This is my very favorite semi-recurring series on the blog. I have a lot of cookbooks. But I don’t always remember to cook from said cookbooks.

Plus, it’s easy to get into a dinner rut. You know how it goes. Long week, busy day at work, need to get dinner on the table asap –– you resort back to a few of your old standbys.

But with this series, I’m trying to break out of my dinner shell (and inspire you to do the same along the way).

Today’s cookbook review is of America’s Test Kitchen’s Vegan for Everybody! I had recently seen a few people on Instagram cook from this cookbook, so I requested it from my library.

Guys: I didn’t even get to the end of the breakfast chapter before buying my own copy. These recipes are wild. They’re well-tested, exciting, unique, and just really really good.

Let’s start with some deets:

Title: Vegan for Everybody: Foolproof Plant-Based Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and In-Between
Author: America’s Test Kitchen
Diet: Vegan
Number of Recipes: 200+
Sections/Chapters: Breakfast and Brunch, Soups/Stews/Chilis, Burgers/Sandwiches/Pizzas, Main Dish Salads and Bowls, New Dinner Favorites, Stir-Fries/Curries/Noodles, Snacks and Apps, Desserts
Recipes You’ll Wanna Make ASAP:
· Tofu Frittata with Mushrooms – pg. 40
· Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup – pg. 86
· Pub-Style Burger Sauce – pg. 120
· Tofu Banh Mi – pg. 125
· Sizzling Saigon Crêpes – pg. 130
· Mushroom Pizza with Cashew Ricotta – pg. 139
· Creamy Cashew Mac and Cheese – pg. 184
· Crispy Orange Seitan – pg. 209
· Saag Tofu – pg. 226
· Polenta Fries with Creamy Chipotle Sauce – pg. 268
· Fudgy Brownies – pg. 278
· Pecan Pie – pg. 295
Fooduzzi Rating: 4.75/5
Purchase: Here to support independent bookstores →

My list of recipes to try from this book was…extensive. So I had a bit of trouble cutting it down to just five (ish)!

Mark helped, and we settled on four meals (that I made for dinner, but we had for leftovers throughout the week) and one dessert. We ended up choosing the recipes for the familiarity, but they all called for some unique-to-me ingredients or techniques that I haven’t really used in the kitchen before.

Here’s what we made:

(ps. all of these photos were taken with my phone right before eating! No styling other than my normal weeknight “I’m a food blogger so things need to look somewhat nice” ways so you know what to expect if you make these recipes yourself!)

Black Bean Burgers – pg. 114

I can never turn down a good black bean burger, so we decided to try ATK’s version. The ingredient list is pretty minimal, but it’s unique in that it uses tortilla chips to bind everything together.

I pan-fried the burgers, and they came out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We served them with tomato, lettuce, lots of pickles, and their Pub-Style Burger Sauce (pg. 120), plus some sweet potato fries on the side.

I loved the flavor of these burgers –– nice and herby thanks to the cilantro, a little spicy from the hot sauce, and just the right amount of earthy from the cumin. They did crumble a bit once you bit into them, but I haven’t found many black bean burgers that don’t.

The burger sauce is a new favorite of ours. I’ve never actually bought vegan mayo before, but I’m glad I branched out and snagged it for this recipe! It was great as a dipping sauce for the fries, as a dressing for leftover burger salads throughout the week, or just on top of the burger.

We actually made these burgers and the sauce twice –– once to test, and once just because we were hungry for them again. Big win from us!

Creamy Cashew Mac and Cheese – pg. 184

I’m going to come out and say it: this recipe is worth the price of the cookbook alone. Seriously.

I’ve been craving mac and cheese for a really long time, and every vegan mac and cheese recipe I’ve tried has tasted overly tangy or way too nutritional-yeasty.

This recipe, however, is perfect. It gives me serious Velveeta vibes (in the best, most nostalgic way possible).

It’s also just really easy to make. Probably about 30 minutes from start to finish? Maybe a little longer? It’s a great weeknight meal!

It’s made with cashew, cauliflower, and a few other flavorful ingredients like tomato paste and dried mustard. You just boil everything together, toss it in a blender, and pour it over your cooked macaroni. Super simple.

We made this one twice as well, and you’ll be happy to know that leftovers are fab the next day. Just be sure to hit it with some extra salt and pepper before diving in!

Tofu Ranchero – pg. 44

This was the recipe that I was most excited to try, and the one that I adapted the most.

Halfway through the recipe, I realized I forgot to buy chopped, canned green chiles. I was so sad. So…I added a few more ingredients than it called for like canned chipotles and seasonings like cumin and smoked paprika.

It looks just like the picture in the book, but we weren’t entirely sure how to eat it? It’s served with toasted corn tortillas, so we basically treated it as a make-your-own taco bar situation.

It was okay. Really cool how you bake the tomato/onion mixture to get it nice and caramelized, but my changes definitely aren’t advised.

I’d love to make this one again with the right ingredients!

Shiitake Ramen – pg. 233

Little known fact about Mark: ramen is one of his favorite foods. He had this really incredible ramen when we were in Portland a few years ago, and nothing has really lived up to that ramen experience for him since.

We’ve tried making it a few times from a few different recipes, so I was excited to see how this recipe fared to Mark’s beloved ramen memories.

This ramen was fine. It had good flavor thanks to the red miso and kombu, but it also wasn’t that thick, rich, luscious ramen that Mark remembered.

It was definitely the most time-consuming recipe we tried (although most of that time is spent boiling the broth for an hour), and I’m not sure it was worth it in the end.

I topped mine with some pan-fried tofu, marinated bean sprouts, red onion, and the Shichimi Togarashi spice blend (pg. 23) they suggest. When I had leftovers, I added some sambal, and I liked it a lot more.

This one was “just okay” for us!

Fudgy Brownies – pg. 278

Two pictures because one just doesn’t do this recipe justice.

SUCH a good brownie recipe, you guys. I was a little suspect because it calls for a whopping 2 and 1/2 cups of sugar for 24 brownies, but after I read the full recipe, I noticed that it’s actually the only source of sugar in the recipe (you use unsweetened chocolate and unsweetened cocoa as your chocolate sources).

They’re fudgy, rich, and really yummy with some chunky, flaky salt on top. I made them for Maya’s birthday (she obviously didn’t have any), and we loved them!

I cut them and kept them in the fridge, and they are insanely good cold.

What I love about this cookbook: So. Much.

For one, I love that the nutritional information is included, but all on its own in a section in the back. There if you want it, but not in your face on each recipe page if you don’t (I never do, but I know that’s important to a lot of people).

I also really love the fact that each recipe has a “Why This Recipe Works” section. In these sections, the authors talk about why they chose specific ingredients over others, and it just shows how well-tested all of the recipes really are.

The introduction is actually full of “extra” recipes for things like a vegan fish sauce substitute, vegan mayo, or a vegetable broth base. That said, they also give you recommendations for store-bought brands that they’ve used to test the recipes as well, ensuring that your results will be as similar to theirs as possible.

The recipes are also really creative. Just…so creative. See above for proof.

What I think could be improved: The fact that none of the recipes have cook/prep times listed is kind of a head-scratcher. It was a little frustrating to have to read through the entire recipe a few times to estimate how long it would be before I had dinner on the table.

Also, the ingredient lists weren’t as clear as I would have liked. This is nit-picky for sure, but when a recipe calls for 1 tsp. salt, it’s helpful to know whether it’s kosher salt or sea salt.

That said, I really love this book, and it has quickly become a staple since I got it. In fact, I haven’t actually put it away yet –– it remains on our couch or in the kitchen so that we can use it as inspiration! I call that a super-win.

Do you have Vegan for Everybody? What’s your favorite recipe?!

p.s. If you liked this review, check out my similar reviews for:

• Love Real Food
• Food52 Vegan

The post A Week of Meals from Vegan for Everybody (Cookbook Review) appeared first on Fooduzzi.

This little series is one of my favorite things, even though I’ve only done it twice.

And that’s because it came out of a need. A need to dust off the bajillion cookbooks I currently have strewn about my room. A need to get out of our dinner rut. A need to actually cook the recipes I find in cookbooks.

In this “A Week of Meals from” series, I find a cookbook, I cook a few different recipes from it throughout the week, and then I review it here! On Fooduzzi!

Today’s review: Love Real Food from the vegetarian queen herself, Kathryne Taylor from the wonderful blog, Cookie + Kate.

Kathryne’s blog focuses on celebrating whole foods. In fact! This is on her About page:

This blog is all about celebrating good food—real, sustainable food that delights the senses and nourishes the body.

