roasted garlic + sweet potato salad with farro

its officially fall. halloween is around the corner, which means its basically thanksgiving, which means its pretty much christmas. i mean, before i left for europe in september, costco was already abuzz with glittering snowflakes and light-up snowmen. sigh…

i met andy in germany last weekend and after missing his match (our drive took 8 hours instead of the expected 4), the only logical decision was to hit up the local starbucks. enter my first-ever pumpkin spice latte... it was delicious and tasted ever-so-slightly like home. and in that moment, the long and heavily-trafficked drive was immediately erased.

but seriously. i love fall. fall equals pumpkin-everything. it also equals sweet potato-anything. when i stumbled across a martha stewart recipe combining my beloved sweet potatoes and recent obsession farro, i was sold. we modified a bit based on what we had in our pantry and refrigerator, and it was wonderful. i made this for dinner last night and again for lunch today, per andy's request!

slow cooker irish stew

happy st. patrick's day to all my irish lads and lasses! in celebration of my irish roots and in memory of my late grandma marilyn, i decided a vegetarian twist on traditional irish stew was in order for tonight's meal.

after researching a handful of recipes, i decided to go rogue and throw together my own combination of  irish-inspired ingredients. here's hoping it tastes as good as it looks.

dirty dozen / clean fifteen

rainy day roasted vegetable pasta

after several consecutive days of sunshine, in the words of the dave matthews band... "the clouds rolled over our heads and it began to rain." like, seriously rain. a lot. the combination of gray skies, lower temps, and constant rain called for some serious comfort food.

this pasta is a perfect winter/spring transition meal and can be easily customized to based on your vegetable preferences, what's in season, etc.

gwyneth's goop soup - broccoli + arugula

never one to turn down the opportunity for a culinary creation revolving around broccoli, it was no question this soup was high on my "to make" list. it's simple, satisfying, and healthy. what more could you want?

we made two minor changes to the recipe - adding half of a vegetable stock cube instead of straight up water and an extra glove of garlic. it turned out marvelously and was a perfect addition to andy's pre-game "snack."

mediterranean flatbread

i'm not generally one to use pre-made or store-bought items. in this house, we're big fans of hausgemachte. and while our homemade attempts aren't always successful, they are most definitely full of love. and that's what matters.

we have this little turkish market down the street. it took us nearly 5 months to venture in there but once we did, our eyes were opened to all kinds of traditional and tasty turkish treats. honeycomb. flatbread. tahini for hummus. and our two favorites - baklava from the pastry case and fresh artichokes from the deli counter. these two items served as inspiration for last night's dinner.

not sure what to pair with our mediterranean meal, i remembered seeing a roll of pre-made dough at the grocery store downstairs. i've never made a flatbread but thought i'd give it a go and we're glad i did. my thought process entering this uncharted territory was as such - make it up as you go and hope for the best. to my surprise, it turned out deliciously.

so it's been awhile... + heirloom tomato galette

so it's been awhile... like, almost-a-year-awhile. last spring and summer, this pet project of mine fell victim to the corporate world. last fall was spent transitioning to another country, team, and the european lifestyle in austria. this winter has found me clocking far too many kilometers on the treadmill at the gym training for my recently completed half marathon. and here we are.

as mentioned, we're in austria. for more updates on our time in europe this season, head over to inheinsight.

i've long thought of what recipe i'd feature upon my decision to officially resurrect this little old blog of mine. in the past 10 (it pains me to say that) months, i've had my fair share of kitchen successes and failures. last night, andy charged me with "making a new tart/galette" recipe to pair with a favorite homemade soup of ours. challenge accepted.

enter this deliciously colorful heirloom tomato galette. i tried to keep things easy by repurposeing the crust recipe from my beloved spinach, leek + onion tart. i hope you enjoy this as much as we did. i'm fairly certain it'll be making an appearance very soon.