Fitting Wisconsin flair into easy dinner recipes

Milwaukee resident and founder of the food recipe blog wellplated.com Erin Clarke said she has two moods when making dinner each night. 

“Some nights I get into the kitchen, I’m really excited and jazzed to cook and I’m inspired,” she told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” 

“And then other nights it’s like, ‘We have to make dinner again?’” 

In order to get a boost of inspiration on those off evenings, she created the “Well Plated Everyday Cookbook” with recipes that are convenient to make but have complex flavors, she said.

Some recipes have a Wisconsin flair. 

“Recipes are intensely personal and because I live in Wisconsin, it is impossible for me to separate myself from the influences here,” Clarke said. “Nor would I want to, because we have some really, really special and unique attributes that just make Wisconsin a really exciting place to cook and eat.”

Here are three recipes from Clarke’s “Well Plated Everyday Cookbook.”

Pumpkin gingerbread squares with spiced cream cheese frosting

Clarke said pure pumpkin puree is actually really bland. To add depth and brightness to her pumpkin gingerbread squares, she includes a touch of cocoa powder and orange zest.

“This is definitely a step up from your typical pumpkin cake,” she said. 

Sheet pan honey orange pistachio salmon and broccoli

 Clarke said this recipe is one of her favorites in the book. She has an entire chapter dedicated to sheet pan recipes because, “Who enjoys doing dishes?”

She eats the dish on its own or over rice. 

BBQ chickpea bowls

Clarke said she worries about dinner — but you can’t forget about lunch, either.

She often makes this BBQ chickpea bowl for dinner and reheats it for lunch. 

“We start out by sautéing the chickpeas in the Dutch oven to get them a little crispy on the outside. And I like the Dutch oven because the chickpeas will pop a little bit if you’ve never sautéed them before — it’s really quite fun and quite entertaining,” she said.