I actually first started writing this post in early 2024, and finally, now in May 2025, it is REALLY time to publish it. In a word: Ouch! Grocery prices in the U.S. are awful.

Maybe it’s just because I live in a high-cost-of-living area in the U.S. (Seattle), but food prices really are out of hand. And the prices just keep going up while sizes go down (so maddening). My favorite canned refried beans were $6 a can the last time I checked, and the most recent standard-sized box of cereal I bought was so tiny (yet so expensive!)

I was adding some veggie scraps to my Crock Pot for a batch of homemade veggie broth and congratulating myself on the money I was going to be saving, when I thought … “hmm, what else can I do, right now, to help give us a little relief when it comes to grocery expenses?” My immediate next thought was, “I should write a blog post about that!” And so here I am.

A quick note: One thing I will not be recommending is cutting coupons. If you like to do that, by all means, do! Personally though, I’m not a huge fan of couponing; I’ve tried it, but I feel like it takes so much time sorting through coupons, figuring out which will work, going from store to store … the amount of time it takes is not worth the savings for me. But again, if you love couponing, go for it (and consider me impressed by your dedication!)

BUT I have a lot of other ways to save money on groceries in 2025! If you are in the U.S. too, maybe one or two will help you out in this crazy expensive era.

1. Make Your Own Broth/Stock

Every time you peel a carrot, dice an onion and have that stubborn undiceable end, or have a handful of puny celery ends, save them in a gallon-size freezer bag. Then, when it’s full, whip up a batch of stovetop veggie-scrap vegetable broth or Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth. Use it for soups over the next week, or freeze some for down the road.

I also like to use vegetable Better than Bullion for a cheap and easy vegetable broth alternative. Just one teaspoon of Better than Bullion mix is needed per cup of broth, making it a much more financially friendly option vs. boxed broth.

2. Cook Beans from Scratch

Canned beans are super convenient, no doubt. But it is so much cheaper to grab a bag of beans and cook them! Then you can freeze your beans for later, or just have a very bean-heavy week full of delicious and healthy legumes.

3. Buy Spices in Bulk

Spices and seasonings can be a painful part of grocery shopping. Granted, they tend to last awhile, but when you’re trying a new recipe or finally run out of something, spending $7-$10 a pop on a new bottle of spices is rough.

If you have a grocery store with bulk spices available, I enthusiastically recommend going that route. Spices are light, and often cost well under $1 for the same quantity found in a $7 glass bottle. I just reuse the bottle and pour the spices in using a funnel. Easy.

4. Make Your Own Spice Mixes

Another way to save money on spices and seasonings? Make your own spice blends! From chili powder to fajita seasoning to curry powder, you can whip up your own mix at home super easily while saving $$. Bonus: You can customize spice mixes to your own tastes!

Spice Mix Recipes:

• Homemade Italian Seasoning
• Homemade Taco Seasoning
• Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix
• DIY Curry Powder
• Sweet & Spicy BBQ Dry Rub

5. Make a Meal Plan

I find I save SO much money when I make (and stick to!) a meal plan at the beginning of the week. You can also go full-hog and meal prep, but I personally don’t love sacrificing a weekend day to meal prep. Meal planning, I can do! They’re pretty easy to come up with yourself, or do a quick web search to find something good. Or, I started writing vegetarian meal plans this year and only have a couple up so far, but plan to create more.

6. Shop Your Pantry/Fridge

Sometimes a gourmet meal lies right under your nose! Okay, maybe not gourmet, but pretty darn good, and you didn’t have to go to the grocery store. Which is better than gourmet! Take a good look in your pantry, fridge, or freezer for any items that have made their way toward the back and use what you find to inspire a new meal. Minestrone is my favorite use-up-loose-ingredients meal!

7. Go Meatless Occasionally

Studies show that eating vegetarian every once in awhile – or all the time – can reduce your overall grocery budget. (source) Not sure? Try taking part in Meatless Monday to kick off your vegetarian eating adventures, and see how you like it!

8. Make Cheap Meals

This one’s fairly obvious, but if you’re like me, sometimes you draw a blank when trying to come up with a frugal meal idea. Here are a few of my cheap food faves to help inspire you:

• Homemade Soup & Grilled Cheese
• Potato Soup
• Baked Potatoes or Baked Sweet Potatoes topped with leftover chili
• Beans & Rice
• Navy Bean Soup

9. Make Freezer Meals

I’m pretty diligent about freezing leftovers or making extra of something for the freezer. Sometimes I’ll even make a meal specifically for the freezer like these Refried Bean and Cheese Burritos or Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches. This one is less about saving money on groceries and more about helping us resist spending an exorbitant amount of money on take-out (again, CRAZY high prices in our area, I say as I sip my $8 matcha latte and eat a $5 muffin at a local coffee shop. Ugh).

