Stay Home and Cook: Fierce Flavors Abound (Week Six)

When it comes to bold flavor and food, my motto is always “more, more, more!” and that was extremely apparent during last week’s set of dinners. Yes, the sixth week of #stayhomeandcook led us to many delicious dishes with bright, bold flavors and a wonderful variety of ingredients.

However, even with all of the variety, you will notice patterns, or at least, using a specific ingredient in more than one way throughout the week. This is completely understandable. When one must buy the extra-large container of greens at the grocery store (because it’s actually available) one must make sure to use those greens in as many meals as possible. ;)

Check out our week six dinners below featuring awesome noodles, my favorite fritters, a delicious salad, and the most divine pasta that could technically feed a family of six. It was all so good!

Chicken Burrito Bowl

Original Creation; find the chicken recipe here.

For the nights when you’re craving some of your go-to Mexican-style flavors, but going out for such goodness isn’t possible, let me offer you this alternative: make-at-home chicken burrito bowls! A completely customizable and totally delicious option that transforms the basics into one, excellent dinner.

Essentially, our burrito bowls were comprised of shredded chicken, black beans, tortilla chips, sautéed peppers and onions, and some cheese sprinkled on top. I could have sworn we had avocado too, but alas, I cannot remember since it’s not in the photo. Maybe we added it after the fact? We may never know. If you have avocado, then include it; it’s a burrito bowl necessity (I think).

To make these ingredients far more exciting we cooked the chicken in a sauce that contained chipotles in adobo, which gave it a great (spicy) flavor kick. The peppers and onions were simply seasoned with salt and pepper and the black beans were heated without anything added.

In my opinion, a burrito bowl has a lot of flavors, but only one ingredient needs to be the brightest and boldest. Everything else plays a supporting role so that when it’s time to eat, the main ingredient (in our case, the chicken) really stood out the most. Of course, squeezing fresh lime over the whole thing never hurts, either. ;)

Spinach Salad with Feta and Harissa Chicken Meatballs

Original Creation

We felt very lucky to have found ground chicken in stock during one of our recent grocery adventures so my natural inclination was to turn it into chicken meatballs. Yum! And since ground chicken is very bland, the best way to make it exciting is to turn it into feta and harissa meatballs; a really delicious combination. Spicy harissa, creamy feta; you can’t go wrong.

For these chicken meatballs, we also added panko, chopped garlic, and one egg. We baked them at 400 degrees for about fifteen minutes, then broiled them for a few to make them crispy and browned. Meatballs, while not beautiful, are one of my favorite foods. You can turn the most basic ground meat into something so ridiculously delicious with fairly minimal effort and time. A weeknight winner (or really, any night) all the time.

To go with the meatballs we kept it simple with a spinach salad and added cucumbers, red pepper, and more of that feta. We added sliced avocado on the side because life is for living and I was happily surprised to find out that a spicy chicken meatball is quite excellent when covered in avocado. Surprise, surprise!

Meatballs and salad aren’t a traditional pairing (right?), but it worked so well together on this particular evening. I loved the contrasting textures and temperatures; cool, crisp salad and spicy, fresh-from-the-oven meatballs. A new, and really yummy, dinner duo. I’m sold.

One Skillet Sausage and Kale Stir-Fry with Noodles

Based on this great recipe from Bon Appetit

Despite being in the mood for a certain recipe (link above), we had very few of the actual ingredients on the list. But why feel defeated? We are living in a time when improvised dinners are at an all-time high so while I’d usually skip it and seek out a different meal. this time we forged ahead. Many swaps needed, but it would be OK.

So we used spicy sausage as required, but used kale instead of cabbage. We included mushrooms, skipped the hoisin, didn’t bother with tortillas, and luckily found noodles in the cabinet. The resulting dish was still superb and had the essence of the original. I was in the mood for this style of dinner and while I was wishing for a way to wrap it all up, the available rice noodles were a more-than-sufficient substitution.

I’m not always the most easy-going when it comes to editing already-awesome recipes (it’s the truth!), but on this particular occasion (a Wednesday night), I let down my guard and went with it. Perhaps that’s a motto for now and the coming weeks/months ahead: while everything isn’t going to plan or the way we want life to be, we must adjust accordingly using the “ingredients” we’re given.

Who knows? You may find yourself with one delicious dinner. Or life experience. You know what I mean. Just go with it. ;)

Falafel Fritters Bowl with Cucumbers and Yogurt Sauce

Recipe via Basically, find it here.

