Easy Dinner

Easy Pasta Salad

April 29, 2020 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

At the beginning of the year, I set three food goals for myself. 1)Cook a meal for another family once each month. 2)Buy from my local farmers market at least once per month. 3)Bake a bread recipe of one sort or another each month. Friends, COVID-19 has seriously interrupted these plans! Social distancing, businesses (and the farmers markets) closed, and difficulty finding flour in the stores. I will revisit these goals when I am able to but in the mean time, I have been focusing on simple recipes.

Fancy ingredients and complicated cooking techniques are not prerequisites to a good meal. In fact, some of my favorite dishes are made quickly with just a handful of ingredients. With this in mind, along with my yearning for farmers market produce, I’ve created my easy pasta salad. There is also some versatility in this recipe. You can use whatever small pasta you can get your hands on. Eat it as a side dish, or add your favorite protein to make it your entree. And once you can go to your farmers market again, be sure to show your support and buy your ingredients for this one from your local farmers.

Easy Pasta Salad

Sarah Baade

An easy to make pasta salad that can be used as a side dish or an entree.

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Course Dinner, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

1 lb small pasta such as orecchiette, shells or elbow noodles
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (divided) olive oil
15 oz canned chickpeas
12 oz small tomatoes – mixed variety, halved
1 medium cucumber, cut into 1/4" slices then quartered
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional: protein such as tofu, grilled bratwurst, or grilled chicken

Instructions

Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain pasta then rinse with cold water until cooled.
Transfer pasta to a large bowl and stir together with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber and red onion then toss to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, Italian herb seasoning and salt. Pour over pasta and gently stir until pasta is evenly coated. Top with protein of choice if desired.

Keyword Easy Pasta Salad, Easy Recipe, Pasta, Pasta Salad

SHEET PAN VEGGIE TACOS

March 10, 2020 by Sarah Baade 1 Comment

My first year of graduate school, I was blessed with a roommate who also loved spending time in the kitchen. We often weren’t home at the same time which left little room for cooking together. Instead, I might come home from class and find his homemade bread sitting on the counter. Or, he would come home to a slice of homemade cheesecake. Baking was truly the passion of the household. However, we also had a routine of taco night once a week. This was our favorite meal to share with friends and we had an entire speech that we would serve up with the food. The ingredients were routine but ample – ground beef, shredded cheese, avocado, tomatoes, sour cream, etc… The speech we gave encouraged our friends to make their taco experience their own. Add what you want, skip the toppings that aren’t your favorite. Taco night never disappointed.

Fast forward a few years and taco night has become a national trend. Hello, #tacotuesday! Over the years, I have also expanded on my taco repertoire. In particular, I love changing up the fillings. Lately, I’ve been making lots of veggie tacos. This is basically a sheet pan dinner – who doesn’t love an easy sheet pan dinner?! You’ll get your veggies plus protein from chickpeas all flavored in what you’ll recognize as classic taco seasoning.

Sheet Pan Veggie Tacos

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Course Dinner, Main Course

Servings 12 Tacos

Ingredients

3 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 cups red cabbage, chopped into 1" pieces
1/2 lb Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, then cut in half length wise
15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 medium jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
12 flour or corn tortillas
Optional toppings: avocado, salsa, hot sauce

Instructions

Preheat oven to 420°F.
Place squash, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, chickpeas, and jalapeno in a large bowl. Stir in olive oil and all spices until vegetables are evenly coated.
Spread vegetable mixture out on a sheet pan and bake for 20minutes, stirring halfway through.
While vegetables are cooking, wrap tortillas in foil then place in oven for the last 10 minutes of vegetable cook time.
Fill tortillas with vegetable mixture and toppings as desired.

Notes

Alternative methods for warming tortillas:

Heat tortillas, one at a time, in a skillet over medium heat for about 30 seconds then flip and heat for another 30 seconds. Repeat this for each tortilla.
If you have a gas stovetop, you can heat tortillas, one at a time, directly over the flame, flip with tongs after 15 seconds. You might need to flip them a few times in order to get them slightly toasted. ***Keep flame low and watch the tortillas closely so you don’t catch them on fire.***

Keyword Sheet Pan Dinner, Veggie Taco Recipe, Veggie Tacos

SHEET PAN DINNERS FOR BUSY WEEKNIGHTS

September 3, 2019 by Sarah Baade 1 Comment

People often think that as a food blogger, I must have it all together in the kitchen. They assume my meals are always planned ahead of time. That I choose healthy options and only indulge occasionally. That dinner is easy to prep regardless of any other activities going on. These assumptions are completely off base. I certainly do enjoy cooking. Why else would I do a food blog? However, dinner at my house is often as last minute as any other household. I reach for convenient foods as often as I do healthy foods. I get in food ruts and end up fixing the same meals every week for a month. My biggest struggle is honestly just getting to the grocery to even pick up any ingredients. What is your biggest struggle for getting dinner on the table? I would genuinely love to hear from you on this.

I’ve met and follow some incredible people through food blogging. One of the things I love most about this community is the support people provide. Blogging is always a work in progress. We work to improve our recipes, our writing, our photography, our styling. My fellow food bloggers understand every aspect of what goes into creating a post. When you start following someone closely, you see their progress. We cheer each other on. We congratulate one another when we see something inspiring. We sympathize when struggles hit us in the kitchen. It is a wonderful thing to have companionship in this space.

Weeknights are about to get easier. For this post, I’ve collaborated with eight of my favorite food bloggers to create sheet pan dinners. I love sheet pan dinners because of how easy they are to make but also how easy they are to clean up. With the school year now in full swing, everyone has a busier schedule and could use an easy dinner recipe. I have been blown away by the variety and creativity in this project. A huge thank you goes out to each and every collaborator for helping me put this together. I hope that you’ll stop by their sites and check out more recipes from these incredible food bloggers!