Roast Garlic in the oven following these simple steps for a caramelized, earthy, sweet, and buttery bite. Use this irresistible garlic confit to spread on bread or to cook amazing dishes.
Continue reading “Oven Roasted Garlic Confit”
These Cauliflower Steaks with Hummus Dressing are simply seasoned with a balsamic marinade and making them absolutely delicious. Tender and packed with flavor, the pomegranates add a but of crunch, the hummus adds a bit of tang. It makes the perfect vegetarian meal or side dish.
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A delicious and nutritious Roasted Vegetable Barley Bowl filled with barley, arugula, hummus, a variety of veggies including asparagus and blistered tomatoes, all topped with a sprinkle of chili flakes for just a little heat. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal.
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A simple classic, this slow Roasted Tomato Soup is rich, creamy, and comforting. Made with roasted fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and fresh basil, this tomato soup is full of flavor. Get your grilled cheese ready because this recipe will have you praying for a rainy day and savoring every element of the season.
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The year 2022 has been very eventful for us. We’ve had lots of travel, covid, a kitchen renovation, and so much more. Crafting and creating has been challenging but fun nonetheless in all of these environs. So here are my top 15 recipes that were the most popular this past year. I’m so happy you enjoyed them as much as me!
I wish all of you a healthy and Happy New Year as you read the top 15 from this year based on reader reviews and responses. I hope to continue growing and sharing my love of cooking with you in 2023. Here are the top 15 recipes of 2022.
Sprouted Moong Beans Sabzi Gujarati Style
Growing up, my Mom would make Moong Bean Sprouts Sabzi often. My brother and I weren’t the biggest fans (though a big part was that we wanted American food like the rest of our friends, not DBRS (Dar Bhaat Rotli Shaak) everyday.
Now as an adult, I see that Mom was making one of the healthiest plant proteins out there to make sure her kids got their nutrition. And now I’m doing the same. Maybe not as a child, but definitely as an adult I love this sabzi. Super simple to make, in less than 10 minutes, a depth of flavor from various spices, and packed with a powerhouse of nutrients, it’s a win win!
Pistachio Pudding Bundt Cake
A simple bundt cake that is moist, light, fluffy, and a little crunchy. Fresh ground pistachios in the cake with some more drizzled over the top of a beautiful sugar glaze, this Pistachio Pudding Bundt Cake is beautiful to look at and divine to eat.
Roasted Rainbow Veggies
Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to eat any vegetable. Having several different colors and cooking them together is the best in my book! You get plenty of vitamins and minerals and the different colors are just so pretty to look at! These Roasted Rainbow Veggies are the perfect way to serve your veggies for adults and kids, making them fun, easy, and healthy.
Mango Lassi Loaf Cake
Light, moist, and elegant loaf that tastes like Mango Lassi and is made without butter and eggs.
Lemon Chickpea Orzo Skillet
An effortless one skillet vegan recipe filled with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, chickpeas, spinach, grilled lemon slices, and of course orzo! Simple, healthy ingredients that come together quickly for a perfect weeknight meal, this Lemon Chickpea Orzo Skillet is a dish that everyone can enjoy!
Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl
Crispy, sweet, and salty bites of tofu paired with sauteed bright broccoli on a bed of rice noodles. It can’t get any better than this. Filled with protein, this Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl is perfect for a weeknight dinner or lunch prep.
Blackened Fish Tacos with a Garlic Sriracha Aioli
BBQ season is for grilling and though I love making the traditional burgers and hot dogs, I wanted to get away from the usual and do something different. These Blackened Fish Tacos are perfect with a Garlic Sriracha Aioli. A flavorful rub, crunchy carrot and cabbage slaw, the aioli to cool things down a bit and the jalapeños to add just a kick at the end of each bite is the perfect summer combination for me.
Couscous Arancini
Arancini is quite possibly one of the best things anyone could have created! Creamy, cheesy, fried balls dipped in warm marinara….yep, definitely calling my name. For a little twist, I used leftover pearl couscous instead of the traditional arborio rice risotto to make these.
Middle Eastern Vegan Protein Bowl
Simple to make and ready in just 30 minutes, this Middle Eastern Vegan Protein Bowl has everything to make your belly happy! Hint of tangy, spicy, herby, crunchy, and creamy, I love every bite I take! Filled with almost 20gm protein, 50% of your daily recommended fiber, and 40% of daily recommended iron, it is one of the most nutrient dense meals out there! Side benefit, you get 4 different colors of veggies in 1 meal!
Rainbow Farro Salad
I love eating in color and this gorgeous Rainbow Farro Salad has an abundance of it. Vivacious and crunchy purple cabbage, bright red bell pepper, pretty yellow cauliflower, tangy feta, earthy dill, and so much more. All of this drizzled with just enough olive oil and lemon juice to bring it all together so beautifully that each bite has you saying Mmmmmmmm.
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
Grain-free, gluten-free, and vegan, these chickpea chocolate chip cookies are out of this world. Pillowy soft, fluffy, sweet, melt in your mouth, chunky chocolate chip cookies.
Rose Pistachio Ice Cream
Creamy, luscious, velvety, and decadent, this delicious Rose Pistachio Ice Cream is sure to make you smile in satisfaction. Bonus, it requires no cooking and no churning! It has become my new obsession and I’m sure it will become yours too!
Rosemary Olive Artisan Bread
Rosemary Olive Artisan Bread has a beautiful crust with a chewy inside filled with olives and fresh rosemary. It is easy to make because there is no kneading required. The scent and taste of warm bread and the ease of this recipe will want you making this bread over and over again.
Creamy White Bean Soup with Spinach
What is more comforting than a hot bowl of bean soup on chilly winter days? This quick recipe will have you feeling warm in no time. It’s also great for preparing large quantities so everyone can enjoy it! Nutrient dense and full of fiber, each bowl is also filled with 15gm protein!
Almond Butter Muffins
These healthy almond butter muffins are the perfect tasty treat. They are ideal to add in the lunchbox for a snack or dessert, or even to eat for breakfast. Each muffin is so soft, fluffy, and creamy all at the same time that I have to try not to gobble them down myself!
Thank you so much for making 2022 so special for me. I have enjoyed and embraced cooking for you. Which recipes have you tried? Feel free to leave comments below, or tag me with your pictures on Facebook or Instagram.
An effortless one skillet vegan recipe filled with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, chickpeas, spinach, grilled lemon slices, and of course orzo! Simple, healthy ingredients that come together quickly for a perfect weeknight meal, this Lemon Chickpea Orzo Skillet is a dish that everyone can enjoy!
Continue reading “Lemon Chickpea Orzo Skillet”
Thick and creamy chia pudding layered with shredded coconut, mango chunks, and roasted pistachios. The fresh tropical flavors for a healthy breakfast will become your favorite way to start the day!
Continue reading “Mango Coconut Chia Pudding”
Crispy, sweet, and salty bites of tofu paired with sauteed bright broccoli on a bed of rice noodles. It can’t get any better than this. Filled with protein, this Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl is perfect for a weeknight dinner or lunch prep.
Continue reading “Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl”
These healthy almond butter muffins are the perfect tasty treat. They are perfect to add in the lunchbox for a snack or dessert, or even to eat for breakfast.
Continue reading “Almond Butter Muffins”
This Dragon fruit Smoothie Bowl is a beautiful, quick, and easy tropical breakfast recipe! Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is nutrient dense food packed with antioxidants, low calories making it a great option for vegan and paleo diets. Made with just 3 ingredients, dragon fruit, mango, and coconut water, add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
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This Creamy Vegan White Bean Soup is a healthy one-pot soup that will fill you up, give you energy, and is full of flavor!
Continue reading “Creamy White Bean Soup with Spinach”
The perfect afternoon snack with your cup of coffee or chai. Soft and moist muffins filled with pumpkin flavor and loaded with chai spices, this muffin is sure to be your new fall favorite.
Continue reading “Chai Spice Pumpkin Muffins”
Flavorful, satisfying, and addictive, these shishito peppers are simple to make with 3 ingredients and very healthy!
