Diet Friendly Fast Food

This week my nephew and cooking assistant Jake were working on a new vegetarian casserole when Jake remarked again how much he liked the new square casserole dish I bought a few months ago.  And since I am also crazy over this handy glass baking dish, I decided it was worthy to be recommended as a Kalyn's Kitchen Pick (and even as a possible holiday gift for any foodies you might have on your list.)  I originally got the dish with a certain recipe in mind, but since then it's almost the only casserole dish I've used, and I like it so much I recently bought a second one!

When you need some healthier comfort food, this delicious Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce can come in handy.

December has to be the month of comfort food, wouldn't you agree?  And one of my favorite ingredients to make healthier comfort foods is this Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce.  (And Kudos to this company for having a gluten-free variety of their delicious sauce and clearly labeling the can so people will notice it comes in gluten-free.)  When I posted the recipe for Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowls recently, I mentioned how I have been a bit obsessed with this sauce, and after I counted up how many recipes I've used it in, I decided it's time to officially designate this as one of my Kalyn's Kitchen Picks!

How do you feel about Quinoa?  First of all, it's pronounced keen-wah, just in case you're not that familiar with this little seed that's cooked like rice and eaten as a grain.  Quinoa has become increasingly popular over the last few years, partly because it's high in protein and gluten-free and partly because it's tasty and can be used in a variety of ways.

I confess, I was a little slow to embrace Quinoa, and it was only when my Costco started carrying this huge bag of True Roots Organic Quinoa and I suddenly had 4 pounds of quinoa in the freezer that I started experimenting with it regularly.  Since then I've come to love quinoa as a side dish or the base for a salad, and I've gone through several of these big bags since I first bought one.  When I bought another one recently (for $9.99; what a bargain!) I decided it was time to add this product to my list of Kalyn's Kitchen Picks, where I spotlight things I love and happily buy over and over.  If I've convinced you to try quinoa, or just to eat it more often, keep reading to see some of my personal favorite recipes using it, plus more quinoa recipes from my food blogging friends.