Sauteed Mushroom, Pistachio & Feta Salad

I'm sure y'all remember that Simpsons episode in which Lisa becomes a vegetarian. The rest of the family berates her with a chant of, You don't win friends with salad!

I am here to tell you that, actually, you can win friends with salad, if that salad is full of hearty mushrooms, creamy cheese, and a spicy Indigo Frisee mix. So, drop on by your local farmers market & start making friends.

Baked Brie Topped with Raspberry, Almond & Honey

Baked Brie is such a delicious appetizer with little prep time and a big pay-out. I love that Brie tastes just as good if you make it sweet or savory. This recipe is a great appetizer if you are serving anywhere from 5-10 people. Be sure to serve it with a baguette or crackers. Enjoy!

Leftovers Club: Overnight Oats

Overnight oats have become increasingly interesting to me. I decided to throw some together and send them off for my Leftovers Club post this month. You can essentially add anything to your overnight oats, but because I was sending it out, I couldn't put in any fruit (or anything that couldn't ship, for that matter). Not to fear: I made chocolate, coconut & almond overnight oats! This recipe makes one serving (and was inspired by this post).

Homemade Trade: Coconut Almond Granola

I joined a group called Baltimore Homemade Trade, organized by the lovely Martine (who just guest-blogged this recipe for me). Each month a group of folks get together and trade homemade goods (check out the end of this post for a photo of all of the awesome things I left the event with!). For our inaugural month, I was debating between three or four recipes when I settled on this delicious coconut almond granola. I chose this for two reasons: I ran out of time to make some of the other things on my list, and I am obsessed with pairing almond & coconut flavors. This recipe makes 3 cups of granola and is based off this recipe from Kath Eats Real Food.

Balsamic Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is a lovely salad that will get you in the mood for warmer weather. Not to mention, it's really easy to throw together, this recipe makes enough to share, and it's healthy. Enjoy!

Guest Post: Vegan Vanilla Almond Sandies

Please welcome Tiffany for my next guest post! She made these awesome vegan sandies for the holidays. Thanks, Tiffany, for the contribution! Remember, if you also want to guest post, please don't hesitate to contact me.
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I don’t know about you guys, but this time of year I get the baking-bug. I rarely bake any other time of year, but with all the gatherings and celebrations these days I feel like I’m a baking machine! If you haven’t caught the baking-bug, you should force yourself to make these anyways, I promise you won’t regret it.

Now, I’ve cooked many a vegan recipe but never have I attempted to BAKE a vegan recipe. So anyone who equates ‘vegan’ with ‘super-complicated-and-probably-includes-ingredients-I-can’t-find-or-afford’, don’t. These are simple, and depending on how well stocked your kitchen is, you may have all of these ingredients on hand anyways. Another plus for vegan baking? You can eat all the cookie dough you want without fear of salmonella poisoning!!

To be honest, this is the second time I’ve made these cookies in the past few weeks. The first time was successful, but I learned a few things. So now, you guys get the super deluxe version of the recipe…make sure to read the tips/notes before you begin! This makes about 20 cookies and here's the original recipe, in case you're wondering.

Almond Chocolate Chip Brownies

BROWNIES, GUYS. BROWNIES. Follow my simple recipe here for delicious, fudgy brownies. I am also a huge fan of almonds and chocolate chips in my brownies, but if you are not, feel free to leave them out.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted
One (1) cup of sugar
One (1) teaspoon of vanilla extract
Two (2) eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of crushed almonds 
1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Slowly mix in eggs, vanilla extract, and butter.
Evenly pour batter into a greased 9x9" pan.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Let cool & enjoy!

Tip
I crumbled the almonds and put them directly in the batter. This created a nutty flavor throughout the brownies that I absolutely loved. If you choose, you can leave them out of the batter and only layer on top, which I hear is a good choice as well.