Habits of a Modern Hippie, Denver, CO (2026)

03/03/2026

Herbed Pistachio Whipped Feta Comment ‘Pistachio Feta’ for the details to be sent to your inbox!

Ingredients:

8 Oz Feta In block form
1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/2 Cup Basil
1/2 Cup Mint Leaves
1/2 Cup Pistachios Shelled
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Lemon Juice and Zest
Salt and Pepper To Taste

Add the pistachios to a food processor and process on high until the pistachios have turned into nut butter! Add in the mint leaves and basil, process again until the leaves are minced. Add in the yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and crumble the block of feta into the food processor and process. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture. And process until light and fluffy with no clumps.�
Transfer to a bowl, smooth out and decorate with mint leaves, crumbles of pistachio, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired and serve! This can store in the fridge for up to five days.

Cover photo: .creative �

02/24/2026

Let’s make a carrot cake loaf! 🥕

So this is part bread part cake.. like directly in the middle. It also would make great cupcakes!

Wet ingredients:
2 Cups Freshly Shredded Carrots*
1/4 Cup Applesauce
1/2 Cup Neutral Oil
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Brown Sugar
*Pre shredded carrots can get hard, so stick with fresh!

Dry Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Sea Salt
1 Heaping Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Cloves
1/2 Tsp Ginger
Optional: 1/2 Cup Candied Ginger or Nuts

Preheat the oven to 350°

Combine all wet ingredients in one bowl, set aside. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl, whisk, and then add to the wet ingredients! Combine well. The batter should be thick but still pour-able.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Then pour batter inside. And bake for one hour or until a skewer comes out clean!

Let cool enough to handle, then slice. Enjoy!

02/19/2026

Roasted Lemon-Shallot Hummus. 🍋 🧅

Ohhhh Meyer lemons, how I love you! Organic Meyer lemons have a thin, flavorful, malleable skin that is great to cook with! So we’ll take the classic lemon-shallot flavor combo and take it up a notch!

Ingredients:
16 Oz Chickpeas
3 Meyer Lemons
1 Large Shallot
1/4 Cup Tahini
5-6 Cloves Garlic (or one head)
1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tsp Sumac (optional)*
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Chopped Parsley and Pine Nuts (optional topping)

*Sumac is a beautiful, flavorful Middle Easten spice made from ground berries that adds complexity and depth! I highly recommend trying some! Mine is from

🍋 Preheat your oven to 375° and prep a lidded baking dish with a drizzle of olive oil. Halve and deseed your lemons, and thinly slice the shallot. Toss in olive oil, add salt and pepper, then a small splash of water and replace lid. If you are using garlic cloves you can toss them in with the lemons, but if roasted in their paper, I recommend roasting in a separate dish with the top sliced off to expose cloves then once again coating in olive oil and adding salt and pepper. Roast for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes until shallots have broken down and the lemons are soft.

🍋 Scrape the entire baking dish into a food processor and add chickpeas (I prefer to de-skin them for a better texture), tahini, and sumac. Start to process, then as the mixture starts to move more slowly drizzle up to a 1/4 cup until the mixture is smooth.

🍋 Spread into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and top with fresh parsley and pine nuts if you have them on hand (pine nut and lemon is a *great* flavor combo!’ Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days!

02/18/2026

Meyer Lemon Marmalade is wonderfully sweet with the subtle bite of lemon’s acid. Comment ‘Lemon Marmalade’ for the recipe, tips, and sugar options to be sent to your inbox! Meyer lemons are perfect for this skin-on recipe that is ready for water bath canning! *Meyer lemon season is November-April, but peaks January- early March!*

Ingredients

2 Cups Meyer Lemons Chopped
2 Cups Liquid (Lemon Juice and Water)
2 Cups Sugar

Instructions

Thoroughly wash the Meyer lemons and dry. Remove the blossom and stem ends of the lemon then cut in half. ‘Unroll’ the lemon, cutting between each of the triangular sections, removing the seeds and any excess membranes that you see. Then cut these triangle sections into smaller slices. 
As you’re cutting and adding the Meyer lemon slices into a bowl, you’ll notice that some juice leaks out- save that! Measure the excess juice and then add water to the juice to create two cups of liquid. 
Combine lemon slices, lemon juice liquid, and two cups of sugar in a small saucepan. 
Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the natural pectin in the lemon rinds thickens the marmalade. 
If not canning, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to one month. 
If you are canning use the water bath canning method and leave 1/4 inch headspace, process for ten minutes, then let stand for five before removing them from the canner. The canned marmalade will last for 12 months.

