Vitamin C Bomb Smoothie

Is it me or it looks like spring is finally in the air?

The temperatures are still pretty chilly but the forecast says it will start warming up soon and the days are getting longer and lighter, if you know what I mean.
Although the approaching change in season has us rejoicing for the sunshine, warm weather, and blooming flowers that it brings, it also has us bracing for allergies and seasonal colds to flare up.
No matter how much you love spring, colds and allergies are not fun.
Luckily, there are natural ways to fend them off.
Such as charging on Vitamin C, which is considered the "muscle" of the immune system.

Rainbow Salad with Parsley Lemon Vinaigrette

When it comes to salads, I’m confident that you already know everything there is to know.
We could have a conversation about it, which would be as follows: “Is it healthy? Of course it is! It’s a salad, isn’t it?”
I mean, as long as it vaguely resembles a salad, it must be good for you, right?
And I’m also sure you’re eating salad for any of the earnest reasons that one usually eats a salad: A desire for healthy greens, fresh veggies and, of course, to get ready for swimsuit season in like no time.
But seriously salad can be delicious, filling enough, and of course healthy.

Crock-Pot Chipotle Lime Chicken

If you, just like me, think that there are many perfect marriages in the food world — like avocado and chocolate or garlic and butter or orange and pork — then you’re probably already familiar with chipotles in adobo sauce.
If not, let me give you a quick primer.
Chipotles in adobo are dried, smoked jalapeños rehydrated and canned in a sweet and tangy purée of tomato, vinegar, garlic, and a couple of spices, for a tasty sauce that packs serious heat but also plenty of balance and body.
What I really love about chipotle in adobo is that they’re complex enough to use as a solo seasoning but they pair really well with herbs, other spices, honey, etc.
These little suckers can do it all. Sauces, glazes, marinades, braises, soups, sandwiches, you name it.

(Paleo) Banana Bread in a Mug with Lemon Glaze

There are many good reasons to make banana bread:
You have a pile of ripe, sad-looking bananas that have clearly reached their life’s expectancy. You are a fan of things that are incontrovertibly delicious and awesome.
It’s cold outside and you need something comforting to go with your hot beverage.
You’re into recipes you can make in one bowl.
You believe that banana bread could cure any woe.

Salted Double Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I have, for a very long time, looked for a chocolate cookie I could award with what I considered the highest honor in the baking world, declaring it the best brownie cookie (aka brookie) ever.
I just didn’t expect it would take me so long to find what I was looking for.
Along the way, I encountered cookies that promised fudgy but delivered cakey; those that were chocolatey in name only; and even versions that were a perfect chocolate cookie, but have little to do with brownies.

Creamy Baked Ziti with Broccoli and Provolone

Most of my understanding of the category of baked pasta is that it falls in the category of dump casserole.
Basically just combine all the ingredients, dump them into a casserole dish, and let the oven do the rest. Also known as the ultimate unfussy comfort food.
Italian-American baked pasta classics include: Chicken-Spaghetti Casserole, Baked Ziti with Meatballs or Chicken Tetrazzini. Then there’s lasagna, which is just a more refined version of baked pasta.

Lemon Almond Crinkle Cookies

February is always the time of the year when most of us get caught up in what I like to call the “winter produce stagnation”. The lack of flavorful fruit and the glut of starchy vegetable are enough to kill any enthusiasm.
Still, I find that if I set my mind on citrus I can sail through the winter months with relatively no problems.
Even when the deepest, darkest winter has set in and I’m all fogged in by the relentless grind of being indoors, a bright pink grapefruit, a sunny orange, even a gleaming lemon, reminds me of summer days, warm breezes, and skies as blue as the ocean.
I’ve got an archive full of lemon muffins, lemon chicken piccata, lemon pound cake in mug, raspberry-grapefruit smoothie, orange chicken, and orange glazed salmon that should be enough for me to feel I’m not missing out just because strawberries, peaches, and apricots are still in hibernation.

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to cook when you’re pressed for time.
I, for one, always had the luxury of time.
Even with a job, a blog, and at least two hours a day dedicated to training, the sum of my evening tasks is still only to make whatever I felt like making for dinner. And it doesn’t really matter if dinner is done at 9 p.m. or even 10 p.m. instead of say 7:30 p.m since I don’t have other mouths to feed (e.g., children) — except for the occasional friend or family member.

One-Pot Spaghetti with Kale and Cherry Tomatoes

So, kale is good for us. We all know this.
It also tastes great. And there are many ways to prepare it: gratins, casseroles, salads, chips, pesto, smoothies, baked, with quinoa, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
In fact, I’m unwaveringly certain that the last thing this blog — let alone the internet — needs is another kale recipe.
But I can’t help it.
I made myself some fantastic spaghetti with kale last weekend and I couldn’t not share it.
It would be just rude to keep it from you. Because you and I have no cooking secrets and it should always be that way.

(Vegan) Easy Flavorful Spanish Rice

Guys, we should definitely, definitely talk about this dish.
Here, I’ll go first: I think it’s essential that you not let another week pass without making it.
I realize that you might imagine rice cooked with tomato sauce to be something bland and unappetizing.
Maybe you already had it in one of those combination plates that are served in Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants all the over the country, and its dullness is still fresh in your mind.
Maybe you cannot imagine why anyone would consider Spanish rice (sometimes referred to as Mexican rice) noteworthy, being just rice and tomato sauce — arguably two of the most generic foods out there.
But this Spanish Rice is notable for being delicious in its simplicity. And you should take notice.