Continue reading “Blistered Shishito Peppers”
Delicious, easy, and filling tacos that are warm and crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
Continue reading “Crispy Black Bean Tacos”
Fresh and beautiful veggies from across the rainbow to make amazing salads are my favorite. This Quinoa Fiesta Salad is one of my family’s favorites. As a mom, it makes me happy that the girls are getting so much nutrition in one bowl. The kids look at the colors and get excited to eat a rainbow and I love that they are enjoying fresh and healthy ingredients!
This salad does triple duty which I love. A dish which becomes a meatless entree can also serve as a side dish or a salad depending on my mood. The cherry on top of this recipe is that it takes less than 30 minutes to make and is very forgiving if you need to substitute or leave out ingredients.
HOW DO I MAKE A QUINOA FIESTA SALAD?
1. Cook the quinoa. While the quinoa is cooking, you can get the dressing and your other ingredients ready!
2. Make the Cilantro Lime Dressing. I love this dressing because it is so light. If you choose to leave it out as I do for my girls, simply replace it with a drizzle of Olive Oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. Combine all of your ingredients in a large bowl and toss well to mix.
4. Enjoy and get addicted to this salad as much as my family and I are!
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
This chickpea salad is a refreshing summer salad filled with fresh produce. It tastes great served as a side salad or your main lunch meal. Best of all, you don’t need to make a special dressing for this salad.
Continue reading “Chickpea Avocado Salad”
As I raise my girls, it has become very important to me that they keep connected to their roots and one of the ways I do this is through food. Lucky for me, they both love the typical comfort food fare of “Dal Chawal” or Lentils and Rice. A twist on the traditional Moong Dal Fry, this recipe adds zucchini and is low in calorie but nutrient dense.
Ready in just 15 minutes, this has become my latest go to recipe when I’m tight on time. Because moong dal cooks very quickly, I don’t soak them for more than 20 minutes.
Nutrition is also very important when I’m serving this dish as a main meal to the girls, and this dish doesn’t disappoint.
1 cup of zucchini moong dal gives you:
As to cooking it over the stove versus the instant pot, traditionally, the dal was boiled first then added to the spices. I love just using one pot to make the whole dish so I usually add the uncooked dal into the spices/gravy mix then cook it in the instant pot.
I hope you get a chance to try out this delicious recipe and enjoy it as much as my family does.
Looking for more lentil/dal recipes? I’ve got you covered. Check out some of these amazing dishes:
Sprouted Moong Beans Sabzi Gujarati Style
Spinach Dal
Instant Pot Kali Dal
Adai Waffles / Lentil Waffles
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
One of my favorite times of the year is the spring when the Farmer’s Market starts to get bigger with more and more farmers who start to bring a larger variety of produce and goodies. I’ve mentioned in the past that I like to make a menu for the week (more so my kids don’t complain they want something else than what is served), but what I haven’t mentioned is how I love going to the Farmer’s Market to do my weekly produce shopping. Sometimes, I will even tailor some of my dishes to include produce I find at the Market.
Recently, I partnered with our local Farmer’s Market (Danville Farmer’s Market) and I will be creating recipes for them a few times a month in the hopes that I can bring awareness to locally farmed produce at all of our farmer’s market. Having fresh, organic produce and supporting the local farms is a win-win.
This Spring Crudites Platter is so beautiful, we all had a bit of hard time digging in. No one wanted to mess it up. Ah well, our stomachs won that round. The beauty of this platter is that you are not restricted to the same produce I picked up. Pick up what your farmer’s market has, just make it colorful.
Here is what I used:
As for the hummus, I chose purple sweet potato and red beets to be the base of each hummus. For the Red Beets, I roasted it with garlic, then pulsed it with a little tahini and a few other ingredients. This is by far one of my favorite variations on hummus. Paired with all that beautiful produce, it’s perfect!
For the Purple Sweet Potato, I baked it in the oven then pulsed it with tahini as well. Though the idea behind both hummus’ are the same, the flavor profile differ vastly. Yet both are addicting.
