I have this dream that someday I’ll grow a huge, fruitful garden. I’ll share all the abundance with my neighbors and friends. My kids will excitedly pick their own vegetables for dinner and eat peas like it’s candy right off the vine.

But alas, I don’t have what they call “a green thumb”.

I remember when I was little there was a tree that was dying in our yard, just at the bottom of a huge bank of iceplant. My dad was going to rip it out and replace it, but I insisted I could take care of it and bring it back to life (most likely inspired by Fern in Charlotte’s Web). Everyday after school I would go out there with my homework on a blanket and talk to the tree. I read it books. I watered it diligently and faithfully, and fertilized it. It was, for a short period of time, my very own Giving Tree.

I don’t remember what happened to the tree, whether it lived or died. My parents moved away so I will never know. But I do remember how important saving that tree was to me, and how badly I willed it to thrive and grow.

I haven’t successfully grown much since then. Two summers ago (the summer Amelia was born) I had the inclination to start a huge garden. It was our first time having a backyard space and I’ll admit we were a little overzealous with our planting. My tomatoes grew, and I think I got about two zucchini before the plant was diseased. My cucumbers never sprouted, and neither did any of my herbs. I think we got one tiny pepper from our pepper plant the entire season. And then after Amelia was born, I stopped watering it and everything (well, the tomatoes were the only thing left out there) died. It was a bust and I was so disappointed in my lack of ability to keep things (plants, children) alive.

But today we started new, and I really hope it goes well. We started small, using containers left from the previous homeowners, and bought already-sprouted-and-thriving plants from the hardware store. We even invested in the “moisture control” soil that is supposed to help with over- and under-watering (believe it or not, overwatering is a HUGE issue with a garden-excited preschooler, haha!). While I don’t think I’ll be out there with a blanket talking to the plants, I do hope they thrive where they’ve been planted. And it sounds strange (it’s a vegetable plant!) but I sure hope they’re happy and fruitful.

Good luck, little garden. You’re going to need it.

I’m totally behind on these. (Try four or five months behind? Oops.) Better late than never, and now that I’m feeling better – and eating vegetables!! – I’ll do my best to be a little more consistent again.

When we moved into our new home a couple of months ago I was still really nauseated and sick from pregnancy, and I didn’t cook much. There were a lot of “I’ll eat a baguette and you can cook yourself some pasta” nights and “Welcome home, babe! Frozen stir fry from Trader Joe’s is in the freezer for waiting you” kind of days. (Can anyone else relate?)

Now that that’s finally passed and I’ve got more energy again, I’m trying to make up for the past months. Tyler is always really patient with me and picks up the slack, but I can’t help but feel bad leaving my family high and dry for dinner night after night for months on end. I’m still not my usual self so there isn’t much extravagance to my meals, but hey! homemade is always best.

You will see we are also eating a little more vegetarian and less vegan than we normally do. Usually we only have dairy about once a week or less, but being pregnant makes me picky and I needed to open up my options a little bit! Sometimes we add toppings like cheese and sour cream, and we eat eggs a few times a week. But Jack is still sensitive to dairy so we still  don’t have anything too dairy-laden.

WEDNESDAY – avocado eggrolls

THURSDAY – leftovers (curry or veggie soup)

FRIDAY – heart-shaped valentine’s pizza for the missionaries! (one pepperoni, one hawaiian, one veggie with asparagus, bell pepper, tomato, red onion, and roasted garlic)

SATURDAY – eat out (we’re going to the Imagine Dragons concert!!)

SUNDAY – veggie burgers + homemade fries

MONDAY – tacos (fried tostada shells, iceberg, cheese, sour cream, refried beans, soy chorizo, tomatoes)

TUESDAY – white chili

WEDNESDAY – kale-walnut pesto pasta

breakfast: eggs + whole-grain toast, cereal, oatmeal, smoothies

lunches: leftovers, or pitas! smashed avocado + sunflower seed pita, kale + apple + avocado pita, roasted red pepper hummus pita + pine nuts + red onion + feta

…or cauliflower, or broccoli, or carrots. Really, almost any vegetable would work with this method.

