Tag Archives | cumin

BBQ Spice Blend (and what to do with it)

BBQ Spice Blend (and what to do with it)

The idea for making my own BBQ spice blend was born out of trying to block BBQ chips from becoming the norm at my house. I’m not proud of it, but when I was pregnant I had cravings for salt and vinegar chips that I could not shake, and no matter what I tried, no healthy substitute would do.

BBQ Spice Blend (and what to do with it)
BBQ Spice Blend (and what to do with it)

I didn’t eat them as much as I wanted to (good thing because I would have given birth to a potato chip or worse, a Costco-sized bag of them) (let’s be honest, it kind of felt like I did anyway), but when I did, I got my husband his own bag because I was not sharing. I got him BBQ, because that is his thing whether or not he’s pregnant. He was in hog heaven because chip-eating was not a regular event in our house before then.

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Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Something that never ceases to amaze me is the versatility of vegetables. I try to use the lesser-known ones too, mostly to show you what to do with them when you see them and to highlight their nutrition stats, but if all you can find where you live are the most basic of veggies, you can still make a huge variety of recipes.

Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Take a look at the vegetables used in this recipe. They’re just the everyday stuff found at the farmer’s market or any grocery store (where I live). But this soup tastes rich, exotic and nourishing, not at all like a yawning fridge.

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Fresh Chimichurri Sauce with Avocado Wedges

I am in the land of avocados, grapefruit and sunburns. I don’t even remember what rain feels like and we have been eating the freshest, most delicious produce and absolutely nothing that is reminiscent of our long chilly winter. Our little one felt weather-induced sweat for the first time (infant sweaty hair is the cutest) and the palm trees are waving to us like ‘welcome, we didn’t think you were going to make it this year!’ we weren’t sure either but we did, and does it ever feel good!

Whenever we have a kitchen on a vacation, I try to shoot a blog while we’re there because I find more culinary inspiration on vacation than any other time. So, I literally shot this yesterday while my little slept on her Dad and then we enjoyed it with some fresh grapefruit and then again for dinner drizzled on more avocados with some tomatoes, greens and roasted asparagus. Vacation should always taste this good.

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Roasted Chickpea & Eggplant Tabouli

The other day I put my 8 week old in her carrier in the hopes of shooting this salad. I had it all planned out, she got in, she fell asleep, everything was perfect until I then just walked around my apartment, kissing her head, taking pictures to send my husband (I know. she has her own drop box account…). Before I knew it, 45 minutes had passed and by the time I got it together she had woken up again and wanted to party. So we did.

Enter my Mother-in-law. She was visiting and wanted nothing more than uninterrupted playtime with her new granddaughter. This blog post (and our lunch) would not have happened without her.

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