And while she’s not one to shy away from an indulgence, I love that her focus is on food that tastes good and makes us feel good. And that’s exactly what she does in her 2017 debut cookbook, Love Real Food.

Here are the deets:

Title: Love Real Food: More Than 100 Feel-Good Vegetarian Favorites to Delight the Senses and Nourish the Body
Author: Kathryne Taylor (from Cookie + Kate)
Diet: Vegetarian
Number of Recipes: 100+
Sections/Chapters: Good Morning, Salads, Soups, Happy Hour, Let’s Feast, Sweet Treats, Extras
Recipes You’ll Wanna Make ASAP:
· Creamy Cashew Chai Lattes – pg. 28
· Thai-Style Mango Slaw – pg. 55
· Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili – pg. 83
· Avocado, Spinach, and Artichoke Dip with Toasted Pita Wedges – pg. 124
· Hibiscus Pink Lemonade – pg. 138
· German Chocolate Cake – pg. 212
Fooduzzi Rating: 4/5
Purchase: on Amazon →

So before this lil experiment, I actually had a few of the recipes from this book. And that’s because a lot of my friends are in love with it! The Greek nachos, the enchiladas, the hibiscus pink lemonade (which I remember being amazing)…maybe a few other odds and ends.

But I never ended up cooking from the book for Mark and me. Never. But that all changed a few weeks ago when I made a week of meals from Love Real Food.

Here’s what we made!

(ps. all of these photos were taken with my phone right before eating – we’re going for an “in the wild” review situation here)

Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili – pg. 83

Man oh man did I love this chili!

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my Stories when I made this little number. It’s filling, full of veggies, and really customizable.

For example, I was a little short on the butternut squash, so I just added in some cubed sweet potato. I didn’t have a red onion, so I used a sweet one. I didn’t have a bay leaf, so I left it out.

One of the surprising ingredients in this chili is cinnamon, which really warms up the entire dish and gives it an addictive and distinctive taste.

Huge huge win, especially with extra tortilla chips on top for dipping.

Fresh Sesame Soba Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce – pg. 98

So. One thing about Mark is that he cannot stand the smell and taste of sesame oil. He hates the stuff. And in this recipe, the buckwheat noodles and veggies are tossed in it.

So I left it out, like a good girlfriend, but it made the entire thing lack flavor. Obviously.

Next time I’d add some more flavor to the noodles and possible add some crushed peanuts inside of the rolls for some crunch.

I just really love making spring rolls at home because they’re simple and just like…really fun. And so different!

Avocado, Spinach, and Artichoke Dip with Toasted Pita Wedges – pg. 124

OKAY. We need to talk about this dip.

It. Was. So. Good.

Looking at the ingredient list, I was like, “K. This will be fine.” Oh no. Kathryne, you know your dips, girl.

It’s just garlicky enough, just tangy enough, perfectly creamy, and way too addictive. I served mine with tortilla chips because we already had them thanks to the aforementioned chili, and it was the best.

Honestly, even better the next day.

One tiny note though: you can’t make this thinking it’s spinach artichoke dip. Because it’s not. It’s more like a guacamole with spinach and artichokes in it, and honestly I have no idea why that hasn’t been a thing before because it is GOOD.

Chickpea Tikka Masala with Green Rice – pg. 157

I’m so excited that I got to make this recipe because I love Indian food, but I have like…zero experience making it. This recipe was so simple, and the end result was pretty tasty!

I ended up skipping the cardamom because DUDE. It was so expensive at my grocery store for some reason. But even without it, the tikka masala was nicely spiced and flavorful.

It probably wasn’t my favorite recipe of the bunch, but Mark and I agreed that if we make it again, we need lots of pita to sop up the yummy sauce. Rookie mistake on my part.

Coconut Fried Rice with Edamame – pg. 182

This recipe really intrigued me. Coconut in fried rice?! Who wouldda thunk?!

It’s a super simple recipe, and great if you have some leftover rice laying around because it should be cold when you cook it (Kathryne says it’s less clumpy than freshly cooked rice).

If we’d make this again, I’d probably add some ginger and a bit more sauce, but it was a nice base upon which we could add #allthethings. And I’m not super sure about the coconut. It was different, but I personally didn’t love it in the fried rice.

So some main takeaways from Love Real Food:

• It’s a beautiful book. The layout is just really appealing and easy to navigate.
• The pictures are beautiful, and Kathryne gets big bonus points for including pics of her dog, Cookie.
• Girl LOVES her fresh cilantro, and I do too. If you’re cilantro-adverse, mayyyybe steer clear of the recipes I made here because, with the exception of the dip, they all call for it.
• Each recipe is marked with dietary notes and adaptations. So if a recipe isn’t naturally vegan, chances are she’ll have a note at the bottom of the recipe on how you can make it vegan. I’m just so impressed by that because it means she tested the heck out of these recipes.

Kathryne is such an incredibly talented blogger/author/person, and I’m really glad I finally dove into this cookbook that I’ve had since it came out in 2017. Oy.

You’ll find lots of classic vegetarian recipes in this cookbook. So if you’re looking for ways to incorporate fresh recipes, whole foods, and real foods into your diet, as well as having a resource upon which you can adjust and tweak to your tastebuds, I say Love Real Food is a great place to start.

You can’t really argue with a perfect 5/5 rating on Amazon, now can ya?

So I’m curious: Have you cooked from Love Real Food? What’s your favorite recipe?!

Some links used in this post are affiliate links, which means if you order a product through the link, Fooduzzi makes some money (at no cost to you). All money is put directly back into making delicious plant-based yum here on the blog!

The post A Week of Meals from Love Real Food (Cookbook Review) appeared first on Fooduzzi.

You get this beautiful new cookbook. You flip through each page, dog-ear a ton of recipes that look “omg so good”…and then you put it on a shelf and forget about it.

Hi, my name is Alexa, and I never ever cook from my cookbooks.

I have so many cookbooks. Books from bloggers! Books from cooking show personalities! Books from random people I’ve never heard of before!

When I need a new recipe, I search online or make something up and go about my day. Or I resort to my old stand-by of brown rice, some sort of roasted veg, and chickpeas. aka. the meal I have approximately 5 times per week.

But there are pages upon pages of yum calling to me from my bookshelf, crying out, “EAT FROM ME!” and just waiting for their time to shine.

So! We’re starting a new series here on the blog called, “A Week of Meals.”

The premise is super simple: I’ll get a plant-based / vegan cookbook (or choose one that’s currently collecting dust on my bookshelf), actually cook things from it, and then write about it!

My hopes with this new series are:

1. It gets me out of my food funk and gets me to try new weeknight recipes and inspires you to branch out and try new recipes
2. It helps you figure out which cookbooks you might want to check out if you or someone you know are vegan-curious
3. Actually use the cookbooks I have and inspire you to do the same!

I’m so flipping excited about this new series, and we honestly couldn’t have started with a more beautiful book than Food52 Vegan.

Here are the deets:

Title: Food52 Vegan – 60 Vegetable-Driven Recipes for Any Kitchen
Author: Gena Hamshaw (from The Full Helping)
Diet: Vegan
Number of Recipes: 60
Sections/Chapters: Breakfast, Appetizers & Snacks, Soups, Salads, Main Dishes, Desserts, Basics
Recipes You’ll Wanna Make ASAP:
· Date Nut Bread – pg. 11
· Miso Soup – pg. 53
· Greek Salad with Tofu Feta – pg. 63
· Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese – pg. 85
· Penne with Summer Squash, Corn, and Herbs – pg. 81
· Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Filling and Ganache – pg. 129
Fooduzzi Rating: 4.75/5
Purchase: on Amazon →

If you’re not super familiar with Food52, go here and be prepared to drool everywhere. I love Food52’s photography style, so as soon as I saw that they published a vegan cookbook, I was all over it.

The author, Gena, is known for, not only her own food blog, but for the column she writes for Food52, New Veganism. Pretty freakin’ awesome, right? Running your own successful blog and writing for the awesome folks at Food52. Gena, you’re a super star.

I bought this cookbook fairly recently at the advice of my friend, Gretchen, and when it came, I did my typical “I just got a new cookbook” dance and sat down and read it cover-to-cover.

The photos are beautiful. With the exception of some of the Basics at the back of the book (think: nut milk, nut cheese, etc.), each and every recipe is accompanied by a photo. I so appreciate this because if a recipe doesn’t have a picture, there’s no way I’d make it. It’s just not happening.

