Recipe: Cheesy Chickpea Salad Toast

Cheesy Chickpea Salad Toast

Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2023, p.18
4.7 stars

We'd made this before, but I'd forgotten to take a photo and blog about it. It seems like it would be an odd mix of ingredients, but it all really works together. You need EVERYTHING, though, we didn't use dill. Really good -- super flavorful. Great with chips and a salad.

Ingredients: bread, chickpeas, celery, extra sharp cheddar, cornichons, red onion, dill, butter, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, flaky sea salt, hot sauce

Recipe: Mushroom and Lentil Ragu

Mushroom and Lentil Ragu

Food & Wine Magazine, Sep 2025, p. 44

5 stars

I love this recipe so much! It was DELICIOUS!!! I can't wait to eat the leftovers. So flavorful!

One note: It was a little watery but thickens with time (next day - it was the perfect consistency).

Ingredients: cooked polenta, black lentils, crushed tomatoes, mixed mushrooms, yellow onion, carrots, tomato paste, dry red wine, vegetable broth, heavy ream, garlic, red pepper, oregano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt

Recipe: Chicken Salad with Haricots Verts

Chicken Salad with Haricots Verts

Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2014, p. 102
4.9 stars

I love salads that have potatoes and green beans in them -- this hit the spot and is definitely a restaurant-worthy $28 salad. Note that we used salmon instead of chicken. I may not need to order this in a restaurant anymore!

Ingredients based on our recipe: salmon, mixed greens, potatoes, haricots verts, radish, shallot, garlic, Sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, thyme, sugar, olive oil, black pepper

Recipe: Spicy Black Bean and Chicken Salad with Roasted Cumin Vinaigrette

Spicy Black Bean and Chicken Salad with Roasted Cumin Vinaigrette

A McCormick Gourmet Collection Recipe by Cat Cora

4.7 stars

We made this plant based using Impossible Chicken. Good salad, but the dressing was a bit acidic for me. Overall, we liked it and will make it again.

Vinaigrette ingredients: olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lime peel, lime juice, cilantro, ground cumin, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper

Salad ingredients: lettuce, chicken, black beans, cherry tomatoes, corn, red bell pepper, red onion

Tips/Notes:

• Used Impossible Chicken
• Added queso fresco

Recipe: Root Vegetable Tarte Tatin

Root Vegetable Tarte Tatin

Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2015, p. 71
4.7 stars

If you look at the recipe on epicurious.com or bonappetit.com, you'll see that ours looks very different from their photo. It's because we did not slice the vegetables into rounds and did not invert the whole thing on to a plate. I'm actually not sure how we could invert it as there was so much liquid. We'll try it again, but during a fall/winter month as this really is more of a fall/winter dish.

The goat cheese and sage really make this dish!

Ingredients: Yukon Gold potato, sweet potato, carrots, parsnip, fresh goat cheese, red onion, olive oil, white wine vinegar, sugar, rosemary, sage, Kosher salt, pepper; also all-purpose flour, butter, apple cider vinegar, Kosher salt for the pie crust

Tips/Notes:

• Cut the vegetables into rounds next time
• Forgot to add the white wine vinegar to the caramel so added it afterwards -- need to remember next time

Recipe: Pasta with Greens and Beans

Pasta with Greens and Beans

Food & Wine Magazine, Mar 2025, p. 101
4.7 stars

The ingredient list looked a bit plain, but I thought we might as well give this a whirl. It turned out to be great! Definitely need the Parmesan on top, and with the Calabrian chiles, this dish had good flavor (and protein for a vegetarian dish)! As the intro to this recipe says, "Ready in about half an hour, this weeknight pasta dinner demonstrates how just a few basic ingredients can become a complex and flavorful meal." True!

Ingredients: pappardelle or tagliatelle, mustard greens, cannellini beans, Calabrian chiles, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lemon juice, shallots, garlic, EVOO, Kosher salt

Tips/Notes:

• Used kale instead of mustard greens
• Added some lemon zest

Recipe: Peppery Potato Frittata

Peppery Potato Frittata

Bon Appetit Magazine, Mar 2023

4.7 stars

For the different frittata recipes we've made, this is one of my favorites. I like that it's hearty with the potatoes, and it has good flavor especially with Sriracha (not shown in the photo) on top! Note that this recipe requires a dozen eggs.

