I love good quality food, but I also have a small place in my heart reserved for convenience foods like instant ramen or frozen pizzas. I don’t indulge in them often, and when I...
East Asian Inspired Recipes
I ate my teriyaki meatball bowls all week as meal prep and absolutely loved them, but I desperately need another vegetable side to balance things out. So, I whipped up a quick crunchy cabbage...
This Sesame Ginger Dressing is probably one of the most addictive homemade dressings I’ve ever made. It’s sweet, salty, tangy, and has a super “zingy” fresh ginger bite. It’s one of those dressings that...
This salad is one of the very first recipes I ever posted on Budget Bytes. Like, way back when I was still taking photos with my pre-smart-phone era phone. Yikes! Because this Sesame Cucumber...
Sometimes you just need something simple to flesh out your meal, to bulk it up without adding a lot of work, or without adding a lot of $$$. Rice is my favorite ingredient for...
I’m all about quick stir fry dinners because they’re easy, you can work a LOT of vegetables into them, and they’re just plain delicious. My newest creation, Crunchy Chicken Ramen Stir Fry, is kind...
I’m kind of obsessed with meatballs. They’re easy to make, filling, they pack well for lunches, are freezer-friendly, and can be paired with so many different flavors. Plus, I just kind of think meatballs...
Have you ever tried Garlic Noodles? They’re a super rich, buttery, salty-sweet, umami filled dream. I usually serve them as a side dish, but this week I decided to just go ahead and turn...
I hope I’ve convinced you to experiment with leftovers in your fridge by now. Most of my favorite recipe creations have come from me just piling whatever I have leftover in my fridge into...
One of my biggest pet peeves is having a million half-used condiments in my fridge. So if I can quickly whip up a homemade sauce with pantry staples, I’m going to do that before...
Easy dinners are my jam! I love these Sweet and Sour Pork Chops because they’re a super fast alternative to take out, they require NO chopping, you need only a few pantry staples to...
I love taking advantage of all the fresh produce in summer and all the color and texture it brings to my plate! This week I played around with eggplant, which has a unique almost...
I’m not sure there is anything more summery than this Cucumber Mango Salad. It perfectly marries sweet, sour, and spicy flavors with that whoosh of cucumber freshness, for a light and refreshing summer side...
This might be one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. And I only happened upon the combo by chance because I had leftover Peanut Lime Dressing and a random sweet potato in my...
This Cold Peanut Noodle Salad is the perfect meal prep for summer! No need to reheat, it’s light but filling, and the flavors are oh so fresh. It’s topped off with a homemade tangy,...
If you want to change up your salad game, the easiest way is to use a new salad dressing. This Peanut Lime Salad dressing is sweet, savory, tangy, and creamy all in one! And...
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “one pot” recipe, but I’m really excited about this one. This One Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice is incredibly easy, requires very little chopping, and is one...
Confession time: sometimes I actually like instant ramen. You know, those cheap little packets of salty noodles that only cost 30¢? I don’t eat them often, maybe once per year, but when I get...
Move over sriracha, gochujang is having a moment in the American food scene, and I’m really happy about it. These Gochujang Mushroom bowls feature sweet and spicy gochujang marinated mushrooms, quick pickled cucumbers, crunchy...
I seriously never get tired of super easy stir fry dinners! I mean, what’s not to love? Only a few ingredients, you can work in a TON of vegetables, and they’re super fast! Using...
It’s only been two days since the Vegetarian Challenge ended, but my stomach is already like, “Whoa girl, take it easy. I thought I told you before not to change things up so suddenly!”...
I found myself with a handful of leftover vegetables in my fridge this week, so you know what that means—STIR FRY TIME! I went extra tropical this time, to escape these winter blues, with...
Are you ready for the easiest of easy stir fry dinners? This Salad Bar Vegetable Lo Mein is the perfect no-brainer dinner for when you can’t be bothered to even think about cooking, or...
If I could only say one thing to people who read my blog, it’s that dinner doesn’t have to be complicated. These Sweet Chili Chicken Stir Fry Bowls are the perfect example. It’s really...
How many half-used bottles of condiments would you say you have in your refrigerator at this very moment. Five? Ten? Twenty? I don’t know how many I have but I know it’s too many. So...
Rice cookers are a convenient and inexpensive way to cook food for those confined to small spaces or without access to conventional kitchens, so I’m going to develop a few recipes specifically for rice...
Pan frying chopped tofu and drenching it in a yummy sauce is my new favorite tofu technique. It’s so easy and as I think about the sauce options, the variations are totally endless! Today...
There’s nothing quite like a hot soothing soup when you’re feeling under the weather. This fast and easy homemade egg drop soup comes together in just a few minutes and has a ginger infused...
It’s been almost five years to the day since I first posted this Easy Sesame Chicken, and I felt it was about time for me to pay it a visit. I’ve learned a lot...
Having an arsenal of quick-to-assemble sauces made out of pantry staples can absolutely save you on those nights when you forgot to plan ahead. Simple sauces are the key to transforming refrigerator leftovers or...
