Thai Curry Zoodle Soup

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Georgina

Thai Curry Zoodle Soup

You’re probably thinking, wow that’s such a gorgeous picture! You’ve gotten so good at taking crisp, clean, beautiful pictures of your recipes!

But in full disclosure I didn’t take these pics.

Nope.

I wish. I’m working on getting better at staging my food and having more white space in my pictures, but I’m not there yet.

Carolyn at All Day I Dream About Food posted this recipe and I knew I had to make my own version of her soup. But we ate it so quick I didn’t even get to snap a picture! haha. ~~Kidding~~

I made this soup and made a few small tweaks. I’m sure it wasn’t bad to begin with but I seem to be incapable of following a recipe line for line without putting my own spin on things. 🙂

This is the perfect healthy and delicious soup. I LOVE thai flavors and this is a healthy, low salt, and low sugar way to get it in my mouth PRONTO. And will Fall setting in around us, you gotta try this!

So easy right? I really don’t know why I didn’t think about putting zoodles in soup before…? And with just putting the hot broth over the zoodles, they cook perfectly and you don’t end up with a mushy mess.As stated before. I adapted this recipe from All Day I Dream About Food. You need to go and take a look at her website! Carolyn posts some really great stuff. Like today, she has a new post on Caramelized Onion Pizza. UMMM yes please, I can get into that.

Anyway, to ease some of my guilt on being lazy and not taking my own pictures for this post, please go take a peak at the great work she’s doing over at her blog!

Thank you all for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I’ll “see” you next week!

xoxoxoxo

Potato Leek Soup

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Georgina

Potato Leek Soup

{HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY}

I am Irish- like super Irish. My paternal grandma was actually born and raised in Ireland and my maternal side is just as equally sprinkled with Irishness. I love it and am proud of my heritage.

Last year for the beloved Saint Patricks Day, I had THE worst head cold of my life. seriously. the worst. I didn’t cook a thing. I was couch ridden for like 2 days…. BUT this year I was debating between all the classics, such as my beloved late grandmothers authentic Irish Stew, or corned beef, or soda bread, or cabbage or potatoes, the list goes on and on! But since the temperature took a dip this week here in Wisco, I opted for made this do.die.for. potato leek soup.

My mom used to make this for us when I was going up, and for some reason I didn’t really like it much until a little later on in my life. This was a little varied from the potato leek soup I grew up on, but equally delicious. Here is my recipe for a small little tribute to my wonderful, wonderful heritage. Slainte!

Ingredients:

8 potatoes (5 roughly chopped and 3 chopped into bite site pieces)
2 medium leeks
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
3 stalks of celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
Thyme (fresh or dried)
½ – 1 cup of water
3 tbsp. of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Half the leeks lengthwise and rinse, then thinly slice. Reserve about ¼ of the leek for later. Chop your onion and potatoes and mince the garlic. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot. Once heated sauté the onion, leek, and garlic until softened. Add the potatoes and 4 cups of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and let cook until the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes).

Meanwhile, chop the rest of your potatoes and the celery and carrots. Sauté those in a separate pan with a the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and some fresh(or dried) thyme.

Once the potatoes in the broth are cooked through and are soft, use an immersion blender (immersion is the way to go for this in my opinion) and puree/blend the broth mixture. However if need be, you could transfer the pot contents to a blender and do it that way, but be careful!). Blend until all chunks are gone and everything is blended thoroughly. This should create a creamy texture.

Now throw in your additional potato pieces, reserved sliced leeks, the sautéed vegetables, and the additional water to the pot. I found I needed about ¾ of a cup of water, but really the water is just to get the soup to a consistency you are happy with, so this amount can vary. Just add water until it looks good 🙂

Bring it all to a boil and reduce heat. Cook for about 20-30 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally! Season with salt and pepper and ENJOY!!

Yummmmmmm.

This soup is very low fat and chocked full of nutrients. I’m not sure if this would work, but I got the idea to do a sweet potato version of this. Not Irish at all but also maybe put a little mexican flare like adding corn, black beans, cilantro….? Sounds good to me! I’ll let you know if I get around to it 🙂

As always, thanks for stopping by! And I hope you all had a great St. Paddy’s Day!

xoxo

Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Georgina

Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Casserole

HEYOOOO!

