I can’t believe that in the eight months that I’ve been writing this blog, I have yet to post any recipes for Indian food! Indian is one of my favorite cuisines, but of course, given the picky eater I was growing up, this wasn’t always the case. Sometime when I was in late elementary school or early middle school, my dad bought a few Indian cookbooks and would try out recipes on the weekends. ...
vegetarian
5-Ingredient Animal-Style Skillet Potatoes
You miiiight be asking yourself, "What does 'animal-style' mean, and what does it have to do with potatoes?!" If this is the case, you are probably not from California (or the Southwest), so I'll explain. Animal-style skillet potatoes are diced potatoes cooked with some Thousand Island dressing and topped with cheese and caramelized onions - a dish inspired by In-N-Out Burger's (in)famous ...
Mexican Fiesta Breakfast Scramble
Some mornings, you just need an extra little push to get going, you know? Last Sunday was one of those mornings for me. It was late February yet the temperatures resembled those of January, the insides of my nose kept freezing every time I had to take the dog outside, I had papers to grade and a midterm of my own to study for, and I was just not feeling motivated. So naturally, I decided to take a ...
Vegetarian Fried Rice
Fried rice was pretty much a given whenever my family would eat out at Chinese restaurants when I was growing up, not necessarily because it was part of the cuisine’s standard fare, but because it was practically the only dish my parents could be guaranteed that I would eat. ...
Stuffing “Salad” with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Tart Apples
If I had to pick one Thanksgiving food as my favorite, it would be stuffing. I like mashed potatoes well enough, pumpkin pie can be quite tasty, and I’ve made my peace with green beans (as a child, I would only eat them if they came from a can). I could live without cranberry sauce, and I’m still pretty lukewarm about the turkey itself – if ever I’m somehow left in charge of obtaining and ...
Spicy Chipotle Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
Macaroni and cheese was always one of my favorite dishes as a child, whether made from scratch or from a box. Either way, my mom usually tried to spiff it up, adding tuna or broccoli or something. Truth be told, even though I liked tuna and broccoli, I preferred my mac and cheese unadulterated – I just wanted straight-up pasta and cheese. Total kid food, right? My tastes have become somewhat more ...
Milkless Monday: Hummus Salad
The summer after I graduated from college, I moved across the country and in preparation for the program I was about to start, I enrolled in an intensive language program—a year’s worth of material crammed into six short weeks (though at the time, it felt like an excruciatingly long six weeks). ...
Halloumi Stuffed Peppers
Halloumi, where have you BEEN all of my life?! Besides, you know, Cyprus. Apparently. This was my second time using this glorious Cyprian cheese, and I have a feeling I'll be buying a lot more of it in the coming months. I’ve never been to Cyprus, but given its ties to the Greek world—trade networks between Cyprus and Greece existed even as far back as the fourteenth century BC—and the ...
Sedona Corn Soup
Back in college, one of my favorite dishes in the dining hall was Sedona corn soup.* I think it was meant to be a side dish, but whenever they had it, I’d ladle up a big bowl of it and have that for dinner by itself. When my family was in Arizona several years ago, we took a day trip to Sedona, where I was slightly crestfallen that I didn’t find any corn soup on the menu at the restaurant we ...
Broccoli Couscous with Halloumi
I recently tried halloumi for the first time. I have to admit that the first time I heard the name, I wasn’t sure if it was a kind of cheese or fish. As I found out, halloumi is a cheese from Cyprus, and it has a texture somewhat similar to mozzarella (a bit squeakier, though) and a tang similar to feta. Together, the halloumi, tomatoes, and dill create a fresh Mediterranean flavor. I made this ...