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I announced last Friday that I would not be uploading a post due to the holidays, but it feels like I’ve been away much longer. I spent Thanksgiving at my parent’s place which was nice. We had been debating whether to go out to dinner or to cook at home and ultimately decided to make a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. I ended up helping out a bit and made Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots which I made a few years ago at my sister’s place. This time we added some broccoli to the mix to use up some of the veggies we had in the fridge. If you decide to add broccoli to this mixture, I would either cook them in a separate pan and mix them in later, or mix them in at the halfway point. The oven temperature is very high and the carrots cook for about 30 minutes. If the broccoli is in for too long it becomes a bit too soft.
Here’s our Thanksgiving spread! Shout out to my dad for making such a delicious meal!
I’m spending some time in California this week. I’m not sure how much cooking I’ll be doing so I may be sharing some old dishes on here. You can tell they’re old because the photos I took are not great, but they’ll do for now. I didn’t take PTO for this trip. Instead I’m working remotely from California following an eastern time work schedule. My day starts early, but I also end early due to the time change, so it’s actually been really nice. I have so much time in the afternoon now. I do a small workout, watch a few episodes of a TV series, and get to make progress toward a certification. Next week I am taking one day of PTO to go on a day trip which I’m excited for!
This recipe is from one of the magazines I picked up at Whole Foods. They have them strategically placed right next to the checkout counter and of course, while I was waiting in line, I was looking around and it caught my eye. That’s how they get you to spend an extra $20 at the grocery store! In all honesty, I could have put it back, but this magazine specifically focused on chicken recipes. If you’ve been following along, you’ll probably have noticed that many of the dishes I post are not very heavy with the meat and instead pull protein from other sources. Well my boyfriend loves to have meat. If eating beef everyday was healthy, he would do so, but he settles for chicken and only has red meat every now and then. I grabbed this magazine hoping it would generate some ideas of what to cook that would offer him a break from my plant-based dishes.
I remember taking a picture of the recipe, the dish name, and the magazine name, but of course I can’t find them on my phone! If I was home it would be quick to just grab the magazine and jot it down, but the official name and magazine will have to wait until I return home!
Rating
9/10
Recipe
Ranch Marinated Chicken and Rice
Don’t let “Ranch Marinated” scare you away from tryin this dish out. I thought it was a bit odd, as ranch is not an ingredient I use at all in my cooking unless it’s to have as dip for my carrots. When I read that I would be marinated my chicken in a bowl of Ranch dressing, I was a bit concerned as to whether or not I was following the recipe correctly, but it turned out delicious.
This recipe also included one of my favorite rice “hacks” which is to cook the rice in broth instead of water. This gives the rice some flavor and it makes cooking easier because there’s one less pot to clean!
Some notes and lessons learned:
Although there is spinach mixed into the dish at the end, I would have liked some additional veggies. To me, this dish was on the heavier side with the chicken broth rice and the chicken. I felt that it needed something to balance that heaviness.
Although the recipe calls for bone-in chicken, it was a hassle to remove the bone when it was time for dinner. I would have much rather purchased boneless chicken. Next time!
Try it out and let me know what you think!
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I don’t have too many updates this week, but sometimes that’s a good thing! I’m in the midst of preparing for my holiday trips, some of which I will be taking PTO for and others in which I will just be working remotely. My first stop is to my parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving. We haven’t had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a family in a while since both my sister and I moved to California. This is the first time in what I believe is 6 or 7 years that we will be having a Thanksgiving dinner together. My dad is in charge of preparing the Thanksgiving meal, so I know it’s going to be delicious. I’m really excited for it. It’s been nice being back on the East Coast for a while and being able to visit my parents more often. My sister is also on the East Coast for a quick visit, so I’m glad the 4 four of us will get to spend some more time together.
After Thanksgiving I will quickly but safely drive home and get ready to head to California for a bit. I’m thrilled for this because I think it is freezing n the East Coast right now and I can’t wait to be back in California for that “winter” weather. I’ll be visiting my boyfriend which I’m excited for since we currently live on two different coasts. It’s definitely been tough, but I think we’re trying all we can to make the distance feel minimal.
After visiting my boyfriend, I get to relax in my home for a few days before I have to start packing again. This year I’m spending Christmas in Spain with my boyfriend’s family. It’ll be my first year not having Christmas with my family which makes me a little sad. I do really enjoy spending time with them and being together at the holidays is always special. We’ll be doing a mini Christmas on the 21st so that we can still say that we had Christmas together!
In between all that, I’m fitting in my work schedule, my blogging, and I’m looking to be a part of some virtual volunteering opportunities. It’s hard to find something in my location because I do travel quite a bit to visit my family and there is potential for future work travel. I don’t want to commit to an in-person volunteering event only to find out that I can’t make it. I think the virtual option is much more realistic for my schedule.
