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Pasta Salad

Salads, Sides By July 3, 2016 Tags: , , No Comments

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Happy birthday America! I’m back from a little hiatus due to being busy between family in town and work. Things have been so busy around here that I have forgotten what it’s like to be bored (which is a good thing I guess!). But things are finally quieter this weekend giving me time to make some food for one of my favorite food holidays of the year!

 

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Summertime foods have always been very nostalgic for me. I have so many memories of eating potato salad, hamburgers, pies, corn on the cob, and pasta salad during the hot summer months.  Of course all these foods were either at picnics or family gatherings making them taste even better.

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Quinoa & Kale Mixed Green Salad

Salads, Sides By January 3, 2016 Tags: , , , No Comments

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There aren’t many salads I feel deserve to be the star of the show. Usually salad for me is a side dish that I throw together as a way to eat some veggies with dinner. However, I’ve realized that if you put some thought into a salad it can be a real winner. Some of my favorites include a well done chicken Caesar salad, roasted butternut squash salad, and this quinoa kale salad.

 

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I decided to recreate this salad after eating it at this little juice spot called Rawesome Juicery in Sweet Auburn Market when I lived in Atlanta. Whenever I was feeling I needed to eat healthy, I would go to this spot and order this salad along with an amazing banana smoothie they made. They also had these healthy “shots” like one made with ginger, turmeric, honey, cayenne pepper, and lemon designed to help you kick a cold. I will admit I only had this once when I was feeling under the weather and it did not taste too good! But it did help clear my sinuses which was what it was made to do.

 

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Roasted Vegetables w/ Honey Balsamic Glaze

Sides, Vegetables By December 6, 2015 Tags: , , , , , No Comments

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Before I start baking excess amounts of cookies and sweets for Christmas time, I’m trying to eat as healthy as I can in hopes to offset all the sugar soon to be in my life. While I know eating healthy doesn’t exactly work like that, I like to think that thinking like this helps me eat more vegetables anyways. I also find it’s a lot easier to get your daily dose of vegetables when you have plenty around ready to eat. So for these reasons I decided to roast up a large batch of Brussels sprouts, carrots, sweet potatoes, and red onions.

 

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Look how beautiful all these vegetables are! I’m a big believer of the idea that the more color you have on your plate, the healthier you are eating. Since all these veggies are in season it means the you are also getting the freshest and best tasting varieties than if you were to buy them at different time of the year.

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Mashed Potatoes w/ Sour Cream

Sides By November 22, 2015 Tags: , , 1 Comment

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With Thanksgiving just around the corner it’s time to start preparing your menu. And what would a Thanksgiving menu be without mashed potatoes? I personally don’t think you can call it Thanksgiving dinner if there isn’t a huge pile of mashed potatoes on the table. So I decided to share one of my varieties of mashed potatoes. These are made with sour cream to give it a little more tang than the typical mashed potato.

 

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Depending upon how many people you are feeding will determine the amount of potatoes you will need. I think I good ratio is 1 1/2 to 2 potatoes per person. Two per person keeps you safe from running out. It always seems that the mashed potatoes are always gone so don’t worry about making too many!

 

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There are lots of ways to make mashed potatoes these days, with a potato ricer, a food mill, or an old-fashioned potato masher.  Depending upon what method you use will determine if you need to peel your potatoes or not. If you are using a potato ricer or food mill, then you don’t need to do it which saves you an extra step!  I went with the classic masher today and it’s best to peel the potatoes before using this method. I sometimes like to leave some skins on the potatoes to give the final product a little more texture, plus I tell myself I’m getting more fiber this way!

 

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Finally, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t add sour cream to my mashed potatoes. It really depends upon my mood. So if you feel like leaving out the sour cream go ahead, they’re your mashed potatoes!

Whatever you do, just be sure to make a big batch of mashed potatoes to go along with your turkey and gravy!

 

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