Posts Tagged: food

Make This Tonight: Curried Apple Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

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I have a confession to make: I love Clean Eating magazine. I hate the term “clean eating” because it sounds stupid (if you “eat clean,” do you think other people “eat dirty”? Ugh. Gross.), and I hate diets and eating plans in general, but I can get behind this concept for the most part. It’s just about not eating processed food, so, whatever. Also, have you even seen Tosca Reno, the woman behind the clean eating empire? She’s in her 50s but she looks way younger. Eating clean has given her ever-lasting life, and tiny shopping carts, apparently.
tosca reno eat clean

Last week, I used the magazine’s super-easy recipe for chicken and sweet potatoes. It might sound weird to combine those ingredients with applesauce and curry, and I guess it is, but H. and I both still liked it. I also made snow peas and white rice, which probably would’ve killed Tosca. Not clean at all. I’m aware that this isn’t necessarily the prettiest meal in the world, but whatever.
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Curried Apple Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
16 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup applesauce
1 TBSP honey
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger

In a crockpot, layer the sweet potatoes, onion, and chicken thighs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a medium bowl, combine garlic, applesauce, honey, vinegar, curry, and ginger. Spoon over chicken, cover and cook on low until chicken is tender and cooked through (6-7 hours, depending on your slow cooker).

Another bonus? This is made in the crock pot. What’s better than coming home to a kitchen that smells like curry? Nothing! Unless you hate curry, in which case there are probably a lot of things better for you.

Make This Tonight: Walnut-Crusted Tilapia

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I love nothing more than going out to dinner, but ever since we spent all of our life’s savings (only slight exaggeration) on food in Hawaii, I’ve been trying to cook more at home. I’m always looking for recipes that are easy, healthy, and cheap, and this one totally fits the bill. Tilapia is not very pricey, and it’s relatively good for you. Also, walnuts are way healthy, or so I hear. I don’t know, guys. I’m not Prevention magazine, you know? I’m not going to start talking to you about Vitamin E. Basically, this tastes good and it’s quick and it (probably) isn’t going to make you die any sooner than you would otherwise.

I found this recipe from A Beautiful Mess, but I subbed in walnuts for pecans because that’s what I happened to have. Still great! It looks a little weird in the picture, but that’s no fault of the fish. It was dark outside, I had to deal with the gross overhead light, and H. had already loaded his plate up with an ungodly amount of rice. What can I say; the man loves carbs. We served this with roasted sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, but I think some sauteed green beans or a simple salad would be great, too.

Walnut-Crusted Tilapia
(adapted from A Beautiful Mess)

2 tilapia fillets
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
3-4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup walnuts
salt and pepper

Mince the garlic and set aside.
In a food processor or blender finely chop the walnuts.
Prepare three plates, one with flour, one with the egg whisked in with a tablespoon water, and one with chopped walnuts.
Season your fillets with salt and pepper.
Dip each fillet in the flour (coating both sides) then in the egg and then in the walnuts. Set the prepared fish aside. It’s going to look kind of gross.
Ew.
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In a large pan heat the olive oil over medium. Cook the garlic for 1-2 minutes, until it begins to become very fragrant.
Now lay in the tilapia fillets and reduce to heat to medium/low. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes (note: my filets were actually a lot thicker, so I had to cook them longer. Just cut into the filet after 3-4 minutes on each side to check for doneness)
Remove to a plate and be sure to scoop out any leftover garlic butter bits to lay on top of the fillets.

Super easy, super quick, super delicious! I feel like I should show you guys a more appetizing picture, so here’s what it looked like on A Beautiful Mess.
tilapia a beautiful mess
See? Much better. Apparently “being a good photographer” makes a big difference.

Make This Tonight: Double Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I have some advice for those of you who might be planning weddings: elope.

Okay, so I’m kind of kidding. But also? I’m kind of not. Most people who give me wedding advice say some variation of “Girl, do you!” And I’m trying. But it’s proving a little harder than I suspected, and even though I vowed not to let planning a party stress me out so much, here I go, getting stressed out.

Enter stress-baking.

Sometimes, when you’re annoyed and exhausted, the best thing to do is bake something delicious. You may have noticed that this is my solution to most problems, but you know what? It works.

This week, I whipped up a batch of double coconut chocolate chip cookies. The coconut double shot consists of toasted coconut AND coconut oil. I was late to the coconut oil party, I’ll admit, but now I’m into it. I saw it all over the internet and I ignored it. Then Jordan suggested I try it and I was like, “Maybe!” And finally, Mama W. and I were at Trader Joe’s and she was like, “Look, there’s coconut oil. Didn’t you want to try it?” and I was all, “How did she KNOW?” because I always forget that she regularly reads my blog and then makes no mention of it as if I’m not going to know (Hi Mom).

Long story even longer, I bought that coconut oil and I’ve been using for every. damn. thing. in the kitchen. Sauteeing? Don’t mind if I do! Smoothies? Why not? Opening the jar and just smelling it every once in awhile? Sadly, yes.

