Avocado, Tomato, Egg Sandwiches

I think of this as my pregnant-lady lunch.

Because when you are pregnant and have a toddler, lunch must be tasty and ready in less than 5 minutes. And, you know, it should also have some good things in it, like protein and healthy fats and vegetables. Because…growing a human.

Eating healthy has been a struggle for me this pregnancy. I subsist largely on quick snacks like peanut butter crackers and Chobani yogurt, and then I end up neglecting my vegetables.

That’s why these open-face sandwiches make a perfect pregnant-lady lunch! Avocados are full of folate and potassium; tomatoes (whose nutrients are more fully absorbed together with fats) are full of lycopene and vitamins; and eggs are a great source of vegetarian protein!

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms

I know I was right in the middle of sharing the saga of making a wedding cake…but then I remembered what time of year it is. That’s right. Thanksgiving is coming.

And during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I like to focus on delicious side dishes and breads and pies…because let’s face it: vegetarians often get short shrift on Thanksgiving. When the big day is all about a big bird, and half of your relatives can’t live without bacon in their stuffing, sometimes the bountiful table in front of you doesn’t quite translate into a feast.

(I should, however, offer some thanks to my own relatives, who are super gracious to me even though I am the lone veggie in their meat-loving midst.)

Because Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and I, like many of you, am scouring recipes and cookbooks for the perfect things to bring to the table, I definitely want to share some easy meatless side dishes with you! That way, on Thanksgiving, no matter what your palate prefers, you can do what my family always does: LOAD UP.

Roasted Salmon with Dilly Cream Sauce

A few weeks ago, Sarah told me that she had a dill plant that was threatening to take over the world, and asked if we could possibly put it to good use?

Um, YES!

I must admit that I’ve never really liked dill. (I think I have admitted that before.) It just reminds me of pickles, which I hate. But this is what Sarah and I are all about: trying new things, and re-trying old things, and generally just eating awesome foods. Plus, I love that she and I are both trying to grow a food garden this summer! I am all in favor of eating what we grow!

Dill goes great with fish and eggs and veggies, so we tracked down some delicious salmon recipes and tinkered a bit and came up with something amazing. Something that actually made me think, “I wish there were more dill in this!”

And the world stopped spinning for just a second.

Open Face Lentil and Greens Sandwich

So last week I went to New York City with my husband to celebrate our 5-year anniversary.

Let’s just say it was a fairly glorious week. I ate my weight in delicious foods: pizzas, croissants, bagels, salmon, mac and cheese, many glasses of wine, chocolate of all kinds. And while I brought my computer along—with the best of intentions to write a post or two in between museums and Broadway shows and bike rides to Coney Island—instead I spent a lot of time kicking back and reading somewhat silly dystopian fantasy novels (guilty pleasure). It was, as I already mentioned, glorious.

I’ve been having kind of a hard time cramming myself back into reality. The doing dishes and the folding laundry and the weeding. The eating of things that are not slices of pizza the size of my entire head.

So I thought I would start slow here. I thought I would ease back into the kitchen with something incredibly healthy (because I would like to fit into my clothes) and pretty simple, something that makes a great lunch day after day and helps me to feel more like myself (and less like an overstuffed lobster).

That’s right. The lentil sandwich. Don’t turn up your nose at this! Listen, it may not sound intuitive (not like, say, cake truffles), but the tangy yogurt, nutty crunch, and salty cheese stirred into those lentils will please any palate! Like a lentil-y pesto on bread. Yum.

Baking with Whey: Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake

I sometimes joke that my entrance exam into my husband’s family was learning the recipe for rhubarb pie.

Dave really loves rhubarb.

But he has never even batted an eye at my suggestions of non-pie rhubarb desserts…until one day last week, when he suddenly looked up and asked me to make him a rhubarb coffee cake. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I thought about returning this big crumb coffee cake to its original rhubarb glory, but then I stumbled across a recipe for a lemony Bundt cake (oh! It’s a cake!) full of chunks of rhubarb and I got kind of dorkily excited.

James Beard Pound Cake with Brandy Glaze

Pound cake sometimes gets a bad rap…which, honestly, I could never understand.

I grew up on church potlucks and friendship loaves. Pound cake was always prominently featured, and I looked forward to every dense bite!

