Note: I was sent some products from Bob’s Red Mill, including Orca Beans. All opinions are my own.
There are some ingredients that catch your eye, and you just know you have to use them in a recipe. Orca beans are definitely one of those ingredients. Luckily, Bob’s Red Mill sent me a bag of their orca beans, which are grown in Moses Lake, Washington exclusively for the company.
Orca beans, also known as calypso beans, are black and white splattered, and keep their cool coloring even after cooking. This heirloom bean is high in fiber and iron, and work great in any recipe where you would normally use beans.
But. They are so darn pretty I wanted to let them stand out by using them in a very colorful dish.
Cowboy Caviar seemed like the perfect way to show the orca beans off. Typically made with black eyed peas, cowboy caviar is a bean salad / salsa that is great as a party app, on top of grilled chicken, or just on it’s own!
Note: I was sent a Breakfast kit from Krusteaz in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
For the last couple of years, I have had the opportunity to work with Krusteaz to bring attention to a fun way to switch up your dinner routine in February.
February is National Hot Breakfast Month, so to celebrate, Krusteaz encourages you to have breakfast for dinner once a week. As someone who never gets a hot breakfast on weekdays, I’m all for this idea, and have made a couple of yummy breakfast-for-dinner recipes in the past, including Cheesy Corn Pancakes and Frog in a Hole.
To help you celebrate National Hot Breakfast Month, Krusteaz is giving away a Breakfast Night Kit to one reader!
The kit includes:
two boxes of the following breakfast mixes: Buttermilk Pancake Mix, Belgian Waffle Mix, Blueberry Pancake Mix, Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix, and Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake and Muffin Mix
Kitchen items including a whisk, a tote bag, and pancake batter pen
A selfie stick, to help capture the fun!
Further details will be after the recipe.
This year, I decided to have a sweeter breakfast for dinner option, in honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day: Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup.
This recipe uses Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake mix with a few additions to make Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes. I served them with a simple Strawberry Maple Syrup to top them off!
NOTE: I was sent some products from Bob’s Red Mill to make this post. All opinions are my own.
I have a busy week ahead of me, so I wanted to do some food prep this weekend.
Weekday breakfasts for me are typically on-the-go, if I have breakfast at all.
So when I have the chance to make breakfast ahead for the week, I try to make it a healthier option.
Bob’s Red Mill sent me a few of their products recently, including Almond Flour. I love the subtle flavor almond flour adds to baked goods.
Blueberries are a tasty complement to almonds so I decided to make Gluten-Free Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins for the week. They are topped with Bob’s Red Mill’s Gluten-Free Rolled Oats to add some texture.
Note: I was sent a Glass 9″ Pie Plate, a Steel Pie Server, a Double Pastry Wheel, and a 1″ Pastry Brush from OXO. All opinions are alone.
This time of year get’s crazy busy doesn’t it? I feel like December always flies by! Before you know it, the holidays are here. And prepping for them can be tough; it’s difficult to figure out what can be made ahead of time without sacrificing quality.
This Very Berry pie recipe is here to save the day! It can be prepared ahead of time and frozen.
I call this a Very Berry Pie, because it has 5 (!) different types of berries in it: Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and Cranberries. It uses frozen berries to make prepping even easier.
When ready to bake, thaw in your fridge overnight and then bake. Simple right?
Making it even more simple is the use of an OXO Glass 9″ Pie Plate. All OXO Glass Bakeware is made of thermal shock resistant borosilicate glass, so you don’t need to bring it to room temperature before adding it to your oven! (The other glass baking dishes are perfect for pre-made sides for your holiday dinners as well!)
Source: OXO.com
OXO has many other tools that help make preparing for the holidays even easier. You’ll see quite a few of them pop up throughout this post.
Ingredients:
For the pie crust:
1 1/3 cups cold butter
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup ice-cold water
Note: You can also buy pre-made pie crusts. I won’t tell.
