foodiecrush

How to Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw

My favorite creamy coleslaw stays crunchy, not soupy, and gets a bit of bite in this slightly sweetened, vinegar-spiked coleslaw dressing.

Potato Salad. Baked Beans. My favorite Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad. Those recipes have always made up my barbecue buffet table daydreams. But coleslaw? It was always on the bottom rung of my side dish desires. Show me the shredded cabbage bowl and watch me skip right on by.

But my husband? He’s a coleslaw connoisseur. It’s usually the first thing he goes for. But that doesn’t mean the bites he gets are always good, and that puts our home’s king of slaw down in the dumps.

But this creamy coleslaw recipe always gets not just one, but two big, Big, BIG thumbs up from my man. And now me, too.

It isn’t goopy. Nor is it soupy. And it’s far from overpowered by the bite of raw onion. This here coleslaw, folks, this is the best I’ve ever eaten. And the man agrees.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw

Grilled Vegetables with Chimichurri Sauce

Grilled vegetables get a serious flavor boost with a few spoonfuls of this spunky Argentinian chimichurri as a bright and zesty finishing sauce in this easy vegetarian side dish.

When it comes to grilling vegetables, most figure it takes a soak in a marinade before grilling to infuse flavor into those healthy, veggie plain-janes.

That’s hardly the case.

Times have changed and so have our ideas about how to eat our veg. Adding this easy and tangy homemade chimichurri sauce to the savory flavors of grilled vegetables perks up and adds to the delicious gusto that comes along with cooking them over the fire.

This summer, grill first, marinade after. Rejoice and eat more plants! It’s what all the cool kids are doing.continue to the recipe… about Grilled Vegetables with Chimichurri Sauce

How to Make the Best Chimichurri Sauce

This Argentinian chimichurri sauce is a fresh parsley and cilantro salsa that gives grilled steak, chicken, fish and vegetables a garlicky kick.

Firing up the grill is a summer habit I’ll never get enough of. The smokey flavor and char of any protein or veg is something I crave all year long. But I also crave the tangy ying to grilling’s savory yang, which is why I totally dig a zesty, herb-infused chimichurri sauce.

Adding flavor to foods that hit the hot grill grates is usually accomplished with marinades like this versatile Greek marinade or adding a simple spiced dry rub. But when I want to keep things super simple, my secret to the best flavor bomb is adding loads of that favorite vinegar/garlic/herb flavor AFTER simply grilling my steak, chicken, pork, fish or vegetables.

And that’s when I am very generous with spoonfuls of classic chimichurri sauce.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Best Chimichurri Sauce

Friday Faves

Helloooo and happy Friday everyone!

First off, a warm welcome to so many new readers here on FoodieCrush, where I share recipes like those in my husband’s Father’s Day dinner above (he is a master at the ribeye steak and grilled corn) I hope you’ll love every week. Thank you for being here!

You may be wondering what this non-recipe post is that’s popped into your inbox? Welcome to Friday Faves, where I share a weekly round-up of random items I discover on the web, and where I get to be a little more personal and don’t worry so much about search engine optimization, the perfect photo to illustrate the most delicious recipe, accounting, brainstorming, scheduling, social media promoting, and all the agenda items that go along with running this business we call blogging.

So happy almost-birthday to Friday Faves. Looking back, I think I found the original post here—dating back to July 1, 2011,—where my 15 year old AliSmudge was still just a Smudge of love, and the gorgonzola burger recipe somehow got deleted (must amend that!), and my faves list was a whole lot shorter.continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves

The Best Easy Grilled Vegetables

After years of practice on the grill, these are my tips for the best easy grilled vegetables, enhancing the natural sweetness of summer’s favorite vegetables with each smoky bite.

Adding more plants to meals is always at the top of my menu planning, and summer’s bounty makes it even easier to do. With a hot grill already fired up for grilled chicken, fish, or kebabs, I love slicing up whatever fresh vegetables I have in the fridge and tossing them on the grill for a simple mezze-ish platter side.

Even more, grilled vegetables are a healthy vegetarian main when chopped and added to this favorite healthy pasta salad (with avocado!), or added to healthy Mediterranean grain bowls, or made into one of my favorite easy grilled veggie sandwiches slathered with ricotta cheese.

Grilling coaxes out every bit of deep, roasted, sweetness from any plain old veg, softening and flavoring and bringing a lush, smoky char to each deliciously addicting bite.

This grilled vegetable recipe is another that isn’t so much of a recipe but a method to master, and easy to master it is. These grilled vegetables skip the marinade and the skewers, and there’s no need for a grilled vegetable grilling basket either.

Summer eats are meant to be simple, and these grilled vegetables are falling right in line.

continue to the recipe… about The Best Easy Grilled Vegetables

Sweet Vinegar Coleslaw (No Mayo)

This healthy coleslaw with a sweet vinegar coleslaw dressing is a no-mayo alternative to the classic coleslaw version, covering all the potluck salad bases.

Opposites do attract. It’s why anything that’s both sweet and tangy always taste so good. And when you try this healthy, vinegar coleslaw recipe made with apple cider vinegar and sweetened with just a bit of sugar, you’ll believe it with each and every forked bite.

I’m a fan of any crunchy slaw that comes together fast and balances out a meal, and this recipe is right up there with my best creamy coleslaw recipe. But sometimes I’m more in the mood for a lighter zesty bite than a creamy one.

This coleslaw’s tangy dressing lightens bbq sauced slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches and is the crunchy compliment to classic potluck salads like my mom’s recipe for the best potato salad or the classic macaroni salad.

It’s time to round out the bevy of side dish salads and add this one to your bookmarked recipe list.

continue to the recipe… about Sweet Vinegar Coleslaw (No Mayo)

10 Ways to Save More Money at the Grocery Store

These 10 tips show how to save money at the grocery store and stick to a budget. With a little strategic planning and conscientious purchasing, saving money at the grocery store is totally doable.

This post is brought to you by Kroger

It’s the question we ask ourselves every week: How can I spend less money on groceries? Unless you’re independently wealthy or live off-the-grid and farm/hunt/gather for your meals, grocery shopping on a budget is a goal for us all.

Grocery bills are no joke, especially if you’re a food fanatic like me. Organic and gourmet can be pricy, and going shopping rogue without a list, shopping while hungry, and impulse buys only makes matters worse (I’m looking at you $9 wedge of specialty cheese).

In the past, despite my best, budget-abiding intentions, I would too often find myself overspending and over buying groceries that only led to wasted food and wasted money. But I found a better way, and when I shared my tips for 10 ways to waste less and save more at the grocery store, I heard from so many of you that you wanted to hear more ways to be a better shopper.

As a food blogging, semi-professional grocery shopper, I’ve learned a few tricks over the years. From resourceful meal planning to savvy, organized lists and buying in bulk, these are the tried and true tips to help me spend wisely and stay within my budget.continue to the recipe… about 10 Ways to Save More Money at the Grocery Store

Friday Faves

Hello and happy Friday!

Besides eating out too much (yes there’s a hot dog buried under there somewhere) and sleeping on a pillow that left a crick in my neck, I’ve spent the past four days chaperoning my daughter’s high school team basketball camp. I actually wasn’t a chaperone, I was just there for what every teenager needs most: A taxi driver. I wasn’t planning on going on this trip, but thanks to readers like you who make my job one I can take with me, I stepped up to the mom plate. So thank you!!

Being around teenage girls stirs a lot of feelings in a parent. You want your child to be motivated. You want them to be successful. Happy. And above all, healthy in both body and mind while deliberating about what the future holds in store for them. Everything is monumental at this age.continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves

Greek Salad with Chicken

Crisp, crunchy, and fresh with tangy Mediterranean flavor, this Greek salad topped with chicken can be meal prepped ahead for weekday lunches or a light and healthy dinner too.

Lunch. It’s the meal that we all have the best of intentions in planning ahead for, and too often, don’t. Our lack of prep leads to over indulging on more expensive than we budgeted for co-worker lunches, or poor choices at the fast food drive-thru (ummm, suuuuure, I’ll take fries with that.) Or worse, we skip the mid-day meal all together leading to a snack attack of epic proportions as we walk through the after work door.

One thing that’s gotten me through the what-to-eat-for-lunch dilemma is prepping a few fave ingredients for a filling and healthy lunch salad (that works for dinner, too) I know will hold in the fridge the whole week through.

This recipe is a riff on the classic Greek salad and is topped with grilled chicken. The typical Greek and Mediterranean flavors of kalamata olives, tangy feta cheese with crunchy cucumbers are ingredients I crave on a daily basis, with two easy to meal-prep recipes I’ve added in.continue to the recipe… about Greek Salad with Chicken

No-Mayo Potato Salad with Herbs

Easy to make and lighter to eat, this healthy no-mayo potato salad with fresh herbs and an easy olive oil dressing is the perfect side dish for a crowd.

There are times when a mayo-free potato salad is exactly what’s needed. Like those backyard barbecues where mayonnaise and summer’s heat simply don’t mix. Or a potluck party buffet table for a crowd where you my Mom’s best potato salad ever’s hard boiled eggs aren’t up to the task of languishing at room temperature all day or night long at the party.

And surprisingly, I heard somewhere out there are eaters who just don’t like a mayonnaise dressing on their potato salad. What the what? Shocking, I know…

For each of these situations, this mayo-free potato salad is the winning recipe solution. I discovered the inspiration for it while leafing through my copy of My Smith’s Magazine I receive each month from my local Smith’s Marketplace grocery store. This potato salad is easy to make and feels a bit sophisticated, just like anything with classic French roots will. It’s loaded with fresh nips of herbed bites, Dijon mustard flavored olive oil, and it won’t go bad before the party ends, and even better, gets more flavorful on the second and third day after it’s been in the fridge..

continue to the recipe… about No-Mayo Potato Salad with Herbs