Up until now, I’ve had a 7-year-old completely empty category for homemade baby food recipes on the blog. If that isn’t indicative of my well-intentioned self, I don’t know what is. I had always planned on posting the homemade baby food recipes that I made for Hal, and I wish I had. Because, with no memory and a mom brain, I basically had to start from scratch with Linnie. (Just know, if I tell you I’ll do something, I probably will. It just might be a year or two later.) In that spirit, I decided to do one huge Homemade Baby Food Recipe post for fear that another won’t happen. So here it is, equipped with all the colors of the rainbow, using minimal tools, and simple methods. Read more
Hi! Happy New Year. We made it to 2021, which felt a little like making it past Y2K. I made myself a Cosmo, drank half, fell asleep, and woke up with a headache. I officially can’t hang anymore. Sparkling water for life. In other news, Kev gets the first round of his COVID vaccine today. I’m grateful for that. I’m also grateful for this—with The Minimalist Kitchen back on the shelves, the Course is back and now open for registration. Read more
Remember when? When I used to talk about finding ordinary magic in the mundane and beauty in the repetition. I’m eating my words right now (and these Chocolate Cardamom Rye Cut-Out Cookies, too). The mundane is more mundane than I ever imagined, and the ordinary is so repetitive these days, it’s almost lost its meaning. We’re living in a never-ending page out of Olivia, where I make breakfast, pick up Edwin the cat the living room pillows, make lunch, pick up the living room pillows, and make dinner. (Minus the baby snuggles that I could never tire of.) And every time I go to post something, I usually press backspace. Backspace, backspace, backspace. I’ve said that already, I say. My life isn’t that inspiring these days, I think. Maybe the mundane isn’t so magic, especially during a pandemic. Ho ho hum. Read more
I never know where to begin these days with a blog post. I’m still digging out of the hole from taking time off, sacred time, to welcome Linnie into the family, which has left a lot of little piles everywhere, both the literal and figurative kind. (Thus, I’ve titled this stage of life: Little Piles Everywhere. If only it were snow.) Today I’m picking up a pile from April, when I found out my cookbook, The Minimalist Kitchen, had finally been reprinted after selling out a year prior (!!!). And then I’ll tell you about this Creamy Dairy-Free Butternut Pasta recipe, an adaptation from the book. Read more
I really wanted to like jackfruit, a fruit that can be purchased in a can and stored in the pantry, that has the texture of meat, that takes on the flavor of just about anything. But every time I tried it, it was too acidic and salty, and I like acidic and salty food. And I couldn’t get past the fact that it’s often used as a stand-in for meaty protein, yet it lacks much protein. Or the fact that it wasn’t filling enough. But, if I’m anything, I’m persistent (when it involves solving a recipe or design problem). “I’m going to try those BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches one more time.” “Oh, Mel. No. More. Jackfruit.” Oops, I did it again. And I got it right this time. Kev approves. Read more
Unlike me, Kev can keep 8 plates spinning at the same time. I’m best with one, maybe two. Unlike me, Kev works out in the mornings in order to fall asleep at night. I can fall asleep anytime, no matter my activity level. And unlike me, Kev prefers to drink his breakfast. I like to chew mine and linger with Savannah and Hoda and Craig and Al. But if I could spin more plates or figure out how to wake up early to work out, I think I’d drink my breakfast too, as long as it tasted like Kev’s Kale Protein Smoothie. Read more
This time around the new motherhood sun, I had plans to help myself succeed, plans I didn’t know to bother with the first time. You know, plans like childcare outside the house for Linnie and summer camp for Hal; plans like washing my face every day and ordering meal kits to make sure we eat at least one satisfying meal a day. Simple plans thwarted by COVID, all of them except ordering meal kits, which saved dinnertime the first two months as a family of 4, which also inspired this post and recipe for Crispy Kale and Chickpea Bowls now on regular rotation over here. (PS—We’re going a little crazy, but I’m so thankful for all this extra time with my girls.)
I was going to tell you all about wild rice. About the time Kev’s grandma, who grew up in Minnesota, gave us a small packet as a gift after we were newly married. Rice? Thank you? I didn’t realize what a gift it was then. I was going to tell you about this sacred grain that grows wild by Minnesota lakes and streams, harvested then and now by members of the Ojibwe Nation. I was going to tell you how the cost of a tiny packet matches the richness of flavor. It’s worth a splurge. I was going to tell you about all that… Read more
