Leftover Magic: BBQ Brisket

If you’re anything like us, you usually make WAY too much food for important events, holidays and family get-togethers. If you went to our wedding, you’d know this. No one had any room in their stomachs left by the time first dessert was served. Second and third desserts weren’t even touched. I don’t think people even looked at them. For St. Patrick’s Day, we always make far too many corned beefs, and in some cases, we buy so many of them that we don’t even cook some. Either way, whether you have cooked ones sitting in the fridge or uncooked ones, we found a fun way to repurpose them… by making BBQ!

Oct242018

Whole-Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whew, that title is a bit of a mouthful, huh? Well so are these cookies! Though they be small, they are mighty with flavor and warmth! Yes, another pumpkin recipe. And don’t expect it to be the last! Fall is my favorite season of the year, I think, and although Los Angeles isn’t very good at crisp weather, I’m still gonna do the pumpkin up! Whole-wheat pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, here we come! I based this recipe off of Tried and Tasty’s wonderful recipe!

Oct182018

Instant Pot Pumpkin Curry

It’s FALL! Do you know what that means? PUMPKINS, PUMPKIN EVERYTHING. And we thought, with our new little toy called the Instant Pot, that we would make some pumpkin Instant Pot recipes! Although the weather doesn’t get too cool during a Los Angeles October, Hungry and I still enjoy a good curry. So, what was the next natural step? Pumpkin Curry! This recipe is inspired and based off Piping Pot Curry’s recipe. This pumpkin curry is smooth, flavorful, and warm. We served it over brown rice, but you could also serve with any type of rice, naan, or flatbread you desire.

Sep232018

Instant Pot Fish Curry

If you’ve been anywhere near Fit’s social media recently, you’ve noticed she got an Instant Pot for her birthday! She is equally terrified and excited by it. An Instant Pot is basically a pressure cooker. For example, it typically takes 30-50 minutes to cook rice in a traditional rice cooker. With the Instant Pot, it takes four minutes. FOUR MINUTES. WHAT. Yeah. Very exciting. But also terrifying because…explosions. As long as you follow directions, you’ll be fine! So Fit’s been experimenting with it for a bit, and trying different recipes. Using Instant Pot’s included recipe booklet (recipe by Laura Pazzaglia), she made a scrumptious fish curry! I had already made brown rice before and wanted something healthy and flavorful to go with it. What better than wild caught white fish? This curry has a coconut milk base with different flavors like bay leaves and tomatoes to freshen it up.

Remember, with an Instant Pot, follow the directions!

Jun062018

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

What do you do when you have over-ripe bananas to be used? Bake, of course! But what to bake? Normally I would make these sweet banana cookies, but we are all out of oats! So I browsed the internet hard to find me something on the healthier side that featured bananas. And…drum roll, please…I came up with whole-wheat chocolate chip banana bars (found it from a great blogger’s site)! Banana bars? Sound weird? They’re not. It’s basically brownie-shaped banana bread with chocolate chips. Yeah, they’re good. Hungry brought them to work and he got major points from his coworkers.

The texture of the banana bars are cake-like rather than brownie-like, light and fluffy. Some hybrid of banana bread and cake. It’s yum. What makes this recipe healthier? Whole-wheat flour, no butter, and not too much sugar. Yeah, there are chocolate chips in it, but I mean, you got to live a little. Some baking recipes are complicated. This one is not. It’s basically mix together, put into sheet pan, and bake. And you know I love easy recipes. Alright, let’s make these delicious banana bars.

May272018

Easy Mushroom Coconut Curry

Yeah, I’ve been on an Indian food kick lately. I mean, I’m always on one as a consumer, but in the past week, I made three different Indian dishes. Hopefully, you already saw the delightfully easy and delicious naan recipe I put out. And today…I bring you a delicious mushroom coconut curry! I really really enjoyed it. We received Vegetarian India (a cookbook) by Madhur Jaffrey, a well-known Indian chef and cookbook author, as a wedding present. I’m really loving this cookbook and can’t wait to try more from it.

