Spring Kale Panzanella

This very green salad couldn’t be more timely. Jack and I spent all weekend tasting inhaling food at the Austin Food & Wine fest. And then we spent last night in some sort of food coma. Overall, I think we showed pretty good restraint… That is until Saturday night’s “Rock your Taco” event. We rocked tacos alright… And then a few tacos rocked us. But no regrets… kale to the rescue. A big bowl of it. This salad is part marinated kale and part and panzanella. Two of my favorite salads, together as one. Kale, fennel slices, peas and feta…

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Cinco de Mango

Mango recipes! mango salsa, mango margarita spritzer, mango black bean tacos, and a mango avocado salad.

spring / summer / entertaining

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo a little early this year with a mango fiesta. You should too because mangoes are on sale (like, $1 something) at Whole Foods until the end of April. I brought home muchos mangoes last weekend and mixed up this sweet & spicy salsa. Then (from the same salsa recipe), I made black bean tacos and an avocado-mango salad. And, of course, no fiesta is complete without tequila. I made a lighter version of a margarita – a mango margarita spritzer. Cheers!

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Rosemary Lemon Pasta

spring / vegan / lemon

A trip to Italy is in the works. Did I just say that? Ok, an idea of a trip to Italy is in the works. You’re the second to know… I just informed Jack the other night. Even though we have a long list of places we have not been to, somehow every few years we (the royal we) feel a calling to go back. Whenever I even hear someone mention a trip to Italy, I become insane with travel envy. So you can imagine the kind of envy I felt when I heard the story of a couple who moved to the Italian…

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Lavender French 75

spring / cocktail

The French 75 is hands down my favorite cocktail, and this lavender version is just so lovely for spring. I snipped these little lavender flowers from my garden and simmered them down into a simple syrup. Which sounds sort of romantic except that this lavender plant was swarming with scary bees. I held a pair of scissors at arms length and carefully tried to clip a few without getting too close. (oh, the things I do for this blog!) The lavender flavor is subtle, but I just love the unexpected herbal hint. I hope you all have a great weekend…

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Vegan French Toast

No eggs? No problem. This easy Vegan French Toast is delicious made with almond milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple, nutritional yeast, and a little flour.

spring / brunch / almond breeze

The first year Jack and I were together, he was working in Austin while I was finishing college in Chicago. He’d come visit me nearly once a month. It feels like such long time ago now (11 years, yikes)… many of those early memories are fuzzy, but a few stand out. Friday nights, I would take the blue line to the airport to “pick him up” and we’d ride back to the city together. I was always late, he was always mad (or madly in love, ha). Saturday mornings, we would head to the Pick Me Up Cafe where he…

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Chocolate Chip Carrot Cookies

Sneak some veggies into your chocolate chip cookies! These are the perfect mid-afternoon vegan treat.

spring / vegan

I’ve been baking a lot of chocolate chip cookies lately. I’m not sure what prompted the obsession, but what I’ve learned is that once you start a 3 o’ clock cookie habit, it’s hard to break. This particular day I had carrots, so I worked those into the mix. I quickly realized that grating carrots by hand was a tedious task, so I turned to the food processor. And instead of dirtying another bowl for my wet ingredients, I just mixed them straight in there. (My mom uses the same method for her carrot cakes). A couple of notes… these…

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Lemony Chickpea Salad

spring / vegan / gluten free

Today, I’m participating, in Food Bloggers Against Hunger. A movement organized by Nicole of The Giving Table, in response to the movie A Place at the Table. Today 200 food bloggers are sharing budget-friendly recipes to raise awareness about hunger in America. There is plenty of food in this country, yet most don’t realize (myself previously included) that 1 in 4 kids don’t know where their next meal will come from. One of the main points of the film is that hunger and obesity in this country go hand in hand. Ingredients that make up unhealthy processed foods (corn, soy,…

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Edamame Hummus & Radish Crostini

Fresh spring toasts topped with zesty edamame hummus and lemony yogurt dip.

appetizers / vegan / spring

It’s been snack time around here lately. I don’t know if it’s because spring is in the air, or because our schedules have been irregular lately, but we seem to have traded regular meals for snacky meals. Here are two variations that we’ve recently called dinner… best served with wine and maybe a light soup or salad. The snacking continued with the leftovers. The next morning I baked a tortilla until crispy, and topped it with edamame hummus and a fried egg. (New discovery: the breakfast tostada). The rest of the yogurt sauce went on a salad with chopped veggies.…

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Mushroom & Quinoa Lettuce Wraps

spring / vegan / gluten free

Nutella one day, quinoa the next. This is what I call balance. Tasty balance. Last week, I had this huge head of red lettuce. After a few days of salads, I worked my way down to the small rounded leaves in the center. I thought they were just too cute to tear apart into another salad, so I thought… lettuce wraps. This could be a lovely spring appetizer, or a light meal for two. Especially if you’ve been over-indulging lately like we have been.

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Ginger Citrus Soba & Snow Peas

vegan

I realize I posted soba noodles only a few weeks ago, but I’m back with more. This time, they’re stir fried in a sweet, tangy orange-ginger soy sauce with some crunchy snow peas and edamame. While that one was best served cold, this one is best piping hot. And aside from the tedious task of cleaning the snow peas, this comes together rather quickly.

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Cauliflower Puree with Chickpeas

When I'm craving an easy, cozy weeknight dinner, I make this cauliflower puree. I sprinkle it with capers, roasted chickpeas & fresh rosemary.

vegan / gluten free / favorite

This cauliflower puree might just be my last cauliflower post of the season. I’m trying to remind myself that it’s still March and many of you have snow on the ground. Or at least slush. Which is hard for me to comprehend because it suddenly became July here this week. But last week, when it was a little bit cooler and cauliflower was still showing up at my door, we made this fancy little meal. Cauliflower, two ways… a light velvety puree, with roasted florets and chickpeas on top.

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.