I love absolutely love that “flame licked” flavor that grilled food has. Unfortunately, I don’t have a grill, so I’m left trying to recreate that flavor with my oven (I don’t really want to...
Dairy Free Recipes
#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....
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...
For the past year or so I’ve been working on the side making step by step photo tutorials for Food.com. Ever since I made this basic meatloaf tutorial, I’ve wanted to make it again and...
I really wanted to call these “OMG! They’re Crunchy!” Fries, but that doesn’t work very well for SEO purposes. My point is, I’m happy to have finally made some oven fries that are crispy and crunchy....
Discovering that you can cook grains in other liquids besides water was one of my favorite “ah-ha” moments in cooking. Using broths, juices, or other flavorful liquids to cook dry grains adds more flavor than...
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 mixture was, but I ordered on a whim...
I haven’t baked any bread in a long time, mostly because I don’t eat bread very often lately. I do love to bake, though, so when I came across this recipe for No Knead English Muffin...
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...
Slow cooked shredded meat is one of my all-time favorite things. I was craving beef this week, so I decided to make a new version of shredded beef that could be used in burritos,...
Whoa. Just, WHOA. I’ve never smelled anything as lovely and drool-inducing as the scent in my house the day I made this Slow Cooker Rosemary Garlic Beef Stew. It was absolutely incredible. It had...
Ooooh wow, my house smells like a spice market! While working on a freelance project this week, I came across this Five Spice Chicken cooked in a rice cooker, and it looked so good...
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...
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here. Whew. I meant to post this days ago, but this week...
If there’s one thing I knew right away starting the SNAP Challenge, it was that I was going to have to bulk out my meals considerably with inexpensive beans and grains to stay under...
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’ve gotten a little lax with my grocery spending lately, so during the month of June I’m making it my mission to use up as many things in my pantry and freezer as possible....
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,...
If you don’t live in Louisiana, you might not know that we’ve got a big carnival going on right now. Parades, marching bands, crazy costumes, and (of course) beads are daily sightings for the...
(a.k.a. ANGRY BIRDS) I got an email a while back from a reader who wanted to know how to make arrabbiata sauce, so I set out to find out how to do so. I...
I’m always looking for ways to streamline my breakfast routine. While I am the type to get up an hour early just to give myself time to enjoy breakfast, I don’t want to spend any...
I’m having fun finding new ways to use my homemade chili seasoning and potatoes were the first item on my list. I mean, tender roasted potatoes coated with savory chili spices? YES PLEASE.
OMG… This Chunky Lentil and Vegetable Soup is my new all-time favorite soup! I’ve already eaten two bowls since I made it today at lunch and I don’t think I’ll even need to freeze...
The reign of sriracha is not over yet. The price for a bottle of this magic sauce remains stable at my local grocery store, so panic is averted for now. I fell in love...
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...
How fitting that just days after I make these scrumptious sriracha glazed turkey meatballs, the Huy Fong Foods factory is in danger of temporary shutdown. So, you know what that means? You better make these...
Hindsight is 20/20. As I sat there hungrily devouring one of these BBQ Bean Sliders, beans were falling out of the bun and BBQ sauce was getting all over my hands and face. That’s when...
I had some split pea soup from the hospital cafeteria the other day and while it was satisfying, something about it just didn’t taste genuine. So, I thought it was time to make some...
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,...
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...
If you’ve spent any time on Pinterest, any time at all, you’ve surely seen a pin for Maple Dijon Chicken. Pretty much every blogger out there has made it and it has been pinned to...
Sometimes, when I’m suffering from a creativity block, all I need to do is take a stroll through the freezer aisle. Yesterday, as I was perusing the freezer goods, I saw a frozen dinner...
Today I made a big batch of shredded beef as a “base recipe” for which I’ll provide various uses throughout the next week or two. This is a basic shredded beef with neutral, plain...
I think we’re experiencing one of the last cold spells of the year here in Louisiana, so I wanted to make one last hearty, soul-warming soup. This Navy Bean Soup was incredibly easy, but...
The slow cooker wins again! This incredibly easy recipe boasts big flavor and very, very little work. Just mix up a fragrant spice rub in your blender, slather it over the chicken, and then...
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...
Okay, new rule: These Candied Almonds are NOT allowed in my house. I’m bringing them with me to work tomorrow. Hopefully I can survive the night without eating them all. These are some dangerous...
Hmm… I’m not doing a very good job convincing you that I’m not a chocolate person, am I. Well, this granola is the shiznit, even for a non-chocolate person like myself. Granola uses sugar...
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...
I know, I know, I just made a chicken soup-type dish. Well, sometimes you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got. I have a ton of chicken in the freezer, I had some chipotle peppers...
Enchilada sauce is one of my very favorite things, ever. I love when it soaks into tortillas while baking and makes everything all tangy, spicy, and good. Mmmmm. 🤤 But when the selection of...
Meatloaf isn’t pretty. Let’s just get that out on the table. It’s so ugly, in fact, that I couldn’t stop giggling while taking these pictures. All I could think about were those silly post...
I never really understood why people say that chocolate is better than sex. Chocolate? Chocolate?! No ma’am. If any food is even going to come close, it’s gonna be this sriracha hummus. Okay, so...
Fresh cranberry sauce is one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving foods. I love the tangy-sweetness and how it juxtaposes all of the other savory Thanksgiving dishes! I eat it on my turkey and on...
I’ve made a few variations of red sauce for Budget Bytes, but this Slow Cooker Marinara is definitely the best of the best. I don’t like using my slow cooker for everything, but for...
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...
You do know that everything made between October 1st and 31st has to be pumpkin flavored, right? Good, now that we’ve cleared that up… I’ve been loving smoothies lately. They fill me up, kill...
I first became interested in chicken adobo when I saw a recipe for it using a slow cooker. It looked delicious but completely different than the adobo that I was familiar with. I thought...
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...
I’m really not sure how authentic this recipe is but I’m calling it kung pao chicken because it’s spicy and it has peanuts. That’s good enough for me. Ha! Okay, aside from that, it’s...
I’m always trying to work beans into my diet because they’re just so good for you, and I happen to think they’re delicious. These quick marinated white beans are one of my favorite side dishes because they’re so...
Sweet, tangy and spicy… What a powerful flavor combo. It’s strong sauces like this that allow you to take something that is otherwise boring or inexpensive and make it into an outstanding meal. So,...
Oh boy, I love me some collard greens. Love ’em so much that I want to experience them ever way there is. During a recent not-so-coherent-after-gym run to the grocery store, I bought a...
I was so excited, so drawn in, so salivating when I saw this recipe for falafel from Living The Pie Life a few weeks ago. The only problem was that I didn’t have a food processor....
Breakfast for me is usually one of two things: some sort of oatmeal if I’m feeling like a sweet breakfast or some sort of egg sandwich if I’m in a savory mood. Since discovering...
October is national pizza month! I don’t remember where I read that or if it is even legit but who cares, it’s a good enough excuse to make some pizza! After finding that I...
I’m calling this one Vegetable NOT Fried Rice because it’s like fried rice but not (in case that wasn’t obvious). I love fried rice but it is usually so insanely oily and I’m just not...
I swear, sometimes all I want to eat is bread (or chips) and some sort of dip. For a while I was crazy about hummus, but even with all the flavor possibilities there I...
