The weather here in TN is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. One day it’s 75 degrees, then the next day it’s 42. I can’t plan any meals based on weather like we would during winter or summer right now as we seem to be in-between and everything is settling. So, I pick what is in…
Category: Vegetables
twice baked sweet potato with veggies and a macadamia nut pesto
This is another low histamine dish that you can cook with very little effort and makes you feel really full and happy. That’s the great thing about comfort food – or just potatoes in general, right? They make you feel full and that makes you feel happy. Or at least it does me. While waiting…
roasted vegetable soup with ricotta and kale
I have been trying to add more healthy options to my diet, things that I may have passed over in the produce isle. They say to stick to grocery store perimeters; stay away from the interior… Produce is a great place to start getting creative. We all know the benefits of kale, but have you…
sweet potato and kale soup
Weāre hanging onto colder weather here in Franklin for as long as we can… We had snow, then it was 70 degrees and then it dropped back down to the 40ās and Iād be happy if it just stayed put for a while. Iām not done making soups and snuggling up under blankets! This soup…
acorn squash wellington with pistachio pesto and goat cheese, roasted broccoli and creamy cauliflower āmashed potatoesā
I’m on a use-what-you-have kind of a kick lately, and what I have is a recent love affair with fennel seed. And acorn squash. And my pistachio pesto. What to do… what to do… I looked online and could not find one instance where acorn squash was used as a Wellington – Butternut squash yes,…
stuffed roasted butternut squash with a pistachio pesto
I love butternut squash everything. Now that we’re more “North” than my husband and I have been in a while, we see it on more menus than when we lived in Florida, especially during this past winter. I always get so much inspiration from the weather and this meal feels like a holiday. It feels…
roasted butternut squash soup with cashews and ground sage
Soup again? Yes. Never gets old in my opinion, especially during this weather. I was told Franklin, TN hadn’t had a snow “storm” in over five years. Now today, stores, local offices… all closed for the second day in a row due to whatās happening outside. We’re expecting more snow tonight through tomorrow… What is…
christmas table-setting and dinner, our still-unpacking-style
This was my first Christmas with my husband in our new town of Franklin, and we were only a month into living here. Boxes everywhere… I did the best I could using what we found. I’ll outline the menu and then just show photos, as well as where I got some of the things you’ll…
grilled figs with turkey bacon, ricotta and a blueberry reduction dressing
I use this dressing with almost everything; chicken, fish, pancakes and obviously salads. This is especially good with a shrimp and polenta salad… You Will Need: Blueberries A Small Pot A Small Potato Masher or Wooden Spoon Figs Turkey Bacon Ricotta Lettuce (we used baby lettuce) A Grill Olive Oil Cut your figs on down…
cream of zucchini soup with onion and cilantro
When I was diagnosed with an egg yolk and nickel allergy I was… pissed. Tell me whatās good that doesnāt have yolk in it?! So, I did the elimination diet (did you know food and meds also have nickel in them? Not just what you cook with?) and, I noticed a big change within just…
cream of mushroom soup with thyme and parmesan
I love cream of anything. And as we continue to be brave and creative with our culinary exploits, I want to make sure I publish recipes that feel decadent but not be considered real cheating. Soups are a great way to accomplish this. You will want to play around with the amount of each seasoning…
steamed artichokes with a basil butter dipping sauce
As you can see with my website icon, I love artichokes. I love the ease of cooking, the health benefits, the way they taste and, of course, ripping through them to get to their heart. So good (more on that in the menu under Bio). You Will Need: Artichokes Kitchen Shears A Knife Butter Olive…
asparagus and sage soup
Making a lot of soup lately… It calms me drinking soup during this quarantine. I can feel the bone broth nutrients hitting my system and Iām immediately calmed knowing that Iām putting ingredients in my body that are good for me. Good for my gut, for my mind and took no time at all to…
chicken and roasted broccoli soup with toasted sesame oil
I had wanted to find a way to use up what we had at the time in our home: a half empty box of broth and some broccoli. Of course that would be fine but, my husband would have said he was still hungry and hour later. And then into the keto snacks heād go……
cream of broccoli soup
