Watermelon-Lime Margaritas

I may have mentioned before that I’m a fan of margaritas.  Unlike many of my friends, tequila and I don’t have an ugly past history. We get along just fine.  Take some tequila, mix it up with some citrus, and I’m a happy girl.

And I while I like my margaritas the traditional way (and preferably top shelf), sometimes it’s fun to mix things up.  That’s how I was feeling when I came up with today’s recipe.  I had a whole, super sweet watermelon cut up in the fridge, and I got to thinking.  And then I got to experimenting.  And then I got to tasting.  And let me tell you, these Watermelon-Lime Margaritas taste good! 

Sweet watermelon, tangy lime juice, the kick of tequila and Grand Marnier – and a little fizz, just to make things fun.  And let me tell you, you are guaranteed to have fun with these margaritas.  However, if you’re not in the margarita mood, the watermelon-lime juice tastes just as delicious mixed with equal parts sparkling water.  Either way, your taste  buds are in for a good time.

Tex-Mex Chicken Sausage, Black Bean, and Hominy Soup

Spring may be on the way, but we’re still experiencing crazy temperature swings here in Nashville – 70 degrees one day, 40 degrees the next. I’m sure many of you can relate.  That being said, I’m still in full-on soup mode.  The other day it was gray and drizzling, and I was in the mood for a warm and cozy lunch. Cue the soup – my go-to cold weather lunch.

Today’s recipe was put together from things I already had in my fridge and pantry. Stan and I really like Tex-Mex flavors so things like canned black beans, hominy, taco seasoning mix, and peppers are staples.  Thrown together with some chicken sausage for protein and some lime juice and cilantro to brighten things up, this soup packs a lot of flavor.  It’s also healthy, quick and easy to make, and cheap to boot – all good things in my book.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it’s flexible. Don’t have a poblano pepper on hand? Use a red or green bell pepper.  Out of black beans?  Try pinto or kidney beans.  Can’t find hominy at your store?  Look in the Mexican food section – or just use a can of corn instead.  You can also adjust the spice level up or down to match your preference – just use more or less taco seasoning.  However you make it, this soup is sure to be a warm, hearty way to beat back the chill while you wait for spring.

"Best" Beans and Rice

As I’ve told you before, I have a terrible habit of throwing quick meals together without bothering to write down what I’m doing or taking pictures along the way. Sometimes that’s for the best. I get cranky when I’m hungry and can’t always be bothered with taking pictures, lest I become a crazy, hungry beast. And no, I am not pregnant. Just hungry.

Sometimes, however, my spur of the moment recipe creations are so drool-inducingly good that I kick myself for not taking the extra few minutes to capture what I was doing. For some reason, I seem to do this most often with last-minute pasta dinners and thrown-together-with-odds-and-ends weekend lunches. The latter was the case with this recipe, pulled together with random leftovers from the fridge and pantry staples. And man, oh man, was it good. So good I wished I had taken pictures along the way. Since I didn’t, I immediately typed up a post and the recipe before I could forget it. And then I forgot to make it again… for an entire year.

And let me tell you how stupid I feel about that. I could have (and would have) been eating this regularly for the past year. I don’t often repeat recipes, but I will be making an exception for this one all year long. I call this recipe “Best” Beans and Rice, not necessarily because it’s the best beans and rice I’ve ever had (though it is certainly up there), but rather because it’s the best version of beans and rice I’ve ever made. We always have canned beans and rice hanging out in the pantry, perfect for throwing together meals in a hurry. Over the years, I’ve tried many different variations to spice up those basic ingredients, and while they were always good, they were never really worth sharing with you. This time, however, I think I nailed the recipe on the head.

The combination of whole and ground cumin seeds adds smokiness and spice without heat. The diced green chilies add a slight kick of heat without overpowering the flavor of the other ingredients. Black and pinto beans add body and creaminess, while the rice sort of ties everything together. This dish makes for a savory, flavor-packed meatless entrée, side dish, or burrito filling. Plus it’s simple and inexpensive to make. In my book, it really is the “Best”.

Baked Risotto with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Risotto is delicious. It is creamy, dreamy, Italian rice goodness. It also requires at least 20 minutes of near constant stirring. And while I currently have more free time than I know what to do with, I am well aware that most people have better, or at least more important, things to do than stand over a stove stirring a pot of rice for 20 minutes. But what if you didn’t have to stir your risotto? What if you could have perfect, rich and creamy risotto with almost none of the work? Would you be tempted to make risotto all the time?

Folks, get ready to be tempted because you can bake risotto in the oven.

