Her Modern Kitchen

Eating & Living in Austin, Texas

healthy

Crispy Gluten-Free Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

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Crispy Gluten Free Buffalo Cauliflower Header

Crispy gluten-free baked buffalo cauliflower makes an easy snack, dinner, or appetizer to share with guests.

<3M and I love the buffalo cauliflower that’s served at the Alamo Drafthouse.  It’s the ‘healthy’ vegetarian appetizer we can easily agree upon.  I love the spice, the crispy florets, and the creamy blue cheese-ranch dressing they serve with it.

Knowing how much we both love the dish, I had toyed with the idea of making it at home myself but it wasn’t until a pregnant friend asked if I had a recipe for it that I really decided to research a method for making crispy gluten-free baked buffalo cauliflower at home.

It starts with the batter

While looking at an assortment of recipes, there was always a common thread — some kind of flour and milk-based battered cauliflower floret baked at a high temperature.  Now, I chose to make my buffalo cauliflower gluten-free using a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour substitute but you can 100$% make this with all-purpose flour.  You can also substitute plain non-dairy milk for cow’s milk, though I wouldn’t recommend coconut because it would add sweetness.

After reading comments on multiple recipes, I also decided adding a little egg white to the batter would help with the stability and provide added crispness.  Lastly, to maximize the flavor, I threw in a bit of spice to the batter including garlic salt, onion powder, and paprika.

Baking requires active participation

When baking the crispy gluten-free baked buffalo cauliflower, you need to participate in the process.  This means spreading each battered cauliflower floret out evenly on a baking sheet so that each floret has a little breathing room — we don’t want any of them touching.  Lastly, when you bake it in the oven, you need to be sure to flip the individual cauliflower florets over halfway through.

Crispy Gluten Free Buffalo Cauliflower Close Up

If you’re doubling this recipe, you’ll need to spread the cauliflower out on two sheet pans and rotate the pans top to bottom and bottom to top halfway through the cooking time too to ensure everything crisps up evenly.  If you do not have a convection bake option, then I’d recommend rotating the pans every 10-minutes throughout the duration of the cook time but only flipping the cauliflower florets at the halfway mark.

Toss and serve immediately

As you can imagine, as soon as you add the wing sauce on top of the crispy cauliflower, it’s going to start losing its crispness.  My recommendation is to portion out the cauliflower florets so you only toss the cauliflower you want to eat immediately and put the rest of the florets back in the oven (that is now turned off) so it can stay warm and crisp from the residual heat.

Serving Crispy Gluten-Free Baked Buffalo Cauliflower

Crispy Gluten Free Buffalo Cauliflower Wide

I served these just like traditional buffalo wings with a side of carrots and celery but mixed blue cheese crumbles into ranch dressing for dipping.  I made these for the family as they were visiting and took them to a NYE party.  Everyone who ate them, even after they sat for a bit and lost their crispness thoroughly enjoyed them.  We definitely plan to make these again in the future.

Looking for more cauliflower recipes?  Check out my Roasted Mediterranean Cauliflower with Harissa and Tahini or my Indian Curried Cauliflower recipes.

Crispy Gluten-Free Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Pin

Crispy Gluten-Free Baked Buffalo Cauliflower
 
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Author:
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • For the Cauliflower
  • 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into bite-size florets
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons egg white (about 1 egg white)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic salt
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ cup buffalo-style wing sauce

  • For Serving
  • celery & carrots
  • ranch dressing,
  • blue cheese crumbles
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450°F (use convection bake if available on your oven).
  2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil (spray foil with cooking spray so wings don't stick)
  3. Whisk together the flour, milk, egg whites, and spices in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Add cauliflower florets and toss to coat. Gently shake excess coating from cauliflower and place them on the prepared pan. Space out the cauliflower so they don't touch. If needed, use a second pan.
  4. Bake the wings for a total of 40-minutes. Flipping the wings halfway through.
  5. If using two large pans, be sure to rotate the pans (moving top pan to bottom and bottom pan to top) every 10 minutes throughout the full cook time and still flip the cauliflower halfway through so both sides are fully cooked. The wings should be
  6. Once wings are cooked place half the wings in a large bowl and drizzle with ¼ cup wing sauce. Toss lightly with a spoon. Repeat with remaining wings. Serve immediately with ranch, veggies, and blue cheese crumbles.
  7. TIP: Only toss the wings you will eat immediately with the wing sauce and keep the others warm & crispy by leaving them in the OFF but the still warm oven.

