The other day, I was thinking about the way I used to eat. Back when I was in college and shortly after I graduated. Let's just say it wasn't very healthy or very delicious. Looking back, I think there was a period of time where I just completely forgot that I knew how to cook a decent meal. Plus, I couldn't really be bothered. Like a lot of people, I had the misconception that cooking a real dinner out of real ingredients would be too expensive and take too much time. So we'd boil a box of pasta and mix it with a jar of sauce and some sausage. Or we'd try to be "healthy" and make a chicken stir-fry, but we would totally ruin it by using store-bought marinades that were loaded with sugar. For a special treat, we'd buy a box of zatarain's mix and make jambalaya.

I don't miss the other stuff at all, but I do kind of miss the jambalaya. And with Foodbuzz pledging to donate $25 to the Greater New Orleans Foundation (helping fishermen who were effected by the oil spill and their families) for every Gulf-Inspired post this weekend, it seemed like the perfect excuse to make it. Of course, I wasn't going to resort to using a box - I know better than that now! (And a quick look at the back of the box confirmed my suspicions — 21% of your RDA of sodium? MSG? Sodium dioxide?? No thanks!) No, this jambalaya is 100% real food and 100% real flavor. Sure you have to spend a few minutes chopping vegetables, but other than that it really isn't any more difficult or time consuming than the boxed stuff. And the final product is so much healthier and so much more delicious that there really isn't any excuse to take "shortcuts"!

Looking for more Gulf-inspired flavor? How about a nice, steamy bowl of gumbo? Gumbo is very similar to jambalaya, but it's prepared as a soup enriched with a roux. In gumbo, the rice is cooked separately from the other ingredients and added in the final step instead of cooking along with everything else and absorbing all of the flavors.

It's no secret that I love fennel, but I've been absolutely obsessed with the thought of making caramelized fennel ever since I first read about it over on The Tipsy Baker's blog months ago. I requested a copy of Ad Hoc at Home from the library and patiently waited for what seemed like forever to get the recipe. And then I had no idea what to make with it. I mean, I'm not exactly a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I don't do side dishes. And as presented in the book, caramelized fennel was most definitely a side dish. But then I had an idea: pasta. When I'm short on recipe inspiration I always turn to pasta, throwing in a combination of whatever looks good at the grocery store and whatever I have in the fridge. Caramelized fennel seemed like it would be a great jumping-off point for a summery vegetable pasta. And it was.

In addition to the fennel, I used a combination of eggplant, summer squash, red onions, and peas. I tasted the vegetables on their own and they were so delicate and fresh that it seemed like a shame to cove them up with a heavy sauce so I decided not to, and instead dressed the pasta with a little bit of ricotta and a touch of pesto (I had originally planned to use garlic and olive oil). It was perfect! I really liked the creaminess that the ricotta added — when you stir it into the hot pasta it melts and creates a light coating that reminds me a little of mac and cheese. The pesto perked the dish up without taking it over; you could tell it was there, but it certainly isn't a "pesto" dish by any means. Really it's just... good. Good when you first make it. Good the next day. Good hot. Good cold. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this one!

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Click to get the recipe for Orichette with Caramelized Fennel and Summer Vegetables -->

I'm often asked how I eat the way that I do without spending a fortune at the grocery store. One of these days, I'll get around to doing a full post about that but my number one tip is to plan ahead. That way you can plan to reuse ingredients (no use letting half that bag of vegetables go to waste) without feeling like you're eating the same thing over and over again. This orzo salad is a great example — it uses many of the same ingredients as the Greek Burgers with Tzatziki that I posted last week, but it's an entirely different meal. Just plan to have this two or three days after you make the burgers, and you'll be able to use up any feta, red onion, cucumber, and fresh dill that you might have left over. (Of course, it works the other way around too if you want to make this salad first!)

But, burgers aside, I really do recommend this salad. It's so easy to make — you can even make it ahead and have dinner waiting for you when you get home from a long day at work — and it's loaded with fresh flavor. I don't know what it is about this type of dish, but there's something about them that I love — even though everything is mixed together, each individual ingredient maintains its integrity. You can eat it all together, or pluck out specific items and eat them one by one for entirely different flavor experiences. Some other examples of recipes that I find to be similar include my Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce and my Roasted Shrimp with Orange and Fennel. In my head, I always think of them as "picky recipes," both because you pick at them with your fork while you eat and because you'll likely find yourself picking extra items right out of the serving dish when you're dine with what on your plate. In fact, Shawn and I probably polished off another half serving of this salad between the two of us just by continuing to eat after we had finished what was originally dished out.

