Feeling the heat this summer? When the sun’s rays are stronger outside, you might notice fiery Pitta dosha heating up in your own body. Signs of healthy Pitta on the move include higher energy levels, feelings of optimism, and an overall brightening within. But if Pitta dosha gets overheated, you may start to feel a little irritable and frustrated, or even experience rashes, acne, and other skin disruptions. Fortunately, Pitta can easily be brought back into balance with a little cooling and sweetness.

For a fast and easy way to give Pitta dosha some TLC, try these three cooling summer smoothie recipes, below. Each recipe calls for Pitta-pacifying ingredients and is chock-full of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and healthy fiber. You may notice we’ve left out some smoothie-ingredient standards — like yogurt and banana — which can aggravate Pitta. We’re pretty sure you’ll love these sweet, creamy recipes just the same!

Out of all the desserts in the world, I crave the pudding/mousse-kind the most. A tiny cup full of something light, creamy and porous to finish off a meal is my idea of dessert heaven. I’m always on the lookout for new pudding/mousse ideas and constantly searching for ways to revolutionize my own tried and true recipes in one way or another, mostly to simplify the process or ingredients. I freestyled these black and white pudding cups the other day, when I made a fresh batch of almond milk and had all the other ingredients on hand. They turned out perfect and were gone within a day. I had no problem repeating them to photograph and share here :)Click Here for BLACK AND WHITE CHOCOLATE PUDDING Recipe

Checking in really quickly today with a recipe and step-by-step video of this gluten-free and vegan Strawberry Cobbler. I wasn’t kidding when I said I would be flooding this space with strawberry recipes this spring and summer :) Similarly to crumbles or crisps, cobblers are delightfully lazy fruit desserts that require no perfection on the cook’s part, but manage to come out a perfectly jammy and satisfying mess almost every time. Earlier this spring, I set out to develop a version that is both gluten-free and vegan, but also quick and with a manageable list of ingredients – here is the result!

I’m so excited to talk bit about Heather Crosby’s new cookbook Pantry to Plate today. When I received my copy and took a scan from cover to cover, I was immediately blown away by the way this book kindly invites the reader to be both spontaneous and practical in the kitchen by working with the ingredients that are already on hand. With thirty clever recipe templates, Heather demonstrates how to improvise your way to delicious, plant-based meals. For example, Dense Veggies + Protein + Herbs + Binder + Spices = Vegan Meatballs (or Veggie Burgers)! The templates specify the required amount for each component, as well as which components are a must and which ones can be skipped altogether. In addition to the templates, the book is full of other useful tools that help make intuitive cooking a breeze: besides a regular recipe index, there is a cook by ingredient index, as well as mini-templates for creating flavor with aromatics, a whole bit on pairing spices, and a dressing and sauce section that has pretty much every staple sauce recipe you’ll ever need. If you don’t have a particular ingredient for a recipe, chances are you have something on hand that could act as a substitute, and there is a whole chart of interchangeable mix-and-match ingredients in the book to help you work through that.

I’m quite terrible at sticking to recipes myself, since I always want to play, add, subtract and find alternative ingredients, so it’s as if this book was made for me. How Heather managed to define freestyle cooking in such clear, comprehensive terms, will remain a mystery to me :) Some more sections/recipes I’m most excited about: Coconut Yogurt, Dairy-Free Milks, Probiotic Cream Cheese, Veggie Fries, Cheesy Comfort Food, Hand Pies, Sneaky Brownies, Nice Cream. YUM! Onto the (not) meatballs.

 These Italian-style veggie meatballs come from the Veggie Burger section of the book and can be easily shaped into burgers or sliders, as Heather points out. They get their substance and ‘meatiness’ from lentils and portobello mushrooms, and a bit of sweetness from carrots and onions, while herbs like oregano, parsley and thyme, and spices like fennel and pepper give them that characteristic Italian flare. We enjoyed them two ways, the first day with zucchini noodles and pesto (pictured here), and the second day, a bit more traditionally, with real pasta and tomato sauce. Both were equally delicious. Heather also suggests to serve the meatballs in a sub roll, or even as an appetizer, along with some tasty sauce.Whether you live and breathe freestyle cooking, or you want to learn a bit more about being intuitive in the kitchen, check out Pantry to Plate, I have a feeling it will earn an important place on your bookshelf :)

Click HERE for Recipe: ITALIAN STYLE LENTIL AND MUSHROOM (NOT)MEATBALLS FROM PANTRY TO PLATE

When I was writing my first cookbook four years ago, I was completely infatuated with developing gluten-free baking recipes and baking almost every day. More than that, I was really into making my own flours (by blending whole grains in my Blendtec), and mixing my own gluten-free flour blends. I am one of those crazy people that enjoys making everything from scratch, but I also did all of those things out of necessity, since there were no high-quality gluten-free flour blends out on the market. Things have really changed since then! Health food stores are now flooded with all kinds of exotic flours and flour blends, which makes me a little less compelled to make my own. I still do from time to time, but I feel comforted by the fact that I can pick up a gluten-free flour blend in the store and whip up some tasty scones without getting messy with the blender and tons of jars. I should add that I don’t have a gluten sensitivity, but a few people I like to share scones with do, and I also just really love the challenge that gluten-free baking presents.