 

Healthy Turkey Slider Lettuce Wraps with Green Goddess Dressing

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Turkey sliders come together quickly and pack a ton of flavor from lemon zest, sauteed onions, and a homemade green goddess dressing. You won’t even miss the bun!

Turkey Sliders with green goddess dressing

While we’re all still committed to eating healthy and sticking to our New Year’s resolutions, I thought I’d finally share my go-to turkey slider recipe.

I love making this recipe because it’s flavorful, juicy, and healthy.  The turkey sliders are seasoned with lemon zest, fresh dill, and garlic. To serve, the sliders are topped with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and drizzled with a creamy homemade green goddess dressing in a crisp Bibb lettuce cup.  It’s sure to satisfy a burger craving while keeping you on track.

Looking for a side to serve with the sliders? How about these honey chipotle glazed sweet potatoes?

Turkey Sliders with green goddess dressing meal

When making these sliders, it’s important to let the sliders rest for 5-7 minutes after cooking prior to serving.  If you immediately serve the sliders in the lettuce wraps, the burgers will be quite messy, leaking slider ‘juice’ all over.  I’ve made this mistake myself and noticed a huge difference when allowing the meat to rest.

Do you like turkey sliders? How are your New Year’s resolutions going?

Healthy Turkey Sliders Lettuce Wraps with Green Goddess Dressing
 
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Serves: 4 sliders
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces lean ground turkey
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon fresh dill
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup roasted red peppers, cut into ¼ inch strips
  • 1 small shallot, sliced into rings.
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil, separated
  • 1 head Bibb lettuce (or Boston Lettuce)

  • For the green goddess dressing:
  • ¼ cup paleo mayonnaise
  • ½ small avocado
  • ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized bowl mix the ground turkey, lemon zest, dill, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and form into 4 small patties of even size, set aside.
  2. Warm 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook until caramelized. Remove from pan and set aside until serving . Do not clean the pan.
  3. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the same pan and cook the sliders 4-6 minutes per side over medium-high heat. Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and allow the sliders to rest 5-7 minutes while you prepare the dressing.
  4. To prepare the dressing, add all of the dressing ingredients to a food processor and process until fully blended.
  5. To serve, place each slider on a lettuce leaf, top with red pepper strips and shallots, drizzle with green goddess dressing.

 

Getting Juiced! Balance Green Juice Recipe & Juicing Tips

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Today I’m sharing my Balance Green Juice recipe along with a few juicing tips including organic vs. conventional produce & how to store fresh juice.

Balance Green Juice

I used to juice all the time at home but just fell out of habit got lazy. Juicing took a lot of planning, washing, and cleaning. And in order to have fresh juice while reaping its benefits, it was something that had to be done every few days. So yea, I got lazy and started buying my juices.

But, since it’s now the New Year, and we’re doing all the healthy things, I thought I’d pick up the habit again. And, since buying cold-pressed juice at the store can get quite expensive, I’m back to making it at home on the regular.

Last year, I did dry January and after 30-days of no alcohol saw great results. Read all about it here! I’m doing it again this year and hoping juice will help fill the void.

I make a few different juices at home but my all-time favorite is what I’ve named my Balance Green Juice which is a mix of apple, orange, cucumber, ginger, lemon, kale, and parsley.

Fun fact, a few years ago I submitted my juice recipe to Austin’s Daily Juice contest and won! You can actually find a similar juice mix on their menu — also named Balance!

Below I’m sharing the recipe for my Balance Green Juice but before we head into that, here are a few of my at-home juicing tips!

You don’t have to choose organic.

It’s important to purchase quality produce when juicing but it doesn’t have to be organic — especially if you want to juice at home to save money.  If this is the case, then choosing conventional produce over organic is easier on the wallet and just as good.

Yes, I know, not choosing organic for juicing is a controversial statement but here’s the cliff notes version behind why: unless you have a ridiculously expensive commercial grade juicer,  probably oxidizes the fruit & vegetable juice when pressed which in turn kills the pesticides on the produce.

