My favorite dinner recipes from around the web

I shared some of my favorite breakfast and lunch recipes here and here, but today I am talking about whats for dinner!  Here are some favorites of mine, some are more summery and some are more for the fall/winter…so still suitable for May in Minnesota.  Ugh. 

Grilled Avocados

These are MY FAVORITE thing to have in the summer.   I serve them exactly as pictured, with quinoa salad on the side.  My quinoa salad is literally just cooked quinoa, black beans, red onion, and jarred salsa all mixed together. Such a yummy and healthy meal.

African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

I remember the first time I had sweet potato peanut soup, it was from the deli at a local co-op I visit sometimes for lunch.  It was truly a life-changing experience for me, I had never tasted such flavors and I knew immediately that I would forever be trying to recreate it.  I made at least 3 big batches of this last fall.  I had a soup exchange party with my friends and this is what I made.  I followed the recipe for the most part, but I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and I pureed it after adding the beans to make it smoother.  This is definitely favorite soup of mine, which says a lot because I am obsessed with soup.

Ratatouille with Polenta

I love this meal, there is something so comforting about warm polenta on a cold day.  I don't like the tubes of prepared polenta, so I cook my own and serve the veggies on top of it.  I also leave out the eggplant as its one of the only foods I don't like.  I've made this with a can of diced tomatoes instead of the fresh ones and it still turned out well.   Talk about a cheap meal!

Crock Pot Italian Sloppy Joes

I couldn't get away with all vegetarian recipes because Mark would go crazy after awhile.  However, we haven't had meat for dinner for at least 4 nights now and he hasn't complained.  That's neither here nor there though, because these sloppy joes are great!  I love sloppy joes and have been known to regularly use good ole manwich with ground turkey, but this is a special twist on your typical sloppy joe. I love that its a crock pot recipe too because these are really easy to serve to a crowd.  I made these when Mark had a few of his friends staying with us on a weekend and they all went back for extra helpings!

Skillet Cassoulet

I came across this recipe when I was trying to figure out how to use up some ingredients I had on hand.  I love that its made up of a lot of stuff that I usually have already, and everything else is easy to find.  I'm not a big meat eater, but I can usually find it in me to eat ham, I love the saltiness.  This makes a big batch and the leftovers get better as the flavors blend together even more.  

I hope you guys try some of these, let me know if you do!  I can stand by all of them!

Favorite Lunch Recipes

I'm back today with more of my favorite recipes from around the web- this time all lunch recipes!  I usually have a hearty salad for lunch with some protein and healthy grains.  Bonus points for added fruits and veggies!  I love to make a big batch of one of these on Sunday afternoon and portion out my lunches for the week.  It saves so much time and energy for someone like me who is always very concerned with what my lunch is going to be!  As you can tell from my selection below, I hardly eat any meat, but I'm sure these would all be great with some grilled chicken or shrimp.  

THIS quinoa salad with apple, chickpeas, toasted almonds & apple cider vinaigrette is TO DIE FOR.  Also, I'm obsessed with apples.

I totally love this salad as well- the lightened up protein power goddess bowl from ohsheglow.com, which you need to go check out because I get tons of recipes from that blog.  I am in love with the tahini dressing!

This is another great lunch salad.  Quinoa with black beans, avocado, and cumin-lime dressing.

This salad is really tasty, but to be honest, sometimes I seriously skip a few steps and just mix cooked quinoa with a jar of salsa and a can of black beans.  It gets the job done.  

Of course, I don't always have time to make something like this.  My usual go-to is cottage cheese with pineapple and a piece of nut butter toast.  Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

What are some of your go-to lunches??

Homemade Rye Bread

My mother in law makes all of her own bread from scratch always sends us home with at least one loaf of rye bread.  We usually savor it until its gone and then wait it out until the next loaf comes our way, but after finishing off a loaf about 2 weeks ago, I decided that I'd try out her recipe and see if I could make something similar.  

