Mayan chocolate is probably best known as a delicious, hot, and frothy drink made with ground cacao beans and corn meal and spiced with chiles and cinnamon. This rich but bitter drink – called xocolatl – has been around for thousands of years, and only became a sweet treat in the 1700s in Europe. These…
Category: Vegetarian Recipes (All)
Ginger Carrot Soup
This 5-ingredient ginger soup with fresh orange juice and a gingery zing is a vibrant, fresh starter. 5-ingredient Ginger Carrot Soup November 10, 2012 by Stormy Category Soups Vegetarian Recipes (All) Ingredients 1 ½ pounds raw carrots, peeled 1 small onion, cut into fourths 2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced Juice of 2 oranges (~1 cup) 2-3 cups vegetable…
Roasted Carrots with Herbs
Sweet, colorful, delicious…even visually interesting. Who knew roots could be so good? And whether you get them in the fall harvest, or after the spring frost, they taste delicious on their own or with just a handful of other ingredients. One of my favorite ways to eat them is roasted in just a bit of…
Muhammara – The Red Pepper, Pomegranate, and Walnut Triple Threat!
Middle Eastern dips and sauces are some of the best in the world, in my opinion. Often thick, rich in flavor, and healthy for you, they are also easy to make – and to modify – if you know what goes into them. What is Muhammara? Muhammara, a red pepper and walnut dip from Aleppo…
Eating Indian Food + Pumpkin Masala Recipe
I distinctly remember the first time I ever ate Indian food. I was 19 and had still not been exposed to many of the world’s cuisines; my tastes were pretty mundane and the spices and heat were just so foreign. It wasn’t until I met my future husband, Will, a few years later that I…
Yummy Honey, Seed & Nut Power Snack Recipes
Last week I talked about tasting honey. In my opinion, honey can be overpowering – rich, sweet, even palpitation-inducing – on its own and tastes best in combination with more savory ingredients…like tea, or nuts, or meat. The very different flavors balance and enhance each other. And, honey is a great binding agent for pulling together…
How to Roast Red Peppers
I’ve roasted peppers a number of ways over the years – over a gas flame, in the grill alongside chicken, in a pan on the stove… But, the way that works best, is the way that works for most vegetables: roast them in the oven. It not only creates great blistering, but the tenderness of…
Flavor Bible to the Rescue (AKA Awesome Broccoli Soup)
I have a practice I call Friday Night Fridge Finds. The premise behind it is that we – people in general – often wind up at the end of the week without much food in the fridge or motivation to cook, but we can still come up with a healthy, tasty, and easy-to-prepare meal. Typically, it…
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Quick Marinara
Brussels sprouts have become a favorite around our house this winter. We buy several pounds at a time. I suspect that if one wants to gorge themselves on vegetables, it is probably ok. At least, I hope it is, because that’s what inevitably happens. There’s nothing quite like the salty crunch of the outer leaves…
Creamy Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Soup
Sometimes I buy things on a whim in amounts that don’t seem realistic for my 2-person household. Like a 5-pound bag of limes or a 10-pound squash. This week it was a 1-pound container of baby bello mushrooms. I love mushrooms; I just usually don’t eat enough to finish even half that amount before they…
Gluten-free Pumpkin Nut Pancakes
A few years ago, when I first stopped eating gluten and dairy and was trying to figure out what to eat, I found a soy-nut pancake recipe that sounded interesting. I’d never cooked pancakes with nut flour or tofu before and I wasn’t quite sold on the tofu, so I came up with my own…
Fennel for the Everyday Joe (and Jane) + Soup Recipe
Fennel was on sale at the grocery store last week. I picked up a bulb, with all of its unruly fronds intact, and headed up to the front. “What do you use that for,” asked the guy at the checkout counter. “I see people buy it sometimes, but have no idea how I’d use it.”…
Orange-Roasted Broccoli, Beets and Garlic
Beets, broccoli and garlic bulbs…some of my favorite vegetables. I don’t know why it took a dearth of fridge contents for me to realize that the three vegetables I had could be cooked up together for a perfectly delicious dish! As many of you know, I love roasted vegetables. I chose to cook the trio…
Curried cashew cauliflower and sweet potato soup and a cold, hard cider
