Use what you have on hand to build an ultimate veggie sandwich packed with color, flavor, and texture. Eat the rainbow!
Bell Pepper
Bell peppers are a versatile vegetable (technically a fruit) that is delicious fresh but also makes a great addition to soups, stir-fries, salads, casseroles, pizza, and more. The wide variety of bell pepper colors (red, orange, yellow, and green) also makes bell peppers a great way to add color to your plate. Although related to chile peppers, bell peppers are generally mild and slightly sweet. But whether you’re a meat-eater, vegetarian, or vegan, it’s easy to incorporate bell peppers into your recipes.
Fresh bell peppers add a delicious sweet crunch to recipes, like Veggie Sandwiches, Pizza Pasta Salad, or Sesame Tuna Salad. But if you already like them fresh, just wait until you try roasted bell peppers. Try roasted bell pepper recipes like Sheet Pan BBQ Meatballs, Roasted Vegetable Couscous, or Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas. Or, if you prefer a more subtle bell pepper flavor, try bell pepper recipes where they’re more cooked down, like Quickie Red Beans and Rice, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, or One Pot American Goulash.
Colorful oven-roasted vegetables, black beans, fresh cilantro, and lime come together to make a vibrant soup that's great any time of year.
These Sheet Pan BBQ Meatballs are easy, colorful, and delicious. Plus the leftovers hold up great, so they're meal prep friendly!
“What should I serve on the side?” is one of the most common questions I get. So it’s never a bad idea to have an arsenal of simple side dishes that you know how...
When you don't have time to soak and boil dry beans, these Quickie Red Beans and Rice get you all the flavor in a fraction of the time.
Stuffed bell peppers are awesome, but I always find them slightly awkward or difficult to eat. Can’t I just throw the ingredients in a bowl and eat it with a fork?! (I feel that...
This was actually supposed to be a baked ziti, but it turns out ziti is just about impossible to find in grocery stores right now, so I went with a Roasted Vegetable Baked Penne instead....
Hello, new favorite! I think of this Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet kind of like “jambalaya light”. It has similar flavors and ingredients as jambalaya, but it’s a slightly scaled back, simplified version, perfect...
The heat is getting to me, y’all! So last week I sat down and brainstormed some no-cook lunch boxes, or meal preps that I can keep in the fridge for quick meals over the...
This is kind of just like a basic Italian pasta salad, but I’m calling it “Pizza Pasta Salad” because this is how I use my leftover pizza toppings. Haha! When you buy a jar...
I’m a huge proponent of batch cooking and stocking your freezer with portioned meals that you can just grab-reheat-and-go! Not only are these make-ahead freezer breakfast burritos a great answer to the “I’m too...
Canned tuna is a lot more versatile than I think many people realize. In other words, there’s a lot more you can do with it than just mixing with mayo and slapping it between...
Ahhh, red beans and rice. This classic dish has been filling hungry bellies on a dime for centuries. It’s rich, flavorful, has a TON of fiber and protein, makes a ton of freezer-friendly leftovers,...
Sheet pan meals are my savior. There’s really nothing easier than roasting vegetables in the oven, and it happens to make them taste really good, too. Add a little meat to the vegetables and...
What am I doing over here cooking a casserole on one of the hottest days of the summer? Crazy, perhaps, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants, and mine wants King Ranch Chicken...
I’m living off refrigerator salads all summer, what about you? Oh, you don’t know what a refrigerator salad is? It’s a salad that holds up well to refrigeration (doesn’t go limp and soggy like...
“Chicken and vegetables” sounds like some sort of boring diet food, but when you skewer them on a stick (food on a stick is always more fun) and drizzle them with the most vibrant...
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...
I went down the rabbit hole of looking at diet or macro-friendly meal delivery services online the other day. It’s a booming business these days and I was really curious about what kind of...
These Loaded Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Lime Crema are the perfect meal prep item, since they’re already pre-portioned and ready to go. There are a lot of options for toppings and seasonings with this...
Many of my day to day meals are just a hodgepodge of random ingredients that I find in my fridge all thrown into a bowl or a wrap. While I don’t really consider these...
Here’s a little quickie for you today from week 1 of my 31 Day Vegetarian Challenge! These creamy and spicy Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps are super fast and easy to make, perfect for cold...
I’m all about the simple meat and vegetable dinners. By changing up the seasonings, the mix of vegetables, and cut of meat, you can have an endless number of simple go-to meals. This week...
Oh my goulash, you guys. It’s not often that I use wine in my cooking because it can be pretty pricey, but something magical happens when you add red wine to beef, and it’s...
I’m still trying to take full advantage of the fresh summer veggies before they’re gone. This Roasted Vegetable Couscous is the perfect side dish for the transitional season when the markets are still full...