Earlier this spring, I talked a little bit about what an explosive strawberry season we experienced this year. I couldn’t keep myself away from our nearby organic strawberry farm, and as a result ended up with lots of berries that needed to find a home in one dish or another, since my freezer can only fit so much. I made this pie, a cobbler, and sprinkled the berries over everything from morning bowls to salads. I also remembered that strawberries work surprisingly well in guacamole, as proven to me by a friend years ago.

Roasting up a bunch of goodies and serving them up right on the baking sheet together with sauce and toppings is a sure way to a fun dinner or a low-maintenance spread for last minute company. In the winter, I’ll bake an assortment of roots rubbed with plenty of spices, and slather them with herby sauce or tahini/cashew cream to go alongside some beans or grains. In the summer, it’s all about the slow-roasted tomatoes, eggplants and peppers served with some sort of bread, herbs, greens and good olive oil. Nachos definitely fall into this throw-together oven meal category, and we tend to crave them often around here, so I’m constantly thinking about ways to freshen up the format.

Baba ganoush + romesco = babamesco! One fine day, I had some but not all of the ingredients to make romesco, as well as a few baba-ganoush appropriate items, and I was craving some kind of powerful dip/spread/sauce. I combined the two and ended up with something really special. I’m pretty sure that everyone who sampled it loved it, and that goofy name that I threw out in the moment really stuck. I’ve had friends call me and seriously ask me when I’ll be making another batch of babamesco. Now I can’t imagine calling it by any other name. A few ways it can be used: as a dip for pita chips, sandwich spread, pizza sauce, veggie bowl component, sauce for vegetables (try it with grilled ramps or roasted cauliflower).

Fagor recently sent me their 6 quart pressure cooker, and I was very excited since I’ve never had one before and knew that it would be a very practical addition to my kitchen. Aside from stews, soups, and rich veggie broth, I was especially thrilled about the prospect of perfect home-cooked beans. I’d heard that cooking beans in a pressure cooker makes them amazingly creamy, yet firm and intact, on top of significantly speeding up the cooking process. As an example, soaked kidney beans only take 5 minutes of active cooking time in the pressure cooker. Crazy stuff!

Have you ever heard of the quick soft serve ice cream technique, where you freeze coconut milk in ice cube trays and then blend the cubes with fruit, sweetener, etc. into into a perfectly spoonable frozen treat? It’s been on my radar for a while, but I have an ice cream maker, which I’m very faithful to, so I’ve been slow to warm up to the idea. I finally gave the whole thing a shot recently, and now I see what the big deal is about. This is entirely different from the typical ice-cream making experience. When I set out to make ice cream, I know that it will be a process, and I’m quite fond of the little bit of fuss that it takes. This soft serve is its own thing – delightfully quick and easy and with little fuss to speak of, especially if you already have the coconut ice cubes ready to go.

Food magazines and online food publications are all about bright and green spring recipes right now, but I know that a lot of us are still waiting for that first asparagus to pop up, and for rhubarb to show its blush at the stores and markets. I’m checking in with one more transitional meal today, still cozy and hearty, but very vegetable-forward. There’s a step-by-step video, too :)

I’ve been dreaming about making no-bake lemon bars for a while now and finally got around to the idea a few weeks ago. The goal was to have absolutely no oven time required for both the crust and the lemon filling, while having solid bars that stay together nicely and, of course, taste delicious. The idea to include coconut in the mix came about naturally, since I knew that I would have to use coconut milk for the creamy lemon mousse anyway. I decided to take it one step further and incorporate dried coconut flakes into the crust, and I loved the way all of the flavors came together. I’ve made these bars three times within the past couple of weeks, and each time they disappeared before I knew it. Definitely a universal crowd pleaser.

We are so excited to share our very first cooking video today! This has been a dream of ours for years now, but it has stayed on the back burner for way too long due to the laborious nature of video-making. We loved the process so much, and will have more step-by-step videos to share in the near future.

So excited to share this recent discovery with you today. If you follow us on instagram, you may have seen me posting an abnormal number of pancake photos recently. That would be because I’ve been cooking some variation of blender pancakes almost every morning for the past couple of weeks. Seriously obsessed.