Luckily, we did have everything necessary to make this stupendous dish on Thursday night (except for parsley. Shh. Don’t tell.) Fritters are a food everyone loves; they’re crispy-fried little rounds of joy that I would have, and inhale, every night of the week. Of course, fritters can be created from any number of ingredients, but for Thursday’s menu we selected these falafel-style fritters because they are fantastic. A meatless meal worth shouting about and one that I think everyone should add to an upcoming meal plan.

The fritters are primarily made of chickpeas which is probably why they’re referred to as “falafel fritters.” Fine by me! Falafel is fabulous; do you agree? It’s just so, so delicious. Anyway, I could go on and on, but I’ll move on.

The salad was a simple mixture of onions and cucumbers which is so minimal it’s marvelous. Yes, there was supposed to be parsley, but I didn’t miss it. The veggies were seasoned with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, which was a great way to keep the interesting and bright, but not too bold. I loved how this salad went so well with the crispy fritters.

Finally, the yogurt sauce was stellar and oh so simple (ideal, right?). This combination of Greek yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, is such a great “sauce” that I recommend it for any number of meals that need a yogurt sauce. It works with everything! Yum.

If you couldn’t tell, we really loved this dinner. It used pantry staples to create something so yummy and flavorful and it definitely felt like a special treat. Fritters aren’t too unhealthy (I hope?), but it’s not something we make everyday.

We’re trying not to fry our dinner in oil every night so when the opportunity presents itself, we take it. This is a super-delicious meatless meal. I think you should make it immediately.

Artichoke, Caramelized Onion, and Pepperoni Pizza

Original Creation. Crust is by Ugly’s Gluten Free Bakery.

We have made the bold decision to move our weekly pizza to Friday night (away from Sunday). There’s something about having pizza on Friday that definitely screams “weekend!” to me and that’s exactly what we need right now. A reason to get excited about the weekend! Well, I love weekends regardless, but pizza to kick it off makes it all the more fun.

This week’s creation was an ode to my childhood favorite from Bertucci’s: artichoke hearts, caramelized onions, and lots of pepperoni. So delicious! I would always order this combo when we got pizza and to this day I still find the trio of toppings to be supreme. However, at the ripe age of 34 1/2 I must make a confession I suddenly realized while eating this pie on Friday night: I no longer want pepperoni on my pizza. The shock! The horror! The…omg. How?! How does this happen?

While I will always be a fan of pepperoni, I find myself leaning toward veggie-focused pizzas more and more these days. And yes, I do still love the sausage, peppers, and onion pie we made fairly recently (as well as that buffalo meatball one), but in general I am choosing meat-topped pizzas far less frequently.

My pepperoni passion may be sailing toward the sunset, but my joy for an excellent pizza is not going anywhere. If I’ve learned anything from our weekly pizza night, it’s that extra cheese is a requirement, more is more for toppings, and veggies are our friends. Especially when surrounded by that extra cheese. ;)

Baked Pasta with Artichokes, Greens, and Too Much Cheese

Recipe from Dining In by Alison Roman (just be sure to use GF pasta)

If you do not already own Alison Roman’s debut cookbook, then I highly suggest purchasing it. If you do own it, then I strongly recommend making this meal. Immediately. Like tonight. Or tomorrow. Or as soon as you’re able to have all of these ingredients in your possession. It is one of the most scrumptious baked pastas we have ever had and if I could survive solely on this meal without any negative repercussions, then I would. It’s that awesome.

We made this dinner in honor of our five-year engagement anniversary (aww) because nothing says love and years together filled with joy than a giant pan of baked pasta with an unbelievable amount of cheese. To be fair, there is also a lot of other goodness baked in the dish as well including artichokes, spinach, kale, onions, and more cheese. Plenty of greens to call it kinda healthy; right? Don’t answer that.

It’s a hearty, with a capital “H,” vegetarian meal that will have everyone at the table eagerly awaiting seconds (or thirds if they’re so lucky). In fact, it’s so splendid that I even bet folks who request a meat-filled pasta night will be satisfied. This dinner is just delicious. I have not much more to say without (continuing) to be redundant.

For the record, we toasted GF Panko and sprinkled it on top of our pasta portions. If I have learned anything from Roman’s cookbooks (and her recipes online), and cooking in general lately, it’s that adding a crunchy topping to most meals makes them even more incredible. Case in point: this baked pasta. With crunchy toasted Panko on top. Essentially, a perfect meal. Now, let me stop drooling and find something to eat. ;)

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As always, please leave a comment below with any questions you may have about our meals. Thank you.

Enjoy, be safe, and stay home.

Mollie and Seth