Refrigerator Dill Pickles

September 3, 2014 Amanda Plott

We love pickles in this house.

My little girl alone goes through about a jar every week or two this summer. She's especially fond of pickled carrots as I've found out recently. And have you seen the price for pickles? Holy moly! If you're wanting a good pickle, you're going to be paying $3-4 bucks a jar. Eep!

The past few weeks I've been playing around with a grocery service that delivers organic and local produce straight from nearby farms to your home. I've been getting the 'local box' which comes with a variety of that weeks 'special' produce, fruits and herbs. It's been fun and very interesting. I get to work with a lot of new-to-me ingredients that you normally wouldn't find at the grocery store either; such as sweet potato greens, hon tsai tai, and cucamelons.

Well, I was supposed to get cucamelons, but unfortunately they were swapped for something else after I had planned on pickling them. Bummer. Oh well! I did still get some fresh organic dill in my delivery so I decided I'd just pickle some cucumbers and carrots instead!...

Homemade Whole Wheat 'Easy Mac'

August 18, 2014 Amanda Plott

My little love was under the weather a for a few days this week, so we didn't exactly have the need for a 'lunch box' today, but... this is what I served her at home for lunch. After all, what's more of a comfort food than macaroni and cheese?

Well, not much! I pretty much put everything into this lunch that would be considered her favorite things. And they all tend to be things that most kids enjoy eating. It was a little bit of a happy accident that it happened to be just what she needed on her sick days! Grapes. Mac-n-cheese. Hot dog. And peas and carrots...

Pesto Chickpea & Avocado Salad

August 8, 2014 Amanda Plott

I really cannot say enough about this salad. I would have never guessed that these 6-ish ingredients would have come together in such an awesome and delicious way. This mighty green salad was tossed together in less than 5 minutes and was unbelievably satisfying. Seriously. I've eaten it about four times already this week.

The lemon juice works to brighten up the pesto and together they actually end up as a rather substantial amount of flavorful 'dressing'. Yes, that's right - you don't need to add any dressing to this salad. The ingredients work together to make their own lemony pesto dressing that is de{light}ful and actually one of my newest favorite things...

Mexican Style Breakfast Toast

July 25, 2014 Amanda Plott

There's something about me that many of you may not know. I have gone my entire life turning my nose up to any sort of egg that wasn't either scrambled or hardboiled. I didn't make such a decision based on taste. No, no. My dislike for runny yolks was merely fear of the unknown.

Just over a year ago, I was out having brunch with my mother. I ordered an item that, unbeknownst to me, came with a fried egg on top. The place was pretty busy and I had a mimosa in me, so I figured, why not? Liquid courage at it's finest! I tried it and I liked it. Oh, happy day!

Over the last year, I hadn't really been fearing the previously inapproachable yolky versions of eggs. And in the past weeks, I've had more and more. Dare I say... I actually like runny yolks now? Gasp...

Garlicky Parmesan & Rosemary Roasted Chickpeas

July 21, 2014 Amanda Plott

I was turned on to roasting chickpeas several years back when seeking out healthier snack alternatives. Roasted garbanzo beans are seriously so easy to do that my four year old could almost pull it off all on her own. Well, almost. Plus, they taste absolutely amazing!

If you are a fan of hummus or chickpeas in general, then you will love toasted garbazo beans. I've been on a bit of a chickpea kick lately, if you hadn't noticed already. So... I thought what better time than now to roast some up for a grazing snack to have on hand...

Roasted Honey & Cinnamon Peaches

June 20, 2014 Amanda Plott

Okay, so... I know I've done the whole... broiled grapefruit thing, which is pretty amazing. But, as I've found out, there are actually a lot of people out there that cannot enjoy grapefruit for one reason or another. Yes, even a few in my own family! Now, I looove peach season. I think that I may have mentioned that once or twice before. So naturally, I've been waiting rather eagerly for the prices of peaches to go down and huzzah! It finally happened this last weekend!

I rather enthusiastically plucked a few gorgeous ones up and immediately began planning. Though... I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted to try. Honey roasted peaches!...