Category Archives: Sides

Quinoa Sushi Rolls

This non-traditional quinoa sushi appetizer has been a hit at numerous parties over the years.  I promise, if you show up with these, you’ll be the talk of the potluck.  No fancy tools needed, I show you in the video below how to make your own “sushi” rolls with quinoa and veggies. Quinoa Sushi Rolls

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Caprese Pasta Salad

Caprese Pasta Salad

This recipe is epic and you have to try it.  It’s sponsored by Traina Foods, but that doesn’t mean I’m lying when I say I love their ketchup.  I’ve written about it before, so I’ll spare you the gush-fest, but do take note that this ketchup is more like tomato paste.  Do not sub in

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Southwest Savory Bread Pudding

Ryan’s favorite thing on the Thanksgiving table is stuffing, but I wanted to make up something a little bit different for him this year.  Still keeping with the bread component, I changed stuffing/dressing to bread pudding with savory and southwestern ingredients.  The outcome after several rounds of testing was a sweet, lightly spiced, decadent savory

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Gingerbread Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is one of my favorite things on the holiday table.  Jellied, canned, it doesn’t matter.  If there’s cranberries in it, I’m in.  A few years ago I discovered that homemade cranberry sauce is insanely easy to make, and because I love my sauce extra tart, I can regulate the amount of sugar I

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Sweet Potato Bacon Soup

Sweet Potato Soup

I had a single sweet potato hanging out in the miscellaneous produce bowl in the kitchen (currently being occupied by an acorn squash, a few limes, a tomato on its last leg, and a bunch of bananas, for the monkeys of course).  He was a pretty large sweet potato and on the heels of my

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Berry Blue Arugula Salad

This salad was inspired from my obsession with lighting berries.  Yes, I’m weird, but hey, it’s my blog.  I do what I want.  As you can see, this salad has blackberries.  They reflect light in such a ridiculously luxurious way, like light bouncing off a dozen mini mirrors.  Look at them, aren’t they dreamy!?!  This salad

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Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Coconut Soup

It’s technically fall and as I write this, I have no less than three pumpkin spiced candles burning. Yes, the basic white girl in me lives for this time of year and though the leaves don’t change here in the Sonoran desert, it doesn’t mean I can’t dive headlong into squash, warm spices and soups.

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Tabbouleh Stuffed Mushroom

Tabbouleh Stuffed Mushrooms

“TAH-BOO-LEE” I tell my 3-year-old.  That’s how you say it.  It’s what we’re using today in our stuffed mushrooms. As for how to spell it?  Tabbouleh, Tabouleh, Tabouli, a google search yields a wide variety of options.  But, it’s generally agreed that tabbouleh involves either bulgur or couscous.  This recipe has neither, so really, it’s

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