Hello and welcome to the weekend! Sorry I missed you last week. A bunch of things came up all at once and I just ran out of time/was pretty wiped by the end of the week. Glad to be back posting here with you though! We got our house power washed this week and enjoyed some borderline summer-y temperatures–both equally thrilling for me personally haha.

We have a lot of outdoor projects to get started on this weekend if the weather holds out. There’s another large, overgrown bed in our yard loaded with invasive plants that needs to be dealt with this year. We’re going to lay out our new raised veggie beds as well. I also want to get some grass seeding going in a few areas. I think I’m gonna be a bit sore come Monday haha.

As always, if you have questions for future editions, just leave them in the comments or send me an email. Take care!

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Nothing Lasts. How Do We Face It? via T Magazine (gift link)
2. How a Forgotten Bean Could Save Coffee From Extinction via Smithsonian magazine
3. It’s Not You, It’s the World via It’s Not Too Late on Substack
4. Le Creu-pocalypse: Inside Le Creuset’s VIP Factory-to-Table Sale via Eater
5. Let Go of Harmful Ideas About Food via Lion’s Roar

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Essential guacamole tips
2. Boosting my fiber and protein, and just enjoying life in general with Farm Girl cereal. The cinnamon crisps are my fave.
3. Walking with a weighted vest lately and it’s going great (mine’s 12 lbs)
4. Piping in “reef sounds” to bring coral reefs back to life. So cool!
5. Watching: The Gilded Age

5 Questions:

1. What are some of your fave vegetarian/vegan cookbooks?
   Any of Deborah Madison’s books, Ottolenghi’s more plant-based leaning books (Plenty, Plenty More & Ottolenghi Flavor), all of Meera Sodha’s books, Amy Chaplin’s two books, Big Vegan Flavor by Nisha Vora, Joe Yonan’s Cool Beans, all of Hetty Lui McKinnon’s books, Anna Jones’s books, and Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden.
2. Do you make pancakes on your Always Pan? Mine seems to stick lately and it’s relatively new.
   I do and I’ve never had problems with sticking. One thing with the way I cook: I rarely take the stove elements over medium heat. If you rip a nonstick pan on high, it will lose its nonstick properties quickly. It’s best to let the pan heat over medium for a minute or two to get it properly hot. Then I apply oil/vegan butter, swirl it around and get to cooking. Also, always let a nonstick pan properly cool down before plunging in soapy water. The temperature shock from hot stove to water degrades the nonstick coating.
3. What is a current food trend you are noticing?
   It seems like people are starting to really care about fiber, which does make me happy. For the last few years it’s been protein everything. So to hear folks talk about eating enough fiber, diversifying fiber sources, actually enjoying your fiber etc is so great. Fibermaxxing! For a while there, it seemed like people were hitting eject on the plant-based trend in favor of meat and dairy-heavy diets (a popular dish soap manufacturer even reformulated in light of this). It still does feel that way sometimes! But if folks are getting on board with fiber, it makes me hopeful that as a collective we’re all still open to plant-based options more often.
4. Can you do a roundup of your 3-5 fave salad dressings?
   ♥️ Easy Red Wine Vinegar Dressing with Thyme
   ♥️ Spicy Almond Dressing
   ♥️ Sweet Mustard Dressing
   ♥️ Pickled Jalapeño Ranch
   ♥️ Vegan Green Goddess (thin it out with a bit of water to get a proper dressing consistency)
5. Do you worry about what oils you use and their smoke point?
   Not really! Kind of building on the point above with the Always Pan: I generally don’t go above medium heat on my stove or on the grill, so I feel comfortable using olive or avocado oil in both situations. For air frying and roasting I still reach for olive or avocado (depending on what I'[m making) since the max temperature I’d use there is 400 degrees F. For high heat searing though, I’d opt for avocado since it can go up to 510 degrees F before smoking.

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Tender Grilled Eggplant Slices with Barbecue Sauce
2. Grilled Cauliflower Wedges with Tahini Yogurt & Sumac Onions
3. Pizza Night Salad
4. Spring Rice Noodle Salad with Chili Maple Peanuts, Celery & Peas
5. Seriously Luscious Chocolate Cherry Smoothie