Cauliflower Crust Pizza, Part 2

Lighten up your pizza with this healthier version of pizza crust made with cauliflower, almond flour, and eggs. Top as desired! Gluten and dairy free.

This is part two of the cauliflower crust pizza post from the other day. I had wanted to try this again as a vegan version using flax in the crust instead of eggs (and figure out how to make it not fall apart). I haven’t gotten around to that yet (I’ll report back when I do), but this version is entirely dairy-free. I topped it with leftover kale pesto that I had stored away in my freezer along with some sautéed broccolini, roasted tomatoes, and pine nuts. I could have posted these two pizzas as “his and hers” versions. To Jack’s benefit,…

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Cauliflower Crust Pizza, Part 1

Lighten up your pizza with this healthier version of pizza crust made with cauliflower, almond flour, and eggs. Top as desired! Gluten-free.

In an odd set of circumstances, I was once in a hospital waiting room in Rome talking to an Italian guy, and the topic of Chicago (where I’m from) came up. We had a long debate about Chicago pizza, and he left me with this quote – “Well it’s not pizza, but it’s good.” Not that this recipe has anything to do with deep-dish pizza – there’s no butter crust, no sausage, no brick of cheese. This “pizza”, made out of ground cauliflower and almonds, is healthy, light, and gluten-free. I couldn’t wait to give this a try but I had…

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Zucchini Carpaccio Salad

This summer salad bursts with flavor from a basil-parsley vinaigrette. Quick enough for weeknights or busy weekends, this gluten-free dish is a must-try.

Growing up in the midwest, I thought it was just a cruel joke that spring and summer clothes would show up at the mall in February. Bright colors, shorts, flip flops…when there was still snow and slush on the ground. It didn’t occur to me until I moved away that spring was actually starting to happen in other parts of the country. Now that I’m trying to eat more seasonally, I’m realizing that our season in food is also ahead of the game. We had kale before everyone had kale, and now the first of our zucchini’s have arrived. So…

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Carrot & Oat Cranberry Cookies

Healthy carrot cookies made with almond flour, coconut oil & maple syrup. Loaded with chocolate, cranberries, and nuts of your choice! Vegan & gluten free.

Warning: these are super addictive. A great healthy snack… but if you work from home like I do, they will call to you more often than a nagging client. They call me at breakfast time for a sweet pick me up with my morning coffee. Around 2pm for a post-lunch treat. Maybe again around 4pm for a post-post lunch treat… And since you’ll have eaten them all day long, you might want a change of pace for dessert that night. Warm one (or two) of them and crumble over your ice cream.

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Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

Crisp on the outside and moist in the middle, this sweet potato burger has a wonderful earthy flavor from rosemary & paprika.

I couldn’t wait to make this sweet potato burger after seeing this recipe. I made a few alterations based on the ingredients I had (or rather, didn’t have) in my kitchen. I ended up making them with tofu instead of beans, which worked out great. I flavored them with rosemary and paprika, which was a nice earthy balance to the maple syrup. Sometimes veggie burgers can be too starchy and brick-heavy, but this one was moist in the center and crispy on the edges. Because there are just 2 of us, I made half the recipe that I listed below.…

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Roasted Broccoli & Cranberry Salad

A delicious 30-minute salad for healthy weeknight dinners in fall or spring. Tossed with a bright Apple Cider and Honey Vinaigrette. Gluten free.

This is my perfect weeknight salad. I like to start the week off on the lighter side… less bread, less starch. It often goes downhill from there… by Thursday it could be all cakes & cocktails, but come Monday it’s time to get it back together. Which still doesn’t mean eating bland food! I love this salad for its balance of bright flavors and variety of textures: the salty ricotta salata, a pop of tartness from the dried cranberries, a meaty bite from the roasted broccoli, crunch from the pine nuts. It’s brought together with a simple sweet & mellow apple cider…

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Avocado & Chickpea Salad Sandwich

My go-to healthy lunch is this Avocado Chickpea Salad Sandwich! With green onion, cilantro & lime, it's ideal for quick & easy vegan sandwiches.

This is my new favorite lunch. I saw this recipe on Two Peas & Their Pod a couple of weeks ago and made it right away. And then I made it again the next day… and then the next day after that… As creative as I like to get at dinnertime, there’s something comforting (and probably a little OCD) about eating the same thing for lunch day in and day out. Beyond the sandwich, I’ve also been eating scoopfuls of this over mixed greens with chopped cucumbers and other veggies. And this summer, I’ll likely be serving it poolside with chips…

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Molten Chocolate Cakes

Rich molten chocolate lava cakes make a simple & elegant dessert for Valentine's Day or any special occasion. Take under 30 minutes. Dairy-free option.

Jack first made molten cakes for us for Valentine’s Day a few years ago, and these luscious little cakes have been a tradition of ours ever since. It’s the one night a year that Jack cooks, and he doesn’t play it safe. He might not know the difference between a scallion and a scallop, or that 3 cloves of garlic are not 3 bulbs of garlic… every single pot and pan we own will be scattered around every bit of counter space we have… but over the years he’s learned to make a mean molten cake.

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Sweet Curry Brown Sugar Popcorn

Popcorn in a brown sugar-curry coating makes a sweet, spicy snack. Gluten & dairy free & vegan. Unique 10-minute treat for parties or your next movie night.

Since starting this blog a couple months ago (feels more like a year ago), I’ve “met” some of the nicest people and have received the most encouraging feedback. I honestly thought my mom would be our only reader for the first few months (hi Mom), so the idea that people are actually reading and commenting, and tweeting (lord knows that was quite the learning curve for me) has made me feel just so welcomed. One of the first people to reach out to me the week we launched the site was Kate from the blog Cookie + Kate. I’ve been…

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Vegan Nachos with Cashew “Cheese”

A hearty vegan & gluten free nacho recipe with TVP-based taco meat & cashew cheese. Topped with guacamole and pico, these are perfect for spring & summer.

This recipe is from the Native Foods cookbook. Jack and I first stumbled upon Native Foods one night in California on our way back from Disneyland. I typically don’t eat foods at theme parks (I know, I’m “fun” like that), so after the fireworks we set out to drive around and find a restaurant. This was years before iphones and yelp, so it was nothing short of a Disney miracle that we aimlessly found ourselves at this awesome vegan restaurant. If you are new to the idea of nut cheese, it’s really nothing like cheese… but more of a cheese-like…

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Sweet Potato & Pear Soup with Sage

Enjoy this healthy one-pot soup in fall or winter. Full of sweet potato, sage, pear, and curry spices, it is perfect for holidays and vegan & gluten free.

fall / soups

My favorite thing about cooking is when things come out of nothing. After the holidays, we had an empty fridge, empty countertops… contents of a meal (or even a snack) nowhere in sight. I had a pear that was on the verge of way-too-ripe, half an onion… and then I noticed a sweet potato that I never remembered buying. I’ve seen recipes for butternut squash soup with pears, so I figured this would work just as well. I foraged through the back of the fridge and pantry for the rest of the ingredients. Then I remembered I had this delicious…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.