There’s a reason they say we, “eat with our eyes.” Just sayin’.

So! Because I knew that I wanted this cookbook to be the very first I reviewed, I quickly started making a list of some of the recipes that sounded interesting, doable on a weeknight/weekday, and a bit out of our norm.

Most of the recipes are totally suited for weeknight/weekday prep. Especially if you do a few things ahead of time like make a big batch of quinoa or roast some veggies.

But to be completely honest, because the recipes are fairly straightforward, Mark and I weren’t super blown away at first glance. Mark, a non-vegan, especially. I mean, everything looked beautiful, but there were only a few where we were like, “Ooh I bet you that is so good.”

Spoiler alert: we’d soon be eating our words. Quite literally.

We ended up trying:

Date Nut Bread – pg. 11

So this recipe came from the recommendation of Gretchen. She looooved it. Like, loved it. So, as a date and carb lover, I knew I had to give it a go.

It’s pretty much your standard “quick bread” (aka. no yeast), sans eggs. The toughest thing was taking the pits out of the medjool dates.

I had to bake the bread a good bit longer than the recommended 35-40 minutes, but it came out dark brown and smelling like pretzels. It doesn’t taste like pretzels, but it definitely smelled like a fresh-baked caramelized pretzel. So yum.

I liked it! I thought it was maybe a tad too sweet for me (medjool dates are pretty sweet on their own, and there’s a whopping 1 and 1/2 cups in the recipe), but I really enjoyed the texture and date-walnut combo so much.

That said, Mark LOVED this recipe. Hardcore. I don’t think he’s ever eaten a date in his life, but he loves this bread. It was a huge win.

When I make it again (yes, when!), I’ll make sure to break up the dates a bit more so they’re better dispersed through the bread. That was a rookie mistake on my part. A delicious mistake because, hello, giant clumps of caramely date goodness are never a bad thing, but visually, I think I would have preferred to break them up a bit.

Big win!

Sesame Flax Crackers – pg. 33

Three cheers for homemade crackers! I’m constantly snacky, and because I work from home, I have the luxury/curse of being able to go to the pantry every 5 seconds if I want.

So! I’m always looking for healthy snacks that can satisfy my cravings in a healthy way. Enter: these crackers.

They are so freaking easy to make, and they require only six ingredient (one of which is water).

They taste great, the texture is super seedy and fun, and they’re awesome in hummus.

Again, I had to bake these quite a bit longer than instructed (note to self: get an oven thermometer), but dang they were good.

Again, Mark was a fan.

Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce – pg. 41

Alright, classify this under “Dinners I’d Never In a Million Years Think to Cook on a Weeknight.” Also under “Food that Looks Silly in Photographs Unless Food52 is Photographing Them.”

Proof:

I’ve never made spring rolls before in my life. I like them, of course – thin, soft rice paper wrappers, fresh veg, epic dipping sauce -, but I’ve just never had the desire to make them at home.

Not only that, this recipe was even more intriguing to me because it required me to buy two new-to-me ingredients: the rice paper wraps (I found them at Whole Foods, but any mega mart should have them) and jicama.

Jicama is a weird little veggie that kind of reminds me of a water chestnut. It’s crisp, kinda juicy, and just…fresh. I found a pack of pre-cut jicama at Trader Joe’s (score!), and it worked perfect for these spring rolls.

The spring rolls are filled with fresh herbs (basil and cilantro – I swapped the cilantro for mint because my store was out of cilantro (?)), crisp veggies (the aforementioned jicama, cucumber, and red cabbage), and avocado. I’d love to bulk them up next time with some rice vermicelli noodles and maybe some tofu, but as a light summery dinner, these really hit the spot.

It’s served with a gingery peanut sauce, which I doctored up with a bit of sriracha.

Again, much to my surprise, Mark loved these. That’s three-for-three from a non-vegan, folks! I loved them too. They were super fresh and perfect for summer. Totally making these again soon.

Greek Salad with Tofu Feta – pg. 63

OMG. Can that just be my review of this recipe? O-M-G.

One of my favorite vegan recipes ever. Not kidding. I was completely and totally blown away by this recipe.

I’m always a fan of a tomato-cucumber-onion-olive salad with a simple vinaigrette; we had it all the time growing up, and it’s just such a great way to use up fresh summer veggies.

That said, the tofu feta in this book is outrageous. I don’t even get it. How can tofu become feta? How?!

You have to marinate the tofu feta for a day or two so that it becomes crumbly like regular feta, but dang girl. It’s so good.

Luckily for you, this recipe is coming to the blog later this week!! Stay tuned.

Penne with Summer Squash, Corn, and Herbs – pg. 81

Because Mark’s dad is a literal saint, we’ve been swimming in fresh produce all summer – specifically, zucchini.

I, for one, could eat zucchini all day long. I love it simply sautéed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, or marinated in something like this.

But Mark was getting sick of the same ol’ same ol’, so when I saw this recipe using zucchini in a different way, I was all-in.

My only [tiny] gripe about this recipe is that it requires you to roast the vegetables at a pretty high temperature. It gets hot and muggy and gross in Pittsburgh in the summer, and I never want to turn on my oven. That said, it was worth it, and I’m pretty sure you could just sauté all of the veggies on the stove and be completely fine.

It was such a simple recipe, and we really enjoyed it. I added some cannellini beans for some protein, as well as a good shake of my salty Vegan Parmesan and red pepper flakes, and it was super satisfying. Yum yum.

We did some snacky things, as well as some meals. Because we’re a household of two and a floof, most of the recipes gave us leftovers that we ate for a day or two afterwards, which I really appreciated. Especially in the summer when I don’t ever want to cook.

But man, I was so tickled with how everything we tried turned out. The fact that Mark was such a fan is also a huge testament to the quality of the recipes. He doesn’t sugar-coat things, and he’ll totally let you know if he doesn’t like something.

My biggest takeaway from this book is that just because something is simple, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t taste amazing. And honestly? I think that the fact that most of the recipes in Food52 Vegan are super simple is one of the most appealing things about the book.

Vegan cooking can tend to be a bit…over the top sometimes. Like requiring weird ingredients or ingredient lists that are literally a mile long.

Food52 Vegan isn’t that, and now that I’ve cooked from it, that’s one of my favorite things about it. The recipes are approachable, even for non-vegans (in fact, Mark’s non-vegan mom made the Penne with Summer Squash last week!!).

The recipes are simple, full of fresh, good-for-you ingredients, and I’m just such a fan.

I can’t wait to dive into the Soup chapter when it starts getting cooler outside, and I’m so freaking excited to make the brownies, you have no idea.

I’d fo’sho recommend Food52 Vegan for seasoned vegans and vegan-curious alike. So much plant-based yum happening here!

So! Thoughts on this series? Have you tried anything from this cookbook? What’s the next cookbook I should review?

ps. There are affiliate links in this post, and all money generated from said links will be put directly into making more plant-based yum here on Fooduzzi!

The post A Week of Meals from Food52 Vegan (Cookbook Review) appeared first on Fooduzzi.

Coffee has been such an exciting, awesome, fascinating part of my life lately, I couldn’t not talk about it with you! My Fooduzzi fam!

Unrelated: do people still use the word “newb”? Because I feel like a total newb with this stuff.

But it’s been really really fun. And while I still have loads and loads to learn, I’ve already learned a ton and made some truly epic cups of coffee right at home.

Because I’m a beginner / newb, I decided to write this post about how I got into it and some tips I learned along the way. Coffee has been such a fun hobby for me the past few months, and I’m excited to share a bit of what I’ve learned along the way with ya!

If you want to know how to get into coffee but you’re not really sure how, I hope this guide can point you in the right, delicious direction! Let’s jump in:

I. Get a Subscription & Talk to Local Roasters

When I finally decided that I wanted to learn more about coffee, I committed to buying a coffee subscription. I think it was a good move because:

a. I don’t need to think about it; the coffees come every two weeks

b. There’s no planning involved; I get a different coffee (chosen by them) with every shipment

c. Usually companies with coffee subscription services know their stuff, I’m learning a lot along the way

It’s been wonderful. Like so wonderful. I got the welcome kit subscription from Blue Bottle Coffee (here’s $10 off if you want to try it for yourself!), and it’s great. It came with a lot of the gear I needed to brew (more on that below), plus a cute tote and six different whole bean coffees delivered to my door every two weeks. Plus, the coffee is roasted 2-3 days before it gets to me. I live across the country (they’re in CA, I’m in PA). It’s amazing I can get coffee that fresh.