The pound cakes of my childhood memories were never dry or boring. They were the reliable staples amid a table of lackluster mousse-topped cakes and overbaked brownies!

But as I’m thinking about it now, I wonder…if I ate those pound cakes today, would the chocolate marble not be chocolatey enough? The ubiquitous “pound cake flavor” both too sweet and too bland? The crumb too dense and too dry?

As someone who always likes to bake it better, I have certainly done my fair share of reading about pound cakes. They are no longer made with a pound each of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, oh no! (Bad baking math!) Modern versions feature sugar syrups and whipped cream and liquor. And also, incidentally, a lot of work.

This pound cake is very delicious. But you do have to separate some eggs. And sift things. But it’s James Beard, folks. We trust him with our whisks and our cake pans, right? Plus, you get to break out the brandy! So there’s that.

Baking with Whey: Dutch Baby with Lemon Butter

It was Mother’s Day a few weeks ago. Not to brag, but I had a pretty stupendous day!

I should probably backtrack and mention that my husband isn’t big into celebrating special occasions and events, or at least that he doesn’t care whether holidays are celebrated on time. He is more of the mind that a birthday is just a day, Christmas is just a day, Mother’s Day is just a day… And in a way, he is totally right—but I do love celebrations. I love the magical feeling and the pageantry. I love thinking about how all the prep is going to turn into something memorable. I love the memorable moments.

So. Guess how Dave decided we would celebrate Mother’s Day? He got up early and made me breakfast! In fact, he made me two breakfasts, because he did a trial run a few days earlier to make sure that Mother’s Day would be perfect.

(I’ll wait. While you say, “Awwwwww!”)

I got to choose the meal, and I racked my brain for something delicious but not too indulgent, simple but not boring. And I came up with a Dutch Baby!

A Dutch Baby is like a cross between a pancake and a popover. Topped off with lemon butter and powdered sugar, it is tart and sweet and a little doughy and, really, just everything a mom could hope for on Mother’s Day. We liked it so much that I made it again a few days later, just so I could share it with you!

Olive Oil-Braised Spring Veggies

Recently a few good friends pointed out a personal flaw to me. (Don’t you love how friends can tell you the real truth?)

As we sat around a huge table, stuffing waffles and frittatas into our mouths and rocking with cuddly babies, they gently informed me that although they like reading about food, they don’t often try the recipes I post here because they are, in fact, too complicated.

They told me (with great glee…although that may have been the mimosas) that I really should stop saying every recipe is “so easy, but…”

Hm. I take your point, MGs.

But listen. This recipe really is easy. And quick! I mean seriously. It has three steps: cut veggies, toss into skillet, cover and walk away. You can change up the veggies if you want. You can read a magazine while everything cooks. You can have your cake and eat it, too.

You should definitely make this side dish! It’s the right thing to do. And I will work on being more realistic and truthful. Because that, too, is the right thing to do.

Lemon Bars

Believe it or not, I have never liked lemon bars. But not for the reason you think (remember…the whole not-liking-fruit bit?)!

I’ve always thought they just weren’t lemony enough. I think I just want them to taste a little more tart, to pack a little more punch.

But really, who wants to be punched in the mouth by dessert? That’s just silly.

I read somewhere that lemon is a quintessentially Spring flavor, so I decided to embrace lemon bars for what they are: a classic dessert with a light citrus filling, a crisp crumbly crust, and a mountain of confectioner’s sugar. These will be a hit wherever you bring them! (Oooh, bring them to your mother! Because what says “I love you, Mom,” better than dessert?)

Lentil and Chickpea Salad with Feta and Tahini

Sarah and I are really trying to be health conscious. We are resisting the lure of…well, lots of things. We are embracing lentils! We are eating things raw! We are taking walks with a toddler who loves to watch birds and teenagers playing basketball—and anything else that starts with the letter b.

I mean, really, we are willing to do anything as long as there is some kind of cheese involved somewhere.

But even so, I admit I was a little skeptical about a salad made of both lentils and chickpeas. (Isn’t that a lot of protein? Where is the greenery? Where are the grainy carbs?)

Don’t be fooled. This salad is delicious (and, P.S., the leftovers were even better than the first serving)! You will be glad you tried it.

Besides, lettuce isn’t even in season yet. So it’s still totally fair to make salads mainly from dry goods, right? Right.