Freezer Friendly: Homemade Oatmeal Pucks

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I love oatmeal in the winter and I've posted about my homemade oatmeal before. However I don't always have time to make homemade oatmeal so I occasionally get the instant stuff.

We were walking through Costco a few weeks ago and I ran across frozen oatmeal pucks in the freezer section. A light bulb went off in my head. I can do that!!

Eggs Baked Over Sautéed Mushrooms, Leeks and Spinach

There is nothing better than eggs. They are almost a complete food, meaning they have just about all the essential nutrients that the body needs.

I have long day-dreamed of owning our own chickens and walking out to the coop to collect farm fresh eggs. I'm also pretty sure that I'm making it into some glamorous, simple job that is really hard work and very dirty. Maybe one day I'll find out for myself. For now, we purchase our delicious eggs from a local farm about 30 minutes up the road.

We cooked this recipe up for a delicious lunch/brunch but it could be used for any meal. It's vegetarian and gluten-free and it's truly delicious! I love that they call for leeks. Leeks are one of my favorite veggies this time of year. We put them in soups and meat pies all winter. When cooked properly, leeks are a beautiful thing.

Everything in this dish is savory and rich, from the butter to the egg yolks to the wine/sherry you really can't go wrong with this combination in my book.

Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake

Sunday mornings are by far my favorite morning of the week. We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon in our PJ's. We read and play online and just relax. Almost every Sunday morning I'm also treated to a fabulous brunch made by The Other Williams. Yes, I'm totally spoiled. Sometimes it's bacon and eggs; sometimes its homemade sausage gravy with biscuits but whatever it is it beats the pants off my weekday breakfast of oatmeal or egg white omelet.

This past Sunday we enjoyed a delicious Sweet Potato Hash Egg Bake that The Other Williams just made up on the spot. Isn't she awesome? This is a delicious, healthy breakfast or brunch recipe that is both filling and not too shabby on the calories.

We love a good runny yolk, but you could easily just cook the eggs a little longer. The yolk creates a delicious "sauce" to mix around with the sweet potatoes. Speaking of sweet potatoes, it's really the star of this dish. If you like sweet and savory together definitely give this one a try!

Canning: Turkey Veggie Soup

Turkeys are going on sale every where right now and not being one to miss a good deal we picked up one at the local supermarket last week. We don't normally cook turkey on Thanksgiving because we go over to my in-laws to eat but we like to grab at least one turkey during this time of year to throw in the freezer or to can.

We try to make several meals out of one turkey or chicken for the two of us. This recipe will make convenient grab and go lunches or a super fast dinner.

We paid around $8 for our turkey and here's what we did with it. The Other Williams cooked the turkey in the oven first. We got:

• 2 turkey breast to slice for several sandwiches
• 3 turkey and gravy dinners for 2. One we ate the other 2 went in the freezer
• 4 quarts of turkey veggie soup with turkey broth
• 2 quarts of yummy turkey broth (click here to see how we make chicken/turkey broth)

Butternut Squash Caprese

Fall is right around the corner and the weather here in SC has just been so amazing this week! What I love most about this salad is that it's kind of a "farewell to summer, hello fall" salad. The avocados and tomatoes from the summer garden and the sweet-warmness of the butternut squash is just the perfect expression of this time of year.
 

For such a simple salad, it sure does not disappoint on taste. Everything goes so well together and small mozzarella balls are just the perfect size. There isn't a fancy dressing for this because, simply, it doesn't need one. Just some good olive oil, salt and pepper allows the veggies to shine bright.

As we say goodbye to another summer, I'm looking forward to welcoming my favorite season. This salad was a perfect way to celebrate this in between time of the year!

Haricot Verts & Edamame with Shallot-Soy Vinaigrette

This tasty little side dish really could not be any easier. A while back I blogged about some of our favorite homemade dressings. One of our favorites of the favorites was this Shallot-Soy Vinaigrette. For this dish we just took some frozen hericot verts (or green beans) and some frozen edamame, tossed them with the dressing and tah-dah!

The vinaigrette is delicious as a sauce over chicken or fish also. It's thick and creamy and coats very well. You could add a protein of your choice (like chicken or tofu) to this meal and call it lunch or dinner also. Give it a shot and let us know how it turned out!

Tangy Tomato Garlic Soup

We're fortunate in that our neighbors rock! The people who live on either side of us are just awesome people and we all help each other out. One couple has two very fun dogs and we get to dog sit them when our neighbors go out of town.

Normally our neighbors will bring us a gift home from their trip as a thank you for watching the dogs, like playing with two awesome puppies isn't thanks enough! Recently they went to Athens, GA for a weekend and ate at a really cool restaurant called The Grit Restaurant! Like most of our friends, the neighbors knew a food related gift is always a safe bet with us so they purchased the restaurants cookbook and raved about the food there.

What's special about the cookbook and the restaurant is that it's vegetarian! All the food served and recipes in the cookbook are created for vegetarians by cooks Jessica Greene & Ted Hafer.