10. Buy Generic

This tip can be hit or miss – sometimes generic versions of foods just aren’t as good. But give them a try and soon you’ll have a category of foods that are just as good in generic form as more expensive branded form.

10. Make Your Own Coffee/Cold Brew

Instead of buying bottled cold brew or, speaking of $$$, grabbing your coffee at a coffee shop, try making your own iced coffee and lattes at home. You don’t need a fancy latte machine! I use a little stovetop number and a plug-in frother for lattes, and just a simple mason jar for cold brew.

We have a Keurig for quick coffee emergencies and guests, and we recently started using reusable Keurig cups to save money and contribute a little less plastic to the landfills. It’s working out great!

• Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate Recipe
• Japanese Iced Coffee
• Honey Vanilla Oat Milk Latte
• Golden Milk Latte

11. Choose Lower-Cost Stores

We’re huge fans of Trader Joes and Costco for groceries that cost less overall (and if we had an Aldi in our area, we’d be going there, too!) Winco is another that many people love. Some of my favorite money-saving tips for these stores (I’ll add more as I stumble across them):

Costco Money-Saving Tips

• Buy shredded mozzarella cheese for our Friday night pizzas and various kid-friendly meals throughout the week. Keep one bag in the fridge to go through and freeze the other bag until we’re ready to use it.
• Buy canned goods like chickpeas, black beans, and diced tomatoes. They can keep in the garage in a “deep pantry,” and often the cost is around $1 per can.
• Buy Better than Bullion. Our local Costco offers giant jars of Better than Bullion that are a great price.
• Eggs! We all know the prices of eggs has been painful. We eat a lot of eggs in our house, and have found that Costco’s eggs are the best price: $8.99 for two dozen organic eggs.

12. Shop Online & Do Curbside Pick-Up

Granted, you’ll get less steps and movement in, but this is a great way to resist temptation at the grocery store. Review your meals and recipes, add just those items to your cart, and don’t waste money on all of the shiny objects displayed to get your attention actually in-store.

Note that some stores charge an extra fee for this service, so that might be worth weighing the savings.

13. Grow Your Groceries!

Okay, I know gardening costs can quickly get out of hand. But have you bought an heirloom tomato recently? I’ve spent $5 on one before!

If you have any grocery budget pain points when it comes to produce, consider if you might be able to grow it easily at home. Tomatoes love heat, so fill a container with potting soil and place it in a good spot on the warm side of the house or on the deck. Then throw in a tomato plant along with a tomato cage, and come August/September, you’ll get all the tomatoes!

Growing your own herbs are an amazing money-saver, too. I have a dedicated raised bed in my garden for herbs, and in my garden zone, many of the herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, and chives overwinter so they come back year after year. Annually, I plant parsley, basil, and dill and I’m certain this saves me hundreds of dollars per year. You can even freeze your parsley and other herbs to use all winter long!

We have several blueberry bushes that produce a good amount every summer, and they’re so delicious! This year I’ve started some potatoes and onions for the first time, too. And as always, I’ll be growing zucchini and squash like nobody’s business.

Gardening websites I love:

• Growfully
• Sunset magazine
• Swanson’s Nursery
• Seattle Urban Farm Company (I also recommend their book High-Yield Vegetable Gardening)
• Gardenary on Instagram

14. Make Your Own Bread

This year I’ve finally jumped on the sourdough bandwagon and I’m loving it! I buy my all-purpose and bread flours at Costco and make delicious artisan-quality loaves for pennies.

Here are the sourdough recipes I like:

• All-Purpose Flour Sourdough Bread
• Everyday Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough Focaccia
• Sourdough Discard Crackers

15. Don’t Shop Hungry

I’m sure you’ve heard this age-old adage: A hungry shopper spends more (and gives into impulse purchases). I have too, but still, sometimeI forget and I’ll go to the store hungry – and be quickly reminded that I should have eaten first! So I thought it was worth mentioning.

