Sweet Potato & Roasted Carrot Soup

I love soups, especially this time of year, because they are so easy to make, and so warm and hearty. This soup is thick, creamy, full of flavor, and could be easily adapted to keep mixing things up.

Farro with Beets and Apple Cider Broccoli & Rapini

Before we move on to Halloween treats and sweets, how 'bout another healthy dinner?

Yes, this is my second post with apple cider this week. But I like having multiple recipes to use an ingredient in, especially those ingredients that you don't buy all the time and that don't last indefinitely. And this is also another simple, easy, filling, delicious meal that can be thrown together after work.

Beet and Avocado Salad with Beet Greens and Goji Berries

This dish is fresh, summery, light, and delicious, and jam-packed with healthy ingredients. AND, I used basil growing in my NEW and very own herb garden! I can't tell you how awesome it is to just open my door and pick a few leaves of fresh basil to use in my dishes. Well, ok, I can tell you. I just did. I love it. I'm going basil-crazy. I'm also ready to go golden beet crazy after making this meal.

Vegan Valentine's (Vegan Dinner Party #3)

I'll admit I'm not much of a schmoopy, romantic comedy type-of-gal. Usually, I'm not one for pink sparkly hearts. But.... okay, I got a little caught up in things this year. I made schmoopy cookies. And a lot of them, at that. This weekend, I hosted a full-on Valentine's dinner party. What's with all the schmoopy-ness, anyway? 

It must be a vegan thing ;-) . I made so many desserts, we would have needed an extra 10 people to finish them all (although I did send everyone home with a little bag of cookies). Here's a sampler of my third (successful!) vegan dinner party: