easy recipes

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Travel, Wine, and Dine has definitely been focusing more on the travel and wine lately, with a departure from the recipes and cooking that used to be a bigger part of my blog and my life. Life happens, people change, and there are times when being in the kitchen is a little less appealing that being out and about, working really hard on growing my career, and seeing as much of the world as possible.

twice baked sweet potato mash

I do still cook, in between nights out and takeout and those nights where cereal is the only thing that is possible. I’ve been trying to make lots of entree salads as well as shrimp, veggies, some sort of sauce, and pasta.

This twice baked sweet potato dish was inspired by one of the many articles that I have been reading, trying to find quick, healthy recipes for weeknight meals. While it’s getting warmer out, nights are still chilly, so this sweet potato mash is perfect either on its own or with main dish. Greek yogurt adds in protein, and the sweet potato and kale are chock full of nutrients.

How to make it:

I simply baked two large sweet potatoes until they were soft, scooped out the filling and mixed it with the following:

2 cups chopped kale and 1 cup chopped yellow onion, sautéed in oil until soft

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

dash garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper, all to taste

I pureed the ingredients together until soft and silky, then topped with a generous sprinkling of crumbled feta. I put back in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes and this easy Meatless Monday meal was ready to serve.

I’m excited for gardening and farmers markets and all of the beautiful seasonal produce they will bring!

Tags: easy recipes, Food, recipe, Vegetarian

Here comes the sun? I hope? While summer unofficially began on Memorial Day weekend, I am not quite believing it. Instead of summer whites, I’m still cozying up in wool pants for work and hoping a post on some summery cooking will help Mother Nature get the hint.

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Fish in a packet – This is nothing new or too exciting, but it’s healthy and delicious and easily done on the stove or on a grill. Last weekend when we had a bit of sun, we fired up the grill and stuffed foil packets with filets of cod, lemons, garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil. The person watching the grill just needs to keep an eye on the fish, checking until it’s perfectly flaky This grilled dinner felt so decadent, but it was pretty health overall.

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On the same night we grilled, I also had a huge craving for one of my favorite New England summer foods, steamers dipped in butter. The key to making steamers is making sure they are clean. There’s nothing worse than a bit of grit! I soak them in cold water, which I change two or three times, and I also scrub the shells. Steaming is easy; just make sure the shells are open and you have plenty of melted butter (and napkins)!

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One day, it actually is going to get hot (please. . . ), and we’ll be craving cool, light meals. I whipped up the below “Cool as a Cucumber” soup using six baby English cucumbers, an avocado, two cups buttermilk, two cloves garlic, a couple of spoons of light sour cream, a large jalapeno, and a few dashes of hot sauce. Blended together, the ingredients made for a cool, creamy soup with a slight hint of spice. I would add more jalapenos next time to give it more of a kick.

cool cucumber soup

Finally, we have a most excellent summer side dish, designed to use up all of those vegetables from your garden, farm stand, or CSA. This slaw is cabbage, carrots, finely chopped broccoli, cilantro, and thinly sliced jalapenos all doused in rice vinegar and mixed with a teaspoon of honey. It could not be simpler, and since it has no heavy mayo dressing, it all stays crunchy. I could see doing this with summer squashes, kale and other greens, radishes, etc. We joined our first CSA this year, Red Fire Farm, and I can’t wait to see what new recipes we can dream up with what will likely be an overload of produce.

crunchy veggie slaw

Have you started cooking up summer recipes yet? Do you have a garden or belong to a farm share?

Tags: cooking at home, easy recipes, Food, recipe, seafood, summer, summer cooking, summer meals, summer recipes

Tired Food

We’ve all had those nights, the ones where the day (or week, in this case) has really caught up with you. Forget blogging, getting into the kitchen to make something to eat seems to daunting, and going out to eat somewhere requires too much contact with the outside world. All you want to do is flop down on the couch, throw your arms up in the air and stop thinking and doing. This week has been an intense roller coaster of interviews, fun meetings and projects, life decisions, disappointments, fears, and excitement, and I definitely had a couple of nights where I couldn’t do anything else.

One day, we ordered from our local pizza place, Pantry Pizza, and the other day I used fridge staples to try to recreate a sandwich we had at a farmer’s market in Marin.

Marin Farmer's Market

Not healthy, but oh-so-good, a bacon and egg grilled cheese made with turkey bacon and Kerrygold Killaree cheddar.

turkey bacon

It was as easy as it sounds, a few slices of fried bacon, added to a couple of fried eggs.

fried eggs

On top of buttered slices of bread, topped with melted cheddar, heated on both sides until gooey and golden brown.

Kerrygold Killaree

Simple. My other simple meal was a new favorite sandwich from Pantry Pizza, far too messy to photograph, a vegetable parmesan sub consisting of a whole bunch of vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and peppers, topped with tomato sauce and cheese, then stuffed with pickles, onions, lettuce and raw tomatoes. Amazing.

I am very ready for the weekend; it truly can not get here quickly enough.

How’s your week going? Do you ever have days where you feel so drained you can’t imagine doing anything?

Tags: breakfast, dinner, easy recipes, eggs, Food, sandwiches

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