Butternut Squash Noodle Pasta

This healthy weeknight dinner uses half butternut squash noodles and half pasta to create a delicious vegetarian meal. Walnuts, fried sage, leeks & lemon add flavor & texture to this cold-weather dish!

Get excited, it’s fall faux noodle time! In the past we’ve done papaya, zucchini, and cucumber, but today we’re making butternut squash noodles. I mixed these pretty orange julienned spirals with regular noodles and made this simple leek & sage pasta. Of course, you could make this same dish with cubed squash, but you can’t twirl cubes on your fork, so where’s the fun in that? The butternut squash noodles make for a fun texture variation – I cooked them for less time than the pasta noodles, so they had nice firm bite. I topped it all with walnuts, fried sage, and…

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Quinoa Quesadillas

fall / vegetarian / easy

Happy day-after Halloween, who’s ready to cook? No one… That’s what I thought. So before we head to Thanksgiving Town, I thought I’d share another quick and easy (and tasty) meal you can throw together using last night’s leftovers… Just like the picture says – take your leftovers from this salad, add some black beans (maybe a few more spices), and some cheese… fold it into tortillas… then dig in to some pretty hearty & healthy quesadillas. Of course, cook these on your stovetop and not on your marble countertop.

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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…

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Eggplant & Squash Tian

cookbook / cooking from the heart

“Late summer” has finally happened here in Austin… it’s warm and sunny, as opposed to hot and muggy, and it feels pretty amazing. Technically it’s fall, but I still have a ton of eggplant, zucchini and other summer vegetables scattered around my countertops. And this rainbow colored vegetable tian was quite possibly the perfect way to celebrate them. (Plus, it was ridiculously fun to make). This recipe is from chef John Besh’s Cooking from the Heart, which comes out next week. It’s a (huge) beautiful cookbook that is also a very personal story about the places and people who have…

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Pear Pizza with Fried Sage

fall / favorite

Pumpkins and sweet potatoes seem to get all of the fall love. Rightfully so, but lately I’ve been having a mini obsession with pears. One day last week, pear pizza sounded like a good idea to me. No, I mean, literally, I just liked the way it sounded… with the two p’s. I love a sweet component to savory foods, so I knew this would be good – I didn’t know this combo would be ridiculously good. While we were snapping photos, I let Jack have that missing slice. I knew we had a winner when he took a bite and…

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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.…

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Migas Breakfast Tacos

breakfast / eggs / favorite

At long last, we are home. There’s nothing quite like leaving your regular life for a month in order to really appreciate all things familiar. These are the top three things I’ve missed most… 1. the pups 2. my own bed, and 3. breakfast tacos. While eggs, pancakes and brunchy things seem to be the newest food trend in Tokyo, they have nothing on the Austin breakfast taco. This post is long overdue – breakfast tacos are one of those things I make all the time with no real recipe. In Austin, you can find migas all over – my favorites…

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Grilled Veggies with Basil Miso

vegan / gluten free / summer

The “summer’s not over yet” recipe theme continues. Right now Jack and I are in Seattle for a few days before we head to Japan. I feel inclined to write about how we spent the last few weekends at home savoring the last of our local late-summer produce… But seriously, it was 104 degrees when we left so I’m sure there will be plenty of summer (and it’s veggies) waiting for us when we get back. With Japan on the brain, I’ve been in the mood for miso. Although, I realize nothing else about this recipe is remotely Japanese… the…

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Mango Sesame Avocado Salsa

summer / gluten free / vegan

This wasn’t originally going to be a post, but of course that’s how so many of these things start out. I was making dinner one night last week… the mango salsa I usually make, on top of seared tuna. (thanks to my Aunt Judi for the suggestion!). I started preparing my tuna the way I usually do – marinated in soy sauce and maybe some ginger… pressed in sesame seeds, with a drizzle of sesame oil at the very end. That’s when I had the “ah-ha moment” that those asian-inspired ingredients would make for a nice spin on the salsa itself. So…

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Heirloom Tomato & Avocado Salad

summer / salads / vegan

This is the part where I get sad about the inevitable end of summer. Granted, my back-to-school days are long gone, and it’ll be another four months before I’ll have to so much as think about a sweater. The part I’m not ready to let go of is the bright colorful food. My eyes are not ready to adjust to the shade of pumpkin (as much as I love it)… just yet. Lately, I’ve been consuming these gorgeous Whole Foods heirloom tomatoes by the basket-full. They work well in this particular salad because each type is a little bit different. Some…

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Caprese Sandwich with Olive Pesto

Layers of summer produce, fresh mozzarella, and savory olive pesto fill this fresh, satisfying loaded caprese sandwich. A must-try cookout meal!

vegetarian / sandwich / giveaway

I’m in the process of learning to like olives… little by little I’m getting closer. I figure there are so many tangy, briny foods that I love – capers, pickles, sun-dried tomatoes – it’s time for this olive hangup to end. So when the folks from Mezzetta contacted me to make a sandwich using any of their products, I went straight for the olives. Caprese Sandwich Recipe Ingredients I set out to make a tasty tapenade – similar to one Jack and I shared (and loved) at a bar in Rome. What I ended up with was a pesto. I…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.