16. Make Your Own Sauces, Condiments, and Dressings

From hummus to vinaigrette to pizza sauce, it’s easy to make your own sauces, condiments, and dressings. And it can save you a TON of money!

I hope at least a couple of these money-saving ideas help you with your grocery budget this month and beyond! If you have any ideas of your own that I missed, I’d love it if you left your tips in the comments section below. We’re in this together!

The post 15 Ways to Save Money on Groceries in 2025 appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

I’m getting through, but I’m also heartbroken, and a little bit paralyzed at the moment, because my Mom was subscribed to my email list and I know this blog post is going to generate an email and that email is going to land in her inbox and she’s never, ever going to see it.

My Mom did not die of COVID-19, but she spent a couple of weeks in an extremely locked-down hospital with dozens of COVID patients. For most of the time she was there, we were not able to be there with her and hold her hand and help advocate for her. It was really, excruciatingly hard. But my family did get to see my Mom at the end, and we also got to be with her when she passed.

My heart is shattered for all of the families who have not been able to say the same. 

My gut reaction when the news about Amy Cooper and George Floyd broke last week was that I just couldn’t take on more emotionally. I knew in my heart that I needed to step it up, but my brain was screaming, “Not now!” I knew that my natural aversion to confrontation, and my using that as a reason to often stay silent – even when I have strong beliefs about racism – was not acceptable. That anytime I chose silence, that made me complicit. And that even though I am feeling empty, the fact that I can choose now as a bad time to join in the fight is, in fact, a perfect, shining example of my white privilege. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I understand a little better now. 

Listen, I know I might lose you over getting “political” on a food blog, and I get it. I don’t like this stuff being thrown in my face when I don’t expect it either. It’s hard.

But it’s also a privilege for those of us who get to choose, isn’t it?

Right now it’s more important to me, personally, to work on speaking out. I know I need to do more than just this, but it’s a start. (I also believe this is more than a political issue. It’s life and death and things need to change, period.)

Going forward, in keeping with my tendency to separate business from private, I’ll probably keep the speaking out to my personal life and I’ll get back to just posting recipes here on Kitchen Treaty. But then again, maybe not – all bets are off right now, and as I do the work, maybe it will make sense for me to continue to speak out here. I don’t know.

But as far as today goes, it just didn’t feel right to share about my Mom without acknowleging everything else. And even though you won’t be reading this, Mom, I hope you’re proud of me for speaking up.

The post Life, Death, and Privilege appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

Is your morning cup of coffee starting to give you more misery than joy? Maybe it’s making you feel a bit too jittery or giving you a lovely little case of acid reflux? 

I can definitely relate. I’m the first to admit to being obsessed with our morning coffee routine, but my body just isn’t having it lately.

I’d been powering through, reducing my consumption when I can, working in some decaf here and there … and then my doctor suggested I consider eliminating caffeine altogether. “And not decaf, either,” he said. “Decaf is a racket.” Yep, it still contains caffeine – and so do black, green, white, and oolong teas. Oh, and chocolate too! It was all off the table.

Luckily, since then I have learned that if you’re looking for a caffeine-free coffee alternative, there are a TON of options out there! And because I was exhaustively researching, buying, and testing coffee substitutes, I thought, why not share?

And so here’s A Guide to Caffeine-Free Coffee Alternatives – all about the popular ingredients used in coffee alternatives, plus reviews of several brands I tried, including my top three faves (note that I have not yet tried Dandy Blend [affiliate link], so my reviews may change once I receive my sample and give that one a try!)

Table of Contents

• Popular coffee alternative ingredients
  • Chicory root
  • Barley
  • Dandelion root
  • Figs
  • Other ingredients
• Coffee alternative reviews
  • My criteria
  • #1: Teecino Dandelion Dark Roast
  • #2: Pero Instant Natural Beverage
  • #3: Coffig Roasted Fig Beverage
  • Other coffee alternative products

Popular Ingredients in Coffee Alternatives

Before we dive head first into the specific products I’ve independently tested and have (or have not) enjoyed, let’s talk about specific ingredients, shall we?

Chicory root

The most common coffee alternative ingredient I’ve found is chicory root. An herbaceous perennial flower related to the dandelion, chicory has bright blue flowers and a root that, when roasted and ground, resembles coffee in aroma, taste, and hue.

Chicory coffee also has been found to have some very healthful benefits, such as prebiotic properties that feed the good bacteria in your gut. And personally, I’ve found that chicory coffees do tend to sooth my stomach, which has been a happy finding considering traditional coffee does the opposite.

