After a long weekend of self-indulgence, I've been craving some serious greens. My new favorite salad dressing is a creamy Maple Tahini dressing which is easy to whip up for a quick dinner. It pairs well with kale, spinach, and even chard.  This easy salad is a serious crowd pleaser. Top it with goat cheese and candied pecans for a luxurious touch.



Mixed Greens Salad with Roasted Beets and Maple Tahini Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients

Salad:
Assorted Salad Greens (spinach, baby kale, chard)
Candied Pecans
Goat Cheese

Beets:
Olive oil
A pinch of salt
4 Beets

Dressing:
1/4 cup Tahini
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 cup water

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.
2. Peel and chop the beets into small pieces. In a mixing bowl, toss the beets with a pinch of salt and olive oil. Spread them evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes.
3. While beets are baking, grab a small mixing bowl and whisk together salad dressing ingredients.
4. In a large bowl, combine greens, dressing, pecans, and goat cheese.
5. Once beets are done, toss into the salad
6. Enjoy!

Fall is here and the leaves are finally changing. This also means that pumpkin EVERYTHING is available in the grocery store.  If you're looking for something less basic and more gourmet, check these five amazing recipes

I love a good documentary, especially one that takes you on an unexpected journey.  I recently watched the documentary The Search for General Tso and it was fantastic. The film tells the incredible history of the Chinese-American community, the rise in popularity of Chinese-inspired cuisine in the United States, and the origins of our favorite take out dishes.  It is heartfelt, fun, and way more informative that I thought it would be.  I highly recommend it.

Guys, this recipe is so good. It's one of my favorite summer dishes and it's ridiculously easy to whip up. It takes about 15 minutes to assemble and is so satisfying on a hot day. Shrimp, avocados, and corn are a match made in heaven. Plus it's delicious cold and perfect to pack for lunch the next day.

Shrimp Avocado Corn Salad
Serves 6

1 lbs of frozen shrimp, defrosted peeled and chopped
5 roma tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
3 ears of corn
1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped finely
1 jalapeno, chopped finely
1/2 a red onion, chopped finely
1 green onion chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 lime, juice of
Tortilla chips to serve with

1. Boil water in a large pot, submerge corn and cover.  Cook for 8-9 minutes.
2. In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add shrimp.  Cook until pink.
3. Once the corn is cooked, cut the kernels off the cob.
4. In a large bowl, mix together corn, shrimp, avocado, cilantro, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Garnish with green onion.
5. Serve with tortilla chips.

Los Chigones was incredible.  Great atmosphere and even better food.  I had a hard time picking what I wanted and was torn between a selection of tacos and the Colorado empanada. I ended up going with the tacos which turned out to be a good life decision. Check out those bad boys: a cotija taco, a shrimp taco and an octopus taco.  All three were beyond delicious.

Steve and I have recently been trying to cut down our daily meat consumption for two reasons: cost and ethics.  Ethics along the lines of the meat industry in the United States isn't sustainable and as a result the meat we eat probably isn't the best for us.  We still eat meat, just less of it.  As a result, tofu has become a weekly staple and I've been experimenting with different ways to cook it.  One of my favorite cooking methods has been baking it to give it a nice crunch.  Baked tofu cubes are awesome on salads, mixed with vegetables in a rice bowl, or even as a small snack on their own. Last night when I was craving something spicy, I decided to use one of my spice mixes to flavor my tofu.  The result was amazing.




Crunchy Tikka Tofu
Adapted from Baked Tofu - The Kitchn

Ingredients:
1 block of extra firm tofu
1 Tbsp of Tikka spice mix (I used Mr. Kook's brand mix)
2 Tbsp of corn starch
Canola oil cooking spray

Tools:
Baking sheet
2 plates
Paper towels
Tin foil
A heavy can
Mixing bowl

1. Pat the tofu dry with paper towels. Line a plate with a paper towel and set the tofu on top. Set a small plate on top of the tofu and weigh it down with something heavy (a can should do).  Press the tofu for 15 minutes or so.  The paper towel should absorb a lot of liquid in this process.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F 
3. While oven is preheating, cut tofu into the size you want.  I cut mine into bite size cubes.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the Tika spice mix and the cornstarch until blended
5.  Toss the tofu in the mixing bowl until all pieces are nicely coated
6.  Line a baking tray with tin foil and spray cooking spray to prevent sticking
7.  Cook your tofu for approximately 20 minutes
8.  Serve warm or let cool and store in an air tight container

I'm obsessed with this fabulous tray from Mod Cloth.  This quirky painter's palette inspired plate would be perfect for serving up cheese :)

I love food.  I love cooking it.  I especially enjoy eating it.  I spend all day thinking about all the delicious things I can consume through out the day.  Often I day dream about what I can make for dinner.  I love checking out new restaurants and I am obsessed with brunch.  Food is the cornerstone of my family.  We constantly find ourselves brought together by healthy, delicious meals together.  Ok, occasionally it's the delicious, totally bad for you ballpark nachos that brings us together for a sports event.  Regardless of whether it's a healthy meal or total comfort food, I love to cook for myself, my friends, and my family.  Wondering where I find most of my recipes?

