This is a simple and easy pork chop recipe that delivers a ton of flavor. The fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice combination drive home the flavors of southeast Asia and produce an amazing blend of sweet, sour, and umami flavors. The liquid from the shallot tenderizes the meat as well, so don’t over-marinate it!
We typically serve this with grilled sweet potatoes and a light salad with an peanut vinaigrette.
It doesn’t get much easier than this. This versatile recipe is as simple as lightly sauteing spring vegetables, and tossing them in cooked pasta with fresh herbs and Greek yogurt. This can be made any time with whatever vegetables and herbs are currently in season. We used spring Vidalia onions, asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms, but any fresh vegetable would work great! This dish is amazing warm, at room temperature, or cold the next day.
This is another and easy and delicious weeknight meal! This can be made faster and more easily by purchasing pizza dough from the grocery store. I prefer to make my own, but store bought dough is actually pretty good and easy to find. You can also make your own pesto if you are so inclined – we will add a recipe for that soon. When buying pesto, make sure to get it from the refrigerated section – the jarred pesto has a bunch of preservatives that affect the flavor.
You will get a better crust if you use a pizza stone, but it’s not necessary if you don’t have one. If you enjoy making pizzas, a stone is an invaluable tool that will take your pies to the next level. You can get a reasonably good one fairly cheap, and if you take care of it, it should last a very long time.
I’m always so excited for grilling season to start because it really opens up our repertoire of recipes. So many great Mediterranean and Asian recipes are perfect for grilling. One prime example is Souvlaki – a delicious Greek grilled chicken dish. This version is very simple – only 5 ingredients: chicken, garlic, oregano, olive oil, and lemon. Like most of our recipes, it’s fast, easy, and healthy!
While my husband and I visited France last fall, and we stayed in a beautiful little port town on the Mediterranean called Port Vendre. It was walking distance to the more touristy town of Collioure. Port Vendre was wonderful and quiet, but Collioure, despite being a bit more crowded and busy, had a number of sites that we wanted to see so we planned a day around going there. But the weather was not very agreeable – it rained the whole day. However, we didn’t let that stop us. We walked around the beautiful old town, past the Château Royal de Collioure, and down the beach. In the middle of a downpour, we stopped at a small Creperie. The only available seating was outdoors, but the tables were covered and dry. We were cold, wet, and starving, and my husband really wanted a drink.
Incorporating fish into our diet has been a bit tough, especially since we live in a part of the country that’s nowhere near the ocean, and fresh fish is a bit tougher to come by. However, one of the fish that is always readily available is cod. It also happens to be one of my favorites! It’s flaky, but meaty. The taste isn’t fishy or strong, and it takes on the flavor of whatever you season it with. This Mediterranean style fish dish is very simple to make, and absolutely delicious!
The amazing restaurant Chai Pani in Asheville, NC serves Indian street food. One of my favorite things to get is their Sloppy Jai. This is an Indian version of a sloppy Joe – made with ground lamb and Indian spices.
I tried to recreate this recipe at home! It’s not exactly the same, but we feel it is a pretty good rendition. I added pickled red onion to add a bit of tang and cut through the richness of the lamb. Adding a little cayenne pepper or replacing the curry powder with Madras curry powder will add a little heat. I serve these on brioche buns, but any buns will be fine. This recipe is also super quick – it can be made in under 30 minutes for a great weeknight meal.
These delicious and simple fish tacos can be made in under 30 minutes! The pickled onions, slaw and sauce can be made in advance. We typically use Mahi-Mahi, but cod (or any other flaky white fish) are delicious as well! This makes enough tacos for two.
One of my favorite things to eat any time of year is my husband’s Thai Curry. It’s rich, sweet, a little tangy – and all-around delicious.
The version below is a shrimp curry, but you can put in any flaky white fish instead of the shrimp, or you can add sliced chicken instead. If you want a spicier curry, add some Thai chilies to the mix. You can also make a green version of this curry – simply replace the red curry paste with green.
This delicious and simple Honey Mustard Vinaigrette can go on just about any salad! You can make it in minutes, and save the leftovers in the jar.
This is one of our favorite recipes! We got the original recipe from Lidia Bastianich and modified it to make it easier and faster to prepare on a weeknight. Lidia uses dried beans and cooks them for nearly an hour, but we found that using canned beans is just as good and doesn’t require as much time or effort. This meal can be made in roughly 30 minutes – and it’s healthy and delicious!
The secret to our Even Better Hummus recipe is starting with dried chickpeas that are soaked overnight in water and baking soda. This method, used commonly in the Middle East, results in a much fluffier and creamier hummus than if you use canned chickpeas. This is a more time consuming recipe than ones using canned chickpeas, but the results are amazing.
Roast chick peas are are a healthy, delicious snack that is easy to make. If you roast them perfectly, they are crunchy on the outside, but have a somewhat creamy texture inside. The best thing about them is that you can customize them to your taste. The recipe below contains smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic – but you can add any spices or herbs you like!
This is a very healthy lentil recipe that’s easy to make. It’s a delicious, satisfying and – despite its simplicity – deep and complex in flavor from the variety of spices. The dish can easily be made vegetarian by replacing the chicken broth with vegetable stock or water or vegan by replacing the stock and omitting the yogurt.
One of the easiest (and best) things to make with chickpeas is hummus. Hummus is incredibly versatile and you can flavor it with just about anything. Below is a very simple hummus recipe that can be used as a base. You can add just about anything to this base to make a more unique flavor – roasted red peppers, roast garlic, cumin, spices, herbs, or just about anything you can imagine.