Tag Archives: MAINS

My southern-ness is showing here. Cornbread is one of my love languages. And when you add fresh corn, sharp cheese, spicy jalapenos and bacon grease then we just need to hold on a minutes and collect our thoughts. This may be too much. It may be pushing the limits a bit on acceptable food + human relationships.

But it’s absolutely worth it. I know this isn’t anything ground-breaking, but maybe it’s close enough to feed my tendencies for exaggeration. They really are so damn good, loves.

Everything I have been posting lately has been so vibrantly colorful – I think I’m trying to hold on to summer for dear life. Maybe it is because our little beach town refuses to get below 80 degrees so we are all up in some late October denial up in here. I’m ok with it.

Let’s talk about onions. I didn’t use to be a fan. They can stinky. They can make you cry. They can make YOU stinky. {which can make other people cry}

However… if you treat them kindly they become something beautiful and versatile and not stinky.

Colorful food is my muse these days. It’s just so vibrant and ALIVE and so much more inspiring than drive through chicken and fries, yea? Indeed.

Stay with me now.. we can do this together. We can say no to terrible food more often, yes? Yes we can.

This recipe, loves, is a little magical thing. Simple, super quick to throw together and the sauce – YOU GUYS THE SAUCE – I could drink it with a straw.

I’ve been accused of hyperbole. But that does not apply in this instance. Nope.

Lovely carrot and collard ribbons {instead of rice noodles that you usually see in Pad Thai} and a few other things you probably have in your kitchen already, are thrown together to create this divine + spicy + earthy yet bright + healthy dish that you will want to make ALL THE TIME. This is one of those dishes that would work so well for a dinner party where you have a lot of different diet preferences to accommodate. It will make your vegan and GF loves’ toes curl right on up and your carnivores can eat one up right next to their bowl of curry with crispy duck or Momofuku style chicken wings.

Everyone can be happy and hold hands and sing campfire songs. See? World peace just from some Pad Thai Spring Rolls. We are making miracles around here, loves.

There is something so calming about working dough. 

Flour + Salt + Yeast + Water. Knead + Turn. Dust Flour + Knead Again. Rise + Stretch. 

Simple into extraordinary.

This is one of my favorite kitchen projects because it ends in PIZZA. I can’t find fault in that scenario.

I started learning to cook when I was very young. We were living in Florida and my Mawmaw welcomed me into her kitchen with open, flour-dusted arms. She didn’t care that I unorganized her alphabetized pantry or dumped flour all over the floor, or at least she didn’t let on if she did.

I absorbed a love for the kitchen from her. A love for gathering people around a table to share a meal, to talk, pray together, to love selflessly. She taught me to put your very best self into that loaf of bread or that pot of dumplings because it isn’t just flour and water and seasonings… it is your heart extended to the ones you are feeding.

Many moons ago I had the very fortunate opportunity to work for a season at 9 Bakery + Lounge in downtown Wilmington. It was such a great learning experience for me and also some of my most challenging days. One of the really fantastic things about those 9 months is meeting some ridiculously talented people and gathering as much knowledge as I could.

I tried to be a big ol’ sponge and soak it all up.