Whenever you read ācream ofā anything, you donāt think *healthy*. But this soup is very low in calories and carbs, while filled with nutritious ingredients in a filling warm concoction. I had missed soups… I used to make them creamy with potatoes or cashews. Then we started Keto and I would dress up our favorite…
shaved parmesan salad, pesto over whole wheat angel hair, sun-dried tomatoes & kalamata olives, vanilla lemon poppyseed bundt cake with melted chocolate & strawberries
I had sworn to not be one of those women who fell apart when they were about to turn forty. Who would sit and marinate in all her faults or failures: the shoulda, coulda, wouldaās. I said for yeeeears I wouldnāt be one of those women because, and this is true, I donāt believe in…
mini eggplant pizzas
So itās Tuesday and thereās nothing really notable about this day. Sure, it signifies the end of Monday but, thereās not even a cute Tuesday wine reference like Thirsty Thursday or Wine Wednesday, or a memory hashtag like #TBT or #WBW. Tuesdays are the new Wednesday of the week: a forgotten hangnail of a day…
butternut squash and nutmeg ricotta wonton raviolis with a sesame brown butter sage sauce
I donāt know how it happened that I ended up with a tv in every room of my home, including an iPad set up in the kitchen and an extra tv just hanging out (though hidden) under my massive desk made from a dining room table in the second bedroom. Itās awaiting its forever home…
creamy corn soup with citrus rosemary cornish hen and pistachio snow peas
When I first told Joe that I was going to be making us Cornish hens, he literally laughed. I absolutely took it personally until I found out his family would have these baby hens every Christmas, and he was wondering what took me so long to make them. In truth, it took my making my…
pesto potato casserole with fresh basil and mozzarella, zucchini noodles with dill and grated parmesan
āMeatless Mondaysā was started by someone, or maybe even a company of someones trying to redirect the public from the overconsumption of meat. This was an honorable endeavor, in my opinion. There are so many yummy ways to give meat a rest on this most unpleasant of weekdays. Pasta is one of the first ideas…
smoked gouda cauliflower āmashed potatoesā
I love mashed potatoes. I love any potato. When I first started using cauliflower to curb my cravings, is when everyone else did. I think most of us ran to cauliflower to cure all our carb problems. Iām not sure who first saw the potential of the cauliflower but until then, I wasnāt making much…
panko fried tomato caprese with sliced almonds
A quick dinner for Joe after a long walk… Reminiscing about old movies I loved while growing up. āFried Green Tomatoesā: really struck a chord with me. As I got older and watched it again and again, I got from it more and more. We should all do that; revisit things now that weāre older…
sweet onion split pea soup with basil, parmesan panko fried flounder and a mustard lemon vinaigrette (variation)
I am getting a bit of cabin fever. I have never really had it before and prided myself in not being someone who goes stir-crazy in one place for an extended period of time. That being said, Iām going a little mad stuck in my condo day after day, night after night because of these…
dinner party and chess, feast before battle (salmon wellington)
When I was in college I had a boyfriend who tried in vain to teach me how to play chess. He did his best to be patient with me however, I simply would not stay still and focused; too interested in the mundane basic boring things (like what party at which fraternity house we were…
split pea, lima bean soup, strawberry, shrimp and almond salad with a mustard lemon vinaigrette
Whenever I have leftovers itās mandatory to get them eaten. I donāt know why I feel that way; more often than not, food tastes better when theyāve sat in their juices or herbs for a day or more but, I cannot make them more enticing than if I were to cook something new. If we…
roasted acorn squash two ways ~ as a creamy soup and with smoked gouda and fresh basil
I donāt talk much about squash. I donāt crave it, I donāt think itās ābeen too longā since Iāve last had it… Letās just say itās not a staple in my marriage. With that though, I donāt treat it carelessly when we do buy it and Iāve worked really hard to get this right. I…
citrus rosemary roast chicken, artichoke avocado salad with a homemade berry dressing
So I will admit something… I had never attempted a roast chicken until Prince Harry got engaged. To be honest, I was intimidated. The size of it, the inside being in a bag (or not), would it fit in my Mini Smart Oven… (we use our standard oven for storage). When I saw the Meghan…
potato, beef and bacon soup, parmesan basil toast and caesar soft boiled egg salad
When I think of easy recipes, I think of soups. It wasn’t always this way, I used to have to stir a pot, make sure it didn’t boil over, get out an immersion blender… Then I graduated to a regular blender, however it didn’t occur to me that heat rises while plopping a scalding hot…
