I love food traditions. Food is love and love is family and family is memories and memories are food. It's full circle here people. Feel the love. This is one of those food is love dishes. One of the huge reasons I blog is to record these memories. One of my very Italian grandmothers (who cooked everything from scratch) passed away when I was in high school... long before I had the thought to document her recipes. Her Italian wedding soup, … [Read more...]
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Shredded Brussels Sprout and Kale Salad
Are you ready for a hearty yet light fall and winter salad?? Simply combine orange juice, olive oil, dijon mustard, shallot, salt and pepper in a jar and shake. Hello, salad dressing. Make the dressing up to 1 week in advance and store in the fridge and you're golden. In fact, the flavors are even better when the dressing has time to marinate in itself for days. When you're ready to serve, shred kale and Brussels sprouts. I used a sharp … [Read more...]
Candied Yams and Plantains
I can't stop thinking about this dish. I've been craving it since it was gobbled up. I served this as an alternative to traditional candied yams at Thanksgiving this year. This dish will NOT be exclusively served for Thanksgiving my house! I can't wait to make it again. Have you cooked with plantains before?? I love them for their variety and nutrition. Variety because I get bored always eating the same 'ol thing. Don't you?? Think of … [Read more...]
Roasted Radicchio and Butternut Squash Salad
Hellloooooo, Fall. <Insert big open arms.> Charred radicchio + roasted butternut squash + fresh sweet-and-tart honeycrisp apple + candied pepitas + balsamic vinegar. Yes please!!! Roasting squash becomes a staple for me come fall. Acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, pumpkin, you name it. They all scream fall, fall, fall! Or Autumn. Whatever you call it. I decided to add roasted butternut squash to a salad today instead … [Read more...]
Southwest Quinoa Taco Salad Bowl
My mom makes this uh-maze-ing Black Bean Salsa. It's 4 simple main ingredients {black beans + corn + red pepper + red onion} plus 3 ingredients for the dressing {balsamic + dijon + (optional) olive oil}. A little salt and pepper and bam, you're good to go. It's a great dip but I also love it over salmon or over a salad as the dressing. My college buddy and RD blogger Rachel posted the salsa on her blog Delicious Balance not too long ago. … [Read more...]
Hot and Cold Power Salad
Let me sum it up for your really quickly = {warm cooked kale with apple cider vinegar and soy sauce} + {chilled spiralized raw beets} + {chilled spiralized raw carrots} + {grape tomatoes} + {goat cheese} + {warm, spicy, salty, sweet quick honey-candied walnuts}. It comes together in just three easy steps. Sauté the kale. Add the raw veggies and goat cheese. Quick honey-candy the nuts (which makes your dressing at the same time) and … [Read more...]
Intern Quinoa Salad with Pan Seared Salmon and Balsamic Greens
Prepare yourself. Might be one of my most fav food pics I've taken! If that pic doesn't make you want to eat this you might be blind. What you see above isn't even the completed dish, but it certainly could be a meal on its own! (All that's missing from the recipe is the salmon on top.) If you're fan of plant-based/vegan food, eat your heart out! (Just sub your favorite liquid sweetener in for the 1 teaspoon honey that's in the balsamic … [Read more...]
Roasted Carrots with Lemon-Cumin-Honey Glaze
Just look at these carrots! All cute and ready to be roasted. I found them at our local natural/organic grocery store on a day where I went shopping only knowing I need about 6 different veggies, but I just wanted to go and see what looked good. Sometimes I write out a super detailed shopping list (this happens most of the time) and I plan out exactly what I want to buy. With produce, I often get there to find that what I wanted looks sad … [Read more...]
Heirloom Tomato Bake
Can we take a minute to pause and enjoy this gif??? (<--- techy word for this spiffy animation below) Hollaaaa! Hugs, high fives, male-sport-butt-slaps to Dan the Man for walking me through this one. You don't want to know how long it took me to make a seven second animation. Longer than it will take you to make this dish!!! You know what I'm talking about with the male-sport-butt-slaps, right? Exhibit A, B, and C. Look for it from … [Read more...]
Buttered Green Beans & Carrots
Sometimes simple is best. In the summertime when green beans are fresh and crisp, and fresh carrots are abundant, I don't want to do a lot to them when I cook. They're so good as-is that I find simple is best. It feels funny sometimes to post such simple recipes, because it doesn't feel creative! It doesn't feel original. I've mentioned this once before in greater detail in my Ready, Set, Spinach recipe post. At the same time I have heard … [Read more...]
Kale Chopped Salad
I used to HATE kale in salads. I thought kale was too tough, too chewy, too grassy. I think I had some bad ones. Someone else I was with ordered on in a restaurant one time and when I tried it I was pleasantly surprised! It was tender. I wasn't chewing and chewing the same bite feeling like a grass-grazing cow. I was converted. I learned that it's important to slice the kale thinly. That helps. Also, dressing the salad 10-30 minutes … [Read more...]
Minted Springtime Peas
I made a pea recipe a while back in an effort to re-create something DELICIOUS Dan and I had out in a restaurant here in town. I photographed it and everything, but wasn't 100% happy with it. It's been sitting in the folder on my computer, waiting. It's gonna have to wait a little longer cause there's a bigger, better, badder pea recipe in town. This is the second of three new recipes I'm sharing with you that compose a meal - one of Gordon … [Read more...]
BLTC Salad
Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato. Caesar. BLTC. Heck yeah. So I lied. I said two posts ago when I talked about stress that I'd not just share mental, physical, and spiritual symptoms of stress but also what the speaker said you can do to alleviate stress. Annnd I didn't. I left you all looking at a long list going, I have that, that, that, that, that, and that. Great. Now I'm more stressed realizing how much I show signs of stress! … [Read more...]
Spicy Kale Caesar with Chicken and Candied Pepitas
You guys. I cannot tell you how much I love this recipe. Caesar salad with kale. Plus candied nuts. Plus hot sauce. Plus chicken. I hope the pictures are conveying the deliciousness or I'm going to have to keep inventing words like deliciousness to describe it. I think I'm loving on it so much because it has everything: salty, sweet, spicy. Crunch and creaminess. Hot and cold. Fresh and cooked. It hits so many notes in one bite. … [Read more...]
Blackened Salmon Caesar
ALL HAIL CAESAR! Let this recipe kick off the first of THREE Caesar recipes on Laughter and Lemonade! Caesar salad is one of my all time favorite foods, so I have three Caesars coming your way, starting with this Blackened Salmon Caesar. If you saw my teaser photo on Instagram or Facebook you know that a Spicy Kale Chicken Caesar with Candied Pepitas is on its way shortly too... … [Read more...]