It’s fantastic, and I highly suggest it if you’re curious. There are so many other coffee subscriptions out there, so do some research and find one that’s good for you!

And if you can’t, there’s always local. Pittsburgh isn’t necessarily the place you think you’ll find good coffee, but La Prima Espresso Company is pretty much the best. In fact, every time I travel for blog stuff or for work, I always make sure to tuck a bag or two into my luggage to give away to out-of-towners. It’s that good.

Plus, the blogger in me is totally geeking out over their new branding. It’s so pretty!!!

They invited me to their roasting facility a few weeks ago, and it was the greatest thing ever. The air smelled like coffee and chocolate (a very common flavor note in coffee), and I learned so much about the process. Chuck, Mike, Sam, Anthony, and the entire La Prima team are amazing people, and they have so much passion for and understanding of the process.

Hit up your local roasters, and see if they’d be willing to give you a tour or explain their process. I have so much more of an appreciation for my morning cup of coffee now that I know what goes into making it. It’s truly a beautiful hands-on process!

II. Buy Some Gear

You’ll need a few necessities. Not a ton, just a few cheap (!) tools that help you make a dang-good cuppa joe like a boss.

a. A kitchen scale

It’s good to have a kitchen scale for other kitchen-y things (baking, portioning, etc.), but it’s especially good to have to make epic coffee. Regardless of the brewing vessel you choose (more on that in a jiffy), you’ll need to measure out your beans. The amount of beans differs from brewing method to brewing method, as well as bean type to bean type, so a kitchen scale is a necessity.

And…a cheap necessity! This is the one I have (affiliate link), and it’s ~$10. Score.

You’ll get a bowl or jar or whatever (I use a mortar from my mortar and pestle set because it has a convenient little spout for pouring), place it on your scale, tare or zero out the weight so that it doesn’t take the weight of your bowl / jar into account, and then measure out your beans. Simple!

b. A grinder

One of the most important lessons I learned when I toured the La Prima roasting facility is that grinding your beans right before brewing is one of the best ways to ensure that your cup of coffee is as fresh as possible.

I like to compare it to buying pre-chopped vegetables at the store. Sure, they’re good. But are they as good as getting full-sized, whole vegetables from a local farmers market? Nada. Whole veggies retain so much more flavor, and coffee is no different.

There are so many different grinders out there, from electric to manual. I have this cute little hand grinder (affiliate link), and it’s working great. It definitely takes some arm strength to grind the beans, so if you’re worried about it, I’d go with an electric grinder (something like this! [affiliate link]).

In all honesty, I’ll probably upgrade to an electric one where I have more control on grind size. So important (but more on that later).

c. A kettle

Not the most important piece of gear (you can just boil water in a pot), but a kettle gives you a lot of control over your pour speed. We’ve used something like this for years (affiliate link), and it’s been great!

d. A brewing vessel (or two…or three)

There are so many brewing vessels for coffee. Omg. I’m still learning about the differences between them honestly. Stumptown Coffee and Blue Bottle have a bunch of really great brew guides that helped me narrow down a few different techniques that I wanted to try.

Right now, we have a French Press (CANNOT beat IKEA’s $10 price!), a pour over dripper (more on this in a sec), and an Aeropress (affiliate link).

All three produce wildly different cups of coffee, and I kind of love it. I’m slowly learning. The French Press produces a bold, oily, thick coffee, while the dripper is more refined and clean, and the Aeropress does a great job at removing the bitterness from your beans.

We’ve had the French Press and Aeropress for years, but the dripper actually came for free with my Blue Bottle Coffee subscription (I got the welcome kit). If you’re interested in checking out Blue Bottle’s coffee or gear, here’s a $10 link for ya!

e. Filters, if necessary

Depending on your vessel-o-choice, you might need filters. Every vessel we have came with specific filters, so I didn’t really worry about it. Just wanted to give you a heads up that you might need to purchase them too!

III. Practice and Adjust

Okay, so you have your gear, you have your coffee. Now’s the time to practice. And this is where things get a bit…scary if you’re a freak perfectionist like yours truly.

Your first cup probably isn’t going to be the best. It might be too weak. It might be way too strong or bitter. Or maybe it’s sour.

But it gets easier! And you just learn along the way.

I find articles like this and this and videos like this are really helpful in understanding what might have gone wrong in my coffee extraction process. There’s also a course from Blue Bottle on how to brew (it’s free!). I mean, it really should be easy. It’s just coffee + water, right?

But there are so many elements that go into creating a truly exceptional cup. Consider questions like:

• Is your water filtered or from a tap?
• Was your water too hot or too cold?
• Was your grind size too big or too small?
• Did you add too much or too little coffee?
• Did you add too much or too little water?
• Did you use the best brewing vessel for your type of roast and bean?

It’s all an experiment. A learning experience. A delicious experimental learning experience. Be patient, keep practicing, and you’ll refine your process. Pinky promise.

This also leads me to…

IV. Take Notes

I’m a nerd at heart. I have the glasses. I have a million notebooks. I read like a fiend. So the fact that I get to geek out over coffee and take notes on flavors and origins and brewing styles has been super fun.

Because honestly, any excuse for a new notebook is always always always a good thing.

But seriously, taking notes has been the best way to help me refine those skills and learn which coffees to look for in the future. Here’s a very real picture of my dorktastic tasting notebook:

I take note of a few different things:

• Roast Date / Brew Date
• Name / Roaster
• Technique / Bean Weight
• Type
• Flavors I’m supposed to taste
• Origin
• My thoughts / flavors I actually taste

I typically add unsweetened almond milk to my coffee, but I make sure to taste each one black when it’s going in the notebook. I don’t want any flavors / textures to be affected by the milk.

So I brew, sip, take notes, and then add my almond milk. And if I brew the same coffee in a different way (more or less beans, bigger or smaller grind size, different technique or vessel, etc.), then it goes on another page.

Kinda cool, right? This way, I have all of my coffees and my initial thoughts of each in one place. So convenient!

And if you’re way more techy than me, this app is pretty cool for helping you track your tastings!

V. Learn What You Like

The whole taking notes thing has really helped me understand the types of brews / origins I really enjoy. While I like chocolatey notes, I’ve been a huge fan of the berry, citrusy notes from Africa. I know that sounds weird, especially the citrus. But I’ve recently tasted coffee that literally tastes like raisins and lemon zest.

I’ve learned that I like natural coffees, meaning that the fruit surrounding the coffee bean(s) actually dries off the beans in the sun, rather than being washed with water (more on that here). Because I’m a fan of the berry / fruity flavors, I’ve found that I’m drawn to naturally-washed coffee flavors.

I’m also liking lighter roasts! I used to be all about that punch me in the face with that dark, liquid love kind of coffee experience, but I’m finding so much joy and depth in a lighter roast. It’s amazing how just an extra minute or two in the roaster can really influence the flavor notes of the bean.

While you can do quizzes like this to find out which coffees you might like, the best way to figure it out is to try them, learn from them, and adjust from there.

Buy a few different bags at the store, start a subscription, visit a local roaster and pick up a few different varieties. Try them, takes notes on them, and figure out the roasts, beans, origins, and flavor notes that make you go weak in the knees.

I also kind of want to make you a coffee flight. You know, like a beer flight, but with coffee. Gah! What would you even do with a DIY on this blog?! Taste different varieties, different brewing techniques side-by-side-by-side to really be able to taste the difference. Or do a cupping (coffee tasting) locally.

So if you’re going to get into coffee, let me know. I’d love love love to hear about it! And give me all your coffee recs plz & thx.

Important note: I’d love to do more coffee-centric posts here on Fooduzzi, so let me know if you A) enjoyed this, and B) would like to see more. I’m thinking I’d focus on the bean-to-cup process (natural vs. washed beans, the roasting process, sourcing, etc.), as well as different brew guides for each of my favorite techniques / vessels. Thoughts? Totally open to feedback from you!

P.S. I don’t want to end this post without an important note. When I was at La Prima a few weeks ago, I met their cycle-delivery guy, Austin. I actually went to high school with Austin, and I’m pretty sure we never spoke in high school. It was a huge school (600+ in my graduating class), so we just had different friend groups and ran in different crowds.

It was great reconnecting with him and learning about his passion for La Prima and cycling (he actually won a race across our state, from Philly to Pittsburgh, two years in a row!). We had a short conversation, caught up, and then I left.

