Traditional Ratatouille

I recently came home from the farmer's market with a huge veggie haul. After staring at my small mountain of zucchini, I decided to give this recipe a try. This has quickly become a new favorite. It tastes even better on day 2 or 3. Pin It Now!

Charred Corn & Bean Salad

I jumped on board the "dense bean salad" meal prep trend and I am a fan. Being back in an office setting, meal prepping has made it easier to eat better meals at work. So far this has been a favorite.

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Leftover Chicken Curry

If you're looking for an easy weeknight dinner, this curry is it. Use almost any leftover chicken you have. This works well with rotisserie, roasted, or grilled chicken. I have made this with leftover cut up Peruvian chicken and it is still delicious. You can add or subtract vegetables to this as well based on what you have at home. If you want a spicier curry, add some chopped serrano pepper with your spices.

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Vegetarian Asian Noodle Salad

My office recently had a potluck and I often struggle whit finding out the best options to bring to these. There are always too many appetizers and dessert, so my aim is usually for something a bit heartier. Since I don't own a crock pot, I am limited to cold options. I decided and Asian noodle salad would be a great option. These are best served cold so it makes the perfect potluck menu item. I kept this dish vegetarian so that everyone could enjoy it. You can make this a day ahead and just mix it before serving it the following day.

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Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad

I had friends come over for dinner and I wanted to make a few dishes ahead of time since I was hosting them right after work, leaving me with 2 hours before they arrived. I have always loved pearled couscous and knew I wanted to add roasted vegetables to it. I tend to love all types of grains mixed with roasted vegetables. This recipe can be made a day ahead of time, just let it come to room temperate before serving. You can skip the fresh thyme and rosemary if you don't have them on hand and this will still be a great dish.

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Salmon Souvlaki Bowls

I made this recipe one night when I wanted to attempt a healthier dinner after a few days of eating terribly. I found this recipe and thought the idea of a "bowl" for dinner sounded great. Though couscous is not exactly the healthiest thing, it's still better than lots of other options- and this was delicious. I set up a build-it-yourself style dinner with all the bowl condiments in a line and everyone built their bowls how they preferred them. Personally I love tzatziki and would use more than most people, so I made more than the recipe asks for. You can't ruin this recipe and feel free to adjust based on your preferences. The fish turns out very flavorsome and your can grill it to your preferred level of doneness (I like mine still slightly rare on the inside).

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Red Snapper with Bell Pepper Chermoula

I wanted to try making chermoula for a while now. Though this recipe is not exactly authentic, the flavors are delicious. If you enjoy spicy food, make sure to keep the seeds of the serrano pepper, otherwise the bell pepper chermoula is mild. I let the bell pepper chermoula marinate overnight to bring out the flavor. If you do this, the recipe comes together very quickly the night you serve it. You could use any kind of white fish that you like with this recipe. You can also cook the fish differently if that is easier for you. I have sauteed the fish before when I didn't have time to get my grill going. I usually serve this with couscous or rice. 

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Thai Chicken with Basil and Red Peppers

I love Thai cooking, especially meals like this which are simple to make and come together quickly. The first time I made this I was pleasantly surprised as to how easily the dish came together and how good it tasted even though I had to make do without some ingredients. I didn't have fish sauce, dark soy sauce, or peanut oil at the time so I made some potentially questionable substitutions and still loved the dish. The one thing you cannot skip is the basil. This dish revolves around basil and without it would lack a lot of flavor. Serve the dish over rice for a simple meal.

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Hoisin Chicken Stir Fry

The other day I realized I had 2 bell peppers sitting in the fridge next to a jar of hoisin sauce and realized it was time for a stir fry. This recipe is pretty easy and doesn't require too much effort. If you want more sauce, add a little bit of water towards the end of cooking, or proportionally increase the ingredients in the hoisin sauce mixture.

Serve this with plain rice and you have a complete meal. You can use different vegetables if desired or make this vegetarian as well. The recipe can be easily adjusted to your liking.

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Kzizot (Israeli Chicken Patties)

When I was a kid, kzizot were our ultimate picnic food. I remember stuffing them into pitas and smothering them with hummus and israeli salad. Not much has changed since I still love kzizot and would gladly eat them like that any day. You can serve this with all kinds of middle eastern dips, or you if don't have access to those, they are great on their own as well. I made a greek yogurt dip with garlic and chives the last time I served these.

What makes these patties so great is the grated potato. It keeps the meat really moist, even on the second day if you have leftovers. The recipe is fairly simple and is really hard to mess up. As with all red bell peppers, you could use yellow or orange bell pepper instead.

