rice vinegar

Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing

This Chinese Chicken Salad takes the healthier high road than the heavier versions I always see at those popular food chains that everyone loves. But this one with crunchy romaine, wontons, and an almond crunch, topped with protein-packed chicken breast, pasta noodles, and a flavor-flav sesame dressing.

Lighter fare that totally satisfies is what I’m craving now. And as summer’s flowy skirts and loose-fitting shift dresses morph into fall’s jeans and thigh hugging pants, it seems lighter food is part of my weekly anthem.

Goodbye my fave potato salad and chocolate drizzled ice cream cones dripping down my chin. Hello meal planning, gym going, and my fave weight loss plan.

And that’s where my all-time favorite—and healthier—Chinese Chicken Salad comes in.

I’ve updated this recipe post because I refer to it all the time and it needed some updated love.

I CRAVE this salad, and it’s one I love to make for ladies lunches or for a simple, and lighter meal for a crowd. Because who doesn’t love a good Chinese Chicken Salad anyway?

continue to the recipe… about Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing

Asian Marinade Master Sauce

Whether it’s used as an Asian marinade for beef, chicken, pork, tofu or fish, or as a dressing for vegetables, salads, or pastas, or even as a flavoring for rice, quinoa, or any number of grains, this is the ultimate Asian master sauce and is the secret to making meal prep easier than ever before.

Healthy and delicious food doesn’t have to be complex. In fact, when your cooking method centers around meal prep and batch cooking, the most basic of ingredients can easily be transformed into craveable dishes everyone will want and come back asking for more.

The secret is in the master sauce, and it’s the whole idea behind batch cooking.

This strategy is the centerpiece of our Nourished Planner Batch Cooking Basics meal prep guide, where we share the strategy and recipes for preparing five basic master recipes as the interchangeable base to build just one meal, or even a whole week’s worth.

This Asian master sauce recipe is a multi-layer tool that isn’t limited to just being a seasoning added to a dish at the end. With a simple shake of a mason jar, this master sauce can become a marinade, a salad dressing, added to the cooking water for a more flavorful grain or sautéed or tossed with vegetables for even more infused flavor within reach of your garlic-scented fingertips.

continue to the recipe… about Asian Marinade Master Sauce

Sweet and Sour Asian Pickled Cucumbers

These tangy and oh-so-simple-to-make sweet and sour Asian cucumbers take only about 5 minutes to make, and are one of our favorite pickle snacks. They’re also oh so good served as a cooling side or a crunchy, puckery salad all on their own.

I’ve never met a pickle I didn’t like. And when a pickle recipe does double duty as a tangy salad or a puckery snack, I look like that little emoji girl with my hand held high 🙋. Actually, my hand is more likely IN the pickle jar instead of being raised even though my mom ALWAYS told me, “USE A FORK!”

When will I ever learn to listen? Asking for my mom, because, you know, she’s still wondering.

This easy cucumber pickle is exactly one of those recipes I will disregard all of my mom’s Emily Post etiquette teachings for. It’s the perfect topping on a sandwich or burger (like my Korean BBQ Burgers), or served alongside my Grilled Chicken Satay, or for simply snagging from the fridge for a little afternoon cure-all snack. Fork, or no fork, it’s totally your choice but I bet you know how I’ll be digging for them.continue to the recipe… about Sweet and Sour Asian Pickled Cucumbers

Fresh and Easy Vietnamese Noodle Salad

This light and refreshing vermicelli noodle salad gets its inspiration from one of my favorite dishes of all time, Vietnamese bun salads, with fresh slivered veggies in a tangy Vietnamese rice vinegar dressing, making it a simple side dish to serve with grilled meats and chicken.

The first time I made a version of this salad was when my husband and I were newlyweds. One of our wedding gifts was a version of this countertop roaster/griller contraption. The first dish we made with the roaster was from the recipe book that came along with it, a version of Asian roasted chicken in a peanut sauce that was served with a simple vermicelli noodle salad very similar to this one I’m sharing today. Or at least that’s what I remember.

That chicken dish was pretty much the only thing we ever made in the roaster. It became yet another gadget to add to our assortment of kitchen appliances that begs one to question, “But do I really need it?” We admitted it just didn’t justify the room it took up in our cramped kitchen so we eventually parted ways.

But this noodle salad…it’s here to stay.continue to the recipe… about Fresh and Easy Vietnamese Noodle Salad

Cucumber Basil and Watermelon Salad with Love & Lemons

Fresh fruits of cucumber, mango and watermelon are dressed with a zingy Asian dressing of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and ginger, with a kick of spice from jalapeño.

Since 2011, we’ve been head over heels for the blog Love & Lemons. Run by Austin-based husband and wife duo Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Matthews, Love & Lemons is brimming with fresh, seasonal, healthy recipes, and bright, colorful photography.

Their little nook of the food blogosphere is one of our favorite spots to spend some time. It’s where we turn for inspiration when we’ve been in an unhealthy eating rut, or feel the need to meet our mostly vegetarian ways.

Jeanine and Jack just published their first cookbook, The Love & Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, and it’s a new favorite addition to our kitchens.

The book features 100 vegetarian recipes (never before seen on the blog), including vegan and gluten-free options.

The cookbook is categorized by vegetable rather than the traditional appetizer, side dish or dessert categories and is reflective of Jeanine’s approach to cooking.

Her method? Finding “star” ingredients at the farmers market and using them with ingredients she already has on-hand.

“Since this is really the way I learned how to get inspired by cooking, I thought it would be helpful to write a book organized by vegetable rather than by meal type,” she explains. “I want to inspire people to check out their local farmers markets and not to be intimidated to cook with gorgeous fresh vegetables.”

continue to the recipe… about Cucumber Basil and Watermelon Salad with Love & Lemons

Thai Basil Chicken and 5 Savory Basil-Enhanced Pasta Recipes

I plant basil in my garden every year. Which traditionally has translated to a bumper crop. But this year, meh. It was pretty much a bust.

My sweet basil bit the dust early, the purple basil was pretty much anemic all summer and my pineapple basil? Let’s just say next time I’ll stick to enjoying the fruit in my pina coladas.

But one basil did survive and even almost thrived. My beloved, licorice enhanced Thai basil. What’s the diff? Oh honey. Oh so much and that much more.

continue to the recipe… about Thai Basil Chicken and 5 Savory Basil-Enhanced Pasta Recipes