Note: I was sent coupons from Nasoya in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
Despite working from home for nearly a year now, I feel like I have less time to cook! I have a feeling I’m not alone, so I wanted to share a healthy, quick, and comforting recipe for a yummy Crunchy Noodle Salad that you can get on the dinner table in ~40 minutes.
This Crunchy Noodle Salad is made with glass noodles, sugar snap peas, shredded carrots, bell peppers, and crispy tofu tossed in a yummy peanut dressing, and can be served at room temperature or cold, so it makes for a great dinner-plus-leftovers option.
Don’t let the whole vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free part of this recipe throw you, it will fill you up! I this recipe uses Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu that delivers 15g of protein per serving to keep you full. Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is also pre-pressed and drained so it’s perfect for quick dinners. Plus Nasoya’s Organic Super Firm Tofu is non-GMO project verified, USDA organic, cholesterol free, gluten free, and made with no preservatives. Nasoya is widely available in most grocery stores; I stopped into my local Shop Rite (it’s also available locally in Philly at Walmart Supercenters, Giant and Giant Heirloom Markets, The Fresh Grocer, and Wegmans), plus you can use their store locator to find which local grocers near you carry it.
Ingredients (serves 4):
6 oz glass noodles
8 oz sugar snap peas
1 package Nasoya Organic Super Firm Tofu, cubed
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup tamari (or low sodium soy sauce if you don’t need this recipe to be gluten-free)
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon roasted white sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
Note: I was sent a box of various Bob’s Red Mill products to make the below recipe. Opinions are mine alone.
This past weekend, a friend and I got together to stock our freezers. The fall is a super busy time of year for most, so we wanted to have a variety of meals ready to make some nights (and mornings) easier. We settled on eleven (11!) recipes, organized a shopping list split between the two of us, and set up prep work (chopping veggies for the most part) for the night before. The next morning, we met at my place and got to cooking!
Chili is a go-to freezer recipe. Not only does it freeze well, but it works great on its own, with cornbread, over polenta, as a “dip” with corn chips, with eggs for breakfast, etc. This recipe originally began as a vegetarian chili, but we had more ground beef leftover, so in it went!
I am a firm believer that dried beans make for a tastier dish than canned beans. There is some prep work needed, but it is very much worth it. I used Bob’s Red Mill Red Kidney Beans and Cannellini Beans for this recipe.
source: bobsredmill.com
We made a LOT of this chili, somewhere around 20 servings, so I’ve scaled it down for this post to make it more appropriate. Feel free to double if needed.
Note: I will share and link all of our recipes below. It was quite a successful cooking day!
Ingredients (makes 8-10 servings):
12 oz dried Bob’s Red Mill Red Kidney Beans (~1/2 bag)
12 oz dried Bob’s Red Mill Cannellini Beans (1/2 bag)
Note: I was sent a Rubbermaid’s Easy Find Lids 20-Piece Storage Set to review. All opinions are mine alone.
We have had a pretty moderate fall so far, but the cold weather isn’t too far off. This time of year, I like to fill my freezer with different meals so I always have comfort food on hand for busy weeknights. One of my favorites, of course, is chili.
Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids are a life saver – I typically just keep the containers from take out and they are all just shoved into a cabinet net to my stove, with no organization to them whatsoever. So i spend a good 10 minutes finding the right top to go with whatever container I’ve chosen. Rubbermaid’s storage set takes the annoyance out of trying to find the right top — the Lids snap on to the bottom of their respective containers so you can find them in no time! The containers also nest inside each other so you can have a small stack of all of your containers and lids in one spot.
The 20-piece set comes with 3 (0.5 Cup), 3 (1.25 Cup), 1 (2 Cup), 2 (3 Cup), 1 (5 Cup), and 10 respective Easy Find Lids. The plastic is dishwasher, freezer, and microwave safe and is also BPA-free.
On to the recipe! This time around, I went for a classic – ground beef and beans with some bratwurst meat for additional flavor (I used beef bratwurst, but you can use any type you’d like).
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (omit for dairy free)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound bratwurst, removed from its casing
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 chipotle from can of chipotles in adobo sauce, finely chopped (seeds removed if preferred)
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from can of chipotles in adobo
2 red bell peppers, chopped (or whatever color you prefer)
2 (15.5 oz) cans red kidney beans, drained
1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, drained
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon espresso grounds
For garnish: 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped; 4 oz sour cream; 4 oz cheddar or pepper Jack cheese, shredded
This post brought to you by Campbell’s Dinner Sauces. Weekend-worthy dinners with only weekday-level effort needed! Learn more at https://www.campbellsauces.com/
This year, my boyfriend and I are hosting a New Year’s Eve party. With a quite a few friends coming from out of town, I need a recipe that is simple to make but can feed a crowd. I also need something that doesn’t dirty up every pot and pan I own right before the party starts, which means I’m whipping out my trusty slow cooker!
Campbell’s has made this process even easier for me with their new Slow Cooker Sauces. I actually mentioned in a previous post how I wanted to try the Sweet Korean BBQ sauce, so here’s my opportunity! I made a test batch this week to see how it tastes.