Cover Photo: .creative

02/12/2026

Preserving horseradish root! When this is in season, you can grab whole roots from the store and they are SO much more potent than the premade sauces you can get! So I make my favorite horseradish root steak sauce and then freeze the rest to make things like tartar or cocktail sauce.

Horseradish Steak Sauce Ingredients (Makes about 1 cup)

1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Finely Grated Horseradish Root
1 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs Minced Parsley
1 Tbs Minced Shallot
1/4 Tsp Mustard Powder
Pinch of Cayenne
Salt and Pepper, to Taste

Combine sour cream (I’m using ) plus everything except the parsley and shallot in a small bowl and mix well to combine. Then add parsley and shallot and combine again. Store in the fridge- best within one week but can store for up to two. Don’t freeze.

To preserve the rest of the root, use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough skin and slice off the tough ends. Grate to a fine grain with either a zester, a rasp, or using the smallest holes on a box grater. If you have sensitive eyes this process can be HARD- think an onion x1000. You see me being silly in the video with ski googles on, but they really do help!

Heap the grated root into a bowl and pour in white vinegar until the root is saturated but not swimming in liquid. Transfer into freezer cubes (do NOT use your regular ice cube molds for this- it takes forever to get the oils out!!) and freeze. Then transfer to a freezer-safe airtight container for up to six months.

Why the vinegar? Horseradish root looses its potent flavor QUICKLY. Once air is introduced to the horseradish root an enzymatic process quickly breaks down the volatile oils that gives horseradish its flavor- the acidity in white vinegar works to denature the myrosinase (an enzyme) which if let to run its course will make the flavor week, bitter, and the root itself will turn brown. We use white vinegar (instead of the ACV in the steak sauce recipe) because its taste is relatively neutral, so we can use the frozen cubes of horseradish for whichever recipes we’d like later!

Cover Photo: .creative

02/06/2026

Hibiscus Rose Limeade Mocktail 🌺

For two Mocktails:

2 Cups Water, plus extra for swirling
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Hibiscus Flower
1 Tsp Rose Petals*
Sparkling Water
Optional: 2 Tbs Sugar for the Rim

*Make sure you use culinary/organic rose petals. Saved petals from floral bouquets are often coated and covered in pesticides! My petals are harvested from my backyard!

Preheat your teapot by swirling hot water around it then combine hibiscus and rose petals in a tea strainer and pour 2 cups of boiling water that has left to cool for about a minute (you don’t want to scorch the petals!) Let steep for 7 minutes.

While tea is still hot stir in honey (this is mildly sweet- do a quick taste test and add in more honey if you prefer it sweeter!) let cool and then add lime juice.

Pour over ice and top with sparkling water. Enjoy! ✨

02/04/2026

Banana Chips! 🍌

Simple and delicious, these chips bring out the natural sweetness of bananas!

The drying time of banana chips varies greatly by what you like! People who like them still soft and pliable will dehydrate for around 12 hours at the 135° setting, but I like mine as a crunchy, snappy treat so extend that drying time to about 14 hours. Generally I just pop them in when I’m making them and dehydrate overnight!

Store in an airtight container.

Cover photo: .creative

02/02/2026

Red Wine Salt 🍷I posted this recipe for the first time last year and you all went wild! (Even Food & Wine got in on the fun!) So it felt only appropriate to bring it back now that it’s February and Valentine’s Day is on the way!

Simple but delicious, this salt is perfect for adding a bit of depth to so many dishes, plus is a fun cocktail rim!

1/2 Cup Sea Salt
1/4 Cup Red Wine
2-3 Tbs Chopped Herbs/ Spices (I used rosemary, sage, and black pepper)

Combine the wine and salt in a small bowl and let sit for at least an hour but preferably overnight. Drain the excess through a fine mesh sieve. Mix in the herbs and spices you chose, then dehydrate until the salt is dry. You can use an oven on the lowest setting, an actual dehydrator at 125°, or let it air dry, stirring often.

Store in an airtight container!

Cover photo: .creative

01/31/2026

Let’s preserve asparagus!

To store in the fridge remove the woody bottoms and then place upright in a couple inches of water like you would with flowers!

To freeze: Remove woody stems, blanch, dry and freeze. I’m using a to store long term, but anything airtight will do!

Pickled Aspargus:

Brine: Bring 2 cups apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 2 Tbs Salt, and 1 Tsp sugar to a boil.