Ingredients: eggs, heavy cream, russet potato, onion, garlic, cilantro, vegetable oil, Kosher salt, pepper, flaky sea salt, Sriracha

Tips/Notes:

• Served this with a salad on the side

Recipe: Brown Rice and Beans with Ginger Chile Salsa

Brown Rice and Beans with Ginger Chile Salsa

Bon Appetit Magazine, Apr 2013, p. 42

4 stars

This was fine... another version of a Mexican "bowl." I was not a fan of the ginger chile salsa -- I think it was too acidic, but everything else was good; a good base of a bowl.

Ingredients: brown rice, black beans, onion, cilantro, jalapenos, vegetable broth, garlic, ginger, lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, ground coriander, ground cumin, Kosher salt, pepper, avocado, Cotija or feta cheese

Recipe: Pepper-Shrimp-and-Noodle Salad with Crunchy Spring Vegetables

Pepper-Shrimp-and-Noodle Salad with Crunchy Spring Vegetables
Martha Stewart Living, Apr 2021, p.99
5 stars

So delicious!!! Lots of veggies and loved our additions -- definitely adding this to the rotation. So flavorful and loved all of the textures. We've made a recipe like this before, but this was GOOD.

Couldn't find a link to this recipe online.

Ingredients: ramen, shrimp, natural peanut butter, cucumber, radish, cilantro, mint, ginger, garlic, hot sesame oil, vegetable oil, unseasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, Kosher salt, pepper

Tips/Notes:

• Used crunchy peanut butter since we didn't have creamy which the recipe called for
• Used avocado oil instead of vegetable oil
• Used 4 garlic cloves instead of 10-12
• Added edamame
• Added tofu -- make 2x next time
• Made 1.5x the dressing, but note didn't increase the amount of avocado oil
• Served with vegetable egg rolls

Recipe: King Ranch Casserole

King Ranch Casserole

Food & Wine Magazine, Feb 2025, p. 48

4.8 stars

Really delicious, not hard for a weekday meal, but it's not super healthy -- though we tried to make it healthier!

Ingredients: corn tortillas, rotisserie chicken, red bell pepper, yellow onion, diced tomatoes and green chiles, chicken broth, heavy cream, sour cream, salsa macha verde, unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, Monterey Jack cheese, chili powder, ground cumin, Kosher salt

Serve with avocado and fresh cilantro

Tips/Notes:

• Instead of rotisserie chicken, added a can of drained black beans and 1.5 cup of cooked quinoa
• Instead of rotel, used one can (about 14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes and a 4 oz can of chopped hatch chiles
• Used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and because of the greater quantity of tomatoes and hatch chiles, cut down the broth to 2 cups
• Cut up the corn tortillas
• Cooked everything in a large casserole dish

Recipe: Lasagna Soup

Lasagna Soup

Food & Wine Magazine, Jan 2025, p. 45

4.9 stars

We will definitely make this again! It really is what it says ~ it's a lasagna soup! I thought it was interesting that harissa is an ingredient -- it gives SPICE to it, but you wouldn't guess it was in the dish.

Ingredients: lasagna noodles, Italian sausage, yellow onion, harissa, marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic, dry white wine, chicken broth, basil, Kosher salt

Tips/Notes:

• It was SPICY! Use 2 Tbsp instead of 3 Tbsp of the harissa
• Did not add any salt, and it was fine
• Used Beyond Sausage
• Used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth

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.

Recipe: Grilled Carrot Tostadas

Grilled Carrot Tostadas
Food & Wine Magazine, Oct 2024, p.42
4.8 stars

Even though I had purchased all of the ingredients for this recipe, we held off on making it ~ just didn't sound SUPER appetizing, but it turned out so much better than we thought it would!!! Great flavors and textures: creaminess of the cream cheese, crunch of the tostadas, acidity of the vinegar, sweetness of the date syrup, "herbiness" of the herbs.

We'd never eaten carrot tops before -- tasted like parsley.

Ingredients: tostadas, carrots with tops, cream cheese, cilantro, mint, jarred salsa macha, red wine vinegar, date molasses, olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper

Tips/Notes:

• Added pepitas on top
• Roasted the carrots -- next time, need 3x the amount of carrots!
• Store was out of salsa macha both times so didn't use it
• Couldn't find date molasses but used date syrup instead
• Served with refried beans on the side (protein!)

Recipe: Yakisoba

Yakisoba
Food & Wine Magazine, Oct 2024, p. 62
4.6 stars

This was good and different for a stir-fried Asian dish since it was on the "sweet" side. It definitely needs HEAT, though! 

Also, we had this as a vegetarian meal, but I can see how sliced steak would go so well with it as the recipe calls for.

