Kale & Avocado Wrap

Vegetarians sometimes have a harder time putting together simple lunches than meat-eaters, especially when things like lunch meat exist. Charmington's in Baltimore - you know, the awesome café that hosts my favorite monthly lit reading and even welcomed the President of the United States in January (!!) - makes a plethora of amazing meatless lunch options. Their kale and avocado wrap is my favorite and I just had to recreate it. Grab these ingredients from a grocery store and make enough to last for the week. The following recipe makes one kale & avocado wrap.

Veggie Migas

Apparently, migas is one of my new favorite things. I haven't really been exposed to them too much growing up (which, I'm sure to some of you out there is completely blasphemous). They are fairly easy to make and super-filling and delicious. You can add any veggies to it that you want, but I kept it fairly simple for this recipe. I used a recipe from Cookie & Kate (lovelovelove that blog) as a guide and this recipe makes enough for two large servings.

Everything Bagel Truffle Oil Croutons

These croutons are my new weakness! I wanted some croutons to bring to the Baltimore Homemade Trade event this past month and figured I would just use whatever bread I had lying around the house. There happened to be a ton of everything bagels in my pantry and once I got the idea in my head about these croutons, I had to make them. This recipe makes about six servings of croutons (one serving per salad or sitting, if you will).

 

Layered Eggplant Parmesan

This dish brings out the best in eggplant parmesan and the best in lasagna. Meaning, it's delicious. Seriously delicious. I used Lick My Spoon's recipe as a jumping off point (the photos of her recipe made me want to lick my computer screen). This recipe makes about six servings.

Garlic Basil Beer Bread

I have a little basil plant sitting in my kitchen, begging me to use its leaves every time I walk in the room (so expect a lot of basil posts in the next couple weeks). If you don't know this about me already, I love cooking (especially baking) with beer, because you don't have to add additional yeast and you can just put it right in the oven with no wait time. This recipe makes one loaf of bread and is perfect for a filling snack.

Pistachio Sesame Vegetable & Rice Bowl

There are so many fresh veggies out there right now, it's hard not to get excited about the possibilities! I tossed together some of the veggies hanging out in my house and made a delicious stir fry, served over brown rice. This recipe makes one large dinner serving or two lunch servings. Enjoy!

Cheddar & Roasted Garlic Beer Muffins

I love beer, cheese, and garlic. I love muffins. Must I go on? This recipe is based off of a recipe from the amazing Beeroness (I love her blog so much) and makes about ten muffins.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

It was a dark & stormy night and I was craving comfort food. I found a great shepherd's pie recipe from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen and went to work. This recipe makes about three ramekins worth of this hearty and filling dish. The original recipe called for mushrooms - which I was totally out of - so I omitted them, but I do think they'd be an amazing addition. Whatever you do with it, I'm sure it'll be delicious.

One-Pot Chili Mac

This comfort food is especially comforting when you're just tossing things together from your pantry. I have a few different chili recipes up on this blog already, so feel free to make this with one of them or with your own special chili recipe. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Herb Stuffing

Why is stuffing primarily a Thanksgiving dish? I mean, it uses up leftover bread (extra points for that, for sure) and is a truly delicious and filling side dish. I am totally an advocate of year-round stuffing. For Thanksgiving dinner this year, I was busy cooking other things, so I tossed all of this in the slow cooker (Stirring occasionally? I think I can handle that) and let it do its thing. This recipe was inspired by A Year of Slow Cooking & fills a 4-quart slow cooker. Enjoy & happy Thanksgiving!

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes

It's Thanksgiving time again, which means wanting to make all the food, but really not having enough time to do so. If you remember, last year I made cheddar and cranberry cream cheese biscuits and a leftover Thanksgiving pizza. This year, I'll be making my (in)famous hash brown casserole, a holiday couscous salad, homemade stuffing, and these incredibly decadent slow cooker scalloped potatoes. I adapted this recipe from An Oregon Cottage and it makes an entire 4-quart crockpot full of cheesy potatoey goodness. Enjoy!

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

Lasagna is a huge comfort food for me. This was a great way for me to get rid of some extra produce in my fridge while at the same time filling my belly with delicious pasta. This recipe is based off one from smitten kitchen (whom I love!) and will make one 9x13" pan.

