I can’t think of anything more comforting than a bowl of soup. Â Warm, filling, and nourishing, homemade soup feels like a big hug. Â My husband and my kids (especially Mr. Picky) all love soup and I love making it because it’s easy, flexible and soup makes great leftovers.
To anyone who might be offended that I am liberally calling these kebabs “kibbeh,” I apologize in advance. Â I know I am taking some liberties with this recipe and there are many who might think there’s not enough of one spice or another, or that they should be fried or made with lamb, but if I called these kebabs something else, then a whole other group of people would be offended. Â So let me start out by saying that I am in no way an expert in Middle Eastern cuisine, Â but I am an expert in what my family likes and they could eat these kebabs several times a week if I made them. So I think you should know about this recipe, whatever you decide to call it.
Most days I am a cheerleader for plant foods in their simplest form.  I believe kale’s hype and I think too much turmeric is a good thing.  But I warned you that this was coming.  We are going to take a brief break from carrots and millet to celebrate the day of chocolate.  I mean the day of love for chocolate.  I mean the day of love.  Which should include chocolate.
I recently received a copy of  Bowls of Plenty: Recipes for Healthy and Delicious Whole Grain Meals by Carolynn Carreño. It’s no secret I’m a cookbook junkie.  I even have a Pinterest board labeled just that.  And it’s no secret I am obsessed with meals in bowls.  Often I will set the dinner table with a bowl for me and a plate for everyone else.  Silly, but I really love eating all my food together and having all the flavors in one bite.  As opposed to Mr. Picky who couldn’t imagine anything worse!
I was watching “The Kitchen” this morning while I was working out, because don’t we all watch cooking shows while we’re trying to burn calories? Â I have a theory that combining the two makes me even more hungry than I would have been just exercising and watching CNN. The struggle.
We are big football fans in this house and we actually root for a few teams. Â I’ll share a little secret if you promise that it won’t affect our relationship. Â Ok, good. Â I am a lifelong NY Giants fan and my husband is a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Â So you might guess that we both had a pretty fun season since both our teams made it to the playoffs. Â But no matter how far your team goes, unless there’s a Super Bowl ring at the end of that journey, it always ends in disappointment. I am not trying to be negative, but it’s not “an honor to be nominated,” if you know what I mean.
You might think I wake up every morning and pull together a magazine-worthy breakfast spread for my family, but that would not be the case.  Weekends I can make a little effort and I will gladly pull together a casserole or a frittata with a fruit salad.  But on weekday mornings, we eat a lot of oatmeal, scrambled eggs and toast, yogurt and granola, smoothies, loaded toast, and pancakes (because I make the batter the night before.)  But these no-bake breakfast bars have changed my life.
I am so frustrated that my website has been having difficulties the last few days. Â Thank you for your patience! Â To reiterate what I’ve been saying on social media, the site is not down, but just reeeallllly slow. Â Keep trying to refresh the page you want and it will load eventually. Â I am doing my best to get the issue resolved. Â In the meantime, let’s have some fruit crisp!
