Cooking from Blogs : Love + Lemons

Hi everyone and Happy Monday! Today I'm going to be starting a new series I'm calling "Cooking from Blogs". With it being a new year, a lot of people (including me) are trying to cook more at home to save money and eat healthier! To help inspire myself- I've been pinning recipes from blogs like crazy. The only thing is, I end up not making the majority of these recipes, go back to recipes I've made hundreds of times before, and before long am buying veggie lo mein or pizza because I have nothing to eat at home!

So- to help inspire myself (and hopefully a few of you!) I'll be trying out a full day of recipes from some of my favorite blogs, as well as a few new ones that I've recently discovered! Up first is Love + Lemons, which was recommended by my friend Alexa (spoiler alert- I'll be covering her blog in a future post!). After hearing her rave about this blog, I had to try it out. Here's how the day of eats went.



Breakfast : Overnight Oats with Blueberry Chia Jam

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I love making overnight oats for work- they're simple to prepare, can be customized based on what you feel like eating, and can be made for really cheap. I was excited to try this recipe since I've never made my own jam before, and it seemed like a fun version!

It was an easy recipe to follow, and I really liked it after making a few adjustments. For one- I layered the oats and jam instead of just doing all the oats in the bottom and the jam/blueberries at the top. This made everything more flavorful and made sure I got lots of blueberry flavor in every bite! I also added peanut butter and chia seeds with the oats to help thicken it up.

Rating : 4/5. With a few adjustments I really enjoyed it, and can picture remixing this recipe in the future.



Lunch : Taco Salad

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I'm not typically a salad person for lunch, but this recipe really intrigued me! I was curious how the mushroom "taco meat" would be, and the bright photos immediately caught my eye (side note- HOW do food bloggers take such amazing pictures? What a skill!).

I really liked this salad, and happily ate it all week! Not only was it easy to make and prep for the entire week (my favorite), but it also kept me full until I went home. There was also so much flavor and different textures going on which made it fun to eat. Definite winner!

Rating : 5/5, no complaints! Loved this and will remake in the future.

Dinner : Rosemary Focaccia Bread, Kale Salad, Cauliflower Soup

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One part of this blog that I really like is how the author includes serving suggestions for most of the recipes. Sometimes I want to make a few things, but don't really feel like digging around to find complementary recipes. Here, it's all laid out! After finding a delicious bread recipe, I went down a rabbit hole and paired it with a simple soup and hearty salad.  

First up- the bread. I've made bread multiple times before, but never had a focaccia turn out well. This recipe was really easy to follow and turned out super well! I like the suggestions on using different toppings (how good does sundried tomato sound?), especially because I found the base recipe a tiny bit bland.

Rating : 4/5. Great texture, but want to play around with other toppings.

Next - I made the kale salad. Even though there aren't a ton of ingredients, this was full of great flavor and texture. The dressing was SO good and I'm looking forward to using it in the future, maybe adding in miso or tahini to make it even more smooth and delicious! I was able to use the leftovers for lunch, and since kale is such a hearty green it held up really well.

Rating :  5/5! Will definitely keep this in my repertoire and LOVE the dressing.

Finally - the soup! This was supposed to be the star of the show, but it was a bit of a letdown to me. It didn't taste bad, but it was just kind of blah. I saw a recipe to make rosemary oil (blend oil and rosemary..so simple), and I'm hoping adding a touch of that will take it up a few notches! It did serve as a good complement to everything else though, so I guess as a meal it worked but might be unremarkable by itself.

Rating : 3.5/5. Nothing too special, but easy to make and a good side soup.

What are your favorite food blogs?
Do you have any goals for the new year?