Friday Foodie Favorites…and a Not So Favorite
As I have mentioned before, I have a TON of recipes bookmarked on my computer. Honestly, it is a bit embarrassing to scroll through my list. Not to mention the fact that it is kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack when I am trying to locate a specific recipe. As a result, I have made a personal goal to work on clearing out my recipe stash. As a part of this plan, I am cooking my way through my list of bookmarked recipes, though the list never seems to get much smaller since I continue to add more recipes ;). Such is life, right? Without further ado, here is another Friday roundup of some of my foodie favorites!
First up is Melissa’s Mediterranean-Style Cauliflower Rice. Lately, I have been obsessed with all recipes utilizing cauliflower rice, and the addition of some of my other favorite foods made this recipe a “must make” for me. I decided to adapt the recipe to make a vegan version. I used Field Roast brand vegan sausage and topped the dish with a sprinkle of vegan cheese. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly, except for leaving out the olives. I am not much of a fan of kalamata olives. And the results? Um…SO tasty! I absolutely loved my vegan version of this dish. I will absolutely be making it again.
Next up…
…an adapted version of Kelly’s Dijon Veggie Couscous recipe. This dish made an appearance in last week’s WIAW post, and definitely deserves to be mentioned again! I followed Kelly’s recipe exactly, except I used a mixture of whole brown rice and leftover cauliflower rice in place of the couscous. I also stirred in a bit of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, mostly because I am slightly obsessed with this product right now. This is a tasty meal that is chocked full of veggies and whole grains..my kind of dish!
Another recipe that I tried (and loved!) within the past two weeks was Sarah’s recipe for her Veggie Brown Rice Pizza Bake. I am a sucker for pizza, and when combined with lots of veggies and whole grains…well, let’s just say that this one is a winner! Plus, it is vegan, which I love :). I followed Sarah’s recipe except I used a fresh tomato in place of the canned diced tomatoes, used fresh mushrooms, used a vegan cheese sauce from the Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook, and added spinach. This bake turned out so well.
And I (obviously) had to follow Sarah’s advice and top the pizza bake with a fried dippy egg (thus, of course not making it vegan ;)). But boy, this addition was SO worth it!
And the final favorite that I have to share on this Friday features my current favorite type of dish that is coming out of my kitchen lately:
This is what I like to call the “clean out the fridge” bowl. Essentially, I have been making a lot of bowls full of any random number of veggies/grains/beans/etc. that I can find in my fridge. Oh, and I definitely season them up well with things like spices, sriracha sauce, and Bragg’s.
This particular bowl contained onions, red peppers, coleslaw mix, kale, corn, black-eyed peas, Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, sriracha sauce, and spices. It was good and beyond easy to make. This is definitely my kind of recipe..if you can even call it that!
Lastly, I want to end with a bit of a reality check. While I wish that all of the recipes that I bookmark turn out to be as delicious as they look and sound, that does not always happen. They cannot all be great now can they?
This stew looks pretty tasty and promising, right? Well, sometimes looks are deceiving. I had a lot of hope for this recipe. I mean, it contains tomatoes, corn, and lentils, so I figured that it had to be good. However, it was seriously lacking in flavor. I was definitely disappointed. I won’t share the link for the recipe because I do not want to offend anyone, but I just wanted to show the reality of it all…not every recipe turns out to be as delicious as I hope it will be.
Welp, I am off for a fabulous weekend in the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf, IA & Moline and Rock Island, IL)…my college stomping grounds. One of my best friends is getting married and I am in the wedding. I am beyond excited for the big day and for the opportunity to reconnect with some of my college friends. It should be an experience to remember! Happy Friday all and have a fabulous weekend!
