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Say hello to the best thing to hit your taste buds this fall! But no, seriously. Hello, incredibly flavorful nourish bowl!
The best news? When you use already-cooked grains, this recipe comes together in about 30 minutes!
When contemplating …
Say hello to the best thing to hit your taste buds this fall! But no, seriously. Hello, incredibly flavorful nourish bowl!
The best news? When you use already-cooked grains, this recipe comes together in about 30 minutes!
When contemplating the flavors for this fall-themed Buddha bowl concept, I couldn’t shake the idea of grains topped with roasted butternut squash and Brussels sprouts with tahini sauce.
Butternut Squash & Miso Brussels Sprouts Nourish Bowl from Minimalist Baker →
This classy spinach salad is a salad to impress! Smoky pecans and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette make the best counterpoint to this leafy green. Here’s a salad to impress. It’s everything a classy spinach salad should be, full of texture and flavor contrasts. You’ll barely notice you’re eating this healthy leafy green when it’s covered tangy balsamic vinaigrette. There’s crunchy smoky pecans, almost bacon-like glazed with maple syrup and soy sauce. Add hard boiled eggs or a crisp-tart apple, and you’ve got a stunning side salad that will make everyone ooo and ahhh. (It happens every time we serve it…really.) It’s almost like the little black dress of salads: it’s brilliant for any occasion. Ingredients in the best spinach salad You may notice this salad has a vague retro vibe. In fact, it’s a spin on my Grandma’s 1970’s spinach salad…with a few tweaks! For the dressing we went with a classic balsamic vinaigrette, which complements the flavors perfectly. Instead of bacon, smoky glazed pecans create the illusion of meat but make the salad vegetarian. (For a fully plant based salad, we’ve got options too!) Here’s what you’ll need for this classic spinach salad: Hard boiled eggs or apple: Hard […]
This classy spinach salad is a salad to impress! Smoky pecans and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette make the best counterpoint to this leafy green.
Here’s a salad to impress. It’s everything a classy spinach salad should be, full of texture and flavor contrasts. You’ll barely notice you’re eating this healthy leafy green when it’s covered tangy balsamic vinaigrette. There’s crunchy smoky pecans, almost bacon-like glazed with maple syrup and soy sauce. Add hard boiled eggs or a crisp-tart apple, and you’ve got a stunning side salad that will make everyone ooo and ahhh. (It happens every time we serve it…really.) It’s almost like the little black dress of salads: it’s brilliant for any occasion.
You may notice this salad has a vague retro vibe. In fact, it’s a spin on my Grandma’s 1970’s spinach salad…with a few tweaks! For the dressing we went with a classic balsamic vinaigrette, which complements the flavors perfectly. Instead of bacon, smoky glazed pecans create the illusion of meat but make the salad vegetarian. (For a fully plant based salad, we’ve got options too!) Here’s what you’ll need for this classic spinach salad:
One of the best parts of this salad is the pecans masquerading as bacon. Of course, if you’re running short on time: you can skip this step and just use plain pecans! But to make a truly magnificent spinach salad, it’s worth the time. Here are a few notes about the process:
What’s the best dressing for a spinach salad? Balsamic vinaigrette. Why? Spinach can have a bitter flavor undertone, so the tangy and subtly sweet notes of the dressing are the perfect pairing. Our favorite balsamic vinaigrette is very easy to whip up at home. All you need is 4 ingredients:
The only other thing to note is to add the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time and whisk vigorously. This is the key to getting a perfectly creamy emulsion. The Djion mustard also helps to make a fantastically creamy texture.
This spinach salad is absolutely classic with hard boiled eggs, as it harkens back to that 1970’s bacon and egg salad. And, they add a great amount of protein! One egg has 7 grams of protein. This is specifically helpful when you are looking for a side dish with protein to round out a vegetarian dinner.
If you can, make up a batch of hard boiled eggs in advance. This makes the salad quicker to put together. Store the hard boiled eggs refrigerated with the shell on (this keeps them fresher).