When we were first married, I made a lot of casseroles. (Our favorite was tater tot casserole. Oh how far I have come!) I was in college, working, and expected to make dinner almost every night. So of course we didn’t have side dishes with our “missionary potatoes” or broccoli-chicken casserole, there was no time!

And not long into our marriage, Tyler kindly brought up that his mom used to serve side dishes with all of her meals. Ouch. I politely told him that was nice, but it wasn’t happening.

But now I’m out of college and all grown up. We often have side dishes, and I hope his mom would be proud that I’m feeding her son well-rounded meals. ;)

One of my go-to side dishes is roasted vegetables. I just pick up whatever looks good at the farmer’s market, including broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans. I used to roast them for 20-30 minutes, but then realized I could cut the time significantly by just broiling them.

So here’s my method for the quickest and yummiest way to eat your veggies. (I might add that my 8-year old niece Elaena calls my broccoli “magic broccoli”.) I love it because Jack always eats them, and I can stick them in just as I’m finishing dinner. By the time the table is set, they’re done!

Broiled Green Beans/Broccoli/Cauliflower

veggies for roasting
olive oil
s&p

Turn your broiler to high, and move the top oven rack to the top or second-from-the-top position. Spread your (washed and cut) veggies out on a sheet pan. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil, and season with s&p. Broil for 3-5 minutes, or until the edges of your veggies are just barely getting charred. Serve warm.

Sometimes if I have it on hand I serve my green beans with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. My absolute favorite is the 24-month aged parmesan at Whole Foods. The quality makes a huge difference!

• baked mac n’ cheese with a side of roasted green beans
• miso-glazed eggplant & stir fry veggies over rice
• tomato-artichoke pasta & baguette (always a favorite at our house)
• sweet potato gnocchi with sage butter & a side of roasted cauliflower
• mexican tamale pies (this one never happened last week)
• avocado eggrolls served with rice and marinated cucumber

Tyler has to go out of town last minute to San Diego, so we probably won’t get to everything (sweet potato gnocchi, I’m talking to you!). Am I the only one who doesn’t cook when my hubby is out of town? It’s either take-out or cold cereal. :)

If you know me at all, you know I love food. I think even if you don’t know me in person but read this blog or follow me on instagram you can tell how much I love food! It’s really a beautiful and horrific, love/hate relationship that I never and always want to end. :)

I’m also, obivously, a vegetarian/vegan. So let’s just label this whole food relationship “it’s complicated”. But alas, finding FRESH food on the North Shore wasn’t difficult, it was the meatless part that was hard. There was plenty of fresh fruit and locally grown vegetables, but not a lot of vegetarian options. (I feel like I get spoiled here in the Bay Area with veggie options!)

I tend to do a lot of research before a big vacation. I look up places to eat, things to do, etc. so that when we get there we can wing it but always have a big list of options, too. This trip was no different, and because I really planned ahead with a big list of places to eat we were rarely disappointed. Here’s a condensed rundown of the places we ate with some not-so-fantastic iphone pictures:

