Category Archives: Mains & Sides

Spinach and Quinoa Salad

The vinaigrette for one of my favorite salads has only 3 ingredients; oil, lemon juice and soy sauce. The salad part also has 3 ingredients; baby spinach, quinoa and sesame seeds. It’s so easy, but trust me, it’s all good. I usualy make this for lunch, but it could also go very well with any […]

Turkey soup with tomatoes and herbs.

Great soup, if you have turkey leftovers from holidays or if you just wish to have a rich, hearty soup for lunch. Any part of turkey will be good (I cooked mine from turkey neck and some leftovers). It takes 30-40 minutes to cook and the taste is amazing. The key to great taste are […]

Best Ever Simple Lentil Soup

Meaty without containing meat, thick, rich tasting without being fatty, this is fill-you-up-but-not-out stuff. From the original site: Let’s humbly subtitle this “Lentil Soup of the Gods.”

Green beans with sesame seeds: great vegan dish!

I love this recipe in winter and summer; you can cook those with fresh or frozen beans. Easy, fast and delicious! Good for the holiday table and for an everyday meal. Ingredients: 1 lb. of green beans 2 tablespoons of olive oil 2 pinches of salt 1 pinch of black pepper 1 tablespoon of sesame […]

Moist & Tender Rice Pancake

About a month ago, I was on a month of detox diet to reduce Candida (a type of yeast) symptoms. The first 3 days following this diet almost drives me nuts because it’s crucial to eliminate sugar and refined foods to reduce Candida growth. Sugar (even honey and fruits) and gluten filled grains is a haven for the […]

Deviled eggs with shrimp, yellow mustard and basil.

This recipe is inspired by classic deviled eggs plus spiced up by the deviled eggs seen on Food network. It’s my combination of delicious deviled eggs that conquered the hearts of my family members. I would be happy to see what your favorite deviled eggs recipes are. Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 tablespoons mustard (yellow) ½ […]

Ennai Kathrikai

Ennai Kathrikai is a tamil name. In tamil Ennai means oil and Kathrikai means brinjal. So when brinjals are fried and cooked in a tangy and spicy gravy, it’s known as Ennai Kathrikai. This is a popular South Indian dish which is normally served with briyani’s or pulavs. From the original site: To spice up […]

Easy Country Style Chicken in 20 minutes

This recipe was overlooked at Restaurant impossible TV program, I added my personal touches to it and it came out great. To define great I will explain: my fiancé, who doesn’t like chicken, was consuming it, as if it was his favorite sausage, not a chicken… I used cornmeal here, because I love adding it […]

A great use for leftovers

(a foodwhirl re-run.. so good we ran it again!) Okay, so remember that roast pork I made a little while ago? Well, it makes a lot of meat, and we always try to freeze some to use at a later date. Last night I didn’t feel like cooking anything elaborate, so I looked in the […]

Garlic Miso Chicken Wings

Broiled chicken drumettes marinated in a soy miso sauce. My kids loves these wings! From the original site: My kids love chicken wings. I usually use drumettes for them so they can easily enjoy these mini-drumsticks. This recipe was originally from my Japanese friend who used to live in San Francisco because of her husband’s […]

Fried zucchini with mayo-dill sauce and tomato

This is a traditional recipe in my family, as well as in pretty much any Ukrainian family fried zucchini with tomato and mayo-dill sauce. It’s resembles a lot the eggplant recipe, but, zucchini, as a base component gives it a different twist. Ingredients: 1 midsized zucchini 1-2 tomatoes 2-3 tablespoons mayo ½ cup of finely […]

Neythili Meen Aviya l(Anchovies in Spicy Coconut based Gravy)

I know you might be wondering what is Neythili, Neythili is the Tamil(language) name of Anchovies. This is a popular dish in South India, particularly Kerala. This is one of the best dish which I loved from childhood to now. This can be enjoyed with hot steaming plain rice and fish gravy. Special Instructions: Preparation […]