Austin died last week, and I know the La Prima team has been shaken to its core with his passing. It’s a complete tragedy that someone so young lost his life. My heart goes out to his family.

His passing has given me a reminder to enjoy the little things.

Coffee is one of those “little things” that I’m choosing to enjoy every day, and it has had a huge impact on my day-to-day. It’s given me something to learn about, to tweak and adjust, to perfect, and it’s just been a ton of fun for a food nerd like me.

Even if coffee isn’t your thing, I encourage you to find something that you enjoy, something that makes your day a bit brighter, and really go all-in. It’s amazing how quickly a “delicious experimental learning experience” has turned into a full-blown obsession for me. I truly do look forward to learning more, and drinking more, every day. Find something like that and do it.

// La Prima Espresso Co. photo credit: Ryan Neeven (@neevenr)

The post How to Get Into Coffee (for Beginners) appeared first on Fooduzzi.

TBH. Pie and I are not the best of friends.

While I’m not one to turn down any sort of cake, brownie, or cookie (preferably in chocolate form), pie is a sweet that I can almost always do without.

Mark, on the other hand? The complete opposite. I’ll make a batch of cookies, and he’ll let them sit there without as much as taking a WHIF of the things.

But pie? He’s a fan of pie.

That’s why I decided to make him pie. And it’s perfect timing because we’re celebrating our three year dating anniversary this week!

We’ve had an awesome three years together. We adopted a mischievous floof. Traveled across the country. Ate lots of delicious food. Went on our first official date after we started dating. Moved in together. Graduated college. And so much more.

I know my guy’s a fan of his mama’s lemon meringue pie, so I was thrilled to see a recipe for VEGAN lemon meringue pie in Matthew Prescott’s new cookbook, Food is the Solution (affiliate link).

It’s super lemony, just the right amount of sweet, and a fun culinary challenge to tackle for a special event like an anniversary!

Ready to get lemony? Let’s do it!

Let’s break this pie situation down into three manageable parts:

1. The Crust. It’s a very traditional pie crust recipe made with flour, vegan butter, ice water, salt, and a wee bit of sugar. The most insane thing happened with this crust: I actually liked it. Dare I say: it’s a crust for crust-haters!

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s flakier than most other pie crusts I’ve ever had, but man was it good. Crust is usually my least-favorite part of any pie, and I found myself eating the crust first! So good and simple. I actually baked mine the night before so the filling / topping would go quicker the next day.

2. The Filling. This is where things get…weird. In a good way! The filling and the topping both looked like they’d challenge me a bit, and I was so happy to tackle it and conquer it! You’ll need lots of lemon juice, some lemon zest, some sugar, ground turmeric (for color), coconut cream, silken tofu, arrowroot powder, and agar agar powder.

BEFORE YOU GO RUNNING AWAY: it’s okay. This pie doesn’t taste bean curd-y with the tofu in it. The tofu just makes it super creamy and gives it some structure. The agar agar powder is a vegan gelatin substitute, and it’s actually extracted from seaweed! I knew this ingredient might be a bit hard to find in a normal grocery store, so I ordered this version (affiliate link) off of Amazon, and it worked perfectly! God bless Amazon, man.

The filling ends up super rich and slightly jiggly…almost like a pudding with a little more structure. It cuts perfectly into pieces like a dream!

3. The Topping. Traditional lemon meringue pie topping is, like the name suggests, a meringue. Which is made primarily from egg whites. As a vegan substitute, we’re using…AQUAFABA!

Surely you’ve heard of this crazy vegan egg white substitute, right? It’s the water from a can of chickpeas. Yes, you heard me: chickpeas. You whip the aquafaba in a stand mixer with cream of tartar and vanilla, then slowly add some sugar, and whip until you get stiff peaks. There ya go: vegan meringue. SO simple, and way delicious.

I said, “THIS IS JUST SO COOL” to Mark about 5,000 times as I was making it, and I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.

I baked the meringue on the pie for 5 minutes, then I torched it because I’ll never ever pass up an excuse to play with fire. Especially in the kitchen. It’s amazing.

I also reserved a little bit for vegan fluffernutter sandwiches, and I may have died and gone to culinary heaven for a good five minutes. Such a fab decision.

If you love delicious vegan food (like Pittsburgh Pierogies, Beet Burgers, Bahn Mi Sandwiches, and Reubens), as well as learning more about the environmental impacts of food decisions, I know you’ll love Food is the Solution (affiliate link). I adore books that actually teach me something, and I’ve already learned so much about the agricultural world from this book.

Mark and I have already ear-marked quite a few of the recipes in the book, and if they turn out anything like this pie, they’ll be bangin’.

ps. I’m giving away THREE copies of this book over on Instagram today, so be sure to hop over there to enter! I’ll post the deets around 8am ET!

A special thanks goes to Flatiron Books for sending me a copy of this cookbook! So excited to cook and learn my way through it.

The post Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie appeared first on Fooduzzi.

Trader Joe’s is…my favorite grocery store ever. In fact, we pass at least seven different grocery stores on the way  to Trader Joe’s, yet we go there every single week.

It’s been a hot second since I’ve done one of these roundups, but I secretly love finding out what other people like to buy at Trader Joe’s because posts like this one often lead to a new favorite item or two of my own!

I hope you enjoy this unconventional post today – and if you have any faves that I didn’t mention, please let me know in the comments! I’d love to check out some new TJ’s goods!

ps. I definitely buy more vegetables and fruits at TJ’s every week – bananas, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, oranges, apples, etc. etc. etc -, but I tried to highlight some TJ’s-specific products that you can’t necessarily find at all mega marts. Woo!

Meal Essentials

Organic Shredded Green & Red Cabbage with Orange Carrots
$1.69/10 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Vegan Tofu Quinoa Tacos or my Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad

Okay, I understand that this is a super random way to start this list, but I couldn’t be more obsessed with this mix! It’s super crunchy, making it the perfect topping for tacos, yet it tastes great sautéed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and tons of garlic. A super easy way to add some veggies to your lunch or dinner!

Organic Tuscan Kale
$2.49/10 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Easy Mashed Cauliflower with Kale and Chickpeas or my Hummus Kale Toast

I love buying my greens from Trader Joe’s, and this Tuscan Kale is a new fave of mine! I always bought TJ’s curly kale, but I was really excited to try this version. I actually like sautéing it with the Organic Shredded Green & Red Cabbage with Orange Carrots for dinner. I frequently make big sautéed veggie bowls for a quick dinner, and this kale add a nice dose of health and flavor to the mix!

Teeny Tiny Potatoes
$2.29/1 lb. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Lemon Roasted Potatoes with Fried Sage or my Big Vegan Rainbow Bowl

I mean…the only way you can make potatoes more fun is by making them teeny tiny. I’m a huge potato fan, and while I usually reach for sweet potatoes, these Teeny Tiny Potatoes make an awesome side to our dinners. They’re great simply tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, but you can really make them shine with some garlic and lemon. Plus, they’re pretty much the most adorable things ever.

Roasted Corn
$2.49/16 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Honey Mustard Lentil Vegetable Salad or my Vegan Black Bean Ceviche

I am a hugeeeee corn freak. Fresh corn on the cob? There’s nothing better. BUT whenever I’m craving corn in the dead of winter or spring, I love having a bag or two of this Roasted Corn in my freezer. I’ve been having my Black Bean Ceviche every single week for at least two months now, and this Roasted Corn gives it that great fresh off the grill taste. So much yes.

Organic Black Beans
$1.99/16 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Mexican Rice and Bean Skillet or my Vegan Black Bean Ceviche

Why it has taken me this long to try cooking beans from scratch, I’ll never know. Trader Joe’s recently started selling dried (+ organic) black beans, and I couldn’t be more excited! You know Mexican food is an absolute staple in our household, so I’m typically buying a can or two of black beans a week. These dried beans are a much more economical way to bean up any meal.

Breakfast Essentials

Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds
$5.99/8 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Ginger Banana Green Smoothie or my Feel Good Superfood Grain Bowl

One of my ALL-TIME favorite vegan proteins! I love these hemp hearts in salads, smoothies, and more because they give an awesome creamy, nutty flavor to anything they’re added to. I seriously have them every morning in my Ginger Banana Green Smoothie!

Acai Puree Packets
$4.49/4 servings – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Ginger Banana Green Smoothie or my Heart Beet Smoothie

This was a splurge product for me, but I’m so glad I tried it this weekend! I love getting acai bowls out at restaurants but dang girl…they’re expensive. I typically stick to only one kind of fruit in my smoothies, but I loved adding these frozen acai packets to my Ginger Banana Green Smoothie. TJ’s acai isn’t sweetened, so it’s an awesome way to add some antioxidants to your morning without packing on the sugar.

