Black-Eyed Pea Curry

As promised, the recipe for Black-Eyed Pea Curry! I am not usually one to admit this, but I am a picky eater. In some respects anyway. A perfect example of this would be black-eyed peas. The mere thought of eating these beans? Peas? What are they anyway? Was enough to send me running and screaming for the hills.


Many moons ago, Nate bought 2 bags of dried black-eyed peas. Why? I honestly couldn't tell you. Maybe he wanted to make them for New Year's? Maybe he wanted to use them for pie weights? Literally have no idea. Regardless, these dried legumes were laying in a deep, dark hole in my pantry for the better part of two years. I consulted Pinterest and found a recipe that used these little beans in a way that made them sound, dare I say, appetizing? So I gave it a try and here's the result!


Black-Eyed Pea Curry

1 C dried black-eyed peas
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tsp cumin
1 onion, diced
3 gloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tsp turmeric
2 Tsp chili powder
2 Tsp garam masala
1 Tsp coriander
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 C full fat coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped cilantro, for garnish if you're feeling fancy


In a small saucepan, pour in dried black-eyed peas (BEP for short because I'm tired of typing it all out) and cover with water and season with salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 30-40 minutes or until soft. Drain.


I made my BEP ahead of time and stored them in the fridge because I didn't want to do this on a Monday night while simultaneously cooking the rest of the food.


Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add in the cumin and toast for 20-30 seconds.


Add in the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and ginger and sauté for 2 additional minutes. Season with all the wonderful seasonings and stir for 1 minute.


Add in your diced tomato and continue to sauté for a few more minutes. Stand over your simmering pot and take a big sniff. I know that sounds like a weird instruction but the aromas are heavenly! Spicy, garlic-y, magnificent. Just please do that while you're cooking. Your nose and probably stomach will thank you.


Stir in your coconut milk and BEP. Turn the heat down to low and allow the mixture to simmer for 5-10 minutes. The sauce gets thick and the flavors marry. It's an experience! Do a taste check and serve over basmati rice (or if you don't have fancy rice, white rice).


This curry was amazing! It was so...earthy? I guess that's the best word for it. It was heavily spiced and utterly fantastic. My only complaint was I was hoping for more spice, guess I'll double the chili powder next time!


Nate ate 2 heaping bowls of this curry and took another helping with him for lunch the following day. I would gladly make this dish again with that small spice adjustment.


Have a great Wednesday, readers!

Valentine's Day aka At-Home Pub Night

Happy Tuesday, readers! Today is Raleigh is 70 degrees and densely foggy. This would be the perfect creepy setting if it were October and not February, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose. I hope the start to your week is well! Mine has been ok except for a car mishap. I won't go into details but I'm annoyed.


Since Valentine's Day was in the middle of the work week, Nate and I decided to celebrate this past weekend instead. And let me preface this by saying that Valentine's Day is not a huge deal to Nate and I. We don't do the fancy candlelight dinners, expensive bottles of wine and extravagant gifts. Why should you spend a fortune to show someone you care for a single day? Nate and I have our traditions though. Every year we get ourselves a Papa Murphy's heart-shaped Take-and-Bake pizza and exchange cards.


But this weekend we told the expensive stuff to take a hike and instead did an At-Home Pub Night with a 6 beer tasting, homemade pretzel bites with a honey mustard dipping sauce and beer cheese soup! Let's jump in, shall we?


At-Home Pub Night

Of course you can't have a pub night without a beer tasting. We took a trip to our local bottle shop (Bottle Revolution on Lake Boon Trail) and picked up six North Carolina brews: Painted Fortune from Bhramari Brewing company in Asheville, Molly's Lips Black Gose from Bhamari Brewing Company, Baby Maker Double IPA from Triple C Brewing in Charlotte, Saints on Raspberries from Big Boss Brewing in Raleigh, King's Bridge English Barleywine from D9 Brewing in Cornelius, and last but certainly not least - Hop Cocoa from newly Anheuser-Busch owned Wicked Weed in Asheville.


I'll give a quick summary of the beers:


Painted Fortune -- slightly sweet from the heirloom corn but that was really the only flavor I could pick up on.


