Black Eyed Pea Salad

So the other day I was rummaging through my pantry to figure out what needed to be thrown away, and I stumbled across a can of black eyed peas... Of course this posed an interesting conundrum...What kind of healthful dish can I make out of this?! And I had an instant vision which was executed within about 10 minutes! I love when I can make something that I had visualized that quick! Simple things right?
Anyhow, this didn't require that many ingredients and had a wonderful taste...my husband devoured it alongside some trout! Delish!

Ingredients:
1 can of black eyed peas, drained
Half of a red bell pepper, diced (I'm sure green would work but I had red on hand!)
1/2 cup of frozen corn, thawed
1/4 cup of red onion, finely diced
Handful of cilantro, chopped
1 tsp of curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Start with draining your black eyed peas and getting them into the bowl you're going to mix everything in.

Now get your veggies ready...I diced my red bell pepper first...

I then chopped up my red onion..

Then my beautiful cilantro...

I then put the corn in, but I don't have a picture...ah well, you know what corn looks like I hope! After that I give everything a toss with the curry powder and taste it. I then add salt and pepper depending on what it needs!

And, THAT'S IT GUYS! Talk about fast and extremely scrumptious! 

Serve this up as a side dish or eat it as a snack!! Really good as leftovers the next day as well! Or pack it in a lunch and take it to work since it can eaten cold!

Enjoy!

Recipe Card:

Easy Sangria

Now, I know not everyone is a huge fan of red wine...However, I've noticed that if you give it a bit of fizz and make it fruity, people love it! Here's my easy, breezy, sangria...should take you no longer than 5 minutes to get this cocktail together, especially since it's 3 ingredients!

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen mixed berries
1 bottle of red wine
1 bottle of sparkling water, tropical fruit flavored

Directions:
Scroll down to the bottom for quick directions.

Get the bag of frozen mixed berries out into a bowl so that they thaw a bit...

Aren't the berries just gorgeous? Now, drop about half of the berries at the bottom of the pitcher and muddle it up a bit. To that, add about 1/3 of the bottle of sparkling water.

Last, get that bottle of red wine into the pitcher. I just chose a simple red table wine. I like this wine quite a bit, especially to please a crowd so that it can adhere to a variety of palettes. 

And that's it! B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L... Now top it with the rest of the berries on top!

Drink away...hopefully, you're parched...

So this lasted for about 5 minutes before it was gone...Trust me, put some aside for yourself if you plan to share...

Recipe card:

2 Minute Salsa

We're a little salsa obsessed in my house...anything to eat with some tortilla chips late in the night right? Well, my husband would immediately say yes to that question...I regularly get the question "did you make any salsa?". Well, I had to come up with a quick version because I was unaware that I would need to make salsa at the drop of a hat! Which is how I came up with this salsa..I was a inspired by this recipe but wanted to give it a little more spice! How can you turn down something that can be done in two minutes?

Ingredients:
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1- 28 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes
1/2 red onion, quartered
1/4 cup of drained jarred pickled jalapenos
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of salt

Directions:

Well, if you haven't peeled the garlic...start there...

Next, quarter your onion.

Grab a handful of cilantro...

Slice that lime in half...don't juice it yet though!

Grab your jarred pickles..yes, I used mild. Don't mock...go ahead and get your 1/4 cup ready by draining them. 

Last, get your can of diced tomatoes ready by draining them.

Ok, now that we have all the main ingredients ready, get your trusty blender out. I'm in love with our cuisinart blender...it ROCKS. No joke.

So now, throw in the garlic, onions, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, cumin, and coriander. You just want to slightly pulse this mainly to break it up a bit. You definitely don't want to turn it into mush..so here is an aerial view of what's in the blender now..

Once you've given that a rough pulse, add in the drained tomatoes...

Now just pulse until combined...

Pour it into a bowl and get the tortilla chips out...I guarantee, you will run out very quickly...

YUM...

You'll never have to worry about getting store bought salsa...this tastes way better and I try to keep the diced tomatoes on hand so I can whip this up whenever! Helps a tons to also make with other recipes that call for store bought salsa!

