I’m very much a supporter of a friendlier green smoothie. Greens balanced by natural sweetness, complex flavors, smooth, not pesto-y texture–these sorts of things. I shared this 3-ingredient green smoothie a few years back that remains a favorite thanks to its simplicity and lack of difficult to find ingredients. This smoothie, I suppose, is the next step up from that. Say you’re ready to take off your green smoothie training wheels, this one’s for you.
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It was cold and rainy last week and my first real need–and it was a strong one–this winter for hot chocolate hit. This was of course a “cold†day because it was still in the high 40s, but was was oddly damp for here in the desert. I poured some coconut milk in my little saucepan, threw in some chocolate chips, and winter officially started in my kitchen.
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When we were looking at houses this summer, there was one particular property that had been flipped and finished in a way that left it almost completely devoid of character. In theory, it had a lot of pros (everything was new! great views!), but I couldn’t get past the contractor-grade beige carpet. But, and this is a BIG but, there was an outdoor oven dug into the hill outside the house that the flippers hadn’t touched. I loved this crazy earthen oven and briefly considered–in a moment of house-hunting related delusion–whether or not I could live with a long list of cons for maybe the coolest oven ever.
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If you’ve been reading here for any amount of time, you know that fruit+booze is one of my favorite minimal effort, high yield preserving methods. Because this recipe is really as easy as fruit+booze, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I hadn’t necessarily planned to share it here. However, it turned out WAY better than even I expected and some of you put in requests for the recipe, so here it is. [click to continue…]
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I take photos for our local paper and had to cover a homecoming parade last week. I was stationed on the side of the street by a gaggle of little boys who would seriously EXPLODE WITH JOY every time a handful of candy flew in their direction. It made me smile, but mostly–especially with Halloween fast approaching–it made me wish it was socially acceptable for adults to flip their shit over candy.
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Like many new homeowners, I’m pinning ALL THE CUTE HOUSE THINGS, but am also really on a budget. That’s why my new mantra is pin in then thrift it. So #thrifterest. Lately, I’ve been using pinterest more and more as a tool to help myself remember the things I want to keep an eye out for while thrifting. This helps me be a more effective bargain shopper and prevents me from getting distracted by things I like (and there are many of them), but don’t really need.
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Hi all! I’m really honored to have Megan Scott from the Joy of Cooking here for a guest post today. Megan works alongside her husband, John Becker, to bring the knowledge and empowerment of cooking to home cooks everywhere through the Joy of Cooking cookbook. Together, they maintain the book, its official website and social media presence, and the Joy of Cooking app They are currently working on a proposal for the next print edition of Joy, with the hope of keeping the book relevant for modern cooks without succumbing to trendiness or resorting to kitsch.Â
It made me laugh when she told me she wanted to talk about the wonder that is homemade vanilla extract because like the ghee that I just made, I’ve had homemade vanilla extract my “wanting to try” list for what seems like forever. As Megan notes, now is the time! Oh, and my two cents is that I absolutely agree with Megan’s suggestion to buy vanilla beans in bulk online. I’ve also done that in the past and it made them so much more affordable for me!  If you don’t already, be sure to connect with Joy of Cooking on instagram, facebook, twitter, and pinterest too!
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This is my favorite type of salad–one that’s thrown together with whatever is on hand, but ends up being worth replicating again and again. I hadn’t necessarily planned to post another recipe featuring pomegranates just yet, but this past weekend 2 more bags full showed up at our door. If you haven’t been following along on instagram, no short of 4 different people have given me pomegranates in the past couple weeks. My mind is blown! Every single time!
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Lately, I’ve been trying to give myself time to do more of those things on “I’ve always wanted to do/try/make†that list–the things that all too often get deprioritized because they don’t come with a deadline attached. A big part of this is recognizing the difference between “not having time†and “not making time,†which is an area in which I really have to push myself. Making ghee has been one of those things for a while and I’m happy to say that it is now off the perma-deferred projects list.
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I’m usually not one to declare food “life changing,†or “THE BEST THING EVER,†but I need to tell you about this pomegranate. It is from Paul’s aunt and uncle’s tree, which is just a few miles from our place. I had been feeling a little Eeyore about missing fall in the northeast (the leaves! the apple picking!), but then I cut this baby open and couldn’t. stop. eating. it. It was the sort of shoving in one’s face that is usually reserved for salt & vinegar chips or those darn Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Afterwards, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and looked in the mirror to see that I definitely had a big pomegranate juice splatter on my face. This pomegranate was amazing and two more showed up at my door overnight this week. So, I might be adjusting to my new fall here in the desert better now that there are fresh pomegranates. [click to continue…]
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