In the Kitchen – The Creative Salad

Spring Holidays: Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs and the BEST Chocolate Peanut Butter Egg Treats

We’re in the middle of mega festivities with Passover, Easter, and Earth Day all in the span of a week…

Passover was a hit. With our daughter leading the Seder, I had flashbacks to my childhood. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Ahem.

Now we’re gearing up for a low-key, non-plastic Easter, which entailed dying almost two dozen hardboiled eggs for Sunday morning’s egg hunt.

(Recently I learned that dying eggs is a spring tradition for both Jews and Christians, although the custom predates both religions. (Thanks Ruth for the link!) Pretty fascinating stuff.)

We colored our eggs using this nontoxic kit and got such beautiful, saturated results! We will definitely be using this kit again next year. (Want to make your own dyes with foods from your kitchen? Then this post is for you. We’ve done that before and that’s fun too.)

We also made the most delicious chocolate peanut butter eggs inspired by this post, but made with only (two types of) chocolate and peanut butter — simple, quality ingredients:

The results were incredibly tasty. In fact, I think that was probably the best peanut butter cup of my life! I’m so looking forward to indulging more on Sunday. ;)

By the way, we don’t have plans or resolutions for Earth Day yet, but if we do something fun I’ll try to share a photo via Instagram/Facebook.

Happy spring!

Yep, I’m Still (Reluctantly) Eating Meat, Plus 4 Yummy Vegetarian Salad Recipes to Try

After ten long months of mama torture (ha!), our breastfeeding boy appears to finally tolerate my eating dairy! Hooray!

Here’s what I learned though: I feel soooo much better NOT eating dairy. Except for during several ass-kicking colds this fall, I didn’t blow my nose once over the past ten months, and I was a blow-my-nose-every-half-hour kind of gal before.

Sigh.

So right now I am basically a meat-eating vegan. Oh, the irony.

It’s been two years since I said goodbye to twenty five years of vegetarianism in an attempt to stay pregnant. I still eat meat every day. I continue to feel so much more energized now than when I was a vegetarian, despite getting so much less sleep. I’ve had to completely rewire my idea of what constitutes healthy eating and how I personally need to eat to feel my best. At this point in my life, breastfeeding a rapidly growing toddler 24-7, I basically eat hearty, gluten-free vegetarian meals with a side of meat.

Here are four dairy-free, vegetarian, and gluten-free salad recipes that recently caught my eye:

1. Orange, Avocado & Arugula Salad (pin) / 2. Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad (pin) / 3. Kale Citrus Salad with Orange Tahini Dressing (pin) / 4. Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad with Garlicky Orange Tahini Dressing (pin)

For other simple, healthy, gluten-free meal ideas check out my Recipes & Kitchen Tips To Try / Whole30 boards on Pinterest.

What sorts of yummy dishes have you enjoyed recently?

Gearing Up For the Great Candy Swap or How We Celebrate Halloween With Our Gluten-Free Child

Halloween shall be tricky for us this year. For the past month our daughter has been gluten-free (like me!) and it’s made a world of difference.

It’s not that she was sick before. On the contrary, she has an incredible immune system and is rarely ill.

We’ve just finally completely cut out all gluten from her diet and discovered that her response to it is similar to mine: when we eat gluten we typically feel crappy, overwhelmed, exhausted (like we have the flu), overly sensitive, and cry for no absolutely reason. Who needs that?!

So now our whole family is gluten-free and probably the happiest we’ve ever felt. (Plus no one feels left out, because we feel supported since we’re in this together.)

Celebrating Halloween this year, however, shall take some extra planning since most candy is chock full of gluten. I want our gluten-free child to feel special, not excluded, in celebrating Halloween!

She informed us that since she’s gluten-free, the neighbors are going to give her only gluten-free candy. If only it were that easy!

In preparation for the big day I’ve been hoarding gluten-free (fair-trade, non-gmo, all-natural) chocolates and candy (aka the expensive, good stuff!), so we can trade it with our eldest as she Trick or Treats.

The real swap, however, will occur after the children fall asleep when the Candy Fairy arrives to stealthily dispose of the hard earned (gluten-free) candy and leave pretend cupcakes for the play kitchen (and a book or two) in its place at our daughter’s request.

What does your family do with all that Halloween candy? Our dentist buys back candy from kids by the pound, but I particularly like the idea of making candy houses. We could even keep (hide!) the candy to make our gingerbread houses in December. That’s the thing about candy: it keeps for a long time… if you can not eat it in the interim.

If we keep the candy, I think David needs to be the one who hides it though. If I know where it’s located, there’s NO WAY the candy will last until December. ;)

The Most Important Step When Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

I used to be one of those people who would make myself sick eating so many (delicious!) roasted pumpkin seeds.

Then I stumbled upon this simple trick and haven’t had a (pumpkin seed induced) stomach ache since.

Here’s what you do:

After removing the seeds from the pumpkin, thoroughly wash them, then boil them in salted water for ten minutes before patting them dry, and roasting them as you normally would. (Evidently soaking the seeds makes them more digestible!)

We like to toss pumpkin seeds with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkle of salt, and cook them for 15-20 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Simple, easy, and works every time.

Did you know you can eat any type of squash seed, not just pumpkin? The picture above is of butternut squash seeds. How cool is that?!

I have a feeling we’ll be enjoying roasted seeds all winter long.

How do YOU like to cook them?

Delicious Chai Recipe

Oh, my, am I behind the times. This summer I discovered the infinite joy that is iced chai. David has been drinking it for YEARS and I’ve never really taken to it until now.

Evidently the secret ingredient that I didn’t know I loved was… almond milk! (Weird, right?!)

Here’s how David makes chai for us:

He boils and then simmers cloves, cardamom, orange slices, and a couple cinnamon sticks in a stockpot full of water for an hour (or two). He adds English Breakfast tea for five minutes, then removes the tea bags. We keep it unsweetened in the fridge for up to two weeks.

I like to add almond milk and a dash of honey to my cup of chai.

Delicious!