I hope you have a chance to make a beautiful Spring Crudites Platter like this for your next gathering. I promise you will love it.
Try it out and let me know what you think!
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
If you are looking for more delicious recipes, check these out:
Roasted Masala Chickpeas
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Spicy Garlic Hummus
Crispy Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Tacos
Naturally gluten-free, chewy a crisp exterior, these Vegan Amaretti Cookies are a delicious treat to have with your afternoon coffee, or to pack in a holiday tin, or to simple devour like I tend to.
Continue reading “Vegan Amaretti Cookies”
If I had to choose any other fruit besides mango, figs would definitely take second place. The soft exterior, the honey sweet flesh, and the crunch of the seeds as you eat each one is just heaven. Pair it with chia pudding topped with fresh baked granola and garnished with a sprig of mint, well, you just won’t want anything else for breakfast!
Continue reading “Fig and Chia Pudding Parfait”
Crunchy, creamy, spicy, tangy, with just a hint of sweet, these Guacamole Chaat Tostadas are the perfect marriage between Indian and Mexican cuisine!
Continue reading “Guacamole Chaat Tostadas”
A DECADENT Date Smoothie that is creamy, healthy, naturally sweetened and vegan!
Continue reading “Date Smoothie”
This one pan salmon is perfect for a busy weeknight meal. Ready in 15 minutes, it’s a nutritious meal the whole family will enjoy!
I love the idea of using just one pot or a pan. Not only is cleanup easy but you don’t spend forever in the kitchen cooking after a long hard day of work. Don’t get me wrong, the kitchen is my happy place. But weeknights are crazy when the kids are hungry and don’t have the patience to wait for me to cook an elaborate dinner.
My favorite part is that the girls eat the rainbow veggies I add on the side. The colors look so pretty and the girls love their rainbows as much as I do. Chopping the veggies and seasoning them doesn’t take very long and adding that glaze on the salmon with a little honey and mustard mix is perfect to brighten up the salmon.
I kept the seasoning for the veggies pretty simple – salt, pepper, and a little dried oregano. Why? Because I want the salmon to shine too. The veggies have their color that attracts you to them so the salmon should have something too, right? The glaze is very easy to make. Just mix a little dijon mustard, honey, garlic, and of course fresh squeezed lemon juice. Brush it on to the salmon and voila! All that is left to do is bake!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy this easy and delicious One Pan Salmon with Rainbow Veggies!
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
Sweet, crunchy, nutty, and deliciously addicting! This Crunchy Granola has it all and it is so quick and easy to make! Add it to your yogurt, cereal or eat it for a snack. It also makes a great gift!
I’ve got this friend Michelle. She is one the most amazing moms I know. She and I are workout buddies, lunch wine partners, we turn to each other when our children worry or frustrate us, and she’s who I bounce my recipes off of all the time. Between our busy schedules, toddler/kid tantrums, and crazy lives whilst dealing with Covid, somehow we always find time to talk about food.
Whether we discuss what’s for dinner, ordering out, trying to find ways to get our kids to eat breakfast in a decent amount of time that is faster than a snail’s pace, food always makes its way into our daily conversations.
Several years ago, I had hosted an Easter Egg hunt and brunch potluck. Michelle was kind enough to volunteer to make some granola. Before this, I never thought to make granola at home, we always bought it. Man it was good.
At that time, my oldest was not really fond of eating granola. At another time, we were invited over to their place for brunch and sure enough there was granola. Michelle’s daughter Eleanor called it crunch-crunch and of course, in toddler language, that was good enough for Sanaya to start eating granola.
This crunchy granola recipe is in honor of Michelle and Eleanor who introduced homemade granola to my family after which we have never turned back to store bought. It is especially a nod of thank you and love to Eleanor’s love of crunch-crunch.
WHAT MAKES THIS GRANOLA SO CRUNCHY?
I’ve recently learned a secret during my experiments in the kitchen. If I melt the maple syrup and olive oil together for a couple of minutes. Once I’ve added this to the granola mix and it starts to cool down, the maple syrup starts to coagulate. As this heats and cools during the baking process, it will help the granola harden into one large chunk which you can then break into pieces.
