All posts filed under: vegetables

Smoky Chipotle Vegan Chili with Cashew Cream

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If you work in an office, chances are at some point, you will be asked to contribute to The Office Potluck and if you work in my office, you will probably be asked to do this a LOT. My office loves a potluck–birthdays, holidays, you name it and we throw a potluck for it! I’ve noticed a few things to be true for every single one of them: There has to be fried chicken. Seriously, if there is no fried chicken, people might just opt out of the potluck entirely. Greg must bring his famous Asian chicken salad. I’m not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse that the office staff will not accept any other dish from him, but at least he doesn’t have to wonder what he’s bringing to the potluck. The vegetarians in the office get stuck with the sad, bagged salad and limp veggies from the veggie tray picked up in a rush that morning on the way to the office. Really, folks, nobody likes those veggie trays. Don’t buy ’em! So, …

Autumn Quinoa and Kale Salad with Maple Roasted Delicata Squash

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I tried to celebrate World Vegetarian Day on October 1. I really, really tried. I had found a recipe for “smoked eggplant” in an Indian cookbook and chalked it up to kismet that I had all the ingredients in the pantry. I roasted the eggplants whole on the grill, then peeled the charred skin away and cut it up in cubes. I sautéed onions, garlic, chiles and added some warming spices. The kitchen smelled amazing! And then I tasted it. It tasted like poison–acrid and so bitter! I tried to zhoosh it up with some coconut milk and fresh lime juice, but it would not budge and remained wholly inedible.  There was no saving it, and so we ate chicken…on World Vegetarian Day.  I hate when that happens. Eggplant disasters aside, I am no stranger to vegetarian cooking and I’ve been a vegetarian and a vegan at different points in my life. So, with October being Vegetarian Awareness Month, I want to be mindful of incorporating more meatless meals into our weekly rotation. Let me be completely honest–I won’t be …

Roasted Asparagus with Clementine Butter Sauce

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As I’m writing this, I just happened to glance outside and saw a hummingbird in the backyard!  Hummingbirds make me so happy!  It tells me, one, it’s Springtime and two, I have enough flowers blooming that they want to stop by for a quick sip!   This week I want to share a few recipes that really celebrate the fresh flavors of Spring.  Easter is this weekend, and what I love about that holiday is that it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase bright, spring vegetables!  Even though I buy asparagus throughout the year, this is the time when they taste the best and don’t break the bank!  The recipe is so easy and I think it will be perfect on the Easter table. The asparagus is roasted in the oven and then finished with a sauce that is both bright and fresh as well as richly decadent.  This is yet another one of those sauces that I have to keep myself from eating with a spoon!

Arugula and Golden Beet Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette

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When I was a kid, beets were the one vegetable that I would not touch with a ten-foot pole! It was the 1970s and the only beets we had came in a can and I thought they were awful! But the moment I had fresh, roasted beets served with goat cheese, I was hooked. Now I can’t get enough of them! Earthy, sweet, gnarly-beautiful beets are made even sweeter by slowly roasting them in the oven with cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and marinated in a gingery-grapefruit vinaigrette.  If ever there was a salad that makes you feel warm inside, then this is it!   The weather is finally starting to warm up a bit, but it’s technically winter, so we can still take advantage of ripe, winter citrus, leafy greens and root vegetables.  This salad beautifully bridges the gap between the long, cold winter and the warm sun of spring that’s just waiting around the corner! Golden beets are not always available, so when I see them at the market, I grab them.  Milder …

A New Succulent Garden and Blistered Shishito Peppers

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I kill succulents.  I kill them so often and so quickly that the garden center should probably have my picture on their wall with a notice saying “Do Not Sell Succulents To This Woman”.  But so far I’ve been able to elude them or they’ve just decided that they make a lot of money from me and my succulent exploits.  With that in mind, please know that this is not a tutorial on keeping succulents alive!  I wanted to rehab this terrarium from a couple of years ago that has been dormant for…18 months.  That means I was able to keep the succulents that were originally in it alive for 6 whole months.  This also means that I’ve had a big bowl of dirt sitting in my bathroom for a year and a half.  I saw this tutorial on West Elm’s website a while ago that showed how to make a succulent garden and suggested leaving the plants in their original pots–which seemed perfect for me!  At least this way, when I kill them, they …

Maple, Ginger and Thyme Glazed Carrots and Sweet Potatoes

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A good friend of mine asked me the other day whether I’d ever made carrots with ginger before.  I thought about that question and my short answer was that I had, but then I couldn’t remember the last time I’d made them. I started to realize that I rarely make carrots as their own side dish, mainly because The Husband doesn’t really like carrots.  He’ll eat them, but he doesn’t enjoy them and that’s really saying something because he is the least picky eater on the planet!  So as my friend and I were talking, I started thinking the sweet potatoes that I recently roasted in coconut oil.  This, in turn had me daydreaming about how amazing carrots would taste alongside those sweet potatoes, roasted in coconut oil and glazed with maple syrup and ginger!  I was instantly obsessed with the thought and went straight to the grocery store after work for carrots and ginger!  I came home and within minutes I was enjoying possibly the easiest and best recipe I’d made in a long …

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad with Kale Pesto

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I recently purchased “The Sprouted Kitchen” cookbook by Sara Forte and I became a little bit obsessed with this one particular recipe for “Heirloom Tomato Stacks with Bocconcini and Kale Pesto”; so much so, that I’ve made it twice this week!   The original recipe, with its beautiful photograph of mid-summer, juicy heirloom tomatoes nestled on top of a bed of pesto and stacked between layers of fresh mozzarella cheese lured me right in!  I was hooked!  The only problem is…it’s not mid-summer.  Not by a mile.  And you and I both know that February tomatoes leave a lot to be desired–they aren’t very sweet; they are often flavorless at best and mealy at worst.  I’ve learned that slowly roasting tomatoes with a bit of olive oil, a sprinkle of sugar, salt, pepper and garlic totally solves the problem of less-than-flavorful off-season tomatoes, so you can have this salad year-round! The kale pesto is also a stroke of in-season genius, as it’s too early for fresh basil as well!  The kale pesto is a perfect …