Good News.

First off, I hope everyone had a lovely Easter.

Second, I have some good news to share.  For me, at least.

In short: I'm transitioning the blog from being an active space for new recipes to appear, to being a blog that is used purely as a resource.

There are many reasons for this transition.

Very basically, life is busy and the blog is not the priority it once was.

The blog has been active for about 5 years now, and the last 3 years it has been heavily plant-based and I have been very active in updating and maintaining it.  The fact of the matter is that it took me about 2 years or so to really figure out how to cook using only plant-based ingredients.  I'm done searching for new recipes and creating my own.  I'm actually going through all my wonderful recipes and trying to figure out which ones are our absolute favorites.

The blog has on it all the recipes that were destined for the cookbook and that was the goal a year ago.  That goal has now been accomplished and while I've so enjoyed putting all these recipes together and making sure they were on the blog, it's time for me to be finished with all this food blogging business.

So here's the plan.

1) I will post especially note-worthy recipes when I make them as long as they're recipes I've tweaked a considerable amount and the recipe is one I think others really need to know about.  This will happen rarely, I'm just warning you.  I encourage you, though, to follow some of the plant-based bloggers I do.  There is a list of bloggers I follow regularly under the "Helpful Hints" tab.

2) I have started to post 16 weeks worth of seasonably appropriate meal plans comprised purely of recipes from this blog.  I have a separate tab for those, and they will be labeled very cleverly.  Once all 4 seasons are completed the blog will be hands off where I'm concerned.  I'll maintain it, sure, but as for new content goes, there will be none.

3) I am going to attempt to double check and make sure all recipes are tagged as they should be and are in the recipe index so using those tools will not only be helpful, but easy.  I'm also going to attempt to revamp the index to it's easier to navigate and find recipes you're looking for.

And for you, reader, whoever you are.  Please, use this blog as a resource.  Look at it as an online, plant-based, cookbook. Use it to help you figure out how to eat healthier.  Use it to search for recipes.  Take note of the tabs at the top of the blog and explore them.  There are lots of great documents up in there.

Lastly, thank you.  Thank you for the notes and comments.  Thank you for your encouragement.  Thank you for understanding.

WF's White Bean & Kale Soup

Spring soups are some of my favorite.  Light and flavorful.  Delicious broth and add-ins.  You can create any number of great soups with the simplest ingredients and the proper spices.  This would was a total "chance" soup -- it is inspired by a soup I tasted at Whole Foods...I took the ingredient list home and just went from there.

Thankfully, it turned out great!  Add some rosemary bread and a side salad and you have yourself a wonderful springtime dinner!  This freezes beautifully and makes a great lunch, too!

White Bean & Kale Soup
serves 6

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 TBLS minced garlic
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 1 cups chopped celery
• 8 cups water/broth mixture (I use half and half)
• 1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp sage
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 TBLS rosemary
• 1 TBLS lemon juice
• 2 cups packed chopped kale

-- Saute onion, garlic, carrots, and celery until soft. About 7 minutes.

-- Add liquid, tomatoes, beans, and spices.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 -15 minutes.

-- Add kale and lemon juice and stir until wilted

-- Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Sauce

This pasta sauce is magic.  Seriously.  I made it with a lot of skepticism -- how could a pureed vegetable be creamy or taste good as a pasta sauce?!  Oh...let me tell you what.  It's amazing.  It's easy.  It's deeeelicious! 

My boys (all three of them) licked their bowls and asked for more!  The trickiest part was spooning the cauliflower out of the broth.  I wanted to make sure I got every last floret, ya know.   It was so worth it, but next time I'm just draining the florets instead.  

We will be making this again and again and again! 

Got the original recipe right here.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Saue

serves 1 lb of pasta

• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
• 6 cups vegetable broth (can sub 2-3 cups water, too)
• 2-4 TBLS nutritional yeast (opt)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4-1/2 cup milk

-- Boil cauliflower in broth until soft.

-- Take out 1 1/2 cups of the broth and then drain the cauliflower using a larger colander.

-- Using a food processor, puree cauliflower with reserved broth, milk, nutritional yeast, and spices until very smooth and creamy (if it's dry, just add in a little more milk)

-- Stir in with cooked/drained pasta