Matcha treats – I can hardly remember my life without them. Since we’ve been in Japan, matcha ice cream, matcha doughnuts, and matcha cakes have become daily afternoon snacks. This matcha smoothie, I promise, is a much healthier treat than any of those. Sure matcha is healthy, but a doughnut is still a doughnut after all. At home, this is how we enjoy matcha. I use my go-to smoothie base – almond milk and bananas – and add matcha powder along with a bit of vanilla bean....

The basic recipe for all South Indian bajji is the same – we mix some chillies and spices with besan flour, dip the vegetable of choice, and deep fry them. The consistency of the batter is important, it shouldn’t be too watery or the bajji will drink up oil. If it’s too thick, the bajji will turn hard. Ok, don’t let all of this scare you away because with a little practise, you can make great South Indian style bajji yourself....

My MIL makes a mean ven pongal and I have taken a few tips and tricks from her to make sure we novices can also get good results when making pongal in our kitchens. Contents About ven pongal Key Ingredients Pongal and the festival connection Tips to make pongal Jump to recipe Step by step images A bit about ven pongal Ven pongal is a soft cooked mash up of raw rice and yellow moong dal (lentils) with extra water to give it a creamy texture....

I love kale, and I love summer… therefore this might be my perfect salad. The temps aren’t too high here just yet but with all of the crazy rain we’ve been having, the humidity makes it sweltering to say the least. This watermelon feta salad is as refreshing as it gets – cool, crisp watermelon, fennel, and cucumber are mixed with creamy avocado and feta cheese. It’s pretty much everything I love tossed into a bowl....

I know, I’ve used a lot of kale lately. It’s my vegetable of choice this time of year, especially when the internet (and even my kitchen, a little bit) is full of sugary, buttery foods. With so much indulgence, I feel the need for balance… but tasty balance. Enter: this roasted kale salad. This was going to be a raw kale salad, but I changed my mind at the last minute and made a roasted kale salad because I was craving something warm and cozy....

This easy zucchini bread recipe is the best I’ve tried. It’s super moist, warmly spiced, studded with crunchy walnuts, and PACKED with shredded zucchini, so you can use up a good portion of your summer squash haul in one go. If there’s something else you look for in a zucchini bread recipe, let me know, but to me, this one is perfection. I love that all the ingredients are pantry basics, that the batter is a breeze to stir together, and that the recipe yields two loaves....

Vegetable side dishes are often my favorite part of dinner. No offense to the main course, but I find that vegetable side dishes are what make the meal fun. They add a pop of color, fresh flavor, and variety to the table. Even basic roasted broccoli is so tasty that I want to eat it straight off the baking sheet! I’m sharing 25 of my go-to vegetable side dishes below....

Soup season is here! There’s a lot to love about fall—beautiful weather, changing leaves, cozy baked goods, and hot drinks—but the soup recipes are hands down my favorite part. I adore soup. I love making it, I love eating it, and I love packing up the leftovers so that I can enjoy it again the next day. When I’m stressed, I turn to soup because I find it meditative to cook....

I can’t think of a better way to end the summer than with good friends & spicy drinks! A few weekends ago we had this fun little margarita party for Refinery 29 and Grand Marnier. I made a jalapeño version of the classic Grand Margarita. Let’s just say, no one left until every drop was gone. { mixing & mingling } { mango salsa // squeezing tons of limes }...

This air fryer cauliflower recipe is about to become your new favorite veggie side dish! It’s crispy on the outside, tender in the middle, and seasoned to perfection with a blend of savory spices. I love regular roasted cauliflower, but I have to admit—this air fryer cauliflower recipe is on another level. What makes it so delicious? Before I cook the cauliflower florets, I dredge them in a quick panko coating....

This banana bread recipe is the best way to use overripe bananas. Now that we have a little one in the house, we’ve been buying a LOT more bananas than we used to. Sometimes (ok, often), we don’t get to all of them before they ripen, and I end up with a heap of dark brown, spotty bananas on my counter. Banana bread to the rescue! But not just any banana bread....

Happy (almost) New Year! Does anyone else feel like 2019 has flown by? To me, it seems like it was just yesterday that we were at the farmers market buying veggies to turn into pasta salad and zucchini bread. This year may have raced past us, but we certainly had good moments along the way. In particular, we released our second cookbook. I can’t tell you how much we love seeing readers try recipes from it and from the blog!...

When we saw how popular our Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Banana and Chocolate was, we just had to make another one. This time, we added lemon zest, juicy blackberries and a quick caramel sauce on top. How to Make Baked Oatmeal with Blackberries This baked oatmeal recipe is simple. Start by stirring the oats, brown sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, nutmeg and salt together. Add half of the oat mixture to a baking dish then top with a few blackberries....

Let me start out by saying: I’m not a cereal person. I’ve told this story before – my sister and I used to BEG my mom for all of the artificially colored sugary cereals with fun cartoon characters… sometimes she’d give in but always with the disclaimer “only if you actually eat it this time.” We would excitedly make this promise only to go home, have one bowl and never touch it again....

Butter murukku is the first murukku recipe I tried and it was a huge success! I was wary of making any traditional sweets or snacks for Diwali this year since, you know, I had never done it before but this butter murukku really made me very confident to try more snacks for Diwali, recipes of which will be coming soon. If you are a beginner in making murukku or chakli at home, fear not....

Butternut squash mac and cheese! If you thought the Trader Joe’s version was good, you’ll LOVE this homemade one. I adapted the recipe from my traditional macaroni and cheese. Instead of making a roux with flour and butter, I used pureed roasted squash as the base of the cheese sauce. The squash makes it insanely creamy (even creamier than classic mac!) and adds a subtle sweetness to the rich, cheesy flavor....

I love making this butternut squash risotto as much as I love eating it. Honestly! I know that risotto is famously tedious to prepare – add a little broth, stir, add a little broth, stir some more. But on a crisp, cool fall night, I welcome the chance to stand over the warm stove and watch it come together. I think it’s mesmerizing to see the raw squash and uncooked rice transform into a rich, creamy risotto....

Since cabbage has a stronger flavour than other vegetables typically used to make kootu – like chow chow kootu – the coconut paste has some roasted ingredients which adds a lovely flavour to the final dish. My only gripe with this cabbage kootu recipe is that it does require 3-4 pans to make it. There are ways to consolidate some of the steps but I have found that there’s a fine light between getting this kootu just right and overcooking it terribly so how I explain it here is how I make it usually....

Jack has kindly titled this chickpea salad sandwich a Pan Bag-Not. If you ask me, it has everything that makes a classic pan bagnat so craveable: crisp veggies, briny flavors, and soft baguette. However, it doesn’t include the traditional tuna or hard-boiled eggs. It may be completely unconventional, but it’s completely delicious (and completely vegan, too!). Chickpea Salad Sandwich Recipe Components This chickpea salad sandwich starts with my favorite plant-based “tuna” salad....

These easy wonton cups are like mini shrimp tacos. The shrimp are spiced with chili powder, the lime brightens everything up, and the arugula keeps the whole thing fresh. So many of our readers have made these for parties with great success! You can even make the baked wonton cups in advance and then assemble them with the arugula, sour cream, and shrimp just before serving. If you love the idea of wonton cups, try our mini fish taco wonton cups or these smoked salmon wonton cups with cucumber and dill!...