WHAT MAKES THIS SO SPECIAL?
The simplicity of this granola I think is what I love best. It literally takes me 3 minutes to combine all the dry ingredients, another 3 minutes to heat up the syrup and oil and add it to the granola mix. After that, basically a waiting game for the granola to cook and cool down enough so we all can eat it without burning our mouths.
I always use coconut in my granola – it’s a staple I don’t think I can live without in my granola. As for the nuts, I chose to use almond slivers and pistachios. I kept the pistachios whole for an added crunch and they taste SO good roasted. You can easily give them a rough chop if you have little ones who are not able to have whole nuts just yet.
Well… what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Try this recipe and get hooked like we have!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy this deliciously Simple Homemade Crunchy Granola.
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
Roasting vegetables is one of my favorite ways to eat any vegetable. Having several different colors and cooking them together is the best in my book! You get plenty of vitamins and minerals and the different colors are just so pretty to look at! These Roasted Rainbow Veggies are the perfect way to serve your veggies for adults and kids, making them fun, easy, and healthy.
Rainbows have always been popular in our home, with me always telling my girls to eat their colors and the girls loving anything to do with rainbows, unicorns, and princesses. Roasting the veggies in a rainbow on a sheet pan is about the easiest recipe I have ever made. The vast array of vitamins and minerals that we get to eat with our dinner makes this one of my healthiest recipes.
For my colors, I chose beets, carrots, yellow squash, asparagus, and purple potato. You don’t have to stick to those same colors. Honestly, go for what you find in your fridge. Here are a few ideas to get you started for your own Roasted Rainbow Veggies:
RED: beets, tomatoes, red bell pepper
ORANGE: carrots, butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin
YELLOW: yellow squash, yellow bell pepper, golden beets, yellow onions
GREEN: zucchini, broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts
BLUE/PURPLE: purple sweet potatoes, purple carrots, eggplant, purple onions
So now that you have options, how do you make your own Roasted Rainbow Veggies? All you need is a good chopping board, a sharp knife, and a sheet pan. As to the flavors, my standard is to add a little dried oregano for taste with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes (times do vary based on the type of veggies you choose), and serve it up with any dinner.
I can’t wait to see what veggies you chose to make your rainbow. Be sure to let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram or Facebook!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy these quick, delicious, and healthy Roasted Rainbow Veggies!
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
If you have been following me then you know how much I love my bowls. Experimenting with different flavor profiles, playing around with new dressings, and oftentimes using whatever vegetables are left in the fridge waiting to be saved from their last moments are the best part of creating my new bowl.
My brussels sprouts were facing a similar fate as mentioned above. I had enough left that I could create a whole new dish with just them, but so few that I didn’t want to waste them either. Grain bowls are perfect for these types of situations especially if you are using a variety of different ingredients.
This one turned out so delicious that I actually went out and bought more brussels sprouts even though I am trying to move on to spring veggies! We’ve now had this bowl 4 times in the last 2 weeks and no one in my household minds – in fact, they love it !
I added in some sweet potato for a little starch, sweetness, and fiber, and avocado for protein. As for the dressing, keeping it simple was the best route. I made a honey dijon dressing that worked wonders. The tang from the dijon and the sweet honey are a perfect balance to the bowl.
So…what are you waiting for? Try this delicious Brussels Sprouts Grain Bowl and become a fan too!
Here are the tools I used for this recipe:
Growing up, my Mom would make these sprouted moong beans for dinner often. I remember my brother and I were not big fans and would hate eating them. Now that I’m an adult, maybe a switch has flipped? I don’t know but I definitely love this recipe and could easily eat this dish 2-3 times a week. Thanks Mom!
WHAT ARE SPROUTED MOONG BEANS?
Sprouted moong beans are basically moong beans that have been soaked in water then left in a warm place to germinate. They are very popular in Indian and Pakistani cooking though many people across the globe are starting to embrace this food more and more.
