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Soup & Salad

White lentil salad with “blistered” spring vegetables

During the warm summer months, I’m always looking for salads that are light and refreshing, but that also feel substantial.  Especially as a vegetarian, eating “salads” can get pretty boring and don’t always provide the complete nutrition I need.  So I’ve been working on incorporating various legumes and grains into my salads.  In particular, I’ve been loving lentils lately (look at that, I made an alliteration!).

Lentils, which are part of the legume family, are a wonderful source of fiber, folate and magnesium. They’re a quick cooking bean, are really versatile, and soak up any flavor.

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Uncategorized

Fueling the creative fire

I never set out to live a “creative life”.  I didn’t wake up one morning as a young girl and think “hmm…I really want to do something creative when I grow up”.  I never felt a calling to become an artist, a performer, or share my voice with the world in any other way.  In fact, I was content with the idea of getting married, having babies and staying home to bake chocolate chip cookies.

It wasn’t until recently that I began to understand, I had done exactly that.  I had built a life around creativity.  Around creating, making, sharing, doing.   Cooking, yoga, gardening, mothering, even decorating; all of it is just a form of expressing myself.  I had built a life around being creative.  Because as it turns out, when I’m creating, is when I am the most present, and find the most joy.

I believe we are all creative individuals, whether we realize it or not.  Everything from how we dress, the meals we cook, and the stories we share. It’s how we express who we are to the world.  Every day we create.  We share.  We connect. Read More

Sweet treats, Uncategorized

Lemon, mint and raspberry popsicles

Growing up, one of my very favorite treats during the summer was Lemon Italian Ice.  I just couldn’t get enough.  I loved the combination of the sweet and tart flavors, along with the refreshingly icy feel.  To this day, I still love any kind of lemon dessert, but especially in the summer months.

As the days are getting a little longer and warmer here in Connecticut, I decided it was time to try and recreate a little piece of my childhood.  So this is my grown up version of the Lemon Italian Ice I used to love – a lemon, mint and raspberry popsicle.

We make a lot of popsicles in our house.  But this was the first time I made them with me in mind (sorry kids).  It’s the perfect balance of sweet, tart and refreshing.  We had them for the first time on our patio last night, and surprisingly my two older kids devoured them (I guess they can handle those little specks of “green” after all 😉 Read More

Main Dish

Cedar plank salmon

It is officially grilling season in our house.  We are letting our oven take a little rest, while we move the cooking outside.

I love to grill.  However it has only been in the past few years that I’ve become comfortable playing around on the grill without JonPaul.  Previously it was only something I did when he was around.  I’m not sure why.  I just always left “grilling” to him.  But not anymore.

I had no idea how much I was missing out.  It is has been so fun to play around and try some new techniques.   One of my favorites new has been using cedar planks to grill salmon (clearly not new – just new to me ;).

Although I love salmon on the stove top, there is something really special about salmon cooked on the grill, especially with cedar planks.  It creates and light smoky flavor.  But what really stands out for me is the texture.  I cook the salmon using indirect heat, so it cooks the fish a little slower and keeps it really tender and delicate.

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Motherhood

Sinking ships

This week, in honor of Mother’s Day, I’ve been working on a piece about my experience with motherhood.  The joys and challenges that so many of us face.  But for some reason, the words weren’t coming together.  It wasn’t sitting right with me.  I find that when I’m struggling trying to write something, it’s usually because there’s something off.  Something that I’m either not sharing, or not being as honest about as I could be.

When I first started Grace in the Crumbs I made a promise to myself to always share from a place of genuine authenticity.  To be as transparent as possible.  So in an effort to be true to my story, here’s where I’m really at with motherhood.

I’m sinking.

I know that sounds dramatic, but at times, it can feel that way.   Trying to raise four little ones is so much harder than I ever anticipated.  I keep thinking it’s going to get easier.  That somehow the load will lighten.  However, it feels the opposite.  In fact, without a doubt, this has been my hardest year as a mother yet.  Eight years in, and this is my hardest.

What I’m struggling with though, what’s really on my mind, is that when I look around; everyone else’s boat seems to be floating, while mine is sinking.

Everyone’s boat is floating, while mine is sinking. Read More

Appetizer and Snacks, Beans, Gluten free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lemon garlic hummus

When it came to hummus, I never really gave it much thought.  To be honest, I thought they all sort of tasted the same.  We go through a lot of hummus in our house, so I somehow seem to have tried almost every brand at our local grocery store.  They are all fine, but nothing to write home about.

Until recently, when my “hummus bar” was dramatically raised, thanks to a new vegan market near or house, Organika.  Everything they make is delicious, but their hummus is what I dream about.   Crazy, I know, right?  I mean it’s essentially just beans and olive oil, but I’m telling you it’s that good (if you live near me and have not been, go, now).

So now that I know what hummus is supposed to taste like, I’ve made it my personal mission these last few months to try and replicate this dreamy delicacy.  It took me a few tries, but I think I have come up with something equally delicious as my friends down the street.  Even JonPaul, who is not normally a hummus eater, was caught licking the bowl.

Since I had to try this recipe a few different times, there were a few things I learned along the way.

First, you have to start with dried beans.  Sorry.  I know it’s an extra step, but it really makes a difference.  I started with a pound of dried beans, soaked them overnight and then cooked them for about an hour.  Not a ton of extra work, but it made a big difference.   (And I should also note that I stopped cooking them when they were still just a little “firm”.  Don’t let them get “mushy”.  They don’t blend up as nicely.)

