I believe that some of the best recipes are ones you just have to create on the fly, not really knowing what you’re doing and hoping for the best.

Scott always talks about those big noodle bowls that you sometimes see at Asian restaurants and how delicious and yummy they look.

“I can make that for you.  What do they taste like?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well what’s in them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Haven’t you had one before?”

“No. I just think they look good.”

“I see.”

Not much info to work with but I decided to try and find out what I could do.  Scott was not feeling well one day and I decided to make him some “Asian soup”.  I put a bunch of stuff in a pot, added noodles and it was fantastic.  We’ve been having Asian Noodle Soup ever since when want some veggies or if Scott’s allergies are bad that day.

It’s evolved over…

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While I was hobnobbing it at the Foodbuzz Festival last year, I was one of the few who got to sample the spicy mac ‘n cheese that got passed around Friday evening.  It was creamy and spicy and I was thankful that it was a small portion because it tasted extremely decadent.

I made sure to tell Scott all about it and since then he has been saying, “Mmm spicy mac ‘n cheese” at random points.

Mac ‘n cheese isn’t something I make all that often but I have been making it since Scott and I first moved in together.  He grew up on that crazy boxed stuff and I personally think that stuff is disgusting (Gee do I want powder cheese? Or cheeze-whiz in a pouch for the “creamy” version. EW!).  We didn’t have it at my house.  We didn’t have mac ‘n cheese period,…

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The other day at the grocery store I came across some baby heirloom tomatoes and became quickly excited! I double checked to make sure that they were not from Mexico. They were not, score!  They were gorgeous and I decided to buy them since a container was only $2!  Not bad!

While I know that tomatoes are not in season right now, I also realize that some farmers run hydroponics in the winter to provide more produce.  This is a practice that I do not have an issue with.

Because these tomatoes were gorgeous, I wanted to use them in a dish that would show them off and not cover them up.  Tomatoes can easily get lost in a dish if there’s a lot going on or if the sauce is really heavy.  I wanted to avoid this as much as possible.

Tomatoes have a ton of juice…

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This is the last side dish that rounded out the bison steak night meal.  With the heaviness of the potato and steak, I wanted the accompanying side dish to be a bit lighter and fresher.  Perhaps also as a palate cleanser.  I went with a quick salad that contains one of my very favorite flavor combos, red onion and orange.

I know it sounds really odd; the first time I was presented with it I thought the same thing.  I was visiting my mom several years ago and she made a salad with mandarin oranges and red onion.  I was nervous to eat it.  Fruit and onions?  I dunno.

After one bite I was hooked!  The citrus really mellows out the bite of the onion and brings out its sweetness instead.  It tastes fresh and new, like a summer morning after…

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Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve never been to a steak house before?  Like an honest-to-goodness steak house?  I’ve been to Ruth’s Chris once with Scott like a decade ago but that’s a chain so I don’t really count that as a true steak house.

I grew up in the sticks so we didn’t have steak houses.  Unless you count going over to the Elk’s or Moose on steak night and I’m betting you don’t.  Even the bigger towns closest to us (which were all half an hour to 45 minutes away no matter which direction you went) didn’t have steak houses.

But there are some things I know about steak houses like they are crazy expensive if what people tell me is true.  Every time The Double R mentions steak houses on her show she says that for two people it could…

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I love coleslaw and I’m also extremely picky about my coleslaw.  I like it sweet and tart with just a hint of some heat at the end.

While I don’t mind mayo, I don’t want it swimming in mayo.  Really soupy coleslaw is gross.  I like coleslaw to have just a touch of dressing giving flavor to the veggies but not crushing them so they lose their crunch.

Speaking of crunch, I want to crunch and chew my way through coleslaw, not slurp it up.

Coleslaw needs to have some onion background.  Not overpowering but it needs to be present.  Coleslaw is also more than just cabbage, it can be a great opportunity to introduce some new veggies to the scene!

Now even though I don’t mind mayo, I have started making my coleslaw without.  One reason being is that I want to be able to make slaw for my vegan friends and…

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I might have told you this before but I could eat soup everyday and be a happy girl.  The only other person I know of who liked soup as much as I was my father.  He could eat soup everyday as well.

Soup is great because it can have a lot or a few ingredients.  It can be hardy, creamy, or brothy.  It can be hot or cold.  It can be whatever you want it to be and it doesn’t take ages to make.  I think sometimes people have the misconception that soup takes all day long to create.  It doesn’t, I promise.

Lori recently posted her recipe for Potato and Broccoli soup for 2 and I sort of stuck that idea on the backburner so that I could make it soon.  With the recent snow storm that we just got hammered with (12+ inches of snow),…

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One of the things that I wanted to do last fall was make chili with pumpkin.  Ever since I discovered my love for cooking with pumpkin puree, chili was tops on my “to-make” list.  Fall came and went without me having a chance to make some.  Thankfully I live in an area that sees a good amount of winter which provides nice chili-makin’ and chili-eatin’ weather.

One of my vegan cookbooks, Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, has a recipe for chili using cocoa powder in it.  This intrigued me greatly!  I have used cocoa in a savory recipe before (Cocoa Chili Rubbed Chicken) but haven’t used it as a savory spice since then.  I wanted to rectify that quickly.  Could I combine my desire for using pumpkin in chili with the addition of cocoa powder without it tasting like a pudding gone wrong?

Last week I decided to experiment and find out!

Andrea’s Sweet Potato and Squash Chili

• 1 large green pepper,…

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Not that long ago I had a hankering for some chocolate zucchini bread.  Or at least I assumed this was the case, as I had never actually had chocolate zucchini bread.

Zucchini bread, yes.  But it was always the same way, spicy and more along the lines of like a carrot cake, spice cake kind of taste.  Lots of cinnamon, clove, and allspice in the mix.

That wasn’t exactly what I envisioned.  I wanted a dense chocolate quick bread with some zucchini in it.  I started looking around for recipes to see what I could find.  There were loads out there!

But they all had tons of sugar, white flour, and a load of eggs in them.

This is where my knack to never follow a recipe comes in handy.  I looked at the recipes to get an idea of the basic ingredients and then I created my own chocolate…

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Daily Eats readers know that I love my smoothies! And so does Scott! He actually requests them and I think at this point in time he might be the only food blogger husband who does.

I was intrigued when I saw Angela of Oh She Glows start making her green monsters. Kale in a smoothie? Um, what?

Now I love me some kale, but it can be a bit bitter so I was a little concerned. But she loved them and I decided to give it a try, and you know what? You can’t taste the kale at all. Amazing! My smoothies are different than the typical green monsters because I want fruit and veggies in my smoothies.

That means that my smoothies typically aren’t green.  And I prefer to use juices and water as a base instead of almond or soymilk.  The milks tend to make…

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