Spinach Feta Salad

I first started cooking real meals when I was in law school. I was sick of living on cereal and chips and salsa, and I wanted to get healthy. But it meant I had to cook for one. I had recently moved from La Crosse to the Twin Cities to go to law school, and I didn’t know anyone. So I lived alone.

Cooking for one is not always easy. You end up making too much or making an entire meal seems like such a hassle when it is just you. I would end up making a main dish, with nothing else. So while that prosciutto-wrapped, goat-cheese stuffed chicken may have been delicious, and took a TON of work, I still hadn’t cooked myself a full meal. I still didn’t feel like a real adult who cooked herself a real dinner.

But after I discovered how to cook spinach (yes, I had to learn how to cook spinach. Because I literally knew how do to nothing in the kitchen), I would add this little side dish to my dinner most nights. It takes less than 10 minutes to make, it tastes fresh and healthy, and it compliments a host of main dishes. And now this is probably the dish I’ve made the most since I started my “lindsay learns to cook” endeavor.

Ingredients

  • Spinach
  • Red Onion/Scallots, diced
  • Cherry Tomatoes, halved
  • Feta Cheese
  • Garlic, minced
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper

Directions

  1. Toss a glug of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon) in a deep skillet over medium heat.
  2. Add in garlic and onion and cook until onions are soft.
  3. Take a couple of handfuls of spinach and place into the skillet. Stir the spinach as it slowly wilts. Once the spinach is almost fully wilted, add in tomatoes so the tomatoes get warm, but not mushy.
  4. Remove from heat. Plate the spinach mixture. Then add in feta cheese on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Enjoy!
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Mediterranean Bean Salad

Is it just me or is it hard to come up with a complete meal? The main dish with compatible side dishes that make you feel like you are a real adult. This side dish is honestly perfect with so many sides: steak, chicken, beef, tofu, eggplant. It’ll hang with the best of them. I am so glad I added this side dish to my rotation.

Ingredients

  • I can black beans, drained and washed
  • 1 can chick peas, drained and washed
  • 1 cucumber, cubed
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced
  • 1 cup green olives, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/.4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. Combine in large bowl black beans, chick peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, and olives.
  2. In separate bowl, combine garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Mix well.
  3. Drizzle dressing over veggie/bean mixture. Add in mint.
  4. Enjoy!

Source: Suburban Soapbox

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Ham, Leek, and Spinach Quiche

It’s Easter! Our first Easter with three walking, wild babies, but it was still our quietest Easter yet (thank you, pandemic). With all the restaurants shut down, there was no need to secure a reservation for Sunday brunch. So I opted for a classic, easy, but filling, breakfast for the five of us: quiche.

Ingredients

  • Pie crust, deep dish
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 cup ham, diced
  • 5 eggs
  • 3/4 cup half and half
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, finely shredded
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 3/4 cup Spinach, chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Put the pie crust in the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Take out.
  2. Over medium heat, melt butter. Add in onions and leeks and cook for 3 minutes. Add in ham and cook for another 5 minutes or until onions and leeks are soft. Remove from heat and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together half and half and eggs. Combine with cheeses, parsley, pepper, onion/leek/ham mixture, and spinach. Mix well.
  4. Pour into pie crust and place onto cookie sheet. Cook for 50 minutes, or until the egg is well-set (pierce with fork in middle of quiche and if it comes out clean, it’s good to go).
  5. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
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Shrimp Boil Packets

Today Minnesota extended the Stay-at-Home order until May 3rd. It feels so weird. Being trapped at home for three weeks now. Sometimes it is fun. I get to have lunch with my babies every single day. I see a lot more of Matt, since our desks are next to each other. But other moments it feels like the world is crumbling below us. And also that nothing is happening. Because everyone in my household is healthy so we are in this bubble where Coronavirus is this urban legend and we don’t see anyone. We are continuously living in the calm before the storm. The fear of getting sick and how sick we will get forever looms over us. Will we be the person who needs to be hospitalized?

We are lucky that that Coronavirus feels mystical. Because it means we are healthy and the people we love are healthy. We are away from the hectic, overworked hospitals. Here’s hoping it stays that way.

This recipe is from simpler times. When the biggest worry was getting lemon juice squirted in our eyes–not getting contracted with a scary virus that could crystallize our lungs.

I hope this meal brings some comfort to you.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 corn on the cob, halved
  • Andouille sausage, coin sized
  • 5-6 red potatoes, quartered
  • 1 Tablespoon Garlic, minced
  • 1 pound Shrimp
  • 3 Tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
  • 3 Tablespoon Butter
  • Half Lemon
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Also need Old Bay seasoning. Forgot to put it in the photo 🙂

Directions

I’d recommend cutting corn smaller and all in half again. Our knife is terrible so I gave up.

Put the sausage and shrimp in a big bowl.

Squeeze in lemon juice. This method is how the professionals do it 😉
Or do this.

Then add in the potatoes and corn in the bowl. Add in butter.

Time to go the grill to cook on one side for 15 minutes.
Remove from the foil carefully. If you’d like, drizzle more melted butter over everything.

Enjoy!

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