Homeskillet

03/03/2018

Happy Friday, friends!! ☀️
This was a quickly improvised Paloma (because sometimes a cocktail should be quick and messy) made with and fresh Texas grapefruit juice, a little maple syrup and in place of the usual grapefruit soda, finished with a squeeze of lime and a pink salt rim ➕➕➕

02/27/2018

Burgundy scabiosa having a second moment.

02/14/2018

Happy Valentine’s Day 💗💗
Hope you all feel all the love today... and indulge in a serious chocolate fix!! I can almost taste it just gazing at this gorgeous chocolate.
Photographed by the lovely with my styling.

02/04/2018

I cleaned out the fridge and pantry to make an simple and hearty Whole30 brunch. Crispy potato and zucchini hash with diced ham, shallots, garlic, and green onions, fried in avocado oil, finished with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. That simple. Where are the perfectly gooey poached eggs on top? We decided to make our Whole30 *a lot* harder by avoiding eggs this time, since we are both a little reactive to egg whites and want to take advantage of this opportunity to cut back on potentially inflammatory foods. Technically I cheated by using ham that contains less than 2% sugar, but I can deal with that. Mainly because I already eat fairly close to Whole30 all the time, and this month is just making it work as best as I can with busier days and a partner with the flu. Side note: I don’t understand why it’s so hard to get good sugar-free ham in this country... ham tends to taste like it’s been candied here. Anyway, still delicious, and good enough for me to stay close to my goals! If I’d had peppers and avocado at home, this would have been even more 🙌

02/03/2018

Having so much fun taking styling to another level in a new collaboration with talented photographer . This monochromatic beauty is the first in a series, with the moods of red and orange. Stay tuned for more to come!! 🍊🍊🍒🍒

02/02/2018

It was an unseasonably warm day in Austin, spent mostly outdoors in the sunshine, with my friend, her little girl, and my baby-loving fur baby. ☀️ While I can be outright bitter about our scalding heat and suffocating humidity, (I think that’s an accurate description), summers in this town and weird hot days in February are cheerful and bright, like these locally grown zinnias.

02/02/2018

Two quick presentations, one clean, minimal and composed, the other messy, unintentional and wabi sabi. Natural light doing whatever.
Which one are you drawn to? Hopefully you are drawn to them at all 😉😊 I would change things about them both if I could go back, but the perfectionist in me can thankfully just enjoy these brief food moments for what they are... and that bowl, though!
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So about the soup... this super easy butternut squash soup has been an excellent lunch option during my Whole30. I don’t have a refined recipe but improvising is very forgiving. Check it out 👇 and just be sure to taste and adjust for flavors and texture.
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Sauté diced onion and carrot in avocado oil or coconut oil about 5 minutes, until they’re just getting soft, add minced garlic, a bit of garam masala, cinnamon, and turmeric, and stir for 30 seconds more. Add cubes of roasted butternut squash and cover with vegetable broth, chicken bone broth, or water, with a pinch of salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Purée the mixture, then add a drizzle of coconut milk and a squeeze of lemon juice. Purée again until silky, adding any water if needed to thin or coconut milk to make it creamier. Season with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, chives and/or cilantro.

01/19/2018

I’ve never been all that into chicken breasts, especially when duck leg confit makes it effortless to whip up many combinations of inspired salads for a quick lunch... always with bitter greens, lemon juice or vinegar (sherry, balsamic, champagne) for brightness, and a mildly sweet fruit (grapefruit, blood orange, raspberry, pear, green apple), all balanced with the richness of the duck. This salad is simply arugula, radicchio, fennel, and pear, tossed with the warmed shredded duck, champagne vinegar, and a bit of rendered duck fat. I like my Whole30 a little gourmet 😚

01/15/2018

That time last January our Meyer lemon tree gave out 59 lemons and and I made this honey-sweetened lemon curd tart with an almond flour crust... For some self-deprecating reason I seem to be making my transition to Whole30 a lot harder than it needs to be by fantasizing about past affairs with dessert. Goodbye for now, sugar beast...
🍋 🍋

01/11/2018

This is an excellent read for broth-makers or aspiring broth-makers. Bone broth is super easy to make but it’s useful to understand a few key concepts to get the most out of your food scraps!

Broth makers are after gelatin-rich bone broth, right? And when it fails to gel it can be a bummer. Here's how to troubleshoot your broth.

01/05/2018

Belatedly sharing our warm, candlelit Christmas dinner, and currently drooling...
Duck confit, butternut squash gratin, radicchio and citrus salad with preserved lemon and miso. The duck came from and the salad recipe from is so good.

12/29/2017

A casual Christmas table, for a causal holiday season. We’ve been taking it real easy in this house. Staying home, staying relaxed, and staying healthy. I couldn’t ask for a better holiday gift than that at the end of a really tough year, aside from a spa vacation or a magic wand, but hey... 🕯🍽🍊

12/20/2017

The pomme rosti is satisfying my latke urges this year, and I don’t smell like a fryer! 💯

12/20/2017

I found this article on wellness trends super interesting from a consumer and provider standpoint, and it heightens my hope to gather a team to develop a wellness-service concept or product that supports human and environmental health, and unabashedly brings in profits like the companies in the article ☝️

Get ahead of the curve.

