Vegetarian

Roasted Garlic and Truffle White Bean Spread

December 6, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Garlic and Truffle White Bean Spread

Can you handle some mushy talk today before we get to the food? I hope so… and if not, just skip down to the recipe!

Today I am feeling unbelievably lucky. Lucky to somehow have such an amazing man in my life, to have such wonderful, caring and generous parents, and just generally to have the deck stacked in my favor. I’m not sure how I ended up with so much, but I am so very thankful. It’s easy to take all the wonderful people and things in my life for granted, and I do that too often, but today I am just feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I am not sure how I’ll ever live up to it all!

I guess in the meantime I will just make everyone lots of food. Sometimes even reeeally good food.

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50+ Thanksgiving Potato Recipes

November 22, 2013 by Erica

50+ Thanksgiving Potato Recipes

…alternately titled, 50+ Thanksgiving Potato Recipes That Are More Exciting Than The Same Mashed Potatoes You Made Last Year.

Yes, your Same Old Mashed Potatoes are good. They are traditional. But why not embrace your inner culinary genius on this food holiday of all food holidays and wow your family with something new and improved? Here are 50 super exciting, mouthwatering, unbelievably delicious potato recipes for your Thanksgiving table. From soup to nuts, as they say! Because it’s Thanksgiving, and you gotta have some potatoes.

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Easy Italian Orzo and White Bean Soup

November 20, 2013 by Erica

It’s time for another soup! The easiest, peasiest, cheesiest soup in the land.

OK, maybe not the cheesiest. That would probably be this one. Today’s soup is actually vegan… with an optional dumping of parmesan cheese.

I know we’re in Thanksgiving planning mode, and this is not a Thanksgiving soup. That doesn’t make it any less perfect for this time of year, though, because it is a quick and easy pantry soup – perfect for making a big batch of when your next few evenings are going to be filled with holiday prep, or even for throwing together when your family gets into town and you realize that they will be here for days, but you have only planned a single meal.

So yes, my family will probably be seeing this soup next week.

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Nutted Wild Rice

November 11, 2013 by Erica

Nutted Wild Rice

Good morning! It’s Monday again, isn’t it?

Well, I take that back. Some of you lucky folks probably have Veteran’s Day off, making this just another day in a niiiice long weekend for you. Well hurumph. The rest of us have to work.

Nutted Wild Rice

It’s finally hitting me that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Just two and a half weeks! My whole family is coming out to Salt Lake this year (minus one sister and brother-in-law! we will miss you Cait and Ben!), and my grandparents get here in less than two weeks. Cah-razy. I am psyched to have everyone out here. I am also realizing, though, that I’ve been considering Thanksgiving as an informal deadline for having our apartment totally put together… and that has not quite happened yet. Do you think we should finally get a living room rug after 3 months of living here? Let me think about that, better put it off a little longer. Not. Time to get on all of that.

Luckily, even with family visiting, I won’t be doing all of the Thanksgiving cooking. My parents and aunt and uncle are renting a house, where prepping a Thanksgiving meal for 20 will be much more successful than it would be in my minuscule kitchen, which boasts all of 20 square feet of standing room. (Think about that for a second, lucky homeowners and even fellow apartment-dwellers… 4 feet by 5 feet.) Anyway. I get to play sous chef to my mom, which is a relief, as I would definitely be terrified of coordinating a whole Thanksgiving dinner myself. Once my parents get into town, we’ll kick things into high gear with grocery shopping, pie making, and turkey brining. A holiday centered around food is a holiday well-celebrated in my family!

Since I’m starting to get in Thanksgiving mode, I thought I would share one of my favorite holiday side dishes with you all.

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Vegan Quinoa and White Bean Chili

November 8, 2013 by Erica

Vegan Quinoa and White Bean Chili

When I say chili, something meaty and tomato-based probably comes to mind. Or, if you like veggie chilis, you at least probably think of something tomato-y and darker in color than this. Wellll, I love that type of chili, but I decided it would be fun to make a semi-albino variation – no tomatoes here! – featuring white beans and (naturally) quinoa.

Quinoa chili has been on my to-cook list for quite some time, and now the weather is finally cool enough to make it. And as anticipated, I love the texture of the quinoa mixed in here! It thickens up this chili quite a bit, soaking up all that cumin-y broth. Along with the beans, it makes this dish super filling, not to mention being fun and chewy (which of course I have to mention anyway, because that is always what I love about quinoa). But the quinoa doesn’t take center stage like it did in Monday’s recipe – that is reserved for the veggies and spices.

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