Marjoram Pea Pesto (Vegan)

Appetizers, Food, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Recipe, Savory, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggie Based

Vegan Marjoram Pea Pesto garnished with Marjoram from angle

Growing up, pesto was my favorite sauce. I asked for pesto on everything: pasta, bread, a spoon…

This week, my childhood desire for pesto returned. After rooting around my kitchen, I realized I had none of the essentials: fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and pine nuts.

Though as someone who enjoys a good challenge, a few missing ingredients were not going to stop me and I decided to make a few substitutions. The end result was a delicious, Marjoram Pea Pesto! It also happened to only take 5 minutes and be vegan.

4/15

Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pancakes

Breakfast, Food, Grains, Product, Recipe, Sweet, Vegetarian, Weekday Approved

Trader Joe's Multigrain Pancake Mix stacks with butter and maple syrup up close

Finally, with these Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pancakes I have an excuse to try out my Lodge Cast Iron Reversible Griddle/Grill! I’ve been sitting on a new Lodge Griddle for far too long, and these pancakes were the perfect reason to inaugurate a new kitchen appliance.

Pancakes are quite the crowd-pleaser for breakfast. When I make pancakes for a group, however, I just want them to be quick and easy.

My answer? Pancake mix and a griddle. I find that a griddle offers large, evenly-heated surface area to maximize cooking space and with a mix, pancake batter can be whipped up in just a few minutes.

4/10

Instant Pot Hot Pot

Food, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Hot, Meal Ideas, Recipe, Savory, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggie Based, Weekday Approved

Instant Pot Hot Pot with Vegetables, Tofu, and Ramen Noodles

Eating Hot Pot with friends is my happy place. I love sitting around a table of boiling soup and chatting with good company. In fact, vegetarian Hot Pot reminds me fondly of my time living in Beijing. At first, I was unsure of how vegetarian-friendly Hot Pot really was, but once my Beijing friends introduced me to how amenable Hot Pot can be for vegetarians and vegans, I was hooked.

Every business trip to Taiwan afterward, I always made time for a visit to my favorite all-you-can-eat Hot Pot restaurant, Mo-Mo-Paradise. In recent years, I’ve stopped traveling to Asia for work and I’ve really been missing Hot Pot.

So, it is no surprise that when I looked in the kitchen for what to eat for dinner and only found spinach, tofu, mushrooms, red onions, and an acorn squash, the first thought to that came to mind was vegetarian Hot Pot! In my Instant Pot!

4/04

Expanding Frozen Food Storage with a Chest Freezer

Cold, Design, Life, Organization, Product

closed Insignia 3.5 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer in Garage

Insignia 3.5 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer in garage with door open

I tend to run a financially conscientious household, where we do our research and spend time analyzing before making a big purchase. Yesterday, we did exactly the opposite.

After a particularly large haul of frozen items at our local Trader Joe’s (resulting from a hungry grocery run), we found ourselves in a predicament. Our side-by-side GE Profile refrigerator was not even close to large enough to hold our frozen purchases. We needed to expand our frozen food storage stat.

On a whim, and in the name of problem-solving in the moment, we found ourselves researching freezers on our phones. A few minutes later, a quick trip to Best Buy and we were sold. Well, actually, the sales team sold us a brand new chest freezer!