Easy weeknight meals. Gosh, isn’t everyone in search of more of those? Honestly, despite the fact that the kitchen is my happy place, I still get flustered and frustrated about weeknight dinnertime. We all know how rushed it can feel to get a meal on the table in the short two hours between 5 and 7. You know, after work and before the kiddos totally melt down and refuse to eat because they are tired? The rush to eat dinner, … Read More
Spicy Black Beans with Sweet Potatoes
Since we ran in 2016, I’ve been making a real, honest effort to get back into the kitchen for non-work related purposes. For me that means more meal planning, taking the time to prepare a grocery list based around sales fliers and coupons, and then actually sticking to that meal plan. What I’ve realized is that we not only eat healthier (duh!) but our meals are more interesting and fun and we spend so much less on groceries each week. … Read More
Sweet and Salty Roasted Kalettes
If I had to choose my favorite vegetable, I would have a seriously difficult time deciding between kale and Brussels sprouts. I know, I know, how chilché and expected, right? But here’s the thing about food trends: most of the time foods become trendy because they’re actually really delicious, so I’ll sing the praises of trendy veggies for as long as I live. Why all this talk about kale and Brussels sprouts? Well, I recently tried Kalettes, a kale-Brussels sprout … Read More
Sweet and Salty Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Can we talk side dishes? I’ll be the first to admit that when planning meals during the week, I think about dishes more commonly thought of as “sides” (mainly veggie and grain sides) as the building blocks for my meals before I think about anything else. It seems to be a way for us to focus on eating whole, healthy foods and makes the meat of our meals a supplement rather than the star of the show. These Brussels sprouts … Read More
Vegan Thai Chopped Salad
Last month I developed a Thai Chicken and Kale Chopped Salad recipe for the Tasteseekers Kitchen blog at work that I’ve since made a handful of times. Big, colorful salads are one of my favorite things to make for lunch and dinner, especially when the salad is substantial enough to keep you full and satisfied hours later. This past weekend Joe helped one of his friends paint his house. It was a two-day ordeal that involved quite a few hours … Read More
Chia-Chai Vega Protein Pudding {Giveaway!}
Now that the weather is getting a little warmer and summer is right around the corner, I’ve been thinking more about warm-weather meals and snacks. Okay, it’s still rainy and chilly in Minnesota, but I’m anticipating summer weather soon! For me, that means drinking lots of smoothies and eating lots of chilled snacks, like chia pudding. A few weeks ago I picked up a new-to-me vegan protein powder and was really turned off by the flavor of the powder. Usually, … Read More
Cheesy Farro-Broccoli Bake
Let’s be honest, the amount of cooking that’s been going on in our house lately has been minimal. But as life slowly transitions back to “normal” (and no, it still doesn’t feel normal if you really want to know) it feels good to do things that come naturally, to create something out of raw ingredients and nourish the body. Plus, eating take-out and snack-y type foods can only keep you going for a certain amount of time. Sometimes you just … Read More
Chana Saag with Kale
One of my favorite traditions at work is our monthly cookbook club. It’s so fun to select a book, pick a recipe and get together with a bunch of other people who love to cook and discuss what we liked and didn’t like about said book. Sometimes it’s an incredibly successful cookbook club, sometimes it’s only okay. But that’s the point, right? It’s so rare that I get a chance to make more than one or two recipes out of … Read More
Peanut Butter Chia Breakfast Pudding
Let’s talk about breakfast. It is, after all, the most important meal of the day, but you already know that, don’t you? I’m always amazed at how many people don’t eat breakfast. Maybe that’s because I go to bed each night thinking about what I’m going to eat each morning for breakfast. Breakfast gets your ready for the day and prepares you for whatever challenges you may face. Take, for example, when I put too much shredded beef down the … Read More
Curried Sweet Potato Hummus
It seems like we’ve been in a constant state of football watching over the last three weeks. Does anyone else feel that way? Not that I’m complaining considering my love for football rivals that of my former football player husband. With bowl games and playoff games and the like, we’ve been doing a lot of entertaining as well. When it comes to entertaining for bowl games and playoff games, I like to keep things pretty simple. Last week I made … Read More
Beet-Apple Juice
It’s Tuesday. Tuesday is way to early to start making complicated recipes that require a lot of brain power, right? I thought so. Now that I’m curbing my caffeine addiction, I’ve been dragging a little bit. I think I’m over the worst of it, but I’m still not on my game 100%. I just keep reminding myself that the worst is over. But then I got a huge zit on my chin and I’m thinking that somehow that is related … Read More
Making Hummus at Home
Being a vegetarian, I consume a lot of hummus. It’s a great source of protein and makes a super healthy dip to enjoy while watching football games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. It’s no secret that I slather hummus on everything from sandwiches to veggies to pizza. I’ve known that making hummus at home is easy for a long time, and I’ve even made a couple batches of hummus in the past, but I never got into the habit of … Read More