Unfortunately, the oxidization also kills a portion of the nutrients (which is unavoidable with most juicers) which means all the money you spent on organic wasn’t really worth it for your health (though kudos for organic because it IS still worth it for the environmental impact).

Also, organic produce still gets exposed to pesticides, chemicals, and germs during its journey from the farm to your table so…….it’s your choice boo! You do you (or what your wallet can afford).

To clarify, I’m only saying conventional vs. organic is okay for health benefits when juicing; the impact organic has on the environment is a whole other conversation and the environment may be an influence on your decision to choose organic over conventional.

Wash your produce before juicing.

I highly suggest washing your produce before juicing.  Even if it’s just a quick rinse under the water, that’s better than nothing. Personally, I use a produce wash on all my produce (yes, oranges and lemons included even though I dispose of the peels).  Washing your produce will remove any chemicals and bacteria it might have picked up along its travel from the field to your house.

I like to use this for all produce when juicing or cooking. I simply spray my produce with the Veggie Wash, give it a quick scrub with my hands then rinse it under water and dry it offer before prepping.

Since you’re drinking the juice raw and unpasteurized, washing the produce is at least a step in the right director towards preventing harmful bacteria growth after making your juice.

Prep your produce then juice.

Make it easy on yourself and prep all of your produce before you start juicing.  For me, I like to remove all the peels from citrus, trim root ends from carrots & beets, trim the dead ends from greens, and cut my ginger into 1-inch pieces and peel away the skin.

By prepping my produce in advance, I can streamline my juicing process and keep my work space nice and clean.

Utilize mason jars.

I’m all about when juicing. The pint jars are the prefect size for a serving of juice (16 ounces).  I also love that the tops seal on tightly which means I reduce oxygen exposure after juicing (which preserves nutrients) and I’m able to toss the mason jars in my bag without fear of bright green or orange juice leaking and staining my goods.

Drink the juice within 2-days

You might read that you have to drink your fresh-pressed juice immediately but that’s a bunch of crap or at least a little bit of crap. Yes, you may lose some of the nutrients within 48-hours and yes, there is concern about bacteria growing in the juice since it hasn’t been pasteurized but if you’ve washed your produce and used a clean juicer & jar to house it, your juice should be safe for up to 48-hours.

So my recommendation is to make your juice, refrigerate it immediately and be sure to consume it within 2 days to ensure it’s safe to drink while getting the most benefits out of it!

Now for my favorite juice recipe! The ingredients below are enough to make two 16-ounces juices.

Looking for more healthy recipes or habits? Check out my collagen gummies & healthy skin practices!

Beginner Juicing Tips & My Balance Green Juice Recipe
 
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Beginner Juicing Tips & My Balance Green Juice Recipe Author: Alyssa Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 32 ounces
Author:
Serves: 32 ounces
Ingredients
  • 1 medium green apple cut in half
  • 1 large naval orange cut in half
  • 1 medium-sized cucumber cut in half
  • 1 lemon, peel removed
  • two 1-inch pieces of fresh ginger, peeled
  • 4-cups of greens like kale or spinach, packed
  • ½ cup of parsley, packed
Instructions
  1. After washing, drying, and prepping your produce you are ready to begin juicing.
  2. Start with the apple followed by the orange and cucumber.
  3. Next juice the lemon and ginger.
  4. Finish with the greens and parsley.
  5. If you want your juice a little sweeter, add an extra apple half.
  6. If you prefer it more tart or spicier, add extra lemon or ginger.
  7. If you want more greens, reduce the apple and orange by half and increase your greens.

 

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

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Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad with Basil Vinaigrette uses seasonal ingredients to create a light but fresh summertime salad.

With a burst of fresh basil, sweetness from perfectly ripe peaches, and a hint of spice from grilled shrimp this panzanella salad is perfectly fit for lunch or dinner.

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad

I love fancy salads that are both simple and delicious. I also love using seasonal produce in my salads and was inspired by the summer bounty of peaches and basil to create a fresh salad starring both.

This salad was created as more of an in the moment recipe — working with what I had in the kitchen and pairing flavors as I went along. For my base I started with baby kale, sugar snap peas for crunch, and sliced green onions since their flavor isn’t as potent as red onions (plus, I just really dislike raw red onions).