Barley

This popular coffee alternative ingredient surprised me! Barley grains are roasted and ground for nutty, coffee-like flavor. Roasted barley coffee is reportedly popular in Italy, and goes by the name caffè d’orzo (or, simply, “orzo”). This interesting Saveur article goes into more detail about barley coffee, how Italians created it due to World War II rationing but it continues to be a popular drink today.

There are many barley coffee products on the market. From what I’ve found, they’re generally instant coffee drinks. Pero is the version I picked up at my local grocery store, and it’s actually one of my favorite overall coffee alternatives (read on for the full review!)

Note that if you eat gluten-free, barley is a no-go!

Dandelion root

Roasted and ground dandelion root really does resemble real coffee in taste and color. I love the bitter notes in dandelion root, which truly remind me of coffee.

A quick Google search yields lots of claims about dandelion tea’s health benefits. Those may or may not be true; I just like how much it resembles coffee. Which, I have to admit, was a huge surprise to me, having only ever viewed dandelions as pests in the backyard!

Figs

Another surprising ingredient! Somewhere in my searches, I came across a fig coffee product called Coffig. It’s a coffee substitute out of Oregon, made with roasted black mission figs. This is one of my favorites, too – though the aroma is overwhelmingly of figs, the taste has the perfect coffee-esque bitter note. 

Some Teaccino products contain figs, too.

Other ingredients

There are several other ingredients found in coffee alternatives. Rye is often included in barley coffee products. Burdock root is a vegetable that is reported to have coffee-like qualities when dried and brewed. Carob is another ingredient I’ve been seeing in coffee alternative products. Almonds make an appearance in some coffee substitute products, too, contributing a rich, nutty flavor.  

Coffee Substitute Reviews

My criteria

Personally, I’ve always liked my coffee strong and full-bodied. We grind our own coffee beans and brew using the pour-over method, and it’s worth every bit of effort. SO GOOD.

To be honest, I’ve had face the fact that no herbal coffee or other coffee alternative is going to completely replace the experience (and taste!) of my beloved real coffee. But there are some that come close enough – so yay for that!

I like my coffee with cream, but NOT sugar. I’m not a fan of sweetened coffee. So coffee alternative products that were on the sweeter side tended to not be my fave. 

It’s also worth noting that this is not a sponsored post in any way; I paid for all of these products myself, and reviewed them completely independently. 

For each product, I considered aroma, taste, and ease of brewing. Are we ready? Let’s start with my #1 favorite coffee substitute. 

#1: Teecino Dandelion Dark Roast

• Ingredients: Carob, chicory, dandelion root, ramón seeds, and natural coffee flavor
• Aroma: Light, nutty, sweet
• Taste: To me, Teecino’s Dandelion Dark Roast tastes the closest to real coffee, though body-wise, it is rather thin. It has just enough bitterness to remind me of real coffee. This product contains ramón seeds for a bit of sweetness. I don’t actually love that sweetness, but it does seem to help round out the flavors overall. 
• Ease of brewing: Teecino Dandelion Dark Roast is available in tea bags, making it super easy to brew (just like tea). It’s also available in a loose form that brews like coffee – you can use in a drip coffee maker, French press, or even an espresso machine. 
• Overall: I rate Teecino Dandelion Dark Roast a 4/5. For me, it comes pretty darn close to coffee!
• Where to buy it: I found Teecino Dandelion Dark Roast at my local PCC store (a grocery store local to the Seattle area). It’s also available on Amazon (affiliate link).

#2: Pero Instant Natural Beverage

• Ingredients: Barley, malted barley, chicory, rye
• Aroma: Smoky
• Taste: Medium body with a satisfying, almost chocolatey, coffee-esque warmth. No real bitterness and just a hint of sweetness. 
• Ease of brewing: The easiest! It’s an instant beverage, so just spoon it into your mug, add hot water, and stir to combine. 
• Overall: 4/5. I really like Pero as a coffee substitute; it hits almost all the right notes for me. 
• Where to buy it: I found Pero at my local PCC grocery store. It’s also available on iHerb.com.

