i love snacks

do you keep snacks at work? 

i always have. if i have things at my desk, it prevents me from going out to eat as much and let's be honest, it just helps to have something to munch on sometimes.

my office is right in between a safeway and a whole foods. i've been to the chip aisle. i've purchased some dogs and some winners over the years. if you find yourself craving something salty at 3 pm, here's my picks for not-so-bad-for-you snacks.

starting from the top, the quinoa chips are great and light and come in a few different flavors. cheddar is the best.

i was skeptical about the beanitos, but they are so freaking addictive. i swear you could blindfold someone and they'd think it was a dorito.

there's a lot of black bean chips out there, but these black bean tortillas have just the right amount of crunch and salt to make them stand out.

the chia crisps are an at-work staple for me. they come in a few flavors, but i think the jalapeno white cheddar is my favorite. it's spicy!

the skinny sticks are my most recent discovery and i'm sad we only just met. these are so so good. it's like a sunchip, tortilla chip and grown-up funyun all in one. addicting. 

_ _ _

any snacks i should know about?

make this now

i hate doing dishes. 

i'll seriously clean bathrooms before i do dishes. least favorite household chore.

that's why one-pan meals are so awesome.

this delicious, satisfying healthy meal is perfect for chilly fall evenings. and it's foolproof.

first things first: mise en place aka get your shit together. chop up one onion, peel and dice one sweet potato and prepare the kale. that means rinsing, removing the tough middle rib piece and chopping. 

next, cook about a pound of ground meat. i love turkey thigh because it's flavorful without being fatty. but this recipe is so versatile, so forgiving, that you could use anything: beef, chicken, even seitan or another meat-free alternative.

back to the recipe. when i cook ground meat, i turn the heat up to medium-high/high for about two minutes to get the pan nice and hot. then i add just a dribble of olive oil, and dump the meat in the non-stick pan. THEN DON'T TOUCH IT. 

just let it cook for a few minutes WITHOUT MOVING IT and it'll caramelize nicely and get some of that delicious golden brown color on it. at this stage, you should add about a teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of pepper. 

once the meat is cooked, drain off the fat if you need to and set aside in a bowl.

now it's time to cook the prepared veggies. 

add a bit more olive oil to the pan, let it heat up for a second and then add ONLY the onion and sweet potato. season with another teaspoon of salt and half teaspoon of pepper. cook until the onions are translucent and the potato softens, about five minutes.

once they're cooked, add the meat back and season the entire dish with two teaspoons of curry powder. any curry powder works. if the curry you're using is mild, you may want to add a few small dashes of cayenne.

once everything is back in the pan, toss in the kale. i used one large bunch here. it will look like a lot, but it wilt.

and that's it! give it a taste for seasoning and you're done! dinner is served. you could even throw a poached egg on top, but that's another dish to wash. your call.

this is one of those feel-good dinners. it's filling, inexpensive, warm and super good for you. make this and you can check dinner off the list for tonight. 

thigh school

i'll admit it.

i was a boneless, skinless chicken eater for most of my life. that's what i'd buy every time i'd go to the store. and most of the time, i'd do something pretty boring: bake it, fry it, grill it.

i don't remember exactly when i got turned on to the wonderfulness that is chicken thighs but it's truly one of my favorite things to have for dinner. there's a lot to love, really: they're super cheap (for real you guys. check the price next time you're at the store), delicious and can stand up to lots of different flavors and cooking techniques.

here's three of my favorite ways to cook them. these are recipes i've made at least five times so i know the recipes are legit and you're likely to have a successful time making these dishes.

ginger lime | white bean + tomato | fried

as tends to happen when you cook a recipe a lot, i do have some tips for you though:

for the ginger lime recipe, unless you're actually using the recommended 8 pieces of chicken (we usually cook four or five at a time), USE HALF THE AMOUNT OF SALT FOR THE RUB OR YOU WILL DIE. ok. you won't die. but it's crazy salty otherwise.

for the white bean recipe, i find that i like the taste of dried oregano better than fresh.

and for the fried, the recipe actually refers to these as "pan roasted" and i suppose that's kind of what you're doing here. but the result is a lot more in the fried category. you just use way less oil than your typical fried chicken recipe and get the same crispy results.