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad Square

I personally love fresh fruit in my salads and knew I wanted to incorporate juicy, ripe peaches but had to off-set the sweetness they would add to the dish.  In hopes of balancing the naturally sweet peaches, I created a basil vinaigrette that’s heavy on lemon using both real lemon juice and a white lemon balsamic vinegar from Texas Hill Country Olive Oil (my favorite! I also use it in my Cali breakfast toast recipe).  If you’ve never had basil and lemon paired together, you’re missing out. This basil vinaigrette would also make a great dipping sauce for fresh, soft bread!

With both the sweet and acidic elements in check, I began looking for a way to incorporate the slightest hint of spice into my Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad so I tossed the shrimp with cumin, smoked paprika, and a bit more lemon before quickly searing both sides on the grill.

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad 1

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad Overhead

For extra crunch and because I love a good crouton, I baked up leftover crusty bread with a drizzle of olive oil and garlic salt until it was golden and crispy. Once tossed with the basil vinaigrette, the croutons became chewy, flavorful bites elevating the Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad to that of restaurant quality!

Fun Fact: <3M and I alway compare fancy at home salads to that of restaurants’, asking one another ‘how much would this salad be at a restaurant?’  This one clocked in at about $14 in our minds!

The end product was a deliciously balanced salad — sweet, acidic, spicy and crunchy from the fresh vegetables and chewy bread. Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad with Basil Vinaigrette is a divine summertime salad perfect for lunch or dinner. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad Pinterest

5.0 from 2 reviews
Grilled Shrimp & Peach Panzanella Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
 
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Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • For the panzanella bread
  • 1/2 loaf crusty bread, like ciabatta, cut or torn into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic salt

  • For the shrimp
  • 1 pound shrimp, peeled & deveined
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • zest from half a lemon
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprkina
  • salt and pepper to taste

  • For the basil vinaigrette
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoon while lemon balsamic vinegar
  • zest from half a lemon
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste

  • For the salad
  • 8 cups baby kale
  • 2 cups sugar snap peas
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 peaches, pits removed and thinly sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Toss the bread cubes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic salt
  3. Spread the bread evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, tossing once halfway until golden brown and crusty. Remove from oven and let cool.
  4. Quickly marinate the shrimp by tossing the shrimp with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, zest, spices, and salt and pepper. Let set 5-10 minutes. When ready to eat, grill the shrimp 2-3 minute per side over a medium flame. Let rest while assembling the salad.
  5. Prepare the basil vinaigrette by placing all vinaigrette ingredients into a food processor and pulsing until the ingredients have emulsified and the basil is finely minced.
  6. To assemble the salad, toss together the kale, sugar snap peas, green onions, peaches, and panzanella croutons. Pour half of the basil vinaigrette over top and toss to coat. Plate the salads and place the cooked shrimp on top. Serve with additional dressing on the side.

 

Thrive Market for Feel Good Shopping + Giveaway

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Thrive Market is my new favorite online retailer! It offers organic products without the big-box market up, shipped straight to your door.  Think Costco meets Whole Foods!

Read on to learn more about their social mission and for details on how win a Thrive Market prize pack filled with some of my favorite organic products.

Thrive Market Banner

I’ve recently become obsessed with Thrive Market. They offer organic brands at 25-50% below regular retail prices across major categories including food, pet, home, and beauty. When shopping at Thrive Market, I feel good about my product choices. I know Thrive Market products are good for me, my family and the longterm sustainability of our planet. Thrive Market also has strong social and environmental values which provides transparency when shopping plus their customer service is out of this world amazing.

Thrive Market Logo

Why I Love Thrive

It’s a company that gives back

Thrive Market is a membership-based site but I promise, you’ll make back your membership fee in savings — I made mine back in just 2 orders. And, if your membership doesn’t pay for itself in savings within 1-year, you’ll get the difference back in Thrive Market credit when you renew! Plus, for each paid membership, they donate a membership to a low-income family, veteran or teacher.

For new members, Thrive Market offers a free trial period where you can test out the benefits and you can receive 20% off your first 3 purchases if you sign-up through my link. You’ll also receive free shipping, as long as your order meets their $49 minimum!

Thrive Market Featured

Thrive Market saves me money!