The bread tastes so good, it is perfectly sweet and yeasty.  I didn't get mine to rise properly, as seen in the photo above, but it still tastes great and toasts really well.  I will allow more time for it to rise next time, and I think I'll try using the kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook.  Also, I'm planning to add more rye flour to my next batch because usually her loafs are much darker in color and have a strong rye flavor.  Suggestions welcome.  My MIL is going to bake some with me next time we go to visit, so I don't want to completely embarrass myself!  Here is her recipe (passed down from her grandmother) that I followed:

Mix and let stand together for 10 minutes

1/2 c. water

2 pkg yeast

1 T sugar

In large bowl mix:

1 1/2 c. warm milk

1 T salt

1/2 c. brown sugar

Add (I warm this all in the microwave):

1/2 c. melted butter

2 T. molasses (I used Plantation blackstrap)

2 T Dark Karo Syrup

Add Yeast mixture, 1 cup rye flour and 1 cup of white flour.

I beat with a mixer for a few minutes. 

If mixture is too thin, add more flour 1 cup at a time. 

Recipe calls for 6 c of white flour, but I usually don't use it all. 

Continue adding flour until soft dough and kneed till elastic and smooth.

 Place in a warm place to raise to double in size. Knead down, raise again. Then put in bread pans, smoothing out the dough. Let raise in bread pans.  Bake 350 degrees for one hour.

This dough made 2 loafs this size.  

Favorite Breakfast Recipes from Around the Web

I've been wanting to share some favorite recipes for awhile now, but I have so many of them that I decided to break this up into several posts.  To start out your Monday morning, here are some favorite breakfast recipes that I've found online.  Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but it happens to be my absolute favorite meal as well!  I hope you try some of these, they are so tasty!

First of all, this is my absolute go-to on the weekends or days off from work- Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal.  If you have never made any recipes from this website, do yourself a favor and pick one to make today.  I've tried more than I care to mention, and I haven't ever had a bad result, plus they are all healthy!  This is my favorite though.

While you're browsing Chocolatecoveredkatie.com, go ahead and check out this recipe for pumpkin bread in a bowl.  I make this all through the fall when I have a lot of canned pumpkin, but it would be good anytime of year.

Another favorite of mine is this raspberry & cardamom cream chia pudding.  If you've never had chia pudding before, give it a try before judging it based on how weird it looks.  And I won't lie, the texture is weird at first too, but it won't seem that weird after you start eating it. 

I don't usually get to eat fancy breakfasts like these, but I love it when I have time to actually make something instead of just opening up some yogurt or making toast.  Let me know if you have any go-to breakfast recipes, I'm always on the hunt for more!

Christmas Cookie Roundup

Every year, my girlfriends and I get together for a Christmas cookie exchange.  Its just a small group, usually about 6 of us are available, so we don't get completely overwhelmed with cookies (is there such a thing?), but we definitely leave with a satisfying cookie platter to share at home!

I usually make 2 different types, and believe me whenI say that I start searching for my cookie recipes weeks in advance! And I usually test them out beforehand too.  What can I say, I may have a bit of a perfectionist complex when it comes to my cookies.  The exchange is in exactly ONE week and I still haven't picked out my cookies this year!  I do have quite a list though that needs narrowing.  How will I ever pick just two of these?

Eggnog cookies from Dessert for Two.  I've been following this blog for a few years, and Christina is an absolute sweetheart and a genius in the kitchen!

Cherry Surprise Crinkles from Better Homes and Gardens.  These seem like the Cherry Garcia of cookies, yum.

Chocolate Chunk Gingersnaps from Real Simple.  I make gingersnaps almost every year, so why not add chocolate??

Peppermint Meltaway Cookies from Stephanie at Silver Boxes.  I've never made anything like these before, but they look awfully good.  These might be a real contender.

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies from Jessica at The Novice Chef Blog.  Who doesn't love crinkle cookies, and red velvet…yes please!

Crunchy Frostbite Cookies from MyRecipes.com, the look a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, and a little bit minty.

Which of these sound best to you?? Do you have any cookies that you make every Christmas?

Green Gazpacho!

Before I get started with this Taste of Tuesday recipe, I want to announce the next Blogger Yoga class!  The class will be at 10am on July 21 near Lake of the Isles.  I hope a lot of you can make it, this is really the only day I can do it so I'm sorry if it doesn't work for you! Check back tomorrow for more details!!

With that said, it is now time to talk about food!  If you aren't already sharing your recipes with Ashley and Jessica, hop on that bandwagon! 

