Hey friends! Whose in the mood for some Mexican food? Due to my love for beans, avocado, cheese, tomato (salsa!!), rice, and tortillas, I am definitely a Mexican food fan. Cheese & veggie quesadillas are one of my go-to easy dinner ideas when I want to get something on the table fast, and I could eat guacamole probably every day and be a happy camper. In the past, I haven't been a big enchilada fan though. I never could pinpoint why I wasn't crazy about them until somewhat recently, when my hubby and I had dinner at our friends' house, and they made us some authentic Mexican grub. I really liked the ones that they made, and I realized it was because they weren't greasy and soggy as they are in restaurants sometimes. Since then I've been to a few healthy restaurants and ... [Read More]
cheese
Queso Fresco Black Bean Dip
Sometimes whipping up a quick dip makes for the perfect meal. When watching primetime football. When you're having a game night. When you feel like being lazy in the kitchen but still need to make some sort of dinner. If you're a dip eating kind of person, then I've got a recipe for you today: Slowly but surely, my husband has shifted from being a bean-hater who would say, "Are there beans in this?" with distaste every time I included them in a dish, to someone who doesn't mind them all that much. In fact, when I put this dip on my kitchen table, he not only said nothing of the dip's focus on black beans... but he even commented on really being a fan of the dish. I think that if/when we have children one day, I'll use similar kitchen tactics of slowly integrating "hated" ingredients ... [Read More]
Heirloom Tomato Three Cheese Pizza
Did you know that it's National Pizza Week? Here are some favorite pizza recipes of mine: Veggie Mozzarella Pie Greek Pizza White Broccoli Pizza South of the Border Pizza As you may know, I am a big fan of pizza. Since I usually whip one up every few weeks anyways, I couldn't miss out on celebrating by making a pizza this Friday evening! Tonight I went with a bit of a different combo, pairing fontina, mozzarella, and asiago cheeses with heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil. I went to Trader Joe's to pick up my usual whole wheat dough, but unfortunately they only had plain left. Since I'm used to eating whole wheat bread/pasta/rice/etc., it's funny when I eat white versions of those things. I think that whole wheat tastes so much more flavorful, but the pizza was still delish: See ... [Read More]
Labor Day Weekend Snack: Cheesy Bean Dip
Happy Labor Day Weekend! My Sunday so far has been a great day. This morning Adam, Harley, and I took Adam's dad hiking at one of my usual spots in Mission Trails Park, Kwaay Paay Summit (which I've talked about before here). I haven't gone hiking lately because Harley gets worn out easily in the summer heat. She did a pretty good job today, except for her constant efforts to find a shady spot to chill on the way down the summit. Here are a few picture attempts of my little family and me: Clearly Harley wasn't in the mood to pose for photos. After our hike, we spent a few hours in the gorgeous sunshine relaxing on the beach in La Jolla. It's definitely been a nice day so far! :) One of the eats we've enjoyed this weekend is this Mexican-style layer ... [Read More]
Broccoli Mac & Cheese: Take 2
Happy weekend! I'm excited for this weekend for a few reasons - 1.) The Olympics are about to begin any minute now! 2.) Adam's birthday is in a couple of days, and tomorrow we're celebrating it. I have a few surprises up my sleeve for his pre-bday day of fun! More on that later, but now onto food... Last week, I blogged about my failed mac & cheese attempt. As I mentioned then, I was eager to buy more ingredients to give it another try, and tonight I did just that. Macaroni & cheese is such a classic dish, but there are so many ways you can jazz it up a bit. Pasta, cheese, butter, and breadcrumbs obviously make for an indulgent dish, but I wanted to lighten it up a bit for a few reasons: #1 - so that I didn't feel guilty about eating a dinner with a ton of calories and ... [Read More]
Crostini Combo Ideas
At the farmer's market yesterday, a loaf of fresh bread was calling my name (and so were berries, broccoli rabe, spinach, guavas, cinnamon peanut butter, granola, and the list goes on and on!). When I came home with a French baguette, I decided that experimenting with crostini combos sounded like a good idea. After slicing the bread, brushing them with olive oil, and throwing in the oven for a few, I began pulling out random things from my fridge to top my crostini with. This was the result: From top left going clockwise, here are the toppings: Goat cheese, fig butter & drizzled honey Fresh mashed raspberries, brie cheese & slivered almonds Arugula, roasted pepper & fresh Burrata (a ridiculously creamy cheese I bought yesterday as well) Sun-dried ... [Read More]