The sun. The warm air. The sounds of laughter and roar of the lawn mower. The scent of freshly cut grass. When I sat down earlier to write this blog post, all of these things beckoned me outside. I tried to soldier on but all I found was a sputtering of ho-hum sentences curving...
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I’ve probably said this a million times, but sometimes the simplest preparation — like roasting vegetables with just olive oil, salt and pepper — can yield the most extraordinary results. That’s the case with this Roasted Vegetable Quinoa, a bake that’s sweet, savory and totally craveworthy, which I made for a special dinner over...
Read more →A few weeks ago, I bought some brown basmati rice for a night when my husband was working. Though we’ve never really loved any brown rice in the past, this time the kids and I enjoyed the nutty grain. But when it came time to make rice a few days later for the whole...
Read more →Every so often, we’ll be eating dinner at our kitchen table and Will will look up and say “Mommy, you’re a good cooker.” It warms my heart. Most of the time, he loves what I make (of course, there will always be a few duds … and we usually agree on those). A lot...
Read more →Sometimes the hardest thing you have to do is start something. Whether it’s as simple as getting up from the couch or more serious like starting a new exercise regime, the first step can feel absolutely insurmountable. Don’t worry, it’s not really. Still, getting to that first step? So hard. I think that’s why...
Read more →Paige, who turns four this weekend, saw me carry these carrots outside this afternoon and trailed behind. I could see her eyes peering at the plate, examining what I had. As I was styling them for the photo, she locked eyes with me and smiled sweetly … and I knew exactly what she wanted...
Read more →There was a point yesterday when I discovered what the power company’s estimate for returning power was: Sunday at 11 p.m. When I read that, I felt my heart sink and all hope dissipate. Even as I watched the number of power outages in my town go down a few percentage points at a...
Read more →Pillow-y gnocchi. Sweet roasted butternut squash. A buttery creamy sage sauce. We’ve been eating variations of this dish for weeks now, but tonight … tonight it was beyond perfect. It was blissful. The thing that made all the difference? Adding a ladle-full of gnocchi water to the sauce, something that I discovered after reading...
Read more →So. I’ve had a couple of butternut squashes in my fridge. They’ve been taunting me. Staring me down. Begging me to do something, anything with them. But I was nervous. It’s been years since I handled and cooked squashes in their whole form. Typically, I take the easy way out and buy squash that’s...
Read more →When I went into the kitchen this afternoon, Paige came running in, dragging a chair behind her. “Mommy, I want to help.” I was there to clean, and told her so. “Then I’ll watch.” And she did, waiting patiently until the counters were wiped clean and the dishes in the sink were washed or...
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