When I think of romantic meals, the first thing that comes to mind is that very famous scene in Lady & The Tramp when they share a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs. It’s so cute!
Create Vegan Butter Chicken
Butter Chicken is a global favorite within the pantheon of Indian classics, but this vegan take includes no butter, no cream and no chicken. I know some of you are probably frowning at the screen right now upset that I’ve called a dish with no butter or chicken in it “butter chicken”, but this dish is so close to the original, it just seemed wrong to call it a tomato and cauliflower curry.
Make Spicy Beer Cheese Dip
The Super Bowl is my favorite excuse to eat all the snacks ever created. My recent favorite is this spicy beer cheese dip. Have you ever tried to simply melt cheese hoping it would be a dip? Doesn’t work. I tried it long ago thinking it would work like melted chocolate. Silly me. The trick to cheese dip is a roux, much like you make for macaroni and cheese.
Make Five Spice Chicken
Chinese five spice powder is a blend of spices (often containing more than 5 spices) with the warm musty aroma of anise, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. It’s a signature flavor of many Chinese dishes including Char Siu and Cantonese Roast Pork.
Customize Your Quinoa Bowl Toppings
This is my go-to dinner. This is definitely a far cry from a real recipe where there are exact measurements and ratios. Instead I say make it your own with what you might have in your kitchen. Think of this almost like an idea or blueprint to what you could make with what you have in your pantry.
Make Tatsoi with Oyster Sauce
This stir-fry, seasoned with oyster sauce and garlic is one of my favorite preparations of dark leafy greens. Redolent of garlic and toasted sesame oil, this quick vegetable side comes together in less than five minutes, yet it’s loaded with flavor.
Make Tostones with Mojo Sauce
As a kid who grew up most of her life in South Florida, I grew up eating plantains in all different kinds of iterations: in desserts, very ripe next to rice (maduros), super crispy, straight out of a chip bag, and this way, as tostones. I actually didn’t learn how to make tostones until I went off to college and had a Dominican roommate. I’d watch her slice up the greenest of plantains, fry them up, then smash them and re-fry them. They were my favorite snack.
Make Honey Lemongrass Chicken
While lemongrass is a key component in Southeast Asian dishes such as Beef Rendang or Satay Skewers it almost always comes in a larger bunch than I can use in any of these dishes. That’s why I’ve come up with several ways of using up leftover lemongrass.
