When I menu plan for the week ahead, I always try to incorporate a fair amount of variety into dinner each night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge proponent of leftovers and they appear on our table at least once or twice a week. However, on the nights I’m cooking, I try to mix up the cuisine / genre, protein source, and even the texture or temperature of a dish (unless it’s January and then I’m okay eating soup every night for a week!).

Usually at least once a week I plan for a lighter entrée, typically in the form of a giant salad. We have a few of our favorites that we return to again and again (like this grilled vegetable salad, this sweet potato, kale, apple salad, and this shredded vegetable detox salad), but I’m always on the lookout for new ones to add to the list. This kale waldorf salad, from Whole Foods, is unique in that it relies on pureed walnuts and apple in the dressing instead of oil. I was skeptical, but didn’t miss the oil one bit, especially since you’re still getting healthy fats from the nuts. I did add a bit of water to thin the dressing to my liking, but I liked how the dressing clung to the kale leaves, softening the salad and helping to bulk up your usual kale salad. Because kale is so hardy, this is a great make-ahead salad…the leftovers I took for my lunch the next day weren’t soggy or unappetizing in the slightest! Next time you’re looking for a salad to round out your meal plan (just add some crusty bread to finish it off), give this one a try.

One Year Ago: Grilled Salmon with Avocado Tomato Salsa
Two Years Ago: Mixed Berries with Mascarpone Limoncello Cream and Kale Salad with Garlic Vinaigrette
Three Years Ago: Cake Batter Rice Krispy Treats and Sweet Potato Chorizo Empanadas with Avocado Cream
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Fudge Drops and Creamy Vegetable and Edamame Risotto
Five Years Ago: German Chocolate Cookies

With a freezer full of main dishes, thanks to the marathon freezer cooking day I had with friends, I’m taking the time to get a little creative with our side dishes rather than just roasting some vegetables or steaming some broccoli. To be fair, Ryan made this bell pepper salad one evening to eat alongside some shredded Italian beef we pulled from the freezer. We returned home from work one evening to a happy baby who suddenly transformed into a lethargic, feverish baby with temperatures reaching 103F.

We’d witnessed a few minor fevers with Brecken before, but nothing that high and I was too busy cuddling her and trying to keep her comfortable to even think about this salad I’d planned to make. Thankfully super dad/husband stepped in and started throwing this together. For as pretty as it looks arranged on the plate, you’d never guess how simple it is. Slice some peppers, chop some herbs, toss in the dressing, and after a little rest it’s ready for the table. Leftovers kept well, so I’d guess you could make this up to a day ahead of time to make getting dinner ready even easier!

My current kitchen is bigger than the kitchen in our duplex, where we lived when we were first married. That duplex kitchen was bigger than the kitchen in my college house, where I first started cooking (very, very minimally!). Although I’ve managed to increase kitchen size over the years, it’s definitely not enough close to big enough. The drawers and cabinets are jam packed and you’d probably laugh at the size of my pantry. I’m not complaining—kitchen woes aside, I love our house and don’t have any desire to move anytime soon. Rather than lust after larger kitchens, I try to be intentional about wisely using the space I do have.

Of course, this means I don’t have room for unnecessary kitchen gadgets. That being said, after making this salad, I think I can justify the purchase of a cherry pitter! Removing each pit with a knife is a painstaking process, though I’ll admit it was worth it for the final product. I’ve used just about every kind of fruit in salad (mango, strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, pears, apples, oranges, peaches, grapes, pomegranate, etc.!) , but never cherries. It was my first, but definitely not my last…especially once I get my hands on that cherry pitter! We enjoyed this as a lighter dinner, the chickpeas adding a little protein and heft (grilled chicken would also serve the same purpose). In my opinion, the best salads are ones with something different in every bite, and you definitely get that here with pistachios, goat cheese, chickpeas, green onions, and cherries! Even if you don’t have a cherry pitter (or room for one!), take the extra fifteen minutes to pit some cherries and make this…I suspect you’ll find the labor of love worth it!

One Year Ago: Pepper Jack Cheeseburgers with Jalapeño-Cumin Relish and Rice & Beans with Chile Ginger Salsa

Two Years Ago: Rosemary Garlic Biscuits and Grilled Pizza with Cheesy Corn, Fresh Tomatoes, and Basil

Three Years Ago: Meaty Bolognese Sauce and Greek Cheesecake (Savory)

Four Years Ago: Scrambled Egg Cups and Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers with Roasted Red Pepper Relish

The other day I mentioned our mint predicament, and how rampant it is in our herb “garden” right now. Although I’m still looking for more ways to use it up, I actually have a week full of mint recipes for you. Come back on Friday for an awesome appetizer that features mint and then starting next week I’ll cool it with the mint for at least a little while!

I posted a picture of this salad on Instagram and said “Caprese goes rogue”. The fresh mozzarella is obviously the common denominator between the two, but the color scheme matches, which is good enough for me to draw a comparison. I’m hugely disappointed that I forgot the balsamic drizzle…I was caught up in getting the rest of the food on the table and that final step completely slipped my mind. A vinegary punch would have put this recipe over the top, but even as is it was a huge hit. Much as I love a true tomato – basil – mozzarella caprese, this version is a worthy competitor and a fun way to use up our excess of mint!

