African Inspired Vegetarian Crockpot Soup with Peanut Butter, Chiles, Brown Rice, and Lentils

African-Inspired Vegetarian Crockpot Soup with Peanut Butter, Chiles, Brown Rice, and Lentils for Meatless Monday.

(Updated with step-by-step photos and better pictures, March 2013.)  In Utah the spring weather can change in a minute, and I always like to have soup in the freezer for those days when the weather suddenly gets cold.  Before I moved I made this soup with Jake to reshoot the photos and had several containers in my freezer on moving day.  Sadly, that soup (and a whole cooler full of food) was ruined in one of those moving tragedies where something gets put in the wrong spot and isn't discovered for days.  On Saturday I had a few friends over for dinner, so I made more of this tasty soup, and now I'm happy to  have some in my freezer again!

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Ten Fun Recipe Ideas Using Leftover Boiled Eggs, Ham, or Asparagus from Easter

Ten fun ideas for using leftover boiled eggs, ham, or asparagus from Easter.

I've been in such a frenzy of unpacking boxes around here that I can hardly believe Easter is in two more days!  I still have at least 30 more boxes to unpack, so there won't be much Easter cooking going on at my house.  Instead I'll be enjoying dinner at my sister Pam's house, which is now only about five minutes away.  For those who are celebrating Easter, I'm guessing many people are cooking at least one of the traditional Easter foods like ham, asparagus, and boiled eggs, so here are ten fun ideas for using those leftovers from Easter, if you're lucky enough to have any!

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Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Larb Salad Recipe with Sriracha, Mint, Cilantro, and Peanuts

A Thai-inspired salad with ground turkey, Sriracha, Mint, Cilantro, and Peanuts.

Last Saturday about 20 Denny family relatives gathered at my house in Salt Lake and moved all my belongings to my new house in Bountiful, which is the suburb of Salt Lake where I grew up.  I've done plenty of complaining about how hard it was to move 25 years of accumulated stuff, and I'm grateful beyond words for all the family members and friends who helped with the move, either on that day or in the weeks of packing that came before.  Now all my belongings are in the new house, including 23 boxes of cookbooks!  Most of my stuff is not that organized yet so there's not much cooking going on, but luckily I made this delicious Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Larb Salad a few weeks ago so I'd have something to share with you today.  The dressing for the salad has the sweet-sour-savory-spicy flavor combination that makes Thai food so appealing and Jake and I loved this salad when we tried it.

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Easy Recipe for Roasted Bell Peppers and Red Onions with Turkey Italian Sausage (and Moving!)

An easy and delicious dinner that started with a new turkey sausage product I found at Costco.

It feels ungrateful to complain about how hard it is to move (especially when you're lucky enough to be moving to a wonderful house that you love), but I will confess that days and days of sorting, packing, giving things away, and schlepping stuff to the new house is really giving me a wake-up call about the possessions I've accumulated in 25 years.  It's also reminding me that I'm not as young as I once was, and having a not-still-broken-but-recovering arm is certainly not helping.  Moving is also not something that brings out the desire to cook! I'm in the final stages of packing now, with the big move happening on Saturday, so after I share this easy and delicious recipe for Roasted Bell Peppers and Red Onions with Turkey Italian Sausage I'm going to take about a week off from both my blogs and concentrate on settling into the new house.   (Wish me luck with the hundreds of little details I need to take care of between now and then!)

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Slow Cooker Greek Rice Recipe with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives

Slow Cooker Greek Rice with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives may not be that photogenic, but this dish is completely delicious and perfect for Meatless Monday.

I haven't moved for 25 years, and there's no question that I had completely blocked all the memories of just how awful moving really is, so it's a good thing I'm excited about the hew house!  It's now pretty much sorting through stuff and packing for the move every spare minute around here, but a few weeks ago before the new house frenzy switched into overdrive I made this delicious Slow Cooker Greek Rice with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives with Jake.  This is one of those slow cooker recipes that could be made on the stove, but cooking the rice in the slow cooker means you don't have to watch it much at all.   Definitely this could be a nice side dish for a meal with Greek flavors, but I think this rice also makes a nice vegetarian main dish with all the flavors going on here.  The rice didn't end up being overly photogenic, but if you like these flavors, I guarantee you'll love this rice.

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Easy Baked Sour Cream Chicken (A kid friendly recipe, first made with Sophia)

If you're not against using canned soup, this Baked Sour Cream Chicken is easy, kid-friendly, and delicious.