We did this tomato soup from the book recently and it was amazing. The apple cider vinegar really gives it a zing! Top with cheese, sour cream, or a buttery crouton and this recipe is golden!

Give this a try and if you're ever in Athens (we'll be taking a trip soon!), stop by The Grit and try their delicious vegetarian cuisine.

Kale Chickpea Pesto on Soba with Asparagus and Peas

We've been trying to incorporate a lot more vegetarian dishes into our diet and this one caught my eye while perusing the TasteSpotting website. At first I was like, "eww, kale..." Then as I looked at the recipe I realized the kale is in a pesto. So then I was all like, "Hmmm, maybe.."

Soba noodles are a staple in our house now. They are buckwheat noodles which means they are also Gluten-Free! Without even trying we scarfed down a vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free dinner!

 
And you know what?

It was awesome!! The textures and flavor were so awesome! We bulked up the veg a little and used a little of the pasta water to get the right consistency in the pesto.

The pesto is so creamy you might think there is cheese in it, but nope, it's the chickpeas and oil! We cut the recipe in half and still had leftover pesto. We're planning to use it in a sandwich for a picnic but it could be used in a variety of ways.

If you're looking for a superfood recipe that tastes amazing, this is it!

Creamy Garlic Dressing

This dressing is so delicious! If you're a garlic fan, I highly recommend it. I'll also be posting a pasta dish in a couple of days that this dressing was just made for. Whether you use it on a green salad, in pasta as a sauce, or over veggies it fits beautifully.

This dressing is pretty thick right out of the fridge. It could also be easily used as a mayo-substitute. If you don't like how thick it is you can add a little more vinegar to loosen it up a bit but be careful not to break it.

I used a blender for maximum emulsifying action and I drizzled the oil very slowly. We almost always have all of these ingredient on hand so it's a quick go-to dressing or sauce. It takes less than 10 minutes to make from start to finish. The recipe below makes about 1 & 1/2 cups but can be easily halved.

Salad Nicoise & Rainy Day Cooking

We had planned a bike ride but woke up to a cool southern rainy morning. So instead of hitting the road on our bikes we decided to go ahead and pre-prep some of our meals for the week. This saves us time during the week and makes getting dinner on the table a little faster.

So PJ’s and cooking it was. Whenever both of us are in the kitchen together I like to think that it’s like a well-directed and blocked play. We move as one, gracefully through our kitchen from one activity to the next. However, it’s not quite so graceful and it’s messy, very messy. We’re normally preparing 3-6 dishes or some aspect of those dishes. Cleaning up is my job and there is always a lot of clean up.

Had to share my hydrangeas! Aren't they gorgeous? These are in my dinning room and I love walking in and seeing them. Such a beautiful shade of blue.

For lunch we stopped the madness for a delicious salad that was supposed to be a picnic salad on the bike ride. Even without the ride this salad was amazing!

Last month I talked about Nice, France and it's close proximity to Italy in our Pan Bagnat Post. If you haven't read that one you should! I also talked about exploring this region a little more and this recipe happened to fit the bill very nicely!

Basically this is the French version of the chopped salad. Salad Nicoise (pronounced niˈswaz) has lots of yummy ingredients and is a lot of fun to eat because each bite is a little different. It's also very forgiving, we substituted and added things we had on hand. It was really delicious and worked even on the back porch while listening to rain.

After the cooking and cleaning madness, which really isn’t so bad, we relaxed on the back porch for the rest of the day. The Other Williams playing guitar and me editing photos and surfing pinterest. It never got above 70 degrees, which in the south in June, is pretty much unheard of. Even though a little work was involved overall it was a really relaxing day.

Kale, White Bean, & Potato Stew

Normally we reserve soups for fall and winter but recently we've been eating soups in the spring. Spring veggies are prefect for soups and they make for a light lunch.

Another thing that I love about soup is that you can make one big pot of it and portion it out into smaller containers for a week's worth of grab-and-go lunches. We do this often in the winter but it's great for Spring too!

This kale, white bean, and potato stew is a recipe from our cleanse and we've decided to keep it around because its also delicious! It's packed with nutritious kale and the beans and potatoes lend some great texture!

It's a broth based soup but when you mash or blend half the soup it creates this creaminess that's very lovely. This is one of those comforting soups and would be great for a cool fall or winter day!

Portabello Mushrooms with Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Filling

Do you like spinach artichoke dip? Well then you've GOT to try this delicious recipe. It's a great vegetarian option that makes you forget it's vegetarian!

You might be thinking that it's probably a 1000 calories too, right? Nope! Only 370 per 'shroom!

We served this beauty with a yummy side salad and the whole meal was delicious. We felt like we were getting a treat or being naughty but this is actually a very healthy meal.

The spinach is loaded with goodness and the artichokes are packed with vitamin C, folate and potassium! This is also a pretty quick meal.

We halved the recipe and baked it in our toaster oven. Try this healthier version of spinach and artichoke!

Quinoa with Poached Egg, Spinach, and Cucumber

This was a super yummy recipe from our Whole Living 21-day cleanse. We've been trying to use more eggs and less meat in our dinners because it's both healthier and less expensive. This recipe fit the bill very nicely.