Ryan tends to get a little overzealous about anything that’s green and grows, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he headed to the store for herbs and came home with not one, but two kinds of mint! I couldn’t tell you what the two varieties are or what the differences between them are, but I’m doing my darndest to find ways to use it.

We like mint in our cocktails and our ice cream, but in an effort to find a few healthier ways to use it I stumbled upon this kale and mint salad that was obviously right up my alley. It’s a relatively simple salad, but the mint adds enough flavor that you don’t need a ton beyond the tomatoes and feta. Kale haters can easily substitute their green of choice and I’m sure we’ll make all sorts of varieties of this…double the varieties for double the mint!

Efficiency came into play in this recipe, when I read the instructions that ordered me to use a vegetable peeler to get a pile of carrot and zucchini ribbons. Ain’t nobody got time for that! Instead, I pulled the food processor from the cabinet and used one of the blades to shred thin discs of the two vegetables. It might not be as pretty as a ribbon salad would’ve been, but it was a heck of a lot faster, making me a heck of a lot happier!

Despite how you choose to prepare and eat this salad, I think you’ll be pleased with the outcome. It’s an atypical side dish, a nice change of pace from a green salad or grilled vegetables or kale chips, our standbys. It can be made ahead of time and keeps well in the fridge. Best of all, it’s quick and easy!

The same thing happens every summer. Ryan starts getting excited about yard work and while I don’t even pretend to share that excitement, I do get excited about planting fresh herbs. And then, every summer without fail, I find myself overwhelmed by the bounty, particularly when it comes to basil! Our basil plant is suddenly larger than life and the faster I pick the leaves, the faster they grow back.

 

Next thing I know, I’m frantically searching for recipes that use mass amounts of basil. More often than not, I make a huge batch of pesto and then start searching for ways to use that up. These picnic sandwiches are some of our favorites (and yours too—they’re pinned like crazy on Pinterest!), as well as this pizza and this quiche.

Now we can add this salad to the mix. It’s pretty basic, just a pile of grilled vegetables and mozzarella, but the balsamic pesto makes it truly something special. This time of year we typically gravitate to simpler meals anyhow, but I guarantee you’ll be perfectly satisfied by the time you’ve cleaned your plate. Add some grilled pita or grilled chicken alongside to bulk it up if you want, the pesto would be excellent on all of the above!

And now, please help me, favorite uses for basil or pesto?! Leave them in the comments!

Our ice cream consumption typically goes up in the summer, but to account for this, our consumption of salads also goes up. I love a good salad any time of year, but it’s particularly satisfying in the months of June, July, and August, when we’re craving fresh meals that don’t heat up the kitchen and taste best eaten at dusk on our back patio. This salad is all of those things—it does require a fair bit of chopping, but each of the elements come together quickly.

Like I often suggest, make this salad your own. Feel free to include strawberries, or pistachios, or bacon! That being said, I probably won’t change a thing next time I make this!

When I’m making a salad, I almost always lean toward the sweeter ingredients…things like fresh or dried fruit, or a sweeter vinaigrette. One evening we had my brother-in-law and sister-in-law over for dinner, and Erin brought the most amazing Italian-inspired salad chock full of savory ingredients. It was a refreshing change of pace, and that weekend I found myself craving it again.

Working with what I had on hand, I whipped up my own version of a savory salad. Although my version is posted below, I encourage you to incorporate some of your own favorites into it. I would’ve loved this with the addition of pepperoncini or roasted red peppers in addition to the artichokes and olives I included. Thick shavings of Parmesan graced our greens, but there are a number of cheeses that would work here. The highlight was definitely the spicy salami, which bulked the salad up, making for an excellent Saturday lunch.

Next time you’re craving salad, opt for savory and give this one a try!

One of my favorite memories of maternity leave is the week Brecken and I spent in Illinois at my parents’ house. We headed north to attend my sister’s baby shower one weekend, and to celebrate Easter the following weekend. There weren’t any special plans for the week in-between, but we stuck around and soaked up quality time with my mom and dad, more commonly referred to now as grandma and grandpa!

The leisurely mornings spent enjoying my mom’s homemade granola and sipping mugs of coffee stretched into afternoons of shopping and running errands. It might not seem like anything extraordinary, but it was special simply because our visits ‘home’ are usually way too short and packed with activities. I made dinner a few of the nights that week, which was an absolute treat in the brand new, amazingly remodeled kitchen (picture the most amazing kitchen you’ve seen on Pinterest or in a home magazine, multiply it by 100, and it still wouldn’t compare!).

This buffalo kale salad was far and away the favorite meal I made that week. It was inspired by another recipe I saw online, which took hot-sauce marinated chicken and threw it on some kale. I switched things up, massaged the marinade into the kale to soften it, and topped it with shredded kitchen, carrots, celery, and cheese. Although you see parmesan pictured, I highly recommend picking up some blue cheese, which would’ve been our first choice had we not been trying to avoid a trip to the grocery store! Thanks to this salad, you slash the calories normally involved with buffalo chicken without sacrificing any of the classic flavor that everyone loves!