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4/30/19

Taco Bamba Tongue Nachos


Not a recipe today, but a shout out to Taco Bamba's Tongue Nachos I had a few weekends ago.

I grew up in Russia where my mom pressure cooked tongue all the time, and I still order it whenever I see it on the menu (I've yet to cook it myself).

When I saw an option for tongue nachos at Taco Bamba, I decided to give this dish a try. Large enough to share as an appetizer, it was a perfect portion for a lighter dinner paired with a side of guacamole.

Don't expect oozy melted cheese. The crispy chips are topped with tender chunks of tongue, followed by salsa verde, crema, cotija, and pickled chiles. I wish this would appear in front of me right now.

Have you tried tongue?

4/22/19

Vegan Spicy Smashed Chickpea Salad Recipe


This Vegan Spicy Smashed Chickpea Salad Recipe is adapted from and inspired by a post I saw on Cup of Jo earlier last week. Smitten Kitchen's recipe was inspired by a sandwich on 'wichcraft menu, and I further changed it by swiping the black olives for the green ones, adding the adobo sauce, and using chives instead of parsley.

Vegan Spicy Smashed Chickpea Salad Recipe
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 cups cooked chickpeas, lightly smashed with a fork
8 large green olives stuffed with sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
1-2 teaspoons adobo sauce from chiles in adobo can (use hot sauce or sriracha as an alternative)
olive oil
salt
radishes
wasa crackers

Directions
1. Combine the first 5 ingredients. Drizzle with olive oil and mix to combine. Season with salt. 
2. Serve with radishes and wasa crackers.

4/17/19

Smoked Salmon Spring Salad With Jammy Egg, Potatoes & Asparagus


Oh hi warmer days! The days when I don't want to heat up my kitchen and would much rather put together a meal from random ingredients and eat it sitting on my couch watching TV.

This Smoked Salmon Spring Salad With Jammy Egg, Potatoes & Asparagus was inspired by a photo I saw on Domenica Marchetti's instagram. Domenica made a version of Nicoise salad, but with smoked salmon instead of tuna. I immediately went to my grocery store to pick up smoked salmon, the only ingredient that was missing from all the other parts of the salad I had happened to have in my refrigerator. I also added cherry tomatoes and avocado.

Smoked Salmon Spring Salad With Jammy Egg, Potatoes & Asparagus

Boiled potato, cubed
smoked salmon, flaked
jammy egg, quartered (put eggs into a pot of cold water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, cover and let them stand for 6 minutes, then immediately put them into cold water with ice)
Kalamata olives, halved
avocado, cubed
asparagus, pan sauteed
red onion, finely chopped
cherry tomatoes, halved
olive oil
salt

4/15/19

Meatless Monday: Big Ass Salad With Feta


If you follow me on instagram, you saw that I basically ate 10 pounds worth of lamb yesterday at the lamb jam event with my friend Jazmin. 

For something lighter, my lunch today is a version of what I like to call BIG ASS SALAD. What's a big ass salad? It's a salad that has a bunch of fun ingredients served in a large bowl or plated that can be a meal in itself. The salad most often doesn't even have lettuce, and instead combines a variety of vegetables in different colors and textures, with a few fun ingredients such as cheese or nuts or protein.

Meatless Monday Big Ass Salad With Feta
lettuce, chopped
cherry tomatoes, halved
red onion, finely diced
yellow pepper, diced
cucumber, diced
kalamata olives, halved
avocado, sliced
feta
olive oil
salt
za'atar

Note on feta: I very much prefer to buy a big block of feta instead of crumbles. It's usually more expensive, but tastes better and you can control how to serve it. This time I added a big slab of feta to my salad. 

Note: to "beef" up the salad, you can add a boiled potato and/or chickpeas!

4/11/19

Cocktails Around DC: Hazel & Mi Vida


I wanted to share with you two cocktails at the new-to-me restaurants I had while celebrating my birthday in March (and belated birthday yesterday).

First up, above, is a gorgeous, refreshing, and easy to sip Citrus G & T from Hazel with blood orange gin and winter citrus tonic. Despite the name, this is the perfect warm weather cocktail. Of course you'll not be able to find blood oranges for much longer to use as the garnish, so hurry up and replicate this beauty at home as soon as possible. 

Below is the Ceilo Rojo Margarita from Mi Vida with spicy serrano-infused watermelon, lime, and chile salt. I had two. I usually prefer a sugar rimmed margarita, but the flavor combination in this cocktail was perfection. Don't worry, the spice level will not kill your taste buds.


Tell me what your favorite cocktail has been lately!

4/1/19

Vegan Thai Basil Vegetable Nasoya Dumplings With Colorful Slaw


I'm going vegan!! Just kidding.

This Vegan Thai Basil Vegetable Nasoya Dumplings With Colorful Slaw dish, however, is not only satisfying and colorful, but comes together in minutes and doesn't require a full recipe.

I was contacted by Nasoya and offered a few samples of their vegan dumplings and a stipend to come up with a plant-based recipe. The dumplings are organic and contain 6 to 7 grams of plant-protein (per 5) and no cholesterol! You can buy them at Giant Food, Martin’s, Safeway, Weis, Shop Rite, and Wegman’s. 

I decided to pan-fry the dumplings and add them on top of a colorful crunchy slaw.

The Thai Basil Vegetable Dumplings contain tofu, peas, carrots, peppers, basil, and onion. They take less than 10 minutes to prepare and have a ton of flavor.

For the slaw, I combined yellow and red peppers, cucumber, red cabbage, and dressed it with the combination of olive oil and lime juice and seasoned with salt and cilantro. A drizzle of sriracha, a sprinkle of black sesame seeds, and a few lime wedges finish the dish. 

PS here's a coupon for you!