Kale and Quinoa Cakes

I loveee kale and I loveee quinoa! Two things smacked together- perfection! I was first introduced to quinoa by my dear friend and cookie monster and have been learning about the grain ever since. It is high in protein, gluten-free, from the Andean culture, and has gained so much traction these past few years. Some people don’t really like the quinoa smell/taste, but if you soak it for about 5-10 min before you cook it, the ‘bitter’ smell/taste will go away. Or you can cook it with things that hide the taste! I happen to like the weird taste and texture. It is a great substitute for rice, if you ever get bored or tired of it. Kale is another vegetable that has grained traction these past few years and I, like any other human rabbit out there, love it. I love the hard texture and the strange bitter taste. Both of these food items have become staple in my everyday diet. I am just glad to be a human rabbit who enjoys veggies, grains, and weird healthy stuff. Anyway, enough with my rabbit talk. These kale and quinoa cakes are great for breakfast, lunch and dinner! I dip the cakes with some Trader Joe’s Garlic Aioli Mustard and it becomes that much better. I hope that I have opened some taste buds to some noob kale and quinoa people!!! ❤

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Caramelized Pork Belly Banh Mi!

The other Vietnamese thing I like is Banh Mi! However, I only like it when the bread is soft and it doesnt cut the roof of your mouth…lol and only when pork or beef is inside. I have been meaning to make some sort of pork belly for some time now [I usually love getting it at restaurants and my dad makes mean Chinese versions]! Since I am on this Viet snack making spree, I figured I would give this Vietnamese version a try. The meat turned out very flavorful and soft and made the homemade sandwiches extra delicious. I will definitely make it again!

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My Take on Spring Rolls!

Fresh Spring Rolls! For those who know me, know that Vietnamese food is my least fav asian food. Nothing against it, but it always meshes interestingly in my taste buds- sometimes good, sometimes bad. I think its all the different fresh herbs and flavors and when I am not in the mood for it, I just dont want it. BUT lately I’ve had a craving for spring rolls! I think I’ve been craving simple tastes with strong dipping sauces. Actually, I don’t really know. My cravings are super random….Anyway, I bought all the ingredients and rolled them up, but BOY were they difficult to roll up!!! Vietnamese people make it look so effortless; I was totally struggling, and had to throw away a few rice wrappers. Sigh… practice makes perfect? I also bought the wrong vermicelli- theres like 5 different kinds at the store -_-. But thank god I had some left from my Thai food making obsession. [more on that some other day]

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Baked Ziti!

So by the last day of my cleanse, I really was bored of all the drinks- the flavors, the drinking, the taste [although I really liked it as a juice]. I am supposed to ween off the diet by slowly incorporating fats and oils, but I really just wanted real food so I decided to make a baked ziti. I found this baked ziti recipe at Pioneer Woman’s blog! She does a great job documenting all the steps and her thoughts during. Its a great read, so if anyone is interested, check her blog out periodically! =)

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Halal Chicken and Rice!

Whenever people go to NYC, they always go to this place and drunk take a picture of the Halal Guys chicken and rice. I’ve always seen it, but never ever had it before. I don’t plan on eating the real thing anytime soon either because although I am going to NYC this summer, its going to be with family again. Parents are always in search of good Asian food, but never anything outside the asian cuisine. Also, I figured that because I don’t drunk eat, I can never eat this with my friends if I ever go to NYC with them, so the only way I can eat it is to make it myself.
So I did my research and learned that halal food is food permitted by Islam for consumption because they have a list of things they can’t eat, such as pork, because they are slaughtered in a certain way. “Halal” means lawful. “Haram” means forbidden. Interesting right? I also learned that there are numerous halal street carts around NYC, and each have their own unique ‘white sauce’. I seriously thought there was only one cart that people go to, but I guess only tourists like my friends only know about one. haha! I tweaked the recipe a little bit- for example, using romaine lettuce instead of iceberg. Ew…*shudder*, I hate iceberg lettuce because its so cheap, flavorless, and nutrition-less. I also used A LOT less mayo for the white sauce…I HATE MAYO. I think mayo is awful. Anyway, my recipe and tweaks turned out pretty well- I enjoyed eating it because I love all the spices and freshness of the white sauce. Because I have never tried the real one, please dont hate me if this recipe doesnt turn out exactly like the halal cart ones in NYC.

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"The Soup"’s soup that only comes twice a year

Albondigas soup-[“the crazy meatball soup”]-Ever heard of it? Well I go to Souplantation [“The Soup”] with my friends a lot and one time we happened upon the Mexican theme when The Soup was doing the Around the World themed months. So I set down my tray and I go get soup because I’m usually uber cold everywhere. I see this soup, and thought well what the hell I’ll give it a try. So I scoop some up and go through dinner. I drink some of the soup and was pretty amazed by it! My bestie then went to go get some and there weren’t anymore!!! So I basically took the last ladle of her favorite soup. We decided at the dinner table that we would re-create it one day and so we did! This is my second time making it– I am sort of on this ‘make more soup’ phase and I craved it during the holidays!

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Kale and Bacon Lasagna!

It’s been awhile! I moved back to SD for Spring semester of my second year in law school so its been quite hectic trying to settle back in. For the holidays, I got a few new kitchen appliances to play with! I really hope that it will pave the way to many more posts! Now on to the food I made tonight =)

I first saw this cute little recipe on Skinny Taste! It was so clever– instead of layering the lasagna parts, you roll the noodle with the filling! I wanted to be healthier for the new year, so instead of my usual all fat everything ingredients, I used fat free ricotta instead. I also forgot to buy mushrooms, but luckily  had bacon. For those of you who know me though…I don’t really like bacon, but I had to use it for my potato leek soup the other night. Well, no matter what, this kale bacon lasagna is amazingly good!

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