(Easy) Thai Chicken Coconut Curry

Thai red curry paste is something I always buy and recommend you do too.
It’s a staple in Thai cuisine and is used in a wide range of dishes, from curries to soups and stews. It’s made by grinding together a variety of fresh herbs and spices, such as lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallots, and chili peppers. The ingredients are blended together to create a smooth and fragrant paste that is spicy but more importantly full of flavor.
I generally use it in these Crock-pot Thai Red Curry Lentils, which are cous Steph’s favorite dish ever.

Caramelized Zucchini Pasta Shells

Would you believe me if I tell you that these Caramelized Zucchini Pasta Shells are the perfect summertime recipe?
Hear me out: a ton of fresh zucchini is cooked down with olive oil, butter, shallot, and garlic until soft and caramelized. It’s then tossed with pasta and parmesan cheese.
Delicious and not to mention a great way to use up the zucchini stash in your fridge.
Did I convince you?

Easy Chimichurri Chicken

Chimichurri is a classic Argentinian sauce made with parsley, oregano, garlic, red-pepper flakes, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.
It’s, by far, one of my favorite condiments. It livens up whatever it’s spooned over: Meat, fish, even tofu. It’s almost universal.
It’s also a great marinade for chicken. Marinated chicken breast or thighs, cooked to perfection and topped with a big spoon of extra chimichurri sauce is one of the best chicken meals ever.

Crock-Pot Barbecue Pulled Chicken

The start of the new year has been overshadowed by the Corona pandemic and frankly far from ideal.
However, as my yoga teacher constantly says: “There’s always something to be thankful for".
And looking back at the past five weeks, there have been some cool things that have happened such as: Wordle, some sick NFL games, a brand new smartwatch, a delectable Poppy Seed Tea Cake, and — last but not least — this awesome Crock-Pot Barbecue Pulled Chicken.

Baked Feta Pasta Sauce

I haven’t fallen into the TikTok rabbit hole, just yet.
I feel I’m almost too old for Instagram, TikTok seems really far fetched.
I mean, if 14-year old Niece is really into it — as the majority of teenagers are — I’m not sure it’s something apt to her uncle.
In addition, let’s be honest, I don’t have any particular good dance moves nor I’m skilled in telling jokes or doing sketch comedy: How am I supposed to contribute to the TikTok community? You get my point.
Let’s say that my feelings towards TikTok are similar to those brilliantly expressed by Amy Poehler in her very funny interview with Willie Geist on the Sunday Sitdown podcast “If TikTok was a window, I would be a weird person standing outside of it.” Ha!

Mushroom Ragout

Staying home for the holidays amid pandemic restrictions made me realize that for the first time in years (read this as ever) I will be home to water a fresh-cut tree and not let it die.
Since almost all the holiday festivities have been canceled (or restricted) having the smell of a real tree in the house might be a way to keep some of the holiday spirit going and help me get through with what I’ve heard has been called the “Covid blues.”
After all the holidays haven’t been cancelled this year, we have to celebrate in a meaningful, albeit different, way.

(Easy) Crock-Pot Marinara Sauce

Let me introduce you to the marinara sauce recipe of my dreams. It’s everything that is good in this world: tomatoes, herbs, and garlic.
The flavors together are like Italy in a jar, the perfect combination of sweet and savory.
It can be a great base sauce for pizza or really anything that goes in the oven such as chicken parm or eggplant parm. But — needless to say it — it’s also great on pasta and you can even make it into a meat sauce with ground beef (not authentic Bolognese sauce but still pretty damn good.) I also use it to make poached eggs with marinara sauce for a simple brunch recipe.
Last but not least, it’s great as a dip for vegetables and mozzarella sticks. Actually mozza sticks with marinara is one of the best things in the whole world.

(Paleo) Broccoli Au Gratin

I know I said it over and over again but it doesn’t hurt to say it one more time: broccoli are a deal-breaker. Like beets in (almost) anything or asparagus. It’s nearly impossible to mention broccoli without at least someone in the room saying “ew”.
Which is the very reason why I like to procrastinate and share yet another recipe with broccoli today.
Because I want to show you guys that cruciferous vegetable is actually delicious if cooked the right way.
Enters (Paleo) Broccoli Au Gratin: broccoli topped with an amazing paleo bechamel sauce and baked to cheesy perfection. Delicious.

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

This is Italian comfort food at its best. No joke, at its best.
If you’re not familiar with it, Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (which means gnocchi Sorrento style) is a crowd-pleasing dish that comes from the town of Sorrento on the Amalfi coast, near Naples (Italy).
A classic Italian staple you can easily make in your own kitchen.

