Homemade

Harissa is one of my favorite condiments. It is a spicy paste made with dried and soaked chili peppers, mixed with garlic, coriander and caraway for it’s distinctive taste. It’s wonderful on everything from chickpeas, rice, roasted cauliflower, and my favorite- eggs! It adds a delicious heat to anything it’s used on. I love buying [...]

Hello Friends! Just a quite note to let you know my March meal plans are now up for sale in the shop- including a new vegetarian option! Still gluten-free, always whole food based. Plans start next week! A favorite breakfast I have been enjoying lately is Muesli. Generally a mix of oats, nuts, seeds and [...]

I have to admit: this recipe will make a lot more sense, tomorrow. Okay, I’ll just tell you- Carrot Cake Pancakes. That’s right- gluten-free, “are these really healthy?”-kind of delicious, carrot cake pancakes. With goat cream cheese on top, naturally. Because carrot cake needs cream cheese! It’s a fact. And for those of us who [...]

Salad dressing is another one of those always, always “Make it Homemade”s. For being seemingly so simple, bottle salad dressings can be packed with gross ingredients and add-ins, like toxic plant oils, preservatives and a whole lot of white sugar to boot! Talk about unnecessary, especially when they are SO super simple to make at [...]

Tahini is one of those staples, much like yogurt and hummus, that I rarely, if ever, buy at the store anymore. They are just so easy and delicious to make at home, it doesn’t make sense to pay the extra price, even for the very small convenience. And with tahini, I promise- buying pre-made is [...]

You read that right: we are making butter. The absolute best butter you will ever taste, EVER. I promise. Now, I have to admit- this isn’t exactly the most cost-effective homemade recipe. It might seem as though it is, as a container of cream is far less than a pound of butter, but you definitely [...]

This has to be the most exciting of all of my {Make it Homemade} posts. I love yogurt. Like, really love yogurt. It’s hard to express how much I love yogurt. I eat it every day, without fail, in one form or another, as I did for many years. For a long time, I was [...]

Ok- now I’ve actually done it. Combined two of my favorite summer flavors into one delicious condiment- a slightly sweet, slightly spicy corn salsa that is guaranteed to add punch to your favorite summertime tacos, homemade tortilla chips or even salad- whatever your heart desires. And believe me- your heart desires! As you may have [...]

Nick and I love trying out new foods and cuisines. One of our more recent discoveries in the past year has been Korean food. Longtime lovers of Vietnamese pho, Thai curries and Japanese dishes alike, we were pretty sure we could find something we liked when we ventured to Koreatown for a quick dinner one [...]

Pasta Carbonara- not something you may have thought you’d see on my whole foods living blog. Bacon, eggs, often cheese- rich pasta in a creamy sauce. But here’s the deal: pasta carbonara, even it’s most classic recipe, doesn’t have to be unhealthy. Sure, it’s an indulgence. I wouldn’t go recommending bacon laden pasta as an [...]

Babaganoush, aside from being incredibly fun to say, is one of my alltime favorite dips. It’s up there with Muhammara or Artichoke white bean hummus. That’s saying something. I’ve had it at countless restaurants and purchased it more than once from Whole Foods, but the funny thing is- I’ve never made it myself. Why, I [...]

I’ve promised this post for a long time, I know. But I’m finally getting around to it! Please forgive me. This is a super, super simple recipe of sorts- Homemade Chicken Broth, made in the slow cooker, using the leftover carcass from homemade roasted or slow cooked chicken. I make a batch nearly every week- [...]

This is the most simple recipe on my blog. Hands down. It takes two minutes. Maybe five if your berries aren’t washed yet. And it is downright delicious. Drizzle it on top of your favorite cake, pancakes, waffles, ice cream- you name it! No more buying expensive store-bought fruit toppings, make yours homemade! What you [...]

We love spice blends around here. Especially Nick- he loves picking out new mixes, and hates having to come up with his own flavor blends by using individual spices- he says he leaves that for the chef in the family, he prefers to use pre-made blends. The problem with most spice mixes is often they [...]

I’m on a condiment roll! This week, I tackled another favorite topper: mayonnaise. Now, the first time I made mayonnaise, it was in culinary school. We used about six eggs and thirteen cups of oil (only a slight exaggeration, trust me), whisked it by hand and it made about 15 cups of mayonnaise. Unfortunately, fresh [...]

It’s been a while since I did a Make it Homemade post, for that I apologize. But honestly, it’s been far too crazy around here to make much homemade, at all! I’ve just been doing my best to make sure I have some organic mixed greens and hard cooked eggs on hand for work salads [...]

