Peanut butter lovers: Have you tried making your own? I don’t know what took me so long to try it. It’s so easy to blend in a food processor and tastes incredible. Take your PB&J to the next level with homemade peanut butter.

Homemade peanut butter is lusciously creamy, with rich and irresistible peanut flavor. Notably, there’s no grit or annoying oil to stir into the container. Homemade peanut butter tops all the store-bought options in flavor and texture, and I’ve tried every natural peanut butter out there!

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Think of these sunny mango bowls as a Thai spin on your favorite burrito bowl. They’re refreshing and hearty, sweet and savory, and my new favorite summertime dinner.

These bowls were inspired by my Thai mango cabbage wraps, which are such a fun appetizer. I’ve added rice and shredded the cabbage to turn them into a more hefty dinner.

These bowls feature perfectly cooked brown rice and shredded cabbage topped with crispy baked tofu, fresh mango salsa and peanut sauce. None of the components are difficult to prepare, and the combination is irresistible.

You could make these bowls on a relaxed weeknight, or save them for the weekend. Invite friends over, or keep your leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. You can’t lose with this one.

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I’m re-introducing one of my all-time favorite recipes today! It’s a colorful slaw with tender soba noodles, tossed in sesame-ginger peanut sauce. Need I say more?

Ok, I’ll tell you more about it. It’s packed with nutritious vegetables, including carrots, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. This slaw is crunchy and satisfying, filling and full of flavor.

This recipe can satisfy your main-meal cravings (it packs great for lunch), or it can make a statement side dish. It’s easily made vegan and/or gluten free, making it an all-star potluck option.

This slaw is made with more vegetables than noodles, so it’s nice and light. I tend to get snacky when I’m feeling anxious or unsettled, so I’ve been taking a fork to this slaw in those moments. Chomp chomp chomp!

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I tend to keep to myself, especially in yoga class. It’s not a very social form of exercise, you know? Last year, when I walked into my usual Tuesday evening yoga class and my instructor shouted, “COOKIE AND KATE,” I froze. Kim, a regular in the class, had learned about my blog through her co-worker, and she said, “I know her! I go to yoga with her!”

Then Kim told Kristina, the teacher, and then everyone found out. Including Amie, one of my favorite instructors, who is great friends with Kate Kasbee of Well Vegan. Kate lives in Chicago and was working on a cookbook called Frugal Vegan at the time.

Through the Amie-Kate connection, I got a sneak peek at Frugal Vegan and wrote a blurb for the back cover. “Frugal Vegan offers an incredible array of fresh and simple vegan recipes. Every single one of them manages to be easy to make, affordable and accessible, too.”

Kate came to town for Amie’s birthday party, so I met her for drinks, and a giant green bug landed in her herbed green cocktail. Are you still following? I can’t make this stuff up.

Kate and I bonded over the trials and tribulations of cookbook-making, our love for our funny-looking pups (meet Rex), and the green bug experience. We practiced our half-moon poses at Amie’s backyard birthday party the next day. Maybe I shouldn’t be so shy about my work, since it opens so many fun doors.

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May yesterday go down in history as the day that I spent twenty-five dollars on Brussels sprouts. I didn’t mean to do it! I knew I needed plenty of sprouts in case I encountered another recipe failure. The sprouts were packed in big bags, so I grabbed two and continued on to the green onions. That’s how they get you—with those big, pre-packed bags.

Then, I was a terrible customer and read email during check-out and didn’t even notice until I glanced at the receipt at home. Twenty-five hard-earned dollars! Who am I? The sprouts weren’t even good sprouts. I’ve been robbed.

My only consolation is that my sprouts turned out great on my next try, so I have extra sprouts for later. This Kung Pao Brussels sprouts dish is my take on a popular Chinese stir-fry recipe, Kung Pao chicken. I roasted my Brussels sprouts and tossed them in a completely irresistible, spicy soy-honey glaze with green onions and peanuts. It’s a stellar vegetarian appetizer or side dish, and I wouldn’t judge if you wanted to eat it for dinner on its own.

