What Katie Cooks

My favorite way to cook at home is to grab anything I have on hand and use my imagination to turn it into a delicious, cohesive meal. I mean, a wonderful meal doesn't have to be overly complicated and stressful. I've decided to start sharing some of our dinners here on the blog in a little series I've come up with called "What Katie Cooks". My goal is to help spark ideas for meals in your own home. You'll probably notice that we eat a vegetarian or pescatarian diet at home depending on the meal, but you can always sub whatever proteins you prefer.

Okay, so let's talk about the dish above. It's SO SIMPLE. But what is it?

*Sautéed kale in olive oil
*Fresh green beans cooked in a skillet with liquid aminos
*Crispy chickpeas with salt, pepper, a bit of yellow curry powder, and nutritional yeast
*Chilled rice noodles
*Cilantro, avocado yogurt dressing

I'm not all about heavy foods or overly hot meals in the summer, so the chilled noodles and cold dipping sauce make this dinner work for me. The sweetness and tanginess of the yogurt dressing compliments the saltiness of the chickpeas and green beans so nicely.


Oh, man- these stuffed peppers were something else. Plus, this is mostly a one skillet meal, so it's fast and easy!

What's in it?

*Cooked organic quinoa
*Black beans
*Corn
*Onions
*Kale
*Frozen pineapple
*Fresh cilantro

Put all of that in a skillet and throw in some garlic and cumin to taste. Once you like it, pull your roasted peppers out and stuff them full! We upped the meal by grabbing some amazing pico de gallo and fried guacamole from a Peruvian/Mexican fusion restaurant that's just right up the street from us. Oh, and hot sauce is always a bonus!


I'm a huge sucker for two things: roasted cauliflower and cilantro on/in everything. As I post recipes over the next few months, you'll probably see quite a bit of both.

What is it?

*Roasted cauliflower with a generous amount of pepper
*Sautéed red and green peppers and onions
*Black beans seasoned with garlic, pepper, and cumin
*Smashed avocado (hiding underneath- I find it helps the corn tortillas from breaking as quickly)
*Fresh cilantro
*Warm corn tortillas

The nice part about tacos is you can feed a family with varied tastes just by doing a taco bar and letting them choose. Sometimes we throw in veggie taco meat or turn this into a giant salad with salsa as the dressing. So many possibilities!

I hope something in this post inspires your dinner ideas! These are just iPhone photos I have taken over the last several weeks so I can keep a log for when I'm feeling stumped about dinner. I'm guessing that as I stick with this, I'll probably have to break out the big camera and embrace my inner wannabe food blogger. 😉