I’ve wanted to do a series on Dragon Noodle variations for a while. The wildly popular original Dragon Noodle recipe is so simple that it’s the perfect jumping off point for several interpretations. You’ve...
Recipes under $5
I love using just a small amount of bacon to add BIG flavor to a recipe. The tangy mustard vinaigrette in this German Potato Salad is the perfect example. The bacon fat adds body...
…And a fried egg. The fried egg is really an important part of this Sesame Noodles with Wilted Greens dish, but it just seemed like including it in the title would make it excessively...
How ’bout we make this Monday a little more delicious, huh? I present to you this decadent Bacon and Caramelized Pineapple Pizza, a sweet and salty lover’s dream. This pizza is sure to make...
Ahhh creamy carbonara! It’s the original poor man’s pasta with its bare bones ingredient list and rich, belly satisfying flavor. But, as times change so do the availability and prices of ingredients. The once...
Once I get started on the Cinco de Mayo train, I just can’t stop. I started with some Cheesy Scallion Stuffed Jalapeños the other day, then ended up making a batch of enchiladas and...
Forget pies, y’all. Cobblers are where it’s at. This Lemon Berry Cobbler is probably one of the easiest, most satisfying desserts you can make. The bottom fruit layer only takes about a minute to...
A few weeks ago I discovered that cornstarch makes the most wonderfully crispy surface for tofu and that discovery totally rocked my world. Wellllll this week I happened across this post on Cookful.com, which...
Quick tomato soups have always been one of my favorite comfort foods, and this time I upped the game with a jar of roasted red peppers and a butter-and-flour roux to give the soup...
I bought a little jar of pesto recently and have been having fun finding ways to add it to everyday recipes. Yesterday I noticed a half bag of macaroni that had been sitting in my...
I love hummus for so many reasons, but one reason is that it can be flavored with so many different things. Adding a dollop of pesto to your hummus is an easy way to change...
Chicken legs are often one of the least expensive cuts of chicken. Coincidentally, they are also my favorite part on a rotisserie chicken because that dark meat is just so juicy and tender! Since...
I really can’t get enough of baked oatmeal. It’s great for meal prepping my breakfast, it’s hearty, delicious, and there are endless flavor possibilities. This time I made use of a couple ingredients that...
Broccoli is a great all-purpose side dish, but when it’s not seasoned properly it can be kind of boring. When it comes to vegetables, broccoli included, you can never go wrong with a healthy...
I’ve had a cabbage in my fridge that needed to be used up ASAP, so I decided to make a salad, similar in fashion to this Vinaigrette Slaw with Feta, but using some other...
I love all things “one pot”. Cooking everything in one pot or skillet just makes my life so much easier, and when everything cooks together, all the flavor stays in the pot! This simple...
OMG. Y’all. Stop everything. This is important. I knew I loved cornbread, but I didn’t know I could love it this much. I decided to add some sweet potato mash to my Everyday Cornbread, plus...
I don’t make muffins often, but when I do I want them to be big, fluffy, and totally epic like the ones you get at a bakery. And since these Triple Berry Oatmeal Muffins...
After grabbing the groceries that I needed for this week’s recipes, I had a few dollars to spare in my September Challenge budget, so I headed over to the meat aisle to see if...
One of the things I’ve learned about eating on a budget is that simple recipes win. The fewer ingredients you need, the fewer ingredients you need to buy, and that generally helps keep that...
Let’s talk about greens for a minute. Hearty greens, like mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, and sure, kale too. These are some of the few vegetables that actually benefit from what would normally...
I get a lot of recipe requests and ideas from readers and, although I can’t try them all, I absolutely love hearing them. They’re so inspirational! Not too long ago, Sarah dropped me...
I’m a firm believer that side dishes should be kept simple. I like my main dish to be the star of the show, and who wants to make dinner more any more complicated than...
You know you’re on to something good when you’re cooking vegetables, but it smells like there’s a pizza in the oven. And for some reason, this Smoky Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower smelled exactly like pizza. I guess...
If you’re not on the “overnight oats” train, it might be time to hop on. Overnight oats are an amazing way to eat oats cold, which is perfect for the summer. And the tropical...