And now baking!

The internet tells me that coconut oil can be subbed for butter in most recipes, so I decided to use it in chocolate chip cookies. The best part is that you can totally pretend these are good for you because, you know, healthy fats. Just ignore all the sugar and focus on the healthy fats.

These were awesome, and I made some without chocolate chips for H. so they’d be 100% dairy-free. And then I ate all the extra chocolate chips on my own. Don’t judge me. Also, please don’t judge this terrible picture. It’s winter and there’s no light around here.
double coconut chocolate chip cookies

Double Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Cheeky Kitchen

about 1/3 cup shredded sweetened (or unsweetened, whatever) coconut
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspon baking soda
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toast the coconut by stirring it around in a hot skillet until it turns brown. But be careful, because it burns easily! Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together coconut oil, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla until very well mixed. Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and flour, mixing together until all are incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Roll into golf-ball sized balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or just until the outside of the cookies have browned ever so slightly around the edges. Cool them on a cooling rack (or wherever, if you don’t have a cooling rack) and then make your fiance take them to his friends’ place so you can get them out of the house.

Coconut oil image via The Kitchn

The Easiest “Recipe” in the World: Crock-pot Salsa Chicken

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That’s my crock-pot. It doesn’t look intimidating, does it? Sure, it says “Rival,” which makes me think it might have a competitive edge, but other than that it’s just another piece of cookwear. And yet I was scared to use it for YEARS. It just seemed new and hard, and I already knew how to use the oven, so, you know. Oh, I’m sorry, is my fear of change showing?

A little over a week ago, Mandy mentioned this Slow Cooked Barbecue Pork recipe, and the ol’ gears in my head started turning. Since I was home all day on New Year’s, I figured it would be a good day to try out the crock-pot for the first time. I wanted to supervise it in case it started a fire because I’m a fun person who doesn’t constantly worry about worst case scenarios.

Anyway, it didn’t start a fire and the pork was great. Emboldened, I decided to go further with my crock-pot adventures. On the same blog, I found a recipe/tip that blew my mind. You can put any sauce on any meat, leave it in the crock-pot for 8 hours, and it will turn into something edible. Of course I had to try this.

So on Monday morning, I broke my “no touching raw chicken before 8 a.m. rule” (that’s not really a rule, but honestly, it should be) and tossed the chicken and a jar’s worth of salsa in the crock-pot.

When I got home from work, I could smell the chicken before I even opened the door. That’s when I knew I was a crock-pot convert. Seriously, if you’ve got a crock-pot cult, just hand me my white robe and Reeboks because I’m joining. Dinner was done when I got home. Now I know why almost literally every person who cooks likes crock-pots. Duh, Kerry.

Shredded chicken isn’t the most photogenic food in the world, but here you go anyway. This is what I got after I tore apart the contents of the crock-pot with two forks.
2 ingredient salsa chicken crockpot

This is probably the easiest dinner you can make. Seriously. Just put chicken in the crock-pot–I used about 2 pounds of boneless, skinless thighs. Then, pour a jar of salsa over them. Make sure they chicken’s mostly covered. You can add a little water if you need to. Then, set it on low for 8 hours. After the time’s up, they should be completely cooked. All you have to do is shred the chicken pieces using two forks.

That’s it! Guys, I conquered my crock-pot fear and made chicken. Life is good.

The Joy (the Baker) of Comfort Baking


The months of January through March are always tough for me. It’s cold, it’s dark, and everyone’s taken down their twinkle lights. There are no holidays to look forward to, it seems like winter will never end, and I hate leaving the house. Basically, it’s time for comfort baking.

You all know how much I love Joy the Baker’s cookbook, right? The woman makes a mean apple crisp. It turns out that everything in her cookbook is amazing. These are the perfect recipes to make when you’re snowed in and grumpy, which is a situation I often find myself in.

It’s hard to feel bad when your house smells like cinnamon and there’s something warm to stuff your face with. I mean, that’s just a fact. I’d advise making anything from Joy the Baker’s cookbook or website, but especially her Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies and Baked Coffee Cake French Toast.


Alex and I made the Baked Coffee Cake French Toast one weekend when I was home a few months ago. It wasn’t really in Winter, but whatever…sometimes you need comfort baking even when it isn’t cold outside! It was insanely good, and the recipe isn’t on her website, but you can find it here.

But the real winner is her Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies. There are few foods I love more than sweet potatoes, and I’ll add them to everything that I can. So of course these cookies were one of the first recipes I made from the book. They’re pillowy-soft and perfectly spiced. Adding to the comfort baking factor, they also taste almost exactly like the chocolate chip cookies my grandma used to make when I was a kid. She didn’t add any vegetables to hers, but she did add spices. It was such a wonderful tastebud flashback.

The recipe for these isn’t on the website, but you can find the very similar pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

If you haven’t purchase Joy the Baker’s cookbook, then seriously, what are you waiting for? It’s January! You have comfort baking to do!