Apple Spice Cocktails

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Friends-giving, or my personal favorite holiday - random Sunday - here's your fall party cocktail.

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Friends-giving, or my personal favorite holiday – random Sunday – here’s your fall party cocktail. It’ll make you look like a good put-together host because you’ll have it ready as your guests walk through the door. No one has to know that you made (most of) it the day before. This is full of warm fall spices but it’s actually pretty light and refreshing. Crisp vodka gets mixed with sweet spiced apple juice… and a squeeze of lemon pulls it all together (doesn’t it always?). Serve with apple slices, cinnamon sticks, and star anise, because aren’t those little stars…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Roasted Carrot Turmeric Soup

vegan / fall / gluten free

I freaking love soup. Warm, comfy, and healing for the soul. And with turmeric – supposedly healing for the body. A natural anti-inflammatory, “they say.” Which is what sparked the idea for this soup: Literal sparks of pain. Do you have those weeks where things seem to unravel? Where one mishap, leads to the next? For me, it began with a broken glass on the kitchen floor and a teeny tiny piece that I somehow couldn’t get out of my foot. I limped around for a couple days, until I could feel it was gone. Also gone — my sense of balance, apparently.…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Sweet Potato Quinoa & Cotija

fall / salads / gluten free

Our dinner has looked like this nearly every night for a week. I don’t know what it is, but as soon as fall hits, big grain salads with roasted sweet potatoes seem to take over my life. They’re perfect for busy weeknights, next day lunches… and you can prep most of the ingredients ahead of time. You can take this in so many different directions (this was last year’s obsession, and yes, it’s somewhat similar)… but I especially love this one with chile-lime dressing, mutli-colored quinoa and crunchy pepitas. It could even be a fun non-traditional thanksgiving side dish if…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Mushroom & Chickpea Stew

This mushroom & chickpea stew is a cozy, hearty dinner perfect for fall or winter. Swap in whatever veggies you have to round out this delicious dish!

fall / vegan / gluten free

I realize, I just posted this happy sunny day post, so this is a little contradictory… but since then, I’ve been a fighting a bit of a cold. And all I can think about right now is soup. Well, and smoothies… hot and cold foods to cure a scratchy throat. And maybe some ice cream for good measure. You’re supposed to feed a cold, right? This soup/stew, whatever you want to call it, really hit the spot… it’s warm, hearty, and packed with a healthy amount of veggies. It was especially good served with a little bit of this pesto…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Kale Stem Pesto

kale / vegan / gluten free

You know all of those kale recipes? The ones that say to use just the leaves and save the coarse stems for another use? Well friends, this is your “other use”. The same way I collect stale tortillas for the eventual tortilla soup, I save chopped up bits of kale stems (and sometimes other stems) for this eventual pesto. Tiny little bags, all over my freezer. When I’m ready to make this, I mix them with freshly chopped stems so the whole thing doesn’t taste too “frozen.” I just love making this in the colder months when bounties of fresh…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Miso Sesame Squash Salad

fall / salads / yuzu

Does anyone else have a fascination with grocery stores in other countries? In Japan, we spent lots of time at food markets, but we spent countless hours wandering the aisles of grocery stores. It was so fun just trying to figure out what everything was. I collected non-perishable(ish) items to bring back – miso pastes, spice mixtures, etc… We also had a short list of items to get for a very good Japanese friend back home. A few of them were a little hard to find – buttered peanuts, and a specific brand of salad dressing. She eventually sent us some photos so…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Easy Peanut Noodles

This simple recipe offers two variations for making delicious, easy peanut noodles. These vegan dishes make great weeknight dinners or weekday lunches!

easy / vegan

I don’t make peanut noodles nearly enough. I forget how easy it is to make a peanut sauce, and that I usually already have all the ingredients on hand. I’ve made other peanut sauce variations before, but this time I wanted to simplify it down to just the necessary six ingredients. It takes about 5 minutes (tops) to stir it together… then toss it with noodles & veggies. Dinner is done. We rarely have leftovers when I serve peanut noodles for dinner, but when we do, I use the leftover peanut noodles in lettuce wraps for lunch the next day.…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Nasu Dengaku {Miso Eggplant}

eggplant / japan

If you need a reason to try (and love) miso, this is your recipe. I’m hoping eggplant is still in season where you are. I was excited to find these little nearly-black beauties at our farmers market last weekend. If you don’t have eggplant, this sweet & salty glaze is amazing on cod, tofu, and even sweet potatoes. There are many variations to the dengaku recipe – some use sake along with mirin, some add a bit of ginger… I’ve even made it with agave syrup before (although that would probably not be approved by the Japanese, shh). I like…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Vanilla Matcha Smoothie

Banana, vanilla & almond milk make the sweet, creamy base of this matcha smoothie. It's a healthy, antioxidant-filled breakfast or afternoon snack!

vegan / almond breeze / smoothie

Matcha treats – I can hardly remember my life without them. Since we’ve been in Japan, matcha ice cream, matcha doughnuts, and matcha cakes have become daily afternoon snacks. This matcha smoothie, I promise, is a much healthier treat than any of those. Sure matcha is healthy, but a doughnut is still a doughnut after all. At home, this is how we enjoy matcha. I use my go-to smoothie base – almond milk and bananas – and add matcha powder along with a bit of vanilla bean. If you’re new to matcha, it’s very finely ground, high quality green tea…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Spicy Jalapeño Margaritas

summer / entertaining / cocktail

Happy weekend! I just wanted to pop in for a minute and share this easy recipe for the spicy margaritas we served at our margarita party a few weeks ago. They were such a big hit – tart, smooth, not too sweet, and most importantly – spicy. The perfect refreshing cocktail for one last summer party! photos #1 and #3 by Chris Perez of Citygram Magazine

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Whole Grain Flax Waffles

vegan / gluten free / breakfast

Admittedly, I’m not the best at baby showers. I forget that the point of a baby shower is the gift-showering part, and I usually show up with an amazon print-out of what I purchased off the registry that morning. (really, I mean well). So this is my kind of baby shower… the virtual kind where I make and eat waffles and snap a photo. No pink bows required. Melissa (of The Faux Martha) is a dear friend I’ve met through the blogosphere. Her beautiful blog is filled with delectable sweet treats and her waffle recipe is one of her signatures. When…

TO THE RECIPE >>>>

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.