For a basic baked risotto, all you have to do is combine Arborio rice, chicken broth, and white wine in a baking dish. Cover it up and bake it until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy, yet still a bit toothsome. When the rice is done baking, stir in some butter and cheese to make it extra luscious. Season it up with a little salt and pepper and you are good to go without ever breaking a sweat.

From there you can flavor it up any way you like, simply by stirring in some fun ingredients at the end. The possibilities are endless – roasted butternut squash, bacon and onions, sun-dried tomatoes and basil, or one of my personal favorites – mushrooms and goat cheese. The combination of earthy mushrooms and tangy goat cheese makes this baked risotto extra special. And it’s still easy enough for any night of the week – no lengthy stirring required.

Healthy Recipes to Kick Off the New Year

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve with friends and family and have kicked off 2011 with a bang. We stayed in to ring in the New Year this year, and celebrated with friends, an enormous meal, and a whole lot of celebratory libations. After all of that revelry, Stan and I are feeling the need for some healthier meals and a little more exercise in our lives. While neither of us are big on New Year’s resolutions, eating better and moving more are certainly tops on many people’s lists for this time of year. So, in honor of those, like us, who need some holiday detox, or are trying to make good on healthy resolutions, today’s post features recipes that can help you cook your way to a healthier new year.

Soups and stews are always good in January, heating you up without filling you out. Here are some delicious, belly-warming options... (Just click on the recipe titles to link to the original posts!)

Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

Island Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

 Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup

Tortellini Soup

Shrimp and Corn Chowder

Chickpea and Kale Stew

Chicken Posole

Broccoli Rice Gratin

Sometimes I plan what I’m going make for dinner days in advance. Sometimes I throw together whatever odds and ends I can find in the fridge and call it a meal. Today’s recipe was one of those spur of the moment creations. Not too long ago, I needed a side dish to go with our dinner, and I wanted to try something new. A quick search through the fridge and freezer gave me some cooked brown rice, one head of broccoli, a carton of eggs, and lots of cheese. There was some other stuff too, but I decided to leave out the apple juice, tofu, limes, and other assorted odds and ends. I think that was a smart choice, don’t you?

After a little thinking, I came up with this broccoli rice gratin. The dish is warm and cozy, full of healthy veggies and brown rice. Eggs bind the ingredients together, so you end up with a something kind of like a casserole that can be scooped out with a spoon. The best part, however, is the sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese over the top, which gives it an irresistible, crackly, cheesey crust.

All in all, this gratin is a winner. As I was eating it, I couldn’t help thinking that it tasted like a healthier version of the cheesey broccoli and rice casseroles I’ve had in the past. Good, healthy food that tastes like it’s bad for you? I’m all about it. Add that to the fact that the leftovers are wonderful, too, and I can pretty much guarantee you that I’ll be making this again and again.

Chunky Cinnamon Raisin Applesauce

The other day Stan asked me how many recipes on this site are original, i.e. not adapted from other sources. It got me to thinking… and checking the “original recipe” category on the right sidebar. I realized that less than 25 percent of the recipes I’ve told you about are completely my own creation. And while there is nothing wrong with that – adapting recipes from others has certainly helped me become a better cook – it is not at all reflective of how I really cook. I would estimate that at least 75 percent of the food coming out of our kitchen comes straight from my food-obsessed brain.

Why then, have I posted so few completely original recipes? After thinking about it, I’d have to say that it’s because I tend to cook on the fly. When I’m making it up as I go, I don’t often bother to write down what I’m doing or what and how much I’m using. Also, I certainly don’t always take pictures. On the other hand, consulting a cookbook or online recipe forces me to slow down a bit and use specific measurements. When I’m going more slowly, it’s easier to snap a few pictures too.

From here on out, I’m going to try to post a little more like I cook. My goal is to post at least one completely original recipe per week. I may not succeed with this every week, but I think it’ll be a good challenge, forcing me to keep track of some of the random recipes I come up with. And that’s a good thing, because some of the recipes I never wrote down were delicious!

Grilled Portobello Paninis

I don’t know about you, but I get start to get bored if I eat the same thing more than two days in a row. (Ok, that’s not true for breakfast, but definitely for lunch and dinner.) Stan is the total opposite – he’s been eating the same sandwiches almost every weekday for the past three years. Turkey, cheese, mayo, and mustard. Every day. I don’t know how he does it. Creature of habit I guess.

Regardless, sandwiches are the perfect lunch – quick, easy, portable, and if made right, delicious. Today’s sandwich combines some of my favorite ingredients: big, meaty portobello mushrooms grilled to juicy perfection; smoky roasted red peppers; creamy goat cheese; and slightly bitter baby arugula. Layered between slices of crusty Italian bread, these fillings make for one deliciously savory sandwich. Even Stan, a hardcore meat-eater, really enjoyed this one. As for me, I’ll definitely be making this sandwich again soon – and often. Certainly not everyday for three years straight, but often.

