A creamy lightly-spiced cauliflower soup with robust flavor from toasted almonds, slight heat from harissa-infused browned butter and a bright earthiness from a sprinkling of dill as garnish. I think you’ll love this warm earthy soup in the winter months!
Read MoreThis recipe is a very humble one, but much beloved. We all look forward to zucchini season so that we can make this! Delicious as a side to a cookout (or other meal), it also makes for a good meatless main course served on its own with a large salad and maybe a watermelon.
Read MoreOkay so when I was in college, there was this local coffee shop in town that also served breakfast and lunch fare, and the Grilled Chicken Caprese was kind of the sandwich. It had a cult-like status among students.
I spent many lunch dates the last semester of my senior year picking apart the Grilled Chicken Caprese, analyzing the components, and storing it away in the back of my mind.
Lent: it’s the time of year when more meatless meals make it into the weekly recipe rotation.
To make things easier for you (and ourselves!) we’ve rounded up some of our favorite meatless meal recipes from the blog into a single post.
Read MoreI’m always on the lookout for yummy vegetable sides that add interest (but also aren’t too fussy). Where most veggies taste very, very yummy just tossed with olive oil, seasoned to perfection with salt and pepper, and roasted in a hot oven, sometimes it is nice to have something a little different, especially for special occasions. So when it was my husband’s birthday recently, I tried out this recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook.
Read MoreI have to thank my sister-in-law for finding this recipe. She was hosting for a family birthday and had a bunch of asparagus that wasn’t going to stretch far enough for everyone. The original recipe was only potatoes and asparagus, but she threw in some salad greens and now we are forever grateful. My husband grows organic greens for a living, so salad is an everyday thing. But we can get into a rut of the same old, same old. This was a welcome variation, and so dang delicious! Even the pickiest salad eaters enjoyed it. (The blended onion is sort of a revelation to me, and I want to play with it more.)
Read MoreI’m always on the lookout for vegetarian meal ideas because I try to plan three meatless dinners each week. My kids (and husband) would almost certainly be happy with a pasta dish on each of those days - and honestly I wouldn’t be too bothered about it either - but for the sake of variety and creativity and (probably) a trimmer waste, I usually mix it up with other vegetarian staples like eggs or beans and lots of hearty vegetables and grains. But beans and rice and frittata all get a little tired, no matter how many variations you try, so when I saw Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian at the library, I was so excited at the prospect of freshening up my meatless menus. And this book definitely delivers!
Read MoreA little less than a year ago, I posted this recipe for Mac n’ Cheese. The technique of cooking the pasta in the béchamel sauce was new to me and so appealing for cutting down on dishes. It reliably gave the baked Mac n’ Cheese a wonderful texture too, something that had eluded me with other recipes. Now my Mac n’ Cheese comes out the same every time and just the way I like it. I found this recipe, and I’ve stuck with it very happily.
Read MoreHave I mentioned how much I love Ottolenghi cookbooks? His recipes opened up a whole new world of flavor in my kitchen. He is so creative with flavors and food combinations. I’ve never been disappointed with an Ottolenghi recipe I’ve tried, and there are some that we return to again and again.
This recipe here is inspired by one from his newest cookbook Simple. It is simple. It’s also really delicious and makes a substantial meatless dish. The original recipe calls for ciabatta but I only had a loaf of sourdough so I used that. I made it a little more herby, too. I would maybe add some ham or bacon in a future version but it certainly doesn’t need it. It was puffy and light with delightful crusty cheesy baked edges. Mmmm. Serve it with a salad and you've got yourself a perfect weekday meal.
Read MoreI love this kind of salad so much. It’s colorful, it’s hearty, it’s nutritious, and it tastes delicious on top of all that. I serve a basic old house salad with every dinner, so a salad like this is kind of like a treat. It’s also a perfect side salad to fill out a meal that needs just a little more substance on the side.
Alternatively, you can throw grains (like farro, barley, or quinoa) or roasted veggies (Brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes are my personal fave) and make this a legit meal. It makes a delicious lunch or a lighter dinner. With all the different elements and flavors you end up feeling totally satisfied.
Read MoreTomato soup and grilled cheese: it’s an American staple. Probably because it’s fast, and it’s satisfying.
The thing is, as a grown adult cooking for my family, I discovered that many cans and cartons of tomato soup are chock full of sugars. On the other hand, a lot of homemade recipes, although fresh and delicious, take time to make, and don’t yield that ultra smooth brilliant soup you get from a can.
Read MoreI was inspired to make this dish after trying a recipe from this Food52 cookbook. The squash & chickpea salad/side recipe was delicious, but lacked enough “oomph” to pass for a meal on its own (at least in our house). So I added in couscous, tweaked the proportions, and discovered a few toppings that paired nicely. The result: a delicious, filling and surprisingly fresh dinner, sometimes hard to come by in the winter with no garden fresh produce.
Read MorePotato soup is comforting, easy, and economical. This recipe takes under an hour to throw together and makes everyone happy and content. The garlic and cheese are really what make this shine and taste all the more delicious.
Read MoreLike any casserole, this is one of those meals that doesn’t look that impressive. I wouldn’t necessarily serve it for company. But, it is easy to whip up, works with what you have, and goes over well with both children and adults. So in my books, a weekday win.
Read MoreI wanted to share our consistent, years-long favorite: spinach pesto with ricotta and chicken … except that it got beat out today by a last minute flavor variation: spinach mushroom artichoke! I’m a little miffed about it, but I’m left with no choice but to share both recipes with you.
Read MoreI love frittatas. They seem fancy, even though they are easy to whip together, taking just a little longer than regular fried or scrambled eggs. They make a great breakfast, but are more than suitable for lunch or dinner too. They are economical, easily vegetarian or milk free, and, best of all, adaptable to whatever you have on hand.
Read MoreThis ratatouille is not pretty. It’s nothing like the one in the Pixar movie. It is basically an obscenely large collection of vegetables that get chopped, generously doused in olive oil, and then roasted until they’re soft and caramelized and melded together into a deeply flavorful dish. The simplest process coaxes so much flavor out of such basic ingredients. And then I get to watch my kids gobble down a couple days worth of vegetable servings in one sitting - and with delight! It’s pretty magical.
Read MoreI love a good veggie burger. I love a good hamburger too, but veggie burgers are so much fun because you can pack so much flavor into them. Plus, the directions you can go seem endless! Even where to start with the base can be a hard choice -- black bean, lentil, chickpea...you name it! Then what sort of cuisine? Tex-mex, Indian, Moroccan, Mediterranean...again, you name it! I haven't even started on what toppings you can add. Finally, homemade buns make them that much more tasty.
Read MoreI love this dinner. If I were planning to host a fancy dinner, I'd choose this in a heartbeat. It's unfailingly delicious. It can be vegetarian or meat filled. It isn't technical, yet it looks incredibly elegant. Plus, you can easily make almost all of the components ahead of time and simply assemble and bake an hour before hosting.
Read MoreI don’t think I would’ve thought to try a soufflé if I hadn’t been searching through this one particular magazine for a recipe I could fit into that week’s menu with the ingredients I had on hand. I think in my mind i had relegated soufflé to stuffy dinner parties or French restaurants, not weekday meals. Turns out, soufflé is simple enough for a weekday meal AND tasty enough to be gobbled down by kids and adults alike. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given the main ingredients of egg and cheese.
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