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Waffleritos: And How to Use Up the Food You Already Have in Your House

March 21, 2017 By Jessica Braider 2 Comments

Waffleritos: And How to Use Up the Food You Already Have in Your House

I’ve got an awesome, super simple, extra flexible recipe for you guys this week! Waffleritos. Yup, you guessed it, a combination of waffles and burritos, and what could be better than that? But first, some practical tips on how to cook with what you’ve got. The inspiration for the recipe and this post comes from this month’s challenge from The Recipe Redux:

Spring Clean the Kitchen. Cook with at least 3 ingredients that are actually in your refrigerator or pantry right now. Try not to go to the store to buy anything new. Give tips on how to make a healthy dish out of whatever you have on-hand.

This topic is near and dear to my heart and is tied to one of the complaints I hear from people over and over again—that they struggle with food waste—vegetables go bad before they can use them all up, meat is forgotten and goes off, and they are reluctant to buy recipe-specific ingredients because they aren’t sure how they will use the remainders in other recipes. I have even spoken with people who have decided that they’d rather order out instead of grocery shop and cook because the food waste stresses them out so much. I am very sympathetic to this struggle as it is one that I experienced for years when I was first becoming comfortable with cooking. I vividly remember going into my produce drawer and finding slimy green things that made my stomach turn. I also remember struggling with what to do with leftover ingredients from new recipes I had tried (I used to avoid buying cabbage and bok choy at all costs for this reason). Over time, though, as I became more comfortable with cooking and improvising, I found this source of stress started to dissipate and I developed a couple of tricks that were really helpful in avoiding food waste….

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Filed Under: Baked Goods, Cooking Basics, Culture of Food, Dinner, Healthy Eating, Lunch, Money, Quick Dinners, Tips and Tricks Tagged With: avocado, black beans, burrito, chicken, cornmeal, Easy, food waste, healthy, Vegetables, waffle

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos with Avocado Crema

February 21, 2017 By Jessica Braider 9 Comments

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos with Avocado Crema

This month’s challenge from The Recipe Redux is near and dear to my heart: tacos!!

Show us your healthy, creative take on the taco.

For as long as I can remember, tacos have been a favorite food of mine. When I was a kid, my mom had (still has) special bowls that she used to put out the taco toppings and whenever I saw those bowls coming down from the cupboard I knew that an awesome dinner was in store! I think because I was a picky eater I enjoyed the control I had over my own plate—I got to choose which toppings I used and which I avoided and, if I was feeling brave, I could try something new in a small and safe way. As a kid, the taco options were the same every time: ground beef, kidney beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cheese, and salsa. And still, with the exception of raw onions which I am not a huge fan of, I love all of those components and would happily have one of my childhood tacos any night!

For this Taco Tuesday, though, I’m sharing a different version. While the ground beef is great and we definitely eat it from time to time in our house, it isn’t usually something I include with taco night because there are other, healthier sources of fat in the meal. In fact, many times our taco nights are vegetarian, using beans as the protein source. The tacos I’m sharing today involve one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations, black beans and sweet potatoes, along with a creamy avocado-based sauce that makes the whole meal feel special! In fact, the last time I made the avocado crema my 8-year-old said, “wow! This is such a fancy meal!” when the only difference was replacing our standard cut up avocado with the crema.

…

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Filed Under: Dinner, Family Dinner, Feeding Kids, Healthy Eating, Picky Eaters, Quick Dinners Tagged With: 30 minute meal, avocado, black beans, Easy, healthy, sweet potato, taco, the recipe redux, vegetarian

Tostada Salad

February 4, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Tostada Salad

When I was a kid I was a pretty picky eater and the most difficult meal for me (and my poor mom) was breakfast. I hated breakfast. So time and time again my mom would work with me to find some sort of breakfast that I would be willing to eat. Once she found one, then I would go on a major food jag and would only eat that one kind of breakfast day after day after day, until I would get sick of it (I would literally gag at the sight of the food) and refuse to ever eat it again. She must have wanted to kill me some days…

As I got older I began to realize that obsessively eating certain foods was slowly ruining them for me (I still have trouble with Canadian bacon, for instance), so I pushed myself to alternate foods so this wouldn’t happen. As a parent, I have also worked very hard to encourage variety in my boys’ diets so that they don’t grow sick of any one food.

But the recipe that I am going to share with you today is actually what I eat almost every single day for lunch. How is that possible? Because it is incredibly flexible, I just use whatever I have in the house that day, so every day is different!…

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Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Quick Dinners Tagged With: avocado, bell peppers, black beans, cheese, corn tortillas, cucumber, Easy, healthy, kale, leftovers, lettuce, roasted vegetables, salsa, tomato, Vegetables, vegetarian

Jessica Braider

Hi! I'm Jessica. I love delicious food that is simple and easy. As a busy mom, I am always on the lookout for ways to make life easier and tastier! Read More…

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