The past week has been suuuuper hot in MN, which of course is a welcomed change from our dreadful winter/spring. One of my favorite summer meals is gazpacho, and I am always trying new recipes for it!  I had a great green gazpacho from Whole Foods the other week,  so I tried to recreate it  with this recipe here....not sure it is quite the same, but it will do! I made a few changes to the recipe, so pay attention!

First, chop one small onion, a green bell pepper (seeds removed) and 2 cucumbers (seeds also removed.)

Throw them in a food processor and combine until they are almost pureed.  Add cilantro and parsley. I pretty much doubled the amount from the original recipe because I love these flavors.

Add 2 tbsp of EVOO, 1 avocado, 1 cup of water and lemon juice.  I used the entire lemon from this, which is different from the recipe.  Season with salt. Puree until smooth.

  Chill in the fridge for a few hours so its super cold. Enjoy!

I just got some good bread to serve this with to round out the meal.  It's so easy to make and it makes enough for me to have it a few more times this week!  Mark liked it, but he's not as into vegetables and cold soup as I am, so I will probably be the one finishing it!

Taste of Tuesday: Honey Rhubarb Scones

If you remember a few weeks back, I posted this about having a ton of rhubarb and no clue what to do with it.  I ultimately decided to make the last recipe on that page for the scones.  The original recipe can be found here, so I won't repeat everything, but I did make a few tiny changes.

First of all, the original recipe calls for vanilla yogurt, but I had plain greek yogurt on hand, so I used that instead.  I added a little splash of vanilla to the dough also.  The only other difference between my scones and the recipe is that I used lavender honey, also because its what I had on hand.  If when I make these again, I think I'll add some orange zest to them, that would be tasty!

Exhibit A: Gigantic rhubarb plant:

I used my kitchen-aid mixer to whip up the dough.  It was very easy, just mix together:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 Tbsp. honey, plus more for drizzling
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

Add the rhubarb (I used 3 large stalks) after simmering it in a saucepan with 2 tbsp of brown sugar.

Form a round disc of dough, cut into 8 scone-shaped pieces (btw, why are scones always shaped like triangles?) and bake at 400 for 15 minutes.  Voila!

Very easy and very tasty.  Especially when eaten straight out of the oven!

Be sure to visit the website for the original post AND check out the other recipes from this week's Taste of Tuesday hosted by Ashley and Jessica.

Have you FLIPPED yet?

No, I'm not getting paid to do this.  Nor am I getting any free yogurt (ahem, Chobani!)  I just happen to take my Greek yogurt eating very seriously and thought I would do a little PSA for you all on this very important subject.  So without further ado...my review of Chobani Flipped! (I couldn't find the Honey Bee Nana or Raspberry Choco Fix at my Target. I haven't seen these anywhere but Target yet either...)

In general, these are very good!  A few flavors stood out above the rest, and a few I could do without.

Ranked from favorite to least favorite:

1. Key Lime Crumble (Key lime yogurt with graham crackers and white chocolate):  Holy Cow! This is amazing!  Best lime flavored yogurt I've ever had, and the graham and white chocolate are the perfect accompaniments.  It's not too sweet, not too sour, but just right.  I could easily eat this everyday

2. Almond Coco Loco (coconut yogurt with almonds and dark chocolate):  Another huge winner.  I've never had coconut yogurt before and I feel like I've finally found my missing puzzle piece.  Its sooo creamy and luxurious.  Even though this is also not too sweet, I'd definitely be satisfied by having this for dessert!

3. Blueberry Power (blueberry yogurt with chia seeds, hemp seeds, and walnuts):  Loved this one also, especially the addition of hemp seeds which I'd never had before.  The flavor is spot on and its full of healthy super foods!

4. Vanilla Golden Crunch (vanilla yogurt with cornflakes, oats, and pecans.):  This was tasty, but honestly not that exciting.  It was a lot like the yogurt creations I already make at home, so I'm not feeling the desire to go buy any more of these.  Definitely still good though, especially if you don't love fruit!

5. Strawberry Sunrise (strawberry yogurt with honey oats): Another good but sort of boring one.  I feel like I've had a lot of yogurt parfaits just like this one.  I think it would be great with some dark chocolate or something.