Black Gose -- definitely a favorite from this 6-pack. This beer was dark in color like a Black IPA (one of my favorite beer varieties) but light and slightly tart like a typical gose.
Baby Maker Double IPA -- tasted like your typical double IPA, nothing special really.
Saints on Raspberries -- my absolute favorite from this bunch! The beer was fruity and tart, as a good sour beer should be.
King's Bridge English Barleywine -- I couldn't even take a second sip! This beverage tasted what I'd imagine infusing maple syrup with vodka would taste like. There was an overpowering alcohol taste with a syrupy sweet nose. It was awful.
Hop Cocoa -- truthfully, I don't remember this brew. Maybe it's because I had 5 others prior, or because it just wasn't very spectacular.


Beer Cheese Soup

Beer Cheese Soup and "Molly's Lips" Black Gose

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 C carrots, shredded
3 celery stocks, diced
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
32 oz vegetable broth
12 oz lager beer (I used a Blue Moon)
1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 C Heavy Cream
1/4 C cornstarch
3 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Fresh buttered popcorn, for serving


In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, sauté onion and celery until tender, roughly 5 minutes. Add in shredded carrots and garlic and sauté for 2 additional minutes. Stir in broth and beer, season with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.


In a separate bowl, toss together shredded cheese and cornstarch and set aside.


After 30 minutes of simmering, stir in heavy cream. Slowly add the cheese in in handfuls and allow to melt before adding in more. This will allow the cheese to melt evenly and there won't be clumps in your soup. Now comes the fun part! Using an immersion blender, blend soup until velvety and smooth.


Serve soup with a handful of fresh popcorn (a la Flossmor Station) and enjoy! The flavors of this soup are perfect! It tasted like every other beer cheese soup I've ever had, which was really the goal, right? My only disappointment with this recipe was the soup didn't thicken up as much as I would've hoped. One addition I would make would be to add in 1/4 C cream cheese along with the cheddar before blending.


This soup yields about 8 bowlfuls. After we'd had our fill, I allowed the soup to cool before sticking it in a gallon sized zip-top plastic bag and stuck it in the freezer to be enjoyed at a later date.


Pretzel Bites

Pretzel Bites, Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce and "Baby Maker Double IPA"

1 package store-bought pizza crust (thick crust)
2 C warm water
1/2 C  baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp water
Kosher salt


Preheat oven to 400, line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat and spray with nonstick spray.


Roll out your pizza crust and cut into 1 inch rectangles. Roll into balls.


In a bowl, mix together warm water and baking soda. Set aside.


Dip dough balls in the baking soda mixture and place on your prepared baking sheet.


In a small bowl, combine egg with water to create an egg wash. Using a basting brush, brush each dough ball liberally and sprinkle on the kosher salt. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.


These pretzels were amazing! Salty and crusty outsides and soft and pillowy insides. They were nothing short of heaven. We were able to get about 18 pretzel bites out of 1 standard size pizza crust.


Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce


1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 Tbsp yellow mustard


Combine everything together in a bowl. Serve immediately or refrigerate.


This sauce was utterly delicious and was quite reminiscent of a certain yellow-arched fast-food chain's sauce. It was perfect for dunking fresh pretzel bites in.


This was a great way for Nate and I to spend Valentine's Day without spending a fortune. Stay tuned for Black-Eyed Pea Curry!

Minestrone Soup

Good morning, readers! I know you've missed me as much as I missed you! Last week was busy filled with meetings, CEO visits, conference attending and cooking of previous recipes (thus why there's been no blog post until today).


This weekend Nate went camping and I stayed home because I dislike sleeping outdoors and being dirty. It gave me the perfect opportunity to pamper myself and get things done! Also to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. Friday night's dinner was Garlic Pain Perdu, which is a savory and luscious French Toast served alongside some lemony green beans with garlic and slivered almonds (are you drooling yet?); Saturday morning I treated myself to some homemade egg and cheese biscuits after an early-morning run, and then ate copious amounts of Moe's Southwest Grill.


But last night Nate returned and I wanted to make him something delicious and comforting to come home to so I settled on some minestrone soup! Unfortunately for me however the weather was far too hot and muggy to accommodate my soup making and Nate had stopped at a buffet on the way home and loaded up his plate(s) with everything from fried chicken and candied sweet potatoes to pizza and cobbler - meaning he didn't eat much soup.