On the topic of food, I’m starting to draw a blank. I have a few recipes and pictures on file that are ready to be shared, but I can’t decide which is a good choice to share. I assume I’ll eventually share them all, but some are from before I purchased a ring light, and now looking back at those photos, they’re pretty bad.
I shared the blueberry scones on my Instagram this past Monday, but a post relating to them is not live. So if you’re looking around for it, stay tuned!
This week I’m sharing this super easy One-Pan Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Asparagus recipe. My biochem brain sees “asparagus” and immediately thinks of asparagine because that’s how I would remember the amino acid and know how to spell it. Full disclosure, I used two pans. You can find this recipe from the blog Carlsbad Cravings. I’m always amazed when I look at the home pages of the blogs I try recipes from. Everything looks so effortlessly delicious, and it usually is!
Asparagus is high in asparagine, from which it was named (of course!). Asparagine is a non-essential amino acid (amino acids our body can synthesize) which is critical for producing many of the body’s proteins, but also plays a role in the metabolism of ammonia.
I’ve started to notice that many of the recipes that I am making are not heavily focused around meat (even fish). It’s not intentional, I just found it curious that it was a pattern. This week, however, I am sharing a shrimp recipe and for dinner I made some chicken (which will be shared soon!).
I’m so focused on taking videos for my Instagram page that I often forget to take pictures. This is one of those recipes in which I forget to take a picture of the full, finished meal. I did take a picture of the shrimp, which turned out delicious!
This was a great recipe to make in a pinch because i only had to purchase 3 ingredients to make this work because I already had the rest at home. Some notes and lessons learned:
Add rice or pasta to make this a more filling and complete dish, unless you’re stacking up on the shrimp and asparagus
Following the cook time from the blog, my shrimp were still heavily grey when I pulled them out
I popped them back in for the same amount of time and they turned out great. Just play it by ear to make sure you’re cooking the shrimp based on the capabilities of your oven.
If you don’t like asparagus, my recommendation would be to replace with broccoli. I personally find them to be relatively light vegetables so the dish doesn’t make you feel stuffed afterward
This is what my shrimp looks like after the full cooking session. This includes the addition of the parsley and the butter.
Try it out an let me know what you think!
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The first half of this week was very busy at work, and the second half of this week picked up in my personal life. My sister, mom, and aunt came for a visit so my usual weekly writing in preparation for a Friday afternoon post was postponed to prioritize cleaning, cooking, and freeing up time to spend time with my family. Next week I will be posting on Friday!
We’re trying to get an early start to the Christmas shopping to beat out some of the crowds and any last minute “out of stock.” I had to work Thursday and Friday while they were here, but Friday afternoon I was able to join them for a trip to Macy’s and Barnes & Noble.
This is one of the first weekends in a while that I’m staying home. Normally, I take a trip to my parents house to spend some time with them, which is always a nice time, but I’m really looking forward to not driving anywhere this weekend.
This week’s lunch was so yummy and full of fall and winter mixes! I tried a Vegan Fall Pasta Salad. I found this recipe on Pinterest from the blog Rabbit & Wolves. For a vegan page, I thought this was an interesting choice to name a blog. In reading the home page, the name is such a unique and smart choice! They’ve got a few other recipes I’m itching to try!
Poppyseeds are rich in manganese which is important for bone health and blood-clotting. They are also rich in fiber, healthy fats, and several other micronutrients.
Pulled from Healthline
Unfortunately, I’m not sure if the version I made was Vegan. I used a Poppyseed dressing from the store and didn’t check the ingredients, however if you are looking to follow a vegan recipe, the blog Rabbit & Wolves lists directions for making your own poppyseed dressing topping.
This recipe was delicious, but definitely had quite a bit of prep work. Good thing is that after the prep work, all of the work is essentially done. The veggies go straight in the oven, and the pasta essentially cooks itself! So I think it was a fair trade off. I cook lunches for work pretty regularly and this was the first recipe that I’ve had several comments on! “That looks so good,” or “that smells great!”
Let the prep work begin!
Check out my notes below, and head over to the blog Rabbit & Wolves to try it out for yourself!
So yummy and so filling! Some days I brought a side salad and would decide to have it later as a snack instead. This was easy to make and even easier to pack for work. Some notes and things I learned:
I didn’t make the poppyseed dressing from the recipe. Instead I bought a poppyseed dressing from the store, but did not check if it was vegan or not
If you are looking to stay strictly vegan, the poppyseed recipe from the blog seemed very easy to follow and looks like it would taste even more delicious than the store-bought
I underestimated how much food this would make and bought 2 bags of brussel sprouts just in case
1 bag was more than enough, especially mixed in with everything else
I added shrimp to this on my work-from-home day, and that was a great addition!
