cook / asian short ribs

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Last week I made a riff on these Asian short ribs from Real Simple Magazine and they were GOOD. I don't have a slow cooker and used a Dutch oven (this article from Williams Sonoma was helpful). If I had known how easy it was to convert to and from slow cooker to Dutch oven, I would do it more often! 
I replaced the short ribs with a different braising cut, seared the meat first, and changed the liquid by using water and white wine instead of the broth and adding some Worcestershire sauce. Don't forget to add the bok choy at the end of the recipe, otherwise it will disintegrate. We tried it served with rice noodles and over polenta (the polenta was awesome!).
What have you been cooking lately?

weekend

I looooove LL Bean and Lands End canvas totes and am currently eyeing this leather handled one. A loves it too and I'm thinking my new last name might be the perfect monogram.

Babysitters Club Fashion. This is everything.

Did you see the Sesame Garlic Tacos recipe I posted? They are delicious!!

This calligraphy video is mesmerizing. 

Words that have a completely different meaning to Friends fans. 

Beautiful Ikea hack!

A lovely blue and white coastal home. 

Candles and bright colors at this Florida wedding. 

eat / taco tuesday

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I made these tacos last week and am already planning to make them again. They were SUPER easy and a nice change up of my usual Tex-Mex style tacos. I did make a few small changes: I added some finely chopped scallions to the beef at the end, added a little minced garlic (from the jar) with the garlic oil to the vinegar mixture, and did thinly sliced radishes instead of the cabbage. Find the whole recipe from BHG here!

weekend

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I just LOVE this space. The dark colors, the combination of wood, leather, soft carpet, and the beautifully styled bookcase just slays me! I'm dreaming of my next apartment and this is some serious inspiration. 

No particular plans this weekend...rest and productivity I hope!

February is here and if you've fallen off the fitness train, here are some 20 minute workouts.

How much do twentysomethings actually get from their parents?

Ever wonder what chefs keep in their fridge? 

I had fun finding out the Billboard #1 song on the day I was born. 

A introduced me to my new favorite red wine. 

I FINALLY ordered the Lacie weekend bag from Sole Society and I can't wait to use it! 

eat / juice minus the juicer

Last week I attended a networking breakfast and one of my favorite things on the menu were the juice shots. Normally I scoff at juicing as "granola" or "too trendy", but these were delicious! There was one with kale, pineapple and mint and another with apple, beet, carrot, and ginger. I don't have a juicer at home and wasn't planning to buy one, but a quick Google search led me to the Minimalist Baker and The Chalkboard Mag. 

So on Friday I decided to try my hand at juicing without a juicer. And damn was it delicious!!

I followed the recipe from The Chalkboard Mag and threw everything in my Cuisinart Mini Prep (in batches of course since it's small). The only thing I would suggest to do differently is to not use a spatula to press the juice out of the pulp. I wasn't getting very far with that so I used a flat bottomed bowl (maybe 5-6" in diameter) to press as much juice as I could out of the pulp. 

I also tried a beet, carrot, apple, celery, lime, ginger combo that I made WAY too spicy. It was good, but even watered down I couldn't finish it. I found an unopened jar of pineapple juice buried in the fridge (from cocktail making?) and added a splash to some carrot, apple, kale, and lime juice. It's so good, but it's brown...womp womp. 

Now I have to see how often I actually get around to doing this! 

Anyone else big on making juice at home--either with a juicer or without? Any good flavor combinations? And any good recipes for the leftover pulp?

eat / zucchini fritters

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Tuesday night I decided to get ambitious for a weeknight dinner and made these zucchini fritters I pinned ages ago. They were pretty easy, though they took a little longer than the recipe indicated and I probably didn’t squeeze out enough water which meant I didn’t get them as crispy and golden brown as I would have liked. I just ended up using a bit more flour than the recipe called for. I would definitely make these again!! They taste almost like potato latkes and are probably a good bit healthier. Enjoy!

eat / grilled cheese

A couple weeks ago Joanna from A Cup of Jo posted this recipe for “Grown Up Grilled Cheese”. I made it for my roommate and our friend last week and it was SO easy and SO good. My only tweak would be to cut the kale into smaller pieces so it’s easier to eat without the whole piece of kale sliding out. Enjoy!

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eat / flank steak and soba noodles

I’m a bad blogger and didn’t take pictures of the two new recipes I tried last Sunday for dinner. But!! I am here to endorse both of them:

This grilled flanken recipe from Melissa Clark’s book was soooo good! I tweaked the recipe a bit but mostly followed it to a T. I used flatiron steak and definitely could have marinated it longer than a couple hours. 

I also made these soba noodles (I cheated and used thin spaghetti, plus added some steamed snap peas):

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Enjoy!!

eat / salted dark chocolate nutella cookies

Part of my 101 in 1001 list is to try 10 new recipes. I’ve been wanting to try this cookie recipe for awhile and finally had an excuse when I made a quick thank you dinner for a friend!

The recipe is really well written and easy to follow. My only advice would be to make sure the cookies aren’t too big when you flatten them. Mine ended up a little larger than I planned!

Enjoy!

eat / grilled chicken with lemon basil pasta

As summer winds down, I wanted to share this yummy summery recipe for Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta from the Pioneer Woman.

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It’s easy, delicious, and light. I like to cut corners when I cook on weeknights or to save a couple calories and I learned the following: pre-made grilled chicken is a great shortcut…and using milk and half and half instead of heavy cream and half and half doesn’t work. The lemon will curdle the milk and it looks gross. You’ve been warned.

eat / shrimp pasta

I am pretty new to the seafood train (pathetic for someone who grew up in Charleston, I know) and recently added shrimp to my list. I’m still acquiring the taste; it’s not like oysters which I now crave, but I made it at home this week which is definitely a big step. I found this easy pasta on Pinterest and it came out great! I like how easy and relatively inexpensive shrimp are. I think I start to see more of them in my dinner rotation.

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Any other good shrimp recipes I should try?

Also, don’t forget Google Reader is disappearing on Monday, so don’t forget to switch over the Feedly or something similar! 

Happy weekend!

eat / summer pasta salad

Summer is here and I am SO glad to see tomatoes back in season. Every time I flip through my saved recipes on my iPad, I want to make all these wonderful tomato based recipes from Bon Appetit last summer and can’t due to sad tomatoes in my New England grocery stores (I miss the South!).

I’m sure many of you saw this summer salad floating around Pinterest the last few days, but I couldn’t resist sharing. Once my back stops hurting me endlessly, it’s the top of my recipe to-do list! 

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What are you dying to cook this summer?

eat / bacon and pea mac and cheese

I really love to cook. On weeknights, cooking something fancy is often out of the question. One of my go to quick dinners became bacon and peas with pasta and parmesan on top. I loved this because not is it SO GOOD but parm and bacon keep well in the fridge and I always have frozen peas and dried pasta at home. 

And then I found this recipe and it blew my mind. I still don’t always take the time to make this the fancy way, but when I do, it is to die for.

eat / carrot soup

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It got cold again and I’m itching to try my hand at making this soup. Doesn't it look to die for? 

Happy weekend!