chili // my go to recipe

Chili is always on my weekend meal rotation, typically made on a Sunday when it can simmer away on the stove early afternoon just in time for an early dinner. The beauty about chili , 9 times out of 10 you always have the ingredients on hand to cook up a batch.

Sometimes we serve with cornbread, over rice or elbow noodles but my favorite way to enjoy a bowl is with a handful of tortilla chips for scooping. Scoop, eat and repeat.

chocolate coconut granola // hemp seeds + quinoa

We love breakfast. Some days breakfast needs to be quick and easy and other days allow for a long leisurely breakfast over a vegan eggs bene or banana pancakes. Any way you choose to breakfast it needs to be good.

Making your own granola is so easy and much less expensive than any store bought granola.

My granola's vary from super crunchy (this one) to a softer granola (like this one). I prefer the crunch while Justin prefers the latter. It kind of reminds me of cocoa pebbles.

As I type this I am actually noshing on some coconut yogurt topped with this granola- soooo yum! 

chikn' noodle soup // miso + nooch

Ahhhh March, the transitional month between Winter and Spring.  A month that doesn't quite know what it wants. One day it is 60 degrees, gorgeous, birds are singing and trees are beginning to wake up. Just kidding, Winter is back with over a foot of snow, crazy winds and frigid temps. Seriously this is the worst month in New England, when all you crave is spring weather but you get crazy snow storms instead. So, on those March snow days you simply hunker down with your generator on stand by, a fully charged kindle, pull out the old blue rays you haven't watched in forever and make a huge batch of chickn' noodle soup.

Chikn' noodle soup seriously makes everything better.

apple cinnamon dog treats // flax + oats

I have a short but sweet post for you today- in the form of Puppy Treats. Treats for our Pups can get expensive and not every ingredient on the back of the bag is even recognizable - our solution, make our own! 

crispy peanut butter cups // toasted coconut

Peanut Butter Cups are one of Justin's most favorite candies. He can polish off a bag without thinking twice. Peanut Butter Cups are super easy to make, for an added twist I included some of his favorite chocolate crisp cereal and toasted coconut.

I was able to enjoy a total of one peanut butter cup - the rest were gone within 2 days of making this batch.

The perfect little sweet treat for New Years Eve.

The Holidays // DIY sugar salt scrub

Merry Christmas!

This post can either be considered right on time or a day too late - anyway you look at it there is always next year or another holiday to celebrate. 

Today I am sharing with you a super easy, yet adorable and thoughtful sugar salt scrub that smells good enough to eat and makes your skin soooooooo friggin' soft.

The Holidays // cookie box

Cookie Boxes, hands down is my most favorite part of Christmas. I love coming up with a new assortment each year, anything goes from cookies, to truffles to little dessert bars + bites. I always inlcude a combination of homemade and semi homemade treats. Think chocolate dipped Oreos with sprinkles, chocolate dipped apricots with pistachios, white chocolate peppermint cookies.

All these goodies are tucked into a cute little box with a homemade tag tied up with ribbon. I love passing out my tower of cookie boxes to friends and family. 

It is a simple little gift given with lots of love.

Today, I am sharing with you my favorite Holiday Cookies + Treats.

(simply click directly on each recipe title to be brought to the blog post)

Enjoy!

The Holidays // edible gifts

Each year I make it a point to pick a handful of gifts that are from the Kitchen. People love food- eating it, giving it and receiving it. Food + Drink make people happy- a food hug from your favorite person is the best kind of hug.

Today I am sharing with you a few of my all time favorite gifts from the kitchen. I hope you have a chance to share some Kitchen love with your friends + family this Holiday Season!

(click on the recipe title to be direct to the recipe page)

The Holidays // a plant based menu

One of my favorite things about the Holidays is the Menu planning. I mean, duh, this is a food blog and all- of course food would take center stage!

Not only do I love developing a menu where all the courses flow and compliment one another, I love designing the table. It makes our everyday table feel a little more special.

Flowers or herbs, greenery, votives and printed menus always make an appearance. 

nightly rituals // relaxing before bedtime

I love routine, I love rituals - they keep me grounded. 

