Hey, It’s Beppa

★★★½

With a desire to make more health-conscious meals, I found this video recipe for a sweet, miso marinated fish with a mix of veggies in broth. It was quite simple and tasty, although in the future I think I might make the broth from miso rather than bone broth for better flavour.

★★★★

Was this incredibly tasty? Yes. Was it a particularly unique dish? Not really. I’ve made/tried a handful of kimchi fried rice, kimchi pancake, etc. recipes and they all end up tasting like each other (which makes sense). I think at this point most of the ingredients are the same as the other recipes but with a different carb. In the future, I hope to find something that innovates a bit more. Also, I added fried spam cubes for a little extra protein and flavor.

★★★★½

This dish was 4 stars on the first day, but 5 stars when reheated and mixed together. The coconut lime chicken was delicious, and I would recommend using your heart when adding garlic and lime. I also added ginger and lemongrass paste for a little extra flavor. The cabbage was interesting, but I had mixed feelings about it at first. It had a lot of flavors going on, but it lacked the “oomph” that makes you want a second serving. That being said, when it was reheated and mixed into the chicken’s sauce, it leveled up. Despite my initial indecisiveness, I would recommend this combo of dishes!

★★★★

What was supposed to be a soup became more of a pasta, and that’s ok– you can’t really go wrong with a buttery, mushroom-dominated dish! I followed the recipe relatively closely, but I did add Trader Joe’s umami seasoning for extra mushroom kick. Overall, the outcome really depends on which mushrooms you use, so I would say that a “meaty” or “fishy” one, like pink oyster mushroom, would really up the flavor next time and bring it to 5 stars.

★★★★★

Šis patiekalas buvo vienas mėgstamiausių mano vaikystės patiekalų. Vištiena ir svogūnai blyneliuose. Padažas su “cream of chicken soup” ir sūriu. Visada valgiau su burokėliais arba kopūstais.

★★★★★

Oh wowza, I wasn’t sure what to expect since it was my first time using puff pastry sheets, but they ended up far exceeding my expectations and being super easy to make. With each bite, you feel the sticky-sweet of the jam and onions, only to get hit with the savory of blue cheese and thyme, all on a buttery, flaky pillow. The addition of the dry white wine imparts a depth that reminds you of French onion soup. Couldn’t recommend this more!

★★★★

Spiced meatballs with a yogurt gravy and bright pickled onions, paired with a spinach herb frittata and Trader Joe’s rice pilaf mix. I followed the recipes pretty closely except used chicken instead of beef. Everything was very tasty but nothing really stood out as unbelievable/incredible.

★★★★★

A super easy to make soup with Mexican-inspired flavors that my family likes to serve with cheesy quesadillas and a slice of lime. It’s warming and hearty, perfect for a cold, rainy day. This recipe is from my mom, torn out of an old magazine. The link below will open a PDF of it.

★★★★★

A spicy, more savory version of a mashed sweet potato. We used the recipe linked as a base, but added more spices (pinches of cinnamon, smoked paprika, and chili powder), caramelized onions, and a top layer of buttery brown sugar with chopped candied pecans. We ate it with sour cream since it was pretty spicy!

★★★★★

Sweet, zingy Korean-inspired meatballs drizzled with a lime/sesame/gochujang mayo! We served ours over rice and substituted the ground beef for chicken instead (and it was still incredibly moist).

★★★★

Each spring, my campus’s magnolia trees blossom like wild and before you know it, those petals fall off and rot on the ground. This year, I made a late night visit to scavenge them while they were still in bloom. This jelly is gingery and floral and can be used in similar ways as rose jams and the like. It wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped but was still good!

★★★★

This was another healthy-ish recipe find in efforts for more veggies and less quick carbs. Overall it was great, but don’t be afraid to add more of the seasonings than listed. I also added an onion and some lime juice for brightness. I didn’t have arctic char, so I cooked some frozen salmon (not pictured) instead.

★★★★★

I’ve really been missing Honduran food recently, so I tried my best to put together a desayuno hondureño (but for dinner). Thankfully I found a store that sold the crema, cheese, and beans I used to use to give it the right taste. I tried making my own tortillas from Maseca, but they sadly they didn’t turn out as soft as I’d have liked. Practice makes perfect, though!

★★★★★

Hearty, smoky, and filling, this relatively simple goulash was everything we wanted for a cold winter’s night. I was worried it wouldn’t be flavorful since the main seasonings were just paprika and smoked paprika, but the fats from the smoked sausage did the heavy lifting and imparted a fantastic taste.

★★★½

A slightly Mediterranean-inspired dish, it was a light orzo salad with lots of crisp, fresh veggies, brought to life with pops of bright pomegranate and punches of salty halloumi cheese. I switched the green beans to asparagus and skipped the tomatoes. I used a harissa meatball recipe for extra protein, which paired well but wasn’t anything super unique.

★★★★

This stew hails from the West African country of Benin! Ginger and warm spices pair well with the tomato-based sauce and mild fish. I served this with a garlic parsley rice for extra flavor. Overall, we really enjoyed this one, but it was pretty mellow. (We have been wondering if there are some specialty spices or ingredients that weren’t listed in the recipe we found, which is linked below.)

★★★★

Oven-roasted acorn squash glazed with salted maple syrup, stuffed with a warm lentil filling. I added finely chopped apples, apple chicken sausage, onion, tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings to pair with the lentils and give an autumnal vibe. I finished it off with another drizzle of syrup and pinch of parmesan cheese.

★★★★★

Cauliflower and chickpeas roasted in a sweet glaze in a tangy lime dressing. We added a pinch of cumin to the glaze and mixed honey dijon into the dressing. Tasted great with chicken and baby spinach/arugula mix.

★★★★★

While this title might sound weird, the pie was protein-heavy and savory. I sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions, as well as adding a little bit of dill, feta, and chives to the mix, too. This recipe is an excellent base for more flavors and modifications!

★★★★½

The meatballs? Pretty good. The rice? FANTASTIC! The diced baby dill pickles became bombs of salt and crunch in every bite and the herb combo surprisingly worked really well. We used ground chicken instead of turkey, and next time I’m going to be throwing in crumbles of feta cheese for a little extra punch.

★★★★

It’s that time of summer where we have more summer squash and peppers than we know what to do with. This recipe was great for using a bunch up, but definitely falls into the trap of mostly tasting cheesy (still good, but a little plain). Next time, we’ll try to add more spices to add much needed kick, but in the meantime I sprinkled some pickled sweet jalapenos on my portions and it really helped. Also note we used sour cream instead of milk and added canned green chiles.

★★★★★

Pastina is like if porridge, chicken soup, and mac ‘n cheese had a soup-adjacent love child. Sounds strange, but was so comforting, addictive, and surprisingly quick to make. The hardest part for us was sourcing the pastina noodles.

★★★★½

Poached eggs with runny yolks on a bed of garlicky yogurt, drizzled with spiced butter and eaten with bread. Surprisingly good and easy to make, but we learned it just doesn’t go as hard if you substitute the Aleppo pepper.