Fall is in the air and I’ve been craving soup…warm, nourishing, and spicy soup! Last year, a friend of mine made a curried cauliflower soup that was delicious. I don’t have her recipe, and so I was inspired to create my own and to do it in the easiest way I could. This means, I…
Monster Soup
On my last trip to the farmer’s market, I bought a zucchini. The problem is, when I tried to pay for it, they wouldn’t let me leave without taking 2 more squash. My options were zucchini and zucchini…or the 1 Hubbard squash they had left. I opted for the 7-pound monster. The total for all…
Coconut Rice Pilaf with Roasted Pineapple, Cashews, and Raisins
I am not a big fan of savory dishes with coconut in them, but a trip to Belize changed my mind – at least about rice with coconut. You see, when I was a kid, I really only ate the sugar-coated, shredded coconut that came in a bag. You know, the kind you find in…
Fresh Roasted Corn Quinoa Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes
Quinoa on its own is kind of blah. This dish is flavored with orange juice, garlic, and spicy, roasted salsa for kick, along with fresh summer corn and tomatoes for color and sweetness. This dish was originally eaten before I could take a proper picture of the finished product. It was so good, I made…
Light and Easy Nectarine, Fresh Green, and Pistachio Salad
I am excited about all of the summer fruit and vegetables that have been making an appearance lately. I’m not so excited by the heat. So, I’ve been making a lot of refreshing salads. They are perfect for a light supper out on the porch. My recent favorite is filled with fruit, nuts, and fresh…
Triple Corn Corn Bread
I love corn bread. Ever since I was a child, it (along with baking powder biscuits and my mother’s homemade bagels) has been one of my favorite breads. Fortunately, it is a bread that lends itself to gluten-free (and yeast-free) preparation – much more so than the bagels ever will. It is also easy and…
Highlighting Native Foods: Savory Acorn Quinoa Muffins
There is always something new for me to discover at the market that caters to our city’s north Asian transplants and culinary fans. This time, it was acorn starch. Gluten-free and intriguing, I couldn’t resist grabbing a bag to experiment with. Koreans use acorn starch to make a jelly called dotormiuk. I had other plans…
Red Lentil Soup on a Cold Winter’s Day
When the weather changes as drastically as it does here in Utah, what I crave does as well. When the snow hits, I gravitate towards soup and other comfort foods, and rely on a strong dose of color and spice to make up for the lack of sun. Red lentil soup fits the bill. I…
Viva [Venezuelan] Vegan! Terry Hope Romero’s New Cookbook
Terry Hope Romero recently released her latest cookbook: Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers. Thumbing through the index, I realized she must be Venezuelan. Sure, she includes recipes from all across Latin America, but I was immediately biased when I saw the words arepas, mechada, caraotas, and cachapas. Mmmm, cachapas…
Adzuki Bean Rice Bowl with Miso Dressing
I’ve had a jar full of adzuki beans sitting in the cupboard for a long time. This is what happens when I buy things out of curiosity rather than with purpose. Even reading a book in which the beans were mentioned as an amazing super food did not spur me to action. Today, though, it…
Artichoke and Caramelized Onion Quiche
There are many ways to skin a cat, but only one way to get at the heart of an artichoke OK, no cat-skinning, just the need find an alternative way to deal with a tricky bulb. It’s Iron Chef night. This evening’s ingredient is the now in-season artichoke, a vegetable with which I have very…
Garlicky Pizzaliciousness – Creamy Paleo Garlic Sauce
For a long time, I’ve tried to figure out a good garlic sauce for pizza. Today, I finally came up with one which is a definite keeper. I love to throw some grilled chicken, bacon, artichoke hearts, pine nuts (when they are not outrageously expensive), and chopped sun-dried tomatoes on top of a garlic sauce…
Buckwheat Noodles with Spring Veggies and Walnut Dressing
If you have not been to 101 Cookbooks, you must go. Now! Heidi, the author of this blog as well as the cookbook Super Natural Cooking, offers some seriously good eats. The recipe I have most enjoyed since she shared it last spring is Walnut Miso Noodles. It is something to be eaten in spring,…
Simple GF Miso Soup for Camping and Backpacking
I was craving a steaming bowl of brothy soup today, but did not have the patience to make something from scratch. Instead, I grabbed a box of Whole Foods’ 365 brand miso soup out of the cupboard, some pre-sliced baby portobello mushrooms, leftover pork loin, a bundle of bean vermicelli, and then topped it with…