Baked Ziti

Baked ziti is one of my long-standing go-to dishes. I’ve been making variations of it for years. Sometimes it’s the old cheesey standby. Sometimes I add chicken sausage. Sometimes vegetables. Sometimes I leave out the ricotta, which basically turns it into something else all together. However you make it, it’s pretty much a guarantee that baked ziti will be delicious.

Besides its taste, one of the things I like best about baked ziti is how quickly it comes together. Boil some noodles, stir in some cheesey goodness, and pop it in the oven. It needs a little time to cook, but the active prep work is practically non-existent. You can have dinner on the table without breaking a sweat – which I love, because making dinner causes me to break a sweat far more often than I’d like!

Baked ziti is also a perfect dish for those times when you’d like to bring dinner to someone. I made this particular version for my dear friends on the night they brought their beautiful baby girl home from the hospital. I split the recipe into two pans, giving half to them, and reserving the other half for when I go out of town in a few days. Yep, that’s one more thing that’s great about baked ziti – it freezes like a dream. It’s the perfect dish to make ahead and store in the freezer. You know, just in case you happen to have a significant other who begs you not to leave… at least not without leaving a fully stocked fridge behind.

Raw Kale Salad with Almonds and Cranberries

I’ve told you once or twice about my love of kale. It’s got great color and texture, it’s ridiculously good for you, and it doesn’t break down to nothing when you cook it. But did you know you don’t have to cook it? Until recently, I didn’t. I thought raw kale would be too chewy or fibrous to eat. Toss it with a little acid to soften up the leaves, however, and raw kale makes a deliciously different, nutrition-packed salad green.

For this salad, I combined raw kale with some toasted almonds for crunch and dried cranberries for sweetness. A simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice gets a touch of sweetness from honey and a touch of heat from a little chili powder. With kale currently overflowing the bins at farmers markets and grocery stores, now is the perfect time to take a walk on the raw side.

Green Bean Salad

Different seasons evoke different feelings for different people. The seasons also tend to dictate the foods we crave. In the fall, I like nothing better than fresh, crisp apples or spicy pumpkin pie. In the winter, hearty soups and stews reign supreme in our kitchen. Spring means sweet strawberries. And summer, summer means salad.

This green bean salad is one of my absolute warm weather favorites. Crisp, crunchy green beans are tossed with juicy, red tomatoes and slivers of fresh red onion. The dressing is simply olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Since there is no mayonnaise or dairy in the salad, it is a perfect choice for picnics and summer barbecues. I can guarantee you we’ll be digging in to this salad all summer long.

Pasta with Artichokes, Sundried Tomatoes, and Spinach

Today I have a confession to make. My name is Katie, and I am a pasta addict. A true, crave-it-all-the-time, pasta fanatic. Any shape, any size, I’m all about it. I’m not really sure where my deep love of all things pasta comes from. Sure, we ate spaghetti and lasagna growing up, but it did not make up the bulk of our meals. I’m also not remotely Italian (though I sometimes wish I was), so that’s not it either. Whatever the reason, pasta has its hooks in me but good.

You would think that this blog would be filled with countless pasta recipes. A quick look through the archive shows that this is hardly the case. Upon reflection, I think this is because I tend to throw together pasta dishes in an impromptu or hurried fashion. I often coble together whatever I have lying around that looks good. Sometimes the results are less than stellar, but often, the final product is so delicious I kick myself for not writing down exact ingredient amounts or taking pictures along the way.

Today’s recipe started out as one of those impromptu meals I threw together one night when I needed dinner on the table in a hurry. The first version was pretty awesome, so I wrote down what I did, and decided to try it again in the future with pictures and detailed directions. I also tweaked the recipe a bit to amp up the flavor. What you see here is the result.

Al dente pasta is tossed together with a healthy, colorful mix of marinated artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, bright green spinach. Salty feta cheese and fresh green onions add a final burst of flavor. The recipe is super quick and super easy – perfect for weeknight dinners or anytime you need a meal in a hurry. Even better, this pasta is fabulous served warm, but it is also good at room temperature or even cold out of the fridge. (Good to know for those of us who get late night munchies!)

Meyer Lemon and Asparagus Risotto

Spring has sprung in Nashville. Okay, maybe not quite, but it is trying. The sky continues to be gray and gloomy, but there are signs of hope people. Daffodils are popping up all over town and the magnolia trees that blanket the city are budding, getting ready to fill the air with their heady fragrance and beautiful color. Can you tell I like spring? And man, I am ready for it to get here in full force.