Often we don’t think ahead enough to have time for hard boiled eggs. So if we’re serving this for an easy weeknight meal side dish, we like to use an apple instead! Using a crisp-tart apple makes a great flavor and texture contrast and fills out the salad. Of course, it doesn’t have the protein that a hard boiled egg does. But it’s a great stand-in! Of course, you can also add apple to salad with the eggs: even better!
You can also use this as a vegan variation. Use a crisp tart apple and omit the feta cheese crumbles: or use a dairy free cheese crumble of your choice.
Here are a few more ingredients you could add to this salad that make it incredible tasty:
There are so many ways to pair this spinach salad! In fact, it’s one of the most versatile green salad recipes we have. Use it to round out a vegetarian dinner, or it pairs well with seafood and chicken. Here are our top ways to serve it:
Love spinach salad? Us too. Here are a few more variations on this easy side dish for all the seasons:
Vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free. For vegan and plant-based, use the variations listed above.
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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 0 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes 
Yield: 4 This classy spinach salad is a salad to impress! Smoky pecans and a creamy balsamic vinaigrette make the best counterpoint to this green.
*You can also use plain pecans and skip the soy sauce, maple syrup, and smoked paprika. Or, you can make maple glazed pecans.
Category: Salad
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: AmericanKeywords: Spinach salad
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
Here’s a little quickie for you this weekend! I’m always looking for ways to use up the odds and ends of my fresh spinach, and Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta is one of my go-to methods for making sure no spinach goes to waste. It’s fast (like, fast enough to make on a weekday), […]
The post Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta appeared first on Budget Bytes.
Here’s a little quickie for you this weekend! I’m always looking for ways to use up the odds and ends of my fresh spinach, and Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta is one of my go-to methods for making sure no spinach goes to waste. It’s fast (like, fast enough to make on a weekday), super delish, and makes me feel pampered. Plus, I’ll share several different ways you can serve or customize these eggs so you’ll have plenty of options!
You might be thinking, “who doesn’t know how to serve scrambled eggs??” Well, in addition to serving scrambled eggs on a plate with toast, like in the photos in this post, there are actually some other fun things that you can do with these eggs once they’re made. My favorite? Make them into a quesadilla! Pile the scrambled eggs with spinach and feta onto half of a tortilla, top with a little more shredded mozzarella, fold it closed, then toast it in a skillet. BOOM. So delish.
You can also stuff the scrambled eggs into a breakfast wrap with some bacon, or into a pita for a really easy, handheld, on-the-go breakfast. Or how about a bagelwich? Yes please! And lastly, you can use these scrambled eggs as a topper for a breakfast bowl meal.
Spinach and feta is really just a starting point. I like to add whatever vegetables I have laying around in the fridge to my scrambled eggs. Diced bell pepper is awesome, as are tomatoes. Got leftover green onions? Slice ’em up and toss them in there! Have half of a leftover avocado? Use it to top your eggs. The sky really is the limit here.
Here’s your chance to fulfill your childhood Dr. Seuss dreams, friends. The juices from the fresh spinach do turn the eggs a little green, especially if they sit on your plate for a little while before you get a chance to eat. But I absolutely love the idea of adding ham to these scrambled eggs to make it a true “green eggs and ham” breakfast. How fun! I would dice the ham and sauté it in the skillet first, then add the spinach and continue on as directed below.
Chop about 4 oz. of spinach into smaller pieces (about 1-inch pieces). The amount of spinach in this recipe is VERY flexible. So use less if you have less, just use up what you’ve got! You can also skip chopping if you’re in a hurry, but I like to chop because whole leaves can be a little stringy sometimes.
Crack four large eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, and whisk to your liking. I like to have some ribbons of white and yellow in my scrambled eggs, but you can whisk more if you like a more even color.
Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the chopped spinach. Sauté the spinach until it has wilted (2-3 minutes).
Push the sautéed spinach out to the outer edges of the skillet, then pour the whisked eggs in the center. Gently fold the eggs as the bottom layer solidifies, until the eggs are about 75% solid.