Pickles:
Packed quart jar of asparagus spears trimmed to length
1 Tsp Black Peppercorns
1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tsp Celery Seed
2 Cloves Garlic, sliced

Add asparagus,spices, and garlic to the quart jar, top with hot brine. Store in the fridge for a month or use the water bath canning method leaving 1/2inch of headspace and process for 15 minutes to store up to a year.

Cover Photo: .creative

01/28/2026

Warm Roasted Leek Salad 🥗 This time of year I’m wishing for fresh greens but still with some of that winter-comfort food feel! This warm salad hits both of those notes, plus adds the brightness of citrus on top! The blood orange (now some call them raspberry oranges!) are the perfect seasonal accompaniment to the winter leek.

Ingredients:
2 C Leeks, Sliced
2-3 Small Golden Beets, Chopped
1 C Fennel, Sliced
1 Blood Orange
1/2 C Dry Couscous (or 1 Cup Cooked)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Arugula
1 Tbs Thyme Leaves
1 Tbs Rosemary, Minced
2-4 Garlic Cloves
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400º

In a medium, oven safe baking dish combine the sliced fennel, leeks, and chopped beets. Add the minced rosemary and thyme. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Pop into the 400º oven to roast for 40-45 minutes, stirring halfway through until beets can easily be pierced with a fork.

If making your own couscous, add the 1/2 C dry couscous and 1 cup water to a rice cooker (or in a pan on the stove) and cook until fluffy.

Slice the orange in half. Juice one half of the orange and slice the other half into moons.

For the dressing, combine the orange juice, remaining 3 Tbs of olive oil, salt and pepper in a mason jar and shake to emulsify.

For each salad, lay down a bed of arugula, add the still-warm couscous and leek mixture to wilt the greens, and finish with blood orange slices and a drizzle of dressing!

Cover Photo: .creative

01/23/2026

Smoked Chai Mocktail ginger I love a smoked drink- originally when I was planning this mocktail I wanted it to be more like a mule, but with the smoke and chai flavors I found that the extra element of citrus juice threw the balance off. So instead of a citrus kick, this blends smoke and sweetness incredibly well! And I amped up those smoky flavors by toasting the chai spices and smoking the glass. Optional: add a smidge of a smoked salt to the rim!

Toasted Chai Syrup:

3/4 C Water
1/2 C Honey
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Thumb Ginger, sliced
One Chunk Fresh Nutmeg or 1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
2 Star Anise
3 Cardamom Pods, smashed
1/2 Tsp Cloves
1/2 Tsp Allspice
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

In a small saucepan on high heat toast all the ingredients except for the honey, ginger, and water. I find best results when preheating my cast iron saucepan and alternating between heating the pan and swirling the spices for 2-3 minutes.

Add the water and ginger, bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and let steep for about ten minutes. Add the honey while still hot. Strain. Best if used within two weeks.

For the mocktail:

Because cinnamon is a type of tree bark it can be lit on fire! Carefully light one end of a cinnamon stick on fire and then blow out so it is smoking. Trap the smoldering cinnamon stick under the glass and let the glass smoke for 5-10 minutes.

Add ice to the glass and then combine 1-1.5 ounces of chai syrup (depending on desired sweetness) for every 16 ounces of ginger beer (I’m using ) and garnish with the smoked cinnamon stick (remember to wipe off any ash!) and a star anise pod!

Cover Photo: .creative

01/20/2026

You know I love an unusual pickle. And these pickled persimmons fit that bill! The first time I tried pickled persimmons, they were in a Japanese dish and were pickled together with daikon radish. They were so good, but I wanted to try them on their own without radish that can tend to take over flavor-wise.

I pulled together some of my favorite persimmon flavor pairings and these pickled fuyu persimmons turned out so well!

We’re at the end of persimmon season, so be sure to make some persimmon pickles before you can’t find them again until next winter!

Ingredients for One Pint

2-3 Firm Fuyu Persimmons*
1 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbs Salt
1 Star Anise
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1 Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tsp Cardamom

*You need Fuyu for this recipe- acorn persimmons will not hold up to pickling.

Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small sauce pan. Bring to simmer and stir until the solids are dissolved.

Slice persimmons into 1/4” slices. Stack the slices and spices into a pint jar. Cover with brine.

Pop into the fridge for at least four hours before eating. These are best as a quick pickle as the canning process will make the persimmons squishy! Best within the first month.

Cover photo: .creative

Habits of a Modern Hippie

03/03/2026

02/24/2026

02/19/2026

02/18/2026

02/12/2026

02/06/2026

02/04/2026

02/02/2026

01/31/2026

01/28/2026

01/23/2026

01/20/2026

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