I’m running a little bit behind on this, as the late summer and early fall really got away from me. Here’s hoping I can still cross the finish line! This is installment 3 of 4, with a few 5/5 recipes that I am very glad to have in my rotation now.
- Roasted portobello tacos (4.5/5). The quest for solid vegetarian tacos continues. These are my fave so far. Easy weeknight meal.
- The best easy Italian pasta salad (5/5). Simple and delicious with an addicting dressing.
- Savory herb scones (4.5/5). Nearly ruined these by including the wrong amount of sugar but saved them in the nick of time. Read the recipe carefully. 🙂
- Coconut macadamia nut cookies (5/5). These got rave reviews at a party.
- Peanut butter cup cookies (5/5). A can’t-go-wrong classic that I had never actually made from scratch before. Worth it!
- Buffalo cauliflower dip (4/5). I feel like the texture of this got a little gummy using the Crockpot method, but it was delicious and I didn’t miss the chicken.
- Sheet pan BBQ tofu (4/5). Yum! I halved this recipe and served it with roasted zucchini, roasted broccoli, roasted baby bella mushrooms, cabbage, brown rice, and a drizzle of honey and BBQ sauce. Next time I’ll coat the tofu in olive oil first before adding the spices– this is what I usually do when baking tofu and it coats much better than doing it all at once. I was impressed by how much the caramelization of the brown sugar made the tofu leftovers stay crispy. Vegan (depending on topping choice)!
- Thai red curry with vegetables (3.5/5). As you may recall from my first installment, I often feel a bit “meh” about my attempts to make curry at home. This was pretty good but once again not something that will necessarily become a go-to. Requires a ton of sriracha for some heat. I would omit the kale or replace it with spinach if I made this again. Vegan!
- Spicy sweet potato and green rice burrito bowls (5/5). Omg. One of the best new dinners I’ve made in a long time. My expectations for this were actually pretty low, since the rice/black bean/sweet potato combo is one I’ve made a million times in other ways, but I decided to give this a go because I was intrigued by the green rice. If you have someone in your life who doesn’t love brown rice, I think you could convert them with this recipe. Don’t skip the toppings for these bowls. The pepitas in particular add an awesome crunch. Vegan!
- Walnut pesto (4/5). I’m certainly no stranger to pesto but I had not made it with walnuts before so I am counting it! I served this over chickpea pasta and it was super filling.
- Cozy autumn wild rice soup (5/5). This gets another omg and is only rivaled by the burrito bowls in this installment. This was soooo good. I did the stovetop version with a wild rice blend (it was hard to find 100% wild rice in the store), subbed spinach for the kale, and used coconut milk mostly because I was too lazy to make a roux but I would take that option again. This is somehow the first time I’ve added Old Bay to soup and it won’t be the last. Also, any commenter who says this recipe has too much Old Bay is clearly not from Maryland. Vegan!
- Pumpkin overnight oats (2.5/5). I used a Crockpot liner and made this during the day since I was concerned about burning and wanted to monitor it. I was very glad I did so I didn’t have to scrape burned bits from the bottom of my Crockpot. This was super underwhelming– texture like glue and very little flavor. Was able to resuscitate it a little bit with liberal toppings and more liquid but I won’t make it again.
- Thai chicken wild rice soup (3.5/5). After seriously considering making the wild rice soup in #11 for a second week in a row, I decided to try this similar recipe instead. I did the Instant Pot version. This was fine, but after being spoiled by that other soup this just can’t compare. Add lots of sriracha for some interest!