More food that doesn't really go together

March 12, 2019 12:30 PM

So I mentioned in a previous post that Aldi had really thin asparagus. Normally I wouldn't buy any, but they were on sale for the past two weeks, so I went and looked for the bag with the thickest stalks (which were still really thin). I needed an asparagus recipe and I came across Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks from How Sweet Eats.

*As you can see, I gave up on the breading halfway.*

It seemed like a great idea since I had both Parmesan and breadcrumbs, and the recipe actually called for super thin asparagus. But I started breading them, and I realized how much of a pain it is to bread asparagus. Way too much effort for a tiny asparagus stalk.

*Really poorly taken photo of potatoes.*

I also had some potatoes that looked like they were getting kind of sad and growing too many eyes, so I sliced them up and made these Roasted Potato Wedges with Shawarma Sauce from Budget Bytes. The sauce was way too salty so I think that should be cut in half. I would probably also just cut the whole sauce recipe in half because now I have a bunch of Shawarma sauce and I need to figure out what to do with it.

*This picture is way nicer because my sister took it.*

And I completely forgot to take pictures of this Unstuffed Bell Peppers rice dish that I made (also from Budget Bytes). It was a quick and easy dish. My sister did remember to take one photo of it, combined with the potatoes and asparagus.

Filed under: asparagus potatoes skillet rice

Greek Turkey Rice

February 3, 2019 5:21 PM

More rice dishes!

I still had those olives sitting in my fridge from the Greek Chicken we cooked a few weeks ago, and I wanted to use them up. And I guess olives means another Greek dish.

Greek turkey rice skillet — *Carefully placed lemons.*

I really like the skillet rice dishes from Budget Bytes, and I hadn't made the Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet yet so I figured I'd give that a try. This was really easy to make, and all of the flavors worked really well together.

Close up of the Greek turkey rice skillet — *So many colors.*

The only modifications we made were using fresh spinach instead of frozen (because frozen spinach doesn't taste as good), and using cilantro instead of parsley (duh).

Eating the Greek turkey rice — *Some people have salt and pepper at the table. We have extra cilantro.*

We may end up making all of the rice dishes in Budget Bytes before my sister leaves.

Filed under: skillet rice i love cilantro parsley is kinda gross

Odds 'n Ends

January 26, 2019 3:02 PM

Because not every meal has a story. At least not one I can remember.

Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Vegetables from Budget Bytes

Can't remember all the things I changed in this recipe, but I know I used cilantro instead of parsley.

Greek chicken and vegetables on a plate

Shrimp Scampi Florentine from All Recipes

The shrimp in the pan wasn't as aesthetically pleasing, so we only took one type of photo. This is probably my favorite recipe from All Recipes, so I might make a full post about it in the future.

Spanish Chickpeas and Rice from Budget Bytes

We made this the other day since my sister mentioned really wanting some Spanish rice. As you can see in the photos, I replaced the artichokes with green bell peppers because that's what I had on hand. And I used chicken broth instead of vegetable.

Spanish chickpeas and rice on a plate — *We make a lot of rice dishes.*

And yes, everything in this post is garnished with cilantro.

Filed under: chicken i love cilantro parsley is kinda gross shrimp scampi florentine go-tos skillet rice

Seafood Blend: Part 1

January 20, 2019 9:37 AM

I just happened to be at Trader Joe's the other day, and I remembered a Budget Bytes recipe that I really wanted to try: Seafood Rice Skillet. Now this recipe calls for some sort of seafood mix, but Beth used the one in Trader Joes so I figured, why not.

Note to self: never buy Trader Joe's Seafood Blend again. It is tasteless.

I followed the recipe exactly, and the end result was a really beautiful dish. I think it needs some adjustments though:

Double the seafood. There is a lot of rice in this, and not enough seafood.
Cook the seafood first, and mix that in with the rice at the end. I always find cooking seafood with other things to be kind of tricky, but if I cook it by itself then I can get it to just the right amount of done-ness.
Fewer peas. There were also too many peas for my liking, but let's be honest, the next time I use frozen peas in a dish, I'm not going to bother actually measuring them.