Now there are vegetarian meals that make you feel like you just had a vegetarian meal and then there are vegetarian meals that make you forget it's vegetarian because it's so awesome. This is one of the awesome kind!

Quinoa is a grain that is gluten-free and delicious! It's quick to cook and very easy to incorporate into meals. You can even make it ahead of time and throw it in the fridge.

The eggs are the star and you want to make sure it's just lightly poached. The yoke makes a delicious sauce that really make it all come together. The freshness of the cucumber brightens it all up and gives a great crunch!

Broccoli, Apple, Fennel Slaw

Before I begin this post I will admit that I am a southerner who does not really like coleslaw. I know, I know, where did my parent's go wrong? However I LOVE this slaw! I think because it's not made with raw cabbage, it's really so much better and on a completely different level than most coleslaw's.

While on our cleanse in March we whipped up this little number to serve along with some fish. If you eat a lot of fish you know you're always looking for ways to add some flavor or change it up a little. This recipe does just that without missing a beat.

If you've never tried fennel, I highly recommend you try it. It's a root vegetable that a lot of people say tastes like licorice . I'm not a big licorice fan either and I still love fennel, especially raw! The textures in this slaw really adds the fun to any fish dish. You can top the fish with the slaw or just use it as a side.

This is definitely one of the cleanse recipes that we'll be using a lot!

Picnic in a Jar - Arugula & Cherry Tomato Salad with Balsamic Drizzle

While picnicking for our anniversary we also had a small jar salad. It was the perfect accompaniment for the Spring Veggie Orzo Salad we also made. This recipe is a take on the classic caprese salad. It's a spring version, if you will, and really delicious!

There isn't a fancy dressing for this one it's just a simple balsamic vinegar drizzled over it. I can't really emphasize enough how important good balsamic vinegar is for this application.

The salad travels beautifully in the jar but make sure you put the balsamic in a separate container and drizzle before serving. This simple salad is both beautiful and portable! Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon & Bok Choy with Orange-Avocado Salsa

 

This is a great dish for spring and summer when it's the season of all things grilled. While on our cleanse we could eat fish in weeks 2 & 3. This was one of our favorites!

The orange-avocado salsa is what really set this apart for me. Fish can be somewhat bland if you don't season it or marinate it. By adding a healthy salsa to the top, your flavor possibilities are limitless. Definitely try this one!

Boy choy is part of the cabbage family, but don't run away just yet! This is a Chinese cabbage and definitely worth a try. The flavor is very mild but it really adds a lot in texture. We use this a lot in stir-fry's but have never had it grilled. Here's my tips:

1. Make sure it's oiled well with olive oil.
2. Grill it a little longer on indirect heat (top rack of the grill) if you don't like crunchy veggies.

This dish was very tasty and super healthy! Check it out!

Green Machine Smoothie

Here's another detoxing recipe from our cleanse. This Green Machine Smoothie is packed with nutrients just waiting to go to work in you body. Because they are in liquid form they are absorbed easier and the body doesn't have to work as hard to digest it.

I've never been a big smoothie fan. The idea of a liquid breakfast when there are so many other perfectly good breakfast foods to enjoy just has not been one of my things. However, this was a pretty tasty smoothie AND it really filled me up!

If you don't have a fancy blender like the vita-mix, and we don't, make sure you're giving this smoothie some time to blend for a while. There's a lot of greens in here and they'll need to be broken down or you'll end up with a chunky smoothie. No one, apparently except The Other Williams, likes a chunky smoothie. Blend, people, blend.

Roasted Sweet Potato Stack w/ Poached Egg

As part of our cleanse, I stumbled across this delicious recipe from holistic nutritionist and vegetarian chef, Sarah Britton. The chef is also the author of the blog My New Roots, where she showcases some really fabulous & healthy vegetarian recipes.

Over the weekend The Other Williams and I devoured this delicious vegetarian dish for lunch. The sweet potatoes are sliced and roasted  in the oven until the caramelized goodness starts to happen with halved cherry tomatoes. The sweet and savior come out to play in the caramelized onions.

And although the egg is not the star, it deserves an Oscar for best supporting role in the dish. The gooey yoke makes a delicious sauce that blends well into the whole dish. Truly this one is divine; it melts in your mouth!

White Bean Huevos Rancheros

 A few weeks ago I charged The Other Williams with a challenge, to come up with some yummy dinner dishes with eggs as the main ingredient. This is the first answer to that challenge and boy it doesn't disappoint.

The Other Williams made homemade tortilla's, which I highly recommend, but you can also buy corn tortilla's. We also didn't use the chipotle sauce but feel free to add it to yours if you like some serious heat!

This is a lighter version to the traditional Huevos Rancheros because instead of refried beans it uses white beans. However, don't let that fool you into thinking this isn't amazing! The beans really give this one LOTS of flavor and an excellent creamy texture.

You can also make this vegetarian by not using ham or substituting vegetarian refried beans for the beans in the recipe.