Everything But The Bagel Seasoning
$1.99/2.3 oz. – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Easy Gluten Free Vegan Soft Pretzel Bites or my Hummus Kale Toast

Surely you’ve seen this seasoning on Instagram in the past month or so. I can’t tell you how much I love this stuff! While it’s awesome on soft pretzels (see above), I’m a huge fan of it on avocados! Jazz up your morning avo toast with this stuff, and I promise you will never look back.

Snack Essentials

Organic Popping Corn
$2.29/28 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn or my Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Chews

Mark and I are popcorn people. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve referred to him as my “popcorn equal” at one point on this blog. We love making it Sunday nights in the summer when we’re watching Game of Thrones or when we’re just hungry for something salty and crunchy. Love love love.

Cowboy Caviar & Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
$2.79/13 oz. jar & $1.99/9 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect with: my Lentil Pecan Taco Meat or my Vegan Tofu Quinoa Taco Meat

TJ’s Cowboy Caviar is.so.addicting. It’s smoky! It’s sweet! It’s full of texture! It’s perfect. I can’t leave that store without picking up a jar…or two. And these tortilla chips are my new fave! TBH, most of the tortilla chips I’ve bought at Trader Joe’s have been totally stale. These ones are super thick and crunchy, plus they have a subtle lime flavor I just love!

Black Mission Figs
$4.49/12 oz. container – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Whole Food Bark or my Vegan Rice Pudding

I definitely don’t buy these every week, but man, oh man I love these things. They’re super sweet and chewy and perfect for that after-dinner sweets craving. Plus they’re great as part of a vegan “cheese” board!

Capital Kombucha
$2.79/12 oz. bottle – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: drinking in the morning before breakfast or as an afternoon pick-me-up

Okay. Truth time. The first time I tried kombucha, I H A T E D it. It was too vinegary and fizzy for me. But I slowly got used to the flavor, and it really has made a difference in how I feel, considering I’ve always had stomach issues. I don’t drink one every day ($$$), but I love getting one for Monday morning after I’ve had a weekend full of food and/or alcohol. I really love the Mint Lime flavor!

Organic Coconut Cream
$2.29/13.5 fl. oz. can – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Strawberry Coconut Cream Pie or my Vegan No-Churn Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

This coconut cream is thick, making it the perfect vegan “whipping cream” alternative! It has minimal ingredients, and it’s awesome whipped up as a pie filling or topping. You can also make ice cream with it (see above). Perfect for coconut lovers like me.

Green Pitted Olives
$1.99/6 oz. can – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Vegan Greek Chickpea Lettuce Wraps

I have always been an olive freak, and these olives are so cheap! Every once in a while, I’ll get a big craving for something salty and briny, and these totally satisfy that craving every time. We also like using them as part of our vegan “cheese” plate dinners, which we have more often than I care to admit. ;)

Dolmas
$2.49/9.9 oz. can – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: vegan cheese plates (stay tuned!) or snacking

So, in my 24 years on this earth, I had never once had a stuffed grape leaf. What a wonderful, beautiful world I was missing! I tried these Dolmas for the first time at my friend, Gretchen’s, house, and I’m pretty sure I ate the whole can myself. These things are perfectly herbed, super flavorful, and way too addicting. I love these!

Organic Dark Chocolate
$1.99/3.5 oz. bar – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Chocolate-Covered Vegan Cookie Dough Bars or my The Best Damn Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This is it. THE chocolate bar I use for everything. It’s great for snacking (let it melt on your tongue!) or for baking, and I just love this bar to pieces. It’s slightly fruity which I really enjoy in a chocolate bar. Plus, you can’t beat that it’s organic and only $1.99 per bar!

To The Power of 7 Organic Juice
$3.99/33.8 fl. oz. bottle – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Naturally Dyed Icing or for drinking

So, I’m typically not a juice person. BUT I sometimes have trouble remembering to drink water throughout the day. Kinda crazy, but it’s true. I love adding just a tiny splash of this juice to my water to jazz it up a bit. It’s really delicious, and full of antioxidant goodness. Plus, you can use it as a food dye for icing!

Gah, I just love TJ’s so much! Have you tried any of these goodies?! Super interested to hear your faves!

The post Vegan Products to Buy at Trader Joe’s appeared first on Fooduzzi.

However as I’m writing this, the last of the snow is melting off of the roof.

Ooooh well. Ice cream tastes just as good in cold weather as it does in warm, right?!

If you spend about 10 seconds with Mark and me, you’ll know that we’re tea and coffee-obsessive. Mark’s the coffee guy, and I’m the tea queen all the way. Nary a moment goes by without us having a warm cup of something in our general vicinity.

So a thought popped into my head: the weather is getting nice, but we still love our hot drinks. Let’s have Hot/Cold Date Night In! Filled with fun tea experiments and gadgets via Uncommon Goods and a creamy, dreamy vegan no churn chocolate coconut ice cream!

First: The Hot.

Uncommon Goods is like a tea-lover’s fantasy. I literally just sat on my computer saying, “Ooh I want that! Oh and that, too! Gahh and I need that!” Over and over and over. So when my box full of tea-inspired delights was finally delivered, you can imagine the little happy dance that occurred in front of the UPS guy. #awkward

I’m always looking for ways to diffuse the bags upon bags of looseleaf tea we’ve curated throughout the year. Apple Cinnamon, Coconut Green, English Breakfast, Oolong…we’ve got it all. That’s why I was pumped to see this tea diffuser TRAVEL MUG (omgomgomg), and this cute little tea stick, perfect for diffusing all of the looseleaf tea your heart desires.

This travel mug is seriously the bomb. You just put the looseleaf tea in one side, pour the water in, then let it diffuse through the little strainer, flip, and drink! Mark also drinks about 5 gallons of water each day, so I can see him making some lemon water in this too! And it’s awesome if you have a cat that likes to stick her head into every and any mug she sees. ? Lids = no unwanted cat heads in your drink.

The tea stick is super cute; you just push one side in and the other side reveals a little nook you fill with your looseleaf tea. Just set it in some hot water and some glorious tea diffusing happens. And it’s super easy to clean, which is always a plus.

This chai kit. Guys, Mark will not shut up about how incredible this chai is. And I totally concur. This stuff ROCKS. Like, we’ve made 4 batches in 3 days. I love it because it comes with all of these one-off spices like star anise and cardamom, PLUS three types of black tea, all of which would cost me an arm and a leg at the grocery store to procure on my own. And while it comes with a recipe (which is epic), you can customize it to your tastebuds. You be the tea queen. ?

And the mug? Obsessed. It’s a healing stone mug that has a small quartz gem in the handle. But it’s also just a beautiful mug that keeps your tea hothothot. And it just feels cozy. I love it so much.

Second: The Cold.

Aka. the main attraction. Aka. the vegan no churn chocolate coconut ice cream that Mark said he could “bathe in.”

Yeah. That happened.

I mean, this ice cream has all the makings for a truly incredible homemade ice cream:

• it only requires SIX ingredients!
• it’s sweetened with dates!
• it’s dairy free, vegan, gluten free, and refined sugar free!
• it’s topped with a simple 3-ingredient CHOCOLATE SHELL!
• and…it’s delicious!

It has a unique texture, as the bulk of the ice cream is made up of coconut cream. It’s mousse-y and creamy and packed with chewy coconut shreds. Mark and I both went cuh-raaaazy over it, as we snuggled on the couch under a blanket gobbling it down.

And don’t skip out on the chocolate shell. You know that stuff that came in a squeezy bottle that magically hardened as it hit your ice-cold ice cream? I don’t know about you, but I loved that stuff as a kid. But this homemade version is soooo much better. (and not to mention so much healthier ?)

And the fact that I got to serve this ice cream in these ice cream bowls was like the cherry on top. Admittedly, these bowls are kind of ridiculous. But I seriously couldn’t pass them up! I mean, how freakin’ cute are they?! The dark bowl is make from soapstone which keeps your ice cream ridiculously cold while the wood outer bowl keeps your hands warm! Unnecessary? Perhaps. But super fun, totally beautiful, and a great splurge for your Date Night In? Absolutely.

Our Hot/Cold Date Night In was a huge delicious success! We loved stuffing our faces with this homemade ice cream, and then getting all warm and cozy with a mug-full (or two) of our favorite tea. Take it from someone who knows: one of the best ways to wind down after a long day is with chocolate, warm tea, and your guy. ?