Second, garlic, garlic and when in doubt, more garlic.  I ended up using a whole head of garlic. It sounds like a lot, but I promise those beans need it.  They will soak that garlic love right up, and be begging for more – so just go ahead and add a few extra cloves when in doubt.  You won’t regret it.

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Breakfast, Gluten free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Breakfast happiness in a bowl

Coming up with healthy and delicious breakfast ideas can be tough.  Especially when you need them to be fast and easy.  In our house, the morning rush is the most hectic part of the day.  Trying to get six people ready and out the door feels nearly impossible most days – and that’s before adding in the chaos of breakfast.  So during the week, it’s critical that our breakfast recipes are fast and easy.

That’s why I’m so excited to share my my friend Jasmin’s Smoothie Bowl recipe. Jasmin is a mom and fellow blogger over at Lemons for Days .  Today I’m sharing with you her Smoothie Bowl recipe.  Doesn’t it look like happiness in a bowl?   It’s almost too pretty to eat….almost.

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Appetizer and Snacks, Snack

Oatmeal power bites

When I was a little girl, every day my mom had fresh chocolate chip cookie waiting for me when I got off the school bus.  I know, right?  How lucky was I?  She was (and still is) amazing.  And to top it off, they were great cookies.

Now I may not be the Betty Crocker home maker that she was, but I’m slowly learning to hold my own.  So in an effort to follow in her footsteps, I’m giving her old milk and cookies routine a new twist for my kiddos.

My little guys are always begging for after school snacks.  When they run in the house after school it is literally the first thing they ask for (I don’t even get a hello most days).  Now if you’ve been following me, you know from a recent post (making homemade Peeps!), that I am certainly not afraid to let them indulge in some sugar every now and then.  But for our “every day” treats, I wanted to come up with something a tad healthier, that they would still love.

So this is what I’m calling “milk and cookies”.  It’s really a no bake oatmeal bite, packed with nutrition.  It’s filled with oatmeal, wheat germ, coconut, and chia seeds.  To sweeten it I used honey and peanut butter (my oldest has a tree nut allergy, but almond butter in this would be great too).  I also opted to skip the chocolate chips (I know my mom is cringing as she’s reading this….sorry, mom 😉 and used cacao nibs.  They are a little bitter in comparison to traditional chocolate chips, but in something like this where you have a sweetener (the honey) it’s pretty hard to tell.  Plus, as an added bonus, they’re a super food, so I think we can give these little nibs a break 😉

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Lifestyle

Marriage in the trenches

When JonPaul asked me to marry him, I was elated.  I remember thinking, “This is it.  This is my happily ever after.  It starts now”.  We found each other.  In the sea of this crazy world, we found each other.  We are one of the lucky ones, we made it.  Now I can breathe.  Little did I know; it was only then that the real work began.

You see I didn’t realize that love wasn’t something that happened to you, but rather something you do.  I thought love was a feeling.  But in truth, it’s a verb.  An action.  To love someone, means to actively work at loving them.  It’s not something you get to just “be in”.  Love is showing up and doing the work. Every day.

Relationships, all of them, are complicated.  Even without any outside factors.  Then you add in real-life responsibilities, careers, families, children and it’s a miracle any of us come out alive.  Let alone still married.

When JonPaul and I were first married, our relationship was all shiny and pretty.  It was how I imagined love.  Sweet and compassionate.  Fun and lighthearted.  It was young love, before being dragged through the trenches of real life.

But very quickly our life changed, and so like all things that don’t break, we bent and changed too.  Things became complicated.  Time became sparse.  Fun and lighthearted were replaced with responsibilities and to do lists.  Sweet and compassionate became short tempers and quiet resentment.  Shiny and pretty was now beginning to look a little more like tarnished and weathered.

I will spare you the details of our story for another day, but for today let me share with you something that took me almost a decade to understand.  Tarnished and weathered is ok.  In fact, it’s more than ok.

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Grains, Main Dish, Vegetarian

Grilled pizza with asparagus and egg

We make a lot of homemade pizzas.  Friday nights are usually “pizza and movie night” in our house, so we’ve had a lot of opportunities to play around with different varieties.  While my kids still prefer the classic cheese, I like to have a little more fun with my pizzas.

If you’ve never grilled pizza before, it should be on your bucket list for the summer.  It’s fast, easy and it doesn’t heat up your whole house using the oven.  We’ve been grilling our pizzas for years and it’s really simple.  The key is to have your grill really hot, and rub the grates down with oil right before you place your dough on them.  Once you’ve set your dough on the grates, don’t touch it.  Give it a minute to firm up, and then you can rotate it to get the perfect grill marks.  I like to let my dough cook for a few minutes, flip it over, and then place my toppings on.

Since spring vegetables are all I can think about these days, I added shaved asparagus and spring onions.  And I just couldn’t resist adding an egg.  The combination of the creamy yolk, the salty ricotta and the sweet onions…..I mean, what more could you want?  Even I was kind of shocked with how good it was.  There were definitely no left overs with this one.

I also went ahead and made my own pizza dough for this recipe.  I used Hayden Flour Mills flour.  you can follow their homemade pizza dough recipe here.  They suggest proofing the dough for a day (I let it sit for 30 minutes because let’s be honest, I have four kids and clearly don’t plan that far ahead.  But if you have a day, go for it!).  I like trying different doughs, so it was fun to play around, but trust me when I say that the pre-made dough from our local grocery store is just as good.  So bottom line – do what works for you.

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