Sprout & Pea

Until a few days ago, hazel­nuts were rather for­eign to me. It’s a nut that for one rea­son or another, I have never exper­i­mented with in the kitchen. That all changed when I was prepar­ing a rather bland salad at work and was kindly offered some of the pro­tein packed nuts to help liven up my greens. I was amazed at how much they enhanced my bor­ing lunch in fla­vor and tex­ture and how sat­is­fied I felt from a light meal. So on my way home that night, I picked some up and started toss­ing around ideas of how I might incor­po­rate them into my dinner.

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Some nights you just need a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. The other night was one of those nights and my (tal­ented) friend who is stay­ing with us just so hap­pened to read my mind. I returned home from a long flight back to NY and arrived at my apart­ment around mid­night ready to crash. When I walked in the door I was greeted with a big hug and not one, but two kinds of Ben & Jerry’s. So I stayed up for a while talk­ing with my won­der­ful friend and glut­to­nously ate my New York Super Fudge Chunk straight out of the con­tainer. I love to indulge in some ice cream now and then, but I also have my lim­its so there was quite a bit left over the next night. Read more:

Yes­ter­day, my awe­some intern at work brought me cup­cakes for my birth­day. Not just any cup­cakes– gluten-​​free, vegan Baby­cakes. Like most offices, the count­less num­ber of cupcake-​​tastic cel­e­bra­tions we have has made the site of the sug­ary, coma induc­ing treats a bit unap­peal­ing.  But not these! These cup­cakes were right up my alley and while some may dis­agree on their tasti­ness, I really enjoyed them. Packed with gar­banzo and fava bean flour, agave, coconut oil, and cocoa powder-​​just to name a few ingre­di­ents– these vegan sen­sa­tions are exactly how I like my sweets — healthy, not too rich, tasty and best of all they leave your stom­ach happy and your body with energy to face the rest of the day.
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Hands down, my absolute favorite side dish is my mom’s mashed pota­toes. She makes them with sour cream which gives them a nice creamy tang and when it comes to food, I tend to devour any­thing with a lit­tle tang. Over the years, I’ve adapted this recipe into a slightly health­ier ver­sion by sub­sti­tut­ing Greek yogurt and it tastes just as deca­dent. Con­tin­u­ing on the healthy route, tonight I decided to make my adapted recipe with cau­li­flower instead of pota­toes.
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Photo By Corey Towers

This post is going up in honor of the lovely print of the above photo that I just received from my friend, Corey. A few months ago after a cold, rainy Light The Night walk over the Brook­lyn Bridge, I stopped off at Corey’s place to warm up and to my delight, to have some unusual and deli­cious snacks.  Corey had recently become addicted to juic­ing so I was excited when our con­ver­sa­tion was sud­denly drowned out by the sound of his beloved juice machine.
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Since I got back from Ver­mont, I’ve been pick­ing my brain about what to do with the pick­led gar­lic I pur­chased at Grafton Vil­lage Cheese Farm (aside from eat­ing it straight out of the jar).  After a week­end of heavy food (includ­ing deca­dent Where The Wild Things Are themed red vel­vet cake at a first birth­day party), I needed some­thing light and refresh­ing.
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