Sourdough Hamburger Buns

We love a good burger every now and then, but really limit how often we eat them because I had not been able to find a bun I felt good about. All that ends with this recipe, which results in the most wonderful homemade sourdough buns. They work really great for hamburgers and we have also used them for breakfast sandwiches and sloppy joes (and more). I cannot imagine a better bun than this.

Shrimp Scampi

A few of my favorite memories from childhood revolve around Shrimp Scampi. It was a meal my grandma cooked for me when I would visit her. And it was something she always included on her Christmas Eve menu, with lots of other wonderful fish dishes. Also, I remember eating lunch at Red Lobster with my dad and sister when I was in high school. We would order the shrimp scampi for lunch and dip those yummy little Cheddar Bay biscuits in the sauce. I love shrimp scampi, which can be a very nourishing and healthy meal if you make it at home.

Salmon Patties

These crispy little patties pack in a lot of flavor and are a delicious and fun treat. You will enjoy them on their own, as a salad topper, or even in a sandwich.

Pizza with Sourdough Crust

We haven't made pizza at home in a long time. It seemed like a hassle to try to make a no-guilt crust so we just skipped it altogether. However, now that I keep a sourdough starter the door has re-opened to many recipes I had previously passed over, including one for homemade pizza. If you have a sourdough starter, you too can make a nutritious pizza that the whole family will love!

If you don't have a sourdough starter yet, it is easy to keep one! Read my quick start guide for more information.

Coleslaw

My husband loves coleslaw and we wanted a nutritious go-to version to use in fish tacos. This recipe is perfect because it uses only fresh ingredients and tastes much better than anything you can purchase. One of the ingredients is a citrus (lemon and orange) infused white vinegar that I found on the blog LittleOwlCrunchyMomma. Her exact recipe is called Orange Vinegar (follow the link). You could use plain white vinegar instead, but the infused vinegar makes it really special.

This is an awesome way to use leftover lemon and orange rinds. I use my citrus vinegar for cooking and cleaning. This recipe is one of my favorite finds of the year. I use up a lot of lemons drinking Warm Lemon Water in the mornings and also a lot of oranges drinking orange water in the evenings. I am so happy to have found such a versatile recipe for my leftover lemon and orange rinds.

Sourdough Croissants

I just can't seem to stop baking things with my sourdough starter to my family's delight (read this if you would like to get a starter of your own going). I got it in my mind somehow that it would be fun to try to make sourdough croissants. However, either I could not really find the kind of recipe I was looking for, something more traditional, or I couldn't find a recipe with complete instructions or a full set of ingredients. So I set off on a mission to develop a complete sourdough croissant recipe, which includes step-by-step instructions. I researched several recipes for information to develop this recipe including this one by the Sourdough Companion, which gave me the starting point for some of the ingredient amounts.

I have learned a lot about my starter and baking breads in general through the development of this recipe - it has been an interesting and challenging journey to say the least! This is not a quick throw it together recipe. There will need to be a little planning involved as you prepare and care for your dough on and off during a 2-day period. The entire process includes lots of waiting and then more waiting and then some kneading (three of my least favorite things), but the end result is so worth it.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is one of my very favorite soups. I remember eating it for the first time at a little restaurant on the Rhine River called Noah's Ark in Wiesbaden, Germany. I was around eight or ten years old and my sister and I would get the French Onion Soup every time we had dinner there. It was served in shallow metal "skillets" that were always too hot to touch. There was a thick layer of cheese covering a thin slice of German bread and the cheese was always bubbly and golden brown from the oven and overflowing down the sides of the metal bowls.

With winter just not letting go this year, I am back in a soup kick. It was -1 degree here this morning after all!

Amazing Beef Stew

This is the best beef stew we've ever had. I think you will really enjoy this recipe, which is adapted from the Classic Slow Cooker Beef Stew from the December 2013 issue of Cooking Light. My recipe does not use a slow cooker, but I've included those instructions in the comments if that is your preference.

Sourdough Bierocks and Empanadas

My friend, LeAnn, shared a wonderful bierock recipe with me. The ingredients are very simple and the end result is so delicious. I did substitute my own recipe for the dough since I am trying to ensure all my grains are prepared to maximize their nutritional benefit. I was worried the substitution might change the taste overall, but it did not. In fact, this dough is really wonderful and very close in taste to my friend's original recipe.

 

It was so good that I started filling it with all kinds of yummy stuff. So, you'll find the recipes below for Bierocks and also for Bacon Cheeseburger Empanadas and a *bonus* for Breakfast Empanadas in the Comments. I am sure you will also come up with lots of delicious fillings for this wonderful dough - please leave your ideas in the comments.

Ham & Swiss Sourdough Pancakes

This is a great recipe to use up excess starter and can easily be halved. It is easy to keep a sourdough starter (I promise)! - please check out my Quick Start Guide for more information.

Sweet & Spicy Stovetop Beans

I created this recipe when my husband requested a side dish of beans to go with his lunchtime serving of grilled chicken. We had recently purchased roasted Hatch green chiles from our local garden center and I thought they would go nicely with the beans.

Leftover Turkey & Rice Soup

Every Thanksgiving I am so happy to make lots of stock with my turkey carcass. I always wind up with some extra turkey meat from the process, which I love to use in this soup. This is a sort of "throw it together" type of soup, so if you find you prefer more or less of any ingredient, go for it until you find exactly what you like best!

Aloo Poori

Aloo Poori is a popular North Indian breakfast dish that is a fried stuffed bread. This version is fairly simple to make and very delicious. Aloo Poori basically translates to Fried Bread (Poori) stuffed with Potato (Aloo). It is traditionally served with curd (yogurt) or Aam Ka Achaar (Mango Pickle), or you can serve as part of any meal. The recipe below is adapted from this one by Funwidfud.

Yellow Squash-Zucchini Fritters

As you can tell, I am definitely on a squash/ zucchini recipe "kick" since I have so much to use up from my CSA box. We have made these fritters several times now and they are husband and kid approved. 

Summer Squash Couscous

I have been searching the internet for squash recipes this month to try to find ways to use up all the squash I've gotten from my CSA box. Even after giving some away I find myself with an abundance and a need for new recipes. This light summer dish is really wonderful.

Creole Shrimp

It's that time of month again when I peruse the pages of my recent Cooking Light magazine and re-vamp one of their recipes for my dinner table. I really enjoy this magazine for the new ideas it inspires, but don't necessarily agree with several of their ideas of "healthy" foods  (often their elimination of butter or healthy fats of any kind as well as subsitutions with low fat or no fat milk and their use of "fake" foods like margarine). However, these types of ingredients are easy to replace with more nourishing options.

In their latest issue, the June 2013 magazine, I found a wonderful shrimp recipe that my family thoroughly enjoyed. In fact, it was so good, it will likely be on the regular rotation and I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. Here is the link to the original recipe. I've changed it up a bit below.

Quinoa-Bean Salad

You will really enjoy this versatile dish, which makes enough for lunches during the week and a dinner side dish too.

 

Escarole and Beans

For those of you who regularly peruse my blog, you know that many of my recipes are from my grandma - traditional, Italian cooking that not only tastes delicious, but is incredibly nourishing.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Balsamic Reduction

My super awesome friend, Missy, invited us to dinner at her house a few weekends ago and we really enjoyed her bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer.

Tostadas

This is one of our favorite meals and one of the reasons is that I am ususally just a "helper" as this is my husband's recipe and, in fact, one of the things he made me before we got married (like, to "woo" me, and I guess it worked!).