I finally got around to trying sweet potato toast this week, a concept that I’ve been seeing circulating around the internet. Our instagram post about it generated a lot of interest, so I thought I would go into more detail here today. Basically, the whole idea is replacing bread with thinly sliced, toasted sweet potato and topping it as you would any toast. I know, why mess with an already perfect concept like toast? For one, it’s great for those trying to take it easy on grains or gluten. It’s also perfect for sweet potato lovers just looking to change things up for breakfast, snack, etc. (me). It’s a fun way to eat a nutritious root vegetable, and I have a feeling that it could easily be made very kid-friendly. It is decidedly its own thing, not toast, but totally stands on its own as tasty and filling fare.

March is tricky. It’ll throw out a few of those luxuriously warm days in a row, which cause collective memory loss about the fact that it’s still winter, and you’ll suddenly see a few dazed people out on the street wearing shorts. And then it gets cold again, and it might even snow soon, and the warm coat you so optimistically tucked away into your closet has to come back out. By this time, you might also be really tired of root vegetables and stews, and all things earthy and hearty. I am. Thankfully, there is citrus. Bright, sweet, lush, like little suns in fruit form. I’m continually amazed by the variety of citrus fruit available at the grocery store this time of year. Based on my last scan of the citrus section, there are at least three types of oranges, the blood variety being the star, about as many kinds of grapefruits (red, pink, white), and don’t even get me started on the numerous hybrids, smooth-skinned, wrinkled and everything in between. I wanted to make a treat that really captures that brightness and abundance, so an upside down cake was in order. It looks involved to those not in the know, but it’s actually the easiest kind of cake to make.

I’ve been seeing a lot of ‘why not just make it with rice’ reactions to alternative grain risotto recipes. I have a few reasons. Trying to get a variety of potentially more nutritious grains into my meals is one. Making a risotto-like dish with any grain makes it taste delicious and a little more special than just a bed for the more dominant stuff on your plate. It’s also a creative challenge, and I welcome those when they occur in the kitchen. The flavor will always be a bit more new and unexpected than traditional risotto, but the creamy grain dish format will keep it in cozy territory, which is nice. Of course, no grain will quite replace starchy Arborio rice, which is what usually gives risotto that wonderfully creamy consistency. I like to incorporate blended roasted root vegetables, beans or coconut milk to achieve that sought-after texture. In this risotto, I went with coconut milk, which integrates seamlessly with the flavors of the beets, ginger, garlic and chili. Though the spicy, sweet and earthy flavors in this dish are a bit far from the classic, it’s absolutely delicious in its own right, and kind of perfect for this transitional time of year.

I’ve always thought of lasagna as an intimidating dish in terms of its layered preparation, though I love the flavor and find myself craving it often during the cooler months. I set out to change my outlook with this simple and nourishing spaghetti squash version that tastes every bit as comforting as the original.

Last week, I talked a little bit about my love for homemade nut milk, how it always tastes better than the store-bought kind, and how the amount of control I have over the process and ingredients makes it all worth the tiny bit of fuss. I’ve noticed that whenever I discuss making nut milk with anyone, the question of utilizing the leftover nut pulp is bound to come up. No one wants to throw it away, but not many people know what to do with it, either. I was in the same boat for years – sometimes, I would freeze the pulp for later use in place of almond flour in baked goods, which didn’t always work out because the pulp is not quite as dry as almond flour. Other times, I tried incorporating it into granola, but If I’m being honest, I often ended up throwing it away, not without some serious guilt. About a month ago, I opened up the question on instagram and got so many fascinating suggestions that went way beyond baking/granola: a base for stuffing, a thickener for smoothies, chicken feed, face scrub (!), and energy balls. I found the idea of pulp-based energy balls to be really compelling and set out to make both a sweet and a savory version. I’m really excited to share the results!

There’s something very powerful about turning a pile of vegetables into a proper meal. The satisfaction/general victorious feeling that I get from finding a place for produce in our daily meals is one of the main reasons I’m attracted to cooking with plants, besides the more obvious nourishment factor. Another powerful feeling is finding a way to whip up a solid, plant-centric meal when you seemingly have no food left in the house. For me, that usually involves surveying the bottom of my crisper and pulling heavily from my pantry. That was the case with the recipe I have for you today, which took me from panicking about not having enough groceries to being well-fed and quite satisfied. I had a head of cauliflower I’d been ignoring, kale that was getting dangerously old, a bag of random Florida citrus, and mushrooms that didn’t make it into a stew (which are also optional in this recipe). The rest of the ingredients came straight from my pantry.