_ _ _

i hope you'll give thighs a try sometime. i actually don't love chicken skin (except for the super crispy fried kind) but i love using bone-in, skin-on thighs. the skin keeps the chicken from drying out and the bone adds a lot of extra flavor. 

gotta be fresh

if you're someone who buys a lot of fresh produce, one of the worst things is when something goes bad before you get a chance to eat it. 

i love a good mushroom, but they go bad so quickly. so i did a little research and found a few different methods that promise to increase the shelf life of fungi, and this is by far the best.

throwing them in a brown paper bag and then putting that bag in the fridge keeps them fresh and ready to go. these mushrooms pictured below are more than a week old, and they look just as good as the day i brought them home from the store. 

so here's to tripling your shelf life and fully enjoying your creminis and shiitakes!

_ _ _

for more kitchen tips, see this post on tortillas, lemons and salad.

stems

update: so i took a bit of an unplanned/unannounced break from blogging after my son was born. i had planned to write and then schedule all these fun posts to go up after he arrived, but somehow i lost my camera's memory card that had pictures to go along with those posts. bleh.

i didn't feel like going back and re-shooting everything i'd done, so i decided to give myself a little break from blogging. but i'm back!

i still haven't found my memory card though.

_ _ _

today i wanted to talk about using the part of broccoli that usually gets thrown away: the stems.

we eat broccoli a lot in our house--in salads, roasted, sauteed--but it always bothered me that we were wasting the stems (stalks?).

so i found a super easy and delicious way to turn that would-be trash into a great side dish. 

there's not much to it: just peel the stems to remove the rough outer part, cut into bite-sized pieces and pan fry with a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if you want heat.

add a dusting of fresh parm and you're ready to eat.

these would also be tasty with a little garlic or some toasted pine nuts and a bit of lemon zest.

enjoy!

pinterest wins

i've found that finding recipes through pinterest is pretty hit or miss.

there have been a few dishes i've tried that haven't ended up as favorites, but today i wanted to focus on the winners.

below are three categories: super easy, super yummy, and super desserts.

the first three can be prepared so quickly, they're perfect for nights when you don't feel like doing much of anything. these second (duh), are just really delicious meals. they take a bit more effort, but i've had great success with all of them. the last group are some of the best desserts i've found through pinterest. the sugar cookie bars (middle) are my new favorites. they're ridiculous.

above all else, these are all incredibly satisfying meals. they'll leave you with a smile on your face every time. and i wanted to pass on some of those good vibes to you today.

easy: 1 | 2 | 3
yummy: 1 | 2 | 3
desserts: 1 | 2 | 3

enjoy! and have fun in the kitchen. 

perfectly seasoned

 back in january, i mentioned that i salt my salads. it's something i picked up from my grandmother after seeing her doing it for years.

today, i wanted to continue talking about seasoning and why it's so important. proper, generous seasoning takes a dish from meh to oh mama every time.

for this example, i thought i'd try to illustrate layers of flavor. if you've ever watched food network for more than five minutes, you've probably heard one of their talking heads use this phrase. but it really, really makes a difference.

take your basic pork milanese.

you have your pork cutlets ready to go. they're looking good and you're feeling hungry.  

first things first: season both sides with kosher salt and pepper. this is true for any time you're seasoning meat. don't forget to give the underside of that meat some love too!

next, it's time for a dip in the ol' egg wash. after beating the eggs, i add kosher salt, pepper and hot sauce. you can omit the hot sauce if you want, but a few shakes adds a tiny kick and i really enjoy that.  

now, it's time to coat the pork.

again, we're seasoning every layer, so don't forget to season whatever breadcrumbs you're using. i use panko most of the time.