Minestrone Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tsp fresh/dried basil (or 1 Tsp basil paste)
1 Tsp oregano
3/4 Tsp rosemary
1/2 Tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 Tsp sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with garlic and seasonings
4 C vegetable stock
1 zucchini, diced
3 C pasta (I used egg noodles because I had them on hand but small shells are traditionally used)
1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can green beans, drained and rinsed
2 C fresh spinach leaves
Shredded parmesan cheese, for serving


In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onion, celery and carrot for 5 minutes, or until vegetables soften. Add in garlic and sauté for 1 additional minute. Add in seasonings and sugar and cook for 1 minute.


Throw in the tomatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a rolling boil and cover. Allow the mixture to boil for 15 minutes.


After 15 minutes, add in the zucchini and pasta. Stir the soup, lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.


Finally add in the beans, green beans and spinach leaves. Stir, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves.


Scoop up a heaping helping and top with some shredded parmesan, if desired and enjoy!


This soup was hearty and flavorful! 1 bowl left me feeling stuffed, of course I also ate this delicious concoction with a piece of garlic Texas toast so that could've added to my full tummy.


This recipe yields about 6-8 bowls of soup, depending on your bowl and ladle of course. The remainder of our soup is sitting in our fridge marinating and awaiting cooler soup-appropriate temps, which are supposedly on the way.


Stay tuned for some more delicious recipes and have a wonderful week!

Thai Spicy Noodles and Cucumber Salad

Good morning, dear readers! Happy Monday! Doesn't that sound oxymoronic? Who's happy about a Monday - well except maybe Eagles fans who are rioting over their big game win. I couldn't care less who won the Super Bowl but I'll admit I felt a bit of joy knowing that the Patriots were losers.


Per tradition, I made my famous (well, at least among my friends) Artichoke and Green Chile Dip. It always gets rave reviews, tastes amazing and is decadent when added to grilled cheese. This year I swapped out the parmesan cheese for some good ol' sharp white cheddar and it was a definite touchdown (see what I did there?)!


Now for the recipes that title this blog post. Friday night I wanted to make something hearty and delicious with little work involved and this meal turned out better than I could've imagined! I've always loved the fresh and spicy flavors of Thai food. So much cilantro, lime, ginger, oh my I'm salivating just thinking about all of it!


Thai Spicy Noodles

1 lb linguine, cooked according to package instruction
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 Tsp red pepper flake
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 zucchini, cut into half-moons
8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/3 C low sodium soy sayce
2 Tbsp Sriracha sauce
2 inches fresh ginger, grated
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 C unsalted peanuts, chopped


In a large stock pot, cook linguine according to package directions. Drain and set aside.


In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, Sriracha and ginger. Set aside. This will be the sauce for your noodles.


In the same large stock pot used for the linguine (because who wants to dirty extra dishes unnecessarily), add 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil and heat up the chili flake and scramble the egg. The eggs should be light, fluffy and most importantly, cooked through. Remove the cooked egg and set aside.


Return the stock pot to the stove over medium heat and add in remaining olive oil. Sauté garlic until fragrant and add in the zucchini and mushrooms. Cook until veggies are soft.


Add the egg and pasta back to the pot and drizzle in your sauce. Toss everything to coat.


After serving, top the noodles with fresh cilantro and peanuts.


This recipe was awesome! The sauce was out-of-this-world flavorful, the veggies were tender, and the noodles were the perfect vessel to hold everything together. This recipe yields quite a bit (it's pasta after all). We were able to get about 5-6 servings out of the recipe. It was even better the next day after everything had a chance to marinate a little longer.


Cucumber Salad





2 large cucumbers, seeded and cut into half-moons
1 large bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 C unsalted peanuts
1/4 C fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
1 garlic clove, minced


In a large salad bowl, combine the cucumbers, cilantro, peanuts and jalapeno. Set aside.


In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together lime juice, oil, sauce, sugar and garlic. Pour over veggies and toss to combine.


This salad is so fresh and flavorful for being so simple to make! It actually is a very close copycat to one of my favorite salads from a restaurant here in downtown Raleigh (anyone else love Garland?). We were able to get 2 heaping bowls each of this light and fresh salad, which I will most definitely make again.


Stay tuned for some more great recipes and enjoy your Monday, readers! Happy eating!