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...
Red Pepper Flakes
Sun dried tomatoes are a fairly expensive ingredient, but I think this Sun Dried Tomato, Kale, and White Bean Skillet perfectly demonstrates how higher priced ingredients, when properly combined with less expensive ingredients, can...
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...
Zuppa Toscana… it’s one of those recipes that every food blogger has made. I see it on Pinterest at least once per day. At least. I usually try to avoid over-hyped recipes like this but, this one...
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I pretty much ate my weight in cheese over the holiday. Now that I feel sufficiently icky, I’m trying to focus on some more plant-based recipes...
Summer calls for a lighter, fresher, more vibrant pizza. Earlier this week I splurged on some fresh mozzarella for my Kale Pesto Pasta and I wanted to make sure the rest of that delicious...
I’m declaring chimichurri the sauce of the summer. It’s so bright and vibrant, and as I’ve mentioned before it’s good on pretty much everything! This week I made this scrumptious one-pot Chimichurri Chicken and...
A few weeks ago I made a pasta dish that quickly became my favorite, One Pot Sausage and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta. I was craving it again and had a few sun dried tomatoes...
I don’t make fish often because it tends to be on the expensive side, but I’ve really been craving it lately. Add to that my continued efforts to try to buy higher quality and...
Stop everything and listen closely. I’ve been making new recipes every week for over seven years and can honestly say this One Pot Sausage and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta is one of the best things...
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...
Have you ever gotten flavor overload? Like if you eat too much and the next day all you want to eat is something really simple? Okay, maybe that’s just me or because I work...
It’s almost Thanksgiving and we’re all about to pull our hair out, right?? But in the middle of all this madness, we still need to eat. So, I reached into my pantry today to...
I’ve been a little obsessed with Chimichurri since I made it a couple weeks ago. I just keep finding new uses for it! Quite a few people left comments on the original chimichurri recipe...
Okay, this love post dedicated to chimichurri sauce is way overdue. This vibrant green sauce is pure magic because requires only a few ingredients, but will transform anything you drizzle it on… and you...
…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...
The other day I got a craving for that drooly-delicious pan-fried tofu that I made a couple months ago and I knew I had to make more. But, instead of making the exact same dish,...
So I broke down the other day and bought a rotisserie chicken. I feel a little guilty because it was out of budget, but on the other hand I’m not so upset that rotisserie...
This week I had a killer craving for some classic spaghetti and meat sauce. But, as you may know, I like to add vegetables whenever and wherever I can to recipes, so I shredded...
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...
Shopping for produce can be a bit tricky in the United States. Some items are priced by the pound while others are priced per item, and if you happen to confuse the two, you can wind...
Hooray for simple dishes! I came across this post for Tomato and White Bean Stew with Chicken Sausage on Domesticate Me the other day and thought, “What a wonderfully simple and delightful dish! I...
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...
PASTA. When I get stressed, I crave pasta. Cheesy or creamy pasta. So, when I saw this recipe for Sour Cream and Jalapeño Chicken Enchilada Pasta, my stomach was all like, “FEED ME, NOW.” But,...
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...
Can I talk about anchovies for a second without you running away screaming? K, good. Anchovies have a reputation in the United States as being this stinky pizza topping that nobody really likes, but...
(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...
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...
I’m constantly looking for new ways to use my favorite (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce in recipes because it’s just SO good. So, the other day I was thinking, “Hmmm, I wonder if I...
My love for quesadillas is right up there with pizza. They’re like brothers from a different mother. Both combine melty cheese, crispy bread, and whatever other creative combination of ingredients you can think of....
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...
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...
Last weekend I got an email from Robyn with a link to this really cool recipe over at Apron Strings. I love cooking pasta and rice in liquids other than water, so this idea...
This recipe was born out of a craving for my mom’s meat pies, which I haven’t had in YEARS (like, 15 at least?). I don’t have the recipe, I just remember that it was...
Quesadillas might be one of my favorite foods. That and pizza. Why? Because you can put just about anything inside and the outer crispy tortilla shell somehow makes everything a million times better. For...
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....
You know those little jars of sun dried tomatoes packed in delicious herb infused olive oil that cost about $5 a pop? This (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce is just like those yummy tomatoes. …Except...
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...
Here’s to quick & delicious dinners! This Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta is another dish that can be whipped up in practically the same amount of time that it takes to boil the pasta. You...
So, my appetite has been pretty wonky lately and all I’ve wanted to eat is burritos. I love a good burrito. I mean I LOVE them… and it’s all to easy to waltz right...
I fell in love with Indian food last year and have craved it ever since. I’ve experimented here and there but it’s still completely uncharted territory to me. I recently discovered the show Spice...
Why am I making stews in the middle of summer? I don’t know. It just sounded tasty… and making hot food in the middle of summer never really bothered me much. So, if it’s...
This dish is a little more fancy and expensive than the usual Budget Bytes fare, but when you compare it to the cost of a restaurant meal, it still can’t be beat. I get...
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...
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....
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...
I’ll admit, for a long time I didn’t know exactly what chutney was. All I knew is that it looked like little jars of jam when I saw it at the store… but why...
One of the best recipes that I’ve made for Budget Bytes so far is the Italian Meatballs. They were unbelievably flavorful, they froze beautifully and were extremely versatile. I’ve wanted to make them again...
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...
In hope of good luck and prosperity in the new year, I cooked up a pot of black-eyed peas yesterday. Eating black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread on the first day of the new...
Today I learned to love the ham hock. They used to scare me. Well, scare me and fascinate me all at the same time. I remember seeing them in the grocery store as a...
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that the first time I ever heard of Pasta Puttanesca was in the movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, over 15 years ago. In the movie,...
