Welcome to mamaeats, a twice-weekly newsletter (Tues. & Sat.) inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. I’m a mother of three, avid reader, gardener, and home cook who focuses on nourishing, whole food meals with a focus on plants. This newsletter is my labor of love—if you are not already, and are able to do so, please consider becoming a subscriber to support my work here, which takes time and effort. Doing so gives you access to all the archives and recipes (find the recipe index here), as well as cook-along videos which go along with most recipes. If a recurring payment is too much for you right now, but you’d still like to contribute, I’d be delighted to receive a one-off tip via my ko-fi. As always, thank you for being here, reading this newsletter, and sending me your thoughts.
Summertime is here, the season perfect for slowing down and relaxing your pace and structure. I’ve got absolutely no expectations for this summer, not much on the schedule except swimming lessons for a few weeks, and camping here and there. Instead, I’m leaning into more of a feeling of how I want my summer to be. Relaxed, lazy days that stretch on into balmy evenings. My rough framework is to get outside all morning and evening, leaving the very hot afternoons free for inside things.
I’ve written out a list of books and films I’d like to read; have dusted off the chessboard and counted the card decks to put out on the coffee table; gone through cookbooks and bookmarked the summer meals I’d like to make. I have a little list of things I’d like to do, but I don’t feel any pressure to get to them all, it’s just for inspiration. Here are a few examples of very simple things that I think embody the slow, sensual pace of summer’s tactile luxuries:
a few posts from the archive that are relevant to this slow, simple, summer mood:
Here is a slow video diary for June, bits and pieces that I filmed over the last few weeks, which have been particularly slow and delicious as we decompress from the busy school year. We haven’t done much of anything, yet life has felt full and rich. This vlog, as usual, centers around eating!
Recipes mentioned in the video:
Overnight sourdough bagels, here.
Beautiful burger buns: here, I use a flax egg and olive oil instead of butter.
Cardamom cashew milk: 1/2 cup raw cashews, 2 cups water, 1/4 tsp almond extract, seeds from 1 cardamom pod, 1 date or splash of maple syrup, pinch of sea salt. No need to strain.
Sriracha mayo: here, I do more sriracha and more lime.
Oven baked white bean soup: here. I mash the roasted garlic heads with a fork before stirring back through the soup.
The best hummus: here.
Sticky sesame chickpeas: here.
Mediterranean chickpea salad with tahini sauce: here.
Kale and romaine caesar: here.
video diary for June: