Last spring, we were navigating some food issues and intolerances and in need of simple family meals free of gluten, dairy, soy and a whole host of other ingredients. It was a challenge to say the least, but there were a few good new recipes that came out of it. Tamari-honey chicken drumsticks were one…
weeknight meals
Arugula, Basil and Avocado Pesto
Pesto, Reinvented We’ve evolved a bit this year. Now that our dinners are centered around a gluten-free and dairy-free main dish, we’ve started changing up some of our favorite recipes so they’ll work for our family. This arugula, basil and avocado pesto is one of the happy outcomes of months of recipe testing and tweaking. Arugula was added to…
Weeknight Dinners: May 8-12
MONDAY Breakfast for dinner! We need something easy and fast, and my youngest requested hash browns for dinner, so why not? We have three dozen farm eggs in our refrigerator that are begging to be whipped into a strata or frittata. I’m considering making two different frittatas, one that’s dairy-free and one with goat cheese, both…
Weeknight Dinners: April 23-28
SUNDAY It’s gorgeous in Houston, cool and crisp with a full blue sky. A good grill night for sure. Since I already have pre-marinated carne asada from Trader Joe’s, I’ll just doctor it up with some fresh lime juice. It wakes up the flavor and makes it taste brighter. I’ll let it sit at room temperature…
Pork Chile Verde
Earlier this year, we had an interesting run in with food allergies around here. After a blood test showed that our oldest had 20 class III food allergies, I had to cook pretty creatively until we could get her into Texas Children’s Allergy and Immunology Center. During that time, I scoured cookbooks and the internet to…
Weeknight Dinners: April 17-21
MONDAY Meatless Monday is happening — we need to pay for all the chocolate and jelly beans. On deck: Veggie stir fry with ginger, garlic and Tamari with steamed rice and edamame on the side. There are plenty of recipes online for stir fries, but you really don’t need one. I like to sauté veggies and…
Weeknight Dinners: April 10-14, 2017
MONDAY Since we are spending Sunday afternoon at a Little League carnival, I’m thinking we’ll all need some nutritional redemption. Like a soup full of beans, lentils and vegetables. Enter this beans and greens soup from Bon Appetit. I’ll be using organic canned beans and garbanzos (from BPA-free cans), instead of dried, to make things faster and easier….
Weeknight Dinners: April 3-7, 2017
Our weeknight dinners are super simple this week, and most of our meals can be put together in about 15 minutes. During the day, I’ll be in the kitchen developing new recipes for spring menus (think peas, leeks, asparagus) and photographing recipes to post on the site. I have a couple fun collaborations with other food writers…
Weeknight Dinners: March 6-10, 2017
MONDAY Whole chicken in the Crock Pot. This is such an easy way to cook a whole chicken, especially if you need to cook it around 2pm before heading to carpool and doing afternoon sports-tutoring-nutritionist appointment carpool. You can crisp up the chicken skin under the broiler before you serve it, or just dish up…
Weeknight Dinners: February 20-25, 2017
It’s a short week, which means a shorter weekly meal plan for some of you. If you can’t quite pull yourself out of the relaxation after the long weekend, just brainstorm three easy meals for mid-week. Friday can either be a pantry meal, like spaghetti and Rao’s marinara, or a big pot of “clean out the crisper”…