Some of the more popular ways to eat sprouted moong beans is to add them in to salads and sandwiches, however, some of the more traditional ways to make them is to make a curry, a sabzi, and even dosas out of these delicious babies.
WHY SHOULD I EAT SPROUTED MOONG BEANS?
Because they are a powerhouse of nutrients. These legumes are one of the best sources of plant based protein providing ~14gm in 1 cup cooked. Take a look at some of these other benefits:
WHERE CAN I GET SPROUTED MOONG BEANS?
Moong Beans are easy to sprout at home (I love this method provided by Piping Pot Curry) or you can find them at your local Indian or Asian grocery store.
So now that you know what I know about these delicious and nutritious legumes, let me tell you how to make them. This particular recipe is my mom’s (I’ve not made a single change to it because it’s so perfect the way it is!) and I love the simplicity of it as it carries a depth of flavor too.
There are two methods of making this dish. One is in the instant pot and the other over the stove. I’ve given both versions in the recipe card below so feel free to try both to see which you prefer!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy these Sprouted Moong Beans as much as we do!
Here are the tools I used to make this recipe:
I love potatoes. In any form. I don’t discriminate. They are just so uber delicious. But so unhealthy! Ugh! I wish I could eat them all the time. However…… the few times that I do have them, I make sure they count!
I started making these potato wedges years back (in the oven as I didn’t have an air fryer then) and to this day, they are still a no fail recipe that I can always count on! I do love the fact that they are crispier on the outside while retaining a soft, creamy inside. If you don’t have an air fryer, don’t fret! The oven still does a great job cooking these babies!
It’s an extremely simple recipe that doesn’t require much. This is all you need:
These potato wedges are a favorite among everyone in the house from the kiddos to the adults, you just can’t go wrong. Eat them for a snack, a side dish for meats, have part of your next BBQ, an app at a party, pretty much for any occasion, big or small.
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy these Herbed Potato Wedges!
The tools that I used to create this dish are:
The year was 2013, I had been married only a couple of months and was hosting this grand Thanksgiving for my in-laws. My mother-in-law is vegetarian as am I and so I wanted something special for a veggie dish at the table instead of roasted veggies.
No offense to roasted veggies, I love them. In fact I eat them all the time and therein lies the problem. I wanted something “fancy”, something different that I don’t have on any given night.
So I scoured the internet and landed upon this gorgeous picture of Ratatouille and thought, I can make this! And I did. It didn’t look so pretty but hey, that’s ok, I hoped it would taste delicious though. It was bland. There literally was no flavor profile to it and safe to say, both my mother-in-law and I were disappointed.
She was nice enough to pretend it was good but I couldn’t even do that!
So ever since, I’ve been on a mission to create a Ratatouille that has layers and dimensions of flavor. Safe to say, I think I found it!
Here’s the secret!
I have been playing with the recipe for a while now and when I made the final version, I was satisfied aesthetically. The question was, would my girls eat the eggplant in it?
Recently, they’ve become very finicky eaters and it can be a real struggle to feed them even their favorite foods sometimes. But they both ate all the veggies and I couldn’t have been a prouder Mama!
Try this out for your next Holiday dinner, weeknight surprise, or Sunday dinner. It’s easy to make ahead, stores in the fridge and freezer well and is fairly simple to make!
From my kitchen to yours, I hope you enjoy this delicious Ratatouille!
The tools that I used to make this recipe are:
This orzo is creamy, spicy, and full of flavor. I love orzo but wanted to do something different than the standard mediterranean orzo salad I have (which is delicious by the way!) so I decided to play around with it. And boy am I glad I did!
Fennel has a delicious licorice taste without being so powerful and combining it with the onions and caramelizing them was just the perfect way to give this orzo a sweet flavor to balance the spice.
I did top this with a piece of chicken for the husband but you can make it vegan by omitting the chicken! So easy to make it work either ways.
If you do use the chicken, you can either bake one if you have the time or use a rotisserie chicken as a hack to cut the time.
Perfect for the upcoming autumn season, try this delicious bowl of orzo and bring a little sweet and spicy to your soul!
From my kitchen to yours, enjoy!