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This week really picked up at work. We have a mix of project components all due by November 10th. Some components we can complete without roadblocks, but others are data-based, and so we can only progress based on how much data has already been compiled. I added formulas to the spreadsheet we’ve been working on to try and make the process less manual, but to also minimize how many times we have to go back into the spreadsheet. It’s definitely saved us some time overall to commit to other project components. As we enter Version 2 of our project, I’m curious to see if there will be a Version 3, and if not, what my involvement will be in the next steps of the project. I’m excited to see it!
Halloween this past “weekend” was a lot of fun! I spent it with my family and we ordered matching skeleton onesies to make it easier. Although we ended up not going trick-or-treating, we had a lot of fun setting up the candy table for the trick-or-treaters. My dad has a great set-up going with a skeleton who sits behind the table with blinking eyes, bats and ghosts flying in from a nearby pole, and a remote controlled spider/skeleton hybrid. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks dressed in our costumes. It was a fun night!
I was feeling a bit lazy this past weekend so I tried to opt for something that could be very mindless. I didn’t want to have to worry about how long an ingredient was being cooked for or having to add certain ingredients at a certain point in time. I wanted to be able to put everything in the pan and call it a day.
Some of the ingredients for this dish. Placed on a cutting board that was handmade by my dad! They were great Christmas presents from a few years ago!
This week I made a Kale and Sausage Stir Fry which was great to have for work. The skillet I have is large, but not large enough for the quantities I was making. Unfortunately that meant that I couldn’t throw everything in the pan and call it a day, but it was still a very straight forward meal. Cooked red onions tend to lose their strong flavor and add a nice subtlety to the recipe. They also don’t have that distinct onion smell when you re-heat them in the office microwave.
Kale is not an ingredient that most people like. I personally do not like kale. However, when it’s cooked and mixed with other ingredients, I really don’t mind the taste of it at all. The downside to cooking kale is that many of the high nutritional benefits are lost or minimized. In contrast, cooked bell peppers apparently help you absorb the vitamins better. I’m not sure how true that is, but if you’d like to read more on it, here’s the article I found. And finally, there was the asparagus.
Asparagus is low in calories and a great source of vitamins A, C, and K
Mixed with the sweet potatoes and the sausage, I found this to be an easy but filling recipe. I love adding sweet potato to my recipes. I find to to be a great fall ingredient, it’s always easy to prepare, and there are many ways to make it! I did have a minor cooking accident which made the prep time much longer than anticipated, but all is well and my minor wound healed fine. Check out the recipe below and let me know what you think!
Recipe List below:
1 Bundle Fresh Kale
1 Bundle Asparagus
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
Can also substitute for other colors depending on what you prefer
1 Red Onion
3 Small/Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 Pack Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage*
I use pre-cooked sausage that takes much less time to prepare
This is another ingredient that can be substituted for what you prefer
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Medium Sprinkle Garlic Powder
Medium Sprinkle Onion Powder
Light Sprinkle Salt
Medium Sprinkle Black Pepper
Medium Sprinkle Sesame Seeds
Light Sprinkle Red Pepper Flakes*
Recipe Directions below:
Prep veggies and goodies:
Peel and cube sweet potato
Separate and slice kale
Dice red onion
Cut up asparagus
In a large skillet, add 1 tbsp Olive Oil and sweet potatoes
Cook sweet potatoes on medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown
Add 1 tbsp Olive Oil, bell pepper, onion , and asparagus
Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, sesame seed, and red pepper flakes*
Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender
Remove ingredients from skillet and add to large mixing bowl
Add kale to skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes or until kale is wilted
Add kale to large mixing bowl and add pre-cooked sausage* to skillet
Cook for 8-10 minutes
Mix ingredients together and serve.
The final product. This was a great mix of veggies and a filling dish for a busy day at work.
*Optional additions. This sausage addition helps make the recipe a bit more filling. I add the red pepper flakes because they’re one of my favorite additions to any meal.
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Another pretty open week at work. Our original project is on hold for this week to focus on a separate training aspect of our project. We had the first session yesterday and I think it went really well! There was a lot of engagement and positive feedback, and we had some constructive feedback that will help us for the next few training sessions. After these sessions are done we’ll be transitioning back into the main project.
I’m not contributing too heavily to any main content right now, but I’m pulled in when we need to make any updates to the presentations and I get to participate in all of the meetings with the senior teams. In my downtime I finished up some online Green Belt courses and have been taking some LinkedIn Learning courses to both help my project and to develop skills. Long-term (for now) my interests lie in business development and strategy, or something that couples those two aspects. Some of the LinkedIn Learning videos I watched (and took notes on!) dove into this a bit more and gave more insight into the business aspects that I’m not directly interacting with currently. Even though I’ve got a bit more free time at work, my project is still a main focus and I don’t have the bandwidth to completely dive into a business-based project to get more hands-on experience. The LinkedIn Learning gives a good opportunity to learn some of those skills so I can refer to them in the future.
