Cookie and Kate

Colorful Veggie Lettuce Wraps

July 24, 2017 25 Comments

Hallelujah for a new week! I’m sure it seemed quiet around here last week, but a lot was going on behind the scenes. This website is now operating like it’s 2017, thanks to a new server with better technology. I think it’s all running properly now, but please let me know if see anything strange—pages not loading properly, features not working, and so forth.

Acronyms and technical terms are still swimming around in my head, but I wasn’t totally out of touch last week. My friends Maria and Jessica launched their helpful new menu planning service, Sweet Peas Meals! Definitely check it out.

I was also working on the site in the early a.m. when Nordstrom’s big annual sale launched, so I snagged some practical items for my family’s upcoming trip to Glacier National Park—including this warm vest, more SmartWool socks (the best) and those leggings that everyone tells me are so great (those are affiliate links). I’ll report back on what proves worthy in my August roundup.

Am I the only one who awaits packages in the mail like Christmas morning? It never gets old. Anyway, I’ll quit chatting and tell you about these vegetable lettuce wraps that I promised you last week. It might be hard to tell from the photos, but you’re looking at a crisp butter lettuce leaf topped with edamame hummus, sesame-soy soba noodles, and quick-pickled veggies.

These lettuce wraps are easy to make, fun to look at, and even tastier than they look. They would make a perfect light summer meal or appetizer at your next party. If you plan on having leftovers, just store the individual components separately in the fridge and assemble before serving.

I had a hard time capturing all those vibrant colors in one photograph, so I hope these photos do them proper justice. Please share your results with me on Instagram with the hashtag #cookieandkate!

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Edamame Hummus

July 18, 2017 24 Comments

Minneapolis is one delicious city. I haven’t unpacked my bags yet, but I have a list of recipe ideas from the past week and can’t wait to recreate them. Let’s procrastinate on unpacking and catching up on emails for a bit longer and talk about a much more pressing matter—edamame hummus. Have you tried it yet?

I got a taste of edamame hummus at a nearby sushi restaurant recently, then I discovered a tubbed version at Trader Joe’s, and then I had to make some myself. It’s rich, lemony, and high in protein (so is the traditional chickpea kind). It’s green, too, thanks to the edamame, which are green soybeans. I buy frozen, shelled edamame and defrost them in a pot of boiling water.

The word “hummus” is derived from the Arabic word for chickpeas, so this chickpea-free hummus is quite untraditional. To balance edamame’s very green flavor and fibrous texture, I had to use a little more tahini, lemon juice and water than my go-to herbed hummus recipe.

Combined with crisp veggies or whole-grain crackers, edamame hummus is a delicious, healthy snack or appetizer. If you need a break from standard hummus (horrors!), please give this one a shot! I’ll be sharing a fun appetizer concept featuring this hummus in a couple of days.

Fun news about Love Real Food:

Yoga Journal shared 3 Road-Trip-Ready Recipes
Erin made my Tahini Kale Caesar Salad
Sonja and Alex made my Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
Elizabeth made my Greek Nachos
Alexandra made my Kale and Quinoa Salad
Almost 150 reviews on Amazon! Thank you!

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25 Fun Avocado Recipes

July 15, 2017 13 Comments

I’m writing this on my laptop from a bar seat in Minneapolis on Friday evening. I’m afraid I’m cramping everyone’s Friday night work-is-done style with my laptop. I’m feeling awkward, so I’ll keep this quick. I’ve rounded up twenty-five of my favorite recipes featuring avocado, everyone’s favorite creamy green fruit.

I actually hated avocado for a while when I was younger, but I think it’s because I had been served a brown, stringy, over-ripe avocado—blech! If you have any avocado haters in your life, please present them with the guacamole below and tell me if they still feel the same way about it. I dare you!

Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats, which are the delicious good-for-you variety. Apparently, adding avocado to your meals can actually improve your absorption of carotenoids—yet another reason to love the sweet potato and avocado combo you’ll see a few times in the list below.