Lately at work I’ve taken to grabbing a big green salad and topping it with some hard cooked eggs and a drizzle of whatever salad dressing we have in the fridge for a quick, digestion-friendly dinner. I recently fell in love with this poppyseed dressing we always seem to have on hand. It’s vegan and [...]

When I saw homemade barbecue sauce on Angela‘s blog last week, I knew it was going to be my next “make it homemade” installment. Because what is more perfect in the warm summer months than a nice outdoor bbq dinner? Ok, watermelon. But besides watermelon, barbecues are a quintessential part of summer and I don’t [...]

It wasn’t long ago that Trader Joe’s sunflower seed butter took the world by storm. And for good reason: it’s delicious! I myself have partaken in more than one jar. The only thing about it that’s hard to swallow? The ingredient list: Sunflower seeds, evaporated cane juice, salt. Yes, I know it’s only three ingredients [...]

If you haven’t figured by the title, this May I am focusing on meditating. Meditation is something I have played with on and off for a few years. I want to be the kind of person who meditates twice a day, or even once daily- but for a long time I thought I just couldn’t. [...]

When my sister was here, we ate out- a LOT. We’re talking at least two meals a day, most days. As much as I like roaming the city, popping into my favorite spots for a quick bite, sometimes it’s nice to have a home-cooked meal. So one night, I decided I’d have my sister help [...]

I think the general consensus for yesterday’s cookies was… butter! Well I knew that! Honestly though, thanks for all the amazing suggestions- I think I may just have to do a side-by-side comparison of coconut oil and organic butter. What a shame, having to make two more batches of cookies… I guess I have the [...]

Almond milk is one of those things I throw in my cart weekly without giving it a second thought. Every so often I’ll grab coconut or hemp milk instead, but more often than not it’s my old trusty Almond Breeze. I drink a lot of smoothies, that is a lot of processed nut milk. But [...]

I travel back and forth to the States quite often, and staying healthy on the road can be quite a challenge. I used to use a road trip as a sort of “splurge” of sorts, not caring as much about what I ate, simply for convenience sake. But as my trips became more frequent, it didn’t [...]

I know what you’re thinking. Really Kristin? Fakin’ bacon? I know, I know. The self proclaimed fake meat hater bringing you just that. But hear me out. This is no ordinary fakin’ bacon. This smoky invention did not come from a package; nor was it processed any more than a normal hunk of tempeh is before [...]

Keeping up with the take-out theme of friday’s Make it homemade series, today I have a rich and creamy, decadent take-out-esque meal that requires minimal effort, won’t break the bank and satisfies your every Thai takeout desires. I acquired a pack of thai rice stick noodles and a can of coconut milk from my mom [...]

We all have those weeks. The weeks when Friday night comes and you stare into your fridge at the odds and ends, wondering what to make of it and ultimately deciding on take out as your only option. You know it’s costly, and likely not very healthy- but you’re tired from the week and really [...]

Psst… you’re getting a sneak peek at a new project I’m working on. Don’t worry, you’ll hear about it soon enough. For now, enjoy it! I have a confession to make. For years, I did not make my own tabbouleh. I used to buy it in a box, a la Casbah. Not only is this [...]

Okay, maybe I have a bit of an obsession with granola. But I love experimenting with it! Which isn’t always a bad thing, at least not this time.  I like to top my smoothies with a sprinkle of granola. I also love to snack on bowls of granola with almond milk, or just have it [...]

For vegetarians or us semi-veg, veggie burgers straight out of the freezer have to be the ultimate veg “fast food”. Grab one out of the freezer, pop it in the micro for a couple minutes, throw it on a bun or on top of a salad, and BAM- dinner in no time. The problem I [...]

I love split pea soup. And I used to love ham, which it is usually made with. I haven’t been into that so much recently, though, so I started to rely on stocking up at Trader Joe’s when I was visiting in the States for their delicious vegan version, which comes in a can… and [...]

Granola bars. I love ‘em. We all love ‘em! Heck, I even helped out at an amazing bar company for a while. But this year I am vowing to make it home made and stop, well, try to stop buying products I can make myself. We started with some artichoke white bean hummus, which I [...]

Being a little under the weather this week has made my efforts in the kitchen a little lacking. I managed a decent beans n’ rice dinner on Tuesday,  Nick made me some cure-all noodle soup on Wednesday and last night I whipped up some fried tempeh, kale salad and buckwheat. So I’ve been cooking (and [...]