(Updated March 2013 with better photos and step-by-step instructions.)   Right now I'm completely overwhelmed by the mess of moving to the new house, and feeling thankful that I have The World's Greatest Family, who are generously helping me pull off this enormous move.  (Thanks everyone, and I love you all!)  Needless to say, thinking up new recipe ideas is on the back burner for the next couple of weeks.  Luckily I planned ahead over the last month and took updated photos of some past recipes to share while I'm busy moving.  This Baked Sour Cream Chicken is one of those recipes from the very first days of the blog, and although I rarely cook with canned soup now, the recipe does have some fans and it's quite delicious for a quick dinner.  (I've included the link for a make your own chicken soup replacement if you prefer not to use the canned soup, although the replacement recipe has flour and butter, so it may not be very diet-friendly.)

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Recipe for Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes

If you have leftover corned beef on hand, this soup is a tasty way to use it.

(For Friday Favorites I highlight recipes from the past that you may have missed, and this delicious soup with leftover corned beef is a great way to use leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's Day.  I've been so moving to my new house this year that I haven't even cooked any corned beef, but I have happy memories of this from other years.)

By the time most people read this it will be St. Patrick's Day, and I'm guessing you might be cooking Corned Beef in the Crockpot.  I've been experimenting with recipes for leftover corned beef, and this soup is the happy result.  This recipe was inspired by Ground Beef and Sauerkraut Soup, but the finished soup was quite different in flavor.  I ate it with some Swiss cheese sprinkled on top (to continue the decomposed Reuben Sandwich theme) and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar.  And I didn't have any, but 100% Whole Wheat Irish Brown Bread would have been the perfect thing to dip into the soup.  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

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Better-than-Mom's Stovetop Goulash Recipe with Macaroni, Tomatoes, and Ground Beef

When you need some homemade comfort food, this Better-than-Mom's Stovetop Goulash with Macaroni, Tomatoes, and Ground Beef will do the trick!

A couple of weeks ago I confessed on Twitter that I was making a recipe by Paula Deen, and even though this Stovetop Goulash with Macaroni, Tomatoes, and Ground Beef seems like a pretty light recipe for her, this delicious goulash was pure comfort food for me.  The recipe starts with  lean ground beef, onions, tomato sauce, and canned tomatoes, all pretty low-glycemic fare, but then the macaroni is simmered with the other ingredients for 30 minutes, so even using Dreamfield's Macaroni won't keep the Glycemic Index low in the finished dish.  Still, everyone needs comfort food once in a while, and since I'm currently sorting through and packing up twenty-five years of accumulated stuff in preparation for the move to my new house, I'm not going to be too hard on myself for enjoying it.

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Mediterranean Spinach Salad Recipe with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, Radishes, and Sumac-Lemon Vinaigrette

Mediterranean Spinach Salad with the same Sumac-Lemon vinaigrette that makes me swoon over Fattoush!

I'm still intrigued with Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem, and if you've seen that book you can understand how it inspired the Fattoush-Inspired Chopped Salad I posted a few weeks ago, and now this Mediterranean Spinach Salad with Garbanzos, Tomatoes, Radishes, and Sumac-Lemon Vinaigrette.  Every spring I get a serious craving for salads with tomatoes, and when I find cherry or grape tomatoes with that fresh tomato smell I usually have to have them even though they're out of season.  This salad would be mind-blowingly good with ripe summer tomatoes, but it was still pretty darn spectacular with the tomatoes I found at Costco, and if you're still not acquainted with Sumac, this salad is a great opportunity to add it to your spice collection!

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Easy Recipe for Sauteed Broccoli Rabe (Rapini) with Balsamic Vinegar

Broccoli Rabe is a quick veggie side dish, quickly sauteed and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar.

(Updated with better photos, step-by-step photos, better instructions, and recipe links in March 2013.)  Back in 2006 when I was a new food blogger with stars in my eyes, I became obsessed with a type of greens my blogging friends were writing about called broccoli rabe (also called rapini and broccoli raab.)  I started a quest to find it in Salt Lake City, and after many attempts, I found some at the Downtown Alliance Farmer's Market, and shared this simple method for cooking it.  Since then I've become a big fan of this slightly-bitter green that goes so well with pasta, and when I spotted some gorgeous broccoli rabe recently at Sprouts, I decided it was time to update the horrible photos that went with the original recipe.  If you haven't cooked broccoli rabe, the flavor is a little like kale, and this is one of those ultra healthy foods we all should be eating more of.  Enjoy!