I’m still on a vegetable binge, wanting to eat every vegetable in sight. More specifically, I want cold, crunchy, crispy vegetables. A light summer slaw sounded like the perfect fix. This awesome Apple Cabbage...
#FancyFriday Okay, so this Plum Salad with Lemon Ginger Dressing is a little fancy for me, but after overdosing on pasta and pizza over the past week or so, I needed a salad BAD....
It’s been a long time since I’ve made baked oatmeal, but when I came down with a “summer cold” this weekend, the thought of a warm comforting baked oatmeal sounded perfect. And, to throw a new...
I looove ricotta cheese. It’s flavor is light and fresh flavor, making it great for warm weather dishes. So when I saw ricotta on sale at the store, I jumped at the chance to...
Ooooh we’re gettin’ fancy over here! This week I splurged on a fresh herb other than my usual parsley or cilantro (the cheap ones) so I could make this fabulous Minty Pea Salad. I paid a hefty...
Ahhh, tomato soup. It’s one of the few hot soups that’s light enough to eat during the summer months (it may only be April, but we’ve definitely hit summer weather here in New Orleans). I’m...
So I’ve been really into potatoes lately. They’re just so cheap and you can do so many different things with them! Mashed potatoes in particular are great because they go with just about any meal...
Chicken thighs are a favorite of mine because they’re inexpensive, easy to prepare, tender, juicy, and quite versatile. So I was really excited when they went on sale last week. I’m always looking for...
It’s been far too long since I’ve had fresh green beans. Like, maybe since last summer and that, my friends, is a tragedy. I love a fresh, still slightly crunchy green bean. The flavor is...
I discovered Mujaddara probably about ten years ago at this little Lebanese lunch spot in Baton Rouge, called Serop’s Express. I didn’t know what the brown crumbly mixture was, but I ordered on a...
Y’all know I’m obsessed with pizza right? Well I’ve actually really been into flatbreads lately. They’re a little less heavy than pizza because they tend to have a thinner crust and they don’t have a lot...
I’ve had a couple cans of green chiles in my pantry that need to be used up, so I decided to toss them into my favorite breakfast—a tortilla, egg, and cheese quesadilla. I also...
Have you ever checked out Food52.com? They have really simple, elegant recipes and I love browsing through their beautiful photographs. The other day while perusing through their stuff I saw this recipe for One Pot...
This recipe for Curried Lentils is a spin off of the ever popular Quick Curried Chickpeas. It always amazes me how a recipe with so few ingredients can have such big flavor! For this...
I love frittatas because they’re simple, filling, and have a bazillion different ingredient possibilities. They’re one of those great “sweep the kitchen” recipes that you can add just about any leftover to. And, although...
Earlier this week I got an email from a reader, Katie, telling me about how she used my homemade red enchilada sauce in her favorite tortilla soup recipe and how amazing it was. That whole...
Last week my sister was like, “Hey, are you coming here next week for Thanksgiving or what?” and I was all like, “Next week?! What do you mean, there’s at least another month before...
I’m calling this one “flat bread” just so I can pretend that I don’t eat pizza every other day. But really, who am I fooling? It’s a sauceless pizza. The last issue of Bon Appétit...
Pumpkin season! YAYAYAY! (October is my favorite month.) Now that the SNAP Challenge is over and I’m all settled in my new place, I couldn’t wait to start cooking in my new kitchen. While...
Remember that head of purple cabbage from week one of the SNAP Challenge? Well, to my surprise, it still hadn’t gone rotten. Sure, it was a little discolored on the open/cut surface, but I...
This is one of my favorite quick, savory breakfasts and I’ve made about a hundred versions of it. It’s going to seem gross or weird to a lot of you, but I LOVE it....
I’m pretty much a pizza addict. I want it all the time. Thin pizza, thick pizza, frozen pizza, artisan pizza, I want it all. I love exploring the pizza frontier, which is why I...
I love black bean soup like I love chili. It’s great on its own, but it’s also fun to get creative with toppings and turn it into a bowl full of fun (okay, maybe...
Hola friends! Late last night I flew back home from my vacation in Mexico and I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen today. One of my wonderful readers suggested Sopa de Fideo to me a...
I’m continuing my quest to use up items in my pantry and freezer, which led to this delicious Blacked Tilapia. A while back I bought a bag of 12 individually wrapped tilapia filets for...
