This past week, the boyfriend and I have been visiting his family in Arizona, where the temperatures have been akin to what Michigan experiences during the summer, but without the attendant humidity. Even though we had a mercifully moderate winter (after one winter with record-setting amounts of snow and another winter with record-setting cold), I’m already looking forward to warmer weather, and ...
gluten-free
Cranberry-Apple Smoothie
Try as I might, I cannot bring myself to be excited about drinking a cold green smoothie in the morning for breakfast. Or as an afternoon snack. Or, well, anytime. My excuse is that I live in Michigan. Gut reaction to “winter + smoothies” = noooooo. At least, that was the response the boyfriend gave when, on a recent dog walk, with icy snow blowing in our faces, I asked if he wanted to split ...
Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad
After several weeks of plying you (and myself) with holiday treats, I figured we could all use some extra greens. I know, I know…most people don’t want to hear about salads until January, when the cold reality of New Year’s resolutions sinks in, but hear me out, because this wild rice and sweet potato salad is about as cheerful and celebratory as they come! ...
Easy Spiced Nuts
Confession: I feel a little silly adding “easy” to this recipe title, because I’m of the opinion that if you’re making spiced nuts that are anything but easy, you’re probably doing it wrong. But having a recipe title with only two words seemed weirdly skimpy to me, so here you have it: “easy spiced nuts”! ...
Chicken and Sweet Potato Tamale Pie
I hope I’m not alone in being completely taken by surprise at how quickly Thanksgiving arrived this year! Just over a week ago, the boyfriend and I were in Puerto Rico, and since it was my first real vacation in over five years (and certainly the first since starting grad school), I’d forgotten/not realized how many things there are to take care of both before and after a trip…and now all of a ...
Curried Broccoli Cheese Chicken Casserole
Later this month, many college freshmen will make their first trips back home for Thanksgiving, and I’m sure that they’ll be eager for some of their favorite home-cooked meals. While I never traveled home for Thanksgiving in college, I was lucky enough to swing by for a single night in the middle of my first term, since I was in the marching band and we were traveling to an away game near where my ...
Tzatziki Hummus
Having a routine is often beneficial. Routines provide structure and a certain amount of comfort—those of us with pets or small children know this especially well! But sometimes, routines can turn into ruts, and I find this to be particularly true when it comes to food. In order to prevent food burn-out—like my major aversion to turkey sandwiches, which I mentioned the other week—it’s important to ...
Pico de Gallo Grilled Chicken Salad + Second Blogiversary!
Every time I go to Red Robin, I face the same dilemma: I very much enjoy their southwestern-themed salad, BUT salads don’t come with bottomless fries. And if I’m being honest, the bottomless fries are a big part of why I go to Red Robin (I’m not alone in this, right?). ...
BBQ Chipotle Turkey Meatballs
For some reason, I seem to have it in my head that foods like meatballs and meatloaf are particularly time and labor-intensive, and so I seldom make them. In reality, they’re pretty much the easiest thing you can do with ground meat, other than just cooking it up and tossing it into a sauce. In fact, the most involved step of making these BBQ chipotle turkey meatballs is cooking the ...
Jalapeño Ranch Potato Salad
In my high school biology class, we did a unit on the human digestive system, and for the unit test, we had to describe the digestive process for various types of foods: fats, carbohydrates, etc. I still remember that test: it read, “Sam eats a spoonful of mayonnaise. Describe how he digests it.” My first thought was, He doesn’t. He barfs it back up because that’s DISGUSTING. I mean, really, how ...