I was having one of those days today, y’all. The kind where your have a mile long to-do list but your body is just telling you to curl up and watch Netflix all day....
You guyyyyysssssss. This Thai Coconut Curry Carrot Soup is everything. I seriously wanted to slurp up the entire pot! It’s light, creamy, just a little spicy, and somehow perfectly fitting with this warmer than...
It’s always very exciting when my friends publish cookbooks, but the new cookbook Easy Culinary Science for Better Cooking by Jessica Gavin is one that I’m extra stoked about. You see, science is one of...
Don’t you just love how I post a pasta recipe immediately after the blog post where I say I’m trying to break my addiction to pasta? 😂 We’re all human. Anyway, This week I...
It’s time for another “sweep the kitchen” recipe! You know how I love these recipes. Food is not only expensive, but it’s also the number one contributor to landfills, so I always try to...
Hey guys! As I mentioned on Instagram earlier this week, I won’t be doing a meal prep post this Sunday because I wasn’t able to cook anything all week and I want to get...
While red cabbage is still on sale for $0.50/lb., I’m just going to keep going with it! This super simple Sesame Slaw is fast, fresh, and a nice break from the heavy, cooked down...
Y’all know how much I love slow cooked meat, right? It’s always so tender and full of flavor, yet nearly effortless. While I usually opt for a southwest blend of spices, a couple of...
One of my first “viral” recipes back was Coconut Chicken with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce back in 2010. I was about to remake that recipe and give it the beautiful photographs that it deserves (and...
Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a good start. I wanted to take a few moments to share a salad I made this week with some of the leftovers in...
I feel like I’ve stumbled upon gold with this recipe, guys. This Roasted Broccoli Salad with Almonds uses almost all ingredients that I keep on hand, and is so good that I was literally...
Sometimes you just need things ASAP—that is, as SIMPLE as possible. ;) That’s when I pull out recipes like these Simple Mushroom Broccoli Stir Fry Noodles. The sauce is incredible simple, but hits all...
I’ve avoided cauliflower for a while because it’s been really expensive. Apparently we went through a shortage at the exact same time that cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust, and cauliflower “alfredo” sauces hit their peak...
OMG you guyyyysssss… Orange chicken has been on my list for-ev-er and I finally got around to making it today and now I’m kicking myself for not making it sooner because this Easy Orange Chicken is...
The other day I got a message on Facebook from Tiffany exclaiming how much she liked my Easy Oven Fajitas and Oven Roasted Greek Stuffed Pitas and she asked if I could create a similar...
You guys know that I love my bowl meals, right?? They have everything you need in one bowl, with more flavor, texture, and color than you can shake a stick at. But the more...
I was craving a stir fry with those delicate little rice noodles and a salty, spicy, curry based sauce this week, so I revisited my original recipe for Singapore Noodles, increased the curry powder (because...
I had a craving for the aromatic spices of Chinese five spice blend this week, so I picked up a pork loin, mixed up a super simple marinade with the five spice, and let...
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m just coming back from vacation and am totally craving “healthy” homemade food. So, I prepared these Chili Garlic Tofu Bowls to eat for lunch the rest of the week. They’re...
After a week of vacation I’m so ready to get back to business, back to a good routine, and back to healthy eating. I made some awesome “bowl meals” yesterday to eat for the...
I know, I know, two cabbage recipes in a row? While I’m sure some of you are delighted, some might be totally “over” cabbage. But I’m all about reducing waste over here, so I...
If you’re one that struggles to work vegetables into your diet (isn’t that pretty much all of us?) you’re going to love this Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry. It’s full of vegetables and absolutely addictive. And...
Did you know that the Dragon Noodle sauce also makes a great stir fry sauce? Truth. So when I saw that I still had a half pound of shrimp left over from my last...
My favorite thing to do with a recipe is to pare it down as far as possible while maintaining big flavor. I’ve made a lot of Asian inspired marinades and glazes over the years, but...
Confession time: I’ve been spending way too much on sushi lately. So, I decided to revisit one of my very first Budget Bytes recipes from way back in 2010, Sushi Bowls. For most people, making sushi at...
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...
…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...
Remember that Thai Curry Vegetable Soup that I made a while back that was like, “GAH! THIS IS SO GOOD!”? Well, yesterday I had a craving for those flavors again, but decided to do...
Let me start by saying, this is not authentic phở. This is “I need something that tastes good, is fast, has noodles, and kind of tastes like phở.” AKA Quickie Faux Phở. It does the...
This recipe started out as a craving for lettuce wraps and ended up as Hoisin Stir Fry Bowls with Spicy Peanut Sauce because, IMHO, it’s just a whole lot easier to eat things out...
Congee (or jook, depending on the language) is a rice porridge that I’ve wanted to make for quite some time. It’s a warm, comforting porridge made with rice, chicken, ginger, and sometimes other fun...