This weekend I’m spending some time with my family. We bought matching glow-in-the-dark skeleton costumes for Halloween and are going to do some trick-or-treating. I haven’t gone trick-or-treating since middle school, maybe high school. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it!
Other than that, there hasn’t been anything too exciting this week. I did a mini online shopping spree but ended up returning more than half of the items I ordered. The few pieces I kept though I really like. Since I moved, my wardrobe has been in need of some updating due to the change in weather. I’m trying to do this progression slowly so I don’t break the bank 🙂
Now onto the food!
This week I made an Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili from the blog Noble Veggies. I’ve made chili a few times and I always love the variations I find. Most of the chilis I’ve made have been veggie based, but still filling and delicious. The Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili of course featured a special ingredient: pumpkin!
Pumpkin, like other types of winter squash, is high in fiber which supports digestive health.
Having just driven 4 hours back to my apartment, I was most definitely not in the mood to cook or prepare food. Finding this recipe was great because it uses the Instant Pot! My prep work included cutting the zucchini, onion, and bell pepper, and mincing the garlic (with my garlic press). Other than a few minor initial steps, once these ingredients were in the Instant Pot, they were ready to go! Check out the post on The Noble Veggies blog to find the instructions!
As I said in my last post, pumpkin is not an ingredient that I regularly cook with. In fact, I think prior to my previous post, I had never cooked a recipe using pumpkin puree. I really wanted to try this recipe in the spirit of Halloween and fall, but have to admit I was a little nervous. In last week’s recipe, the taste of pumpkin was very subtle and added a small sweetness to the pasta. I was nervous that in a broth form the pumpkin puree would have a more powerful taste, and I’m not sure if that’s a flavor I like. It turns out that I had nothing to be worried about. Similar to last time, the pumpkin was subtle. I did taste it a bit more in this recipe, but it was a good taste and a great mixture of the different flavors.
This recipe cooked very, very quickly which makes it great for a busy night. I didn’t eat right away, but I kept the Instant Pot on the “Keep Warm” setting and the chili kept nicely. This recipe lasted me about 5 servings with a mix between small and generous portion sizing.
Another added benefit of this recipe is that the clean-up process is super quick. The prep work easily took me the longest amount of time. That can be cut down by purchasing pre-cut veggies at the supermarket.
This was so easy to make, so incredibly delicious and a filling dinner. Best part was the minimal prep work and the minimal hands-on requirement. Please, please try this. It was so good! Some notes and things I learned:
Add some extra goodies to each serving like avocado and shredded cheese
Here’s the final product! I’m still learning to take good looking photos, but I bought a light source for next time that should help. Top this with some avocado and cheese!
That’s my only note and lesson learned. Honestly this recipe was perfect. It’s a bit heavy so I can’t make this every week, but I would love to make this a part of my regular meal cycle.
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This week I had the luxury of free time and leaving work on time! We just finished a project workshop and my next set of action items are on hold until I get the needed materials. This means I’ve had a bit more free time at work to pick up other projects that were put on hold to prioritize materials for this workshop. It’s been nice to get back into the other projects and have a bit of a change-up, but by the end of this week, the main project has picked up again so we’re back to it!
Good thing is that I’m really enjoying the project and the work that I’m doing. We’ve had a few late nights associated with this project, but I always feel energized at the end of the day. We still have a lot of work, but I know we’ve made great progress and it’s great to be a part of it.
As we begin to enter the next stage, there’s “chatter” that we may be able to travel to some of the different site locations. Fingers crossed! I think it would be great to see this project implemented at some of the locations and get a better understanding of the impact it will have. There may even be an opportunity for some international travel which would be very cool!
To get into the spirit of Halloween and fall, I decided to make a recipe that had pumpkins in it! Pumpkin is not an ingredient that I regularly (or ever) cook with, so I was excited to give this a go. I was a bit relieved to be using pumpkin puree rather than having to buy a pumpkin and start from scratch.
Pumpkin is one of the best-known sources of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant.
I found this recipe from The Washington Post which surprised me a little. I never think of looking on these types of sites for recipes, but they have some great suggestions! I’m really thinking about subscribing to get the weekly recipe ideas. They always look delicious and easy to follow.
All the goods minus the protein we added! I have two cans of pumpkin puree pictured here, but I only needed one. I also only needed one out of the 4 bottles of chicken broth.
I would say that this recipe took me about 40 minutes to make including prep work. I try to use as much fresh stuff as I can because I personally find that it tastes a little better, but you could easily cut down on prep time by purchasing prepared items.
