Alina's Rosemary Lemon Peel Quinoa Stuffed Chicken

After a brief hiatus, I'm back with a savory lemony dish, and I'm hoping to begin posting at least monthly from here on out.

This recipe was the result of playing in the kitchen, and so it's fitting that it tastes so fun! I stuffed this quinoa in chicken breast, but you could easily stuff it in a variety of other bases, such as a bell pepper.

Marissa's Lentil Loaf

This recipe comes from food.com and can be found here. I just had to change the name of it from "vegetarian meatloaf" to "lentil loaf", because you have to love this dish for what it is. Love it because it's an awesome way to eat lentils & oats, not because lentils and oats are fake meat. Lentils and oats will never be meat. And that is okay. They are lentils and oats, not meat. Ok, down from the soap box...

Alina's Mushroom + Walnut Pesto Pizza on a Butternut Squash Crust

This post is inspired by one of the yummiest pizza restaurants in Madison: Cafe Porta Alba. I recently had a pizza there with a walnut puree sauce and my reaction was something akin to the entire Mormon tabernacle choir spontaneously breaking out in the hallelujah chorus in my head. Yep, that crazy good. Naturally, I wanted to replicate it at home. I mixed things up a little by setting the stage on a butternut squash crust that I found over at the diva-dish. This crust did not disappoint, and it ended up melding with the walnut and mushroom flavors perfectly! This was so much fun to make and easy enough that any dummy with a food processor could probably replicate it.

Marissa's Tofu-Vegetable Stir Fry

I've tried to do stir-frys before, but they seem to turn out mushy, or without much flavor. I was actually pretty impressed with this one. I definitely had to make a grocery list for this recipe because I didn't have a lot of the Asian ingredients (sesame oil, hoisin sauce, etc.) But there is a lot leftover which means next time I make this (or something else that uses them), I won't need to go out and buy more! Just one upfront cost.

I also love that this recipe uses tofu. I love tofu for what it is. I don't think you can think if it as a meat substitute, because even though it's loaded with protein, it will never be chicken. Or, it will never be beef. And that's not a bad thing! OK, enough food philosophy. On to the making of it...