I love scones. They’re super fast to make, can be flavored with either sweet or savory ingredients, and make a quick “bread” option for dinner (they go especially well with soup, stew, or chili). I’ll never...
Have you ever noticed that the fewer ingredients a recipe has, the more elegant it seems? Lucky for me, that also usually means it’s pretty easy and, depending on the ingredients you choose, very inexpensive. This super...
I’m a little avocado obsessed, so when I went to a little Latin American Restaurant last year, La Macarena Pupuseria, and the waiter claimed they had the best guacamole ever, I took the bait—hook, line,...
I don’t want to rub it in your faces, but here in New Orleans SPRING IS HERE! That means that I want a lot of bright, vibrant flavors. These roasted potatoes with parsley pesto...
You know what tomorrow is, right? The day you’re supposed to give something sweet and special to your sweetheart (or secret crush!). Well, before you run to the drugstore to pick up a sad...
Oh man, this pizza didn’t stand a chance in my house. It was gone in a flash… almost as fast as it was to make it. This super easy pizza has all the creamy...
When I finished cooking these Curried Chickpeas with Spinach I took a look at my notepad to make sure I had written down all the ingredients. I looked it over a good three or...
Cranberries are the new pumpkin. I want fresh cranberries in everything lately. I had half of a bag of cranberries stashed in the freezer and almost made a second batch of Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal,...
One of the reasons I love this time of year is that I can find fresh cranberries in the grocery store! Those tart little berries are so much fun to cook with. They have...
I didn’t find out about National Kale Day until after the fact, but seeing pictures of delicious kale recipes all day made me really crave kale bad. What’s the fastest, easiest fix? Garlic Parmesan Kale...
Want to make your house smell seriously good? Just make this rice pilaf. The scent of jasmine rice alone makes my mouth water, but add a few spices and it’s absolutely intoxicating. This lightly...
Whoever discovered beans gets a big fat medal of appreciation from yours truly. They’re just incredible. Incredible and cheap. And so is this Slow Cooker White Bean Soup. This soup is thick, warm, comforting,...
Is it autumn yet? I mean, pumpkin flavored stuff is already everywhere, so I’m just gonna go ahead and start making some more fall-like recipes. This is a recipe that my mom used to make,...
Because I add spinach to everything. No, but really, spinach is a natural with a grilled cheese. Plus, thanks to all of those Popeye cartoons when you were a kid, it makes you feel...
The first thing I saw when I turned on the TV today was a commercial for some sort of breakfast-oat-cookie-thing. I wanted one. So, I made some. Except mine are more like soft oat and nut...
Easy wins again! I’m on day 6 of an 8 day work week, so that means two things: I’m tired and I’m hungry. Quick skillet pasta dishes like this Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta are perfect...
You know how I love kale. You know how I love lentils. You know how I love sweet potatoes. This salad has them all together in one bowl! Yes! It has everything you need...
If you’ve never had gazpacho before, it’s basically a soup for people who, like me, would like nothing more than to eat salsa with a spoon. Okay, maybe that’s just my definition of it,...
I have a little confession to make… last week I impulse bought a tub of hummus at the grocery store. I almost never buy hummus pre-made because it’s so cheap and so easy to make...
As soon as the weather warms up, I get really into salads. I like the fact that they’re cold (or at least warm or room temp) and they provide a lot of texture and...
Oh, this one is so much fun! (and delicious!) I really wanted to do some sort of peanut butter baked oatmeal, but I couldn’t figure out what to put with it… until I thought...
I’m crazy about BBQ sauce, so the first thing I wanted to make with my Multi-Purpose Shredded Beef was something drenched in that sweet, tangy sauce. Sure, I could have just piled the BBQ...
My favorite recipes are those that feature just a few ingredients so that the subtle and intricate flavors are not lost. …not to mention, they’re just easier to make! ;) Nearly every time I...
THANK YOU, dear Anonymous, who left a comment on the (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce recipe last night about adding artichoke hearts and making a “pantry meal” out of the sauce! I wasn’t sure...
As much as I love my myriad of baked oatmeal recipes, I’ve wanted to shake things up a bit lately and try something other than oats for breakfast. Enter quinoa. If you’ve never had...
