Crunchy Rainbow Salad with Sesame-Ginger-Honey Chicken

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TKB - Crunchy Rainbow Salad with Sesame-Honey-Ginger Chicken

We’re in “return from vacation mode,” missing our Colorado friends and the mountains, doing laundry, easing back into work and re-stocking the fridge (my personal favorite job!). With Michigan offering lots of rain and wind to welcome us back yesterday and today, I was in the mood for bright, colorful food. I’ve made versions of this salad previously, but nailed the flavors I was looking for tonight. My crew loved the chicken, immediately naming it one of my better marinades.

As always, I think of salads as list of ingredient suggestions. I include measurements, but they are flexible. Add more of the ingredients you love; lighten up or omit the ones that aren’t your favorite (or you don’t have on hand).

I mixed a big bowl of this together, but also created a deconstructed version of the salad on the side for the kids (pictured below). Audrey loves edamame, but Aidan prefers cabbage. Aidan needed a bigger helping of chicken, and neither of them wanted their salad mixed with dressing. They both tried at least one bite of everything and peaceful mealtimes make for happier parents, so the little extra work it takes to do this is fine by me.

This salad is gluten-free, makes you feel amazing when you eat it and is totally delicious. I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s leftovers for lunch.

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Sausage and Lentil Soup with Kale + Parmesan

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sausage-kale top

I stood at the counter like a pregnant cliché, turquoise apron covering my rapidly growing belly, eating dill pickles from the jar and staring down my menu plan, which informed me dinner tonight was Sausage and Lentil Soup. I typically put the cookbook or source in parenthesis behind the menu item but in this case, nothing. Interesting. Surely I was thinking of something slightly more specific when I put this on the menu weekend last weekend, but my memory is more spotty than usual, so I shrugged and got to work chopping an onion, as nearly all my soups begin here. As I’ve increased my confidence in the kitchen, I’ve often created recipes by googling the main ingredients to quickly crowd-source ideas, then paired with my own knowledge to develop. After all, I’m certainly not the first person to think of putting sausage and lentils together for dinner.

This soup is exceptionally hearty, more like stew really, and the garlic oil and Parmesan take it to the next level. The garlic oil idea comes from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen, in her infinite wisdom of stepped-up home cooking.

I’m beyond looking forward to spring and the farmer’s market, but I’ll miss the frequency of soups in our dinner rotation. A one-pot meal is an evening gift for busy parents, and this particular soup left us with very little clean up. It’s plenty filling on its own, but I’d recommend siding it with crusty bread and fresh fruit. Also, if this sounds delicious but you’re vegetarian (my husband used to be!), this is still worth making sans sausage.

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Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup and a Baby

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Feeding people I love is one of the defining priorities of my life. This chicken noodle soup is the ultimate comfort food, the soup I imagine will bring my kids back to me after they’ve left for adult life.

Homemade chicken noodle soup is the quintessential choice for food when one is under the weather. In our house, it’s requested far more frequently – for the first snow, Christmas dinner and anytime the kids want the cozy warmth of home.

I endeavor for our home, and particularly the kitchen, to be a place of respite on the tougher days and always a place of nourishing comfort. To that end, this chicken noodle soup will always in be in rotation in my kitchen. And, since I’m putting the recipe it in this space, hopefully my kids will make it for theirs someday, and you will make it for yours.

Speaking of children…I’ve been growing a third kiddo for the last 16 weeks! This will be our last babe, so every moment feels particularly sweet. Surprisingly, this has been my easiest pregnancy so far. I had a fair amount of fatigue in the first trimester, hence the quietness on the blog. But even through that I wasn’t very sick, and this little one seems to love me working out more than anything. I’m hoping he or she is just as easygoing once they’re here!

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Brilliant Butternut Squash Soup with Apple-Nut-Chive Relish

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Oh September, how I love you. It’s still bike to the beach weather, but a bowl of steaming soup on the deck afterwards sounds equally amazing. Though I look forward to summer each year, it’s the crisp days of early fall that really have my heart. There are stray leaves in crimson and gold that crunch underfoot when we go for a walk, but not so many yet that weekends are spent raking. As those of you who have been reading Kitchen Beet for awhile know, I’m smitten with soup season, and all food that makes our home smell inviting. I’ve made this soup countless times over the years, tweaking here and there to get to this healthy, delicious version.

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For My Mom: Grilled Chicken Tacos

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chicken tacos

There are many reasons I write this blog and collect recipes in this space. One of them is my family. As I mentioned in the first “Even My Sisters Can Make It” post, I have four sisters. None of them like to cook quite as much as I do, but I’ve been quite impressed with how many recipes they’ve made from what I’ve posted so far. I also, somewhat weirdly, write this for my kids. I love family traditions and passed down histories. The thought of my children, or even my grandchildren, pulling up this blog to make dinner for themselves or those they love brings me joy. Then, of course, there is my own mother – the one who taught me to make the best tomato sauce that exists and perfect pancakes. She’s the one who made me eat curry when I was little and literally almost always had carrot sticks on the table, no matter what was for dinner. You know what they say – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’m now serving my kids up curry, like this favorite one, and forever chopping raw veggies to serve next to our meal.

My mother, who spoils us often with freshly baked bread (another one of her specialties), texted me a couple of days ago. “Any chance you’ll be posting the grilled chicken package recipe soon?” She went on, “(Instagram…)” in case I needed a reminder.
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