I love a good “market” bowl. Every week, I head to the farmer’s market (or grocery store) to see what’s in season and looking good. This time of year, the market’s are overflowing with some of my favorite veggies like squash, carrots, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli. What I love about a bowl is it’s a no-recipe recipe – I modify it every time depending on what’s already in my fridge and what looks good at the market!

This weekend a few friends and I took a little day trip out to Beacon. It’s one of my favorite places for a day trip outside of the city and the drive out was absolutely stunning. Even if you live on a tree lined street in the city, it’s easy to forget the beauty of the leaves changing. Along with leaves changing, I’m always excited to make my favorite fall recipes, like pumpkin pie. My allergy-prone family has been making a vegan pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving for a few years but I decided to take it more into pie or tart territory (I’m a crust lover!).

My version is somewhere between a traditional pumpkin pie and it’s raw, vegan cousin. I prefer to cook the crust to get that familiar crust-like texture, rather than opt for a more chewy, raw date and nut crust (though still delicious). The pumpkin pie filling whips up in just a minute in my KitchenAid® Pro Line® Series Blender. I like to add it to leave it raw and chill the tarts until they set but perhaps you could cook it for about 10 additional minutes, if you prefer. Add a crunchy, maple-y topping and a dollop of whipped cream and call it a day.

If you’re heading out to Beacon, work up an appetite on a hike and head to Ella’s Bellas on Main Street. We hiked Mount Beacon, which is all uphill – totally harder than we expected – so if you are doing this one make sure to bring snacks and water! Ella’s Bellas is a completely gluten free bakery with vegan and gluten free sandwiches, quiches, and salads, and lots of baked goods. It seems they have some “off menu” items so make sure to ask what sandwiches they have that day. I imagine they will have lots of pumpkin-inspired pies in the coming months, but in the meantime you can get cooking on this one at home 🙂 Check out Design Sponge’s great guide for more fun things to do in Beacon.

I just posted a steel cut oatmeal recipe last week (with a delicious berry compote!) but this one is totally different. In fact, I may go so far as to say you won’t even recognize it as oatmeal at all, which in this case is a great thing. I think of oatmeal as the ultimate blank canvas for both sweet or savory dishes. I’m a big fan of savory in general and started experimenting with savory porridges last year with success. I was recently reminded of my love of savory porridge after a recent trip to Oatmeals in NYC with Quaker, to celebrate the start of #Oatober. The selection of oatmeals – and the topping bar – is pretty incredible!

This oatmeal is really a congee. Congee is a healing meal typically made with rice and is often enjoyed for breakfast or when you’re under the weather. It’s a major comfort food and super easy to digest. Because it’s so savory and can be made with tons of variations – you can top it with just about everything – leftovers make an easy lunch or dinner too. I love to make it with a cup of bone broth for an extra healing, mineral rich breakfast, and top it with savory add-ins like farmer’s market kimchi, crunchy radish, microgreens, and a sprinkling of furikake. A soft-boiled egg melts perfectly into the bowl.

I love how versatile my oats are for outfitting me for breakfast. There are endless ways to use oats and not just for breakfast and porridges! Quaker is showcasing a different recipe on their site every day for #Oatober so stop on by to get inspired!

Spring is officially here and we all know what that means. Even though New Yorkers are all still bundled in winter jackets today, our minds have moved on to spring cleaning and summer planning. That usually means purging old clothes, scrubbing the crevices of your apartment, and clearing out the old by burning lots of sage and palo santo. It’s also the best time to get into the crevices of your pantry and see what gems you have hanging out in there!

I’ve been on the KonMari train for almost a year now and have sent bags and bags of clothes to ThredUp and have become an expert folder (KonMari peeps, you know what I mean) but my kitchen is where things can pile up. After months of recipe testing for the book, I have the most beautiful, random assortment of leftover ingredients in completely odd amounts. The beauty of it is that it forces me to get creative and come up with dishes I never would have otherwise. Naturally, I was so in when my friend Phoebe asked me to join her #SpringPantryPurge. Basically, a bunch of us bloggers dug into the depths of our pantry and emerged with beautiful dishes; rescuing ingredients, saving money, and eating healthfully and deliciously along the way.

In my pantry, I found wild rice leftover from this salad I was making on repeat over the winter, along with black lentils, pistachios, pepitas, and golden raisins. I had the most amazing cauliflower salad at Adele’s in Nashville over the weekend and knew I had to make my own spin on it (I already had more than half of the ingredients and only had to pick up a couple of ingredients at the grocery store!). The key to this easy salad is shaving the cauliflower really thin and seasoning it well with dressing. I love this combo of ingredients but you can sub in other nuts or dried fruits that you have in your pantry – sliced almonds or sliced dates would also work well.

Check out all the links to more creative pantry-based recipes below. Cheers to spring cleaning and a clean (kitchen) slate!

Chocolate chip cookies are my go-to around here. I’ve been making some version of these for a few years and realized after posting my most recent batch on Instagram the other day that this blog has yet to have one chocolate chip cookie recipe! Obviously, I had to change that immediately.

These cookies are deliciously chewy, chocolatey, slightly crunchy on the outside, and “fully-loaded” with oats and coconut flakes for an extra punch of goodness. Magically, they are gluten free, vegan, and high in protein. To make them paleo and grain free you can double the coco flakes and omit the rolled oats. Feel free to also sub in any dried fruit (I like sour cherries!), which basically makes them a breakfast cookie 😉

Enjoy as is or with your favorite ice cream… !