The one thing I absolutely loved about this recipe was how easy it was. I’ve found that blog posts tend to give a lot of details for how to heat up your oven, or how to chop up your onion, and sometimes you can get lost in the weeds. These directions were very clear, very short, and very direct (directions my Fiery Red personality loves!).
The big mix! Plated with the extra goodies really makes this look delicious.
I would say this is one of a few recipes that for me, turned out exactly or very similar to the photos displayed in the article. The article suggests serving the pasta with steamed broccoli. It wasn’t clear to me if that was intended to be on the side or mixed in, so I mixed my steamed broccoli into the pasta and it was a great addition. I also switched up other additions such as protein. One night I added some leftover balsamic marinated chicken and another night I added dried prosciutto. Even though I loved this dish, I think it would have been a bit plain without some of these additions.
This might be my new favorite comfort food. It was really easy to make and for me, gave a new twist on the classic pasta with marinara sauce. I would 100% recommend trying this, and please do and let me know what you think! Some notes and things I learned:
I think I somehow made it a bit drier than it was intended. I’m not sure how, but maybe I needed a bit more liquid or not to cook the sauce for as long
Adding protein to this was a great idea. It really upped this recipe. My recommendations:
Small broken up pieces such as chicken, prosciutto, beef, etc.
I think anything could work honestly, even some shrimp, etc. Experiment with it!
Don’t forget to add the sage and parmesan on top!
I forgot for the first bite, but added it for the second and it was even better
The final product!
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Welcome to my first restaurant review. As much as I would like to cook something new every week, that’s just not the reality of things. I travel quite a bit whether it be for work or for leisure, which means it’s not always practical to prepare a meal for the week. On top of that, I also do have nights where I have no desire to cook or I’m just too busy to cook or go to the grocery store. On other occasions, I have the time to meet up with friends and enjoy a night out.
To keep a running consistency of posts, I decided to start reviewing what I order at restaurants as well. I eat out quite a bit and these reviews may end up being beneficial for someone who lives in an area I’ve travelled to.
This week for work I had the opportunity to travel and meet the rest of my team in person for the first time. Busy is an understatement. We had a lot of work to get through this week, but we made amazing progress. It was great to spend time with my team and get to know them better.
I was also able to spend some time with my family this week. Last weekend, my sister and I went apple picking at a farm nearby. It was spur of the moment but a lot of fun. We spent most of our time waiting in line, but we tasted an Apple Cinnamon doughnut and some Apple Cider while we waited. Once we got up to the apple trees, we got a little lost looking for the apples we wanted, but we eventually found our way. Tonight we’re thinking of going on a haunted hay ride, and tomorrow we’re seeing a show.
A few weeks before my work travel, I was able to meet up with some friends for dinner, drinks, and dessert. Coincidentally, we ended up ordering the same things, two and two. We went to a restaurant called Silver, which has locations in Cathedral Heights, Washington D.C. and in Bethesda, Maryland. None of us had been to Silver before, so we were excited to try it out!
Here’s what we ordered:
House-made Tomato Basil Soup
Two of us started off with this Tomato Basil soup. I love soup and always order it when I have the chance. This soup came over to our table steaming hot and smelled delicious. I’m actually not a huge fan of tomato soups, but I really liked that this wasn’t overpowering with tomato. I’m not sure what was in this, but there was a great mix of flavors.
Crispy Brussel Sprouts
Yummy! These crispy brussel sprouts were a great sharing appetizer. I didn’t have too many of these because I also ordered the soup, but the plate was empty when it left the table. I would really recommend these to split. With the soup, I found them to be heavy and filling, but if I hadn’t had the soup, they would have been perfect.
Moroccan Tomatoes Tagine
Another big win. This dish was also plant-based and gluten free. As you can probably see from the picture, this was very tomato heavy. I wasn’t expecting so much tomato (even though the dish says tomatoes), but this was really great. It’s got a mix of quinoa and leeks and a few other goodies. I ended up being full before finishing this but took the rest home in a box. I had it the next morning for breakfast with my omelet. It was a great mix!
Truffle Bison Meatloaf
Don’t let the truffle bit deceive you or scare you away. If the name didn’t say truffle, you would never know that there’s truffle in this recipe. I didn’t order this dish, but those that did said it was really good and they would order it again!
Overall, I really recommend trying out this restaurant and some of these dishes. The atmosphere was great and the food was delicious. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: Any links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.
I’ve officially rebooted my Instagram and am working on setting up a posting schedule to keep up the consistency. In the process, I’m learning that keeping consistency on Instagram is not as easy as I thought, and that I am not as well-versed in Instagram as I thought.