We’re starting off with guacamole, of course, and running through a variety of Mexican-inspired recipes, plus avocado pesto toast (you really must try the “everything” avocado toast in my cookbook), and a delicious variety of others. As always, you can peruse my entire library of avocado recipes here.

1) The Best Guacamole

“Best. Guac. Ever. And the onion trick worked perfect. Made it on Monday and finished on Thursday. It was uncovered daily and still did not turn brown. And now I have the half onion for my next batch. Thanks Kate! Oh, and my husband can’t do cilantro (the genetic soap thing) so I just omitted. Thankfully he doesn’t hate coriander.” – Heather

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Fresh Black Bean Salad

July 13, 2017 72 Comments

Hello from Minneapolis! I came to town with Tessa for Lindsay’s photography workshop. We had the best dinner last night with Amanda and my pal Grace at Hola Arepa. That dinner alone would have been worth the trip. Come here and go there, I insist.

Unlike the coconut “ceviche” that captured my full attention last night, the inspiration for this black bean salad recipe goes way back, all the way back to my very first recipe post over seven years ago. I was just learning to cook for myself after college, and I started making that black bean salsa on repeat. At that point, Cookie and Kate was just a creative project. Well, Cookie and I very much existed, but the blog was just to keep me from losing my mind at a boring office job.

I was running out of content. I knew I couldn’t just share pictures of Cookie and spring flowers every day and expect people to come back. At that point, I knew I didn’t like to share anyone else’s photos, or promote the impossible perfection level of perfection that was already popping up on Pinterest. I finally shared that recipe, and realized that I could wrap stories and photos around a healthy, approachable recipe.

I created more and more recipes, and seven years later, I work on this blog full-time and have a cookbook under my belt. I’m not bored at work any more! I love what I do. Thank you for letting me do it. This Mexican-ish/Southwestern black bean salad recipe is based on my old salsa recipe, but it’s way better.

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Pecan Granola Bars

July 11, 2017 28 Comments

This post is brought to you by the American Pecan Council.

My grandmother Mimi passed along quite a few traits to me, her only granddaughter. I inherited her eyes, her name (hence the ‘e’ at the end of Kathryne), her sweet tooth, and her love for pecans, among others. I mentioned this in my cookbook, but Mimi’s family owned a small pecan tree farm, so she enjoyed a lot of pecans in her long life.

When the recently-formed American Pecan Council asked me to develop a recipe featuring pecans, the answer was easy. “Challenge accepted!” I came up with these pecan granola bars, which are bursting with warm, sweet, delicate pecan flavor.

I started by toasting the pecans on the stove (I’m not turning on the oven unless absolutely necessary this summer). Then, I whipped some of those fragrant toasted pecans into pecan butter, which is so good. If you haven’t tried it yet, you have been missing out.

Add some maple syrup, cinnamon, oats, and chopped toasted pecans, and you’ve made a batch of wholesome and delicious homemade granola bars. I even pressed pecans into the top to highlight their supreme pecan-ness. You can skip that step if it seems like too much trouble, but I think they’re cute that way.

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Green Bean Salad with Toasted Almonds & Feta

July 9, 2017 39 Comments

I didn’t intend to eat green beans for dinner last night, but it happened. I’ve learned a new trick to cooking them that yields tender-but-not-waterlogged (and definitely not mushy) green beans. Then, I tossed those perfectly cooked green beans in a lemony sauce with savory toasted almonds, creamy and salty feta, and fresh basil.

I couldn’t stop myself, not that I wanted to. Who am I? This is coming from a girl who used to refuse her grandmother’s home-grown green beans as a kid.

I got the inspiration for this recipe from Sarah’s Instagram account (I love her stories). She shared a few snaps of a green bean salad with feta, and it looked so summery and delicious. I should have just asked for her recipe, but instead I took the more difficult route and created my own version.

I borrowed the cooking technique from America’s Test Kitchen. Instead of simmering the green beans in water, you cook them in a skillet, covered with a small amount of water, then uncover, raise the heat, and cook until it has evaporated. You end up with green beans with a lot more flavor than the watery, simmered variety. Try it!

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