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Italian Style Pasta Salad

Last summer, I began looking for a good pasta salad recipe. I wanted one without any mayo and with and Italian dressing, but most I came across used bottles dressing. I wasn't looking for anything new and exciting, just classic American/Italian pasta salad. Even though I rarely have pasta salad when I visit my family in the U.S., I seem to want it now and then over here.

I found a recipe for homemade Italian salad dressing that sounded close to what I was looking for. I added what I enjoy to the pasta salad itself, but feel free to add any veggies, cheese, or meat you like to have in yours. I would normally add some black olives, but I made this for a dinner where there was more than one olive-hater invited.

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Betty Bossi's Salat Zorba (Greek Salad)

This Betty Bossi's salad is one that my family ate often when I was a kid. The page in my mom's cookbook is proof of that, with splatter marks and a slight tear in the page (keep in mind that this book is older than me). The Betty Bossi recipe doesn't use lettuce in this salad and suggests that you can use a twig of fresh tarragon instead of the oregano. I've grown up with the oregano variation since oregano grows year round in my mom's herb garden.

This salad is simple, but delicious. If you need to prepare it ahead of time, make the dressing and store it in an individual container so the salad does not get soggy. This salad make a great main course for night your want a light dinner. Serve with some olive bread or dinner rolls and your meal is complete.

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Turkey Cacciatore

I've recently been eating what I consider lazy day meals (baked potato with cheese, pasta, etc...). Finally, after a week of my all-carb diet, I went out and bought tons of produce, meat, and other delicious things I had forgotten about. After coming home with a seemingly random mix of supplies, I realized I had everything to make this recipe, thanks to a quick google search.

This is a great, easy cacciatore recipe. The ingredients are simple, fresh, and come together perfectly in this Italian classic. The fresh basil is a must and adds more depth to the dish' overall flavor. You can use chicken or turkey, whichever you have at home will be good. I suggest eating this straight away, but leftovers will still be good the next day.

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Simple Chili con Carne

While I was visiting my sister this autumn, we made a giant batch of this chili. This is my sister's go-to recipe for chili and it was definitely a keeper. The ingredients are simple, the spicy factor can be turned way up or way down, and you really can't mess it up. Unfortunately my camera was on its last leg when I was making this chili, so half of the pictures are out of focus. Luckily my main chili picture is clear, otherwise this would be a pretty sad looking post.

I made a batch of cheese biscuits to serve along with this chili and they complemented each other perfectly. As with all Tex-Mex style food, you can top these with cheese, sour cream, cilantro, or anything you'd put on a plate of nachos (I am sure that comment has offended any true Tex-Mex cooks out there). I usually love adding a dollop of sour cream or a sprinkle of cheese to counteract the red pepper flakes in my chilis since I tend to use a generous amount.

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Peanut and Sesame Noodles

I know I have more than enough Asian noodle dishes on this blog, but I keep coming across new ones that are also great, so you can take your pick. I chose this recipe since I actually had all the ingredients for the sauce in my pantry. Usually I find an Asian recipe and realize that I'm missing some key component and then opt against making it. This is a really easy noodle dish. It makes a great lunch if you have any leftovers as well.

In this recipe, the veggies are quickly cooked with the boiling pasta so that they are crisp tender. I often just use raw veggies in an Asian noodle salad, but decided to give this method a try. I actually liked the result, but you need to be careful to not overcook the veggies. If you are hesitant at all, just use raw peppers, carrot, cucumbers, or any other veggie you like in an Asian noodle dish.

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Stir Fried Beef with Bell Peppers and Snow Peas

I remember when I was visiting my sister this past Spring and found this recipe in her collection of Fine Cooking Magazines. OK, it's not really a collection, but I had never heard of Fine Cooking Magazine and I decided to go through about 6 months worth of recipes. Even after reading tons of recipes, this one stuck out. Based on the ingredients, I knew I'd love it, but I wasn't so sure about the other people I was cooking for. My grandma tends to prefer basic comfort foods and my sister is not crazy about spicy food, but I made it anyway. As it turns out, everyone loved it.

Ever since making this stir fry, I have been dreaming about it. As usual, I cannot find some of the key ingredients in my little village (nor in the nearby larger town). I'm getting hungry as I am writing this post, and realize that I cannot wait to go back to the States and live off of various homemade Asian dishes during my first week there. This one will definitely be high on the list. The leftovers taste great too, so I may even add a bit more of everything when I make this next. If you don't eat beef, this would taste great with tofu or just a mix of various veggies. The sauce is delicious, so try not to skip those ingredients. If you don't have flank steak, use what you have on hand. I used a pack of sliced rump steak and found that it worked well, though the meat would probably be even more tender from a different cut.