When comparing product prices across sites or when compared to purchasing organic products locally in a store, Thrive Market consistently saves me money. I did a few comparisons of items on my standard shopping like Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day products and Bob’s Red Mill flours and Thrive Market comes in lower when compared to big-box stores or other mass online retailers.

Also, much like a brick & mortar store that offers weekly sales, Thrive Market has regular deals, offering steep discounts on specific brands or free products with a minimum order amount.  They also have a Deals tab you can shop so you never miss a sale.

Thrive Market Giveaway

I feel good about my product choices

Thrive Market allows you to shop by values if you have specific social or environmental interests like organic, fair-trade, FSC certified, sustainably farmed/caught or non-GMO. They also make it easy to find products that align with your own values!

Or, if you have dietary restrictions, you can shop specifically for gluten-free, vegan, raw, or paleo products! On each product’s page, Thrive Market provides the values that align with their own mission so you get even more insight into the story behind your purchase.

Thrive Values

It sells local Austin products I love

Thrive Market’s awesome for Austinites because they offer local, Austin-based products like Epic, Siete, and Picnik butter coffee at prices lower than what you’d find at Whole Foods or HEB. I was shocked (and giddy!) when I did the price comparison here! 

Thrive Market Austin Products

The Thrive Market store-brand products are quality and delicious

Thrive Market has their own line of products and the quality is astounding. I love Thrive Market’s tahini (for my hummus, obviously!), coffee, essential oils, beans, and other pantry staples. The costs are in-line with local store-brands (if you were purchasing organic) and a lot of the typical ‘canned goods’ are sold in BPA-free pouches so you avoid those nasty chemicals, while still recycling the packaging.

Thrive Market Kidney Beans

Their customer service is the best ever!

I once ordered an item that I didn’t like the taste of but was quite expensive. It was 100% my fault but I wanted to see if Thrive Market could exchange it.

Rather than exchange the product, Thrive Market directed me to donate the item to a local food pantry as return shipping causes an increase in their carbon footprint.  They then provided my a Thrive Market gift card at the cost of the product.

I was so pleased with this experience, Thrive Market gave me a positive resolution, stayed true to their mission and it strengthened my loyalty to the company. I’ve never had such a positive customer service experience.

Giveaway Details

If I haven’t convinced you to try Thrive Market yet, then maybe a taste of their products will help convince you to join! Simply because I love Thrive Market, I’ve put together a goodie bag of my favorite Thrive Market products to share with one lucky winner!

Thrive Market Giveaway 2

This pack includes some of my favorite Thrive Market products and a few local Austin items:

  • Picnik Butter Coffee
  • Thrive Market Peanut Butter
  • Thrive Market Olive Oil
  • That’s It Fruit Bars
  • Thrive Market seaweed snacks
  • Mrs. Meyer’s dish soap
  • Banza pasta
  • Simple Mills Crackers
  • Purely Elizabeth Granola
  • Coconut Wraps

Head over to my Instagram post to enter! Simply follow me and in the comments of the Thrive Market image, tag your BFF who you’d share your goodie bag with! I’ll choose a winner via Instagram on Saturday, January 27th.

Disclosure: I am a Thrive Market affiliate so I do receive compensation if you sign-up but this is not a sponsored post. I put together this prize offering on my own without the collaboration of Thrive Market.

JGB: Our CSA Meals

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Lately, M<3 and I have been trying to eat low-carb dinners. We’ve found that since cutting out carbs and starches in the evening – as in no pasta, rice, potatoes, beans, or legumes  – that we’ve felt a whole lot better! We don’t feel as stuffed or bloated after dinner, we sleep a little better, and in general, it’s helped us eat a bit healthier.

Most of these meals have consisted of some type of roasted or grilled vegetable and a protein. We have a shared love for grilled brussel sprouts, sautéed asparagus, and grilled zucchini.  One or sometimes, all, of these are included in our weekly dinner rotation.

We are by no means sick of eating these veggie and protein meals but I thought it would be fun to throw in a new mix of vegetables so M<3 and I decided to become CSA members at Johnson’s Backyard Garden [JBG] hoping it would give us more of a ‘grab-bag’ of veggies, forcing us to eat them before they go to waste.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you pay a fee to a local farming organization and in return, you receive a share of seasonal vegetables delivered to you.  You have some say in what vegetables you receive, depending on the season, you can customize the size of the delivery, and you can also choose the frequency of the delivery.