Thanks you all for following along these past two weeks as I had fun playing with dry peas and lentils. I really enjoyed creating the recipes, and I hope that you enjoyed them too! I definitely came up with a few winners! Speaking of winners, I've entered my Pea & Herb Stuffed Flatbread into the Recipe Rivalry contest.... with your help, I could win a great set of Le Crueset cookware. I absolutely adore Le Crueset, so I'd really like to win! I'm up against some other great bloggers, but I'd appreciate your vote. You can vote once per day from June 17 until June 23rd. ;)

So sweeten the deal a little, the first 500 voters will receive a free sample of lentils! AND once of you will win a very generous supply of lentils and dry peas, courtesy of the USA Dry Pea, Lentil, and Chickpea Association! They're calling it a "lifetime supply" but I don't know exactly how much they're sending - and it's all coming at one, so if it really is a ridiculous amount, I recommend a nice donation to your local food bank. ;)

TO WIN: Leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite lentil recipe is. Simple as that. I'll pick a winner on June 23.

I was planning to have a fun, new non-lentil post for you tonight to celebrate the end of the lentils, but that will have to wait. I had a really long day at work and I juts can't spend any more time looking at the computer. All I'll say is: Cookies. With brown butter. And espresso. Coming very soon.

Meanwhile, you can head on over to the Mushroom Channel to see my recipe for Mushroom Stroganoff. This is one of our favorite weeknight meals and I just know you'll love it too!

After I posted about BBQ Baked Lentils, a few people noted that they had never used lentils except for in salads and soups. To be honest those — and Indian dishes — are where my mind immediately goes when I think about lentils too. But you probably won't see much in that respect as I continue explore the world of lentils over the next two weeks. First, because two weeks worth of soup, salad, and Indian food would be boring — both to read and to eat. Second, because I wanted to look at this as an opportunity to challenge myself. To think outside the box and come up with some really fun and creative recipes. Rest assured, if the recipes aren t delicious you won't see them here.

Since lentils are so often used in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine, I decided to mix things up and try using them in a southwest style dish. I also wanted to play with texture a little, so these southwest lentil cakes were born! I really loved the way these turned out — they actually reminded me a little of falafel. I was nervous that they might be dense and dry, but I shouldn't have worried. The slightly crispy outside gave way to a light and fluffy center that was full of moisture. The creamy lime dressing played up the Southwest flavor of these patties ad balanced out some of the heat from the jalapenos that I added to them.

The patties and dressing were great on their own - I also think they would make a fantastic wrap-style sandwich — but to make them into a healthy dinner I built a salad around them. Some chopped romaine hearts tossed with fresh corn, diced tomatoes, creamy avocado, and a little extra cilantro topped with the lentil cakes and dressing made a wonderfully light yet filling dinner.

Click to continue reading Southwest Lentil Patties with Creamy Lime Dressing -->

Every once in a while, I see orange and fennel salad in a magazine on a menu, or I hear people talking about it. I always thing it sounds fabulous, but I ever know what to serve it with. Plus, if you haven't noticed already, I don't prefer meals that contain multiple courses. Especially on weeknights when I don't have a ton of time to get dinner on the table — it's just easier to make one dish than it is to fiddle with a bunch of different components. Although I've never made the orange and fennel salad, the flavor profile always intrigued me and it's something tat I think about from time to time when planning my menu for the week.

I was recently thinking that I wanted to try making something new and different, so I used orange and fennel as my starting point and created this recipe, which I enjoyed a lot. Throwing everything in a pan and roasting it together makes this shrimp, orange, and fennel dish super easy to make and brings out the natural sweetness of the fennel and shrimp. I was originally planning to use orange zest in the butter and deglaze the pan with orange juice and white wine at the end — but at the last second, I decided to roast orange segments right along with the rest of it. I'd never heard of roasted oranges before and I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did and they were amazing. The oranges stayed nice and juicy in the oven, but the flavor became concentrated and vibrant — they added a really nice burst of fresh flavor to the dish. Instead of deglazing the pan with wine like I had planned, I decided to finish the dish with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar to add a touch of acid and round out the flavors.

The result was so much better than I had ever imagined it would be! It was light and fresh, with the perfect amount of sharp bite from the citrus and fennel. Soft, creamy polenta was the perfect accompaniment to this dish, adding a little bit of bulk to the meal and providing a nice textural contrast. I quickly cooked up some instant polenta while the rest of the meal was in the oven (I like to prepare my polenta with chicken stock instead of water to give it a little more flavor).

This dish was great the first night and even better the next days at lunch — allowing the dish to rest gives the flavors a chance to meld and intensify. I ate my leftovers cold to prevent the shrimp for overcooking in the microwave, but you could also reheat it gently on the stovetop.

Do you ever see something or hear of something and immediately know that you'll love it? That's how I felt about the delicious looking Chinese steamed buns, or bao, that keep turning up everywhere I look lately. Everywhere, that is, except on menus here in Albany. It seemed as though if I wanted to taste these for myself, I would ether have to travel to NYC or make them myself. Making them seemed like it would be complicated, so I tucked the idea away in my every-expanding file of recipes to try on the weekend. But then I read this post from Carolyn Jung, who had a little truck up her sleeve to make steamed buns on a weeknight a very real possibility.

