Recipe Review: Roasted Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, and Arugula Salad

Easter Sunday was quiet for us, and this was a welcome change of pace. Its very very rare for us to take a day off. And even when we say we're taking a day off, a little bit of work will sneak into the day...like packing some orders, or priming boards for the next day. But this Easter was an actual day off. And being that it was a sunny day we decided to go for a walk. All of the boardwalks and amusements parks up and down the Jersey Shore open up on Easter Sunday, including our very own right here in town. So the two of us walked up there to check out the festivities. It was very crowded, which is great. All of the boardwalks are still in the rebuilding phase after hurricane Sandy, so the more business the better. But at the risk of sounding like a downer, it was sad to see that so much of the old charm was gone. Everything is rebuilt and new, so the kitsch value is lost. The owners of the stands definitely did their best to add some fun with bright paint colors, but for me, so much of what I love about these sea shore fun spots is their vintage appeal. But I'm confident that with time it will all be restored to its former glory. A couple things did not change at all. The signature smells. The pizza stand smelled exactly the same...and so did the French Fry stand. But as great as those smelled to us, we weren't going to be stopping for a bite. Why? you may ask...

Well, because we really couldn't wait to get home to make our dinner. Which was Roasted Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, And Arugula Salad from Pinch of Yum. 

Now make sure that you don't take the word salad at face value. I guess the underlying bed of greens makes it a salad...but this dish is real hearty and bursting with flavor! It is so bright and fresh and comforting. And it was perfect for the day! When you get glimpses of sunny Spring weather you instantly start thinking of fresh, healthy meals. This was a great dinner but would also make a fantastic lunch. I know this because we had it for lunch the following day! The star of this recipe is the homemade lemon dressing. It is just plain magical. The big dose of lemon zest is wonderful.

Ok, first...can we pause to acknowledge the awesome size of this organic sweet potato. Aaron instantly was striking Heisman trophy poses with it. You could totally round up the kids to play a game of Easter touch football with this. 

So the recipe started off with peeling this beast.

And then after you dice it up you get it coated with some olive oil and the spices. Roasted sweet potatoes are just sweet and buttery and work great as the foundation of a meal.

And once the potato is seasoned and oiled it goes for a ride in the oven to roast until it's tender and the edges brown a bit. Would you believe that a single potato filled this entire cookie sheet?! 

And while the potato was roasting we whipped up the awesome dressing in the food processor. I don't know about you...but I get absolutely invigorated when I zest some lemons. That's probably the element in this dressing that makes it far superior to any dressing you can buy already bottled. The fresh lemon zest! It's all about the Zest!

And while I was doing the dressing Aaron was getting the wild rice made. We added some classic spices like sage, thyme, pepper, etc...And once it was ready we added some of the dressing to it in order to marry the flavors.

When everything comes together it lays atop a bed of Arugula and other favorite Spring greens. The warm wild rice and roasted sweet potatoes make the dish so comforting...and by gosh, it's topped with a handful of cashews. The cashews are the perfect finishing topper...and then you drizzle the whole bowl with the dressing.

Oh my goodness! I can't get over how good the dressing was. Our mouths were so so happy! It was the perfect meal for our Easter day. It was just us two, a nice walk in the sunshine, a quiet calm day, and the punctuation of this fab meal to cap the afternoon and bring us into a relaxing evening. We wouldn't change a thing!

If this recipe seems even a tiny bit your style, you just have to try it!

So, bolstered with this fab meal we finished our night with a few episodes of True Blood...yep...we are late to that party. We just never got around to watching it. The two of us aren't the hugest vampire fans. We definitely consider ourselves zombie people. ha! So we honestly weren't sure if True Blood would be for us. But after 2 episodes we were hooked. Its really entertaining. We also thought we were watching a show that was over and done with. So when we saw a commercial this weekend for a new season we were shocked. We have a whole lot to watch in order to be brought up to speed so that we can watch the final season in real time with everyone else.

