Category Archives: recipes

dairy-free butternut squash quinoa mock risotto

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I am SO excited to share this recipe with you today! A few months ago, I had a delicious butternut squash risotto at a local Italian restaurant, and when I went to the grocery store last weekend the butternut squashes were calling to me. So I thought I would do a little experimenting in the kitchen and see if I could come up with a healthy, dairy-free, quinoa-based “risotto” … and I was super pleased with the results!

{My family was pleased, too … this dish makes great leftovers, which did not last very long in our house!}

butternut squash quinoa risotto

– 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
– 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
– 1 bay leaf
– 2 cups roasted butternut squash, mashed
– 1/2 cup water
– 1 cup baby spinach
– 1 cup arugula
– 2 tsp minced garlic

Optional toppings:
–  slivered almonds
–  dried cranberries
– feta cheese
– salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook the quinoa in the low-sodium chicken broth with the bay leaf for seasoning.

2. While quinoa is cooking, warm the garlic in a bit of olive oil in a frying pan. Add the mashed butternut squash and cook on medium-low.

3. After about 3 minutes, pour in the water and stir. The consistency of the squash will becoming more like a thick sauce.

4. Add the spinach and arugula and continue cooking on medium-low until the greens are fully cooked, stirring frequently.

5. Once the quinoa is fully cooked, remove the bay leaf. Pour the butternut squash mixture over the quinoa and mix well to form a “risotto.”

6. Top with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, and feta cheese if desired. {To make this recipe dairy-free, simply skip the feta cheese.}

There you have it! An easy, healthy, filling and nutritious meal! This has been my go-to lunch of the week.

butternut squash quinoa

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy these recipes:
– cilantro-lime quinoa with chicken
– veggie-filled pasta bake
– pumpkin pasta

MPM-Spring
This post is linked up with Menu-Plan Monday!

my favorite. dessert. ever!

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Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have something fun planned for this weekend. 🙂 I am getting ready to head to LA this afternoon for my cousin Amanda’s bachelorette party! I am so excited! It will actually be the first bachelorette party I’ve ever attended. I’m looking forward to seeing my cousins and friends and celebrating Amanda’s final days of singledom!

I have a delicious recipe to share with you today! I made this for my dad’s birthday cake on Monday. He loves peanut butter and chocolate, so I took my peanut butter cup brownies and upgraded them to a “brownie-cake” … and the highlight is definitely the homemade peanut butter frosting! This frosting is SO simple to make, and if you like peanut butter, you are in for a treat! I predict you will be licking the bowl. {Or maybe that’s just me!}

pb brownie cake

I will warn you in advance, I didn’t even try to healthify this dessert … I don’t even want to know how many calories/fat/sugar/etc. is in a slice of this! Sometimes you just have to treat yourself, right? But I did just come across this recipe by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean for healthy sweet potato brownies that I might try using in this recipe in the future! If you try it out, let me know how it goes!

I used my fave boxed brownie mix … Ghiradelli dark chocolate!

brownie mix

I made the batter as directed {if you’re trying to healthify things a little, you could substitute unsweetened applesauce for half of the oil} and poured the batter into a lightly greased 8 x 8 pan. Then I stuck in mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups in a tic-tac-toe pattern.

brownies prebake

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

brownie cake

Once the brownies were cool, I frosted them with homemade peanut butter frosting!

homemade peanut butter frosting
– 1/4 cup butter, softened
– 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
– 3/4 cup powdered sugar
– 2 tbsp milk {to taste … depending on your frosting consistency preferences!}

1. Mix together the butter and peanut butter until well blended.

butter pb

2. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add milk until it gets to desired consistency.

frosting

After frosting the brownies, my final step was sprinkling mini chocolate chips over the frosting layer. Ta da! My favorite dessert ever!

pb dessert

These disappeared from our house in record time!

Thank you also for the sweet birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday. My family took me out for dinner and even surprised me with sunflowers! How pretty and happy are these flowers?

bday girl

Thanks also to everyone who took part in my birthday beauty giveaway, and welcome to all our new subscribers! The two randomly selected winners are:
– Big Beauty Basket: Anna Wang
– Travel Beauty Clutch: Jo Tran

I will email you both to get your mailing addresses to send you the prizes!

Happy weekend, everyone! Eat something yummy and spend time with those you love!

MPM-Spring
This post is linked up as part of Menu-Plan Monday!

kitchen tip tuesdays: my favorite {healthy!} chicken salad

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kttovenmittbanner425

Hi, friends! I have a quick, easy and healthy recipe to share with you today as part of Kitchen Tip Tuesdays! I love chicken salad but I don’t like mayonaise very much, so I was on a mission to find a healthier recipe for chicken salad that I could make at home. I think I found a winner!

