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Herb Salad with Lemon-Poppy Vinaigrette and Warm Goat Cheese Croutons

Lemons, lemons, lemons. This is the third post in a row that involves lemon in some way – it must be Spring! I’ve been playing around with the idea of a lemon-poppy vinaigrette for a while now, but I could never figure out the right application for it. Finally I decided to pair it with this delicate salad that is super simple yet bursting with flavor. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that this may be my favorite salad of all time! The tartness of the lemon-poppy vinaigrette, the warm, creamy goat cheese with a slight crunch from the breading, the fresh herbs that set the salad over the top in the flavor department – it all comes together in one big plate full of yum. We had this for dinner last night, and Shawn already asked if we could have it again tonight. So if you’re looking for a springtime treat that won’t weight you down, I highly suggest making this.

A few weeks ago, Olivia’s Organics contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trying out some of their salad mixes. I told them that I actually buy their salads all the time and I love them, but they happily sent along a few coupons for free samples anyway. They also send me some information about the company, that I was happy to receive. I buy their products because they taste great, are always fresh, and are super convenient but I had no idea that they also give a portion of their proceeds to charities that help children (such as the Make a Wish Foundation and The Food Project) or that their packaging is recyclable! They even have a section on their website devoted to fun ways to reuse their salad containers. What more could you ask for? I love when I’m able to feel good about giving my money to a company like that.

Their salad blends are great. I usually just buy the baby lettuce mix or the spinach, but when I planned this salad I knew I wanted to put a different spin on it by using lots of fresh herbs mixed with the greens. I had planned to buy the herbs individually, so can you imagine how surprised I was to find the Herb Salad Mix, which contained a blend of lettuces as well as other goodies like chard, frisse, beet greens, mustard, dill, and parsley? It was exactly what I wanted, and it save me the money and trouble of having to purchase all of those herbs individually. The proportions were great too. It wasn’t just a bunch of lettuce taking up space — the herbs were plentiful. [….]

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Shirred Eggs with Thyme

I know I just posted a breakfast recipe a few days ago, but I’ve been loving weekend breakfasts lately! You may have noticed that in my post about waffles, I wrote that we’ve been having them almost every weekend. The rest of the time, we’ve been eating these baked eggs. We’re pretty much obsessed with them – they’re so good! And so easy to make! As much as i love breakfast, I never really feel like cooking in the morning. The great part about these is that there really isn’t much “cooking” that needs to be done: no standing over the stove, no measuring. Just throw them in the oven, set the timer, and a few minutes later you have a delicious breakfast. (If you can conjure the energy to cook a few slices of bacon, you’re really set!)

Plus there’s something so beautiful about eggshells. They never fail to make me smile. Any day that starts with something so beautiful can never be bad. [….]

Homemade Pitas and Hummus

Homemade pita bread with creamy lemon-garlic hummus is perfect for a tapas party!

Cooking Basics: Browned Chicken Stock

As the weather continues to cool down I find myself wanting soup more and more often. I think soup is just about as close as you can get to the perfect meal: warm, comforting, balanced and great for wither lunch or dinner (and in some cultures even for breakfast!). I usually make my soup with boxed stock, but nothing beats homemade soup made with homemade stock. This browned chicken stock is a great base for almost any soup – it’s richer than regular chicken stock, but the chicken flavor isn’t so overpowering that you can’t use it in a vegetable based soup too. I most recently used it in my Pho Ba, and it was wonderful. If you have a few hours one afternoon to let the ingredients simmer, you can easily make enough of this delicious stock to last you through a few pots of soup. Just divide it into smaller containers and freeze it – since you can cook it right from froze, you’ll be able to make a great homemade soup whenever you want. [….]

Daring Cooks: Quick and Easy Chicken Pho (Pho Ba)

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. I’ll be honest here – I wasn’t particularly excited about this challenge. I’ve made pho before, and I love it, but I didn’t want to do a second post on it. Plus, the main recipe presented to us was for chicken pho, and I don’t usually care for chicken soups. So I dragged my feet on completing this challenge and didn’t make it until last night. I’m glad I did though, because it was really good, and really EASY. Crazy easy. 90% of the ingredients are things that I generally have on hand (and the other 10% could be omitted or swapped) so this is a great recipe to keep in the back of your mind for when dinner hasn’t been planned. And the best part is that it makes very few dishes, so cleanup is a breeze![….]

Habanero Hot Sauce

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Last week I promised you a recipe for habanero hot sauce, but I ended up getting side-tracked by a few exciting (and top-secret) projects and didn’t have time to post it. But here you go! I made this sauce to go with the tamales that we had a few nights ago, but I’ve also used it in a few different ways since. It’s a great way to jazz up a frozen burrito, and its also pairs nicely with eggs. I’m planning to use it later this week in a squash hash as well. You might want to scale down the recipe a little – that’s a 12-ounce bottle you see up there – but this is a really nice condiment to keep around.

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Mexican Omelette with Chorizo

This simple chorizo omelette recipe comes together quickly but is jam-packed with flavor! This Mexican omelette is great for breakfast, but I also really love making them for dinner.

Matzo Ball Soup

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