Gimme Some Oven
I love Gimme Some Oven.  She has a lot of fun and easy recipes that are perfect after a long day at work.  I'm looking forward to trying the skinny honey lemon chicken.

Skinny Taste
Looking for something healthy tonight for dinner? Check out the amazing blog Skinny Taste.  Her recipes are typically easy, delicious, and nutritious.  Major win. My personal favorites are the zesty lime and shrimp salad, the mushroom stroganoff, and the chicken and asparagus stir fry. I can't recommend this blog enough.

Tasting Table
This one is definitely more gourmet but damn are their recipes amazing.  It's also a visually appealing blog.  Try not to get hungry looking at all the pictures.

Damn Delicious
Damn Delicious has lots of Asian dishes with skinny alternatives.  She also provides tons of crockpot recipes, one pot recipes, and quick dishes.  My favorites are the one pot pasta, lighter general tso's chicken, and the Southwestern chopped salad with cilantro lime dressing.

The Kitchn
This blog is affiliated with my favorite decor blog Apartment Therapy.  They have lots of great information on kitchen tools, ingredients, and techniques as well as a wealth of recipes to choose from.  I found this amazing, hearty white bean, kale and sausage soup on the Kitchn and it is perfect for a cold winter day.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my "aunties" (my mom's best friends from law school) came to town for a quick weekend trip.  I've known them pretty much my entire life and consider both of them family.  Having them in town was a nice treat considering they both live on the other side of the country.  We had an amazing time catching up and being tourists in Denver with them.  On Friday, we explored the Denver Botanic Gardens (which is currently featuring the breathtakingly beautiful Chihuly exhibit), had a delicious dinner on the patio of Bistro Vendome, and had cocktails with a spectacular view of the Rockies at Peaks Lounge.  Sounds like a pretty amazing day right?

The Denver Botanic Garden is amazing.  Nestled next to Cheeseman Park and Congress Park, the 24 acre urban gardens hosts a wide variety of flora.  Its easy to spend an entire afternoon wandering the grounds. 













We had an amazing afternoon wandering through the gardens and soaking up all that famous Colorado sunshine.

We also ordered the pomme frites (which had a champagne gastric and were served with a delicious aioli dipping sauce) and the assiette de fromage.




After finishing dinner, our next stop was Peaks Lounge, a cocktail lounge on the 27th floor of the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Denver.  The drinks were so-so but their prices were pretty reasonable and the views of the city and the mountains were spectacular.




We had an amazing time together and I'm so happy that Megan and Vicky were able to visit (even though it was way too short of a stay).  Fingers crossed they'll be back sooner rather than later. 

This morning I had to be downtown pretty earlier to run some apartment related errands and decided that it would be the perfect day to finally go to the highly rated Denver location of Voodoo Doughnut on Colfax Avenue.  Voodoo Doughnuts started in Portland, OR and has several shops there.  The Denver location is their first expansion outside of Oregon.  While waiting in line (for 20 min) I was checking my instagram feed when I noticed that today happened to be National Doughnut Day! Crazy coincidence, no?



Anyways, I needed the 20 minutes in line to decide on which doughnuts to get.  They have SO many options (even when they ran out of all of the cake doughnuts).   I was entranced by the cereal coated choices as well as their crazy variety of jelly filled. 


In the end I went for more traditional doughnuts.  I choose the Colfax Creme, Portland Creme, the Voodoo, Chocolate Ring, the Classic Glaze, and the daily special the Homer (a doughnut with vanilla pink icing and sprinkles like in the Simpsons).  Absolutely amazing.  I can understand the hype surrounding this amazing doughnut shop.  Plus I love their signature pink boxes.


Things to remember when visiting Voodoo Doughnut- don't go when you are in a hurry, it's cash only BUT they do have an ATM, and don't park in the lot behind the building or you'll get towed or ticketed.  Oh, and it's open 24/7.

I love stumbling upon an amazing restaurant.  Last year my mom, step-dad, and I had just finished the Walk to End Alzheimer's in City Park and were looking for a great place for brunch.  By sheer luck we ended up at Trattoria Stella.  I'm glad we did because our brunch was one of the best brunches I have ever had.  Since that memorable meal, I've been meaning to go back and take Steve with me.  Yesterday we were in the area looking for apartments and decided to stop by for lunch. Oh my god, best decision ever.  It took us a solid 15 minutes to decide what to order.  Based on our waiter's recommendation, I ordered the fried green tomato sandwich and the house salad with an orange fennel dressing.  




The space is warm and inviting too.  The outdoor patio is perfect for people watching and enjoying the Colorado spring weather (70 degrees and sunny!)  When Steve and I move to Capitol Hill, City Park West, or Cheesman Park, I have a feeling we'll be visiting Trattoria Stella more frequently.