This orange and avocado salad is fantastic. The flavors combine in a special way. The bite of the jalapeño and shallot bounces perfectly off the sweetness of the orange and richness of the avocado. I need more of this in my life. I already have plans to buy the ingredients so I can make it again, very soon. This recipe is Whole 30, paleo, and low carb friendly. But you don’t have to be on a diet to appreciate it. It’s super yummy.
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This is my favorite collard greens recipe. The blend of spices with the ground meat (lamb or beef- both work well), tomatoes, and collards is an adventure for the taste buds. I find heavily spiced dishes like this invigorating and satisfying. I made this for our first dinner on the Whole30 diet. It is free of grains, dairy, added sugar, and legumes. It is wholesome, filling, and delicious. I’ve already enjoyed eating leftovers twice for lunch.
My family loves this guilt-free fudge, which has just six natural ingredients and takes about ten minutes of active time to prepare. It has a gooey-soft texture and tastes perfectly of peanut butter. The sweetness comes from banana and a small amount of maple syrup. Combining peanut butter with coconut oil gives it a fudge-like consistency. Then there’s just a little vanilla and salt for a flavor boost.
I love the earthy umami flavor of mushrooms. This recipe really highlights it by roasting the shrooms in butter and adding complementary salty and tart flavors to help the earthiness shine. A delicious sauce forms as the mushrooms roast, which can be soaked up with bread or potatoes. We had a low carb dinner of roasted shrooms and egg salad, so I ended up drinking the sauce since I didn’t have anything to soak it up. It was scrumptious!
Mug cakes are great because I can make one serving and avoid the temptation to binge! They’re also made with just a handful of basic ingredients and take only a few minutes to throw together. There are endless variations. This banana cake version is delicious. It’s gooey and a little pudding-like in texture. It satisfies my sweet tooth and is a special treat. In future posts, I plan to share recipes for chocolate, snickerdoodle, and peanut butter versions.
Have you tried microwave mug cakes before? Share in the comments. Chicken tikka masala is chicken cooked in a creamy sauce with a mix of Indian-inspired masala spices. In this lightened-up version from Weight Watchers, tomatoes make it rich and filling and Greek yogurt gives it creaminess. It is spicy in the sense of being filled with the flavors of ground spices (there are no hot peppers). The recipe takes about 15 minutes to throw together. You can easily double it. It freezes well.
This rendition of creamed corn couldn’t be any easier and my family gobbled it up. It’s just corn, jalapenos, and cream cheese. But it tastes like so much more. The jalapenos give it a nice bite that hangs around in your mouth awhile, leaving a tingly warm aftertaste. The cream cheese and corn dampen the spiciness so it doesn’t overwhelm. I’m pretty sure everyone in my family went back for seconds. We finished every last bite!
This meaty cobbler is an impressive, comforting, and satiating meal. It’s pretty wholesome too. There isn’t much bread overall, with the bulk of the dish made of tomatoes and beef (you can sub turkey). If you’re limiting carbohydrates, you can easily leave out the corn, but I like it for the fiber and nutritional boost, not to mention the pretty color. The abundance of spices—cinnamon, allspice, ginger—gives the dish fun flavor. Spiced beef cornbread cobbler is delicious, works with my diet plan (yay for the flexibility of weight watchers!), and is pretty enough to serve to company, as I often have.
I make these sparkly little berries almost every winter for holiday festivities. They are a delightful burst of sweetness and tartness. Sugared cranberries dress up any party spread and compliment so many different flavors. There’s still time to make these for New Year’s! They take a while because they soak for a few hours in syrup, but the hands-on time is only about 10 minutes. You make simple syrup with water and sugar, and a little added flavor from ginger. This syrup can be re-used to make multiple batches of cranberries. It can also be used in mixed drinks. It turns a cheery bright pink color and has a hint of cranberry flavor. This year, my friend Stephen improvised a super delicious and therefore dangerous mixed drink with the leftover syrup. He calls it “Cranberry ginger fizz,” and I’ve shared the ingredients below.
Recipes after the jump! I unexpectedly learned many ways to prepare wood ears (also called black fungus and cloud fungus) when my husband decided to rehydrate a whole package of them, not realizing it would turn into about half a gallon of shiny ear-shaped fungus! My affection for wood ears began one day in the office breakroom, when my colleague, “Sunshine,” was eating one of her many delicious smelling homemade lunches. I asked her about it and she told me the ingredients in her stir fry. She offered a wood ear for me to try. It tasted of the soy sauce and vegetables in her dish and had the texture of thin rubber, but in a really fun way!
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AuthorMy name is Hillary. This blog is about the everyday food I prepare in my kitchen, with tips and recipes for easy, wholesome, and diet friendly meals. I have been chanting "cheese please!" since I was a toddler, although lately I've cut back on dairy. Archives
June 2018
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