Here’s the first installment in my 52 new recipes in 2019 challenge: recipes 1-13. 2019 had a strong start! I plan to make many of these again.
- Chicken tzatziki bowl (5/5). I used this recipe for the chicken marinade and riffed on the rest. I did not use skewers and cut the chicken smaller for faster stovetop cooking. I might like this as much as Cava, which is pretty much the biggest compliment you can get from me. One of my new fave meals.
- Green goddess quinoa summer salad (5/5). Not just for summer! I omitted tomatoes, used the magic green sauce option, and added zucchini and nuts as suggested, which ended up being vegan. This was a solid lunch option and it would also be a good side dish to bring to a party.
- Best anytime baked chicken meatballs (5/5). These are some of the best simple meatballs I’ve ever made and also were the fastest ever. No chopping and best of all no sautéing before baking. Can be used in an infinite number of ways and seasonings can be changed up. New fave.
- Spicy peanut soba noodle salad (4.5/5). This was delicious! I skipped the chicken and it came together super quickly.
- Moroccan meatballs over brown rice (4/5). Highly, highly recommend blending the sauce after cooking (I used my immersion blender); otherwise, the sauce is fairly unappealing IMO. Also, this recipe makes a ton of sauce (no complaints about this!), so you can double the meatball recipe if you’d like.
- Crispy chickpea and za’atar salad (4/5). I used this method for the chickpeas, which is almost identical but uses a lower oven temp. I also used pre-cooked/peeled beets which makes this recipe super quick.
- Maple cinnamon oatmeal breakfast bars (4/5). I’ve made a few variations on these before (highly recommend the blueberry oatmeal breakfast bars). I liked these a lot but found them a tiny bit dry.
- Microwave chocolate mug cake (4/5). This is still very much a mug cake (AKA, dense and somewhat gummy), but a solid recipe for one. Beware, one serving is HUGE.
- Easy everyday curry with crispy baked tofu, jasmine rice, broccoli, and cauliflower (3.5/5). This was a 3 the first day and a 4 for leftovers. I used half the amount of broth and still found it a bit soupy for my liking on day 1, though it ended up being just right the next day once the rice absorbed some of it. Also, I used an entire container of green curry paste and still didn’t find it quite spicy enough. I think it is generally hard to make good curry at home, but this is one of the better recipes I’ve tried. Would make again but also open to other recipe ideas.
- Spicy Southwestern salad with avocado dressing (3.5/5). Needs some liberal salt and pepper, but a good lunch option. Used a pre-chopped salad bag and also added Crispy Baked Tofu for more protein.
- Classic mint chocolate brownies (3/5). I’m giving this one a split review because while they were pretty delicious (4.5/5), they were a huge PITA to make (1.5/5). While Sally’s Baking Addiction usually doesn’t let me down, these stuck to the pan and cracked when I cut them. I spent a lot of time making something (so many cooling steps!) that looked like a hot mess. Won’t be repeating.
- Chipotle sofritas tacos (3/5). The chipotle sauce and corn salsa were both delicious, but this just didn’t come together quite the way I hoped. The tofu didn’t absorb much of the sauce, making the tofu watery and taste just “meh” overall. I would try this again with a different protein or less sauce.
- Cauliflower rice chicken biryani (3/5). This was okay. I normally don’t mind cauliflower rice but found it pretty bland in this dish, and I wasn’t wowed enough by the chicken seasoning to want to attempt it again with white or brown rice. The dish definitely was improved with an improvised avocado topping, because duh.