For the pie filling:
2 (16 oz) bags frozen mixed berries (mine had blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries)
1 (16 oz) bag frozen cranberries
1 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top of the pie
Pasta night at my house is a very important night. Every Sunday, we have a pasta dish, but like to switch up what exactly the dish is. It’s always fun to experiment with new ingredients, with pasta always being the constant.
So it is pretty important for me to use premium pasta, like De Cecco Authentic Italian Dry Pasta. Since 1886, De Cecco has made its pasta in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The 130-year-old company still uses its original family recipe and high-quality ingredients to create a variety of pasta types.
De Cecco pasta is made with only the best coarse durum semolina, whereas flour is used in most other ordinary pasta brands. This translates into De Cecco being a firmer pasta that doesn’t get mushy or fall apart, even if you overcook it by a minute or two.
This week, I had a hankering for eggplant, so I decided to make Pasta Alla Norma. Pasta Alla Norma is a pasta dish with fried eggplant slices tossed in a chunky tomato sauce. The dish is topped with grated ricotta salata and basil.
Note: Ricotta Salata in America doesn’t pack as much punch as its Italian counterpart. If you can find it, go for an Aged Ricotta Salata. If not, use a bit of grated pecorino Romano along with your Ricotta Salata.
Ingredients:
4 medium sized eggplants (look for ones that feel heavy for their size)
½ cup olive oil, plus more if needed
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 (28 oz) can of San Marzano whole tomatoes, undrained
My house is filled with pomegranates and pomegranate arils. Being a food blogger is tough 🙂
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so I wanted to share a recipe for one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes: cranberry sauce!
This recipe uses pomegranates two ways: in a pomegranate molasses and as whole arils, or seeds. Pomegranate molasses can be found in well-stocked grocery stores or Middle Eastern food stores. But I also show you how to make it below if you so wish.
Ingredients:
Cranberry Sauce:
1 bag (16 oz.) cranberries, thawed if frozen
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar to make less sweet)
I love love love pomegranates. The burst of tanginess is awesome in both sweet and savory dishes.
It is once again pomegranate season (the season runs from ~October through ~January), so I am thrilled to be cooking again with one of my favorite ingredients.
POM Wonderful must have heard about my love of their products, because I was contacted to try out their POM POMS Fresh Arils and pomegranates. I will have a few recipes over the coming weeks, but lets start with something a little sweet.
This recipe for Pomegranate Olive Oil Cake is from the POM Wonderful website. It is topped with a Vanilla Crème Anglaise, a drizzle of olive oil, and some fresh pomegranate arils.
I recently received a nice email from Deiss Kitchenware, a German-based company that makes some snazzy kitchen products. They were kind enough to send me their Citrus Zester and Cheese Grater. I knew I had to make a dish that let me zest and grate my little heart out to try their product, like this recipe for Linguine with Lemon Sauce!
This recipe for Linguine with Lemon Sauce is so simple, and uses mostly ingredients you probably already have on hand. (What? I’m the only person with some Parmigiano Reggiano on hand at all times?)
Ingredients:
4tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter
the zest of 1 lemon
1 (16 oz ) box dried linguine
1/2 cup heavy cream
the juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus extra cheese to serve on the side
Note: I was sent a Glass 3 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Glass 2 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Brownie Spatula, and Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer from OXO. All opinions are my own.
September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Every year, OXO donates up to $100,000 to support an organization called Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The organization was founded by two OXOnians (OXO employees) who were inspired by their son Liam’s battle with pediatric cancer, a disease which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.
I’ve posted twice a year for the last few years to help bring awareness to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Click here to see some of my past posts.
Each year, OXO donates $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blogger post up to their $100,000 commitment. This year, OXO asked us to use a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook, Dorie’s Cookies while using some of OXO’s great baking tools. Dorie’s Cookies includes over 200 recipes from classics to brownies to savory cookies, with some great baking tips thrown in.
I decided to make a recipe in the cookbook named Mary’s Maine Bars, named after a recipe developed by Dorie’s recipe tester (Mary Dodd) after a family trip to Maine. The bars are a delicious, chewy gingerbread that is perfect for the fall. One of the alternative to the recipe suggested swirling apple butter into the batter, so I tried it out!
