tabbouleh

tabbouleh

It mIght be obvious to you that we have a slight obsession with sweets. Okay, perhaps it’s a little more than slight—it’s pretty severe. But there is just something so satisfying about them! I mean, who wouldn’t want to start their day by pouring hot chocolatey nutella syrup over crispy banana waffles first thing in the morning? After a breakfast like that, it’s basically guaranteed that the rest of your day will be spectacular. Life is full of bountiful pleasures like these, and it’s important to treat yourself to sumptuous breakfasts from time to time! We are not saying that you should then go have cake for lunch and ice cream for dinner, but keeping a diverse mix of sweet and healthy is important. When we were planning this month’s blog schedule, we realized that four out of the last five recipes we posted were desserts and the fifth one was a cocktail. So today we are balancing things out and sharing one of our favorite Mediterranean side dishes, a delicious and healthy cold salad, perfect for all your spring and summer entertaining needs. Say hello to tabbouleh.

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ugly apple roses

dusted with powdered sugar

There’s nothing like a tall glass of ugly apple juice on a hot day. It is just as tasty and refreshing as “beautiful” apple juice made from “pretty” apples. In fact, if you did a blind taste test, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two. From childhood, it is instilled in us that outward appearances aren’t important; that true beauty comes from within. This also applies to fresh produce, but over time we have forgotten these universal rules. We have become discriminatory toward the fruits and vegetables we buy, ignoring the imperfect ones with spots and wrinkles, which end up being thrown in the garbage even though they taste exactly the same. Every year, nearly 3 trillion pounds of food is wasted—more than enough to feed all 800 million people worldwide who suffer from hunger. That means 40% of all the food in the US is going directly into the trash. So what can we do? Sarah Phillips created an informative website called UglyProduceIsBeautiful where you can learn more about these issues, and helpful solutions to fix them. When she contacted us last month asking if we would like to contribute a recipe to her site, we felt it was important to help spread this message and thought it would be fun to create something beautiful and delicious with ugly produce. So we rescued some ugly apples from our local market and with just a few simple ingredients and a couple easy steps, turned them into delicious apple roses. Flaky and buttery, rich with caramelized brown sugar, and swirled with delicate slices of sweet apples, these elegant pastries prove that even the most homely fruit can be the start of something beautiful.

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3-ingredient molten dulce de leche cakes

3-ingredient molten dulce de leche cake

At this very moment, there are fifteen singers making beautiful music in our living room on this breezy Sunday afternoon. It is always a treat when Ryan’s choir rehearses here. Their resonant voices fill the house with rich harmonies and an uplifting spirit that purifies the soul. It is a gorgeous spring day and our windows and doors are wide open, so between songs, dozens of birds fill the gaps of silence with their inconspicuous melodies. The group is practicing a short, three-song set for a podcast they are recording next weekend including a powerful rendition of Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind.” It has been quite entertaining around here as the house has been filled with guests all week. On Thursday night we threw a fancy outdoor dinner party for thirteen of our friends, including a seven course meal, three different kinds of cocktails, and strawberry shortcake with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert. We knew this week would be busy, so when planning our blog schedule, we wanted to find something delicious, yet simple. Like three ingredients simple. Well, we hit the jackpot.

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chai cupcakes with brown butter chai frosting

happy first birthday to husbands that cook

Exactly one year ago today, on April 29, 2015—at 5:43 pm to be precise—Ryan was moments away from pressing a small white button with the word “enter” displayed in small glowing letters. And as he confidently pressed this rectangular key it made a faint click as the plastic struck the cold aluminum. Moving at the speed of light, trillions of signals were simultaneously dispersed across the planet, into computers, phones, tablets, and electronic devices all over the world. At that very split second, even before he could take his hand away from the keyboard, those electrical currents were translated into words, sentences, photos, and recipes, and Husbands That Cook was born.

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mid-morning fizz

mid-morning fizz

Looking for a refreshing cocktail to make for your next brunch party? We’ve got you covered. This delightful beverage was introduced to us by our mixologist friend Al who made it for a backyard breakfast party we threw at our house last month. Ryan and a few friends spent the past year organizing an elaborate reunion celebration for his college acapella group, The SoCal VoCals. With over 100 guests, gourmet food trucks, custom craft cocktails, and live musical performances, the party was a huge success. And on this beautiful Sunday morning we celebrated their hard work over a relaxing brunch. We prepared a double batch of our Winter Shakshuka for the main course, other friends brought tasty dishes to the potluck, and this sociable drink was the perfect light accompaniment to all the delicious home-cooked food that was spread out on the table. Made with crisp cold navy strength gin, vibrant green chartreuse, fresh lemon juice, sparkling soda water, and garnished with a slice of orange, this effervescent cocktail is sunshine in a glass.

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