Take Out Inspired

Copycat Outback Bloom Sauce

October 23, 2013 By Allyson 40 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

A couple months ago I posted about some ‘Zax’ Sauce that I made, and judging by all the responses, people loved it. I guess everyone loves a good sauce, and often times I find myself loving a sauce over whatever food is being sauced. The sauce usually packs the punch of flavor, and my husband always says that (insert whatever food here) is just a vehicle for the sauce….whatever the sauce may be. So I started thinking about what other sauces people love, and immediately I thought about the sauce that gets served with the Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse. It’s tangy ...

Quinoa ‘Fried Rice’

June 10, 2013 By Allyson 59 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Over at my house we just love Quinoa (specifically Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Grain Quinoa). It's quick and easy to make, and it's super healthy as well. Being a vegetarian it's hard to get enough protein in my diet sometimes, but quinoa definitely makes the job a lot easier. Plus, I love the taste of it...it's a must whether you live a vegetarian life style or not. Quinoa is the perfect substitute when it comes to making rice. I knew when I saw this recipe from Damn Delicious that I had to make it asap! This 'Fried rice' came together so well, it's been added to my ...

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps

March 25, 2013 By Allyson 57 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

I pretty much love crock pot recipes because they are usually fairly easy and cheap. They usually don't have too many ingredients, most you probably have on hand already. This recipe is done in a pretty quick amount of time in crock pot terms, too- 3 to 4 hours. When I made this last week, it left a really delightful smell in the house, and even being a vegetarian I was drooling looks at this. The sauce looks really good, and I think it pairs perfectly with a nice crisp lettuce wrap. You could also opt to serve this over rice, or in taco shells...I think there are ...

Easy Baked Tofu

March 20, 2013 By Allyson 23 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Even before I became a vegetarian, I loved tofu....especially when it's fried, crispy, covered in sauce and in Chinese food. Who doesn't like that? But, since learning to cook with it more, I have found different techniques to mock frying the tofu, and still being able to get a nice crispy outside, without all the bad points of frying. In a different post I talked about 'dry frying' tofu, which is really handy and easy, but it can sometimes be time consuming. So when I stumbled upon a baked tofu recipe on All Recipes, I thought I hit the jackpot. With ...

Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms

February 11, 2013 By Allyson 10 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

Browsing one of my favorite healthy cooking websites, Skinnytaste, I found this recipe for Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms, and I thought my boss would likely enjoy it. I don't eat meat, but the picture of this Asian pork dish looked delightful. It's a plus that it's super low calorie, and would probably be really good over rice, noodles, or just by itself. The only thing I changed up a bit was the meat. I couldn't find a huge pork roast so I just used a pork loin and shred that up. I also just put everything in the crock pot from the beginning. It often ...

Chinese Broccoli & Zucchini

January 15, 2013 By Allyson 8 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

A while back I made a recipe for some Beef and Broccoli (wight watchers recipe), and I noticed that the sauce was delicious. I decided to try it with just some veggies, and it has been the base of all my Chinese food in the last 6 months. The sauce tastes just like any sauce you would get from a Chinese restaurant, but doesn't have all those unknown ingredients. I love being in control of making my own 'take-out', because I know exactly what is in it, and I can make it a lot healthier. This is also such an easy recipe because you can really take any veggies ...

Spicy Eggplant and Tofu

October 16, 2012 By arzea 10 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

I saw this recipe last week in Real Simple Magazine and knew I had to make is ASAP. I took a quick picture on my phone, to remind me to search for the recipe online later (how handy!), and then added it to my Menu folder on Pinterest for this week! This is the kind of recipe where you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry, and most likely just have to pick up the produce. If you like Chinese food (but don't like all the calories), then this is the recipe for you! It was so flavorful and had the perfect amount of spice. If you are serving ...

Cheddar Biscuits

October 4, 2012 By arzea 10 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

I was browsing recipes a couple weeks ago and stumbled upon the holy grail of biscuit recipes. Immediately I started wondering, "why have I never made biscuits before?" I don't know why.....maybe because I have always thought it was difficult, or time consuming? Maybe I am not a biscuit type of person? Before I was a vegetarian I used to love biscuits and gravy, so maybe I am a biscuit person. Could biscuits be the missing link in my recipe repertoire?? I pinned a ton of biscuit recipes, and when I decided to make a delicious Tomato Bisque for ...

Hot & Sour Soup

September 17, 2012 By arzea 8 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

We love Chinese food over at my house, but we don't really order it much because I haven't been able to find a place that doesn't cook with an excessive amount of oil or msg. I found a recipe for Hot and Sour Soup over at the JessFuel blog, and with a couple of little changes I gave it a try. It turned out really great, and was easy to make. It makes a HUGE pot of soup, probably around 6 servings or more (big servings). I made it with ginger garlic broccoli and zucchini, and it was delicious. I will post the recipe for that later this ...

Guest Blog: Asian Beef Stir-Fry

September 4, 2012 By arzea 3 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

My friend, Brenna, is always cooking up yummy sounding recipes and I finally harassed her long enough to send me one of her delicious creations! I love when my friends give me meat recipes to post, because I don't ever come up with any good ones on my own! I also like that this recipe is so versatile; you could make it with chicken, pork, just veggies, and you can essentially put whatever into it that you want! Lets see what Brenna cooked up for us...... _____________________________________________________________________ I don't like reading cooking blogs. ...