Hope you guys love it as much as we do! =)

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Garlic Aoili

So I've never been a fan of brussel sprouts. And I have no idea why since I have nothing to back them up with since I've never tried them. When I was little, my dad hated them. He would say they tasted like feet. Well, what kid wants to eat a vegetable when the dad says that right? And I've heard so many of my friends growing up not liking them. Well, it turns out, THEY ARE FREAKING DELICIOUS! I went to a restaurant called Eleven Plates here in Austin, and let me tell you that they are life changing! Brussel sprouts officially speak to my soul...and then I had them at another restaurant called The Grove...also delicious!

Well, considering that I had these revelations with this amazing vegetable, I had to figure out how to make them. Did some research and found out, they are so simple to make! The whole dish literally took me a total of 25 minutes to make! And since I had been talking to my husband about them nonstop, he was interested to see how they would turn out. My husband is not a huge fan of veggies..but he ate them like it was candy! You gotta try these and have your world turned upside down! Quit believing all those people out there who say they suck! They could not be more wrong...

Ingredients:
For the sprouts:

15-20 brussel sprouts
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp of coarse sea salt
1 tsp of fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp of red chili powder
 2 tsp of garlic powder
1 tbsp of sugar

For the aoili:
5-6 tbsp of mayonnaise
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of fresh ground pepper
Juice of one lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Start with your brussel sprouts and give them a good wash!

I cut the sprouts into wedges and got them into a bowl.

I put them in a bowl because it's easier to marinate them and make sure they all get evenly coated. Coat these with the veg oil, sea salt, black pepper, red chili powder, garlic salt & sugar. The sugar helps caramelize these bad boys which makes them unbelievable!!

Get them onto a baking sheet covered with foil and pop them into the oven. You're gonna want to cook these for about 20 minutes, flipping them once in between.

While these are roasting, start on the aoili. I just use this type of mayo...nothing fancy...

Get this into a bowl. Then mince up those cloves of garlic.

Stir these into the mayo. Add in the pepper and the lemon juice and done! Stick it in the fridge until ready to use. 

Once the twenty minutes are up, broil for about 4-5 minutes. You might want to keep a watch on it. You'll end up with this beautiful char...mmmmm. Once they are out of the oven, mix in the aoili and they are ready to eat! Simple right? Yup, my thoughts exactly for something this delicious.

Roasted goodness smothered in a delicious sauce...what more could you ask for? ENJOY! =)

Chicken & Broccoli Stir Fry

I often have cravings of chinese takeout because I'll be first to admit that I loooove it and think it's delicious! Well, it tends not to be the healthiest considering you have no control of the ingredients. So one night, I set out to make one of my favorite dishes with stuff that I had in my fridge and pantry already! Lemme tell you, SUCCESS! This dish came together in about a half hour and it was amazing and super flavorful!

Ingredients:
3/4 - 1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 tbsp of sambal oelek
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of rice vinegar
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
5 baby corn, sliced
1 bunch of broccoli, cut into small florets
cooked white rice, for serving

Directions:

Start with chopping the broccoli into florets. 

Thinly slice your scallions.

You can chop the baby corn coarsely or slice it up...up to you or whatever is faster right?

Thinly slice both the garlic and ginger.

Last but definitely super important, the chicken! You want to cut this into this strips so it cooks faster and is more bite sized.

Don't forget to wash your hands!

Let this hang out while you mix together a few ingredients into a sauce. Whisk together the sambal oelek, soy sauce, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil. You can still see the pockets of cornstarch in my picture..make sure yours is all blended! I blended mine thoroughly before I added it to the dish...I know you were judging...

Alright, now in a wok or large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned..anywhere between 7-10 minutes. 

Next, add ginger, garlic, scallions, broccoli, & baby corn. Stir this frequently, until broccoli is bright green. About 3 minutes or so...

Afterwards, you may want to add about a 1/4 cup of water, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon. Then, stir in soy sauce mixture and cook, until the sauce has thickened...should start to look something like this...

After all is coated, serve with the warm rice! Ta da!! Easy peasy right? 

YUM!

Hope yours turns out just as delicious! This made us around 4 servings so we had this for lunch the next day! 30 minutes and two meals? YES PLEASE!