I am so pumped about this post! I did something ya’ll. I tried something new. Some might think it’s slightly coo-coo. But it’s not. It’s a thing…a big thing…a real game changer! I fermented fruit! And I used some new equipment to help me…which made my (fermentation) life WAY easier!
Springtime is one of my busiest times of the year. I help run a farmer’s market and a kids program at that market, so the couple months leading up to Opening Day is hella hectic! Not to mention it’s one of the busiest times of year for my husband, too; a professor and sculptor. So…our meals tend to be quicker and easier and use fewer dishes — mostly because they’re all piled up in the sink waiting to be washed.
This spring-y breakfast (or breakfast-for-dinner) hits that “I want eggs/I want vegetables/But I don’t want to do dishes” spot. It’s all done in just one pan — no separate bowls for whisking eggs or a separate pan for cooking the vegetables. You just cook the vegetables first then break the eggs directly into the pan and stir ’em around (a.k.a. scramble them) as they cook. It’s easy, virtually mess-free, and really good!
Little cuties, clementines, mandarin oranges, tangerines…they’re all (nearly) the same thing. They’re small, sweet, often seedless oranges. My family eats quite a few when they’re in season – during winter – so I try to use them in a variety of ways, from sweet to savory, sauces to beverages, zest to juice. For this recipe, I experimented and used the whole fruit. ALL of it. No separate zesting, juicing, or dividing segments; you just puree the whole dang thing. The flavor is incredible!!
Valentine’s Day this year falls on a Saturday, so I’m using that to my advantage and treating my sweetheart to a sweet breakfast in bed! These vegan chocolate-espresso donuts are light and fluffy and covered with a blissfully pink blood orange sugar glaze (no need for food coloring!). And to make them extra special, they’re topped with candied blood orange slices for an extra kiss of sweet citrus! Cupid would totally give me a high-five!
If there was only one muffin recipe I could make for the rest of my life, this would be it! These are so SO good and filling but not too dense and perfectly moist and sweet but not too sweet and the topping…THE TOPPING, is beyond. Loaded with heart healthy oats, shredded coconut, and a smattering of chocolate chips, this muffin is substantial. One will fill you up – it’s like a bowl of oatmeal in delicious muffin form!
Spontaneity can be one of the best, and most underrated, ingredients in a kitchen. It can lead to impromptu discoveries and unexpected combinations. I tend to cook the best food when I’m being spontaneous and not over-thinking things. I woke up the other morning on a lazy Sunday and decided to make biscuits. I started gathering the ingredients and spotted a bright green feathery bunch of fresh dill in the fridge. Thinking, “hmm, why not?” I grabbed it and added a handful to the biscuit dough. That little change — that bit of spontaneity — made a HUGE flavorful difference to what would have been plain old ordinary biscuits. They became savory, herbaceous and fresh!
I’m changing it up a bit today with a heartfelt shout out to a wonderful blog I’ve come to know, follow, respect, and love: The Friendly Fig! Written by Bianca Scartabello and Sara Day along with guest blogger Kate Brierley, this veg-friendly food and lifestyle blog shares recipes, vegan tips, cruelty-free style and product guides, giveaways, and hilarious anecdotes. Seriously hilarious…I was laughing out loud with this one! But on top off all that fabulous information, wit, magnificent writing, and mouthwatering recipes, they have an energy and enthusiasm that just makes you feel good. Period.
For a very, very long time I’ve been trying to figure out how to make perfectly crisp skillet potatoes. The kind of potatoes that give you that supremely satisfying CRUNCH as you bite into them but are gloriously silky and creamy in the middle. I’ve been looking for a fool-proof method that would work every time…and I found it! This is it. And they are indeed crispy…crispy with a capital C-R-I-S-P-Y. And to top off these wondrous carbs, I made a buttermilk ranch sauce — because everybody secretly knows ranch is the BEST.
Breakfast. Brunch. Dessert. These pancake muffins will do the J.O.B. for all of the above. Just a hint of pumpkin and cinnamon kiss the batter and a maple syrup glaze finishes off this part pancake / part muffin situation.
Stop what you’re doing right now and make this cobbler. You will thank you me, I promise.
So the story goes, I had a bunch of cherries on hand and was in a baking mood the other morning. I hadn’t made cobbler yet this summer, so I decided to whip one up. I figured I’d get this made and have a nice dessert ready for later that evening and the rest of the weekend. I didn’t mean for it be breakfast that morning. After all, it IS a dessert. I didn’t mean for us to eat nearly all of it one sitting. After all, there are ONLY 3 of us.
the Seasonal Veg Head 