I believe one of the biggest reasons vegetarian and vegan cooking gets a bad name is because there are a ton of flavorless meals and recipes out there. I think it's easier with a good cut of meat to just add a bit of salt/pepper then call it good and while I feel the same...
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Spring Sorghum Salad with Radish and Roasted Asparagus
I've started a new Saturday morning routine that involves coffee, pastries, and the farmers' market. While Sacramento has a handful of farmers' markets, the one of Saturday morning has morphed into a family-friendly market that showcases local produce, artist, and a couple food vendors (including a waffle vendor that looks absolutely amazing). I pop down there,...
Buttered Radish and Ricotta Toast
My husband and I have a running joke when it comes to NPR- I am SO one of those people that nearly every day the words tumble out of my mouth, 'so I heard on NPR today.' He laughs at me and then I dive into whatever story I wanted to tell him. However, today my...
Arugula Lentil Salad
I get in food ruts fairly easily, particularly with items we make day in and day out. Our evening dinner salads are often a simple dressed lettuce and whatever vegetables we may have on hand. My lunch salads are often heartier and more often then not contain chickpeas or black beans. Lentils are usually the...
Roasted Carrots and Couscous with Gremolata
I am occasionally grateful for my ability to play it cool even with these crazy pregnancy hormones (and yes, on many occasions the hormones win). While at the market this past weekend, I was waiting in line to pay for some strawberries when the person in front of me asked if he could get his...
Barley Risotto with Cauliflower and Cheddar
It is quite amazing what pregnancy forces one to do in terms of food. I'd be telling you a bald-faced lie if I said that I ate like you see on the blog 100% of the time. I try but I have my days where I run out of steam by 3:00pm, days when even...
Warm Potato Arugula Salad
I wish I had lovely things to tell you about this arugula salad but at this point in time, my brain is filled with projects I need to complete in the next few weeks, recipes I want to make sure I have done so that the blog doesn't sit empty for the months after the...
Asparagus Omelette with Barley
As I walked off the plane after landing in California, I took a deep breathe. I love Illinois but with the snow and the cold, it was nice to be back in California where spring is in full swing. The trees are budding, the almond orchards flowering, and windows open during the day (sorry everyone who...
Avocado Quesadilla with Chipotle Black Beans
I think it's time to come clean about one pregnancy thing I'm not too excited about: preparing freezer meals. It's not the actual preparation I'm concerned about but it's the eating of the actual meals. My freezer is good for about one thing: holding ice cream (and ice cubes). Beyond that, anything that goes into...
Chocolate Cake + Birthday Giveaway
Since 2011, a bit of a birthday tradition has arisen on the blog (I lost post from '07 through '09 and for whatever reason made risotto for 2010- not sure what I was thinking). However, in the past few years I have typically made my own cake, talked about the year before and held some...
Vegetarian Ponyshoe
During my senior year of high school, I bailed out early. I think at the time I remember feeling completely over high school (big surprise) and one day while at the college guidance counselor, I pulled out an informational sheet on something called the 'Illinois Government Internship Program' aka, IGIP (a now defunct internship program...
Broccoli Salad with Tahini Dressing
It's always strange when I look back through the archives of the site and realize some key ingredients are lacking companion recipes. I've got sweet potatoes and tomatoes covered but upon closer inspection, broccoli is severely lacking. At first I was highly confused as I'm an avid broccoli eater but I soon realized the lack...
A Week in Meals (winter edition) + Planning Ahead
For the longest time, I wasn't a meal planner. In fact, I thought it was kind of ridiculous to plan out your entire week of meals because I felt one needed to have leeway to be spontaneous in the kitchen. It wasn't until I joined the CSA that I started buying into this notion of...
Brussels Sprouts and Eggs
In the realm of cooking and recipe creation I am 1 part creature of comfort and 1 part explorer of all things. You may notice on this site that I like to reuse ideas in different iterations for recipes (ie: creature of comfort). If I try a new dish or find new flavor combinations I...
Vegetarian Nachos with Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
I'm going to be honest with you- the creation of these vegetarian nachos was not spurred on by the fact there is a rather large football game this weekend. In fact, up until I watched SNL this past weekend, I didn't even know who was playing- we're not big sports ball people (M's term, not mine)....
Parsnip and Thyme Galette + The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen Cookbook
Another Sunday, another cookbook except this time, I'm telling you about a cookbook that's pretty near and dear to my heart. You might have noticed when I redesigned the site back in December, I snuck this gem into the sidebar but haven't actually done much talking about it. So I figured it was time to...
Olive Tapenade and Hummus Stuffed Pita
Some time ago, I did a brief reader questionnaire about what you guys might like to see more of and the answer was pretty much: everything! (as long as it's not overly complicated.) I try hard to share easy (easier) recipes but I think one area I lack is in the lunch department. Even when I...
Shaved Endive and Brussels Sprout Citrus Salad
This salad. I think that if I were given the opportunity to write any cookbook I ever wanted, it would be a salad book. I know, does one really need a recipe for salad. In my defense- there are hundreds, even thousands of potential combinations that I think having a few salad recipes is a...
Roasted Romesco Potatoes
When M and I decided to pick up and move to Sacramento a little over two years ago, we did it on a complete whim. I'd only been to California once in my entire life span while Mike had never been further west than Colorado. We knew nothing about Sacramento other than it's the state...
Chipotle Sweet Potato Quesadilla with Cilantro Gremolata
I realized the other day that this site had a severe lack of sweet potato recipes happening this winter. In years past, I'd easily post a dozen or more recipes that would featured these vibrant tubers but this year, nada. I think my craving of regular potatoes is most likely to blame but at any...