Mayank and I chose the medium size box from JBG with delivery every other week.  Conveniently, they deliver to our office so it makes receiving the vegetables super easy! They also have farmer’s market pick-ups and additional locations around the Austin. They are also located in other cities all across Texas including Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio!

Our first CSA box contained…

  • Beets
  • Curly Kale
  • Mixed Lettuce
  • Artichokes
  • Purple and Orange Carrots
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Flat Leaf Parsley
  • Yellow Spring Onions
  • Red Radishes and..
  • Leeks

And here’s how we used everything!

Beets – I love beets and decided I wanted to recreate two of my favorite meals form local restaurants around Austin. One is a beet, kale & goat cheese salad from Cenote and the other is a Pickled Beet sandwich from Fado’s. I pickled the beets using Alton Brown’s recipe then added them to a kale salad for lunch a couple of days while using the rest as part of a hummus, feta, and beet wrap, similar to Fado’s!

Curly Kale – I used this as my base for my kale & beet salads. I made the Cenote salad my own by massaging the kale with mashed avocado, a squeeze of lemon, plus salt & pepper. I also add in feta rather than goat cheese, some cucumber, garbanzo beans, and some baby carrots + hummus for some crunch on the side!

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Kale & Beet Salad

Mixed Lettuce – M<3 and I used this as our Chicken Caesar salad base one night (keeping with our low-carb dinners!). We kept the salads light by using Bolthouse Farms yogurt based Caesar dressing, which we also used to marinate the chicken in before grilling!

Artichokes – These were tough as fresh artichokes don’t really result in a lot of edible meat and trimming them down is a rather tedious task.  To keep is simple and quick, I went with Guy Fieri’s roasted baby artichokes recipe. We stuck them on the grill and it was quite easy but I’d rather buy the frozen artichoke hearts and save myself the work!

Purple & Orange Carrots – This sounds rather odd, but I made carrot fries out of these! We absolutely love carrot fries (aka roasted carrots) and love to pair them as a healthier alternative to roasted potato fries. My recipe’s nothing more than slicing carrots into strips, tossing with fresh garlic, salt & pepper and roasting at 425* for 30 minutes! We had these fries with lettuce-wrapped turkey burgers one evening! Here’s a similar, more complicated recipe.

Carrot Fries + BBQ Turkey Burger

Carrot Fries + BBQ Turkey Burger

Rainbow Chard – This one required a bit of research as I wanted to make something that M<3 would enjoy and wanted something a bit more creative than ‘garlicky sautéed chard.’ In the end, we decided to make Chicken & Swiss Chard Enchilada Casserole. We halved the recipe since it was just the two of us, added some mole sauce into the layers as well as shredded jalapeño cheese, and rather than frying the tortillas we toasted them on the stove to save on fat! We both enjoyed this meal and it introduced M<3 to chard! He even loved it as a leftover lunch later in the week.

Flat Parsley – I used this to make a chimmichurri  sauce that was served over some grilled chicken one night. If you ever have a large bunch of parsley in need of use, I highly suggest making chimmichurri.  We used this recipe but lessened the garlic!

Yellow Spring Onions – I included these in a recipe we already love for Chicken with Herb-Roasted Potatoes & Peas. I quartered the onions and threw them in to roast with the potatoes! This meal is super simple yet flavorful. Plus clean up is easy as it’s a one-pan kind of meal!

Red Radishes – These were simply enjoyed as crudités with this lemon hummus. It’s lovely and has just the right zest of lemon paired with a bit of spice from the radishes.

Leeks – M<3 happened across a Men’s Health breakfast recipe for Crispy Leek Hashbrowns that seemed right up his alley. It included potatoes, [turkey] bacon, and cheese and he made it for me one Sunday for breakfast. We both enjoyed it with a fried egg on top. The leeks added great flavor without the harshness of traditional onions.

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Crispy Leak Hashbrowns

Overall, we’ve enjoyed our first CSA box. It’s definitely allowed us to try a few new recipes that we otherwise wouldn’t have and it’s added the veggie variety we were looking for! I’ll share our next box and round of recipes when it comes at the end of April!

jbg