you don't have to worry about it going bad. I like to make homemade ramen soup with miso paste, and it is GREAT flavoring for soups and salad dressings. You will generally find it in the refrigerated case near where you'd find tofu. There are multiple kinds - white, red, sweet, etc. Red miso has a somewhat stronger flavor while white is more mellow, but really any kind will work for this recipe.

If you can't find miso in your grocery store, are kind of freaked out by it, or just don't want to bother, you can also use soy sauce for this recipe. Frankly, I think it tastes much better with miso (I've tried both ways), but either way works.

It's all about food prep

You know those days when you wake up to a race bugle and you go all day only to crash that night thinking, what just happened? On days like this the first thing to go is healthful food choices and thoughtful meals prepared at home (and who are we kidding, we all know they are usually significantly better for you).

I also find myself in this rut, with work and travel (mostly for work) and a threenager, and a busy hubby with a company run for our home, and his book deadlines, and race training (I love to run and those longer races take a lot of time away from home in the wee hours of the morning). So, in order to not flop everyday, I need, nay, MUST HAVE, a plan.

Everyone does this a bit differently depending on their needs and schedules. My little sister Natalie,  and our resident homesteader, plans 4 meals weekly so she has some flexibility and the opportunity to gobble up leftovers. One of our readers, Erin, posted that she has gone back to planning her meals a month at a time because it helps her plan and budget ahead. Micah, our resident gu-ru on plant based-eating, plans her meals on Tuesdays, shops on Wednesdays (when her local grocery store's weekly sales overlap), and preps and washes all produce Wednesday night.

Beef, Veggie, & Quinoa Stew

Happy New Year! Natalie here and are talking beef stew today. A rich hearty beef stew is soul warming on a cold day. I'm not sure what the winter is like for you, but here on the Homestead in Eastern Idaho it is negative temperatures and down right miserable. I was on a search to make a veggie-filed beef stew and was once again, like many traditional comfort foods, was turned off by the prepackaged ingredients filled with MSG, high sodium, unknown ingredients, butter, flour, etc. Hence, this recipe was born and quickly became a wintertime favorite.

"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.