To a lot of people, including me, food is more than just what you eat to keep your body nourished. It's also an aspect of life that brings people together, brings them joy and creates long-lasting memories. Some eats bring me back to certain times in my life. A meal I created the other night made me think of when my hubby and I first lived together. Our first months of living together, we were temporarily located in Florida while my Marine went to a specialty school there. I remember having fun creating our first dinners as a married couple, and one of my first meals for us in Florida was stuffed peppers. I used to stuff them with soy crumbles, veggies and cheese, so while these stuffed peppers are more inspired by Italian ingredients like bread crumbs, mozzarella, parmesan, fresh basil, ... [Read More]
healthy recipes
Honey Apple Raisin Muffins
If there's anything that screams autumn, it's apple picking. After last weekend's failed attempt at visiting an orchard, yesterday was a successful afternoon of apple picking. My hubby and I journeyed to the town of Watsonville to check out Clearview Organic Orchards. Unfortunately we always seem to be a little late in the game when it comes to picking apples, and the trees were pretty picked over. We still found some good apples, and supplemented the rest of our bag with apples that had already been picked from the trees earlier. When the guy at Clearview Orchards told me that he "robs" the bee hives every week to get the raw local honey that they sell, I knew I'd want to nab a jar for myself. I put honey on everything lately! You may have already noticed this with my recent recipes - ... [Read More]
Honey Almond Ricotta Fruit Parfait
Hi friends! What a lovely Thursday night it is -- despite the New York Giants losing tonight's football game and going 0-6 of the season. Whomp. After a hard workout at the gym, I came home to whip up dinner and watch the game in hopes of a first win. With a pumpkin pie candle burning, the game on my TV, and my favorite grilled cheese for dinner - cheddar & gruyere with avocado, fried zucchini & horseradish mustard - I couldn't help but think what a relaxing autumn evening it has been. Ya know, despite my having a slight heart attack and yelling at my TV in between bites of deliciousness. The focus of today's post is a breakfast or lunch combo that was born out my need to break out the new mason jar I bought in Amsterdam and start my day off in a fancy schmancy way. I started off ... [Read More]
Pumpkin Spice Pancakes with a Cinnamon Pecan Topping
Happy Friday!! Before I get to this deliciousness, my first pumpkin recipe of the fall... ...I have a few things to chat about. One, after much time and frustration I HAVE FIXED MY ANNOYING BLOG ISSUE! I thought that something was funky a couple weeks ago while I was in Europe, but I thought it had more to do with my traveling and using random Internet networks than anything else. When I came home, it seemed to get even worse, but then I had to get ready for my Seattle trip. Long story short, yesterday was the first time I had the hours & energy to figure out what the heck was happening. The first person I spoke to at Bluehost (my server) was very little help and sent me into a tizzy trying to figure out what all of this technical stuff was that could have been the culprit. ... [Read More]
Getting My Kitchen Mojo Back: Lentil Tomato & Spinach Soup {vegan}
Hi there! Hope that you've been enjoying your weekend. Mine has been nice and relaxing. Usually when I get back from traveling, especially with jet lag and all, I feel like I need a good week to recover. This feeling of getting back into a groove has started to take shape, but it won't last... because I have a work trip to Seattle this week! I'll only be gone a couple of days though. With prepping for my Amsterdam work trip and getting ready for vacation, being gone a couple of weeks, and now getting myself organized back at home (hello tons of work to catch up on, piles of laundry, a needy puppy and a dirty house!), I feel that I haven't been at all creative in the kitchen in probably about a month. With nothing on my schedule this weekend, I was happy to have time to get my kitchen ... [Read More]
Mixed Green Salad with Blueberries, Goat Cheese & Honeyed Walnut -n- Hemp Seed Clusters
A few weeks ago, I stopped at the Vitamin Shoppe to pick up a few goodies (and buy my first box of Quest bars!), and they had a store party going on. I walked out with a bag of samples to try, which I was obviously excited about. It's the little things in life people! One of the samples in the bag were hemp seeds, which I've heard a lot about but have never tried (at home at least). Today I used my sample and whipped up one awesome salad for lunch. I adapted this recipe from Vegetarian Times, switching around some ingredients and amounts, and making a single serving portion since it was just little ole me. You can view their original recipe here. To make the clusters, I toasted the hemp seeds with walnut pieces, honey and cinnamon. So easy to make, and such a tasty addition to a ... [Read More]