Mediterranean Einkorn Pasta
It's Sunday which means sharing another cookbook that I've had the pleasure of cooking from quite few times (and a cookbook from a couple that I've been lucky to hang out with in person.) I've known Tim and Shanna (Food Loves Writing) for a few years now and I always make time to read their...
Dutch Baby with Meyer Lemon Maple Syrup
I find history engaging, especially when dealing with food history. It's fascinating to me that at some point in time, a person thought to grind peanuts long enough to get peanut butter or that if you heated a kernel of a certain variety of corn long enough, it would pop (I am grateful for both...
Roasted Fennel and Cauliflower with Chickpeas
(for the original text of this post about eating at home, see here. I realized after the fact it was a bit off the cuff rant-y and didn't really fit the recipe! I'm going to chalk this one up to pregnancy hormones.) This recipe started out more about the polenta and less about the cauliflower...
Honey Mustard Roasted Nuts
Most of the time, I go through phases on whether or not I'm snacking. Some days, it's three meals and that's it while other days, I find myself reaching for a snack every couple of hours (like today, I'm currently snacking on chocolate- but it's also been an 'owning your own business is sometimes way...
Chipotle Parsnip Crisps (+ Yummy Supper Cookbook)
Keeping on the #eatnaturally roll, I wanted to also share a few cookbooks that have come across my kitchen that I think are just perfect inspiration for eating at home and cooking unprocessed foods. So for the month of January, I'll be sharing a new cookbook every Sunday to bring you some offline inspiration. My...
Roasted Romanesco with Meyer Lemon Salsa
As part of the #eatnaturally month, I wanted to share a couple recipes that might introduce you to a new item to use in your kitchen and what better way to start than this beauty? Romanesco is from the broccoli/cauliflower family and while it looks like broccoli, it's more akin to cauliflower in texture and...
Arugula and Radish Salad (a New Year to #eatnaturally)
Here we are, yet another start to a new year. It's the time where I stop thinking about what has happened and focus on the potentials of the new year. For the most part, it can be an ever optimistic time but I think it's easy to over promise and under deliver. There is so...
Mediterranean Flatbread
It takes me about three days to be over eating out when M and I are traveling. My body has been yelling at me for not exercising and eating not the healthiest foods at irregular hours. We're attempting to get out of town to head back up to Chicago for flight home tomorrow. I can't wait to get...
Curried Acorn Squash with Lemon-Arugula Salad
Without realizing it until the past couple of days, I've had another craving that's popped up on the blog over the past few months: arugula. For whatever reason, this slightly spicy green has slowly replaced lettuce in my salads and become my go-to green. The first time I tried arugula from the CSA, I remember...
Chocolate Chip Peppermint Scones
Ginger Lime Fizz (Non-Alcoholic)
For me, one of the most mind-bending things when pregnancy comes as a surprise was giving up a few different items at the drop of a hat. I know many people, when they are actively trying, rid their lives of toxins well before the baby is actually conceived but for me, it wasn't that way at...
Winter Persimmon Salad
I feel like I should be posting photos of holiday cookies and preparing for the big Christmas meal but the truth is, I've not been feeling it. I tried to convince myself to make cookies last weekend and I got as far as realizing my butter supply was less than stellar, so I quit. I then...
Ginger Pear and Goat Cheese Endive Appetizer
You may have noticed I've been talking a lot of Endives as of late. This is the third recipe in a series that I've developed for them over the past couple of months. I made a fall Endive Salad for October, a warm Endive side dish for November, and now a festive Endive appetizer for...
White Bean and Butternut Squash Salad
In the past month or so, I've had a pretty major realization: being busy sucks. I'm not talking about the busy, but good. I'm referring to the 'so busy you can't keep up and you're juggling 10 different projects at once' type of busy. It's a busy that I used to take great pride in...
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes
I had all intentions of doing a very vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes round-up this year. As it turns out, my archives are filled with many, many wonderful ideas. It's an amazing thing that happens when you've been blogging for seven years. Instead, time got away from me and here it is the week of and all...
Roasted Parsnip Spinach Salad
Let's talk about using vegetables you might not use, and using them in fun and exciting ways. If you're venturing outside of your traditional Thanksgiving meal, you might be using a few parsnips in (or in place of) your mashed potatoes. I really love parsnips roasted because it's got such a unique, somewhat sweet flavor....
Roasted Endives with Thyme
This year, we're planning on a fairly low-key Thanksgiving. With airline prices as high as they are, we couldn't justify flying anywhere only to head back out around the Christmas. Last year we did a sides-only Thanksgiving (per my husband's request) but this year we're doing a full-on Thanksgiving (for 3 people.) Oh the leftovers!...
Pistachio Olive Oil Cake
With the local food movement continuing forward, I think it’s sometimes easy to forget about the items you can’t necessarily pick-up from the local market (unless you live in certain areas.) This could be anything from avocados to coffee to olive oil. I use olive oil everyday and that’s no exaggeration. It’s used for cooking,...
Cheesy BBQ Loaded Potatoes
Two things: First, thank you for the sweet emails and comments on my last post about the baby- I didn't think it was possible but it made me even more excited! And secondly, I feel like I hyped my love of potatoes and my pregnancy cravings, so I felt like the first post-pregnancy announcement recipe...
Roasted Butternut Squash, Quinoa, and Arugula Salad
It's meals like this that become comfort food for me. A slightly warm arugula salad with a mix of flavors that feels these like salad and more like a hearty meal. The feta softens and the pecans add a bit of crunch (without adding the traditional crouton). This is my perfect salad.