Egg Salad with Pickled Celery

Once in a blue moon, and egg salad sounds like a great lunch options. This recipe is one of my favorites. It's a slightly elevated twist on the classic egg salad.

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Summer Zucchini & Goat Cheese Tart

My Ina Garten recipe kick is going strong these days. I bought some zucchini the other week with no actual plan for what to do with them. After looking through some recipes, this one seemed like a winner. I had most of the ingredients at home and what I didn't have in the fridge was growing in the garden. This is a great way to use up zucchini if you have them growing in your yard. One note, if you don't have the goat cheese, lemon and herbs, you could make a slightly different variation by subbing Boursin or Alouette cheese instead. Though I recommend trying the original recipe first.

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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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Spinach, Mushroom and Zucchini Quiche

Quiche is one of those great foods where you can use whatever vegetables you have laying around and still have a fantastic end result. I recently had a handful of mushrooms and half a bag of spinach sitting in the fridge and decided a quiche would be the best way to go. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand.

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Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Red Lentils)

With the cold winter we've been having I have been on a lentil stew kick all season. I have tried a few different Indian ones and came across this Ethiopian recipe which I was very curious about. I have always loved Ethiopian food, but had never tried making it since I wasn't sure where to start. This recipe is easy to follow and create a filling, flavorsome dinner. I served this with a side of rice for a hearty meal.

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Masoor Dal (Spiced Red Lentils with Sweet Potatoes)

It's that time of year again where hearty stews and soups are back on my dinner rotation. I wanted to make a filling, vegetarian dinner and came across this recipe. I love Indian food and the ingredient list for this is fairly simple if you already have the spices. The recipe is very easy to follow and the leftovers taste delicious. This makes a generous portion which can feed 4 to 6 easily. Serve this with a side of cucumber raita and rice and enjoy.

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Spicy Thai Noodles with Zucchini and Mushrooms

 

One of the easiest dinners to make is a quick noodle stir fry style meal. This dish is delicious and comes together very quickly for an easy weeknight dinner. Feel free to add your favorite protein to this dish if you're not a big fan of vegetarian dishes. I love this version and you can always add another egg to make it heartier. This is great fresh from the pan, or can be warmed up the next day. Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your liking. I like to add cilantro and peanuts, as well as use 1/5 tablespoon of chili garlic sauce in the sauce.

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Swiss Style Onion Tart

 

I was recently on a baking kick and was determined to find an onion tart recipe similar to the one my grandfather used to make. Though I ave not found a perfect match just yet, and I likely never will, this tart was delicious and very quickly devoured. The dough is a little finicky to work with, but that could also be my lack of experience with making pie and tart crusts. This tart filling is delicious and you could cheat and use store bought dough or a pie shell. I made this without bacon and I still love it. Feel free to use Gruyere cheese if you have it readily available, otherwise a Swiss cheese (like Emmental) will work as well.

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Fresh Corn and Ditalini Pasta Salad

I am a huge fan of pasta salads during the summer. I love how easy they are to make while still being popular items. It's easy to make a pasta salad from scratch and the dressing on this is so simple. No need to buy bottled dressing this time around. Feel free to adjust this pasta salad as you like. You can add more fresh summer veggies like red peppers or grilled zucchini- the options are unlimited. You can also add a splash of hot sauce to the recipe for an added kick.

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Fresh Spinach Frittata with Cheese

Earlier this summer my mother decided to make this dish as a light dinner. None of us were particularly hungry, but a frittata sounded great. Often I am not impressed with frittatas and find them a little boring. The cheese in this recipe definitely adds a lot of flavor and also changes the texture of the frittata. This is a little more dense than your usual frittata, but is still absolutely delirious. I love this dish both hot or at room temperature. The ingredients are simple and the end result makes a great vegetarian dinner. Pair with a green salad and you have a terrific weeknight dinner.

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Caramelized Onion Tart

I was visiting my sister earlier this year and we decided to make this onion tart. Though caramelizing onions takes a while, the rest of the recipe looked easy enough. We made it simpler by using a store bough pie shell, but feel free to use the link to the original recipe for the homemade dough recipe. Once the onions are caramelized, this recipe comes together very quickly and easily. I ended up cooking this in stages and the end result was still delicious. We served this quiche with a big green salad and were absolutely stuffed. If you're a hungry group, this feeds about 3 people.