11/27/2017

I’m thankful for all the cheese...

11/27/2017

Thanksgiving was so delicious. I didn’t really get good photos but there’s always too much going on to achieve that. Thankful for sharing a special home-cooked meal with our family and friends, and then playing 3 rounds of Celebrity.

11/14/2017

This is what I do now. Make a simple version of pho every week, and add vegetables like broccolini, oyster mushrooms, carrots, snow peas, cauliflower, turnips, or whatever calls out. A hot bowl of hearty soup just always does it for me, year-round.

11/07/2017

Oyster mushrooms are one of the most versatile varieties of mushrooms, and if you give them a little extra attention, you can see, they are really quite beautiful.

10/27/2017

More toast photos from me. Can’t stop, won’t stop making toast. I raided the kitchen and came up with all the messy toasts I could with gluten-free sourdough toast from

If only I could have had this bread with me when we lived in Tuscany for a few months. The crostini and bruschetta always looked gorgeous, and to me, the perfect snack. I don’t snack very well in general, and especially on the road in Italy I struggled to find Celiac-friendly snacks, and breakfasts. While there were packaged GF options, it was carb and sugar-heavy, which is all well and good for a quick trip, but not so good over several months. Regrettably, I also didn’t have a kitchen. Travel can be stressful for me since I manage chronic health issues and am admittedly prone to be being an anxious control-freak, but not knowing if I’m going to get hangry or sick can be nerve-wracking. Can any fellow Celiacs or anyone with food allergies relate to this? Any strategies you’ve learned? I try not to feel bad about having the needs I have when others are involved. I try to speak up to get what I need and be as flexible as I can. I try not to get grumpy and I try to appreciate what I can eat versus dwelling on what I can’t, because I love so much food that isn’t gluten-free. Fortunately, there’s almost always good food to be had by all. Vacation travel is totally worth it, though. And it makes me value the care I can put into my home-cooked meals, and that helps when I want to go out to eat and I can be reminded it’s much healthier and creative and nurturing to eat at home. Just sharin’. Enjoy the weekend, friends, wherever you are and wherever you eat!

10/25/2017

Over the moon for this gluten-free sourdough toast from , topped with marscapone, pears, and prosciutto.

Lately I’ve been inspired to be more dedicated to styling photos with greater intention. In part because I have beautiful bread back in my life! Usually, I shoot for 5 minutes before I eat my random meal and just hope there’s natural light. It’s been fine to dabble in this the last few years, but the aforementioned styling inspiration, along with my brand new iPhone (baller camera!) and my deep desire to really go all in and be paid for the abilities I’m seeking to discover, are all pushing me to up my photo quality and presentation. On that topic, can any of you advise on choosing a mobile photo editing app? Mainly for food photography, but other lifestyle images. I’m currently using Instagram and iPhone editing tools and ready for more. I honestly don’t have Adobe skills but will ease in to that. Any thoughts on Lightroom Mobile, Photoshop Fix, Snapseed, Facetune, Evernote Food, Vibrantly, VSCO, Fancycam, Color Story? Others? Thanks so much for any help. I need it. It’s time to follow this urge and to ignore the excuses I’ve always made. I’m excited to find out where this takes me.

10/17/2017

It’s gluten-free, and it’s sourdough. Seriously. I finally ordered , and it’s so delicious, by far the best GF bread I’ve ever had (and I didn’t get a stomach ache after eating it like I do with a lot of the yeasted, starch-heavy GF or Paleo breads). I chose the plain sourdough and 2 of the onion sourdough and froze one loaf so we wouldn’t binge! But, we still kind of binged because it was very bingeable, and bread is not normally part of our lives! The lovely loaves arrived very fresh, all the way from San Francisco where the natural yeasts make the best sourdough.
Soon I’ll post a few pictures of fancy toasts that this bread made possible. I get why toast is so photogenic and I’ve been totally left out of the Instagrammable toast game until now!

10/17/2017

Currently 89 degrees in Austin, so I felt I could still post this old picture of a hot summer meal, made with love, sweat and mosquitos. After a trip to our farmer’s market, it was all too easy to grill eggplant, zucchini and summer squash from , and halloumi from the happy goats . Everything took a light marinade in avocado oil and garlic before going on the fire, and was topped off with a few glugs of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamico di modena. I love the simplicity of summer grilling but I’m happy to transition from these vegetables to some of my earthier favorites of the fall, like butternut squash, kabocha, turnips, beets, collard greens and kale. And persimmons and apples and pears. I’m so sensitive to my environment, that I really need the weather to be chilly to fully embrace seasonal cooking and to inspire the kind of warm, comforting dishes that stick to your ribs when the evening turns dark a bit too early, and it’s cool enough to wear a soft, cozy sweater and wooly slippers in the state of Texas. Maybe some of you in hotter states or places with less distinctive seasons can relate! I’m actually complaining, I don’t enjoy the heat and length our persistent summers, but in life (and on Instagram) I try keep the negativity on low, and the passion on high!

