Posts from the ‘Eat’ Category

January Deliciousness: Flaxseed Fruit Muffins

Soup Sundays are back in our house (we made this delicious 30-minute turkey chili this week), and have reminded me how comforting a few basic weekly rituals are.

In the food department, we’ve added in a second staple after enjoying these delicious muffins over the holidays in the Midwest.  Everyone in the house loves them, and they’re a great breakfast to go and anytime snack.  We’ve made batches during the past few weekends and enjoyed them all week — using the recipe below (courtesy of my mom), you can too.  Enjoy! Read more

Snack of the Gods: Avocado Toasts

The first special our waiter told us about Saturday night was avocado toasts — “thick slices of bread brushed with olive oil and grilled, slathered with avocado, and topped with a hint of chili oil, peppers, sea salt and arugula.”  I don’t even know what Vesta‘s other specials were that night because all I could think about as he described them was getting in our order for the avocado toasts ASAP. Read more

Lentils by Candlelight

Tonight’s Soup Sunday choice was an oldie but a goodie — a red lentil soup I’ve made countless times since The New York Times published this simple recipe in 2008.  I now know the recipe by heart and follow it to a tee, with the exception of adding a few extra carrots and throwing in a few handfuls of spinach at the end for color and an added nutritional punch. Read more

Soup Sundays

During college, I used to make a pot of soup every weekend and keep it in the fridge all week long.  This weekly routine met the meal criteria that mattered most during those years — it was cheap, easy, and healthy enough to balance out the inevitable not-so-healthy college habits that persisted alongside it.  I churned out pot after pot of soup — from basic chili to Nepalese dal — steaming the windows of my tiny apartment and filling the air with spices mingling together, sometimes beautifully and other times awkwardly. Read more

The Key to a Clean Diet: Post-It Notes

Some people organize their lives using fancy newish services like Evernote, Asana, and Notesy.  Business magazines would lead us to believe that everyone is using these apps, and without them, we risk plummeting productivity and blank to-do lists.  Well, as someone with two of the apps I mentioned (and some more I didn’t mention) downloaded but infrequently used, I beg to differ. My main way of organizing my life and my ideas is as low tech as it gets.  I manage my life on post-its. Read more

Banana Nut Delicousness

With the school year in full swing, it’s helpful to have healthy snacks around the house — something that’s easy to grab during the inevitable morning whirlwind and ready and waiting when kids arrive home from school needing a small boost.

With a couple of ripe bananas and an abundance of almond meal from a friend who moved and gave me her stash, I searched for a simple recipe for almond meal banana muffins and came up with a winner.  Read more

Salmon Al Fresco

Salmon always tastes better to me in the summertime, evoking the nostalgia of eating simple filets and buttery corn on the cob on my parents’ screened porch overlooking their peaceful Midwestern lake.  Everything seems to taste better on that screened porch, amidst the din of boats puttering along and the waves lapping against the rocky shoreline.  Home is where the heart is, but in the summertime, my heart is where the lake is.  But that’s another story for another time.  Back to the salmon… Read more

Culinary Compass

I watched the movie Forks Over Knives over the weekend, and without a doubt, it makes a compelling case for plant-based eating.  Meatless Mondays are officially back in our house.  I liked the film most, not because of its content, but because it didn’t feel like it was forcing one way of thinking on me.  Instead, it used data to make a compelling argument for eating less animal-based food, leaving me thinking, “you’re a grown up….make good decisions.”  In other words, get back to basics — which for me, will mean more plants, a bit less meat, and knowing where my food comes from. Read more

Spicy Desayuno

Every time I go to Latin America, I come home inspired to eat spicy eggs and beans for breakfast. And without fail, this lasts for a few days, and I fall back into my comfortable and entirely boring oatmeal routine. Read more

Granola, Sweet Granola

Having spent childhood summers bathing in a freshwater lake and listening to Peter, Paul and Mary, it’s no surprise that I love granola.  I love it for its tree-hugging, free-loving connotation just as much as I love it for its strong flavor, rugged texture, and quick satisfaction.  And I’ve loved it even more during the past few months, as I’ve been eating gluten-free and eager for an occasional break from the monotony of eggs and oatmeal. Read more