Ingredients: ramen noodles, rib eye steak, napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, onion, scallions, vegetable oil, tonkatsu sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, Kosher salt

Tips/Notes:

• Didn't use napa cabbage; used kale instead
• Added celery, edamame and tofu
• Made our own tonkatsu sauce (see below which already has ketchup and soy sauce) so didn't add additional soy sauce to the dish
• Add chili crisp or Sriracha to taste at the table
• Served with egg rolls

Tonkatsu sauce

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1.5 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic grated

Mix all really well.

Recipe: Sweet Potato and Kale Soup

Sweet Potato and Kale Soup
Food & Wine Magazine, Oct 2024, p. 53
5 stars

So hearty and flavorful -- I wish we had more leftovers! I think the sage and nutmeg plus bacon must have given it the umami and depth of flavor. The blend of flavors was delicious!

Ingredients: bacon, sweet potatoes, lacinato kale, yellow onion, carrots, celery, sage, broth, Parmesan cheese rind, nutmeg, garlic, Kosher salt, black pepper

Garnish ingredients: salted pepitas, shaved Parmesan cheese

Tips/Notes:

• Didn't use a parmesan rind and it still was super flavorful!

Recipe: Bright and Spicy Shrimp Noodle Salad

Bright and Spicy Shrimp Noodle Salad

Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2020, p.60

4.6 stars

Nice, easy and healthy weekday "salad."

Ingredients: shrimp, glass noodles, cucumber, roasted peanuts, basil, lime juice, honey, serrano, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt

Tips:

• Used rice noodles instead of bean thread (cellophane or glass) noodles
• Add mango
• Add edamame
• Serve with egg rolls

Recipe: Beet Tostadas

Beet Tostadas

Food & Wine Magazine, Feb 2024, p. 35
4.7 stars

I was so intrigued by this recipe, though, there were so MANY steps so with our culinary knowledge, we modified it a bit. It was overall good but needed something with umami -- see notes below.

Beet Tostadas Ingredients: beets, black beans, yellow onion, guajillo chiles, garlic, limes, lime juice, ground cumin, ground coriander, chile powder, red pepper, Kosher salt, olive oil

Picked Vegetables Ingredients: scallions, jalapeno, radishes, lime juice, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, sea salt

Additional Ingredients: tostadas, queso fresco or crumbled feta, cilantro, roasted pepitas, flaky sea salt

Tips/Notes:

• Used frozen beets already peeled and sliced -- roasted them for about 28 min with all ingredients but used guajillo chile powder and garlic powder
• Did not grate the beets
• Need to drain the black beans about 75% as the puree was too runny
• Used queso fresco; also bought Oaxaca cheese
• Added hot sauce to taste
• Skipped the roasted pepitas
• To add umami, add mushrooms or plant-based meat

Recipe: Chilled Zucchini Soup

Chilled Zucchini Soup
Food & Wine Magazine
4.9 stars

This recipe from Chef Michael Anthony was just as good as Chef Grant Achatz's Silky Zucchini Soup but it had another layer of complexity because of ALL the other vegetables in it -- there are 12 (including the herbs)! 

We took this recipe and simplifed it by A LOT. See notes below. In short, we sauteed, then blended, then served it hot. We'll eat the leftovers chilled.

Soup Ingredients: zucchini, leek, spinach, yellow onion, shallots, garlic, lemon thyme, parsley, basil, vegetable broth, olive oil, Kosher salt

Garnish: hakurei turnips, summer squash, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper

Tips:

• Literally just sauteed everything, blended it and served. No ice bath, no straining through a wire-mesh strainer, no chilling of the soup.
• Added red pepper when sauteing the vegetables.
• Used 5 sprigs of thyme and lemon zest since we don't have lemon thyme.
• Didn't use turnips.
• Topped with sauteed squash, Parmesan and croutons.

Recipe: Sweet Peach & Goat Cheese Salad

Sweet Peach & Goat Cheese Salad

Recreated a Mendocino Farms salad

5 stars

I saw this salad advertised in an email from Mendocino Farms. As I read through the ingredient components, I thought to myself, "We can make that!" It turned out GREAT!!! A $14.35 salad but ours is all ORGANIC!

Ingredients:

• Shaved, roasted chicken breast (we used Impossible chicken that we air fried)
• Sweet peaches
• Romaine, kale and mixed greens
• Pickled red onions
• Fresh mint
• Shaved fennel
• Marinated goat cheese (we used honey goat cheese)
• Honey roasted almonds (to cut back on calories and more sweetness, we used Marcona almonds)
• Drizzle of hot peach honey
• Farmhouse vinaigrette (made our own basic vinaigrette)