It’s Friday again! I love posting on Friday. They are such a happy day and everyone is in a great mood!

Sooooo this recipe is a total copy cat of my major girl crush, Lindsay over at Pinch of Yum. If you are on Pinterest at all, I 100% guarantee you have one of her posts pinned to your recipe board. She is a source of never ending amazing, well, everything! Food, Recipes, pictures, helpful blogging tips and tricks, laughs, inspiration….ok, like I said, girl crush.

I get so many recipe inspirations from her! Her and her hubby, Bjork, started Pinch of Yum a few years ago as a side fun thing and it morphed into their full time job and all their dreams come true! They are like a blogging, social media, power couple- and I want them to adopt me. ~~kidding.~~

So I saw this recipe in my inbox one day and it struck a chord. Jake is always saying how now that I focus on healthier food for us, he misses the cheesy casseroles and pasta and this and that. Well this looked like the perfect solution, keeps me happy with veggies and quinoa and only a little cheese and keeps him happy because it tastes amazeballs and he’ll think it’s loaded with cheese.

WIN.WIN.

It was really good! I had a little trouble getting all the water to absorb into the quinoa, but I just left it in the oven for a little longer until it looked the consistency I wanted. Of course I can never follow a recipe word for word so I made this my “own” in a few ways…. made this gluten free and used almond milk since my stomach can’t really do dairy milk. Also spiced it up a little by using red pepper flakes. I loved the way mine tasted but here’s the original Lindsay version.

But here is my version. Deeeelicious. You have to try it for yourself.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond)
1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
½ cup flour (I used GF all purpose)
2 cups water, divided
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
¼ cup already cooked and then crumbled bacon (optional but not really 🙂 )
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons seasoning (I love Penzeys Mural of Flavor but any basic blend you like will work)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup shredded Gruyere cheese (although you can use whatever you would like)
3 cups fresh broccoli florets

INSTRUCTIONS
Sauce: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and generously grease a 9×13 baking dish (not kiddint- be generous, it really sticks to the sides). Bring the chicken broth and ½ cup milk to a low boil in a saucepan. Whisk the other ½ cup milk with the bouillon seasoning and flour; add the mixture to the boiling liquid and whisk until a smooth creamy sauce forms.
Put it all together: In a large bowl, mix the sauce from step one, one cup of water, the quinoa, and bacon and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips and lay the chicken breasts strips over the top of the quinoa mixture. Sprinkle with your seasoning of choice. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Broccoli: While the casserole is in the oven, place the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute until it turns bright green and then run under cold water. Set aside.
Bake: Remove the casserole from the oven, check the mixture by stirring it around in the pan, and if needed, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes to get the right consistency. When the quinoa and chicken are cooked and the sauce is thickened, add the broccoli and a little bit of water (like 1/2 cup) until the consistency is creamy and smooth and you can stir it up easily in the pan. Top with the cheese and bake for 5 minutes, or just long enough to melt the cheese. You can hit it with the broiler to get a pretty golden color if you want too. TADA

And then eat it up! Sooooo tasty. And pretty relatively guilt free!

So you have two take aways from today:

1) Make this recipe and come back and tell me how you liked it.

2) Go check out Lindsay and Bjorks site Pinch of Yum, if you haven’t already that is 🙂

OH and one last thing:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! ❤ ❤ ❤ I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. As always thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

*This post contains no sponsored or affiliate links.

Sweet Potato Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Georgina

Sweet Potato Cakes with Garlic Dipping Sauce

Hello loves!

Happy weekend! I would like to announce to the world that I’M DONE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!

Pretty much a first for me. Usually I’m working away until 12/24! But they are done. I plan on wrapping them up this weekend. I have a few more things that are being delivered in the next coming days and I also have to make one more thing but I have all the supplies for it. I’m so happy!

Christmas is my favorite time of year. People are nicer, the decorations are beautiful (I mean seriously I could just stare at lit up Christmas trees all night long), Christmas music brings back so many happy memories for me, and I get so excited to give my loved ones the presents I’ve put effort and love into!

