#epifurious

We’ve collectively tried a lot of Cauliflower recipes in the last few years. I’ve done mashed cauliflower, cauliflower fried rice and various roasted cauliflower dishes. But I hadn’t yet attempted the pizza crust. 

Turns out, if you follow Food Network’s Katie Lee’s recipe, it’s worth the minimal effort because you can pretend your pizza is less guilty! I steamed my riced cauliflower on the stove, then really worked on drying it out by putting in a cheesecloth and squeezing until no more liquid came out (much easier when it was a little cooler).

I topped my pizza with chorizo, olives and basil. The only complaint from my husband -- that I didn’t make two!

I found a frozen package of boneless pork ribs in the freezer this weekend. I decided that they would make a good lettuce wrap filling paired with some sort of gochujang marinade. Clearly Food52′s Korean Pork Crack appealed as a recipe name. I made these in the Instant Pot instead of the slow cooker, cutting the cook time from 4-6 hours to 45 minutes. 

After I removed the meat, I simmered the juices down, added some cornstarach and whisked to make korean BBQ sauce. With a little bit of shredded carrots and some sesame seeds, these made easy and tasty lettuce wraps. Will went back for seconds so I knew it was a hit!

I had been meaning to make the meatball recipe from the Frankies’ Spuntino cookbook for a long time. Finally got around to it last weekend and it was delicious! Even though the sauce took four hours to simmer, it was super simple. The meatballs would have been really simple too if I hadn’t run out of breadcrumbs and had to make my own half way through.

Served this aside roasted broccoli one night and atop spaghetti squash the next. I will definitely make this again -- next time with turkey!

Originally I was going to make bread to go along Thanksgiving but we already had two stuffings and two potato dishes, so I decided to make Saveur’s Gruyere, Rosemary and Honey Monkey Bread for Thanksgiving breakfast instead. 

I made the dough a day before and assembled the bundt pan the night before with the plan to just pour the honey butter on and bake in the morning. The bread came out great, but the day before assemblage changed it from monkey bread to just regular bread. 

Last weekend, I stopped at Ikeda’s market on the way to Sacramento to pick up some veggies and their famous apple salsa. I’m planning to use the apple salsa for a Thanksgiving appetizer, but figured it would be good to sample it for an easy weekend dinner. I searched for a taco recipe that paired with apple salsa and stumbled on Food & Wine’s Chipotle-Rubbed Salmon Tacos. 

We scaled it down for two people. The mashed avocado, spicy grilled salmon, crunch cabbage slaw and creamy tangy dressing went well with the hot sweet apple salsa. It also came together in about 20 minutes and felt pretty healthy. Wins all around.

Originally I was going to make Fajita Stuffed Sweet Potatoes... but I got home late and baking sweet potatoes takes a long time. So I pivoted to Food Network’s Shrimp Fajita Salad and it worked out well.

On election night, I wanted something healthy that wouldn’t weigh me down. I opted to make Green Kitchen Stories’ Halloumi Veggie Burgers with the reasoning that I wanted my dinner like I wanted my president, not full of crap or fillers. 

Unfortunately both my veggie burgers and my night fell apart. The burgers tasted delicious, but they ended up more like scattered hash. The dressing was good and could be used in other scenarios as well - salad, tater tot dip, etc :)

Tonight, we joined forces to make an Oktoberfest inspired dinner. Will claimed the sauekraut and brautwurst... so I made a side of German-Style Beet Salad. 

I roasted the beets instead of boiling them, and also cut the caraway seeds by a bit based on the recipe feedback. Even at half, it made more than we could eat but it was a good pickled side to the hearty meal.