I like to bake chicken breasts ahead of time during the weekend {see my earlier post about making the most of oven time} so I typically have cooked chicken breasts in a tupperware container in my fridge. Often to save time and extra dishes, I mix up the chicken salad in the tupperware container, and I’m ready to grab and go if need be!

chicken salad

healthier chicken salad
– 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast
– 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt {you could add more or less yogurt as desired}
– 2 tbsp hummus
– 2 stalks celery, chopped
– 1/4 cup dried cranberries
– 1/4 cup slivered almonds
– salt and pepper to taste

1. Stir Greek yogurt and hummus into chicken until fully incorporated.

2. Add chopped celery, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and mix well.

3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

It’s a great lunch, especially as the weather continues to warm up! I like serving the chicken salad over a bed of baby spinach.

chicken salad lunch

Have a great day! I’ll be back tomorrow with a post I’m really excited to share with you! 🙂

Till soon,
Dallas

MPM-Spring

This post is also linked up with Menu-Plan Mondays!

Pin It Party

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Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean is hosting a Pin It Party inviting bloggers to share their top five images that they would love to receive more Pinterest loving! Here are mine:

1. my year of kindness challenge

year of kindness button

2. apple-banana oatmeal muffins

apple banana muffins

3. diy no-sew baby blanket

baby blanket

4. three-ingredient banana cookies

banana cookies

5. creamy blended cauliflower & potato soup

cauliflower potato soup

Happy pinning! {You can follow me on Pinterest here!}

I’ll be back tomorrow with the next year of kindness challenge!

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: organizing recipes

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kttovenmittbanner425

With so many great recipes out there — magazines, blogs, and don’t even get me started on Pinterest! — my recipe folder was getting a little out of control. Let’s be honest, it was pretty much a disorganized pile of recipes I’d printed or  torn out of magazines, shoved into a two-pocket folder, and then forgot about because sifting through the pile was too intimidating.

No longer! I finally got my recipes organized. There are many different systems that people use successfully, but mine was inspired by this pretty box:

recipe box

It originally held greeting cards, but I glued on a new label and ta da! Now it holds recipes!

It is a mini version of a file box. All I had to do was determine how I wanted to divide up my recipes, and then make labels accordingly. Here are the labels I ended up with:

  • Meal planning
  • Breakfast
  • Appetizers
  • Salads
  • Soup & chili
  • Side dishes
  • Pizza
  • Mexican recipes
  • Asian recipes
  • Italian recipes
  • Seafood
  • Meat & poultry
  • Cookies
  • Other desserts
  • Gift ideas {for food-related gift recipes}

I wrote the labels out on small pieces of paper and then paper-clipped them to the dividing tabs … I think the paper clips add a nice pop of color, and I also like that I can easily swap out the labels if I want to, allowing this organization system to grow and change along with me and my recipe stash!

recipe labels

I feel so much more excited to cook and try out all these new recipes! And my organization system is easy to add to with any new dishes I come across. This system is pairing well with my meal-planning whiteboard. My next goal: Sunday food prep! {Inspired by Lindsay @The Lean Green Bean.}

Here are a few other great posts about meal planning and recipe organization:

How do you organize and keep up with your recipes?

springtime veggie pasta bake

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Hi everyone! I have a simple, delicious and healthy recipe to share with you today. This meal is simple to make, easily adaptable to your preferences, and is bursting with fresh veggie flavors! Hope you enjoy!

springtime pasta bake

– 1/2 box whole-wheat pasta {I used rotini}
– 1 yellow squash
– 1 green bell pepper
– 2 roma tomatoes
– 1/2 sweet onion
– 1 cup fresh baby spinach
– 1 tbsp minced garlic
– a drizzle of olive oil
– your sauce of choice {I used a combination of tomato sauce & pesto}
– 2 cups shredded cheese {I used an Italian blend}

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.

3. Chop and dice the veggies. Toss them in olive oil and saute them in a large pan on medium heat, until onion and garlic are fragrant and spinach is wilted.

4. Drain the pasta and pour cooked noodles into a large casserole dish. Toss with sauce and veggies until everything is well mixed.