This super fresh and vibrant Cowboy Caviar combines two types of beans, colorful summer vegetables, and a sweet and tangy lime dressing for a bold and versatile dish that you’ll find yourself making over and...
One of my favorite things to do is replicate “convenience foods” at home, and for the past couple of weeks I’ve been seeing ads for these new breakfast cups where you just crack an...
My freezer is starting to overflow with leftover ingredients, so it’s time to take stock of what I have and find recipes to use it up! I had a half pound chorizo left over...
Do you remember the cabbage soup diet? It was one of those crazy fad diets where you were supposed to eat as much as you want of just one thing (in this case cabbage soup) and...
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...
Bratwurst is something I only eat once in a blue moon but when I have it, OMG it’s soooo good. When my bratwurst craving came back this time I decided to try a little...
I’m a huge fan of “refrigerator salads.” Or salads that hold up well in the fridge so you can make them in the beginning of the week and have something wholesome to eat from...
I’ve learned a lot over the past eight years of cooking and my palate has definitely become more refined, so today I’m using that new knowledge to give one of the first recipes I...
Ever since making my 5 Minute Microwave French Toast Mug a couple of weeks ago, I’ve wanted to try a savory version (because I’m alllll about savory breakfast). I’m about to go out of...
I had a very “Louisiana” day yesterday. I made a big pot of red beans during the day and then went to a crawfish boil at night. :P I was craving red beans, so I...
Looking around my kitchen the other day I took note of a few leftovers that I had from the last few recipes. I had a couple chorizo links in the freezer left over from...
The aroma from this salad is the most deliciously fresh aroma of cucumbers, parsley, and crunchy green peppers, and it’s beyond delightful. The only thing better than the aroma is the flavor. In short,...
“Plus? What is this ‘plus’ business?” … I can hear it now. Well, the “plus” is LENTILS! *crowd cheers* Yes, these easy Homemade Sloppy Joes Plus have lentils for added fiber and to bulk them...
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...
Okay, I’ll admit I just made this salad as a vehicle for the lime crema. It’s all about the crema. This stuff is seriously life changing and I haven’t been able to stop making...
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...
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m having fun exploring the new Trader Joe’s in New Orleans. I asked everyone on Instagram to share their favorite products with me so I could sample...
This week I played around with the concept for my classic Taco Chicken Bowls and made a “green” salsa version, or Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken Bowls. Salsa is kind of a secret weapon when...
I really wanted to have this recipe ready for y’all yesterday, because it really is one of those “weekend day-cooking” sort of recipes, but I have been glued to social media since late last week,...
Remember that Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta that we all love because it’s so easy and delicious? Well, the other day when I was craving a creamy-pasta-comfort-food dinner, I decided to morph that recipe with another...
I got that craving for fajitas the other day and just had to have ’em. I decided to switch things up a bit from my usual oven fajitas and use portobello caps in place...
I guess we’ve hit that time of the year where just I want to eat cold salads every day (Hi, summer!). So I decided to take one of my favorite pasta salads, Lemony Cucumber...
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...
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,...
There’s something about the smell of smoked sausage with peppers and onions that just makes my mouth water. That combination never really gets old. Luckily, there are a million ways to incorporate that delicious...
This recipe was originally designed to be a balsamic vegetable kebab, served over seasoned rice, but at the last minute I thought, “Why bother with skewers?” Sure, they look pretty and making food look...
I’m in love with this Slow Cooker Italian Chicken and Peppers. I’m just going to lay it out there. It’s every bit as easy, delicious, and versatile as those Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls...
Hello! I just got back from an extremely restful, yet indulgent, beach vacation. The sea was beautiful and the food and drinks were even better. I have to admit, my friends are far better...
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...
Need a new spin on your weeknight pasta? This Three Pepper Pasta is kind of like pizza, but in pasta form. It has crispy pepperoni and a trio of colorful peppers for extra flavor,...
It’s hot outside, y’all. Too hot to turn on the oven and make my AC work overtime. So, today I let my slow cooker do all the work and it made me this wonderfully...
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...
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...
One of my all-time favorite recipes is Oven Fajitas. It’s easy, flavorful, and healthy. So, I decided to try the same concept with different flavors. For this version, I chose Greek inspired vegetables (bell pepper,...
I caught a few minutes of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the other night and was reminded of how much I love stories like that and The Grapes of Wrath. They really make me...
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,...
Oooh, these Easy Oven Fajitas are my new favorite thing!! I love fajitas, but have had a hard time replicating their smoky goodness at home. I don’t have a grill or a cast iron...
So, I broke down last week and bought a burrito from the hospital cafeteria for lunch. It was SO good, but at $5.50 for the least expensive option, I knew I could do better....
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...
I’ve been so busy lately. So, when I finally got a day off, I wanted something quick, delicious, and satisfying. I had not been meeting my quesadilla quota lately, but I was kinda craving pizza…...
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...
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,...
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...