I’m sitting here with a blank screen trying to figure out if I can even accurately describe to you how good this Thai Red Curry Vegetable Soup is. Maybe I should tell you that...
After finally figuring out how to cook tofu and actually have it taste good (see my Sesame Tofu with Broccoli), I couldn’t wait to make more. I used the same easy pan fry method,...
I had a huge triumph today. I finally successfully made tofu. I’ve tried cooking with tofu in the past and could never really get it to be the right flavor or texture. When I cooked...
I needed a “fun” food project this week, so I decided to make some homemade pork gyoza, which are actually an updated version of a recipe I made almost six years ago (whoa!), Pork...
Okay, so technically I didn’t “stir fry” anything here, but this is what you make at home to mimmic stir fry when you don’t have the proper equipment. This was really more of a...
I don’t think I can accurately articulate how delicious and fresh this Nam Sod is. Imagine a fresh and zesty ginger and lime dressing that has a little bit of spicy heat, and a...
More often than not, I scrounge around in the fridge putting leftover ingredients together in a bowl to make random meals. I’ve discovered some of my favorite flavor combinations that way! This week I...
So, I actually made this Hot and Sour Soup last week, but got so busy with Thanksgiving madness that I didn’t have a chance to post it until today. But that’s okay, I figure...
This Sesame Glazed Salmon with Green Beans is another one of those “faster than take-out” dishes. It’s incredibly simple, plus OMG it looks spectacular. Right? Look how fancy! If you’re looking for a “date night” dish,...
The “cold and crunchy” summer food cravings continue for me. So, this week I reached into my vault (text files that I created 15 years ago when I first moved out on own) and...
While I was scrolling through Pinterest last week I saw a photo of Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and my mouth started to water. I knew that’s what I had to cook next. But when...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
I got an email from Megan last week asking if I could recreate her favorite frozen noodle bowls from Costco. There isn’t a Costco in New Orleans (yet), so I wasn’t familiar with that...
Oh the mighty banh mi. It’s one of my favorite foods in the entire world. It’s truly the perfect sandwich. If you’re unfamiliar with banh mi (Vietnamese submarine sandwich), check out this excellent little...
2013 is going to be GREAT, I can feel it! This is the first recipe of the year and I already know that it’s going to go on next year’s “best of” list! It’s...
Oh WOW. These Dragon Noodles are my new favorite quick fix! They only take about 15 minutes to make, they’re totally rich, flavorful, and SUPER SPICY. Like, “burn a hole through your stomach” spicy. Call...
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 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...
Let me first say that I’m sure this is probably not authentic Chicken Yakisoba. I’ve never actually eaten this classic Japanese street food on the streets of Japan, but I have seen Mark Bittman...
Due to poor planning on my part, I only came out of this weekend with one recipe to post… but boy, oh boy, is it a GOOD one!! These little individual Thai chicken pizzas...
Okay, I’ll admit, this recipe is a re-post. Savory coconut rice is one of the first recipes I made for the blog and it has been a staple in my house ever since. I...
Ever since making the Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Chicken Thighs, I’ve kind of fallen in love with baked chicken thighs. They’re super easy, the flavor possibilities are endless, they’re juicy and tender, and they’re usually...
Okay, I might just have to make egg rolls all the time. They were so much easier than expected! And, because I decided to bake mine, they’re pretty freakin’ healthy. And, wow, super inexepensive!...
One of my wonderful readers recently asked for more fish recipes. I fully intended on doing cod or some other type of fish that I had never cooked before, but when I got to...
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...
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’ve shied away from making salmon in the past because of the price. At over $8/lb., it’s twice as expensive as ground beef and almost three times as expensive as chicken or pork. After...
I’m SO EXCITED about this one… this is one of those recipes that turned out so good that I couldn’t keep out of it while I was shooting photos. I kept stuffing in mouthfuls...
Oh, I’ve been wanting to make this Coconut Chicken Soup for such a long long time! There are few things that I like more than coconut milk so I just knew this was going...
Spring rolls are all about texture. The rice paper wrapper is so unique, almost skin like; a little sticky, quite stretchy and just really cool. Inside the stretchy wrapper you’ve got rice vermicelli, lettuce,...
Singapore noodles. They didn’t originate in Singapore (theory is they’re Cantonese) and they were popularized by Chinese restaurants in Europe. How is that for a hodgepodge history? Well, I’m going to blame this one...
Wow. Just, WOW. I’m usually not a fan of eating chicken off the bone because of all of the connective tissue and other weird bits but this sticky Asian sauce makes all wrongs RIGHT....
Why serve plain white rice with your meal when you can sneak in some veggies and a ton of flavor? I was originally going to make this dish a coconut (not) fried rice but...
Hindsight is 20/20. One of the main ingredients in this mouth-watering teriyaki pulled pork is the teriyaki sauce. The entire ten minutes that I stood in the Asian foods aisle trying to decide which...
I’ve wanted to make these yummy little wontons since the success of my Pork & Ginger Potstickers. I saw a recipe on the inside of the wonton wraper package for cream cheese filled wontons...