5. Top with shredded cheese.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve and savor! This is one of those recipes that makes terrific leftovers, too!

pasta bake

What are some of your favorite springtime recipes?

if you liked this post, you might also enjoy:
– easy veggie, potato & sausage bake
– cilantro-lime quinoa with chicken
– tilapia with pineapple salsa

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: 3-ingredient banana cookies

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kttovenmittbanner425

Hi everyone! Time for another Kitchen Tip Tuesdays post! {Here are links to my previous posts about making the most of oven time and reusing leftovers in new recipes.}

I have a quick recipe to share with you today — it’s an easy and delicious cookie that is also healthy for you! And it only has three ingredients {one of which is chocolate!} 🙂 That’s my kind of recipe!

This would make the perfect sweet dessert, kid-friendly snack, or grab-and-go breakfast. It’s also a great way to use up spotty bananas before they go bad.

banana cookies

All you need to make these babies are:

  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips {if desired; I used mini chocolate chips for mine}

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mash bananas in a bowl. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips and stir until well combined.

banana dough

3. Plop dough onto a greased cookie sheet {I greased mine with coconut oil} and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Done and YUM! How easy is that?

banana cookies done

This recipe is also easily customizable to suit your tastes! You can add chopped nuts, raisins, peanut butter, coconut … whatever your taste buds desire!

What are some of your favorite grab-and-go recipes?

———————-

if you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
– peanut butter breakfast cookies
– chocolate strawberry coconut cookies
– 2-ingredient pumpkin spice cookies

vegan healthier toffee bars

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I’m so excited to share a guest recipe post today! This delicious recipe comes from Lisa of Lisa’s Lentils, who I was matched with for March Foodie Pen Pals. {Tune in Monday for a post about the delicious treats she sent me!} Lisa was kind enough to share this recipe with us today. It was originally published on her blog here.

toffee-bars

{vegan} healthier toffee bars

  • 2 tbsp Earth Balance spread
  • 2/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 flax egg {1 tbsp flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water}
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup unsifted oat flour
  • 1 dark chocolate bar, crumbled
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts {optional}

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and place parchment paper in a 9×12 pan.

2. Cream the Earth Balance spread and coconut sugar.

3. Add the flax egg, vanilla, and oat flour and mix well.

4. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.  Make sure it’s very thin.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

6. Remove from pan and immediately cover with the chocolate pieces and walnuts.

7. Cut into squares.

8. {Optional} Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Yum, doesn’t that toffee look delicious?? I can’t wait to make this recipe myself this weekend. Thank you Lisa for taking the time to share with us today! And make sure to swing by Lisa’s blog, Lisa’s Lentils, for more healthy and satisfying recipes.

*Are you interested in writing a guest post for Day-by-Day Masterpiece? Feel free to email me at dallaswoodburn <AT> gmail <DOT> com and maybe we can set something up!

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: delicious recipes to re-use your leftovers

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Today I’m linking up again with Tammy’s Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays!

kttovenmittbanner425

A couple weeks ago, I posted a tip about making the most of your oven time by cooking meat or veggies to use later in the week. {I often bake chicken to use in later dishes.}

This week, I’m sharing some recipes to use up leftovers. I really dislike wasting food, and re-using your leftovers in new recipes is a great way to save food and money!

  • Leftover mashed potatoes? Fry them up into potato pancakes.
  • Leftover oatmeal? Make these delicious, super-moist oatmeal cookies.
  • Leftover veggies? Add them to pasta or a casserole.
  • Leftover fish? Make baked fish cakes.
  • Leftover chicken? Add it to a leafy green salad, or mix in some mayo, mustard, raisins and almonds to make chicken salad.
  • Leftover quinoa or rice? Dump it in a pot of soup to make the meal heartier.
  • Leftover French or sourdough bread? Tear it up into chunks and bake cinnamon french toast.

This is another terrific post about creative ways to reuse leftovers: http://www.findananny.net/blog/27-blogs-sharing-creative-ways-to-reuse-your-leftovers/

Does anyone else repurpose leftover food into new dishes? I’d love to hear your recipes in the comments below!

goals & menu plan for the week of 3/17

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Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Here’s how I did on my goals last week:

  • revise up to page 180 of my thesis novel
  • blog about Week 10 Act of Kindness Challenge & complete it myself this week
  • finish reading Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
  • finish grading papers for both classes
  • finish the baby blanket I’m knitting

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:

  • turn in my thesis manuscript to my committee! {this is a big one!}
  • blog about Week 11 Act of Kindness Challenge & complete it myself this week
  • read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  • finish grading reports for my freshman class
  • start a new knitting project
  • clean out papers in the back room

Finally, here are some recipes I’m looking forward to trying this week:

– twice-baked potato soup
– quinoa salad with apples, chickpeas + feta
– curried carrot soup with cornbread
– peanut-butter breakfast cookies
– cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting

What are your goals and meal plans for the week?