Every morning I make our bed, each night it is impossible for me to go to bed with the dishes in the sink, dirty counter tops or an un-vacuumed floor. I actually get really anxious, to the point I can't relax until the above tasks are completed. It's the same with clutter, clutter and I do not get along but that is a story for another day.

white chia pudding // cacao nibs + macadamia

Chia pudding - you either love it or hate it. The texture can be off putting to some, it took a long time for me to welcome re-hydrated chia seeds with open arms. They totally weirded me out, truth is stayed away from them before I even tasted them - no thank you. That was up until a few months ago when I started to add them to my overnight oats - it was truly love at first bite. I never looked back.

chocolate chip cookies // dates + almond flour

Chocolate chip cookies are the number one dessert request in our house - hands down they are Justin's favorite cookie. He would have no problem eating cookies for breakfast, lunch and dinner....come to think of it he sometimes does. Years ago, when we first started dating he bought me a Kitchen Aide Stand Mixer under the one condition that I bake him chocolate chip cookies once a week. I didn't quite live up to that promise, it's more like once a month, sometimes every other week in the Fall + Winter months.

smoked tofu sammie // a grilled sandwich

These past few months I have felt restless and anxious. I can't pinpoint exactly why- do you ever feel that way? You know that feeling when you know you should be doing something, anything but you just can't figure out what that something is. I think that biggest reason I feel this way is the whole move this past Summer - I just want things to even out, to be able to have the whole house in one piece would be great too.  And I want a puppy, I really, really want a puppy. Which will happen, probably this Summer...I think my Friends + Family are a little disappointed that puppy isn't a code word for baby.

So for now I am making delicious sammies so I don't have to think about the house, puppies or babies.

It is a really good distraction, I totally got lost in this sandwich. Then I started thinking about puppies, and puppy names and got distracted again.

banana cacao nib smoothie // pb + chia

Hands down this is one of my favorite smoothies- simple ingredients that taste like dessert. Over the years I have found myself craving ingredients that I once turned my nose up on or just generally disliked. I remember the very first time I made Vegan Mac n' Cheese (before we even became vegan) with nooch and ended up throwing the entire batch away // we thought it was the worst thing ever. Now I put nooch in or on just about everything. The first time I tried Cacao Nibs I legit spit them out and Chia seeds looked too weird when re hydrated for me to even try them.

Now, I love them all // I actually crave them. 

So morale of the story, don't ever give up on an ingredient, you never know when that moment might be when you fall in love with a long hated ingredient for the first time.

warm farro salad // sweet potato + chickpeas

I've had this recipe in my Que and on my mind since last winter, it isn't until now that I actually got around to making it. I'm kinda sad I didn't make it sooner, It really was worth the wait.

Farro is one of those grains that I don't use often enough. Every time I use farro in a recipe I think to myself this is so good why don't I cook with farro more often...then it gets pushed back into the dark corner of the pantry forgotten until another year has passed.

maple coconut granola // flax + sunflower seeds

I love, love, love granola. Granola is so stupid easy to make at home and takes no time at all. The granola I am sharing with you today is pretty unfussy - I love the maple-ly coco-nutty undertones throughout the granola.

vanilla almond smoothie // cinnamon + dates

I am keeping my smoothie game strong this year by switching it up with new to me combinations. This smoothie is super easy to make and is great after a workout or when you want a little something sweet after dinner, and of course you could totally enjoy this at breakfast.

peanut butter cheesecake // chocolate drizzle

Can we just stop and take a moment to drool over this cheesecake- is it not gorgeous or what!

Dessert is suppose to be showstopping, that is part of the fun of making dessert- that and tasting delicious.

Peanut Butter + Chocolate // enough said.

book review: Super Foods 24/7 // bonus recipe + giveaway!

Within the past couple of years we have seen a major upswing in creative vegan cookbooks on the market that totally hold their own and are finding a home on vegan and non vegan's bookshelves across the country. It has been amazing to witness veganism becoming more accepted and mainstream, it is no longer viewed as a hippie crunchie diet full of beans, sprouts and tofu - which of course I love all those things but way back the word vegan had a stigma attached to it.

Super Foods 24/7 offers up a variety of accessible, non intimidating and creative recipes that evolve around vegan super foods- let me just tell you, this book is pretty amazing.

coconut cacao nib oatmeal // date sugar + chia

One look at my instagram feed and it is totally obvious that I am a fan of breakfast. 

Breakfast is just so much fun! Everything from smoothies to tofu scrambles, pancakes and cinnamon rolls always have a place on my breakfast table.

During the winter months I crave a warm hearty breakfast. Oatmeal is one of my many go to winter breakfasts. 

A warm, filling and easy way to start the day on a good note.