I have to believe this is what led me to jump the gun last night. By that I mean getting a little over-eager for spring produce and pretending it is asparagus season somewhere other than Mexico or Chile or maybe California. You know, somewhere like Nashville. And while the local growing season is still a few weeks away, I couldn’t resist picking up some asparagus during my last trip to the grocery store. Try as I might to buy things in season, the lure of spring asparagus was too tempting to resist. So I bought some, product of Mexico label and all.

My original plan had been to roast the asparagus. It’s my favorite was to prepare asparagus, no surprise considering my documented love of all roasted vegetables. (I’ll post my recipe for roasted asparagus in a few weeks, once asparagus is really in season.) Plans changed when I realized I did not have enough time to prepare my intended entrée/accompaniment. A little fridge and pantry raiding came up with all of the ingredients to make risotto, so I figured, why not?

I decided to pair the asparagus with some citrus for an even more spring-like flavor. I’d been trying to figure out what to do with some meyer lemons I picked up on impulse a few weeks ago, and this seemed like a great use for them. If you’ve never tried them, meyer lemons are less sour than regular lemons and have a beautiful golden-orange color. I used the zest and the juice of the lemons to perk up the flavor of the creamy rice. The asparagus provided great texture and color contrast. I have to confess, I burnt all the taste buds off my tongue while checking the rice for doneness, so I had to rely on Stan for a full review of the finished product. Happily, he said he really liked the risotto and would definitely enjoy eating it again in the future. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to fully taste and enjoy it too!

Swiss Chard with Feta and Pine Nuts

Today’s post is all about impulse. The impulse that led me to buy a bunch of gorgeous, glossy red Swiss chard at Whole Foods yesterday. The impulse that made me cook it up last night instead of saving it for its intended recipe later in the week. The impulse I fought to not eat the entire batch I prepared. And the impulse I had to resist when I wanted to post this recipe immediately last night but couldn’t since Stan was using the computer. So yeah, this post is dedicated to impulse. But really, when impulse drives me to buy and eat fresh, dark leafy greens, I’m not going to complain. At least it wasn’t ice cream. This time.

If impulse (or good health) hasn’t driven you to trying Swiss chard, I really recommend it. Incredibly nutritious, Swiss chard has shiny, dark green leaves attached to stems that come in an array of colors. When cooked, it has a taste somewhat similar to spinach. I like it because it does not get quite so wilted when it cooks, and you can add in the stems for a little extra crunch and color. Not as bitter as some of the other leafy greens, Swiss chard lends itself well to a number of preparations. Pair it with some crunchy pine nuts, salty feta, and spicy red pepper flakes. It just might become your favorite impulse recipe.

Roasted Beet Risotto

As I’ve mentioned before, February 14th is a big day in our house. Not so much because it’s Valentine’s Day, though. Stan is firmly of the “it’s a Hallmark holiday designed to make people spend money” camp. I, on the other hand, love Valentine’s Day despite its pervasive commercialism. I like the hearts, and the pink and red, and the candy and flowers, and all other manner of girlish whimsy.

But that’s not the point. February 14th is a big day in our house because it’s the anniversary of our first date. Six years ago, we went out on our first official date, and it just so happened to be on Valentine’s Day. So every Valentine’s Day since then has had special meaning. This year, however, was extra special because it was our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple.

Every year, Stan plans a super secret Valentine’s date for us. It’s the one night a year where I know nothing about the plan. I just know it will involve dinner, and I should look spiffy. In keeping with tradition, Stan surprised me with a fabulous dinner at a restaurant I have wanted to try for months. (And these flowers!) We went out on Saturday, the night before Valentine’s Day, so that left me to figure out something special for us to do on Sunday, our “real” big day.

Since Stan had to spend the whole day at school and the office, I wanted him to come home to a special dinner. I kind of wanted it to look Valentine’s-y too. Enter the humble beet. An often-maligned root vegetable, beets have an undeserved bad rep. They are sweet and earthy and pair well with a number of foods. Even better for my purposes, they are a gorgeous, deep pinkish-red color that could not be more perfect for a Valentine’s Day recipe.

I decided to take my beets and incorporate them into a risotto. Creamy and hearty, the risotto paired very well with the savory-sweet chunks of vibrantly hued beets. I served the risotto with homemade rosemary foccacia, an Arugula salad with shaved Parmesan, and a light pear ginger crisp (recipe to come later this week). All in all, it was a memorable, delicious meal, perfect for our first married Valentine’s Day.