Fold the spinach into the eggs, then turn the heat off. The residual heat in the skillet will finish cooking the eggs without overcooking them or drying them out.
Finish off the eggs with 1 oz. crumbled feta, some freshly cracked black pepper, and a pinch of crushed red pepper.
Enjoy!!
The post Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta appeared first on Budget Bytes.
Want to eat more veggies? Make this breakfast vegetables scramble! It’s got lots of colorful veggies to start the day right…with a plant based / vegan option. Want to eat more breakfast vegetables? You’re not alone. Eating more veggies to start the day is starting to trend. Because let’s face it: the American breakfast is largely based on carbs and sugar. Pancakes, waffles, muffins…all sugary. So health-minded people have been asking: why not re-imagine breakfast? Let’s infuse veggies into the first meal of the day, too. How to eat vegetables for breakfast? Try this Breakfast Vegetable Scramble! You can make it two ways: with eggs or tofu, depending on your diet. It’s full of savory flavor…and loaded with nutrients, too. Ingredients in this breakfast vegetables scramble This scramble is unlike most breakfast recipes…it’s loaded with vegetables! There are lots of vegetables you can eat for breakfast: here are the ones we chose. But you can feel free to customize this recipe as you choose! (See below.) The main ingredients in this breakfast vegetables scramble are: Bell pepper: 1 medium red bell pepper provides a whopping 169% of your daily vitamin C! (Source) That means eating 1 serving of this scramble […]
Want to eat more veggies? Make this breakfast vegetables scramble! It’s got lots of colorful veggies to start the day right…with a plant based / vegan option.
Want to eat more breakfast vegetables? You’re not alone. Eating more veggies to start the day is starting to trend. Because let’s face it: the American breakfast is largely based on carbs and sugar. Pancakes, waffles, muffins…all sugary. So health-minded people have been asking: why not re-imagine breakfast? Let’s infuse veggies into the first meal of the day, too. How to eat vegetables for breakfast? Try this Breakfast Vegetable Scramble! You can make it two ways: with eggs or tofu, depending on your diet. It’s full of savory flavor…and loaded with nutrients, too.
This scramble is unlike most breakfast recipes…it’s loaded with vegetables! There are lots of vegetables you can eat for breakfast: here are the ones we chose. But you can feel free to customize this recipe as you choose! (See below.) The main ingredients in this breakfast vegetables scramble are:
This breakfast vegetables scramble is very customizable based on the vegetables that you have on hand! You can use so many more vegetables for breakfast. Here are some vegetables that we’d recommend:
For the broccoli and carrots, make sure to cut them small. You may find you need to cook a few minutes longer than the timing specified below since they are hard vegetables. Looking for more ideas? See these Best Vegetables to Eat Today.
Don’t want to eat eggs with your breakfast vegetables? Use tofu instead! This Tofu Scramble is so full of savory flavor, it tastes remarkably similar to eggs! Alex and I don’t eat 100% plant-based, but we adore tofu scrambles when we want a vegan option.
Is tofu healthy? Per the Harvard TH Chan School of Nutrition, soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week. It’s likely to provide health benefits, especially when you eat it as an alternative to red meat and processed meat.
Want other breakfast vegetables ideas? Here are some more ways to load vegetables onto your plate in the morning:
Want to serve an impressive breakfast or brunch? Here are a few great sides for this breakfast vegetable scramble:
Vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, vegan, and dairy-free.
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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Prep Time: 8 minutes Cook Time: 7 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes Yield: 2 Want to eat more veggies? Make this breakfast vegetables scramble! It’s got lots of colorful veggies to start the day right (and a vegan option).
Category: BreakfastMethod: StovetopCuisine: BreakfastKeywords: Breakfast vegetables
Here are a few more of our favorite ways to eat healthy breakfast ideas:
A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes
This Spicy Chickpea and Spinach Stew recipe comes together in about 25 minutes. Serve it over couscous for an easy, delicious vegetarian dinner! Reader Survey Results When I did my reader survey, quite a few of you asked me to write more about the …
Ever miss the classic taste of the PB&J sandwich of your childhood? I do — often. But I don’t always want a sandwich with all the bread. So, I remedied this problem with a smoothie.
