Buffalo Cauliflower

This recipe came from Tasty. I first tried it because I was craving wings, but wanted to try something healthier. So for my first, and only warning label - these do not taste or have the texture of wings. It's definitely cauliflower. BUT the smaller you make the florets, the less overt cauliflower flavor and texture you get, and the sauce is delicious! 

The sauce is a little different from what you get on a traditional buffalo wing, because it has that hint of honey in it - and it's so good! My favorite thing to do is to let the pieces get just a little bit extra done, because that darkness in some places creates even more flavor. That being said, it won't hurt to leave them in for a little extra time if you want - and stirring or flipping them every 10-15 minutes won't hurt either.

This one is super easy, but the cook time takes the option of it being "quick." Still, I think the flavor and the easy of prep makes it worth a try. I like these enough that I've made them many times already - and my friend's wing-loving husband even liked them!

Ingredients

• ¾ c all-purpose flour
• 1 t paprika
• 2 t garlic powder
• 1 t salt
• ½ t pepper
• ¾ c milk or milk alternative (I use oat milk)
  
• 1 head cauliflower
• ¼ c buffalo sauce or hot sauce
• 2 T coconut oil or vegetable oil
• 1 T honey

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450˚F (230˚C). Line a baking sheet (parchment paper, foil, or another type of liner)
   
2. In a large bowl, add the flour, paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and milk, and stir until well-combined.
3. Break the head of cauliflower into florets, about 1½-inches wide (smaller is better). Add the cauliflower florets to the batter, making sure each piece is evenly coated. Arrange the coated cauliflower on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway. (I occasionally brush a little bit of the mixture in #4 on in this step, so you can do that if you want.
   
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the buffalo sauce, coconut oil, and honey and stir until evenly combined. Brush the buffalo sauce mixture on the cauliflower and bake for another 20 minutes. (If you wait to put this on until after the first 20 minutes, you'll get more flavor if you do it twice - once at the beginning, and once halfway through this second 20 min).
   

 Servings: 4        Calories: 250 (approx.)

Pineapple Fried Rice

I think that this was my favorite recipe out of the most recent round of meal prepping. I found this recipe on the COOKIE+kate blog, and I think I may have to go back for more! To be totally clear, this is not necessarily a meal prep must. It's actually a skillet meal, and is probably best when cooked as the instructions below. However, I would highly suggest chopping all of your veggies and fruit ahead of time. That simple step will save you a LOT of time on the day of cooking. Also, this one cooks pretty quickly, so there will not be time to chop in between steps.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or quality vegetable oil, divided
• 2 eggs, beaten with a dash of salt
• 1 ½ cups chopped fresh pineapple
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• ¾ cup chopped green onions (about ½ bunch)
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• ½ cup chopped raw, unsalted cashews
• 2 cups cooked and chilled brown rice (about 2/3 c dry), preferably long-grain brown jasmine rice
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce or sriracha
• 1 small lime, halved
• Salt, to taste
• Handful of fresh cilantro leaves, torn into little pieces, for garnishing

Instructions:

Heat a large wok, cast iron skillet or non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and place an empty serving bowl nearby. Once the pan is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles on contact, add 1 teaspoon oil. Pour in the eggs and cook, stirring frequently, until the eggs are scrambled and lightly set, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer the eggs to the empty bowl. Wipe out the pan if necessary with a paper towel (be careful, it’s hot!).

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and add the pineapple and red pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until the liquid has evaporated and the pineapple is caramelized on the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the green onion and garlic. Cook until fragrant while stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Transfer the contents of the pan to your bowl of eggs.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the pan. Pour in the cashews and cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Add the rice to the pan and stir to combine. Cook until the rice is hot, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes.

Pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan and stir to combine, breaking up the scrambled eggs with your spoon. Cook until the contents are warmed through, then remove the pan from heat. Add the soy sauce and chili garlic sauce, to taste. Squeeze the juice of ½ lime over the dish and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and set aside.

Slice the remaining ½ lime into 4 wedges. Transfer the stir-fry to individual serving bowls and garnish each bowl with a lime wedge and a light sprinkle of cilantro. Serve with bottles of soy sauce and chili garlic sauce or sriracha on the side, for those who might want to add more to their bowls.

For Meal Prep:

Bag 1: 

• chopped pineapple
• red pepper
• green onion
• garlic

Bag/container 2: 

sauce ingredients (there are only a few, so this doesn't have to be done ahead of time, but it can be done

In the Kitchen: 

• eggs
• cashews
• brown rice (can cook several days ahead and refrigerate, minute rice makes this very quick and easy)
• sauce ingredients (if not prepped ahead)
• cilantro
• lime

 

Option: Add Chicken

I love this rice on it's own, but I recently decided to make some teriyaki chicken to go on the side, and it was not a mistake. For the part of the chicken, I just bought a 30 minute marinade (Lawry's is my favorite), and put the chicken on the grill, stovetop, or in the oven. I cook the two (rice and chicken) separately, but the chicken adds to the flavor and substance. You can stretch this meal much further by adding that component.

