A bright and creamy yogurt avocado dressing pulls together this quinoa salad dotted with bits of bell pepper and served on a bed of fresh spinach. Let’s talk about lunch. Back in grade school I started avoiding school lunch. I disliked standing in the line with my red paper ticket purchased that morning from a lady in a hairnet positioned behind a card table with a roll of red carnival tickets and a black metal box handing out rides on the lunch line express in exchange for your white envelope... more

I’m sharing a recipe for savory Parmesan granola, combining all your granola clusters and crunch and turning it into a salty snack treat. Spring took its time showing up this year, with winter lingering far longer than is necessary. Still, I am ready for summer to hit, even if the weather might not be just yet. I’ll let it slowly lull itself from frozen to steamy, but my menu choices have been slanting drastically towards fresh. My breakfasts want nothing but berries and fresh eggs,... more

A simple recipe for unleavened whole wheat Indian flatbread also known chapati and roti with a few tips on the process. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with myself. I am a mess. Today I keep turning my head into believing that it is Friday. It is not Friday, a rather unfortunate truth. I also keep thinking that if I ignore the atrociousness of my house long enough that elves will come to take care of it for me. I have yet to see these house-elves appear, and so the disarray remains: A pair... more

Ideas for your Mother’s Day brunch, plus a fun Fair Trade Certified giveaway and a few gift ideas for Mom. I am guilty of ruminating. I spend a lot of time inside my own head weighing words and thoughts and ideas, forming opinions. Sometimes I get lost in there with all of those bits and baubles. Today, however, I am just going to share them. (Truth: There is a list of things that I wrote out sitting on the floor next to my bed so that I would remember to share, so this is not spontaneous... more

Garam masala, coriander, ginger, and garlic flavor this creamy, spinach-based saag dish with seared pieces of paneer cheese. The recipe can be adjusted to be served with chicken, if desired. I was introduced to Indian cuisine a few years after I had left home. It was during a college road trip: cars brimming with bodies, the trunk packed with an assortment of duffel bags as none of us even owned proper luggage at that point nor had the desire to use it. There was a drive across the flat, Midwestern... more

This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we’re looking back on what’s changed over the past two years in the purposeful way we feed our family. This month marks two years of the Eat Well, Spend Less series. Last year for the one-year anniversary I covered a lot of the ongoing changes we were making as a family and a bit of the reasoning for them. As I was considering how our food habits have changed since last year I feel a bit like a broken record playing the same 3-second loop... more

Come on a fun treasure hunt for kitchen products to be entered to win one of three grand prizes from Good Cook. Photo by Brooke from Cheeky Kitchen for Good Cook We’re going on a treasure hunt. We’re going on a treasure hunt. Treasure hunts are fun, right? Sure they are, especially when there’s a basket of goodies at the end worth $1000 in kitchen products. Find the codes attached to Good Cook products and enter them to win one of three grand prizes in the Good Cook Treasure Hunt.... more