It hit me one day that if you make the strawberries int…
Ever miss the classic taste of the PB&J sandwich of your childhood? I do — often. But I don’t always want a sandwich with all the bread. So, I remedied this problem with a smoothie.
It hit me one day that if you make the strawberries into a compote first, it will intensify the “jam-like” flavors and send this 7-ingredient PB&J smoothie over the top. Hunch: correct. Let us show you how it’s done!
This filling and hearty Savory Breakfast Bowl is made with potatoes, eggs, veggies, and avocado. It’s the perfect way to start the day or can be enjoyed for a healthy lunch or dinner. I love one bowl meals, even for breakfast! This Savory Breakfast Bow…
This filling and hearty Savory Breakfast Bowl is made with potatoes, eggs, veggies, and avocado. It’s the perfect way to start the day or can be enjoyed for a healthy lunch or dinner. I love one bowl meals, even for breakfast! This Savory Breakfast Bowl recipe is hearty, healthy, and the perfect way to start…
The post Savory Breakfast Bowl appeared first on Two Peas & Their Pod.
Inspired by summer produce and a love for pasta, we dreamt up this dish with sautéed yellow squash, red onion, roasted cherry tomatoes, and a light vegan white sauce.
The result is an incredibly hearty yet light pasta with an abundance of vegetables a…
Inspired by summer produce and a love for pasta, we dreamt up this dish with sautéed yellow squash, red onion, roasted cherry tomatoes, and a light vegan white sauce.
The result is an incredibly hearty yet light pasta with an abundance of vegetables and greens. The perfect plant-based side or entrée for summer and beyond. Just 10 ingredients required. Let’s do this!
For the veggies, we sautéed squash with onion, then added salt, pepper, Italian herbs, and red pepper flake for more seasoning and a little heat.
Creamy Vegan White Pasta with Summer Vegetables from Minimalist Baker →
I love good quality food, but I also have a small place in my heart reserved for convenience foods like instant ramen or frozen pizzas. I don’t indulge in them often, and when I do I often spruce them up with something special to make them a little more interesting. I’ve posted before about the […]
The post Gochujang Ramen with Tofu appeared first on Budget Bytes.
I love good quality food, but I also have a small place in my heart reserved for convenience foods like instant ramen or frozen pizzas. I don’t indulge in them often, and when I do I often spruce them up with something special to make them a little more interesting. I’ve posted before about the things I like to add to my instant ramen to give it an upgrade, and now I have a new favorite ingredient—gochujang! This sweet-salty-spicy paste creates a rich broth with plenty of umami that I balanced with some fresh spinach and chunks of mild tofu. This Gochujang Ramen with Tofu is a quick and easy way to indulge that noodle craving!
If you’ve never heard of gochujang, it’s a Korean chile paste made with chile peppers, rice, fermented soybeans, and salt. It kind of reminds me of a spicy version of miso. Gochujang is really starting to trend in the U.S. because of its uniquely sweet-salty-spicy and UMAMI flavor. And because we’re all kind of over our infatuation with sriracha and looking for the next best thing. It’s those fermented soy beans that really set gochujang apart and give whatever you’re adding it to that extra “WOW” factor. So if you haven’t tried it yet, put it on your list!
Because gochujang is really becoming quite popular, you’ll probably be able to find some at most major grocery stores. My local kroger actually carries about 4-5 different kinds! I’m using this Sempio Gochujang. If you have an Asian grocery store near you, you’re sure to find a really good selection there, and probably much better prices. Want to try to make your own? Try this traditional gochujang recipe, or this quickie 5-minute gochujang.