Slow Cooker Three-Bean Chili

I made some chili for a friend's work competition early last month. It was super-easy, since I just put it in my slow cooker all day and let it go. To make it stand out amongst the competition, I used cocoa powder (think mole sauce) and three different kinds of beans (since I wasn't using any meat). This recipe makes about five full servings.

Garlic Butter Spaghetti Squash

I've made approximately one million spaghetti squash recipes in the past few months, and I'm not stopping now. I picked up a small squash for this awesome recipe with two of my favorite things: garlic and butter. This recipe serves two and was inspired by a recipe over at livelovepasta.

Roasted Garlic Deviled Eggs

It's that time of year again: Deviled Egg Pageant! I know you've all been on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what I'd make for this year's competition. If you remember, last year I totally won for my dill & stone ground mustard deviled eggs. This year, I decided to move toward something a little different: roasted garlic deviled eggs.

I didn't win my entered category, but I did get an honorable mention for eggs "Just Like Grandma Used to Make." Now that's a compliment. This recipe uses a dozen eggs (so the yield is 24 deviled eggs), so be sure to adjust for the amount that you want to make.

Homemade Trade: Vegan Kimchi

Kimchi is a staple in Korean food, and is totally worth making yourself because you can control the flavor. Essentially, you just need cabbage and patience. I made this kimchi for the homemade trade club (last time I made coconut almond granola, remember?). This version is completely vegan, meaning, unlike a lot of Korean-imported kimchi, it doesn't use fish sauce. My recipe is based on this helpful recipe from Greatist, and makes 24 ounces of kimchi (I split it up into six 4-ounce containers). I look forward to eating this as a side dish or snack, as they do in Korea, or even in a grilled cheese, or a quesadilla, which sounds crazy/delicious. Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Salsa

I came into a large bounty of fresh vegetables this week, and started brainstorming all of the foods that I can make with them before they go bad. I settled on salsa because it's delicious, easy to share, and uses a ton of veggies! This recipe makes two jars' worth. Enjoy!

Spinach, Scapes & 'Shroom Pizza on a Cauliflower Crust

The past two weeks I've received the following items in my CSA share: zucchini, cucumbers, spinach, arugula, garlic scapes, cauliflower, and radishes. I feel like I've been making pizza a lot lately, but they are a great way to showcase all of the new produce I've been getting! This pizza incorporates three of this week's items, pretty well, if I do say so myself. The pizza's base is a cauliflower crust (the first time I blogged about it was for a Kale & Pistachio Pizza). I hope you enjoy! This recipe makes a pizza the size of a 9" x 13" pan.

Garlic Scapes, Shiitake Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizza

I have so many exciting things to share with you! First & foremost, I am now a shiitake mushroom farmer. My partner & I bought a mushroom-growing kit and last week, we harvested our first batch (about thirty mushrooms!). Keep an eye out because I am going to dedicate an entire post to this exciting venture. Second, my CSA with One Straw Farm began last weekend! Each Saturday, we meet them at one of the farmers' markets and pick our four produce items for the week. Not only that, but we have resolved to make a new recipe each week with something that we picked up. This week, we got strawberries, broccoli, radishes, and garlic scapes. In case you weren't already aware, GARLIC SCAPES ARE MAGIC. The pizza below incorporates the incredible garlic scape and our homemade mushrooms. I can't take any credit for this recipe; my partner whipped up this entire pizza. Trust me -- if you can get your hands on some scapes, be sure to make this!

Guest Post: Sweet Potato & Bean Fritters

This week, welcome my friend Sam, a health & wellness blogger, who made these amazing sweet potato & bean fritters. She is also currently running an awesome indiegogo campaign to bring whole food nutrition to cancer survivors, so be sure to check it out & pledge if you can!
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You have probably seen this awesome Sweet Potato Veggie Burger recipe by Kathy over at Happy.Healthy.Life pinned all over Pinterest.  I've basically taken that recipe and made a few modifications to that to better fit my preferences. This recipe is crispy on the outside, creamy, sweet & tangy on the inside. The coconut oil really adds to the depth of flavor, something you wouldn't find when using other cooking oils. This recipe makes 6-8 medium-sized fritters.