design a life you love
After a day at work, an hour and a half long commute home and an evening workout I am usually pretty exhausted by the time dinner rolls around. Regardless of how I feel, I make an effort to cook dinner for my husband and myself every night. While some meals can be labor intensive, most are super straightforward like this oven baked salmon. It is such a delicious and easy meal that we have taken to eating it a minimum of once a week.
For each of my childhood birthdays my mom would prepare a special meal and dessert for me; it could be anything I wanted. Without fail, I would request the same dinner every single year – a super rich chicken in cream sauce recipe. Having it for my birthday was our family tradition up until I moved to California six years ago.
With a monumental birthday coming up (the big 3-0) I found myself homesick and longing for my mom’s chicken and cream sauce. I had never previously attempted to make it but figured that I had enough cooking experience under my belt to give it a try. My mom still had the recipe handy and sent it to me but there was one problem…I have cut lactose and gluten out of my diet and the original recipe was heavy on cream and flour. Hmm.
Substituting almond flour for regular flour seemed straight forward enough, but what to do about the cream… Fortunately for me, Google exists and was able to provide a plethora of alternatives. I threw caution to the wind and went with the most basic option I could find – substituting 2/6 cup of soy milk and 1/6 cup of oil for 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The consistency seemed okay. Not perfect, but okay. And flour behaves like flour so the recipe should work, right? Wrong.
Now, this was in no way a complete disaster. It just didn’t taste exactly like my mom’s and that turned me into an emotional mess. Neither the meal or the pictures came out quite how I wanted them to and I considered not posting this entrée at all. It was my mom who encouraged me to go ahead with it as planned because it’s a recipe that means a lot to me, it still tasted amazing and, as she pointed out, maybe somebody out there has a suggestion for how to improve it next time. So without further explanation or ado, I give you…
I have a secret. I have been selfishly withholding what is possibly the yummiest breakfast dish EVER from you. I didn’t mean to keep this gem to myself; I have actually been planning on sharing it for months now. But then June turned into September which turned into December and in the blink of an eye I found myself smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, still clutching this recipe close to my chest. Ultimately I don’t think the timing could have worked out better because it just so happens that this berry crumble is the perfect breakfast to whip up when you need to dazzle a houseful of guests.
I have some very exciting news, it has officially dipped below 80 degrees in Los Angeles! It only took until November 3… In honor of this positively chilly weather I am bringing out the knee high boots, bundling up in sweaters and making a big pot of my favorite kale stew for dinner.
I first tried this recipe in the middle of August (which a was completely inappropriate time to be testing stew recipes) and we have been enjoying it on a bi-monthly basis ever since. This stew is perfect for filling you up, warming you up and leaving you feeling healthy.
I am not generally a huge lover of citrus but for whatever reason I ADORE the refreshing taste of it during fall and winter. A tart orange or grapefruit feels like a surprisingly fresh jolt of flavor to be experiencing during colder months. Living in Los Angeles I’m able to get my hands on citrus year round, however growing up in a colder, wetter climate it was harder to come by. For that reason it still feels like a bit of a special treat to me to be eating it as we move towards winter.
I came up with this simple grapefruit feta salad to compliment the crab stuffed portobello mushrooms that I shared with you last week. I knew the portobello mushrooms were going to have a smokier taste and therefore wanted to prepare a salad that would offset that and shock the taste buds. This salad did just that!
This grapefruit feta salad is comprised of just a few simple ingredients – most of which you probably have on hand – and produces a truly unique flavor. The tang of grapefruit combined with the bite of feta and the richness of walnuts thrills the taste buds and perfectly compliments a winter meal.
