Chicken-Less Orange Chicken Wraps

I'm just going to be honest here; I came thiiiiis close to pouring a bowl of cereal tonight and calling it a day, but I convinced myself, despite feeling totally exhausted, that I could make something relatively healthy and tasty in a short amount of time. My internal conversation went something like this:

"You know, I think I'll feel much better if I make a healthy meal tonight. I'm sure I could throw something together really quickly if I wanted to."

"No."

"But I already have all the stuff I need. It really won't take that long."

 "Noooooooo!"

"I even have that orange 'chicken' I can use."

 "Orange 'chicken', you say? Well, maybe just this once."

I'm actually not sure how I prevailed in that conversation, but moving on!

Thai Inspired Veggie Wrap

Do you ever find yourself in a serious lunch rut? I do on a pretty regular basis. My crazy kicks mixed with my desire to do as little as possible when it comes to prepping for the busy week doesn’t help. Taking a healthy lunch to work is a high priority for me, but I just don’t want to spend too much of my precious free time putting it all together.  So, in an effort to diversify my lunchtime experience while still being able to maximize my time, I’ve been experimenting with adding different flavors to some of my quick and easy favorites to bring a little life back to my boring noon-hour.

That’s exactly what I did with this spin on a typical veggie wrap. By adding some classic Thai flavors, like peanuts, peppers, celery and carrots, I added a lot more flavor and gave my taste buds a break from my usual hummus and feta combo. It was surprisingly good, and I’m actually looking forward to the work week now! (well, kind of…ha ha)

Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing

Okay, it’s official – I have a serious problem with procrastination! I thought I learned my lesson after all of October went by and not a single thing pumpkiny, chocolaty, spooky, or even the slightest bit orange came out of my kitchen! I swore to myself, November will be different, Thanksgiving will not go unnoticed! Well, here we are on the eve of the big day, and I have only one recipe to share. I guess that’s why I’m the scattered cook and not the perfectly organized and on top of things cook,

Moving on! I’ve been rather anxious about Thanksgiving this year, since it’s my first year braving the turkey carcass filled day as a vegetarian. It may be a delicious, melt in your mouth turkey carcass, but carcass all the same! And don’t get me started on the gravy…I love gravy.

Okay, so maybe I'm throwing myself a little pity party here, but I really can’t feel too sorry for myself. Although there will be a turkey on the table (since I'm not the one cooking), all the other dishes will be completely veg friendly. This is due to the fact that my amazing mom, who will be cooking this Thanksgiving meal for the most part, is wonderfully supportive and has offered to adapt her classics for me (no one messes with the bird, though). She’s even making vegetarian gravy!  Have I mentioned that my mom is an incredible cook???!!!! (yes, it warrants 3 question marks and 4 exclamation points)

That brings me to this lovely recipe (I nearly got off topic, there!), which is a vegetarian version of my mother’s famous cornbread stuffing. Feel free to gorge yourself until you feel like a stuffed turkey :)

Split Pea Soup with Toasted Olive Oil and Garlic Bread

Hello, my friends! It’s been too long since I’ve posted a new recipe. The last few weeks have been a tad stressful, and that usually means me begging my husband to cook dinner while I curl up in a ball on the couch. Alas, I got tired of eating rice and steamed vegetables (just one expertise of many that my wonderfully supportive husband possesses) and decided to shake my funk and get back to one of the things I love – cooking!

I almost hesitated to put another soup recipe up, but just couldn’t resist. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I really love soup! I’ve wanted to make the split pea variety for a while now, and when my mom called to tell me about a pea soup recipe she made recently, I got jealous…er, I mean inspired…so here we are.

Hodgepodge Pot Pie with Biscuits

What a crazy week this has been so far! Mostly due to the fact that I’ve waited until the last minute to make an overly elaborate costume for Halloween (as usual), but also because it seems like a million other things have come up. As to be expected, when it came time to make dinner tonight I realized that I never made it to the store. I stood in front of my recipe graveyard, aka the fridge, and wondered what on Earth I could make.

I noticed the biscuits first, which gave me the idea for a pot pie. I knew I had potatoes, onions, and veggie broth, so I scrounged around to see what else I could find. I found a bag of rotting carrots in a forgotten corner of my crisper drawer – gross – so those were out, but I did have yams, so I picked those up. Next I found some leftover cream I had from the corn chowder I made a few days ago, and the peas popped out at me as soon as I opened the freezer. I picked up some dried thyme, salt and pepper, and a little bit of flour, and I was good to go!

Not only was this recipe delicious, but I was able to use a lot of ingredients that otherwise would have gone bad, which is always a plus!