Roasted Asparagus

I roast asparagus on a foil-covered pan in the oven most of the time. It's a tasty, quick, and simple addition to pretty much any meal. Let's get to it!

Asparagus should be washed and can be cut depending on what you prefer. I always cut or snap off the bottom (about an inch) - it should snap easily if you do it with your hands.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Sprinkle asparagus with olive oil and sea salt (you can also add pepper or garlic powder).
3. Roast in preheated oven until fork easily punctures thickest part of stem, about 12-15 minutes.

Broccoli & Cashew Stir Fry

This recipe is one of my new favorites. I was introduced to it by a friend who was just raving, and was excited to try it because it's really not hard (and I love anything stir-fry related). The recipe comes from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog - and I'm excited to look around some more, because it looks like she's got some great stuff on there!

I want to start by saying what my friend who introduced this to me said to me: You can add meat to this recipe (shrimp, chicken, etc.), but I have just found that it's not as good... Also, it was a suggestion of my friend that the cashews were added - and they're SO good in this! I will say that if you're watching calories, the cashews up the ante a little bit, but they're fantastic if you're not too worried.

So, without further ado...

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable, canola or coconut oil
3-4 cups bite-size broccoli florets
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
Sauce
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Thai sweet chili sauce (see note)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch

**Serve on brown rice

Instructions:

1. In a large 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat until hot and rippling. If using meat, add it now and stir-fry until cooked through. Remove the meat to a plate.
2. Add the broccoli to the hot skillet (you may need to add another teaspoon or so of oil if the skillet is completely dry) and cook, stirring often, until the broccoli has turned bright green and is lightly browned, 7-9 minutes. It won't cook much more after this so it should be crisp-tender. I like a bit of bite to the broccoli but if you want it more tender, add on a few minutes cooking time.
3. Stir in the garlic and cook over medium to medium-high heat, stirring, for a minute or so.
4. Whisk together all the sauce ingredients and pour over the broccoli. Add the meat if you cooked it in step 1. Stir the ingredients together until well coated with the sauce and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper to taste if needed.
5. Serve immediately over hot, cooked rice.

This is the meal with chicken from when I made it a few days ago - like I said, good, but not as good as without...

The things that I found to be good tips from my friend:
*no meat actually gives it more flavor
*cashews - yum!
*when cooking the brown rice, using part chicken broth instead of all water makes for a tastier batch of rice - not a must, but definitely a good idea!

[Taco] Stuffed Bell Peppers

The other night my friend came over and we made dinner... she had ingredients in her head, but not exact measurements - but how can you mess up stuffed peppers? So, we went for it. This is our recipe, whether it was correct or not, it was rather tasty...

Serves: 4 (or 2 with leftovers)
[disclaimer :: could easily be made for one by reducing the recipe]

Ingredients:
 
2 cans of corn (drained)
1 block of cream cheese
1/2 jar of salsa

2 bags of instant spanish rice
1 can of black beans

4 green bell peppers, tops off and gutted


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the peppers upright in a pan. Mix together the first set of ingredients in another pan. Place both in the oven, stirring the mixture occasionally as cream cheese softens. (I think we stirred 3-4 times)

Cook the rice. Drain the beans. Mix the two together.

When everything is finished cooking (about 20 - 30 minutes -- let's be honest, I was more interested in our conversation than the cook time... but you can gauge it by the corn mixture - it should be warm,  easily stirred, and completely mixed), stuff your peppers. Or, you can do it in more of a deconstructed way (which we did because they're easier to eat this way).

If you want to actually stuff the peppers, I believe she said to put the corn mixture in first, then the rice mixture.

We topped with a little bit of shredded cheese.

This was delicious! I am not always a fan of green bell peppers... but this was really good. It would also be very tasty with a red pepper (and probably the other colors as well -- if I try it, I'll let you know). Great flavor, filling recipe.
















*Sometimes this happens when you try to get picture with a good angle... oops!



**Update**

I have made this recipe again, and decided to meal prep with some of it. I ended up with 9 smaller, but filling servings. I decided to freeze three of the servings, and will roast some more peppers when I thaw them.

I also mixed all of the corn and rice mixture before adding them to the peppers.

For the meal prepping, I added the peppers, first, then put the mixture on top.