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Quinoa Noodle and Vegetable Salad

During the summer, Asian noodle salads are a great dinner option. I already have a few different variations of this dish on my blog (like Asian Beef and Noodle Salad and Soba Noodles with Fresh Vegetables), but I can't seem to get enough it. It is such a fresh and light meal, but I generally end up eating about 3 plates full since it's so good. Yes, I love it that much. Another plus side is that these kinds of salads make great leftovers. Possibly one of the best lunches is a cold bowl of leftover Asian noodle salad. Just be warned, the noodles can be extremely slippery, so don't make this if you're trying to impress someone with your table manners.

When it comes to the veggies in this dish, use whatever you like. If I could have found sprouts at the market, I would have thrown them in. I also would have loved to add peanut or cashew pieces to this, but of course didn't have those either. Baby corn or snow peas would have tasted great in here as well. For the pasta, I used quinoa pasta. Never tried it? It tastes almost exactly like regular pasta, so you won't notice the difference, but it is made from a protein rich grain. If you could care less about the health factor of your pasta, use linguine or spaghetti.

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Quick Thai Curry

 
For years I have been lucky enough to have friends who make amazing Thai curries. For some reason I was never involved in the making of any of these, but I always loved them. When I came across this recipe and saw how easy making a curry can be, I had to give it a try. Yes, technically this can be even more homemade if I were to make my own chili paste, but the stuff out of a jar tastes great too. Make this oh-so-easy curry for an impressive, last minute dinner. It took me 20 to 25 minutes total, including washing and chopping time.

I made this recipe with whitefish, but shrimp was used in the original. Feel free to use either, or any kind of fish that would stay together during the cooking process. You can double or triple this recipe really easily if you're cooking for a crowd. This curry is not spicy (the store bought chili pastes aren't too spicy in general). You can definitely add some heat to this if you want to in a number of way. Adding in some finely chopped Serrano peppers, putting in a spoon of sambal sauce or sriracha, or just tossing in some crushed red pepper flakes are some options.

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Halibut with Red Pepper Harissa

Last week I was at one of the "big" grocery stores near the village I call home these days. I got really excited when I read that they had just received a shipment of fresh halibut, but could not figure out where they were hiding it. I asked the man at the fish counter for 4 pieces of halibut, expecting to see the big steak-style cuts of halibut that I used to get at home. It turns out they thinly fillet their halibut in Switzerland, making it really delicate and tricky to work with. But I was determined to give this recipe a try, so I bought the halibut and get to work. If you can find the halibut steaks, this fish will look much nicer.

The red pepper harissa in this dish is amazing. I made this for myself and 3 guys and we devoured every last drop of it. I could have probably made more since we ended up pouring it over our rice as well. As with all spicy foods, just cut back on the amount of chile peppers you use. I used 3 little red Thai chilies since we don't have jalapeños over here, but we all liked spicy food. The spicy kick is great in this recipe, but you could probably omit the jalapeño entirely if you don't do well with heat. The spices and the roasted red pepper will make a great topping to any kind of white fish.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

As a rule of thumb I usually tweak recipes that use chicken breasts and substitute thighs. There have been so many instances where I've made a chicken breast dish, like a stir fry or schnitzel, only to realize the meat dried out the next day. I often have leftovers from my dinners, which I love having for lunch, so I like making meals that re-heat well. In this recipe, the chicken breast stayed surprisingly juicy. I made this meal for my dad and I, and he couldn't believe how moist the chicken was. After claiming he wasn't even hungry in the first place, he went back for seconds because he loved they way the chicken was cooked. You can use chicken thighs or breasts, but now you can make this decision based on what part of a chicken you like more since both will turn out great.

 
I've been reading Jaden Hair's food blog, Steamy Kitchen, for a while. While I have drooled over her Asian recipes for some time now (how good do these dumplings look??), I never gave any of them a try until now. I found that her ingredients were really simple and easy to find, which is always a plus in Asian cooking. Making this dinner is really quick and easy, so you can throw it together on a weeknight after work and not feel too exhausted. Start cooking your rice when you start this recipe and everything should be ready at once. As usual, I served this over my favorite rice- Basmati. I found that there was enough sauce on this dish, but if you love to slather sauce over things, double the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce.

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