#3: Coffig Roasted Fig Beverage

• Ingredients: 100% black figs
• Aroma: Super sweet and fruity – 100% fig aroma, which I’m not necessarily wanting in my coffee substitute, but it’s not unpleasant – as long as you like figs.
• Taste: Coffig has a wonderful, coffee-like bitter note. I love that! It brews up nice and dark with medium body. It definitely has a coffee-like quality, but it’s also very figgy and a tad sweet for my tastes.
• Ease of brewing: Brews like regular coffee; I use a French press.
• Overall: 3.5/5. I like this one! It’s not the first option I reach for, but it tastes great. I like that it doesn’t take a ton of product to brew a cup – a little goes a long way.
• Where to buy it: Amazon (affiliate link).

Other Coffee Alternative Products

I also tried the following coffee alternatives, some of which I found acceptably drinkable and some, well, not so much. 

Leroux

• Ingredients: 100% soluble chicory
• Aroma: Lightly fruity
• Taste: Imported from France, this soluble chicory drink has wonderful medium body and goes down smooth. It has a nice nuttiness and a pleasant bitter note, but it’s a bit sweeter than I like. And it has a slightly unpleasant aftertaste that I don’t care for. 
• Ease of brewing: Another instant beverage. Easy! Just spoon it into your mug, add hot water, and stir to combine. 
• Overall: Overall I rate Leroux a 3.5/5. This was the very first chicory coffee I tried, and gave me hope that there might be coffee substitute out there that I could love. It’s a very drinkable coffee alternative, but it has a sweet note that doesn’t work for me, and I’m not a huge fan of the aroma either. 
• Where to buy it: I found it on Amazon (affiliate link).

Celestial Seasonings Roastaroma Herbal Tea

• Ingredients: Roasted barley, roasted chicory, roasted carob, cinnamon, allspice, and Chinese star anise
• Aroma: Warmly and cozily spiced thanks to the cinnamon, allspice, and anise
• Taste: Body-wise, this one is quite thin, as it’s more like tea than coffee. The taste is very light, with little to no bitterness. 
• Ease of brewing: Brews up just like tea – nice and easy.
• Overall: 3/5. I reach for this when I’m in the mood for a comforting cup of chai-ish tea moreso than when I’m craving coffee. 
• Where to buy it: I found it at a local grocery store. It’s also available on Amazon (affiliate link). 

Teecino Java Chicory Herbal ‘Coffee’

• Ingredients: Carob, barley, chicory, dates, almonds, natural coffee flavor, figs
• Aroma: Nutty, sweet
• Taste: This one isn’t my favorite. It has okay body, but the flavor is a little murky. It tastes a bit hazelnutty to me, too, which I don’t love here. It’s also a bit sweeter than I like. 
• Ease of brewing: This one’s brewed just like coffee. I whip it up in my single serve French press. So add the mix to the pitcher, pour over hot water, and let steep for 5 minutes. 
• Overall: 2.5/5. Drinkable, but not my fave. 
• Notes: I also tried the Mocha version of this product, which I liked even less. I’ve never been a fan of flavored coffees so keep that in mind. 
• Where to buy it: I found it at my local grocery store, but it’s also available on Amazon (affiliate link). 

Rasa Adaptogenic Coffee Alternative

• Ingredients: Roasted chicory, burdock, and dandelion roots, Eleuthera, shatavari, he shouting’s wu, codonopsis, chug mycelium, ashwagandha, rhodilia, Ceylon cinnamon and reishi extract
• Aroma: Earthy and mushroomy
• Taste: It tastes a lot better than it smells. It has a nice, coffee-like bitter note. The body is pretty thin, but it has some warm, nutty elements that are really nice. 
• Ease of brewing: This one brews up just like coffee. I make it in my French press, but the 10-15 minutes brew time is quite long. So not the easiest. 
• Overall: 2/5. I really wanted to like this one, but it wasn’t my fave. Rasa’s Adapogenic Coffee Alternative is one of the most innovative of the bunch, with a long list of health-promoting herbs (adaptogens are said to help reduce the effects of stress on the body). But the aroma kills it for me. 
• Where to buy it: Wearerasa.com

Do you have any herbal coffee alternatives or other coffee substitutes that you love? Please share in the comments below!

Read more

• A recipe for a Vanilla Turmeric Golden Milk Latte, a nice, warming, caffeine-free alternative to coffee
• And read about nine rich and creamy vegan coffee creamers – a handful of recipes plus my favorite store-bought creamers

The post Saying No to Caffeine? Coffee Alternatives, Reviewed appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

This thick vegan stew is flavored with harissa, a spicy chili paste from North Africa. It’s found in most grocery stores these days, and it’s an exceptional hack for amazing flavor.

