Stay Home and Cook: The Best Flavors for Right Now (Week Ten)
Not only was last week overflowing with beautiful weather, but our meals were some of the best we’ve made during quarantine. Fresh spring veggies, bold flavors, and a discovery (gluten free flatbread) that we’ll be making on repeat for months to come, Week Ten proved to be one of the most-delicious yet. And we’ve made a lot of meals.
I also noticed that we have continued that see-saw path of healthy and healthy-ish and I’m completely content with this setup. We’re having plenty of healthy meals, meatless meals, hearty meals, decadent meals, and fairly light ones. Our weeks feel pretty balanced and it only took ten weeks! Ha.
All jokes aside, whatever your week of meals looks like right now, if it works for you, then it works for me. Everyone’s dinner plans are different and all I can do is offer up suggestions for your next great meal. Speaking of which…let’s get to the food!
Thai-Inspired Chicken Meatball Soup
Recipe via New York Times Cooking
The best part about this soup is that it can be any level of dinner you need/want it to be. Craving a really rich dish? Serve this flavorful soup over your rice of choice for an extra-hearty serving. Preferring something lighter? Skip the rice and just prepare a regular bowl, heavy on the spinach and broth. Either option gives you a really delicious meal filled with greens, protein, and yum-factor.
The Thai-inspired flavor profile is one of my favorites and I loved that the meatballs were packed with cilantro to make sure those flavors reached every inch of the bowl. Plenty of spinach ensures you’re getting your greens and offers another texture besides the soup and meatballs. Overall, we love this soup because it’s very filling and flavorful and can be as versatile as our hunger-level (sometimes) requires.
Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken with Asparagus
Recipe via New York Times Cooking
I need to tell you that this meal is a must. It’s spring-forward by featuring asparagus, protein-centered by including chicken, and health-aware by covering everything in turmeric and black pepper (they’re a healthy pair). It’s a flavor duo I didn’t expect to love as much as I did and I’m already wishing we could make it again.
For a minimalist-ingredient dinner, this one really delivered and I think it would be great for stir-fry fans of all ages. I really enjoyed the small pieces of asparagus (sometimes it’s just easier than the whole spear) and I didn’t complain when we decided to toss it all with rice noodles. Clearly not a requirement, but the carb-y addition did make the dinner more substantial. And that turmeric-black pepper sauce was mighty delicious over noodles. ;)
Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Chickpea Arugula Salad
Original Recipe
Just when you think you’re slipping into the depths of noodle world, an actually-awesome salad comes to the rescue. This is one we continue to turn to whenever we need to regroup, increase the greens, and still be full after dinner. It’s a salad that can adjust to whatever veggies we have available. Quite convenient!
The motto for this dinner is “greens and grains” because a bowl of arugula will never be considered a complete meal in my house. Therefore, we enhance the greens by adding our favorite wild rice (brand is Lundberg) and mixing it with the arugula (cook the rice and let it cool briefly before adding to the greens). We increased the health aspect by roasting cauliflower and tossing that in the bowl as well. For protein, we kept it meatless by making crispy chickpeas on the stovetop and sprinkling them over the whole salad. And because we like to live large, I opted for shaved parmesan as the final garnish. Major. Yum.
A dinner like this is great to incorporate each week, if possible, because it’s a gentle reminder that salads can still be crave-worthy and appropriately filling. You can mix and match ingredients as you see fit (or see what’s in the fridge) to create something unique, and delicious, every time.
Note: A very simple vinaigrette goes perfectly over a salad like this one. We keep it basic, but do include a little dijon mustard for a kick.
Fusilli with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
Original Recipe
And then there are the nights when you need pasta. And you need it now. But make sure there are greens! And something crunchy! And why not.. add a cream sauce. We are thriving (food-wise) right now. Well, we’re in quarantine, but our dinners are ridiculous. ;)
The classic trio of pasta-veggies-meat is one I’ll never take for granted. It’s a versatile dinner that can take on any number of iterations and while we’ve tried many options over the years, I do think this one in particular is near the top of my “best pasta nights” list. It’s just so freaking delicious. I crave it far too often.
This week’s version included broccoli rabe, hot Italian sausage, a big onion, shallots, garlic, and heavy cream. We don’t always include dairy when we make this meal, but creating a cream sauce for it just makes the whole dish even more irresistible. Of course, leave out the cream if you’re not a fan of extra joy or need to be dairy-free.
Finally, I made a batch of toasted GF panko to sprinkle over our bowls which is pretty much a requirement at this point. I love the crunch from the panko all over the creamy pasta; it also provides a good salty element amidst the bitter broccoli and spicy sausage. Balance! This dinner is on the more-decadent side, but it’s totally worth it. And the leftovers? Too good to be true.
Mushroom and Kale Risotto
Original Recipe
Since Friday night was the start of the long weekend and we toasted it with takeout sushi, we decided to go in the extreme other direction on Saturday night and make a scrumptious, Italian risotto filled with mushrooms and kale. As I’ve said many times, balance is key to having a delicious week.
Risotto is one of my lifetime-favorite-foods so the fact that we’ve now made it twice in the span of a couple weeks has got me rejoicing and skipping around my apartment. Not joking. It’s such a divine dish and my goodness it’s so yummy every single time we make it.
This risotto included kale and mushrooms because they were the last remaining fresh items in the fridge. Of course, if we had been planning risotto for this night, we may have organized our veggies differently, but alas that’s what we had available. However, I am not complaining at all; this duo made for a delicious risotto. And now that I think of it, we included fresh rosemary as well! We now have a rosemary plant on our balcony-garden so that added to the yum-factor.
If I’m being fully transparent, I think we may add a meat to our next version of this dish. I have no qualms about a veggie-centered dinner whatsoever, but the next time we consider risotto for our dinner plan, I think I’ll add a protein. No harm in making something even more awesome, right? This dish had a lot of Parmesan, but even I need more protein than just cheese once in a while. ;)
Easy Skillet Cheesy Chickpeas and Homemade Flatbread
Recipe for chickpeas from What’s Gaby Cooking.
Recipe for flatbread is right here. Be sure to use gluten free flour.
Say it’s Sunday night and you’re ready for dinner, but not ready for the work of making dinner. Might I then suggest this incredibly delicious, and very low-effort meal. There’s a lot of look without a lot of work and it’s so good you’ll want it pretty much weekly.
This dinner is basically a big skillet of chickpeas, tomato sauce, onion, and garlic, which gets cooked together for a short time, then covered in mozzarella, and then baked (briefly) until golden, bubbling perfection. What could be better? Not much!
It’s essentially a “chickpea parmesan” which is something I’ll happily eat any time it’s presented to me as an option. Major flavor and major cheese to create one, excellent dinner. Or a platter! I’d serve this to friends, definitely, as soon as it’s safe to have a dinner party.
We took this dinner up a notch by making homemade GF flatbread for dipping in the skillet. How had we never done this before? The flatbreads were easy to make and crisped perfectly when re-heated as mini slices in the toaster oven. I have linked the flatbread recipe above; it’s a great one to keep bookmarked! I highly recommend making them if you’re looking for a way to make this delicious, easy dinner even better.
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As always, please leave a comment below with any questions you have about our meals.
Enjoy and stay safe. And stay home.