6. Peachy Pistachio (Peach yogurt with pistachios and dark chocolate):  Ohhh how I wanted to love this one.  I am a huge fan of all three of these flavors, but something about all of them together just didn't work for me.  Plus, the pieces of peach in the yogurt seemed kind of weird, they were a little slimy.  Boo.

Has anyone else out there fallen in love with these?  What flavor is your favorite??

Rhubarb Crazy

I have a gigantic rhubarb plant growing in my backyard and I have no idea what to do with it!  I pretty much love all fruit (I don't think rhubarb is technically a fruit though) but I have never really experimented much with rhubarb.  I made jam with it once, which was very tasty now that I think of it, but I'd really like to try out some new things.  Thank you pinterest for the following ideas...

Rhubarb Muffins

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp

Fresh Rhubarb Cocktail

Rhubarb Raspberry Yogurt Pops

Honey Rhubarb Scones

Do you have any favorite ways to use rhubarb??

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

I'm not exactly sure where this recipe came from, but I've been making it for years.  It's so easy and makes a ton of leftovers to have throughout the week.  It's also really adaptable and can easily be made vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free (with gluten free pasta.)  So, let's get to it for this week's Taste of Tuesday! 

Fill a large pot of water and bring to a boil.  Add an entire box of pasta (I used fusilli this time, but I use penne or bow tie sometimes.)

First, chop 1/2 of a red onion and place in a LARGE bowl.

Saute some chicken sausage (or omit for vegetarian/vegan.)  Add to bowl.

Add 1/2 jar of oil packed sun-dried tomatoes to the onion.

Add as many olives as you like.  I usually fill one of the small containers at an olive bar with a mix of kalamata and green olives for this.

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add an entire package of feta cheese (omit for vegan option.)

Add an entire bag of baby spinach to the bowl.

Immediately top with the hot pasta and allow the spinach to wilt and feta to melt.  Mix thoroughly.

Drizzle with good EVOO, red wine vinegar,  and juice from 1 lemon.  Season with salt & pepper.

 Enjoy!!

Serves 6.

1 box of short cut pasta

1/2 red onion

4 chicken sausages

1/2 jar sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 pint container of good olives

1cup crumbled feta cheese

1 bag of baby spinach leaves

juice from 1 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil to taste

Red wine vinegar to taste

Salt

Pepper

Summer Shandy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I make shredded chicken in my crockpot almost every week.  I actually am not really a fan of chicken and I never have been, but shredded crockpot chicken is the exception.  I take 3-4 frozen chicken breasts (no need to thaw out) and throw them in the crockpot, cover them with some sort of liquid, and let them go for 4-6 hours on low (or high depending on your crockpot.)  Then I shred with 2 forks, and voila!  Easy lean protein to add to salads, sandwiches, pasta, etc.  It is from this basic shredded chicken that this recipe was born.

The Summer Shandy pulled chicken could easily be served over rice or a salad, but I was feeling the lettuce wraps!


Serves 4

4 frozen chicken breast
1 medium white onion, sliced thinly
1 bottle of Summer Shandy (or any shandy style beer.)
1 lemon
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 green pepper, diced
1-2 tbsp lean sour cream or plain greek yogurt
8-10 iceberg lettuce "wraps" (I tore 1 full leave in half for each wrap.)
several leaves of fresh cilantro
optional: shredded cheddar cheese

First, slice your onion and lemon.  Place them in the crockpot with frozen chicken breasts.  Cover with 1 bottle of Summer Shandy.  Ok, almost 1 bottle.  I'll let you figure out what happened to that last swig. Leave them be for 4-6 hours.

 Once this chicken is cooked through, shred with too forks as so:

Pour out about 1/2 the cooking liquid and return shredded chicken to crockpot for about another hour.

Stir in the sour cream and green pepper.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

At this point, you can decide if you want to let your chicken cool off or eat it while it's hot.  I let mine cool, but I think it would be good either way.  Spoon into a lettuce wrap, I used about 1/3 cup of chicken in each wrap.  Chop up some cilantro and shred some cheddar, sprinkle on top!  Enjoy with a Summer Shandy, duh.