Make this Moroccan Chickpea Stew ahead of time for easy meal prep, or make it for dinner and enjoy the leftovers for a hearty lunch.

It’s easy, hearty, and cozy!

More Sweet Potato Recipes

• Grilled Sweet Potatoes
• Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili
• Whipped Sweet Potatoes
• Vegetarian Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
• Three Bean Sweet Potato Salad
• Baked Sweet Potato Fries
• Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

More Vegetarian Stews

• Chickpea & Tomato Curry
• Vegetarian Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
• Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew
• 20-Minute Vegetarian White Bean Chili

Print

Moroccan Chickpea & Sweet Potato Stew

This vegan stew is so hearty and cozily spiced. Thick with chickpeas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and spinach – so satisfying with a scoop of quinoa or brown rice.

Keyword harissa chickpea stew, harissa vegetarian recipe, moroccan chickpea stew, moroccan sweet potato stew

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Calories 411kcal

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 small sweet potato about 8 ounces, peeled and diced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
• 5 ounces baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon harissa*

For serving:

• Lemon wedges
• Chopped parsley for garnish
• Freekah, couscous, rice, or quinoa cooked

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it has softened, 5-7 minutes.
• Add the garlic, cumin, and coriander and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the sweet potato, chickpeas, tomatoes, and water or broth.
• Bring the mixture to a slow boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.
• Add the harissa and spinach to the pot and stir until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and season with salt to taste.
• Serve over your grain of choice with lemon wedges and chopped parsley sprinkled over the top.

Notes

Recipe courtesy of The Green Plate Club

Nutrition

Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 584mg | Fiber: 17g | Sugar: 13g

The post Moroccan Chickpea & Sweet Potato Stew appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

Like may people, once I started really noticing countertops and knew I wanted something lighter and brighter, marble quickly earned my affection. Light, bright, white, happy, gray veined, and timeless.
Then I learned marble stains and etches easily.

So I turned to quartz. But it was too expensive and, well, kind of fake looking, to be honest?

So then I turned to a nice white granite, and that was my final decision, except it wasn’t because I was never 100% sure, and then the granite people kept putting us off and meanwhile quartz went on sale, and so we got quartz, and WE LOVE IT.

Our white quartz countertops

That was the short version of our journey. Here’s the long version, along with some info that took me weeks (months?) to gather and process about each countertop material. Please note, I am not an expert! This is just what I learned based on hours and hours of online research and many conversations with professionals (some of which completely contradicted one another). But I thought I’d distill my research here just in case you, too, are looking for white kitchen countertops made from some kind of stone. And maybe, just maybe, I can save you a few hours of research on your own kitchen remodel journey.

(more…)

The post White Kitchen Countertops: Marble, Granite, or Quartz? appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

I wanted a light, bright, white kitchen for years, and almost two (yes, two!) years ago, we finally started the process toward getting one. 

(Why did the project take two years? Well, we started before we had an ample budget, which is also the first thing I’m going to list in another post I’ll be publishing soon – all about the mistakes we made during the process. I do wish we’d waited until we had more money. But we didn’t, and so we DIYed a lot. And DIY – at least for us two slowpokes – takes time. The other big hold-up was that after our kitchen was remodeled, we still needed to refinish our wood floors [because we shifted the island around]. But by the time the kitchen was 90% done, we had maaaaajor renovation exhaustion. So, the floors didn’t happen until just this past summer, nearly two years later.)

But I digress. How about a couple of before-and-afters, before we go any further?

The post Our (Semi) Budget-Friendly White Kitchen Remodel appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

I mean, from photos of dinner to photos of a toilet. Why the heck not?! 😉

wall paint / vanity / light fixture / faucet / towel ring / wall shelves / floor tile / fern scroll art

If I’d known how rewarding our downstairs powder bath remodel would be, I would have gone for it so much sooner! Instead, we put it off for years.

When we first moved into our house over five years ago, we noticed some dry rot around the base of the toilet in our hardwood-floored downstairs half bathroom. There was no current leak and it wasn’t getting worse. But we knew we’d need to replace the hardwood with a more bathroom-friendly flooring material at some point.

But other home improvement projects – those that I thought would be way more exciting – took precedent. Like our kitchen, which STILL isn’t done! It’s close, but not quite there.

