Healthy 7 Layer Fourth of July Dip

July 2, 2017 Amanda Plott

It's the fourth of July weekend! While I'm spending it rather lazily at home as I recuperate from a few weeks of busy, busy, busy - I'm still finding the time to have fun and be festive! With an impromptu visit from my brother, I decided to toss together a quick 'snacky' meal that we could all graze on throughout the day at our leisure.

Naturally, my first inclination was a 7 layer dip. I think that's because it's one of those things that has something it in that everyone likes! It's one perfect montage or mashup of everything I love. Plus, it's perfectly light and cool for a hot summer day. And of course, since it's around the 4th of July, you just know I had to arrange this dip into the shape of the American flag to be all the more cute and festive!...

Crockpot Chicken Verde Pozole

June 20, 2017 Amanda Plott

Today is it, y'all! It's my birthday! And while I'm off taking the galant drive to Dallas to pick up my brother and my nephew for a few days... I decided to leave you all with this to savor until I return tomorrow. It's too effing hot out. So... no stove or oven for us today. Nope. We're going straight to the crockpot. My best friend during the summer months of Texas. While it does put off a mild warmth through the day, it's nothing like what my stove or oven will do. So, here we are!

Can I be honest in saying that I've never had pozole before? Never had it. Never made it. I'm not sure why either. 'Cause I'm here to say, that after today, it's going to be a staple around these parts. And I mean that too. This verde version of pozole is so very similar to my Legion Chili. Really the main difference here is the chili has beans and the pozole has hominy in it. What's hominy? Your guess is as good as mine. Hah! I kid...

Turkey Greek Style Tacos

June 16, 2017 Amanda Plott

Over the lifetime of The Skinny Fork, I've been blessed to see such growth between myself and the blog. As strange as it may seem, we both seem to push the other to our limits in mostly positive and amazing ways. I'll be honest in saying that I'm a bit of an introvert. I could hold up in my house for days on end and never give it a second thought. I have a lot of social anxiety that I've been steadily working through as I become older and more confident in myself.

One of the most interesting things I find is that being a blogger has often pushed me into social situations; meeting and working with new people. Whether it be at the farmer's market, social media, or answering your questions. A little over a year ago now I was contacted by Cassie over at OnTheHealthyside.net - she was starting out on her own journey and was seeking some friendly advice. We've followed one another on social media ever since...

Healthified Crockpot Low Country Chicken Boil

June 13, 2017 Amanda Plott

My local box of produce over the past couple of weeks has gifted me with a bounty of red potatoes that I can't bare to let go to waste! My mother asked me a couple weeks back about this recipe that I had put together a couple of years back now. With my brother not being a seafood eater and my dad being mildly allergic to shellfish, she wanted to put together a Low Country Boil that omitted the shrimp or crawfish. Being as I'm not a seafood fan either, I had tried my hand at a seafood-free low country boil, like I said though, this was a couple of summers ago.

So with an idea in mind and plenty of red potatoes to go around, I got to work on my Low Country Chicken Boil once again. Here among the southern states, summer time is when everyone starts to have crawfish boils! It's always sounded amazing to me; sausage, potatoes, corn - who wouldn't like it? Well, me! If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not a seafood eater. I wish that I could be, but it just isn't a possibility. Sadly...

Roasted Beet & Pistachio Salad with Citrus Poppyseed Vinaigrette

June 10, 2017 Amanda Plott

Can we just take a moment to enjoy and revel in the natural beauty of this salad? Just take on all the glorious colors that are straight from nature's bounty! Reds, yellows, greens, oh my! This salad is truly one of the most bright and vibrant things you could put on a plate. Naturally. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been collecting a montage of beets from my local produce box and for the first time ever... I got my hands on some golden beets!

Don't worry though, I also have a plethora of traditional red beets too for those traditionalists out there. I love beets. All the beets. Red. Yellow. It doesn't matter. One of my favorite ways to enjoy them is roasted; cooked in the oven in their own yummy juices and then tossed into a salad. For me, there's no better pairing than beets and feta...

Crockpot Carrot Soup with Basil Herb Oil

June 7, 2017 Amanda Plott

I'm barely a week into summer break over here and I already seem to have lost track of what day it is. Is it still the weekend? Almost the weekend again? Where am I? What am I doing? One of the only things that's managing to keep me somewhat grounded, is cooking. For the past few weeks, I've been getting loads and loads of carrots in my local box of produce. I've been trying to use them up as quickly as I could, but... the bag of them only continued to expand.

I've got to be honest, raw carrots are definitely not one of my favorite vegetables. So, thinking of a way to use up over 2 pounds of carrots was a rather daunting task for me. Especially considering that I wanted to be sure to use them all up before any went bad. Waste not, want not...