Note: I was sent a jar of Maille Rosemary Honey Mustard to try. Opinions are my own.
I’m kind of obsessed with my new Coyote OutdoorGrill. I’ve basically made a game out of finding things I can grill that are a bit outside of the box. (To see some of my other recipes I’ve made using my beloved grill, check them out here.) So, today, I bring you a grilled cheese plate, specifically a Grilled Camembert Cheese Plate.
Cheese with a thick outer rind, like a Camembert or Brie, are perfect for grilling. The inside becomes this beautiful gooey dip that I just cannot get enough of.
Just sticking a round of cheese on a grill honestly wouldn’t make for much of a recipe, so I decided to grill the whole cheese plate! I paired my lovely cheese with Grilled Rosemary Cashews and Brandied Rosemary Cherries. To finish off the plate, I included honey for drizzling as well as Maille’s Rosemary Honey Mustard that comes in the most beautiful green sandstone jar.
I was sent a jar of the Honey Mustard and I knew it would be the perfect addition to this cheese plate!
May is (was) National Egg Month, and, well, the month of May ended more abruptly than I was expecting. So, happy June, and happy belated National Egg Month! (This Friday, June 3rd, is National Egg DAY though, so you can celebrate your little heart out then.)
I love using eggs in dinner recipes, because I don’t get much opportunity for a nice sit down breakfast with eggs. This Cooking Light recipe is the perfect eggs-for-dinner meal — Arugula Pizza topped with Poached Eggs.
Nellie’s eggs sent me some coupons, plus a cool little kit that included a t-shirt, stress egg, and a gift card so that I could try their eggs in a post, and this recipe seemed like the perfect opportunity. Nellie’s are free range, the hens are never caged, and have as much or as little access to the outside as they’d like.
Nellie’s works with over 40 independent, family owned and operated farms to provide their free range eggs produced from Certified Humane Free Range hens that are antibiotic and hormone free.
This time of year delivers some pret-ty great produce. All of the green veggies are in season! This recipe from Cooking Light for Spring Vegetable Penne with Lemon Cream Sauce makes the most of some spring vegetables, asparagus and peas.
The pasta recipe is a “two pot meal” so it comes together pretty quickly without giving you too make dishes afterwards!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped
1 (10-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shaved Parmesan cheese, divided
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DareToPair #CollectiveBias
Hooray for spring! The weather may be warming up, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my beloved pasta! However, I can at least lighten up my weekly pasta a bit. My favorite way to add a little spring to my pasta? Pesto, like in this recipe for Roasted Tomato Pesto Pasta!
Pairing fresh ingredients with pasta can really lighten up a comfort food favorite like pasta. I added in some slow roasted cherry tomatoes to add a bit of tomatoey goodness to the dish.
Barilla has a few Better for You Pasta’s to make lightening up you pasta dish even easier. I picked up a box of Barilla ProteinPLUS Rotini Pasta from Walmart; other options available at Walmart include Whole Grain Pasta, Veggie Pasta and Gluten Free Pasta.
Note: there is a great Ibotta offer right now for Buy any 3 select varieties of Barilla Products and earn $1.00 at Walmart! Details can be found at the link above.
Barilla ProteinPLUS has 17g of protein from all-natural vegetarian ingredients, so it’s a great way to add more protein to your pasta meals without adding meat or seafood.
Ingredients:
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
1 box of Barilla ProteinPLUS Rotini (or Spaghetti)
I am SO ready for spring! Around this time every year, I tend to start making more “springy” recipes in the hopes that the weather picks up on my strong hints for warmer weather. And what are more spring than peas?
This recipe for Kritharoto (Orzo Pasta with Peas Lemon and Feta) is from the most recent Cooking Light magazine.
In this recipe, Kirtharoto (or orzo pasta) is cooked in a chicken stock, tossed with fresh herbs and citrus, and topped with feta cheese. This simple recipe is on the table in under 30 minutes too!
Ingredients:
3 cups unsalted chicken stock or vegetable stock to make vegetarian
