I’ve always been a fan of a great at-home bar. I strongly believe it’s a must-learn life skill to mix up classic cocktails, and as an avid host, it’s important to provide an array...
Looking back on Easter as a child, I remember how excited I was to dig through my Easter basket. Full of chocolate bunnies, malt ball Easter eggs, Peeps, golden coins, and my favorite Cadbury...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
You know those nights when you want to eat something super easy, but don’t want to sacrifice taste? Those nights tend to creep up at the end of the week in the Rye household, when we’re winding down from the results of Sunday’s meal prep. But do not fret, I’ve perfected a simple, healthy and fresh broccoli salad recipe that always hits the spot.
No cooking or roasting is needed here; the raw broccoli and cauliflower retain their fresh-from-the-earth flavor (all pre-chopped if you caught this post). A sprinkle of unsalted peanuts, because by now you know I always need that crunch! You can use red or green onions , and I usually prefer the latter when making this broccoli salad at home. And dried cranberries give the salad a subtle sweetness, while offering an additional texture to each perfect bite. Lastly, an incredibly easy dressing ties it all together: red wine vinegar, Veganaise (or sub in mayonaise or miracle whip, whatever works) and a pinch of organic sugar.
This easy broccoli salad can be prepared in less than 15 minutes, and it serves as a great fresh side that’s anything but boring. And just an FYI…it tastes even better the next day. Enjoy! Truly, MKR
P.S. For more salad recipes, check out what we’ve been pinning here.
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With plans to spend more time around the table—and yes, healthy resolutions on the brain—I wanted to create a light, non-fussy salad that is anything but generic. Instead of turning to complicated, hard-to-find ingredients to make up this beet arugula salad, I relied on a few of my favorite flavors to really shine through.
If you follow a lot of my recipes, you know that I thoroughly enjoy the counterpoints of flavors and textures; sweet to spicy, tangy to salty, soft to crunchy. So as I prepared this beet arugula salad, I found that the spice and bitterness of the arugula matched the sweetness of the candied cashews and pickled beets wonderfully, giving the salad an extra depth in flavor and interest. And the herbed goat cheese…well in my opinion, you can’t ever go wrong with goat cheese. Plus, for any of you who are sensitive to dairy/lactose, goat has the very least amount of all of the cheeses (lactose amount from highest to lowest: sheep, cow, and then goat). So if sensitivity is an issue, you may want to keep that in mind.
And speaking of beets, I’ve tried both pickled and fresh beets in this salad; coming to decide I actually prefer pickled over the latter. Beets, as you know, can be a bit too “earthy” for me in taste, and the pickling process seems to mask that flavor, if not take it away entirely.
As you saw last week, this beet arugula salad perfectly compliments my recipe for lemony-garlic roasted chicken (hint hint: it’s a crowd-pleaser!), but I will of course be enjoying this salad by itself for many weekday lunches to come. Truly, MKR
P.S. For more salad recipes that have caught our eye, check out our pinterest board. And salads not your thing? This post may just change your mind. xo
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I get very nostalgic when it comes to homemade caramel corn. Memories of my dad whipping up a big batch as soon as the leaves started to change. Melting it all low-and-slow, and then shake-shake-shaking the mixture in a big paper bag before spilling out the warm, sweet, crunchy goodness on the table for Mom and me to devour until we literally made ourselves sick.
Being one of my favorite fall treats, I wanted to try my hand at making homemade caramel corn myself this year. It seemed simple enough…traditional stovetop popcorn (which in my humble opinion is the only way to make popcorn) + pecans + candy corn + homemade caramel sauce. And it really is simple as long as you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Tricks I’ve finally perfected after a few trial and error test batches.
First, you’ll logically want to put the candy corn directly into the popcorn, pecan, and caramel sauce mixture before baking it all together in the oven. Don’t. Since candy corn is essentially all sugar what ends up happening is the candy corn pieces completely melt leaving you with patches of yellow and orange dotted throughout your mixture. Instead, you’ll want to sprinkle on the candy corn pieces right when you bring the mixture out of the oven when it’s still warm. That way, they stick in the mixture but don’t melt.
Second, line your oven with aluminum foil to catch any rogue drips of caramel sauce. If you’re heavy-handed with the caramel sauce like me, then your sauce will likely bubble over during baking. Trust me when I say, sticky caramel sauce on the bottom of your oven is a major pain to clean up.
Lastly, when making the caramel sauce, constant stirring and timing really is everything, so make sure you read the recipe at least twice before beginning and DO NOT walk away from the sauce. It can all go terribly wrong in less than 30 seconds, just trust me on this! Happy fall y’all! Truly, MKR
P.S. When the homemade caramel corn comes out of the oven, it’s my favorite time to indulge since it’s so warm, gooey, and not too hard, but try to show a little self-restraint and set some aside to package up for neighbors, teachers, and coworkers! xo
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