On the first note, taking photos while cooking is difficult. I’m able to use a small stand to take many of my photos and position the phone, but the “action shots” are a bit harder. I would like have enough photos on hand to keep a steady flow ready. In addition, I’m trying to take some videos of the prep work or the cooking, but that means I can either take photos or take a video. Deciding between the two becomes harder when I think about trying to keep a balance of posts versus reels on the page.
Check out my first reel on Instagram! Be sure to like and follow to stay up to date on blog activities.
On the second matter, my only experience with Instagram has been with posting photos. I’ve never used social media heavily and I don’t post “professional” photos. It’s something for fun and for my own enjoyment. The quality of the photos has never been of much concern. However with my blog Instagram, I care much more about the quality of the photos. I’m learning to use the editing tools and filters, but I have a long way to go until my photos look how I’d like them to. I’m also learning to use new features that I’ve never used before like the reels. Posting a reel this past Sunday made me feel very out of touch. I had no idea what I was doing. I eventually managed to get a reel posted, but I could tell right away that I didn’t do it “correctly” and it took me significantly more time than it probably should have. I did learn for next time though, so I anticipate it will be better!
I really enjoy taking the time to search for new recipes to try. I find it difficult at times to think of something new, or what changes I can make to a current dish to make it into something new. Finding recipes online usually takes me a long time because I want to make sure it’s something that fits the cooking timeframe I have, and I want it to look good. Regardless, I find following someone else’s recipe to be just as enjoyable and delicious, and it saves me some time.
When searching for recipes I always look for the photos. I like meals that are either very colorful or that look like cozy comfort food. For me, this recipe hit both marks.
My biggest interest with this recipe was that it was a one-pot dish. I’m sometimes skeptical with these, but this one turned out great! Having a one-pot recipe is great when you’re busy because it minimizes how much clean up there is after! That’s a huge win for me because I hate doing the dishes, but I also don’t know anyone who enjoys doing them either.
To add to the convenience of this dish, the recipe called for refrigerated gnocchi. I’ve tried gnocchi a few times and it’s a bit too much potato flavor for me. However, the refrigerated gnocchi I bought from the grocery store this past week were delicious. I still don’t think they’re something I could have regularly, but I was pleasantly surprised to have really enjoyed the gnocchi. I think the mix of flavors helped minimize the potato taste, in favor of something better. It was also a huge time saver for me because it was one less thing I needed to prepare, either by making gnocchi from scratch or pre-cooking dried gnocchi.
Something else that really peaked my interest with this recipe was the addition of leek.
I’ve never tried or cooked with leek before, so I was excited to try it out. Foods such as leek sometimes fall into the domain of intimidating. For me, it was because I didn’t know too much about the taste of leek, and I have no experience preparing or cooking it.
Mix of the leek, yellow onion, and garlic cooking. Leeks are halved, sliced, and rinsed before use.
I loved this recipe and would definitely make it again. I recommend it for anyone who is in a big rush or has a tight schedule. It was a very easy recipe to follow. Some notes and things I learned:
I opted for Vegetable Stock because it’s what I had on hand
I opted for Half & Half because it’s what I had on hand
I would pay more attention to how long I cook the gnocchi for – I think my gnocchi ended up overcooked
I had a hard time squashing the cherry tomatoes – next time I would opt for a different cooking utensil that would be able to do this better
I would add more liquid – my gnocchi turned out very thick. It was still delicious, but I would have liked it more creamy.
It tastes better than my picture looks! As you can see, the dish turned out really thick, so I would opt for more liquid next time to thin it out.
The Fork in the Kitchen blog lists at the bottom how to adjust the creaminess to your liking. Try out this recipe and some of the other recipes featured on Fork in the Kitchen and let me know what you think!
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Hello to old and new followers, and welcome back to my blog!
I took a long break from blogging and cooking new recipes to focus on my graduate degree. After completing my Master’s, I continued to do business research with a professor, and opted for a summer internship program with a biotech company. With both roles, it didn’t seem like the best opportunity to start blogging again, so I held off. Following completion of my internship, I started working for another biotech company which required me to pack up and move from southern California back to the East Coast!
I’ve lived in California for quite some time now, and it was a bit strange coming back to the East Coast. I’ve been back on the East Coast for about 2 months now and have spent most of it either traveling back and forth from my new apartment to my parent’s house, buying new furniture and decor, or taste-testing the local restaurants.
As for the job, I’m really enjoying it and it’s only been about 3 weeks! I feel that I’ve already been given so many opportunities to develop my skills and showcase my abilities. It’s been really rewarding. I’m also excited because my new role involves a bit of travel, which is something I’m always itching to do. For now, it sounds like the travel will remain in the US, but I’m excited nonetheless.
Happy to be back to cooking and testing out recipes!