I’ve been loving “quick fixes” lately because I’m cooking triple time in preparation for the cookbook. So, at the end of the day the last thing I want is something elaborate, time consuming, and...
You need to make this for dessert on Thanksgiving this year. Trust me. This bread is really easy to whip up (who needs something complicated on Thanksgiving? NO ONE), is super delicious, and totally...
It’s soooo cold here! (read: below 75 degrees) So, I’ve been really into soups lately, if you can’t tell. Earlier this week I got an email from Lindsay with a red lentil soup recipe...
Seriously, who needs those autumn themed Glade plug-ins when you’ve got apple pie oatmeal baking in the oven? NO ONE. So this, the latest installment in my baked oatmeal series, is an absolute winner....
If you’re in the need of a super quick and easy side dish, this might be the one for you. I wanted something really fast and easy tonight so I turned to my pantry....
Will I ever get tired of baked oatmeal? Probably not. It’s easy, cheap, deceptively filling, and I can cook it one day and then eat it throughout the rest of the week. I love...
Funny story – I was going to make this honey balsamic chicken with chicken thighs, but they were $3.49/lb. and the boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale (again) for $1.99/lb… so… yeah. Chicken tenders...
I love all things tropical. I love the weather, I love the music, I love the FOOD. I often day dream of a prince charming who owns a jet and insists on flying me...
One of my all-time favorite, easy side dishes is coconut jasmine rice. So, I started thinking that if cooking rice in coconut milk was so good, maybe cooking lentils in coconut milk would be...
During the four weeks of giveaways, I posed the question, “What is your favorite Christmas cookie?” Classic sugar cookies were definitely the number one answer, but coming right behind behind were gingersnaps and snickerdoodles…...
Every winter, after weeks of eating hearty soups and stews, I start craving something really light and fresh. I just get sick of all of the super cooked down hot food. I want bright,...
Cauliflower was on sale! YAY! It’s a rare occasion when the price of cauliflower is what I consider to be reasonable, so when it happens, I take advantage. Roasting cauliflower is, IMHO, one of...
This Corn and Cheddar Pudding is a little indulgent with the cream, cheese, and eggs… but every now and then I think you’re allowed. It’s all about moderation, right? Right. Corn pudding is another one...
If you’re the type to love anything and everything pumpkin pie flavored, you’re going to LOVE this Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal. It’s got all the goodies of pumpkin pie baked right into your breakfast...
I’m really not one to use all sorts of fancy “health food” ingredients but strangely enough, I enjoy the flavor and texture of things like bran and flax meal. So, when I spotted a...
What is baked oatmeal and why is it different than regular old boiled oats? I had the exact same questions, my friends. Baked oatmeal is the thicker, almost custard-like cousin, to oatmeal. How can...
Sambal might be my new favorite sauce. There are a million different kinds, some sweet, some salty, some vinegary, but almost all are spicy. I recently bought a small jar of sambal oelek made...
Okay, so maybe it’s not salsa poached eggs, but it’s a really delicious homemade salsa-like sauce that cooks and infuses your eggs with flavor, all in one skillet. This breakfast is super easy, really filling...
I wanted to make some green goddess dressing but couldn’t find the herbs that I needed… so I ended up with this instead. I couldn’t be more happy with the result. This delightfully creamy...
I know it sounds weird, hummus on a pizza? Well, back in the day when I was slingin’ pizzas at Whole Foods, we made a special vegan pizza using hummus as a replacement for...
Oh man, I’ve been waiting on cauliflower to go on sale forever! Because, as much as I love cauliflower, I’m not paying almost $5 for a head of it. So, when I saw it...
I love Italian cooking because the pasta recipes are just so simple. Throw together some cooked pasta, olive oil, garlic, and maybe one or two other tasty ingredients and you’ve got yourself a meal....
Wow, I’ve had so many good recipe suggestions from readers lately! And I guess that’s a good thing because I’ve been so busy with school and other projects that I don’t even have time...
I was SO HAPPY to see asparagus selling for $2.49 per bunch at the store last weekend. Yeah, that’s still pretty expensive but as far as asparagus go, that’s about as low as they...
Nom nom nom… (I’m eating one of these as I type this blog post) So, I’m usually not that into muffins because they really just seem like cupcakes in disguise. Morning glory muffins, on...