Print

This recipe was slightly adapted from Minimalist Baker.

A special thank you goes to the awesome people at Uncommon Goods for supplying me with some of their unique products that I love for this post! All opinions are my own.

The post Vegan No Churn Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream & Hot/Cold Date Night In! appeared first on Fooduzzi.

It’s beautiful because it is April. And I’m super excited about this month because it’s the month of Mark’s and my 1 year anniversary! A lot has happened this year: we moved in together, we got a kitten, we ate copious amounts of Mexican food. But even after a year, some of my favorite nights with Mark are our Date Nights In. We’ll cook an awesome meal, get the wine flowin’, and create a cute little picnic in our apartment by the windows.

We’re naturally introverted and the let’s stay inside in our comfy clothes so we don’t have to talk to anyone type, so these Date Nights In are seriously perfect. And getting to spend them with my guy doesn’t hurt either. ?

And while we like to picnic on our Date Nights In, we always try and change up our menu and the activities. Lately, we’ve been re-binge watching Game of Thrones, but in the past we’ve played video games, we’ve read, we’ve listened to music, and we’ve played around with code.

But we’re always looking for ways to jazz up our Date Nights In. And what better way to do that than with homemade sushi?!

I’m partnering with Uncommon Goods this week to bring you two totally awesome and, of course, delicious Date Night In ideas using some of their incredible products from their Kitchen + Bar line!

Ever hear of Uncommon Goods? No? Their products are ridiculously cool, as they feature unique jewelry, designer décor, tabletop items and handcrafted gifts created in harmony with the environment without harm to animals or people. AND it’s their mission to create a platform for artists and designers to do their thang. My kind of people!

I completely lose track of time while scrolling through their website. You know those places that have those things that you never thought you needed until you saw it? Yeah, Uncommon Goods is toooootally that place. Like, totally.

Mark and I were beyond psyched to see that they had a sushi-making kit on their site! Sushi night was one of our unofficial first dates, complete with an $8 asparagus appetizer and cucumber-wrapped sushi. Mark is a huge sushi fan, so I got this little make-your-own sushi kit (complete with pre-measured rice, nori, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, gf soy sauce, wasabi powder, and a sushi mat), and we got to work.

Just letting you know: making your own sushi requires some effort. But when it’s a Date Night In activity, it’s ridiculously fun. We definitely had some…colorful looking sushi rolls at the end, but I can honestly say it was one of our best Date Nights In to date!

We stuffed our sushi with some broccoli slaw from Trader Joe’s (pre-cut ingredients make for a much more enjoyable date night!) and avocado, and topped it with a dollop of super-simple, let totally scrumptious vegan Sriracha mayo. You know that pink spicy mayo that gets beautifully drizzled over sushi? Yeah, you can make that! Better yet, you can make it vegan! Better yet, you can make it with two ingredients!

In all honesty, I don’t just reserve this sauce for special sushi-making occasions. Oh no. It’s an every day occurrence in the Fooduzzi household. Spread on sandwiches, served with fresh-cut veggies, drizzled on a salad…I love this sauce. And it’s not really a surprise because it’s made up of two of my all-time favorite ingredients: Sriracha and hummus!

It’s super creamy, and it has that spicy-sweet thing goin’ on that makes me oh-so happy. Mark isn’t a huge spice fan like me, and he even loved the stuff! He actually requested more the next day so he could finish up the leftover sushi fruits of our labor. You know it’s a keeper recipe when your guy requests it two days in a row. ?

I know…this is barely a recipe. But having a good foundation of sauces in your recipe repertoire is essential IMO. 

This Sriracha mayo is really my go-to when I want to add a little creaminess to my meal. When I don’t feel like pulling out all the stops to make sushi, I honestly love mixing a spoonful of this “mayo” (…OK, two spoonfuls) into some rice. It totally reminds me of loading my rice up with that yum yum sauce at hibachi restaurants as a kid. Mmm…creamy carbs.

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Vegan Sriracha Mayo

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• Yield: 1/2 cup

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp. plain hummus
• 2 Tbsp. Sriracha
• water, as needed

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Instructions

1. Combine hummus and Sriracha in a small bowl and mix. Thin the mixture with water, 1 tsp. at a time, until your desired texture is reached. Enjoy as a spread on a sandwich, as a dip with veggies, or with sushi!

A special thank you goes to the awesome people at Uncommon Goods for supplying me with some of their unique products that I love for this post! All opinions are my own.

The post Vegan Sriracha Mayo & Sushi Date Night In! appeared first on Fooduzzi.

Happy Thursday, wonderful peeps!

We’re so close. SOOOOO close to a holiday weekend. That glorious fact makes me all kinds of happy. Sleeping in. Eating. Celebrating. It’s all a mere 2 days away.

We can do this.

I know a grocery trip (or two) are in your future in preparation for your delightful Labor Day plans. Or work week lunches. Or school-packing endeavors.

I don’t know about you, but I spend an incredible amount my week at grocery stores. I secretly love it, though. Perusing through all the aisles, picking out my favorite items to concoct my favorite meals, snacks, and desserts.

It’s better than Christmas.

And while I’m fond of Aldi’s and Whole Foods, I can honestly tell you that I will drive miles to be able to buy from Trader Joe’s. Not only would each and every employee do nearly anything to make your happy during your time in the store, you can’t beat their prices or their quality. Mark and I go to TJ’s at least once a week, and we always leave with bags full of goodies to enjoy throughout the week.

Mark’s mom actually inspired this post. She drove nearly an hour to shop at a Trader Joe’s after reading a “What to Buy at Trader Joe’s” post, similar to this one. I always get a kick out of reading these kinds of posts, because I almost always learn something new about my beloved TJ’s.

Alas, in the name of delicious flavors, I ran around my local Trader Joe’s like a maniac with an iPhone, taking pictures of all my favorite foods just for you. I even included some serving ideas that go along with each and every item. Let’s get cookin’!

Meal Essentials

When it comes to meals, I need ingredients that will make me a fast, delicious, and nutritious dish. Luckily, Trader Joe’s is filled with just the kind of ingredients I’m looking for:

Rolled Oats
$3.99/2 lb. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Coffee Cake Baked Oatmeal or my Samoa Overnight Oats
If I needed to survive on any one ingredient for the rest of my life, TJ’s Rolled Oats would be it! I haven’t found another brand of rolled oats that compare in texture; these oats are the perfect fuel to my oatmeal obsession. I pick up a bag nearly every time I’m at TJ’s because I’m always afraid that I’m going to run out. My favorite Trader Joe’s product. By far.

Small Whole Green Lentils & Brown Jasmine Rice
$1.69/1 lb. bag & $3.29/3 lb. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Green Machine Power Plate or my Thai Burrito Bowls
Lentils are such a wonderful source of vegetarian protein, so I always make sure to throw them in my cart (or “buggy,” as Mark calls it ;)). TJ’s Brown Jasmine Rice is so fluffy, chewy, and nutty; it’s the perfect accompaniment to our weekly Mexican and/or Thai Burrito Bowls!

Beans 
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Guacamole Tacos or my Kale & Pinto Beans
Seriously. $.89/can for black beans. How do you do it, Trader Joe’s?! Mark and I go through an insane amount of beans due to our undying love of Mexican food. Canned beans are such an easy protein addition to a meal, so I try to keep some on-hand at all times. As a plus, TJ’s also has a great selection of organic beans! Beans for the win!

Organic Brown Rice and Quinoa Spaghetti Pasta
$2.99/pound – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Thai Peanut Sauce
Growing up, my favorite food was pasta. Pasta with alfredo, pasta with pesto, pasta with red sauce…I didn’t discriminate against the ultimate comfort food. After I started understanding nutrition, I noticed that the recommended serving of pasta left me hungry, so I turned away from my beloved noodles for many years.

Luckily, TJ’s Organic Brown Rice and Quinoa Spaghetti Pasta came to my pasta-lovin’ rescue. It’s made from 3 naturally gluten free ingredients (brown rice, quinoa, and water), and its flavor is similar to whole wheat pasta. When you have a hankering for pasta, definitely give this stuff a try.

Frozen Vegetables
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Super Bowl
Winter is coming. Fresh produce won’t be as easy to find, so I like to keep a couple bags of frozen vegetables stashed in my freezer. I’m obsessed with green beans, so I love keeping this giant bag of frozen French Green Beans on hand. I also can’t get enough of their frozen brussels sprouts. They’re bite-sized, making them perfect for salads or straight munchin’.

