Let's Cook Some Vegetables!
A Note from Teri
Oh my god: winter is almost done!!!! For a foodie like me, this is the season of ease, lightness, vibrancy, and letting super fresh ingredients shine! That’s the kind of recipe I’m sharing today. This gorgeous couscous completely celebrates spring.
While I’ve never been one to shy away from a complicated recipe—I’m a gal who loves a 26-ingredient, three-day long cooking project—lately, I’ve actually embraced a different rhythm in the kitchen. I’m happy to say my kitchen time has become simpler, lighter, and even more fun. It’s all about enjoying the process.
For me, spring means bringing green goodness into everyday eating by adding a handful of fresh herbs to a dish, tossing fresh green peas into practically everything, adding asparagus blanched for just a minute in salted water (I adore Celtic Sea Salt!) into a salad—it doesn’t need to be complicated to feel special and nourishing.
The in-season vegetables of spring include tender asparagus, sweet peas, vibrant herbs, and delicate greens. In California, where a significant portion of the country’s produce is grown (roughly one-third of our vegetables and over two-thirds of our fruits and nuts), spring absolutely marks the onset of abundance.
Recently I was chatting with a follower about how life in general can feel fun and expansive, or it can feel heavy—it depends on our approach. I was recently talking with her about trying to eat 140 grams of protein a day, but instead of letting it feel overwhelming, I simply changed my mind and wondered: how can this be fun? How can I make it feel like a game? The quest for protein reminded me of something my mom always modeled: you can make almost anything enjoyable if you decide to. That valuable lesson is one of the many gifts of being my mother’s daughter, and I would like to pass it on to you.
How can you make the little things in life more exciting? Can you bring fun, light energy into your cooking? Can you let cooking be playful and maybe even imperfect? Today for example, I was filming a sushi cucumber dish, and the cucumber tipped over two separate times, spilling the sushi everywhere. We couldn’t help but have a little giggle about it.
Perhaps getting a little playful is about finding new ways to incorporate spring produce, or a clever way to simplify a complicated recipe, or maybe it’s just about being present and grateful while you chop a bunch of fresh herbs. Easy cooking certainly doesn’t mean less delicious—it just means being more intuitive, more connected, more alive. This spring, that shift into ease feels like the key to every dish, and perhaps life also.
The Last Crumb
If you’re looking for some of my kitchen favorites, here are a few that I’m loving right now especially.
If you want to see a beautiful page that Vivian created with all my favorites on it, click HERE!
Follow Along with Teri
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