Personally, I like to use my own broth when making ramen instead of using the little seasoning packet that comes with the noodles. I like the freedom of tweaking the flavors and salt content, but you can use the seasoning packet if you prefer. Gochujang has quite a bit of salt, so if you do want to use the flavor packet that comes with the instant ramen I suggest adding the gochujang to the water first (3 cups water), then adding a little of the flavor packet at a time until the broth reaches a reasonable salt level for you.
Decently spicy, IMHO. You can reduce the amount of gochujang to make it slightly less spicy, if you prefer. Or, if you’re looking for non-spicy ways to spruce up your ramen, check out my post about 6 Ways to Upgrade Ramen, or my Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen.
This recipe uses half of a traditional 14oz. block of tofu. My first choice for using up the other half of the block would be to make a half batch of my Curried Tofu Salad. That stuff is to die for. You could also toss it into a stir fry, or chop it up, add some BBQ sauce and make yourself a BBQ Tofu Slider.
Drain a 14oz. block of tofu and cut half of it into ½-inch cubes. See the notes above the recipe for ideas for using the remaining tofu.
Add 1 cup water, 2 cups vegetable broth, and 2 Tbsp gochujang to a small sauce pot. Whisk until the gochujang has dissolved.
Add the cubed tofu to the pot. Adding the tofu before we start boiling the broth gives it a few minutes to start absorbing some of the flavor from the broth, as opposed to adding it at the end. Place a lid on the pot and bring the broth up to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling, add the block of instant ramen noodles (without seasoning packet). Let the noodles boil for about a minute, or just until they being to soften up and loosen up from the block.
Add a couple handfuls of spinach to the pot and stir it in until wilted. This should give the noodles just enough time to finish cooking as well.
Slice two green onions and sprinkle them over the ramen just before serving.
Enjoy that spicy goodness!!
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The heat is getting to me, y’all! So last week I sat down and brainstormed some no-cook lunch boxes, or meal preps that I can keep in the fridge for quick meals over the next couple of months. I’ll be posting these lunch box ideas over the next few weeks, the first being this Pizza […]
The post The Pizza Roll Up Lunch Box appeared first on Budget Bytes.
The heat is getting to me, y’all! So last week I sat down and brainstormed some no-cook lunch boxes, or meal preps that I can keep in the fridge for quick meals over the next couple of months. I’ll be posting these lunch box ideas over the next few weeks, the first being this Pizza Roll Up Lunch Box. These easy no-cook lunch boxes make great “brown bag” lunches for the work week, especially for those of you who don’t have access to a refrigerator or microwave during your work day. Just pop one of these in an insulated lunch pack and you’re good to go!
This one goes out to everyone who grew up eating those pizza lunchables. ;)
We all need different amounts of food, so make sure you flex your lunch box up or down to fit your appetite. Here are some other things you can add to this pizza roll up lunch box to beef it up, if you need more!
There are an endless number of toppings you could add to your roll up, but just be careful with “chunky” ingredients that may make it hard to keep the roll up closed.
You can keep these lunch boxes in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Longevity may vary depending on the conditions inside your refrigerator and freshness of your ingredients.
These are Pyrex glass containers, and small metal dipping cups (both are linked in the bottom of the recipe card below). I have the dipping cups in the glass containers in the photos, but they are actually taller than the container and would need to be packed outside the glass container for it to be closed properly.
Want more cold lunch ideas? Check out our No-Reheat Meal Prep category!
Spread 1 Tbsp of pesto over each tortilla. Lay two pieces of provolone and about 9 pepperoni on one half of the tortilla.
Sprinkle one handful of spinach over each tortilla.
Roll up the tortilla, making sure to roll as tightly as possible. Slice the roll into one-inch sections. The two end pieces might not stay rolled, but as long as the roll is seam-side down, the rest should stay rolled.
Place the sliced roll-ups in your containers. Cut two green bell peppers into strips and divide them among the four containers. Place 2 Tbsp pizza sauce into four small containers. Pack up your boxes and refrigerate up to 5 days!
The post The Pizza Roll Up Lunch Box appeared first on Budget Bytes.
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