Fruit & Vegetable Essentials

I love that, as soon as you walk into any Trader Joe’s, you’re greeted with beautiful, colorful produce. I could peruse around these aisles for hours, but here are few items you don’t want to miss:

Sweet Potatoes
$.49/potato – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Peanut Butter Sweet Potato or my Sweet Potato Bruschetta
I couldn’t live without my trusty sweet potatoes! I love that TJ’s offers them for only $.49; add a spoonful (or two) of peanut butter, and you’ll have yourself my favorite quick and easy entree for under $1! Incredible.

Fuji Apples
$.79/apple – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Sweet Potato Bruschetta or my Summer Fruit and Candied Pecan Salad
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I’ll never see another doctor in my life. I eat at least two of these bad boys a day, and I crave them all.the.time. Nothing compares to their sweet bite or crunchiness. And how can you beat $.79/apple? I’m obsessed with these!

Organic Whole Carrots
$.89/pound – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Carrot Cake Overnight Oats or my Ultimate Vegan Dipping Sauce 
It took me many years to try a whole carrot. Like most kids, I always gravitated towards those cute, little baby carrots. I swear, after I tried a whole carrot for the first time a couple of years ago, I ate an entire pound of them. In one sitting. Whole carrots have so much more flavor than baby carrots; they’re sweeter, crunchier, and way more addictive. These days, I love dipping them in my 3-ingredient Ultimate Vegan Dipping Sauce. Pick up a bag of whole carrots the next time you’re at TJ’s and taste for yourself!

Broccoli Florets
$2.29/12 oz. – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Green Machine Power Plate or my Super Bowl
Time for a “you know you’re dating a food blogger when…” moment. A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I were hungry for a late-night snack. After checking our fridge and pantry, we noticed that we were grotesquely low on groceries and that we had run out of our beloved popcorn go-to. Mark suggested that we roast up some broccoli and serve it with a variety of dipping sauces (including this finger-lickin’ good Thai Peanut Sauce). Best. Night. Ever.

Snack Essentials

I am the poster child for hangryism. I am in constant need of healthy snacks that I can keep within an arm’s reach at a moment’s notice. If fresh fruits and/or vegetables don’t soothe my hangry stomach, I’ll reach for any of these delicious delicacies:

Nut Butters
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Pumpkin Peanut Butter Truffles or my Gluten Free Vegan Cookie Dough
You know I’m hitting up TJ’s nut butter section nearly every time I step foot in the store! I’m obsessed with TJ’s nut butters, particularly their almond butter and their organic peanut butter. The prices are so fair. The nut butters are so perfectly creamy. Addictive, I tell ya! Don’t pass ’em up!

Dried Fruit
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Vegan Rice Pudding or my No-Bake Granola Bar Cookies
Dried fruit is the perfect nutrient-dense snack. It’s totally sweet, chewy, and down-right addictive. That being said, when it comes to dried fruit, I sometimes have trouble peeling myself away from the bag. Luckily, TJ’s has small containers of all of the dried fruit you could possibly think of. And, they’re reasonably-priced to boot! I’m a huge fan of their dried mango and dried figs, but you can’t really go wrong here.

Nuts and Seeds
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Gluten Free Vegan Banana Nut Muffins or my Vegan Red Velvet Cheesecakes
If there’s one aisle that completely does me in at TJ’s it’s the nut and seed aisle. I love keeping raw nuts on hand for snacking, and I adore throwing them into some of my favorite recipes.

These In Shell Pumpkin Seeds? Incredible. They have just the right amount of salt, and they’re a perfect topping to salads! When it comes to nuts, pro tip: if you buy nut pieces, rather than the whole version, you’ll save at least a buck or two. TJ’s Cashew Pieces make me outrageously happy (especially when I can throw them into something like this. Or this.)

Organic Popcorn with Olive Oil
$1.99/5 oz. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn
When you’re feeling snacky and a little indulgent, look no further than this incredible crunchy goodness. As I’ve mentioned a couple times, Mark and I are obsessed with popcorn. When we’re feeling particularly lazy and don’t feel like popping it ourselves, we often reach for a bag of this stuff! It has a slight olive oil taste on it’s own, but you’re more than welcome to doctor it up just a bit.

Dip, Sauce, & Spread Essentials

I’m a dip and sauce girl, so I’m constantly on the prowl for some new delicious finds. Whether it’s olive oil or salsa, I’ll find a way to incorporate at least one sauce into my meal. I.go.bonkers over TJ’s selection:

Oils & Vinegars
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Winter Abundance Salad or my Almond Butter Beet Salad
We love raiding TJ’s oil and vinegar aisle. Mark is an olive oil fiend, so we like buying TJ’s Premium Extra-Virgin variety. And I adore the cute little spout it comes with. I also like keeping a reserve of balsamic and apple cider vinegar on-hand for quick and easy salad dressings!

Chunky Salsa
$2.29/1 lb. jar – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Ultimate Vegan Dipping Sauce or my Best Damn Vegetarian Tacos
I’ve eaten an entire jar of this stuff on the couch with a spoon. Enough said.

Hummus
various prices – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: my Super Bowl or my Pesto Hummus
Hummus is a staple in our household, and TJ’s has an impressive variety of sizes, colors, and flavors. This Roasted Garlic variety is definitely one of my favorites, but there truly is something for everyone! I love that I can recognize each and every ingredient in most of TJ’s hummuses, so I always tend to pick up a container…or two.

Traditional Marinara Sauce
$1.39/18 oz. jar – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★
Perfect for: a quick and easy pasta dinner
It’s a Thursday night. You’re tired from a long day at work. You’re hungry. How does some pasta sound? Let’s top it with this 9-ingredient marinara sauce. It’s rich, slightly chucky, and super flavorful. It’s a delicious base all on its own, but we like doctoring it up with a little bit of red pepper flakes and garlic. Delicioso!

Baking Essentials

For a veeeeeery long time, I was absolutely terrified to post a baked good recipe on Fooduzzi. Baking is such a science, and I was always nervous that I’d have some sort of disaster on my hands if I included too little of this ingredient or too much of that ingredient. After I posted my crazy-popular Lemon Chia Seed Scone recipe, I’ve never looked back! I use the ingredients below nearly every time I’m wanting to whip up a baked good:

Organic Coconut Flour
$2.99/16 0z. bag – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★★
Perfect for: my Gluten Free Vegan Banana Nut Muffins or my Pumpkin Peanut Butter Truffles
I cannot believe that TJ’s sells a bag of beautiful coconut flour for so cheap! Coconut flour is an incredible gluten free flour that’s super absorbent and perfect for your baking needs! I’ve made a couple of recipes using it, and I can honestly say it’s one of my favorite baking staples. It’s coconutty, slightly sweet, and high in fiber. DEFINITELY give this stuff a try!

Unsweetened Cocoa Power
$2.49/9 oz container – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Whole Food Bark or my Healthy Buckeyes
Want to know a secret? I use this stuff every.stinkin’.day…for breakfast. I’ll have the recipe up soon, but in the meantime, I have loads of chocolate recipes on the blog that are just waiting for you to try this stuff out. It has such a beautiful richness that I haven’t found in other cocoas that I’ve tried. Lovelovelove this stuff.

Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract
$4.99/ 4 oz container – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Banana Bread Granola or my Vegan Marshmallow Dessert Cups
Oh, how I adore vanilla extract. TJ’s version delivers a powerful punch of delicious vanilla flavor to all of your baked goods and treats. And, because it’s made with bourbon, I enjoy feeling a little rebellious when I dump it in my oatmeal in the mornings. ;)

Organic Raw Honey
$5.99/ 16 oz container – Alexa’s Must-Buy Rating: ★★★★
Perfect for: my Dessert Sushi or my Whole Food Coconut Eggs
When I was younger, one of my friends would take “honey shots” whenever she had a sore throat. She swore by its magical “healing powers,” so I decided to give it a try the next time my throat hurt. I don’t know if it actually helped, but daaaaannnngggg was it delicious. Now, I’m a full-on honey freak. While it’s fantastic in tea, it also makes a fabulous refined sugar alternative in recipes!

And now you know why I love Trader Joe’s so.dang.much. It seriously is the ultimate grocery store for “foodies,” families, and everyone in between!

Did you learn something new about TJ’s? Did I leave out one of your grocery must-haves?! Let me know in the comments!

The post What to Buy at Trader Joe’s appeared first on Fooduzzi.