Vegan Shepherd's Pie

It was a dark & stormy night and I was craving comfort food. I found a great shepherd's pie recipe from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen and went to work. This recipe makes about three ramekins worth of this hearty and filling dish. The original recipe called for mushrooms - which I was totally out of - so I omitted them, but I do think they'd be an amazing addition. Whatever you do with it, I'm sure it'll be delicious.

Rosemary, Gruyere & Swiss Beer Muffins

I found this amazing recipe from The Beeroness for cheddar beer bread muffins. I am a huge fan of cheddar, but for these muffins, I decided to change course a bit. I bought the beer first, actually, and decided to choose the herbs and cheese around that. I started with Long Trail Brewing Co.'s Ramble. It's a Kolsch "with a hint of lemon and pepper." This sounded amazing and refreshing to me - especially as I am wishing the winter to go away - and I decided to make a lighter savory muffin, thus settling on rosemary, gruyere, and swiss. This recipe makes 10 muffins.

Buffalo Chickpea Salad

Between work, school, and my internship, I am constantly busy. This salad was perfect for me to make the night before, toss it into a Tupperware container and move on with my life. Not to mention that this recipe (originally from Betsy Life) makes two servings, so you can share or have leftovers all for yourself! Enjoy!

Homemade Ketchup

I have a friend that loves ketchup. Like, the put-it-on-everything kind of love. For his birthday this year, I made some homemade ketchup with the guidance of skinnytaste. This recipe makes about 10 ounces of delicious, and slightly spicy ketchup. Making ketchup yourself allows you to decide on the flavor (more sweet, less sweet, more spicy, etc.) and allows you to control the ingredients (no high fructose corn syrup or "natural flavoring," whatever that means). In that case, enjoy your homemade ketchup!

Chik'n Fried Rice

Making fried rice at home is always something that daunted me. Until now, the closest I got was buying the frozen fried rice and tossing it into a frying pan. Last night, I conquered my fears. It actually turned out really well! There were a few things I want to work on (see "notes"), but overall it was a huge success. This recipe makes 4-5 servings and was inspired by this post by Rachel Schultz.