after you're done frying them up, i sprinkle just a touch of salt on the golden fried beauties. 

delicious. 

the example here is meat-based, but the concept of adding flavor to every layer holds true for almost everything. when i make homemade tzatziki, i salt and pepper the cucumbers before adding them to the yogurt. don't be scared to add salt--i'm not someone who likes their food particularly salty, but that extra seasoning will really bring out the flavor of any dish...even desserts. 

my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe doesn't call for salt, but i add it anyways. it's so much more flavorful. 

and while i love me some real simple recipes, we jokingly refer to them as "real under-seasoned" at our house. almost all of the recipes i've tried from there end up needing just a pinch of salt. when you're working from a recipe you found online somewhere, if it doesn't tell you to season the base layer (meat, veggies, whatever it is), throw in a little salt and pepper. 

your tastebuds will love you for it. 

corn and tomato

i love the absolute abundance of fresh farm markets available throughout d.c. 

and there's no better time of year for freshness than august. walk through any market and you'll see: the produce is just gorgeous. it's instagram heaven.

_ _ _

for this month's seasonal eating post, i wanted to share two super simple ways to use up all those delicious ripe tomatoes and ears of corn you picked up over the weekend.

and when you're working with such great ingredients, you don't really need to do too much.

so let's start with tomatoes.

the boy and i saw this recipe in bon appetit while traveling to florida.

the truth is that bruschetta bores me. it's always soggy, and it just feels...meh. i almost never order it if i'm out to eat.

but i really enjoyed their method, and i'm happy with how it turned out. i tweaked their original recipe a bit to suit my taste as well (is it still bruschetta if i add cheese? eh.) here's what i did:

a few tips: this really is one of those "recipes" where you can just eyeball it. i honestly don't think you can mess this one up. i don't have quantities included as part of the directions because i was pretty loose with my measurements. we used one baguette, a handful of grape tomatoes with some green zebras thrown in for color, about a clove-and-a-half of garlic, and one heaping tablespoon each of olive oil and red wine vinegar. this was more than enough for two people.

i couldn't find fresh buffalo mozzarella at the store that day (cheese snob alert!), so i just got what looked the freshest to me and dressed it up with salt, pepper, herbs and red pepper before adding it to the dish.

i usually prefer dried oregano, but i used fresh here and i liked it. sometimes fresh oregano is too strong for my taste, but since this dish doesn't have too many ingredients, i liked the punch the fresh stuff added.

_ _ _ 

now what about the corn?

i'm happy to say that after years of only being able to enjoy my precious elote when i was at a restaurant or ballgame, i've learned how to make it at home. and it's simple.

so happy.

we grilled our corn, husks and all. i'd say we left them on the grill for about 15 minutes. if you don't have a grill, you can prepare the corn in boiling water or microwave it.

for two ears of corn, we combined about 1.5 tablespoons each of mayonnaise and softened butter.

i like it spicy. we used about 1/8 teaspoon for both ears of corn. but you can use less or omit it entirely if you prefer.

lastly, a word about mayonnaise on corn: just don't think about it. i ate this corn for years, delightful in my ignorance about what it was that made it so good. when i started researching how to make it at home, i almost gagged. 

until about two years ago, you couldn't get me to even touch the outside of a jar of mayonnaise. but the boy's been helping me work through this phobia and i'm now slathering the stuff on my BLTs and adding it to ranch dips.  all i'm saying is that if you're a mayo-hater, just try it. i still can't stand the way the stuff smells, and there isn't even a hint that taste in the finished product. promise. don't be scared.

_ _ _

do you have a favorite way to enjoy late-summer produce?

i'd love to hear it!

_ _ _

looking for more seasonal eating recipes? check out the archives here.

cold two days

one of these guys lives in the bathroom

lucy + the snow

the bush in frozen form

really pumped for another organic ingredients-minded fast food option

tomatoes for lunch