Banh Mi Pizza

I am not a fan of salad pizza.  I wish I was one of those people who loved salad so much that it would be my choice of pizza topping, but alas then this blog probably wouldn't exist.  This banh mi pizza however, gives traditional salad pizza a run for its money.

It's a totally refreshing dinner for the summer and if you are bold enough to cook it on the grill, you don't have to heat the house up!

Banh Mi Pizza
Adapted From Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup water

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup matchstick carrots
1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 jalapeno, sliced and seeded
1 pizza dough
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbps sesame oil, divided
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp Sriracha
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 500. In a small sauce pan bring vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a simmer.  Stir until salt and sugar dissolve.  Remove from heat and add carrots, cucumber, and jalapeno. Set aside.
2. Stretch out your pizza dough and pierce with a fork all over to prevent bubbles. Brush with soy sauce and 1 tbsp sesame oil. Cook 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle dough with grated cheese and cook 5 minutes more.
4. Remove pizza from oven an top with drained pickled vegetables. Mix sour cream and sriracha together, drizzle on pizza. Top with cilantro. Slice and serve.

Don't be alarmed by the fact that it's from Cooking Light.  If it makes you feel any better, they said it serves 4 and the 2 of us at the whole darn thing.

Chicken Pot Pie Pizza

Two comfort foods come together to make one delicious dinner. The magical creamy filling of a pot pie on top of a pizza crust, covered in cheese.  Since winter doesn't seem to want to quit anytime soon, this will surely warm up your kitchen and your belly.

Chicken Pot Pie Pizza
From i am a food blog

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar
1/3 cup shredded cooked chicken
1/4 of a small onion, diced
1 smallish potato, diced and cooked
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 pizza dough

1. Preheat oven to 500. In a small pan melt butter, then whisk in flour. Slowly whisk in chicken stock. Stir until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Stretch out your pizza dough. Spread on the sauce, then top with onion, potato, carrot, celery, chicken, and cheese.
3. Cook about 15 minutes until crust has browned and cheese has melted.

Yes. Yes. Yes. This is absolutely as good as it sounds. Make it to celebrate Pi Day!

Banh Mi Bowls

All the goodness of a banh mi sandwich, captured in some easy to make rice bowls.

Banh Mi Bowls

From Pinch of Yum

Ingredients

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
6-8 carrots, peeled into ribbons or cut into matchsticks

1 lb ground pork
1 tbsp lemongrass paste (it's with the herbs in the produce section)
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp sriracha
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp salt

cooked rice
scallions
sesame seeds
tzatziki sauce, or a spicy mayo, or nothing...

1. Preheat oven to 475. Combine the first set of ingredients in a bowl and set aside for the carrots to pickle.
2. Mix second set of ingredients in a bowl.  Roll into small balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake about 15-20 minutes.
3. Build your bowls with some rice, meatballs, scallions, sesame seeds, and sauce of your choosing.

These are so damn good I cannot wait to make them again!

Yes! I really love dinner in a bowl.  It is quite glorious.

Foodie Dice

Sorry I seem to have taken a bit of a leave of absence from the blog so far this year, but I promise new recipes are in the works as you read this very post!

FYI: This is not a sponsored post.  It's just me showing off a fun gift I got for Christmas.  I present to you, foodie dice!  The idea is you roll the dice to decide what ingredients get included in a recipe.  This version has a different vegetable die for each season.

Above you can see what I rolled, below you can see what the end result looked like. I roasted a rosemary and garlic covered pork loin along with potatoes and carrots.  I tossed in some shredded purple cabbage for the last few minutes of cooking.

This was just the inspiration I needed to come up with something different to cook for dinner. Can't wait to see what the dice have in store for me next time!

Kimchi Pork Fried Rice

I was recently gifted some homemade kimchi! Yes, I know, not many of you would be that excited to get a Tupperware of stinky fermenting cabbage. That is why I'm the food blogger, and you are here for the food porn.

Note that the kimchi is not going to make or break this recipe so if your Korean friend's mother didn't whip you up a batch, don't worry.

Kimchi Pork Fried Rice

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp sriracha

1 tbsp honey

1/4 tsp ground ginger, or 1 tbsp fresh grated

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tbsp oil, sesame if you have it

3 eggs, beaten

4 slices bacon

1/2 lb pork loin sliced into bit sized pieces* 

4 cups cooked rice

1 cup cubed pineapple

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup kimchi

salt and pepper to taste

sesame seeds, optional

1. Mix up the first 5 ingredients in a bowl or measuring cup. Set aside

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet or wok. Cook eggs until soft and set. Remove from skillet and set aside.

3. Cook bacon in same skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble when cooled.

4. Cook your meat in bacon fat with about 2-3 tbsp of the sauce you made.

5. Add pineapple chunks, kimchi, and vegetables and cook until heated through.

6. Add rice, eggs, bacon, and remaining sauce. Stir to combine. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

*You can use any meat you like here. I had the pork in the fridge from a previous meal.

FYI: This is a ton of food which is totally fantastic because you are going to love eating it for lunch all week long.

Korean BBQ Beef Burritos

This whole heatwave business is really cramping my style in the kitchen.  Actually it's forcing me to cook differently and I should start appreciating that.

The Korean BBQ beef cooks up in the slow cooker which is perfect because that means no oven and no standing over an open flame. Score 1 for the heatwave victims who refuse to turn on the air conditioner!

