Nick’s Mom’s Meat!

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021 spodalicious on the stove beef

When Pam and Mary and I went with Nick to his parents’ house for Sauce Day last year (we had an awesome day turning many, many, many pounds of tomatoes into many, many, many jars of tomato sauce), one of the things Nick was excited about was a delicious lunch featuring a dish his mom makes with beef cutlets and vinegar.

He had really talked this up — especially the part about it being even better the second day. And then, of course, he forgot to tell her ahead of time that he’d promised us this special meal. Luckily for him, his mom had everything she needed to make it and was a good sport about doing so when put on the spot.

And it was pretty damn delicious the first day!

The version we had for lunch that day had breaded beef cutlets fried and topped with a sauce made from oil, vinegar, garlic, carrots, and onions.

We decided to try to adapt it for Cooking Club because while breading and frying makes things delicious, it didn’t seem totally necessary to get the essence of this meal — which was really in the vinegar (and garlic).

We tried a few different versions and were very pleased with how it came out!

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Instant Pot Greek Lemon Chicken and Orzo Soup

December 23, 2020 spodalicious Uncategorized

Well. It’s been an embarrassingly long time since I updated this website — more than two years?! OY.

But I got so many requests for this recipe after trying it out in our last Cooking Club that I had to figure out how to login and post again.

We gave this soup a go because one of our friends made a special request. I’ve had this recipe pinned for quite awhile, but, hadn’t tried it yet.

Of course, I had to do my thing and add more protein and make it as simple as possible.

Here you go!

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Soy Ginger Pulled Pork

July 10, 2018August 13, 2020 spodalicious Instant Pot pork

So, this was a happy accident…

The plan was to make plain old BBQ Pulled Pork for Cooking Club. Super easy, super tasty… but NOT super fast. It takes hours in the slow cooker and is one recipe I always start way before Cooking Club begin.

Unfortunately, there were issues with my grocery delivery and the pork didn’t arrive until after Cooking Club started, which meant we had no time for the slow cooker.

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Cheesy Egg Casserole

July 2, 2018July 3, 2018 spodalicious in the oven eggs

When you’re trying to rush out the door or steal every possible moment in your bed or shower instead of in the kitchen, a healthy breakfast can be a challenge. One of the most frequest requests I get is for easy breakfasts that can be prepped ahead of time.

We’ve tried a few different variations over the years in Cooking Club and I have to admit that while I’d eat the various egg dishes we made (and I even posted one recipe here a few years ago), I wasn’t in love with any of them. The texture after a day or two just turned me off.

I think we’ve finally come up with the winner! Continue reading →

Thai Chicken with Noodles and Snowpeas (Instant Pot)

April 10, 2018April 10, 2018 spodalicious Instant Pot chicken

I’m trying to up my photo game… what do you think? 😉

I was so pleased with how this recipe came out! I love noodles with a peanut butter-based sauce and am always on the lookout for a recipe that is macro-friendly. I started with this awesome recipe from The Creative Bite and modified it to add more protein (as always ;)), decrease the noodles, bulk up the veggies, and bring the fat down by swapping in PB2 for the peanut butter.

I’ve got a few Instant Pot recipes that I make that have turned into multi-pot recipes because of how much I make and needing to brown or saute meat on the stovetop, but aside from the sauce, this one is just the Instant Pot, which I also like.
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Deconstructed Egg Roll

January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 spodalicious on the stove, one pot

I honestly can’t remember how I came across this recipe (probably just browsing around Pinterest), but I was instantly intrigued. I love egg rolls! But they never seem like a very “good” or healthy choice. Much like the Asian Turkey Meatballs from Skinnytaste.com help satisfy a craving for dumplings, I was hoping this recipe might satisfy a craving for egg rolls. Spoiler: it did!

Come to find out from reading the recipe that this dish, also known as “crack slaw” is a *thing* for low carb, keto and paleo diets and there are a multitude of versions of it out there. Of course, I wanted to up the amount of protein in it and add a little more variety by way of some broccoli slaw, so I guess now there’s one more to add to the list. 🙂 Continue reading →

French Onion Penne

January 16, 2018April 29, 2018 spodalicious in the oven, on the stove, pasta vegetarian

I’m super excited to report that we did our first Vegetarian Cooking Club this week and it was a GRAND success! I’d been resistant to doing it because it never felt like there was quite enough interest, but we had a really great group of people who were either vegetarian or just curious about making more vegetarian food and we had an awesome time and cooked some AMAZING food!

This recipe (adapted from this one) was definitely one of the faves of the day, so I wanted to get it posted and shared for anyone who is interested in it. I’m also super psyched that it will be incredibly easy to add chicken and use it for “regular” Cooking Club as well. Continue reading →

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

December 7, 2017 spodalicious Instant Pot, on the stove casserole

This recipe is really hard to post because I seem to make it differently every time. It’s also practially impossible to know how big a spaghetti squash you’re going to get (I order online) so I’m always playing it by ear a little. The truth is you can modify this and play with it and chances are it will still turn out deliciously. I’m mostly posting it to have something to Pin to my Cooking Club Pinterest so people know what we’re actually making when we plan instead of pinning someone else’s recipe as a placeholder.

In other words… either be prepared to play with this and take your chances a little or skip it and try something else. 😉 Continue reading →

Chicken Saag

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 spodalicious slow cooker chicken, vegetarian

It’s really hard to get a good/appetizing picture of this dish… but it’s SO GOOD.

I love Saag Paneer. It’s what I always order when I get Indian food. But my roommate’s been on a Chicken Saag kick (I actually don’t know if it should be Chicken Saag or Saag Chicken?) and I finally realized that a) that should be pretty easy to make and b) it would be awesome for Cooking Club!

I googled and looked at a bunch of recipes and ultimately started with this one and went from there.

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Chicken and Corn Chowder

September 26, 2017October 31, 2017 spodalicious Instant Pot, slow cooker chicken, soup

This recipe came about because of new toys in the kitchen and a trip to Utah.

When I was visiting my mom and stepdad in Utah this summer, we had dinner at the St. Regis in Deer Valley and while everything was delicious, the thing that stood out the most was a corn chowder. And it was extra amazing because it was dairy-free. No cream, but smooth as silk.

I was convinced I could make something similar (but with MOAR PROTEIN!) and wanted to figure out how to do it with my Instant Pot and my immersion blender. Continue reading →