Since my graduate program was mostly online due to the COVID pandemic, my new in-person schedule is very different than what I’m used to. Being online meant I didn’t need to be highly structured about when I made my meals, or when I went to the gym, or when I took time for myself because I was always home and everything was within reach. Now that I’m in-person for my job, I’m realizing how quickly the day goes by and how difficult it is to fit in everything I’d like to do. Most importantly, I’m learning about the importance of a standard schedule to ensure I’m getting my laundry done, making my lunches, and running any errands, otherwise I’ll either have no clean clothing, no lunch to eat during a busy day or or have to buy a lunch within my lunch break!
This is where we now talk about what you came here for. Likely, you have a busy work schedule, or a busy schedule in general, and time is not a luxury you have to be cooking fancy meals that take all day to prep. My hope is to minimize some of that potential stress by reviewing and taste-testing some popular recipes online, or sharing my own recipes to see what really is a schedule friendly meal.
This Northern White Bean salad is a no-cook recipe that goes great as a side dish for any main meal. I personally love pairing salads like these with my lunch which is usually some chicken and rice. I try to change up the salad every week to keep the meal a bit interesting.
Balsamic marinated chicken with Northern White Bean Salad and some rice
The biggest time killer in this recipe is the prep work, essentially all the dicing and mincing. If you are crazy busy, you may want to look into getting a faster option compared to the manual version. I’ve seen this Vegetable Chopper on Amazon frequently, and also seen it in Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, and Target. I’ve never used this before, but I’m very tempted to try it out. If you end up using one, let me know in the comments how it went for you!
I didn’t time myself, but with chopping the tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and cilantro, this recipe took me roughly 30-45 minutes to make (with a TV show on in the background). What I love about this recipe is that it doesn’t require a high capacity of my attention. I can (carefully) cut my vegetables while watching a show or having a conversation. This provides the opportunity to do the things I need to be doing (cooking) while also doing the things I enjoy doing to relax. It means this doesn’t feel like a “task.” I also cut my tomatoes one-by-one so if you use a better method, you’ll save significantly more time!
I made enough to last me everyday for lunch, and enough to pick on during the week. I also have a guest staying with me who eats significantly more than I do, so the list below calls for quite a bit of food. When finished and mixed, this dish at the amounts listed below fit into my 4 qt bowl Tupperware, right up to the lid. For a smaller overall portion, I recommend cutting the items required in half.
Aside from my guest, I’ve started increasing the amount of food required to create a recipe because I’ve found that I typically run out by Wednesday or Thursday. I don’t usually have enough time during my work week to re-make a meal or a side dish, so this was incredibly inconvenient and also meant that I was spending money on take out when I’d much rather be putting that money to a different use.
This recipe is incredibly easy. With the canned beans, pop them open, rinse, and drain. I know some people have a preference for drying canned items such as beans, peas, corn, etc. after they’ve rinsed it, so do whatever you’re more comfortable with. I halved my tomatoes short-ways and diced my onion. The diced onion was nice because I didn’t notice how much onion was in the dish, but I think next time, my preference will be to have the onion in thin slices, just to add some variety to the sizes of items. I minced the parsley and cilantro, and threw everything into a big bowl.
Working my way through the numerous tomatoes!
For the dressing, I combined about 1/2 cup olive oil with a full lemon’s-worth of lemon juice, and 2 more cloves of minced garlic. I stirred that up a bit, and mixed it into the salad.
Food Fact: Tomatoes are a good source of vitamins A, C, and K
If you’re interested in having a fuller salad or creating this as more of a main dish rather than a side dish, here are some of my recommendations: avocado, spring mix or arugula (or kale if you like it), salmon or chicken, and/or seeds. I haven’t done much cooking with seeds so I wouldn’t know which to recommend, but if you do decide to add some, let me know which and how that mixture tasted! I’d love to try it out.
Garlic and onion are typically not ingredients people consider when they think of work-friendly food usually because the food either smells, or your breath smells. For the food smell, the good news is that this dish is great when served cold. You will not have to worry about making the office microwaves smell like onion or garlic. I personally don’t worry too much about the breath portion, as I don’t interact with many others directly in-person. We typically communicate via video calls and chats. However, I like to keep some breath mints with me just in case, and I recommend you do the same if you’re feeling a bit worried about that.
The completed Northern White Bean Salad mix
I hope you’ll try this recipe out and let me know how it goes! If you’re looking for other variations of this recipe, there are SO many on the internet, you’re sure to find something that fits your taste. You can also substitute different types of beans and goodies to make this exactly what you’re looking for. Enjoy!
