Edamame Hummus & Radish Crostini

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

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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Granola & Pomegranate Bowl

breakfast / vegan / gluten free

This is dessert for breakfast. Especially when you eat it with vanilla coconut yogurt like we did. And drink a mocha on the side. Sometimes a morning sugar rush is just what you need to welcome the day, right? And as if this wasn’t sweet enough already, Jack still had to ask “so… you’re not going to put chocolate chips in there?” Um, no. No, I’m not… (Although, I suppose you could if you wanted too).

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Seared Cauliflower Steaks

winter / gluten free / favorite

This one is so simple but I’m really excited about it. I received (yet another) giant cauliflower last week. I loved this preparation so much that I made it two nights in a row… which rarely happens around here. Also rare… this short list of ingredients. I have a way of turning a “simple” recipe idea into a list of 20 items, but not this time! (I was so proud, can you tell?) This is great as a side dish but it would also make a nice appetizer – skip the greens and serve them with the sauce for dipping.

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Butternut Squash Croquettes

Butternut Squash Croquettes - these healthy baked veggie fritters are a delicious appetizer or snack.

fall / winter / favorite

I don’t have much of a weakness for fried foods. French fries don’t make me crazy, I never really cared for fried chicken… but whenever we’re on vacation, I find myself ordering little balls of fried stuff everywhere we turn. Cod croquettes in Japan, arancini in Italy, and all kinds mashed veggie fritters (with tangy yogurt sauces) in London. Since we’re currently not on vacation, these are baked, not fried… but I promise they’re so good that you likely won’t even notice. I mash creamy butternut squash with cumin and smoky paprika, mix in some tangy feta, and serve them…

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Couscous Stuffed Red Peppers

A fresh late-summer dinner. Red peppers are stuffed with a delicious mix of lemony kale, mint, pine nuts, and cilantro. Vegan, gluten free option.

summer / favorite

I’m not always good at simple. Looking back at some of recipes I’ve posted recently, I realized that I heavily rely on my Vitamix and my food processor. To me, these things are not a hassle, but “old me”, (in a previous life, I never used to cook), would completely skip over a recipe if it asked me to drag out my food processor. Even if i could find all of the pieces for it, I wasn’t interested in the mess and the cleanup. So the other night, I set out to make something that didn’t require fancy ingredients or any…

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Tomato Coconut Shrimp Curry

Tomato coconut shrimp curry makes a healthy, spicy, and warming meal for winter weeknights. Gluten and dairy free with a vegan option.

I feel funny posting this one because I know a decent amount of you readers are from London. I’ll let you know that the last time I was in London I ate my weight in curries. And when I came home from that trip I didn’t step foot into an Indian restaurant for at least a year. I knew that the local places I once frequented just wouldn’t compare. (This kind of all-or-nothing behavior drives Jack absolutely up the wall). However, I did take to making more Indian-inspired dishes at home. A few nights ago I had some leftover coconut…

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Roasted Carrots & Cilantro

Sweet roasted carrots served with a creamy, tangy cilantro yogurt sauce make a healthy weeknight side or appetizer for spring or summer.

spring / gluten free / vegan-optional

We don’t really like carrots. Ok, I take that back, we like cake made out of carrots, and we like raw carrots, but both Jack and I grew up with a disdain for cooked carrots. Of course, we only knew them as the mushy baby carrot version. Or worse yet, the mushy baby carrots in the pot roast version. We both have memories of our moms smasing the carrots and boiled potatoes together and pouring gravy on top. “But it’s so good this way”, my mom would say… each and every time… as if one day this mush would miraculously…

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Lemon Fennel Toasts

Lemony fennel salad & creamy dill yogurt sauce top toast to make an easy sweet and salty appetizer for spring. Also delicious with smoked salmon or cheese!

Lately, this has been our pre-dinner snack. It seems fancy (fancy for us, anyway) to have an appetizer just for two, but it’s less glamorous than that. When we’re cooking and photographing our meals, nights can get late and snacks have become necessary. Especially fast snacks. This one can be made in about 7 minutes, and if that’s too long for you, the components could even be mixed up (and kept separate) a few hours in advance. If you’re vegetarian, don’t click away yet… yes, this is smoked salmon, but it’s the fennel that is the real star, and this…

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Green Garbanzo & Leek Soup

Herbs & leeks make a bright, zippy chilled soup for hot summer days. This easy vegan soup is filled with protein from garbanzos and a lemon yogurt sauce.

We really should have called this site The Basil Blog. I just realized that the last 7 of 8 savory recipes I’ve posted all include basil. And even as I was reflecting on that, the most prominent thought that came to mind was wondering how delicious a basil brownie might be. (Strawberry basil sauce – yes?) So I make no apologies… it’s one of my favorite things, especially when my basil plant is flourishing like it is. This is my attempt at contributing to The Food Matters project today. It’s white bean and asparagus soup day. However, it’s been in…

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Sweet Potato Hummus & Yogurt Flatbread

A simple Yogurt Flatbread is served alongside a spicy, sweet, and smoky Vegan Sweet Potato Hummus. Perfect for a fall or winter appetizer or snack.

This is the easiest flatbread recipe ever… a total go-to of mine for any meal or snack requiring dipping or wrapping. It involves just four ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen and just a few minutes to combine and roll out the dough. The longest part is letting the dough sit in the fridge for an hour, but I’ve gotten away with cutting that back to 20 or 30 minutes while I’m making the other components of my meal… Today the other “component” is this smoky sweet potato hummus, as my contribution to The Food Matters Project. Erin…

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Black Rice & Spring Vegetable Pilaf

Asparagus, broccolini & edamame are mixed with a black rice pilaf to make a healthy spring entree. Herbs & a lemon yogurt sauce top this gluten-free dish.

I love foods when they’re bright in flavor and in color. This recipe starts with a spiced wild rice pilaf and is mixed with fresh asparagus, broccolini and edamame, but feel free to use the vegetables you love most. I’ve been using black wild rice more and more lately (which is actually a grass and not a rice). It makes for a gorgeous presentation, and has the added benefit of being higher in protein than other rices. The warm nutty rice gets flavored with garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, and cumin. In the end the pilaf is topped with a bright pop…

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