Crock-Pot Mongolian Beef

One of the most fundamental, basic rules of dinner parties — and the one I routinely ignore — is that you should never try out recipes for the first time on your guests. Good manners predicate that guests are not guinea pigs, hence you should never test new dishes and ideas on them.
But when those guests are your family — which means that they are forced to love you — I say go to town on them.
Fortunately, with this Crock-Pot Mongolian Beef everything worked perfectly, like I knew it would. Soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, and beef in the slow cooker: Hardly something can go wrong.

Crock Pot Shredded Beef Ragu

Ragu is one of those recipes that really showcases the beauty of Italian cooking: everyday ingredients, fast prep, long and slow cooking until you get a luscious dish that tastes like a million bucks.

Eggplant Lasagna

I love lasagna, I know I’m not the only one: Creamy, rich, comforting, it’s hard not to love it.
Pasta noodles baked with bolognese sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese into something delectable and truly irresistible.
I would go as far as saying that it’s an epic dish. Oh sure, it looks like an ordinary broiled mass, but it’s so much more.
However, lasagna isn’t a dish for the calorie conscious — it’s incredibly, let me say that again i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y rich.

Easy Crock Pot Orange Chicken

Let’s get things straight people: if you’re looking for something that is going to be a Panda Express style orange chicken, this recipe ain’t for you.
There’s no breading and deep frying, that’s not how slow cooking works. There’s not a chance in the world that you will get crispy orange chicken out of it. Actually, you won’t get crispy anything out of a Crock Pot.
However, if you’re craving orange-y, savory, sweet and sour, spicy melt-in-your-mouth chicken, then look no further because I have the perfect recipe for you.

Hamburger Steak with Onions and Gravy

There are some dishes that are the epitome of comfort food: hamburger steak with onions and gravy is one of those.
I grew up eating this meal alongside mashed potatoes, sweet peas, and dinner rolls.
Still today, the smell of onions and gravy reminds me of the good old days when life was easy, wonderful, and almost nothing mattered.

Tomato Confit Pasta with Olives and Capers

I am fairly certain that I wait all year for tomato season, you know, the same way I wait for the Giants to get back to the field or for Apple to release its latest gadget.
I don’t know why I get so excited about tomatoes. It’s in my DNA, and I’ve learned to accept it.
I eat them on eggs, in frittatas, cooked and raw in every possible format and seriously, don’t even try to bring me a sandwich without a thin slice of tomato in it. Sister did it once and let’s just say, it didn’t go very well.

(Vegan) Creamy Chipotle Spaghetti

Okay seriously people, I can barely stand how delicious this is. It’s going to knock your socks off, roll them into a little ball, and return them to your sock drawer.
But it won’t blow your budget or your time, because you can make this in 15 minutes or less.
You in?
I love easy, quick, and delicious recipes that free up time for other things.
Having quick recipes you can get on the table in a snap is so helpful to anyone trying to juggle too many balls in the air. Which is pretty much everyone on earth nowadays. We are all so busy.

Crock-Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

For someone who was all “Harrumph! There’s only one authentic recipe for Bolognese Sauce!”, I have some nerve telling you what I’m going to next, which is that I’m in love with an unapologetically 100% so-not-authentic Chinese recipe.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, this Honey Sesame Chicken is — just like General Tso’s chicken, wonton soup, hot and sour soup, sweet and sour pork, chicken balls, ginger beef, crispy beef, and lemon chicken — one of the quintessential American-Chinese recipes.
Dishes we think are Chinese but are considered foreign fare in China.

(Vegan) Red Lentil and Spinach Tikka Masala

 As you may have noticed, I’m not the kind of person who just throws together things in the kitchen without at least a map, a compass, 1001 enthusiastic reviews on AllRecipes or an old friend’s sworn solemn oath in written from, that a certain recipe is 100% guaranteed to blow my socks off.
Sure, I’ll make numerous adjustments while I work on something to meet my personal preferences, but aside from grilled chicken, eggs, and casseroles, I rarely go on my own intuition.
Because you see, my intuition has often led me to all kind of kitchen disasters: a strawberry pie that had exploded in the oven, a caldo verde that looked like vomit, Crock-Pot meat that was cooked to shoe leather, etc…
So, as you see, these days I tend to use recipes, possibly true and tried recipes.

Lentil Bolognese

Bolognese sauce is a serious thing. As you may or may not know there’s only one true and authentic recipe for bolognese sauce — that the Italian Academy of Cuisine recorded and deposited with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in Italy.
So it’s not like you can improvise and make your own bolognese sauce.
Or worse make a VEGETARIAN/VEGAN bolognese sauce. The horror!

Raspberry Chia Jam

So the chia seed party jam isn’t the first party I’ve been late to, and it’s probably not going to be last.
However, I fully embrace the mantra “better late than never!”
Except for the Pokemon Go hype, trust me guys, I will never join in. NEVER! As if I needed another reason to bury my heads in my smartphone. No, thank you.
Anyways, chia seed jam has been around the block for quite some time now. And yes, this is my first time posting a recipe for it.
What can I say?
Oh yes, better late than never!