Here in Minnesota, Chinese restaurants are a popular option amidst the sea of eating establishments. I love the five flavors of salty, spicy, sour, sweet, and bitter infused into traditional Chinese cooking, but prefer to avoid the MSG found in most of the food at these restaurants. I asked my friend Rachel to teach me how to make delicious, healthy, …
Herb Roasted Root Vegetables
I recently saw an eye-catching photo of an extra thick chocolate chip cookie with creamy melted chocolate oozing from its center. There is something about melted chocolate that convinces me to throw all restraint for eating healthy out the window. Can you relate? The same level of excitement isn’t there for me with root vegetables. Until recently, I had never …
Bahārāt Middle Eastern Spice Blend
At the start of every new season, I like to make a bucket list of things I want to learn before the next season begins. At the top of my culinary bucket list is to learn to make the hard to find spices I use in my recipes. The challenging part of global cooking is finding spices unique to a …
Healthy Tropical Blueberry Smoothie: Breakfast in a Glass
Breakfast is one meal I love using a quick and simple breakfast recipe with little to no cleanup. Yet, I’m one of those people, and maybe you are too, who needs a fair amount of fuel to start the day and keep my energy up for the next meal. So skipping breakfast just isn’t in the cards for me. Thankfully, …
Strawberry Coconut Water Lemonade
This strawberry lemonade recipe with coconut water is a healthy hydrating beverage packed with delicious flavor, easy to make and perfect for any time of year. Make it with strawberries, pineapple, tart cherries, mango, raspberries or any of your favorite fruits to create a beverage you will want to drink again and again. Now that spring has arrived, it’s the …
Koobideh Persian Beef Kabobs
There has never been a dish I have made that has quite the intriguing history that Persian Kabob Koobideh does. The story goes: during medieval times, Persian warriors used their swords to roast meat over an open fire. The sword would heat up, cooking the meat evenly from both the outside and the inside. This technique resulted in a cultural …
Israeli Shakshouka
Hands down, breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day. To me, there is nothing better than starting the day with a delicious protein-packed smoothie, a jar of dairy-free overnight oats, or my one of my favorites, an authentic Turkish breakfast. There are so many delicious options to choose from nowadays without resorting to that familiar bowl of Cheerios …
Tlavhe Red Lentil Soup from Assyria
Now that the cold weather season is here, it’s time to start thinking soup. Call me biased but my mom made one of the best chicken noodle recipes I have ever tasted. It’s a big hit around my house pretty much any time of the year. Unfortunately, one cannot live on Chicken Noodle Soup alone. That’s when I reach for …
Red Pepper Paste Recipe
One of my favorite things about learning to make food from around the world are the bonus lessons that accompany good, wholesome, authentic dishes. Part of the magic that happens when you create a recipe from scratch is the specific flavors that come through during the cooking process. I have found that keeping a dish as authentic as possible, including …
Easy Homemade Gravy Recipe
Growing up, meals at my mother’s table often included homemade gravy. She was one of those outstanding home cooks who had ten great recipes she perfected, and one of them was her rich and creamy lump-free gravy like the chicken gravy above and her beef gravy below. We could never get enough of her delicious gravy so we poured it …