As a member of the DailyBuzz Brand Ambassador Program, I once again get to work with Campbell’s to try out another one of their delicious sounding sauces. The sauces are currently available in supermarkets, typically in the Gravy or Boxed Dinner Kit aisles. (To learn more about the sauces, check out their interactive Facebook app that gives more information about both the Skillet and the Slow Cooker Sauces.)
Because the sauce is already prepared, getting everything into the slow cooker is a cinch. To stretch the beef a little further, I made these into tacos served with red cabbage, sriracha sour cream, and red bell peppers.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 bunch green onions (scallions), divided
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3-4 lbs boneless chunk roast
1 package of Campbell’s Sweet Korean BBQ Slow Cooker Sauce
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon sriracha (depending on your spice tolerance)
As the weather cools down, I want more and more comfort food. I gravitate towards pastas, all forms of a warm meal, and food with a little spice to it to keep me feeling toasty, like this Cedar Plant Fired Salmon.
Carrabba’s must know I’m not alone. They have recently launched a new Fire Finished menu and I was lucky enough to do a tasting of it! Last week, I headed over to a local Carrabba’s and tried the following:
Fire Roasted Mushrooms stuffed with sausage, red bell peppers, fennel, sauteed onions, brioche breadcrumbs, artichoke hearts, and romano cheese.
Photo courtesy of Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Cedar Plank Fired Salmon first pan-seared then topped with a crab cake and fire-roasted on a cedar plank then finished off with a lemon butter sauce. Served with roasted asparagus mushrooms and red bell peppers.
Photo courtesy of Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Bistecca Ardente: Center-cut sirloin wood-grilled then topped with blue cheese, roasted tomatoes, and basil.
Photo courtesy of Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Rigatoni al Forno: Rigatoni tossed in housemade marinara sauce, romano and mozzarella cheese and topped with Italian fennel sausage, mozzarella and fresh ricotta cheese finished off in a wood-burning oven.
Photo courtesy of Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Nonna Testa: Penne pasta with wood-grilled chicken in a housemade pesto cream (basil, pine nuts, walnuts) with spinach and zucchini, topped with mozzarella and baked in a wood-burning oven.
Creme Brulee prepared with Madagascar vanilla bean topped with torched turbinado sugar, whipped cream, and strawberries.
Photo courtesy of Carrabba’s Italian Grill
The fire-roasted mushrooms were a great start to the meal. I love fennel so I was happy this flavor came through. The mixture is lightly stuffed in the mushrooms so they remain nice and light. Really tasty!
The cedar plank-fired salmon was one of my favorite dishes. I loved it so much, I tried to recreate it! The salmon was perfectly cooked and the crab cake was a great addition. The cedar flavor shown through without being overpowering. Check out my recipe below to make at home.
The Bistecco Ardente was so juicy, especially for being cooked to medium-well. The blue cheese can be a tad overpowering though so I scooped a bit off so that I could get the taste of the steak, tomatoes, and basil as well.
The Rigatoni al Forno gave me more of my beloved fennel flavor. I liked that the pasta on top got crispy from the wood-burning oven, but would’ve liked more sauce to complement the pasta.
Nonna Testa was another of my favorites. Man this was good. The wood-grilled chicken was really juicy and flavorful and there was the perfect amount of pesto cream on the pasta (lightly dressed so it’s not overly heavy). I love spinach and zucchini so I couldn’t have been happier with this dish!
Now I’m pretty sure I’ve never met a creme brulee I didn’t like but this version was really really tasty. The vanilla flavored custard was so creamy and I loved the light touch of torched sugar to give a very thin crust to the dish without overpowering the custard with too much sugar.
Needless to say, I left super full and really happy with the tasting. The staff at the Springfield Carrabba’s were so attentive and helpful too! Thanks for a great meal!
The managing partner, Ernie, even took the time to explain all of the dishes and answer any questions we had. When I told him I was planning on doing a giveaway so that my readers could try this tasty menu, he gave me a copy of the Carrabba’s Italian Grill Cookbook (paid link) for myself and one to give away! The cookbook does not include recipes for the fire finished menu (because it’s so new) but many of Carrabba’s signature dishes, including Chicken Bryan, Mama Mandola’s Sicilian Chicken Soup, and Margherita Pizza are included within its pages. So special thanks to Ernie for the cookbooks!
In addition to the cookbook, I am also giving away a $25 gift certificate to Carrabba’s so that one reader can try out some of the menu for themselves. Details after the recipe!
Note: It is very difficult to make smaller portions of crab cakes because crab meat is usually sold in 1 pound containers. I made about 9 crab cakes and saved the leftovers for dinner the next night. If you are unable to do that, you can purchase pre-made crab cakes from your local supermarket.
Ingredients (serves 2):
CRABCAKES (makes 9, only use 2 and save the rest for up to one day):
1 tablespoon butter
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 lb jumbo lumb crab meat
1/3 cup panko
1/2 cup mayo
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
the zest of one lemon
CEDAR PLAN FIRED SALMON
1 tablespoon butter
2 8-oz salmon fillets
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cedar plank board
LEMON BUTTER SAUCE
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, divided (I used ghee, a clarified butter)
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