• The Dole Plantation (I already mentioned this one, but definitely go for their fresh cut pineapple and a pineapple whip.)
• Haleiwa Joe’s (they ran out of the veggie option that night (!?!!) so I settled for a hearts of palm salad instead. It was good, but not super filling. We split their macadamia nut ice cream sundae, which was SO GOOD.)
• Surfer, The Bar – this was in Turtle Bay Resort (I got their roasted kula beet & kale flatbread pizza, which I highly recommend. Definitely a smaller portion than Tyler’s huge burger, but the flavors of it were spot-on)
• North Shore Kula Grill – this was in Turtle Bay Resort (I got their roasted kabocha pumpkin fettuccine, and it was pretty good. I don’t know if I’d order it again because it was really heavy. Tyler ordered a short rib hawaiian beef hot pot, and thought it was okay. I’d say we have both eaten better meals for cheaper than what we got here.)
• Kahuku Grill (We went here before the Polynesian Cultural Center and loved it. Definitely spend an extra $1 and get their side salad with papaya dressing. Their fries were round, which was fun, and their burger combinations were unique.)
• The Beet Box Cafe (We got breakfast here one morning, but they also have a lunch menu. It’s all organic vegan and vegetarian, and they have juices, too! My wrap was really, really good – you could tell they use high-quality, fresh ingredients. I wish we had more time to go back again!)
• Kono’s (I got their avocado veggie wrap and was blown away by their papaya dressing. For a place that mainly serves meat dishes, I was pleasantly surprised.)
• Impossible’s Pizza (This is a food truck/van, and wasn’t open the beginning of the week so we almost missed it! We spent $25 to get a goat cheese/maui onion/roasted garlic/spinach pizza that was so big it didn’t even fit inside of the jumbo-sized pizza box. We were really, really happy with the quality and flavors and would highly recommend. The guy running the truck was really nice, too. And no, we didn’t even come close to finishing it.)
• Shark’s Cove Grill (This was perhaps the very best veggie burger I have EVER had. There is something about Taro rolls that really elevate a burger! I wish I knew what else was on it, but I kept telling Tyler, “this is so sooooo good!”)
• Ted’s Bakery (Obviously this is a famous bakery, so we had to try it out. Even though we argued in the store over who got the pineapple macadamia cheesecake, we were sorely disappointed with it at the hotel and it went half uneaten. The chocolate haupia pie was the bomb-diggity.)
• Da Spot (This is basically a garage-turned-restaurant. It was a little gritty with lots of locals. They serve Mediterranean food, which we love. I got the eggplant moussakka, and we both got smoothies. Highly recommend – the smoothies were super cheap and really, really good.)
• Duke’s (We went here right before our flight, on recommendation from my parents. I got their salad bar, which had plenty of vegan options. It was one of our favorite meals of the week, and because all entrees include the salad bar, the prices were actually really reasonable. They treated us to a slice of hula pie for our anniversary, and I can see why they are famous for it! Really, really good. And huge.)

Also, for breakfast every morning the resort wanted $25/person, so we passed on that and stocked up on cereal & almond milk from Foodland instead. (Another tip: we bought plastic spoons and small food storage containers to eat with – but you could totally bring your own! –  and when we had leftovers or wanted to bring a snack along, we already had a container for it. One of the things that I love the most about Tyler is when I pull crazy things like that, he just rolls with it.) :)

So all in all, my picky-eating-self was well-fed and happy the whole week. Hooray!

Last week was a complete failure at cooking! I (horribly, irreversibly) screwed up TWO dinners. I don’t know what went wrong but getting back into the swing of cooking obviously got the best of me. [I have to give credit to my sweet husband who put on a brave face and kept eating, even though I had already spit mine out. BUT. We got to go out for frozen yogurt in lieu of dinner that night, so when I think about it, maybe I should screw up more often? ;)]

Here’s this week’s menu, and based on having already cooked Saturday and Sunday, I’d say we’re off to a good start already.

• white chili (I leave out the chicken, but it was one of our FAVORITE recipes when we used to add the chicken!)
• best -ever beet burgers, herb potato salad (we had a potluck Sunday dinner yesterday, and yes, beef burgers were also barbecued.)
• chipotle black bean, corn and rice bowls
• mexican tamale pie & green salad
• strawberry summer salad (I’ll post the recipe for this soon)
• eggplant lo-mein with roasted broccoli (we’re feeding this to the missionaries this week & it’s quickly becoming a favorite at our house. I leave out the basil at the end.)
• tofu summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce (from Sprouted Kitchen cookbook, page 190)
• zucchini pancakes with chive sour cream
• chocolate cake with chocolate ganache (okay – it’s technically not a MEAL, but it could be in an emergency, right?)