But yes...to stay on topic. Huge thumbs up for this recipe. Make sure to go and check out all the details on Pinch of Yum!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Happy Spring! 

xo Jenny & Aaron 

Recipe Review: Green Powerhouse Pesto Plate

By now, if you've been keeping score, you know that we love to cook...and eat. And we love sharing our recipes with you guys. We've been cooking together for years, but got way more serious about having fun in the kitchen about a year or so ago. We were so busy writing our book, and by the end of the day we just wanted to put away the art supplies and focus on something else entirely. The late afternoon hunger pangs convinced us that cooking might just be the thing we should be focusing on. 

In the kitchen we could remain creative...but the gears were shifted. And plus...we truly wanted to improve our diet. It's not like we ate Bad before...but it's not like we ate really Good either. At present we don't have a label for the way we eat. But it's definitely cleaner, less processed, less artificial, fresher, more organic...and super duper delicious! We're not really into short cuts. We prefer meals that we build from scratch...adding layers, textures, flavors...More health conscious. And we'd love for each ingredient to actually be beneficial. After a year or so of cooking this way...we can say that it isn't hard to do at all. Like not one bit. We've both lost some extra pounds, definitely have more energy, way better mental health...and we love the time we spend together in the kitchen. 

We are huge Pinterest fans! And even though we kind of follow our natural instincts in the kitchen, we often are inspired by a recipe we see on Pinterest, and we love every aspect of it. In cases like this we use the "if it aint broke, don't fix it" approach. There are lots of really talented home cooks out there that share their own adventures in the kitchen on their own blogs. And from now on, when we come across one of them, with a recipe that really strikes us, we're going to make it for ourselves and share it with you here. Maybe we'll make minor changes...and tell you exactly what the changes are of course. But for the most part, if you see a Recipe Review with Jenny & Aaron...it means that we like it very much...and that we'd love for you to check out the primary source for that specific recipe. We're here to spread love and tips for good cooking and eating.

We'll share some photos of how we went about it, and try to illustrate our experience working with the recipe. And like I said...these all get our 100% stamp of approval. So if you've liked our recipes in the past...you can trust that these are right on target. 

In this particular case, the fabulous recipe comes from Angela over at Oh She Glows. We love her story and really look forward to her book, which should be out soon! Seeing her daily dishes on Instagram is absolutely mouth watering. It feels like everything she puts on a plate is right up our alley. Tonight's meal was our first after a big grocery shopping trip. We came home from the store, laid all of our produce on the counter, looked outside at the ice and snow that has been there for weeks...and probably to spite that snow we said: "Let's eat something very green tonight."

And green it is! But also warm...anyway...Without any further ado...the Green Powerhouse Pesto Plate.

And oh yeah, this may be green...but a salad it is not. The zucchini and the three big handfuls of spinach spend a few minutes in the skillet with some olive oil. So this meal was green while being warm and hearty.

The "warm and hearty" is thanks to Lentils and Millet. A cup of each.

Lentils are a fave of ours. They're so simple to prepare and bring such great flavor and texture to a dish. Just rinse, boil, and simmer until it's tender. Easy Peasey. And Millet...to be honest, we've never prepared Millet all on it's own. We've eaten it...in fruit & nut bars and things like that. And we bought it plenty of times...for our bird! But never made it to be the main part of a dish. Well, it was just as easy to prepare as the Lentils. Again...rinse, boil, simmer until tender and fluffy...and done. Sorta creamy...something you'd want on a cold day. And the health benefits of Millet are great!

And on top of this fantastic dish is an avocado pesto dressing...and it's delicious! Yes, those seven simple ingredients above spell heaven for your tastebuds.

Just give them all a spin in the food processor until blended smooth.

voila!

So...it's really an easy few steps to make this awesomely healthy meal. Cook your Lentils and Millet at the same time. And when done, mix them both together. Plate those first, then layer on your lightly sauteed zucchini and spinach, and then top with the avocado pesto dressing. So Good!

Fresh, bright, tasty, energizing. And we would definitely use this exact pesto recipe in future recipes of our own. We totally recommend this dish for anyone looking for those four bold adjectives listed above. Again, be sure to visit Oh She Glows for all of the particulars...and many more great looking recipes.

We have a whole bunch more cooking that we'll be sharing here...so be sure to check back soon and often. We're so excited about doing more recipe reviews like this!

xo Jenny & Aaron