The Balanced Kitchen

Time for food. Time for Life.

Cheesy Broccoli Tots

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“By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by Kikkoman and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”

I have a confession to make: I hate tater tots. Maybe it is because I never tasted one until I was in my late 20s and so I don’t have any sentimental attachment, but to me they just taste like clumps of sad, soggy, kind of greasy, overly salted French fries. I just don’t get the appeal. And yet, when I started seeing recipes for vegetable tots floating around I was curiously intrigued. I loved the idea of small nuggets of vegetables that could be made to go along with a meal, could be a new spin on vegetables in the lunch box, or could be a fun new snack option, so I started experimenting to see what would work well, because more than anything I didn’t want to end up with a tater tot equivalent that would leave me feeling bummed out and disappointed.

And I have to say, I think that the idea resonated with some of you as well! As I have started posting my weekly meal plans (new in 2017! If you don’t follow me on Facebook yet, I’d love to have you join in the fun!) people have noticed the veggie tots listed and have asked about them more than any other dish. I guess it is a sign!…

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How to Make a Noodle Soup Without a Recipe

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My family has been on a BIG noodle soup kick this winter. Chicken noodle, vegetable noodle, and Asian noodle have all been on regular rotation and I am loving it! Why? Four reasons: 1) they are easy to make in 30 minutes, 2) they are cheap, 3) I can use whatever I have left in my fridge and it will turn out great, and 4) it is an easy way to get more vegetables in!…

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Freezer Breakfast Pockets: A flexible, portable breakfast

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We all know the drill. Scrambling to get lunches packed, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, clothes on, maybe showered. There is a lot to do before leaving the house for work/school in the morning! One of the ways I try to streamline that process for our household is to prepare breakfast foods over the weekend that can go into the freezer to be pulled out throughout the week. Muffins, mini-frittatas, spinach pop-outs, waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, I make them all. But even with all of that variety, my kids have been starting to get a little sick of the offerings. So I wanted to come up with a different option: breakfast pockets.

That’s right. I wanted to come up with homemade hot pockets (a treat I was never allowed to have as a kid, but that’s a story for another post)….

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Brazilian-Style Fried Rice: Dinner in 7 Minutes

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Many moons ago, when my now-husband and I first started dating, we did the thing that many couples do: we tried to increase our appeal by cooking meals for one another. At the time, neither of us cooked very much, so we both fell back on comfort foods that we had grown up with. For me, that was my dad’s Bolognese sauce. For my husband, it was eggs and rice.

When he first told me of his love for eggs and rice I was dumbfounded. Outside of fried rice at Chinese restaurants I had never heard of the combination. And to be completely honest, I thought it sounded absolutely awful. But in the interest of being a good sport with my new boyfriend, I agreed to try it. As I looked down at my plate of rice topped with a fried egg, I was still doubtful. And then I took my first bite and I was blown away! It was delicious, nourishing, and comforting. It felt like something I would imagine a grandmother would make for you when you were home sick….

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Roasted Broccoli

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One of the foods that I recommend most often to clients is roasted vegetables. For the busy cook, they are great because they are easy to make, very forgiving in terms of cooking time, and can be made in bulk and then used throughout the week in various dishes.

I also love them for how versatile they are. You can use them on their own as a side dish or include them in a huge variety of dishes including omelets, pastas, grain salads, pizzas, quesadillas, wraps, grilled cheese/paninis, stir fries. And you can flavor them in various ways–salt and pepper, indian spices, chili powder, parmesan, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, and bread crumbs are just a few of our favorite ways to have them….

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Spice Up Your Life! Indian-Spiced Roasted Vegetables

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I don’t know about everyone else, but this is the time of year when I start to fantasize about all the seasonal produce I’ll be eating… in JUNE. This is the time of year when I start to feel uninspired when it comes to cooking and sick of all my recipes. This is the February slump.

So when my boys started refusing to eat our beloved roasted vegetables, I knew something had to be done. First I started tried cutting the veggies differently. Who was I kidding? Then I tried the parmesan trick. No good. So last night I decided to try the heavily-spiced approach. I made a chicken curry in the slow cooker and roasted up a mix of vegetables with Indian spices. It was flat out awesome. Not only that, the whole bowl of veggies disappeared! One son decided he liked them so much, he’d just skip the chicken altogether. The other, cleaned his plate with murmurs of “mmmm. Cauliflower….” It was gone so fast I didn’t even have time to take a picture….

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Baked Pasta and Multitasking in the Kitchen: Making Time Count

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Whenever I am in the kitchen to make a big meal, like I often am on Sunday afternoons, I like to try to make that time really count. This often means that while I am cooking one big dish, I also take on some simple side dishes or meal prep that will help me save time later in the week. So yesterday when I pulled out the veggies I was going to put into a big baked pasta that would last us for at least one dinner and two or three lunches, it was also time to roast the remaining broccoli and brew my chai (spiced tea) for the week.

There are a couple of tricks that I have learned over the years that help this kind of multitasking work well:…

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