It all makes me happy. You know what else makes me happy? These amazing sweet potato cakes. Fo’ realzzz

Sweet Potato Cakes w/ Garlic Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

3 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 cup corn kernels (Frozen or fresh)
3 green onions
¼ bunch cilantro (divided)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper – can add more if you like spicy!
¼ tsp chipotle pepper powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal/polenta
2/3 cup plain breadcrumbs (I did gluten free with these)
Oil of your choice (for frying)
1 cup plain greek yogurt (I used this dairy free kind)
1 clove garlic or 1 tbsp of garlic powder for a milder taste

Instructions

Begin by cooking the sweet potatoes. The fastest way to do this is in the microwave. Prick the skin of each potato with a fork. Wrap one potato in a paper towel, place it on a plate, and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully remove it from the microwave, squeeze it to make sure it’s soft in the center, and the allow it cool as you cook the next one. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them open and scoop the flesh into a large bowl.
Slice the green onions and roughly chop a handful of cilantro. Add the green onions, cilantro, corn kernels, salt, chipotle, cumin, and cayenne pepper to the bowl with the cooked sweet potatoes. Stir until well combined.
Add the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and egg to the bowl. These ingredients will bind the mixture together and keep it from falling apart while cooking. Stir until evenly combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This step is important so you don’t have crunchy cakes 🙂
While the sweet potato mixture is refrigerating, mix up the garlic sauce. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, one clove of well minced garlic or you can use garlic powder for a milder taste, and a handful of cilantro leaves (roughly chopped). Stir until combined and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
After the sweet potato mixture has refrigerated, add enough oil to fully cover the bottom of a medium skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot (but not smoking). Shape the sweet potato mixture into small patties and cook about 4 at a time in the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on each side; about 3 minutes per side. Once done, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Continue to cook until all potato mix is gone and add more oil to the skillet as needed.
Top with your yogurt sauce and enjoy!!

You can eat these without the sauce too- they’re equally delicious!!

Soooo damn good and healthy too. These are great by themselves or as a side too.

Hope you enjoy these and I hope you are enjoying the Holiday season so far! Do you have your present shopping done? What do you have left to do? Do you do homemade or buy gifts? Comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

xoxo

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Georgina

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Ah- Who still feels full after Thanksgiving?! Oh just me? There’s just always such delicious food and I over indulge every.single.time. No shame.

But I always run into the issue the week afterwards of obviously needing to eat, but not hungry, or nothing sounds good, or only the stuffing and mashed potatoes sound good but I ate them all… ugh, the struggles. I need something lighter.

Enter delicious veggies:

Yum. These plus protein rich beans and lentils= me eating without feeling guilty!

Plus it helps keep me full longer- ultra bonus.

Plus look how pretty it is! ultra ULTRA bonus

Lentil & Black Bean Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing

Ingredients
1 cup dry lentils (green or brown or both!)
2 cups cooked black beans or 1 15oz can, rinsed and drained
1 bell pepper of your choice, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
½ cup cilantro, stems removed and chopped

-Dressing-
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions
Put lentils into a small sauce pan with plenty of water to cover, bring to a boil then lower the heat to simmer, cover, and cook until lentils are tender; which is about 30-40 minutes, but check your package for specific instructions! Drain lentils and let cool slightly

While lentils are cooking, make the dressing: place all ingredients in a small bowl or cup* and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Combine the bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, beans, and lentils in a large glass* bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Add cilantro, and lightly toss once more.
You can serve it immediately or chill covered in the fridge to let the flavors combine and enjoy later!

This was really really really tasty and would be something awesome to make to bring for lunches at work throughout the week! It was just what I needed, light and refreshing.

*I suggest using a glass bowl because the dressing contains lime juice. The acidity in lime juice often reacts with metal in metals bowls and can give your food a metallic taste- yuk!

Pourrrrr over

Action shot 🙂

ta da!

now EAT!

This was perfect. Light and delicious. I preferred it chilled a little bit but it was great room temp too!

I hope everyone had a great holiday week/weekend and that you enjoy this dish too!

Ps- less than 3 weeks until Christmas!!! wooohooo! I’m so excited to share some of my crafts and homemade gifts I’m doing this year with you guys! But of course I have to wait until after the gifts are given so I don’t spoil the surprise 🙂

xoxo