What's Cooking? Sunday Soups and Muffins & Monday Asian Inspired

I love cooking. Maybe even more than cooking, I love browsing recipes and altering them ever-so-slightly to make them my own.

Over the past few days, I've been cooking up a mini-storm!

Sunday, I started with something I've been dying to make for months - thai chicken soup! For the most part, I followed this recipe from the Food Network, though I did make a few subtle changes. For one, I used jalapenos instead of Thai chiles, only because I couldn't find any of those. Secondly, I used less fish sauce (not a huge fan...) and a little extra ginger, garlic, lemongrass and lime leaves. My poor husband isn't a huge citrus fan, so he thought I went a little overboard, but I thought it was just right!

Photo courtesy MyRecipes.com

Next, I made some pumpkin spice muffins - easiest recipe ever! (But of course, I tweaked a few things!)

I took a box of spice cake mix and added 1 can of pumpkin, 2 eggs, a little vanilla almond milk, chia seeds and flax meal. I popped them into a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes. That's it! They were moist (a little sticky, actually, but in a good way), and so flavorful! Definitely a hit in the office.

Photo courtesy Laurelism

To start off the week right, I made a light and super tasty Meatless Monday night dinner (does fish count??)!

We had salmon lightly marinated in a teriyaki glaze I picked up at HMart, our local Asian grocery. I am a strong believer in the high-heat method of cooking salmon - move your oven shelf up toward the top of the oven, pre-heat to 475 degrees, and cook for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your salmon. This is a never-fail recipe for me - it always results in moist, flavorful salmon. 

To go alongside the salmon, I made my favorite soba noodles with peanut sauce - made with PB2! If you haven't tried PB2, you have to! It's powdered peanut butter, essentially dehydrated peanuts in powder form, with all the fat and calories sucked out! Check it out here. Side note: definitely try the chocolate peanut butter, too! It's amazing in a smoothie with a banana and almond milk!

Anyway - back to PB2 peanut sauce.... Mix about 10 tablespoons of PB2 with a small amount of water until it reaches a nice creamy consistency. Add 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 1 tablespoon chili oil, 3-4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds and sliced scallions to your liking. Cook the soba noodles per the instructions on the package and toss with the peanut sauce - ta da! 

To finish off the plate, I sauteed kale with garlic, oil, red hot chili pepper flakes, salt, pepper and lemon. Easy, tasty and full of such good nutrients! Side note: This is also not my husband's favorite meal.... :) Too bad for him because I absolutely love it! 

P.S. Despite this healthy meal, I may have ended the night with a scrumptious lemon-filled donut from the famous Gail Ann's in Arlington! Ooopsies ;)