Kitchen Treaty

Creamy Steel Cut Mango Coconut Oatmeal

Karen Troughton — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:25:37 +0000

We're into our hearty breakfasts around here. What's the saying? Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and dinner like a pauper? We do pretty well on the first two, though generally we eat dinner like kings again. I guess we like our crowns.

Breakfast, though, that's a biggie. Especially now that the little one is in the mix - just from pure instinct, breakfast is her largest meal of the day.

Breakfast is also nice for our mixed-diet family because it's generally pretty easy to please both the vegetarian and the meat-eater. Oatmeal and other hot cereals, for one, make for a plenty rib-sticking breakfast but it wouldn't occur to most meat-eaters to put meat in theirs (unless you do savory oatmeal, which I think is something I really need to try). My guy is plenty happy with a couple token slices of bacon alongside egg dishes and a couple slices of toast, and frankly, Morningstar veggie sausages are so, so good if I really want to go there myself.

Today, though, it's about the oatmeal. This utterly creamy mango coconut oatmeal is lightly sweet, super hearty, and reminds us of vacation. Oh, and it's vegan! Simmering the steel-cut oats in coconut milk is what makes it extra creamy.

English Pea Potato Salad with Optional Bacon

Karen Troughton — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:30:51 +0000

I'm all excited about this recipe. Which seems silly, because it's totally something Aunt Edna would have lugged to the barbecue in her giant green Tupperware bowl, setting it next to the quivering Jell-O fruit salad. Or maybe that's why I'm so excited about it. It feels so perfectly retro.

I'm also excited about it because I love it. And peas have not always been my thing, so. Yay! Yay for peas!

Rhubarb Crisp in a Jar

Karen Troughton — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:28:05 +0000

Food (and drinks) in jars is pretty much the coolest concept ever. I mean, aside from aesthetics (they just look cute), it's a highly convenient way to bake up cakes and pies - and make sangrias, even. They're easy to assemble, tend to take up less room in the fridge, and are perfectly portable for gifts, parties, and lunches on the go. Even this awesome blogger wrote a cookbook all about it.

So, yeah, I'm a fan. And so when I found myself with a few stalks of rhubarb (yay spring!), I decided to take my classic go-to rhubarb crisp recipe and try baking it up in jars instead of one big pan.

Did I like rhubarb crisp in a jar? Does a bear ...

Maple Vanilla Iced Coffee

Karen Troughton — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:16:03 +0000

How did I live life before iced coffee? Granted, with a young toddler in my life, I sleep less than ever these days (yeah, I totally know that's the 500th time I've mentioned it), so maybe that's why I can't imagine a life (and especially a morning) without a frosty glass of the stuff clutched between my desperate hands.

Who knows, though. Maybe the sleep deprivation thing is an excuse. I mean, either way, I just plain love the stuff.

Even though I'm usually down with simply straight-up iced coffee concentrate over ice with some half and half, sometimes I like to mix it up a little. Lately I've been dreaming of all sorts of variations on iced coffee (basically I'm obsessed, if I haven't yet made that clear), and this maple vanilla iced coffee is, so far, one of my faves.

Chiles Rellenos Breakfast Strata with Optional Chorizo

Karen Troughton — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:25:18 +0000

If there's one word I've always found synonymous with Mother's Day (other than "love" of course), it's "brunch." It's the perfect way to celebrate mom - arguably, brunch is the best type of meal pretty much ever anyway (aside from dessert). Plus, if you're into mimosas, brunch gives you an excuse to drink way too early in the day.

Now that I'm a mom myself, though, I'm finding I don't really care all that much about brunch. At least not at this moment. Maybe it's because I am sitting here typing while blurry-brained from too many up-and-down nights with the tyke lately, but all I want for Mother's Day is a couple of extra uninterrupted hours of sleep. That would be heaven.

Actually ... a couple of extra hours of sleep and then waking up to this chiles rellenos breakfast strata. That would be utter perfection.

