This year, I chose “nourish” as my One Little Word. Like last year’s word, “breathe,” it feels a little bit out of character for me. I’m an excellent planner and project manager. I’m hyper-organized. I’m on top of everything. I am not a particularly warm and fuzzy person. You can tell when I’m starting to… Read More On nourishing what I love, and consuming less of what I don’t
I am an avid scrapbooker. I began when my first daughter was born, and realized how ephemeral our wealth of digital photos really was. Since then, we’ve had hard drive failures, toddlers spilling coffee on laptops, and a number of international moves. These days, I think of the scrapbooks as a physical backup of the memories we’ve… Read More Documenting the holidays: Keeping it small, keeping it simple
Costco’s summer strawberries are out of control. Is it possible to eat a over kilo of strawberries in a week? I managed to get through about half of them by making strawberry coconut ice pops for Jasmine and bringing some to lunch every day, but I got to the end of the week and still… Read More Strawberry Basil Mocktail
What’s the best thing about coming back to the States from West Africa? Vegetable variety. Yes, access to asparagus and swiss chard and fresh broccoli narrowly beats out living close to friends and family. The quality of fruits and vegetables throughout West Africa is incredible. Everything bursts with flavor—after all, West African varieties haven’t been… Read More Seasonal vegetables in DC – Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
Oh, egg scrambles, how I love you so. Delicious vegetables. Lots of protein. Not lots of calories. It’s a perfect way to start my day (and a perfect way to use up old vegetables before I hit the market on the weekends). The recipe is simple: chop whatever vegetables you like, sautee them, pour eggs… Read More Egg Scramble
Now that we’re hitting the beach several times a month, I need some good, portable, grillable recipes. Just grill delicious meat and fish you say? Guess what Bertrand and I gave up for Lent. Enter the vegetable skewer. Benin’s got delicious cheese. It’s kind of like ricotta, except that it’s solid, has a tofu-like texture,… Read More Vegetable skewers
Everybody and their mother has a recipe for pumpkin butter. I like mine because it’s easy. I can only get fresh pumpkin here in Cotonou, so that’s what I use. For the love of God, don’t roast a whole goddamn pumpkin just for this recipe. Use the canned stuff. Apple cider can be substituted for… Read More Pumpkin Butter
I have been searching for a perfect tortilla recipe since I landed in Benin 5 years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer. They’re so versatile and so important to the Peace Corps diet, and yet, I hated making them. Doughs that were too stretch to roll right, crunchy rounds that didn’t fold around taco fillings,… Read More Homemade flour tortillas
I am addicted to chicken broth. Not the gross sodium-filled broth in a can or broth from a cube, but delicious homemade chicken broth made by boiling leftover bones, onions, garlic, and carrots in a liter or so of water. I am not equally addicted to zucchinis, but we are still getting them in our… Read More Modified recipe: Zucchini Garlic Soup
The invitation for this past weekend’s BBQ has been sitting in my inbox for a week, striking fear into my calorie-phobic heart. How to enjoy delicious pork BBQ, coleslaw, and baked beans while not going disastrously off plan? The answer is simpler than you’d think: bring a vegetable platter. This roasted onion dip was a… Read More Roasted Onion Dip