Shaina Olmanson's Blog, page 8

Summer Garden Green Bean Salad with Honey Vinaigrette and Goat Cheese Crostini

A salad recipe of garden-grown green beans, crisp radishes, and heirloom tomatoes is tossed with a light honey-sweetened vinaigrette and feta. Goat cheese crostini provide a crouton-like crunch on the side.






My daughter runs through damp grass dotted with white clover. Her sallow hair trails behind her in a mess of swimming-induced tangles. Beach waves, if you like. Pool toys and bikes lay side by side wherever they happened to fall in the midst of last night’s lawn games. A clothesline hanging...

Lamb Kebabs with Tzatziki and Quinoa Tabbouleh

Recipes for marinated grilled lamb kebabs are served with plenty of pita, fresh tomatoes, a healthy scoop of tzatziki, and a gluten-free tabbouleh with quinoa in place of the bulgur.






This morning started early with a bright-eyed boy climbing over my prone form at 5:00 a.m. just as the sun was lighting up the sky. I stared at the clock, shrugged, and squeezed his little body close to mine, unable to send him away while I pretended that I shouldn’t wake up and get a few things done early. I pref...

Steakhouse Salad with Grilled Rib Eye and Balsamic Vinaigrette

A steakhouse-style salad recipe complete with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and herbed croutons, grill-seared rib eye steak, crumbly cheese, and outdoor dining.





The end of the year is a whirlwind of papers and projects sent home that are currently occupying every inch of the living room rug and the entire dining room table. There are bubbles left over from summer birthday celebrations on the final days of school, a yellow plastic wand littering our front steps.


With wide eyes and voices raised...

Coconut Crusted Cod Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw

Tender white cod gets a coconut crust before being tucked inside a tortilla with a creamy cabbage slaw and a buttery avocado in this fish taco recipe.






“What’s this?” I finger the handles on a large paper bag that my son has tied to his backpack strap as he comes through the door from school.


“We had Celebration of Learning this morning. I told you last night.” My heart sinks.


“I wasn’t home last night. I was cleaning up the book fair.” Alone, I think, with one volunteer who wasn’t even scheduled...

Chocolate Spice Tea Cakes: Fair Trade for Mother’s Day

A recipe for rich mini tea cakes spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, and chocolate tea leaves. These are begging to be made for tea time or a breakfast brunch.

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. – Marcel Proust

The alarm clock blares into the pristine quiet. The dreams I was drowning in pull away as I’m pushed through the thick haze into a state of waking. I pry one eyelid open and peer at the clock, flip to my stomach, an...

Mango Habanero Hot Sauce

A smooth and balanced sweet and spicy hot sauce recipe featuring habanero chili peppers and Ataulfo mangoes.






I have really good intentions. I mean, honest to goodness, heartfelt intentions like sharing hot sauce recipes and coconut cod tacos before May 5th. Intentions, however, do not produce results on their own and can be unraveled into nothing. Besides, to postulate that Cinco de Mayo is somehow the only day to eat tacos and hot sauce would be misguided at best. Wholly inaccurate.


Instead,...

Spring Vegetable Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe for chicken pot pie is packed full of spring vegetables in a creamy white wine sauce and served up on a bed of baby arugula.






I did not grow up in a pie household. One of my very first memories – when I had only one year and several months behind me in life – is of my mom struggling to make pie crust (a story for a different time). It is also the only memory I have of her making pie crust. The pies I knew were made by family members for Thanksgiving or gazed upon through thick glass...

Lavender Lemon Sablé Cookies

A recipe for rich, decadent sablé cookies with a bright lemon and lavender glaze.

I carry you with me into the world, into the smell of rain and the words that dance between people, and for me, it will always be this way, walking in the light, remembering being alive together. -Brian Andreas

This weekend I drove to my grandpa’s house. Located in a cul-de-sac just a few blocks from my childhood home, I pulled up to the yellow house with my youngest daughter in the backseat to help sort through t...

Lemon Meringue Éclairs: Baking as Therapy

A recipe for lemon meringue éclairs where choux pastries are filled with lemon pastry cream rather than vanilla, and for their topping, they get a healthy pile of whipped meringue before being toasted under the broiler and then consumed en masse.






My frustration falls, hot and warm, off my chin after leaving wet streaks down my face. I swallow slowly, pushing the lump in my throat to the dark hollow of my stomach, and stare at the freshly painted door. Its white surface unmarred for the first t...

Spring Cleaning: Small Kitchen Updates for a Big Change

We did a few things while spring cleaning to update our kitchen with big changes to how the space feels. You can enter for a chance to win $500 of Legrand adorne products by showing them a picture of your space.



Fresh out of grad school with a job secured, in the middle of winter, we start house hunting. We were looking specifically in a very small collection of blocks that feeds to the kids’ school. We walked through house after house of outdated kitchens, DIYers gone wrong, sloping floors an...