Recipe List below:
For the Salad:
4 32oz Canned Northern White Beans
2 pints Cherry Tomatoes
1 Red Onion
6 cloves Garlic (more or less depending on preference)
1 bundle Parsley (more or less depending on preference)
1 pack Cilantro (more or less depending on preference)
Salt & Pepper for taste
Optional addition:
Avocado
Feta or another type of crumble cheese
Arugula or any salad mixture
Seeds (based on preference, I haven’t cooked much with seeds)
Fish or Meat based protein
For the “Dressing”
Olive oil
2 cloves Garlic
1 Lemon (for the juice)
Salt & Pepper for taste
Recipe Directions below:
Prep veggies and goodies:
Halve tomatoes
Dice or slice onion
Mince parsley
Mince cilantro
Mince garlic
Optional:
Cube avocado
Cube salmon/chicken
Drain and rinse beans
Prep dressing
Combine olive oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic
Combine all ingredients into large bowl
Mix and serve
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Happy Friday! I hope your week was less chaotic than mine!
On Wednesday I finally caught up with my work. Which looking back, honestly didn’t take that long, but it consisted of 2 days with a maximum of 3 hours of sleep a night (which is good, considering). Saturday I had a competition that took the majority of my day, and by the end I was so whipped out that I just called it a night. Sunday was a lost day too because I went grocery shopping, cooked, had game night (in the afternoon) and went to soccer, and by the time that was done I think my body just clocked out for the day. Monday was the first painful day — I had 2 case studies and a quiz due on Tuesday and I hadn’t started yet (poor planning on my part). Good news: I managed to finish everything. Bad news: I went to bed at 3am and had to wake up at 5 to start the rest of Tuesdays work and start/finish my study guide for my exam on Wednesday. All-in-all, would not recommend and would not do again. But I made it. Yay!
Don’t forget the salsa fresca (not pictured!)
Heading into the coming week I’m going to be doing a lot of lecture re-watching to prep for my Module 1 finals. I always look forward to the end of Modules/quarters/semesters because usually by that time my schedule has been thrown out of whack, I’m exhausted, and I’m really hitting my check-out point. Knowing its ending gives me a bit of a second wind because I know at the start of the next Module/quarter/semester, I can hit the re-set button and make plans to fix things that didn’t work in the previous round. So dreading the next 2 weeks, but also really excited for the next 2 weeks to pass.
Other than that, not a whole lot of new updates. Working on applications, building my network, doing well in school, and prepping for next year with club plans and goals. This semester I definitely have a lot more work, but it feels much more manageable, probably because I already got the fall out of the way. Currently just trying to swim, while also adding more things to my load. Just trying to find the right balance.
For today’s post I decided to do a bit of a throwback recipe, one that was made over the winter break while I was home. Good news: today’s post features Master Chef: Dad! For those who haven’t read previous posts featuring Dad, I enjoy shamelessly promoting how good of a cook my Dad is because, he is. I think there’s a saying about how nothing beats a home-cooked meal? Right on.
While I was home, Dad (and I ) made two really good recipes! Today I’m going to share with you Ceviche, which is by far one of my favorite dishes from Ecuador!
To make this you’ll need:
4 limes
1/4 red onion
raw shrimp (1 lb.)
popcorn (no butter!)
1/2 cup ketchup
2 cups orange juice
5 tbsp olive oil
3-4 scallions
dill
cilantro
1 cup salsa fresca (not the Tostito’s kind that’s thick)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
what “sliced thin” really means…
The recipe is as follows:
Prep the onions — In a medium/large bowl:
Save 1 half lime and juice the rest
Add 3 tbsps olive oil to lime juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt & whisk
Slice 1/4 red onion, very thin; separate and add to marinade and soak onion
Chop up 2-3 stalks of dill, add, mix, soak, set aside
Cook Shrimp:
Add raw shrimp to large pot, fill with water, cover and cook. Remove from heat, strain, and rinse with cold water when shrimp turn pink
Prepare marinade for shrimp
In a blender: 2 cups orange juice, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp olive oil, pulse to blend
Add 1 cup salsa to shrimp marinade and mix
Juice leftover lime and add to shrimp marinade
Add in shrimp, soak and sit for at least an hour (not in fridge)
Chop up some scallions (3), cilantro and prep some popcorn
Serve shrimp marinade mixture with onions, add scallion, cilantro, with popcorn on side.
Other than letting the marinade sit for an hour, this recipe is super quick to make. You can also make extra of the onions and add them as a side to any other meal. It delicious and deceivingly filling, even without the popcorn. But the popcorn makes it extra good, so I definitely wouldn’t skip on that. Plus, how many meals can you think of that feature popcorn?
Thinking of posting one or two of the dinner recipes I’ve made this semester. To be honest, there’s a lot lined up for future weeks and there’s a lot that’s already been made! I almost feel like I’m falling behind. I’m contemplating upping how often I post, but I also don’t want to add too much to my schedule. So for now I’m going to stick to every other week, and we’ll see how it progresses.
Gabriela Maria 