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Tomato and Gruyere Tart

This tart makes a delicious snack or started for any occasion. You can make one larger tart or smaller individual tarts. Even though I would typically serve this as a starter, it also makes a great, light dinner option paired with a salad. As with most puff pastry based foods, this tart is best served straight from the oven. Though you can prepare it ahead of time, the dough is most crisp when it's made right when you need it. If you make the tart ahead of time, reheat it in a 300F oven until it is warmed.

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Grilled Potato Slices

A few years ago I accidentally discovered grilling potatoes. I decided this was a must have on BBQ days. It's so easy to make and falls into the realm of comfort food. Cut your potatoes skinnier to reduced grilling time. I love serving this with a side of chive and garlic sour cream, but any dipping sauce that you love will be great. I've also made a cumin, Greek yogurt and mint dipping sauce in the past. If you think the flavor will taste good with potatoes, then go for it.

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Sweet Potato-Chickpea Patties with Sriracha-Yogurt Dip

My mom found this recipe a while back and recommended it. These patties make a great vegetarian dinner option, especially if you're still on board with Meatless Mondays. I tend to eat lighter meals in the evening, so a dish like this is a great choice. The patties are also easy to make. They may seem a little difficult to work with, but once they patties begin to fry they stick together.

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Vegetarian Tuscan Pasta

My mom is the one who deserves credit for finding this recipe. She was looking for vegetarian options and decided to try this one out. It turns out this is a delicious pasta dish that meat lovers and vegetarians will both be happy to eat. I consider this a main course. It's filling without making you feel overly full. Great for a summer night and full of flavor.

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Roasted Delicata Squash

I had never cooked with delicata squash before this recipe and was a little bit skeptical during the whole process. Being unfamiliar with the squash, I though there wasn't enough flesh to merit roasting. I also worried the the skin would end up being too tough. Luckily I was proven wrong and this easy side dish was absolutely delicious.

The biggest benefit of delicata squash is how easy it is to prepare. It's a small squash and you don't need to peel it. The peel soften while roasting and is best left on the squash since you may end up with very little left to roast if you do peel them. I found these squash at our farmers market and have also seen them at a co-op. I have never seen them in our regular grocery stores so they may not be the easiest item to find. If you ever find them buy a few and try them out.

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Moroccan Eggplant Salad

Eggplant based dips and appetizers are some of my favorite snacks. Growing up I would eat tons of baba ganoush and my mom's eggplant dip in between meals. So when my mom told me about a new eggplant recipe she tried out, I had to make it for myself. This eggplant salad is a healthy yet very flavorsome and satisfying salad. I serve it as a side dish or salad, but have also been known to eat it as a main course with some pita bread. The original recipe calls for very little olive oil, but I felt that the salad was too dry and added a little more. This salad will still be good the next day if you have any leftovers.

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Indian Spicy Stewed Cauliflower and Potatoes (Masaledar Gobi Aloo)

This is not your typical aloo gobi you buy at an Indian restaurant. This version is much lighter and has a different taste to it. I was surprised by this dish's flavor since it wasn't what I expected, but I loved it nonetheless. This is a great side dish for any Indian meal. I didn't have mustard seeds on hand the last time I made this and still loved the result.

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Burnt Eggplant with Garlic, Lemon & Pomegranate Seeds

Last year my mom bought a cookbook thats I have been dying to try out. It's called Jerusalem: A Cookbook and has all sorts of delicious recipes in it. I started off with something simple since some of the recipes call for lots of ingredients and time. This recipe itself is really easy, but it take time to let the flavors soak in. I started making this late one evening and I wasn't able to finish it until the following day. The authors describe this dish, which I would classify as a dip, starter, or spread, as baba ghanoush without the tahini paste and with a sprinkle or pomegranate seeds.

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Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with Tomato Cream Sauce

After discovering how to make fresh pasta, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was make ravioli. I have always loved vegetarian ravioli, especially with cheese or spinach and cheese fillings. This recipe is pretty easy to make and if you don't want to both making the pasta yourself, you could buy fresh pasta of use wonton wrappers.

I don't have the proper kitchen equipment to make perfect ravioli so I had to hand-form all the pieces, which became pretty time consuming. This would be much easier (and prettier) with a ravioli mold. When making the filling, taste if before filling the ravioli to make sure the salt and pepper amounts are to your liking.

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