A Place for tasty food, simply prepared
This is my take on a fast and easy Paella. Feel free to go as big or little with adding things to this dish. I usually make this with just shrimp but want to go bigger? Add chicken, sausage (chorizo), Mussels, Squid. The base method …
I have written about my love for Greek food and Tzatzki before and this is another favorite recipe to use that delicious sauce. It is a pretty flexible dish that can go great with rice, pitas, potatoes, or even just a nice side salad. To …
With any of my recipes, I can’t speak to the cultural authenticity of it but I can speak to the tastiness. This is a quick stir fry recipe with lots of flavor and versatility.
Don’t have ground beef? Really any ground meat (or meat substitute crumble) works. I have used ground turkey, ground pork, and ground beef. The veggies can be substituted as well. On the day I made this, I used broccoli, red pepper, and carrot matchsticks. I like to use multiple vegetables to make the meat go further but I have made it with just broccoli or just red pepper before. I have had a similar dish at a restaurant with just the meat and rice -so if veggies aren’t your thing, feel free to hold them. I like to keep a bag of frozen broccoli florets in my freezer. NOTE- buy florets! it is soooo worth it. It took me a while to figure out that they sell frozen broccoli in a few different ways (chunks – include the stem and floret, whole broccoli, and just florets).
Mix up the sauce first. I like to have it meld together for a little while before adding it in. Peel & mince a thumb size piece for ginger and two cloves of garlic. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and siracha sauce and mix well.
Next, chop & prep all the veggies. Chop an onion, slice a red pepper, chop of some broccoli, slice green onion (set aside for serving).
Start by heating some oil to a pan. Once heated, at the chopped onion and cook until softened. (Do all my recipes start this way? well…. a lot do). Add other veggies and cook through. Once cooked, set veggies aside. Add, meat to pan and cook until browned. Drain any excessive fat from the pain. Add sauce to pan and mix thoroughly. Add in the cooked veggies and mix everything up.
I like to serve this over rice but have also served over rice noodles. Top the dish with green onions, match stick carrots, and extra Siracha.
Korean Beef Bowls
Ready in 30 minutes
Serves 4 people
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
TIPS
This is another flexible dish that with the base of the quinoa and the dressing, you can make a lot of variations. Quinoa is a great grain that is gluten free and offers lots of nutritional value. So, the recipe basically consists of this: quinoa …
When my husband, then boyfriend, first made salmon for me, I was very skeptical about his technique. But, I quickly became a believer. Topping salmon with mayo sounded not entirely appealing. What I learned is that the mayo gives the salmon a nice crust and …
Who doesn’t love a good Taco Tuesday Recipe! This is a favorite of ours for Meatless Mondays or Taco Tuesdays or really any other day of the week. Most of the components can be prepared in advance so this makes for a quick meal to put together with guests. When we have people over for dinner, I try to pick meals that come together quickly once guests arrive so I can focus on enjoying the company instead of being stuck getting the meal together.
To keep things easy buy a bag of frozen cooked shrimp (medium sized) and pull it out of the freezer the night before. You can also quick thaw under running water. Take the tails off and mix the thawed shrimp with 1-2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp paprika, and 1 tbsp minced garlic.
There are two things that elevate these tacos to make them entertaining worthy: a chipotle creme sauce and mango salsa. For the creme, blend a chipotle pepper (from a can of chipotle in adobe sauce) with some plain greek yogurt or mix chipotle powder in with the yogurt if you don’t have a full pepper on hand. Don’t like things spicy? Make a cilantro creme and blend up some fresh cilantro with yogurt instead.
For the mango salsa, chop up a mango, pepper, tomatoes, and red onion. Add the zest & juice of a lime and some fresh cilantro and you’ve got a mango salsa!
So, all that’s left to put together when it’s dinner time is warm the shrimp and heat up the corn taco shells. For the shrimp, add to a frying pan on medium heat for a few minutes each side. Preheat oven to 400F and spray the corn shells on both sides with Pam and lay on baking sheet. Put in oven for 5 minutes, turn over and bake for another 2-3 minutes. These will burn easily so watch-out!
That’s it! They are done and ready to eat! We serve them shell, creme, shrimp, and mango salsa on top. I usually serve these with a side of black beans (pictured) or corn.
Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa
Ready in 30 minutes (20 minutes prep and 10 minutes cooking)
Serves 4 people
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
TIPS
This is another crockpot recipe that you can set in the morning and have a great dinner waiting for you at night. It is also one of my go-to ‘meal-train’ recipes. It can freeze well and is great for left overs. Served over noodles (gluten …
With this title, you might be thinking… wait, isn’t this supposed to be a blog about simple dishes? Well, yes it is! This IS a simple recipe AND I think everyone needs to have a few ‘fancy’ dishes in their repertoire for special occasions. Rack …
Everyone needs a chili recipe and this is my award winning chili recipe. My husband has named this “Two Bean Turkey Supreme” Chili. I use ground turkey as we use it in most cases as a replacement for ground beef for health and environmental reasons. But in this recipe it also results in a less fatty chili and removes the need to brown the meat separately to get rid of the fat. Two beans: black bean and red kidney serve as the stars here.
The second secret to this recipe is my special spice mixture. I use my recipe for taco seasoning which also works great with a pound of ground meat and a diced onion for a quick taco Tuesday night.
To get started, chop up all the veggies. Chop two onions, two carrots (full sized or about 10-12 baby carrots), two celery stalks, two red peppers, and mince two cloves of garlic.
Mix up the spices: garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, cumin, chipotle powder.
Now get to cooking. Add 2 lugs of olive oil to a heated pot. Add all chopped vegetables (onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and peppers) to the pot and cook until slightly softened. Add spice mixture and cook until veggies are all soft (approx. 7 minutes). Add beans (drained and rinsed) and tomatoes to the pot then mix with veggies. Once everything is all mixed together, add the ground turkey and Frank’s Redhot and stir until turkey is browned. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to a simmer with the lid askew for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
I have made this in the crockpot but prefer to use a pot. The vegetables get cooked down better. The recipe can be doubled without issue and freezes well.
Turkey Chili
Ready in 1hr 30 minutes
Serves 6 people
I love Mediterranean food and when I first move to Cincinnati there was not a single place where I could fine Tzatziki. So I set out on an adventure to create my own. At the time, Greek Yogurt wasn’t even a thing so I had …