We did the autumn in New England thing last weekend and hit the orchard for some picturesque apple picking! It was perfect weather and so early in the season that the trees were bursting with big red apples. Every year we come home with a big bag of apples, and I stare at them wondering how we’ll manage to eat them all! It’s a great creative challenge though, to brainstorm ways to use them in smoothies and crumbles, baking them into pies and turning them into sweet apple butter. This year I decided to work on an apple muffin recipe and managed to sneak some shredded zucchini in for a certain veggie-resistant toddler. The muffins were topped with dark chocolate chips, a peace offering for sneaking that zucchini in! We’ve been grabbing these for snacks and breakfast all week long; scroll down for the full recipe.
read more
I am craving alllllllll the fall flavors, and I may have found a way to jam pack them into a single bite of this flatbread pizza! The inspiration for this tasty autumnal slice was leftover goat cheese I had taunting me in my fridge — what to do with it, what to do with it? I’ll tell you what I did with it: I popped it in my food processor and blended it with pumpkin puree and honey to make the most deliciously sweet pumpkin goat cheese that I spread out over the flatbread crust. For the crust I used a pre-made flatbread (this brand!), but any crust would work. Then I topped my creamy pumpkin-goat cheese base with crumbled sausage, sautéed onions, roasted delicata squash, and some fresh sage to finish it off. The best part is that it was easy to make, perfect for a shareable weekend snack or easy weeknight dinner! 
read more
It’s been quite a few weeks since my last download, so I have lots to share! Kicking off the new season with some fun recipes, a few mini book reviews from my reading list, a guilt-free educational kid’s iPad game we have been loving, and lots of affordable (and cozy) fall style finds — scroll down to read more! 
read more
I shared a picture on my instagram page recently of my end-of-summer veggie garden bounty, and the thing that I’ve been most proud of are the eggplants I grew this year! Also in my garden basket was a handful of leaves cut from freshly planted kale and a few last juicy summer tomatoes. The combination of ingredients plucked fresh from the dirt was my inspiration for this dish. I crisped up the eggplant with a light breading and then layered it with a flavorful, seasoned parmesan and ricotta combo. Then I topped it with the burst tomatoes and kale that had been sautéed with garlic. It was so simple, so good, and I love how the dish brought out the flavors of each of the veggies (the crispy eggplant — that I’m so proud of — was the star of the show). Scroll down for the full recipe!
read more
One of my favorite publications, EatingWell magazine, is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary issue this month. I love the magazine and have had the pleasure of collaborating with them before so I’m super excited to be joining in the anniversary celebrations and sharing some of my favorite features and recipes in the issue. 
read more
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Shaw’s Supermarket. All opinions, images, and content are my own.
I love to serve a giant, overflowing, themed grazing board when I entertain friends and family. But these days, “entertaining” obviously looks quite different. If we have gathered at all in the past few months, it’s been in very small groups with lots of considerations for safety and social distancing. I’m always up for the challenge of getting creative with gatherings though, no matter how small or different they may be from what we’re accustomed to. My friends at Shaw’s Supermarkets shared some of their exclusive Open Nature® line with me, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to rethink my large-scale grazing boards for our new normal.
read more
If you’ve been following along with me this year you’ve heard me share my love of Little Leaf Farms! I’ve been lucky to partner with the brand on tons of recipe content this year using their fresh, crunchy lettuce that is grown right here in Massachusetts. I rave about the tasty produce, but another reason I’ve long admired the brand is that they put sustainability at the forefront of each container of lettuce they grow and sell. I had the opportunity to visit Little Leaf Farm’s greenhouses last week to tour their facility and chat with CEO Paul Sellew all about sustainability and how their lettuce gets from seed to store. 
read more
With summer coming to a close (ugh!) I’m making use of every last second of the season by grilling and eating al fresco as often as possible. I have been honing my grilling skills this summer thanks to my new Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub – see my green goddess grilled chicken recipe and my mango-peach grilled pork tenderloin – and have been trying to expand my menu with new grilled dinner ideas. The tomatoes and basil in my veggie garden are still going strong and served as inspiration for this bright, fresh dish: grilled cedar plank salmon with pesto.
read more
Around this time of year, I start collecting inspiration for all of my fall projects. I realized after the last few months of staying closer to home just how much I missed heading into a store to gather ideas for the seasonal themes and hues I use in my photos and content. So when my friends at Christmas Tree Shops andThat! invited me to see all that’s new for fall I was excited to take some time to browse and hunt for fresh ideas that would inspire my seasonal palette.
read more
If you have been around here for a while, you have heard me tout my love for al fresco chicken sausage. It’s a staple in our fridge for quick weeknight dinners when I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen (a little secret about being a food blogger: when you cook all day for work sometimes the last thing you want to think about is what to make for dinner!). When my friends at al fresco chicken shared their first taste of their new line of chicken burgers I was eager to give them a try. We’ve been making an effort to cut most red meat out of our diet this year to lessen our impact on the environment, so a chicken burger swap for summer grilling was a welcome menu addition! 
read more