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Hi, I’m Kate, and I am a chronic over-stuffer. I recognized the theme while I was making these salad wraps last night. In addition to salad wraps, I over-stuff tacos, burritos, bookshelves, closets and worst of all, my calendar. Basically, anything that can be over-stuffed, I over-stuff.

“All the salsas, please.”
—Me, at Chipotle, as the girl behind the counter struggles to fold over my burrito.

“Sure, I can photograph four recipes in one day, then answer comments and emails, go to yoga, stop by the grocery store and make it to bed at a reasonable hour.”
—Lying to myself on a daily basis.

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Please tell me that I am not the only girl who leaves her keys in the door. Or loses her car in parking lots. Or drops her wallet on the sidewalk. Distracted is my middle name, but committing all three of those mistakes over the past few weeks is a personal record.

I suppose I have to tell you the stories now, don’t I? I’ll start with the best one. A couple of weeks ago, I took Cookie outside before dragging myself to bed. I was exhausted—apparently so exhausted that I left my keys in my door when I shut it behind me. Dumb, right? The next morning, I woke up and searched around for my keys. I couldn’t find them in any of the normal spots. It finally occurred to me to check the door. Aha! Keys. Relief.

Then I walked down the front steps, looked over to my left, and saw my car. My car was parked in front of the fire hydrant with a white ticket flapping underneath the window wiper. That’s not where I parked my car, you guys. I walked over to my car with trepidation and peered through the windows.

Everything inside my car seemed to be in order. I got in and noticed that the seat had been scooted back a few inches. All I know about the thief (borrower?) is that he’s a few inches taller than me, drives a manual transmission and has an iPhone, apparently, since he took my cord with him. That leaves a lot of suspects.

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I know that peanut butter, tomatoes and collard greens may seem like an unlikely combination, but I hope you’ll trust me on this one.

This recipe was originally inspired by a friend’s vegan cookbook called Local Bounty. With the author’s headnote, “Of all the soups we serve in my restaurant, this one is by far the most popular,” and his endorsement, I trusted that this soup was a safe bet.

If you love this recipe, be sure to check out the revamped peanut soup with sweet potatoes and chickpeas in my cookbook!

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I experienced my first fresh spring roll at a Thai restaurant last summer. I was on a date of sorts, or as much of a date as dates go these days. He had a habit of ordering appetizers or desserts without consulting me first—a habit I might find infuriating in someone else. He stuck with vegetarian options for my sake, though, and I didn’t mind.

Anyway, fresh spring rolls arrived at the table that afternoon, and I didn’t know what to think at first. Their oddly translucent skins made them look almost alien-like, but I saw familiar, friendly herbs and vegetables peeking through at me and trusted that I’d like them. We each dunked a roll in spicy sauce and, in between bites, drifted back into conversation about our usual topics of discussion: pirates, Halloween costumes, our dogs. Pure nonsense.

I’ve wanted to make fresh spring rolls since that afternoon, but I couldn’t find the wrapping papers for the longest time and wasn’t sure what to do with them even after I finally found some. (By the way, spring roll wrappers are also called rice paper wrappers.) Then I watched my friend Erin make them in a video, and she made it look easy. Something about watching cooking techniques in action makes them seem more approachable.

I ended up working on this recipe all week—running out of natural light one day, waiting on the internet installation guy the next, sampling different combinations of filling ingredients in the meantime.

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I’m back! I felt like my brain was running at half speed while I had that head cold. My thoughts seem to be clearing as my symptoms have lifted, but now I’m presented with an overwhelming workload and would rather crawl back under the covers with Cookie. So it goes.

I’m taking a little break to share one of my new favorite, quick meals. It took two tries to get this one right, but my second attempt really hits the spot. Like my other soba noodle recipe, this one is packed with vegetables, which keeps the dish light, while buckwheat soba noodles contribute their whole grain goodness and peanut butter brings in some protein.

This Asian inspired, peanut butter flavored dish is a cinch to throw together. Just boil a pot of water, sauté some veggies, and whisk together some sauces from your pantry. Dinner is served!

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