Spring Veggie Salad with Creamy Avocado Ranch

Karen Troughton — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:51:09 +0000

It's unseasonably warm in Seattle right now, and everyone is giddy in the way that only rain-soaked, desperate-for-sun Seattleites get giddy when the first few really nice days of the year finally roll around. The rain will return until summer really starts in July, but for now, everyone's got their classic convertibles and motorcycles on the road, they're sunning themselves in the grass at parks, they're swimming in the frigid Puget Sound (!), and they're happily chatting one other up in grocery stores with a fervor not seen in a long, long time.

I've been putting my daughter in short sleeves (finally!) and attempting to apply sunscreen to her chubby little arms and the little space on the back of her neck, which is really, really difficult to do on a wriggly one-and-a-half-year-old. Training her to wear a sun hat when she wants nothing (ever!) on her head is a challenge, too.

We're just not used to this bright yellow orb in the sky, but we welcome it. Oh, how we welcome it.

It was so warm yesterday that a nice, crisp, simple salad sounded like the perfect lunch. So I tossed together some spring veggies and topped them with a wonderful, creamy avocado ranch dressing that made me even giddier than I was already feeling.

Vanilla Lime Green Smoothie

Karen Troughton — Thu, 02 May 2013 11:23:15 +0000

Oh hey. In a day or two, you're going to be at the store grabbing limes for your Cinco de Mayo margaritas (you are picking up limes for margaritas, right?!) Well, grab a couple extra. And a couple more. Because this might just be your new favorite green smoothie recipe. It's definitely mine.

And after you down all those margaritas on Sunday, starting off Monday with a healthy, vitamin-filled green smoothie is going to sound mighty nice. So you might as well be prepared. (Be sure you've got vanilla yogurt, spinach, and bananas in your cart, too).

Southwest Mac & Cheese with Optional Chicken

Karen Troughton — Wed, 01 May 2013 11:23:25 +0000

I really wasn't sure if I should call this "Tex-Mex" or "southwestern" or just "mac and cheese with black beans, corn, chilies, and a bit of a spicy twist with optional chicken if you want." The first felt too generic, the last clearly too long and too, well, dumb ... and so the middle-of-the-road it was: southwest mac and cheese.

Which is not to say this recipe is middle of the road. I think it's ... well, there's really no place in the road to describe something as being better than middle of the road, is there? It's better than middle of the road.

I know, I know. Enough about the road!

This sort-of south-of-the-border twist on classic mac and cheese (using the best macaroni and cheese recipe ever as the starting point) is, simply, a pretty dang neat variation from the norm. Black beans, corn, mild green chilies (or hot, depending on your preference), chili powder, and optional chunks of chicken join up with an uber-creamy, cheesy pasta topped with a sprinkle of crushed tortilla chips. And then baked to perfection.

35 Vegetarian Recipes for Cinco de Mayo (+ 10 Bonus Margarita Recipes)

Karen Troughton — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:30:45 +0000

Cinco de Mayo, or "the fifth of May" in Spanish, is a day for all Americans to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride, so says Wikipedia. When it comes to Mexican food and drink (or, at least, the Americanized versions of such), any excuse is a good excuse for such a celebration. Especially for vegans and vegetarians. Tostadas, peppers, quesadillas, corn, burritos, enchiladas ... so many options that can be made so unbelievably delicious without meat, you don't even give it a second thought.

I also love this type of cuisine because it lends itself so well to our mixed diet home, as most all of these dishes can be made individually - some with meat, some without, if you want to do the one dish two ways thing. Totally versatile, always delicious ... win.

Today I thought I'd bring you a collection of links around the Web, from fabulous bloggers and websites that have developed and featured amazing vegetarian (and sometimes vegan) Mexican recipes. They all look scrumptious, and they're perfect for a meatless Cinco de Mayo. Bonus: You'll find 10 refreshingly fruity margaritas at the end of the list, too.

Salted Double Dark Chocolate Cookies

Karen Troughton — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:44:44 +0000

I love having a food blog. I’ve always adored experimenting with recipes, writing is in my blood, and I’ve been huge into photography since the beginning of time (though for me, food photography is much more of a challenge than landscapes, pets, or portraits). Oh, and I love creating spaces on the web – I’ve [...]