We’ve been a little indulgent with food lately. My birthday last week was fantastic. I chose a tiny (ten little tables!) pasta restaurant in Los Gatos that did not disappoint. Their fresh, handmade pasta and creamy sauces were divine.

And then! Tyler sort of surprised me by inviting some friends over for cheesecake. If he meant for it to be a true surprise, he failed. The entire dinner he was concerned about “making it home by seven”. Obvious, much? ;) But it was wonderful nonetheless. I need to train Tyler to grab our camera more often, because we don’t really have any pictures of any of us together.

Yesterday we broke the rules and made margherita pizza for dinner, with real cheese (haha, it’s funny the things that excite me now). I made a crushed tomato sauce using organic heirloom tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano. Then we topped my homemade dough with fresh mozzarella and chopped basil from my garden. (I used this recipe for the dough). We might have weekly pizza night and try other fun combinations because it’s something that’s easy to include Jack in kitchen.

I also made these black bean brownies from chocolate covered katie, and I’m embarrassed to admit that we ate the entire 8×8 pan in about a day. At least they’re healthy and low-calorie, right? Jack and Tyler especially loved them, even after I told them what was in them. Seriously, go make yourself a pan right now because you can’t even tell. The texture and flavor is spot-on; it tastes just like a regular brownie.

Tonight we’re making these spring pot stickers from smitten kitchen. I hope they turn out well, because I’m really excited to try making them homemade for the first time. I think we’ll serve them over rice and broiled asparagus.

This next week Jack and I are headed to Utah (woo!) while Tyler goes backpacking in the mountains with his brother and dad, so I’ll be MIA for a bit. I get to see my entire family, and I’m really excited. It’s not every day that all five of us kids get together with our separate families. I’ll miss Tyler, but hopefully being around my family will help. I got Jack a pair of  headphones for the airplane and downloaded a few apps for the ipad mini. It’s our first time flying without Tyler, but so far Jack has a really good track record of liking airplane travel so I think we’ll survive. ;) Wish us luck!

I saw this on A Cup of Jo recently, and thought it was intriguing enough to repost. (See more at the original post.)

(I had no idea an entire avocado was only 200 calories. And the amount of sweet peppers on that plate?! Too bad it’s not 200 calories when I add in the amount of hummus it would take for me to down that many sweet peppers…)

The latter part of this pregnancy is kicking my butt. While I feel like I’ve been lucky (in terms of pregnancy symptoms, that is) in the first and second trimesters, the third is more challenging than I anticipated. So though my 31-week belly really isn’t big enough to complain about (see above) and my weight gain is itty bitty, my body constantly aches and I feel like I have a permanent hot flashes. I’m burning up ALL THE TIME.

But alas, since we got an AC window unit in our house I’ve been slowly getting back into cooking again. I probably only cook real meals four times a week, but it’s better than nothing, right? Here’s what we’ve been cooking lately:

Cheeseburger Pizza (We made this light on the meat/cheese, and heavy on the veggies. Might be better if we had added more meat. 7/10 if you’ve got a decent, flavorful pizza crust.)

Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps (10/10. These were amazing and had so much flavor. If you didn’t already know, you would never guess it was tofu. Avocado is a MUST. Surprisingly filling, so with the three of us we had plenty of leftovers for the next day. Leftovers microwave great!)

Baked Onion Rings (9/10…one point taken off for the amount of work these are to make. We cut the recipe in half and gobbled down the entire plate. Would definitely make again!)

Sour Cream Coffee Cake / Funfetti cupcakes (coffee cake homemade, funfetti obviously boxed)

We’ve also had White Chicken Chili (Yesterday Tyler called this his second favorite meal I make), zucchini and carrot fritters, bruschetta, and BLT wraps. I’ll try to post more soon!

Oh, food. How I love and hate you.