January Dinner Party Menu: Italian

Last week we invited four friends over for a casual dinner party with a small twist – instead of my husband and me doing all the cooking, we bought the ingredients, then invited everyone over a little early to prepare the meal together. Our theme was Italian cuisine, and we went with four courses: Appetizer…

Ginger Pear Blueberry Crisp

Remember that fridge and freezer cleanout I was talking about? Turns out there were even more mediocre pears left (I guess that’s the downside of Costco, when it’s bad, it’s really bad) so I was thinking I’d try to repeat the success of that lower sugar pear crisp, but then I found a pint of…

100 Calorie Vegan Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two

As much as I bake, I really don’t get to eat as many sweets as one might think – I make small batches, and look for occasions to bake for others whenever possible. Usually this means I don’t have any baked goods in the house when my husband or I want them most, and honestly,…

Pear Crisp

Last weekend we stocked up on pears for something a little different to spice up our lunches and late night snacks. Sadly, they looked much better than they tasted. Not wanting to let them go to waste, I whipped up a nice lower-sugar fresh pear crisp. Dessert in our house is a complicated topic –…

Zucchini Bread

Well, it’s that time of the year again – we’re most of the way through summer and it’s zucchini mania. I honestly have a refrigerator full of the stuff. I hadn’t even realized there were so many out in my garden until our neighbor pointed out a particularly huge one that she said was perhaps…

Tabouli Salad Wraps

I absolutely love Mediterranean food, so the other night when I came in from the garden with a bunch of parsley, a big bowl of cherry tomatoes, and no plan for dinner except that vegan felt right, I knew exactly what needed to happen. Tabouli salad makes a great item to have around for lunchtime…

Homemade Cheez Crackers

I spend many of my weekends working a part-time job at a public library. A few weekends ago, I was chatting with one of my colleagues about food, specifically unprocessed food,  and she suggested I check out The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. The cover features homemade pop-tarts, so, basically, I was sold the minute…