This recipe is based off of her recipe called “Kodava Mushroom Curry with Coconut,” though I deviated quite a bit. Get her cookbook if you want the exact recipe–she’s a genius! Apparently, this dish comes from a more meat-eating region in India and thus she was fascinated by their vegetarian dishes. It’s rich, scrumptious, and filling. She suggests to have it with rice, but we had it with quinoa. I think it would go well with anything–rice, quinoa, naan, paratha, you name it!

May262018

How to Make Naan to Be Proud of

Here at Hungry & Fit, we are BIG Indian food fans. It competes with pizza for our most-delivered food. We love the flavors, the complexity, and the comfort it brings. I’ve always wanted to cook more Indian food since we love it so much, but I was intimidated by the many ingredients you usually need. Naan, however, seemed to have less ingredients and it is probably my favorite “bread” product on the planet. So one day, I find this wonderfully simple naan recipe from Jo Cooks and I committed myself to trying it. I tweaked the recipe slightly because I’m usually too lazy to get the exact ingredients that the original recipe uses. I can proudly say I now know how to make naan!

I was nervous to try it. I’m bad with tedious things and sometimes recipes that call for rolling and cutting dough are just that. I don’t even have a rolling pin! Naan is one of my favorite things to eat and I wanted to do it right. Feeling creative and ambitious one night, I set out to make my very first naan. And guess what, it turned out great if I do say so myself! And don’t be nervous, it’s honestly incredibly simple.

May062018

Easy Overnight Oats

It’s Sunday! What does that mean? Meal prep time! This is when we prep as much food as we can for the week so that being tired and short of time doesn’t force us into making unhealthy decisions. For this week, I’m highlighting easy overnight oats. There’s actually no cooking required in this recipe, just a tiny bit of prep work (and I mean tiny). What are overnight oats? Dry oats that soak and become edible overnight.

This is a healthy recipe (that I adapted and tweaked from Chocolate Covered Katie) that will get your rear into gear during those sleepy struggle mornings. Basically, you’re just stacking ingredients in a mason jar, putting it in the fridge overnight and then eating it the next morning! I love it because when you actually need it, you don’t have to put any work into making it. The mornings are an important part of my day for personal development and productivity so “hacks” like these are vital! I can just go through my normal routine without spending an extra 10-15 minutes prepping breakfast. Weehaw, more productivity time!

May052018

Healthy Enchilada Quinoa Casserole

Last month, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of time with my family in Iowa, although it was for the sad reason of my grandfather’s funeral. Funerals are always difficult, especially of a loved one, but there’s that bright side of family and togetherness that makes it bearable. Every meal time we would gather round the table (there were quite a few of us) and eat and laugh and cry. Definitely healing for the soul, I would say.

It was spending this time together that brought this amazing new recipe into my life: my cousin Molly’s healthy enchilada quinoa casserole. I can’t tell you how much I ate of this dish. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. It was filled with such healthy and yummy goodness that I couldn’t stop. Just something about a warm nourishing dish in the last throes of winter (yeah, we got 7 inches of snow DURING APRIL). The dish focuses on latin flavors while boasting healthy nutrition facts. The base of the dish is quinoa, but so many others are invited to the party: beans, corn, cilantro, avocado and more. As soon as I tasted the menu, I begged her to write up the recipe and send it to me! So this one, folks, is all thanks to Molly!

Apr252018

What Makes Someone a Great Cook?

We VERY recently shared an article about Millennials being useless in the kitchen and provided our opinions! It sparked more discussion than most of our posts on the blog, receiving all kinds of feedback. People are defensive about titles that are given to them and are often willing to prove their worth. A handful of Millennials were adamant that they were capable in the kitchen, but even more fascinating was the confusion that came over the key words used in the article.