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...

Summer Breakfast Scramble

June 1, 2017 Amanda Plott

Today is bittersweet! It's the last day of my daughter being in the first grade. Eek! Where does the time go? Somewhere in between rushing her around to school this morning and dealing with a bit of a family emergency, I had to find time to get some food in my system. Since we're on the verge of summer, I thought it would be a great time to make myself a fun summer inspired breakfast scramble!

I'm calling this a Summer Breakfast Scramble, mostly because I'm making use of some summer greens, light feta cheese, and some tomatoes to boot. I've been on a bit of a breakfast kick lately, can you tell? It's just been eggs on top of eggs on top of eggs around here for the whole week. You can't blame me! The farm fresh eggs got me like 'whoa'...

Crustless Zucchini & Corn Summer Quiche

May 25, 2017 Amanda Plott

Today was the last Saturday for school here and I can tell that summer us on our heels with all the beautiful corn and summer squash coming in. I got some of the biggest zucchini in my local produce box this last week and pondered for a good long while over what I wanted to do with it. With my dad bringing me in some fresh local eggs, my mind instantly went to a quiche. Not just any quiche though. A summer quiche!

Quiche was always a staple in our house when I was growing up. Usually towards the end of the week my dad would put together a quiche using up all the leftover veggies, meats, and cheeses in the house. So, that's basically what happened here but in a completely perfect seasonal way. I love that it's quick and easy to toss together while being a light and festive too!...

Avocado Caprese Omelettata

May 15, 2017 Amanda Plott

Have you heard me talk about the omlettata before? Surely you have. I've fallen in love with them. They are a perfectly easy and quick way to eat a healthy breakfast. I should know. I'm right smack dab in the middle of the 'busy season' around here. And by that I mean... the end of school, dance recital, and birthdays/anniversaries galore. (Happy Anniversary to my parents and also my parents-in-law!)

There's a lot of YAY going on, but also a lot of meltdowns (and I don't just mean with my 7 year old! Hah!) Anyway! I've been lacking a bit in the breakfast department and I had some local eggs in the fridge that had to be used up soon, so... I thought a new omlettata would be the way to go...

Naked Cheese & Spinach Enchiladas

April 21, 2017 Amanda Plott

It's getting hot in here. So take off all your clothes! Okay, well maybe not. But that's what the enchiladas in my house did. These enchiladas have no clothes on! Can you believe it? Tortilla-less enchiladas. Shame, shame! Naughty enchiladas. Actually, they aren't naughty at all! Some people call these 'zucchini boats' or stuffed zucchini, but I'm taking it a step further and just flat out calling them as they are. Naked.

Even though they are naked, they are ooey gooey cheesy and so very wonderful. I'm not mad at all that these guys are nude. The truth is, when I got my hands on some local zucchini and yellow squash this week, I knew this is exactly what I wanted to do with them with Cinco de Mayo just around the corner!...