09/08/2017

It's time to share pictures from our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest! It was such a fantastic time... a true vacation, relaxing, beautiful, and fun. A combination of experiences in blissful nature and a vibrant city, short but sweet visits with family and friends, space to just hang out with my husband in a fresh environment, breathing the freshest air. I'm trying to hold on to the feelings of these memories and relive them a bit, while still being present and riding the waves, the ups and downs of everyday life. Photos can do just that - help us remember what was inspiring and what was delicious. Here's a breakfast shot coming back to our spot on the the river after a lovely early-morning hike on the beach.

09/07/2017

A farmers' market bouquet, yielded to my whims. Lately I've been buying these from venders at the market and enjoying the challenge of working with only what other people have selected, and feeling grateful for the cheerful labors and creatvity of our local flower farmers.

09/07/2017

A plum tart with cardamom and lavender, a grain-free crust, haphazard, perfection-less, mostly improvised, and almost successful. The sweet and tart plums with a delicate touch of lavender, cardamom, and coconut sugar - all good - but, the cassava flour crust shows me that I have a lot of practice to do with a rolling pin and cold butter after years of being gluten-free and making Paleo crusts that you just press into a pan. I felt jolly, though, since I gave baking a try on a busy day of cooking, when I usually shy away from the kinds of desserts I love the most.
@ Clarksville Historic District

08/10/2017

A steaming hot bowl of soup to comfort and nourish the belly... for breakfast. If my soup sounds like a weird breakfast, I'm happy to explain. It's also the explanation for my recent hiatus from sharing food photos. In my journey to help heal my digestive issues, I have relied on periods of restricted diets that limit things like grains, fiber and sugar, and emphasize gut-healing foods like bone broth and fermented vegetables and homemade yogurt. After many unsuccessful attempts with both herbal and conventional antibiotics to treat SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth), believed to be caused by Celiac disease, I'm SIBO-free for the first time in.. I don't actually know how long. It's a big deal to me. It's been kind of an intense path. I've tried bunch of cleanses, the GAPS Diet, and several intensive healing protocols including heavy metal chelation. Having uterine fibroid surgery in February was one of the hardest choices I've made since I do my best to avoid the doctor's office, let alone the knife. They were all steps towards overcoming fears and towards healing. But my most recent treatment was probably, honestly, the hardest. Two weeks of consuming only a powder mixed in water, an Elemental Diet. No food. Nothing to satisfy. Almost fasting. No social eating, no recipe testing or styling. And going on four weeks of a very limited SCD diet with many more weeks of slow food re-introductions and healing ahead. I felt so overwhelmed and vulnerable without actual food, then with tiny bland bites of meat and mashed carrots, baby food for a gut that became like a baby's with the palate of a discerning adult. My obsessive passion for food had to hibernate while my least favorite emotions came out from their caves. It tested my strength and perseverance and I survived. And we're still talking about food! I'm SIBO-free and one gallon of bone broth at-a-time, I'm gently and patiently eating to heal my digestive system and to keep creating what good health feels like to me.

07/29/2017

Rust & tangerine tulips, in an easy-going romance with 's gorgeous ceramic tumbler.

07/12/2017

Taking on Whole30 - or any dedicated diet or commitment to cooking - takes a lot of planning and preparation! I've started offering a digital Whole 30 Meal Plan and Cookbook with 2 weeks of plans, shopping lists, recipes, and tips. You can supplement with other recipes, or simply repeat the plans to cover all 4 weeks and succeed with more ease. These recipes stand out for being a little more 'foodie'-centered, with a lot of flavors and fresh ingredients, while they're simple enough to sustain your daily routine. And many feature the trusty gadget we all love - the Instant Pot! Message me to find out more about my Whole30 Meal Plans, group Whole30 Challenges, or holistic nutrition counseling in general!

07/11/2017

Guys! The 8-quart Instant Pot is on sale for Prime Day (only until the end of TODAY), for $89.99 (it's normally $129.99). This is the main 'accessory' kitchen appliance to have truly changed my life. All of my clients (and anyone who purchases my Whole30 meal plans) have an Instant Pot, so they can experience perfect hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, amazing braised meats, roasts, bone broth, soups and stews and obviously much more - in a fraction of the time - all while keeping the kitchen cool in the summer. It saves oven and stove top space for big meals and has a 'keep warm' setting too. And, it replaces rice cookers and slow cookers - this little machine is all your need - but I have 2! I assure any interested cooks, it's easy to use and not scary at all like pressure cookers of the past. So, I share this sale every year and I hope you enjoy yours!

http://amzn.to/2v9WK9n

Instant Pot is a smart Electric Pressure Cooker designed by Canadians aiming to be Safe, Convenient and Dependable. It speeds up cooking by 2~6 times using up to 70% less energy and, above all, produces nutritious healthy food in a convenient and consistent fashion. Instant Pot Duo 8 Quart is a 7...