Recipe: Layered Taco Salad

Layered Taco Salad
Gourmet Magazine, Aug 2023
4.8 stars

Really great recipe! I think this is the best taco beef recipe we've made -- so flavorful and moist with the tomato sauce.

Salad Ingredients: lettuce, tomato, avocado, black beans, black olives, extra-sharp Cheddar

Beef Ingredients: ground chuck, medium onion, tomato sauce, garlic, serrano chiles, chili powder, ground cumin, olive oil, salt, pepper

Dressing Ingredients: lime juice, cilantro, sugar, chili powder, ground cumin, olive oil, salt, pepper

Tips/Notes:

• Used Impossible Beef
• Heated up the black beans

Recipe: Spicy Bulgur in Lettuce Cups

Spicy Bulgur in Lettuce Cups

Bon Appetit Magazine, Apr 2021, p.43

4.5 stars

This grew on me! The dressing wasn't that exciting, but overall the flavors were good ESPECIALLY with the falafel added. The lettuce wasn't strong enough to hold everything together so it ended up being a salad.

Salad Ingredients: Little Gem lettuce or romaine, bulgur, walnuts, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, parsley, mint, pomegranate seeds, Kosher salt, black pepper

Dressing Ingredients: pomegranate molasses, double-concentrated tomato paste, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, Aleppo-style pepper, biber salcasi (Turkish hot pepper paste) or more Aleppo, Kosher salt, black pepper

Tips/Notes:

• Served falafel with it
• Didn't have biber salcasi so used more Aleppo pepper
• Substituted date syrup for the pomegranate molasses

Recipe: Buddha Bowls with Crispy Sesame Tofu

Buddha Bowls with Crispy Sesame Tofu

"I Love You" by Pamela Anderson, p. 114
4.8 stars

Another great Buddha Bowl recipe! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sesame-crusted tofu, and for some reason, the roasted sweet potato and broccoli tasted really good even though it's how we always roast our vegetables.

New recipe for us to rotate in!

Ingredients: brown rice, sweet potatoes, broccoli, tofu, red cabbage, avocado, cilantro, cornstarch, maple syrup, tamari, black sesame seeds, white sesame seeds, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper

Sauce Ingredients: creamy almond butter, maple syrup, tamari, rice vinegar, black vinegar, ginger, sriracha

Tips/Notes:

• Used quinoa instead of brown rice
• Used balsamic vinegar instead of black vinegar
• Used soy sauce instead of tamari
• Used an organic broccoli slaw instead of cabbage
• The sauce is thick
• Didn't blend the sauce in the blender -- didn't think it was necessary
• Add a squeeze of lime for acidity and add more sriracha at the table

Recipe: Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos with Fennel and Beans

Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos with Fennel and Beans

Martha Stewart Living, Jun 2021, p. 102
4.8 stars

Reading the ingredients, I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out -- it was delicious! An easy weeknight meal. The longest part of prep is shelling (and deveining) the shrimp. We served this with black beans and rice.

Ingredients: tortillas, shrimp, pinto beans, fennel, chipotle in adobo, cilantro, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, lime, vegetable oil, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips:

• Didn't grill -- sauteed them in a pan
• Make sure to buy sour cream as that would have made it amazing!

Recipe: Lemon Ricotta-Stuffed Shells

Lemon Ricotta-Stuffed Shells

Food & Wine Magazine, Dec 2024/Jan 2025, p.38
4.7 stars

This was good, not amazing -- but then we forgot to add the hot honey which would probably take it to another level, so we need to make this again! The grocery store also ran out of large pasta shells, so we used manicotti shells instead.

Ingredients: jumbo pasta shells, marinara sauce, frozen chopped spinach, whole milk ricotta cheese, garlic-and-herb spreadable cheese (such as Boursin), egg, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, hot honey, Kosher salt

Tips/Notes:

• Use just a little bit of lemon zest like 1 tsp, not 2 Tbsp. Even with 1 tsp, it was very lemony.
• Added crumbled Impossible meatballs

Recipe: Vegetarian Red Lentil Wraps

Vegetarian Red Lentil Wraps

Food and Wine Magazine, Dec 2024/Jan 2025, p.59
4.6 stars

Delicious and healthy. The red lentil and bulgur wheat mixture had the consistency of fluffy Mexican rice.

Tomato Brown Butter Ingredients: butter, fire-roasted tomatoes, garlic, Kosher salt

Wrap Ingredients: flour tortillas, red lentils, bulgur wheat, carrot, white onion, romaine lettuce, peperoncini slices, tomato paste, ground cumin, Aleppo pepper, unsalted butter, Kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, water

Tips/Notes:

• Not sure it was necessary to make the Tomato Brown Butter -- I think it used too much butter; next time, I'd heat up the fire-roasted tomatoes and garlic with just a little butter.
• Didn't blend the butter to make it smooth as we didn't think it was necessary to be "butter."
• Basically made tacos!
• Peperoncini slices added a nice kick (acid) to it.
• Served with salad.