Jess, Author at Dash of Color and Spice

Grilled Chicken with Fried Goat Cheese Salad

June 10, 2022

Salad platter with greens, strawberries, pears, and grilled chicken. Topped with fried goat cheese medallions and red wine vinaigrette.

This Grilled Chicken with Fried Goat Cheese Salad is perfect for any leftover grilled chicken you may have on hand. The combination of fruit in this salad with the tangy and crispy goat cheese is meant to be. It’s all thrown together in a delicious red wine vinaigrette and makes for the perfect summer salad. I love making this for meal prep also to have on hand for lunch during the busy work week. Seriously, you need to add this Grilled Chicken with Fried Goat Cheese Salad to your menu ASAP, it does not disappoint!

Steak Salad with Herb Roasted Potatoes

April 29, 2022

Bowl with steak salad with herbed potatoes, red onions, cherry tomatoes, and gorgonzola. Small container with balsamic vinaigrette dressing

This Steak Salad with Herb Roasted Potatoes is my version of the best salad out there. One of my favorite salads, EVER, is the Knife and Fork Salad from The Mixx in Kansas City. It is so comforting and filling but light and fresh at the same time. I used to eat this salad all the time during college because there was a Mixx conveniently located blocks from school. If you’re from Kansas City and enjoy fresh salads, sandwiches, etc, you know about The Mixx and you probably even know about this salad! It’s got delicious and tender steak, sautéed onions, herb-roasted potatoes, tomatoes, and gorgonzola all on top of greens and drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette. YOU GUYS…it is so dang good!

Sausage Spinach and Gnocchi Soup

December 10, 2021

White bowl sausage, gnocchi, tomato, and spinach soup. Parmesan cheese garnish

This is seriously one of the easiest and quickest soups you’ll ever make! Best thing about this Sausage Spinach and Gnocchi soup, (besides the delicious flavor), is the fact that it’s a 5-ingredient recipe. Yup, 5 ingredients, easy, and delicious? Win, win, win! Sometimes after a long day of work I want something comforting and easy and this recipe fits right in. The “hardest” part is cooking the sausage so if that’s about as complicated as it gets for dinner, I’d say we are good. The cooked sausage is what brings the flavor to a whole new level because you’re going to want to make sure you use the same pot to cook it all in. Oh, did I forget to mention it’s also a one-pot meal? Seriously so convenient and simple.

Salsa Verde Chicken Chili

October 22, 2021

This minimal ingredient Salsa Verde Chicken Chili is so easy and incredibly delicious. It’s perfect to make a big batch of and have on hand for the week. Perfect for a rainy, cold, or any good ol’ day! Working full-time I always want to make sure I have something prepped for my lunches or at least have super easy meals on the menu for the week. Let’s be real, I am not about to make some kind of elaborate meal after a long day of work. This is perfect to throw in the crock pot, instant pot, or a regular pot and leave to simmer for a while. The salsa verde gives this hearty chili tons of flavor and, as I always do, I highly recommend you make the salsa verde from scratch. Makes the biggest difference in flavor!

Chicken Chile Verde

September 3, 2021

This Chicken Chile Verde, or Salsa Verde Chicken, (you call it what you want), is so easy to make and so flavorful. I 100% recommend you make this with homemade Salsa Verde. Trust me when I say it is a game changer! Try it with my Salsa Verde, recipe can be found here, and make sure you make a double batch because you’ll want it on everything! The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make this in the Instant Pot or slow cooker and have lunch or dinner for days. Working full-time I always need recipes that will make batches for the week so I can just grab it and go for lunch or having something prepped and ready for dinner. This Chicken Chile Verde is perfect for meal prep or batch prep for the week and reheats well.

Chili Lime Shrimp

July 30, 2021

Need a flavorful shrimp recipe to grill this summer? Look no further! This Chili Lime Shrimp is so simple but full of flavor. It is perfect to make for entertaining this summer along with some grilled veggies. The marinade is easy to put together and also easy to customize. Add a little more cayenne or chipotle powder for more heat. Squeeze a little extra lime juice for a little more tang. The world is your oyster, (or shrimp?!).

Salsa Roja

July 16, 2021

Salsa roja is a staple in Mexican cuisine and rightfully so. It is so flavorful, bright, and delicious drizzled on all the things. Growing up there was always a salsa roja on the table for whatever meal it may have been. My abuelita always made sure there were plenty of options and knew we all had preference on what kind of salsa we wanted. Her salsa roja was always so dang good and I could never understand why or how. Until now. She always roasted the veggies for her salsas. Ok, maybe not always but definitely most of the time. The flavor was so ridiculously good and the little specks of roasted burnt pieces of the veggies really made it special.

Bacon Goat Cheese Burgers with Caramelized Onions

June 30, 2021

Up close shot of Bacon Goat Cheese Burgers with Balsamic Caramelized Onions.

If there is something we love in our household it is goat cheese. These Bacon Goat Cheese Burgers with Caramelized Onions are seriously so good!! It starts with the most perfectly seasoned and flavorful burgers. They’re then topped with a layer of goat cheese, some crispy bacon, and perfectly caramelized onions. You know me though, I have to add some grilled jalapenos for a little kick. Completely optional but highly recommended. The goat cheese and caramelized onions take these burgers to the next level. Think a good pub burger but kind of fancy, maybe even bougie? The thing is, these are no ordinary caramelized onions. No way, Jose! They are caramelized with a but of balsamic vinegar for a deeper, more intense flavor. Do it, trust me, it’s worth it.

Quesabirria Tacos (Birria Quesadillas)

June 11, 2021

These Quesabirria Tacos (Birria Quesadillas) have been a pandemic sensation! Everywhere you look you can find quesabirria tacos which are a blend of beef birria tacos and quesadillas. These are the perfect dish to make with birria leftovers and I highly recommend you use by birria recipe found here. Birria is a little bit of a labor of love but 100% worth it. The flavors from the dried peppers, herbs, and spices used to make the birria are so complex and make for the perfect dipping sauce, or consomé. Yes, you absolutely need to dip these tacos in the sauce, it’s what makes these quesabirria tacos shine!

Blackberry Bourbon Smash

June 4, 2021

This Blackberry Bourbon Smash is the perfect drink for this summer. The muddled blackberries give this drink the perfect beautiful pink/purple color. There’s a little lime juice and mint muddled in as well for a slight tang and fresh flavor. The beauty of it is that you can control how sweet you want it a couple of different ways. Add in your favorite sweetener, whether that’s simple syrup, agave, or others, and use the drink topper of choice. What do I mean by drink topper?? After all the ingredients are muddled and shaken to incorporate all the flavors, it gets poured into a glass and topped with club soda, tonic water, ginger beer, or sparkling water. See? So incredibly versatile but always thirst quenching and delicious!