Angry Birds Onigiri Lunch Box

An idea struck me when it was my son’s lunch box day on Fridays. Jon loves Onigiri, so I decided to make him an Angry Birds Lunch Box! Angry Birds, the popular & best-selling mobile game, has taken the world by storm. The game is about these birds who’re angry because their eggs were stolen […]

fritters
Fritters: Veggie and Tuna recipes

I must agree with Natalie over at Perry’s Plate, I adore fritters, or any sort of savory ‘cake’. Go check out this, which has several recipes (a vegetarian Lentil-Scallion Fritters with Goat Cheese, and a homey Tuna Melt Fritter) plus tips and techniques on cooking them! Read the whole thing, and get the recipes: Fritter […]

Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

When the weather is gorgeous like this, and the days are long, the last thing I want to do in the evening is be inside cooking dinner.  So I’ve been working on recipes where I can do the prep work ahead of time, then just stick the dish in the oven to bake, while I […]

Salmon Burgers over spinach salad
Mini Salmon Burgers over Spinach Salad

Does a healthy and quick (under 30 minutes) dinner, made primarily from what I had on hand in my pantry sound good?  + That’s what this dinner was, and it was a change of pace, tasty, and approved by both husband and 5 year old as good eats.  I’ve made similar patties using canned tuna, […]

Croissants

I never imagined I would make my own croissants. Like all homemade cakes, breads and cookies, home croissants are also the best. The buttery smell when you bake these croissants and the flaky croissants straight from the oven to your plate is just amazing. Well this is not my first attempt in making croissants, I […]

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Pao de Queijo is a type of Brazilian cheese bread made using tapioca flour. They’re chewy and puffy, and perfect finger food. This Brazil recipe is really simple and will not take long at all to whip up. Once made, the batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week so if you […]

How to Stuff Burgers: Bacon and Blue Cheese

A few weeks ago we had an impromptu grilling party with friends, and these were the burgers we made.  They were such a hit, I figured you guys might like to see how to make them!  This is a quick technique that can be used to spice up any type of burger…  but in this […]

Goulash

Goulash is a very simple stew, traditionally it’s kept as simple as possible, with just meat, garlic and onion. A few vegetables like carrot, leeks and celery adds much more flavour. Don’t try to add any spices and transform this simple stew into curry( I’m saying this for people like me, who tries to add […]

Baked Oatmeal

My family always say no when it comes to Oatmeal until I discovered this recipe. I found this recipe from foodgawker and I made a few variations to the original recipe, now it’s the star of our breakfast table. Special Instructions: Preparation Time: 10 minutes, Cooking Time : 20 minutes, Serves: 4 Ingredients: Oats- 150 […]

homemade zucchini bread

A couple of months ago I went to Whole Foods in search of a little taste of home – there are some things I just downright miss about Texas. When I found out there was a Whole Foods nearby, I could almost smell the cowboy boots and dead grassy hills of Texas – I was […]

Crispy Potato Smashers (Irish Roadkill?)

Dorothy, at Shockingly Delicious, assures me interestingly named dish, Crispy Smashers (aka Irish Road Kill) is the best potato dish EVER! Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s certainly cute! Every woman I have given this recipe to has called me later and said something like this: “My husband wants ONLY this kind of […]

Roasted Butternut Squash

Roasting vegetables brings out great flavor in them… They are a great, simple side dish, too.  For things like this squash, I like to roast it ahead of time, then use it in salads or broil with brown sugar on top for a quick side dish.  You can do the same thing with sweet potatoes, […]

fried-green-tomatoes and jalapenos
Spicy Bacon Fried Green Tomatoes

Beth Kemper sends us this yummy recipe for a Fried Green Tomatoes, topped with bacon , goat cheese and jalapeños… and served with a variety of hot sauces for that little extra “ooomph”!  I love her addition of fried jalopenos – if you’ve never had those, they are great. Here’s Beth’s how-to on making them, […]