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Spicy Sauteed Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans) Recipe with Ground Beef and Cilantro

A delicious and quick dinner from Mark Bittman with ground beef, chickpeas, and cilantro.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this simple recipe of sauteed chickpeas with a little bit of ground beef and lots of cilantro is something I'd love for dinner any time of year.)

I guess all food bloggers have their own little kitchen personality quirks. One of mine is a habit of getting fixated on certain ingredients and then using them over and over until I discover something new to get smitten with. Right now, I'm definitely in my garbanzo bean phase, and happily I'm discovering there are a plenty of other people who are also garbanzo bean fans.

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Fifteen Minute Salsa Verde Eggs Recipe

These Fifteen Minute Salsa Verde Eggs were a breakfast experiment that's a definite keeper.

The idea of eggs cooked in some kind of spicy sauce is what has inspired famous dishes like Shakshuka and Huevos Rancheros.  I could have been thinking something like that when this simple breakfast idea popped into my mind, but truthfully I think the recipe was most inspired by a jar of salsa verde that I stumbled across in the pantry.  These days I'm alternating between trying not to think about my pantry (full of various heavy cans and bottles that will need to be moved to the new house) and gazing into the shelves trying to imagine what I can use up before moving day.  This was one of those "What can I make with ingredients I already have?" kind of experiments, and wow, did I love this easy breakfast.  I ate it with some low-carb tortillas to dip into the egg yolk, and savored every bite.

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Slow Cooker Thai-Inspired Butternut Squash and Peanut Soup with Red Bell Pepper, Lime, and Cilantro

Delicious and can-be-vegan Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Peanut Thai-Inspired Soup with Red Bell Pepper and Cilantro is also gluten-free.

There's a good reason why there are so many butternut squash soup recipes, and personally I think it's about the way the slightly nutty flavor of butternut squash gets along well with so many other flavors.  In this soup, the cubed squash cooks in the slow cooker in a little vegetable stock until it's soft and then it's pureed and cooked a little longer with onion, garlic, ginger, Coconut milk, Thai Red Curry Paste, and peanut butter, with a tiny touch of fish sauce (or vegan "fish sauce") and brown sugar to complete the Thai flavor notes.  Even though I adore butternut squash, I haven't used it in soup that much, but this soup is one I'll be making over and over again.

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for February 2013 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

My favorite Phase One Recipes from February 2013 include CrockPot (or stovetop) Black Bean Chili with Lime and Cilantro, Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Parmesan, Vegetarian Greek Lentil Casserole with Bell Peppers and Feta, and Fattoush-Inspired Chopped Salad with Buttermilk-Tahini Dressing, Chickpeas, Sumac, and Pine Nuts.

Before I send you off to look at South Beach Diet Phase One low-glycemic recipes I posted during February or spotted on other food blogs, I have some pretty exciting news to share.  After saving my money for years and looking at houses for months, I am moving to a new house later this month!  I'll be moving back to the city where I grew up just north of Salt Lake, where I'll be much closer to family members, (including many, many cute little kids that I might get a chance to babysit now that I live closer and have a playroom.)  I love my new house, and promise to share a few kitchen photos once I get moved in.

Sorting through and packing up all the stuff I've accumulated in 25 years at my current house is going to be a rather daunting job (especially since my broken arm is still limiting what I can lift) and I'm guessing that the posting schedule here might be a little lighter than usual this month. But I'm grateful to the many family members and friends who have offered to help, and I should be somewhat settled into the new house by late March.

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Recipe for Spicy Cabbage Salad with Tomatoes, Radishes, and Celery (Puerto Rican Cabbage Salad)

This slightly-spicy cabbage salad got three thumbs way up when I tested the recipe!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Spicy Cabbage Salad with Tomatoes, Radishes, and Celery is one of those amazing salad combinations where the sum is so much greater than the parts.  And since we're welcoming March with a new header featuring cabbages, this salad is perfect for that reason as well.)

The minute I saw the Puerto Rican Cabbage Salad on Champaign Taste, I knew I was going to make some version of this salad, since I adore cabbage salad, and cabbage is one of The World's Healthiest Foods.  When I made the salad I loved it, and it got two thumbs up from my sister Val and brother-in-law Jon as well, and I'd say this salad is already destined to be a favorite.  After doing a little internet research about Carribean cabbage salads, I did tweak the recipe a bit, upping the crunch factor with radishes, adding some chopped celery leaves and green onions, and using just a touch of lime juice in the dressing.  With those changes I don't know how authentically Puerto Rican the recipe is, so if you're a food purist you may just want to call this "cabbage salad."  No matter what you call it, if you try this recipe I predict you'll love it just as much as I do.

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