Korean BBQ Beef Burritos
From Pinch of Yum

Ingredients
2 lb top sirloin
2 pears, peeled and cut into chunks
1 2 inch knob of ginger (I used some ground)
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil

rice
greens: basil, parsley, green onions, lettuce (that's all I had I threw some dried basil and parsley into the slow cooker)
kimchi (I quick pickled shaved carrots with some rice vinegar)
sriracha
tortillas

1. With a blender or food processor mix the pears, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil.  Save yourself some time and use the immersion blender right in the slow cooker! Plop the beef in and cook it on high for 3-5 hours.
2. Shred that beef up and make yourself some burritos with the rice, and the greens, and the sriracha, and the pickled carrots (or kimchi if you can find it!)

Just ate some of the leftovers in a quesadilla...yum!!

Carrot Lox

Want to dazzle your brunch guests this Sunday? Try some carrot lox!  All the smokey flavors of salmon lox, but more make-at-home friendly (vegetarian and wallet friendly too!) with carrots!

Carrot Lox

From Food52

Ingredients

1 lb carrots

2 tsp smoked sea salt (I used regular salt and put a splash more liquid smoke)

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp liquid smoke (I used a dash more to make up for the lack of smoked salt)

2 eggs beaten

zest of 1 lemon (I used a dash of lemon juice)

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Peel and thinly slice carrots.  You don't want the carrots to be too thin (if you use a vegetable peeler) so use a mandolin or just slice it to the best of your ability with a knife.  I found the mandolin too difficult to use with carrots.

2. Mix salt, sugar, pepper, and liquid smoke in a bowl.  Toss carrots with this mixture and let sit at least 30 minutes.

3. Remove carrots from bowl.  Discard liquid and spices left at the bottom of the bowl. Beat eggs and lemon zest, add carrots and toss to coat. 

4. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and brush with olive oil.  Lay carrots flat in pan, overlapping to fit. Brush with remaining egg mixture in bowl. 

5. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.  Keep covered and allow carrots to cool completely before serving.

I served my carrot lox on a bagel with scallion cream cheese..and the next day on an English muffin...and the day after that.... I was so happy with the results I ate my "lox" for days in a row.  Delicious, fun, and different recipe. I highly recommend it!

Homemade Corn Tortillas

Ok, I know it's been a while between posts these days, but I do feel the need to apologize for the Mexican-centric posts that I can't seem to stop making.  Sorry, these meals are weeks apart I assure you that much.

Moving right along....

Sometimes you find yourself home alone and you've got some time off of work and you are running out of ways to entertain yourself and you really need dinner to be a project to soak up some time.  This is why I took it upon myself to whip up a batch of homemade tortillas.

Corn Tortillas- Makes 20 6 inch tortillas
From The Kitchn

Ingredients
2 cups masa harina
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup hot water

1. Mix the masa, salt, and water together.  Knead the dough for a minute or 2. The dough should be smooth and be able to form a ball.  Mine was a bit sticky, but it turned out fine.  If your dough is too crumbly add water, a little at a time. Let your dough sit for 15-30 minutes while you get the rest of your stuff set up.

2. Take a ziplock bag and cut it down the 3 closed sides.  You will use this to roll your tortilla between.  You will also need a heavy skillet and a rolling pin.

3. Once the dough has rested take about 2 tablespoons of dough (think ping-pong ball size) roll it into a ball. Place the dough ball between the prepared ziplock bag.  Use a skillet to evenly flatten the dough.  Flatten tortilla further with the rolling pin until it's about 1/8 of an inch thick.  Just make it as thin as you think is tortilla thin-ness, don't get out the ruler.

4. To cook the tortillas heat a griddle or skillet over high heat.  The tortillas take 1-2 minutes per side. When a tortilla is finished cooking, place it in under a clean kitchen towel to keep warm while you cook up the rest.

*I halved this recipe and it worked out well.

I filled these corn tortillas with fried fish, lettuce, carrot, onion, and this delightful chipotle cream sauce (recipe here).

Carrot Soup

 It is officially winter. That means it's soup season!  This carrot soup comes together in a flash so it's great for a weeknight.

Carrot Soup 

From 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp red curry paste

2 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 can coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup water, to cover

lemon or lime juice, for serving

1 cup chopped toasted almonds, for serving

1. In a large pot melt butter over medium high.  Cook onion until translucent. Stir in curry paste, then carrots and cook a minute or 2. Add in coconut milk, salt, and water. Add more water to cover if necessary.

2. Simmer until carrots are tender, 10-15 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to blend soup until it's silky smooth. Serve with a squeeze of lemon/lime juice and a sprinkle of toasted almonds.

Super simple soup for any night of the week.

Spiced Carrot Salad

How about something super simple and healthy for the week after Thanksgiving?  Maybe give your body some much needed relief?

Ok, I've got you covered with this spiced carrot salad.

Spiced Carrot Salad

Adapted From Plenty

Ingredients

1 lb carrots

1/3 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small can chopped green chilies

1/4 tsp ginger

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tbsp preserved lemon*

salt

1 1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped

1. Cut carrots into 1/2 inch disks and cook in salted boiling water, covered, until tender.  Approximately 10 minutes, you don't want them to be mushy. Drain in a colander while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan and cook onions until browned and softened. Add carrots and all remaining ingredients, reserving some parsley for garnishing. Season with salt and stir well.
3. Salad can be served hot or at room temperature. Garnish with reserved parsley.

*Don't go nuts in search of the preserved lemon.  I happened to have some and was excited to find a recipe that utilized preserved lemon.  Just give a squirt of some juice or perhaps a little zest to get some citrus flavor in the mix.

Vegetables without a cream sauce? No carbohydrates? Your tummy with thank you.

This was a perfect jazzy vegetable side dish. Yum!