Shredded Carrot Salad with Cilantro and Lime

Shredded Carrot Salad

Happy 2015!  I took a few weeks off of blogging – spent time with family and friends, enjoyed the holidays, read a few cookbooks, relaxed a lot – and now I’m back in the game with this super simple and majorly delicious carrot salad!  I’m tempted to say this is for a New Year’s healthy eating resolution, but it’s not.  It just happens to be a healthy salad that came about from me getting a new vegetable peeler that I’m in love with.  It’s got a super sharp blade, is light and easy to hold and really fun to use…plus it’s very inexpensive!  I did make one resolution this year, though, and that was to give more high fives.  Yeah!

Apple Sage Sparkler + Holiday Cocktail Roundup

Apple Sage Sparkler
It’s time to celebrate!  The holidays are here and New Year’s Eve is next week!  Whaaaat!?!  I can’t believe another year has flown by!  As we say goodbye to 2014 and “Hello” to 2015…let’s celebrate with homemade cocktails!  This Apple Sage Sparkler is simple yet elegant; perfect for a party. Plus, I’ve rounded up 20 other delicious cocktail recipes within 4 categories: herbs, spice, citrus, and punch.  Let’s drink!

White Chocolate Covered Peppermint Biscotti

White Chocolate Covered Peppermint Biscotti

The holidays are about here and I’ve been working on my cookie game.  How are you doing with yours?  Do you have a favorite cookie recipe you always make for the holidays?  I usually go with something simple like a sugar cookie or ginger molasses cookie, but this year I decided to step it up a notch and make biscotti.  (Plus, secretly/not so secretly I want to pretend I’m in Italy.)  To holiday-fy these biscotti I added crushed candy canes and dipped them in white chocolate.  Italians would totally put candy canes in their biscotti, right?

Virtual Vegan Potluck: Lemon Thyme Polenta Bites with Arugula Pesto & Mushrooms

Lemon Thyme Polenta Bites with Arugula Pesto & Mushrooms

Hello and welcome to the 2014 Virtual Vegan Potluck!  I’m so excited to be part of the VVP this year and want to give a huge shout-out to Annie, Angela and Poppy for organizing this worldwide virtual foodie event!  Be sure to check out all the awesome vegan recipes by way of the Go Forward/Go Backward buttons at the bottom of this post.  You can also go back and start at the beginning of the potluck chain.  Have fun, get hungry and enjoy!

Veggie Art!

Veggie Art by Kayse of Art, Health, and Happiness Blog
The holidays are fast approaching!  Anyone feel a little stressed?  Still trying to figure out gift ideas?  Let me help you with that!  I bought these beautiful art prints from Kayse Wieneke of art, health, and happiness blog.  I absolutely adore them!  The colors are vibrant and they’re a lovely mix of whimsy, simplicity and elegance.  They’re perfect for any foodie, veggie nut, or anyone who just loves art.

Savory Dill Yogurt Biscuits

Savory Dill Yogurt Biscuits

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!

The Best Sweet Potato Pie

The Best Sweet Potato Pie

I often hate it when recipes titles declare things as “perfect” or “the best.”  I find it a bit smug.  I mean, really, how does one know it’s the best?  Have they tried all of the other recipes for that particular dish?  And what is perfection?  Food is extremely subjective.  Taste is extremely subjective.  Cooking techniques vary greatly with ingredient or equipment preferences, dietary choices, even one’s kitchen ethos.  There is no perfect; there is no best.

Share & Swap with The Friendly Fig

The Friendly Fig

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.

Crispy Skillet Potatoes with Buttermilk Ranch Sauce

Crispy Skillet Potatoes w/ Buttermilk Ranch Sauce

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.