The trick? Don't bother making your own dough. Instead, turn to a tube of refrigerated biscuits. Easy Peasy. When classic Pillsbury biscuits are steamed instead of baked, the texture undergoes a complete transformation. Instead of turning out buttery and flakey, they become pillowy-soft and slightly chewy. I don't know how authentic the flavor or texture is, but it's exactly how I imagined it would be. And every bit as delicious.

I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to fill my bins with, so I ended up doing two version: one fatty, porky version based on Momofuku's popular buns, and another light version stuffed with tofu that I baked with my favorite generic "Asian" marinade. Bother versions were amazing, but I actually liked the tofu version the most! It was light and fresh in flavor and the combination of textures — the doughy bun, crispy-creamy tofu and crunchy vegetables — was so much more interesting than that of the chewy pork belly.

I've posted tofu very similar to this one before, but I've recently started to fry the whole block very quickly before baking it. This gives the outside of the tofu a crispy coating that tastes really good and also makes the texture of the tofu a lot more appealing.

Continue reading Easy Steamed Buns, Two Ways -->

Lately, I've been giving a lot of thought to side dishes. In the colder weather, a lot of my dinners tend to be soups or stews that don't require any extras. But now that it's getting warmer out, it's hard to resist the simplicity of just throwing something on the grill - which usually means making some sort of side dish to go with it. Baked potatoes and pasta salads are good, but I get tired of them pretty quickly. So I've been thinking about other easy-to-make options that will help round out a grilled meal. The white bean salad is exactly the kind of dish that I've been looking for. It's light yet full of flavor, and it only takes a few seconds to throw together. The leftovers are great on a green salad, or they can be pureed and served with toasted baguette pieces for a satisfying hummus-like snack.

I recently came across a good deal on lamb leg slices, so I stocked up and now have a freezer full of them. Which is great, sine they go perfectly with the Mediterranean flavors of the bean salad. I especially like to prepare them in this updated take on my herb-crusted lamb - rubbed with a mixture of olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary, then grilled and slathered with this delicious pesto that Mezzetta sent me (I've since bought another jar). I love how intense the flavor of this pesto is! It doesn't taste like something out of a jar at all. The only weird thing about it is that it needs to be refrigerated after opening, and the olive oil congeals a little in the cold. But as long as you remember to pull it out a few minutes before you plan to eat it so that it comes up to temperature, you're good to go!

Click here to continue reading White Bean Salad -->

While I love a good beefy burger as much as the next person, every once in a while I find myself in the mood for something a little different. A little healthier. I love veggie burgers, but the frozen ones remind me too much of fast-food burgers: overly processed, eerily uniform in size, oddly lacking in color, and much, much too small. I like a burger that I can sink my teeth into. I've been toying with the idea of homemade veggie burgers for a while now, but never got around to playing around with recipes. A recent photo featured on The Kitchn has me headed straight for my kitchen though — shredded beets gave the veggie burger a brilliant red, meaty hue that I couldn't resist.

Don't be scared off by the beets though. While they provide a ton of color to the burger, I didn't find that they tasted overly of beets. There's enough other good stuff — brown rice, black beans, spices — to balance out the flavor. While you wouldn't mistake these burgers for ones made from beef, they didn't taste like vegetables either. They just tasted good. Really good. The flavor was amazing, the texture was better than any veggie burger than I've ever had, and they looked beautiful. Given the choice, I think 9 times out of 10 I would actually pick this burger over a more traditional meat one. And that's not even considering the fact that they clock in at 150 calories and boast 7 grams of fiber. Not too shabby!!

A few notes about making these burgers: First off, the mixture will be fairly wet and it takes a little effort to get it to form patties. Don't be afraid to really smoosh it — you don't run the risk of overworking it like you do with beef. Once the patties have been formed, they will be very delicate and won't hold their own on a grill (they'll just fall through the grates). I grilled mine in the mesh wok that I usually use for vegetables. Alternately, you could cook them on the stove in a very hot cast iron pan.

The burgers also don't reheat very well. They dry out. I crumbled a leftover, reheated burger over a salad and it was great, but I don't think it would have been very god as a burger. So if you don't plan to eat these all in one night, I'd recommend refrigerating the extra, uncooked patties and cooking them up to order.

When it came to toppings, I felt like these burgers were calling for a nice, spicy mustard. I also added some banana peppers, which I thought were the perfect touch - I liked the little bit of tang that they gave to it. Shawn had his with barbecue sauce and said it was ok, but I think my combination was way better. I'm not normally a mustard-on-burgers kind of girl, but I couldn't imagine anything being better ion these. So don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to dressing these!

Click to continue reading Ultimate Veggie Burger -->