Anyway, our half-bath remodel ended up being seriously satisfying – from start to finish in about three weeks. And the outcome? We LOVE it. Like, I just kind of want to hang out in there. Weird, but true.

Okay, so here’s how it looked when we first bought the house. Sponged walls (all the rage back in the day!); elevated bowl sink (which by the way, my daughter and her friends thought was the coolest thing ever). All in a very odd-shaped bathroom that’s rather large for a powder bath but super awkwardly laid out, and with no windows, to boot.

Eventually, my guy and I painted the walls and trim a creamy white to get us by until it was time to do the full remodel. And then finally, we went for it! Here’s what our windowless half bathroom looks like now (I don’t have a super wide-angle lens, so this is the closest I have to the before):

Our first decision was deciding to go with a daring (for us), graphic tile – because why not be a little playful and unexpected in the powder bath? These tiles mimic the popular cement tile look but are actually printed ceramic tile – much more affordable and a little lower-maintenance. We went with a dark grout so that it wouldn’t compete with the patterns the tile throws out, and we absolutely love it. The floor is what everyone comments on first – tons of compliments.

Along with the dark tile, I also decided to embrace the naturally dark, windowless situation by also going super dark on the walls. I considered charcoal or even straight-up black, but eventually dialed myself back to a nice, deep, rich gray – Chelsea Gray by Benjamin Moore. I love how it’s warm without being beige; gray without skewing green, blue, or purple. It might be the perfect darker gray!

For the vanity, we decided to remove the long, wall-to-wall unit and replace it with a freestanding, narrower unit. We lost some storage, but gained a spot to put the animals’ water bowl – a huge (and very intentional) bonus. Hi Fern!

(Can I just say how tough it is to photograph a tight, awkwardly shaped space with zero natural light? To all of you home decorating bloggers out there who make photos like these look effortless, I salute you. OH HOW I SALUTE YOU.)

Anyway, I shopped vanities for MONTHS, let me tell you. Originally, we were going to go with lighter walls and a rustic wood vanity, but every wood vanity I came across was super expensive – $1000+! A tough pill to swallow. We even bought an antique dresser and were going to convert it into a vanity by placing a round white vessel sink on top, which would have been so cute – but not so practical with a kid in the house. Eventually, we decided to go with the simple white vanity and the darker walls for contrast.

The vanity we ended up buying was from Lowes, and while it’s not the highest quality vanity around, it does have some nice soft-close doors and a cute curve along the front that gives it some personality. Plus, grey-veined Carrera marble countertops and backsplash strip to boot. All for under $500! Sold.

The light fixture is quite possibly my favorite element in the entire bathroom (aside from the tile). It took me forever to track down this industrial spin on schoolhouse lighting from Ballard Designs – the instant I finally laid eyes on it, I was sold. It isn’t satin nickel like the rest of the bath hardware, but in this nice matte black with white shades, it totally works. I wanted something that would take standard bulbs and had full shades because I wanted to put some 60-watters in that bad boy without it blinding all who entered.

This light fixture completely fits the bill and lights up our windowless bathroom perfectly.

Initially, I really wanted two side sconces, but in the interest of keeping to our budget, we decided to use the existing electrical box instead of having to seal that one up and add two new. I’m over it now because again, I love the light fixture we ended up with.

The toilet paper holder and towel ring were Anthropologie splurges. They’re nice and solid, and best of all, have a pattern that mimics the petals on the floor. Score.

The mirror was a tough one. I really wanted to do something round or a fun, quirky shape. But because of the single light fixture above and the fact that we have a 4-foot person and a 6-foot person that will both want to look into it, I decided on a more practical rectangular shape. I found this mirror at a local superstore on clearance and it was a steal – only $30!

Lastly, we decided to add shelves behind the toilet for a bit of added storage and interest. Because of the large fern wall hanging, I felt we needed some smaller-scale items on the other wall for balance.

These rustic behind-the-toilet shelves are perfect, and – bonus – they hold a basket with a spare roll of TP and some first aid supplies in the woven bath canister (easy-to-access bandaids are important when you have a young kid in the house, I’ve learned). I love the juxtaposition between the sweet shape of the scallops and the rustic reclaimed wood rounds they’re made of. Meanwhile, my guy was just happy they weren’t floating shelves – his nemesis when it comes to installation.

wall shelves / woven bath canister

All in all, we’re super pleased with how our powder room remodel turned out. It’s playful and fresh and, maybe best of all, no more five-year-old dry rot around the toilet. Woo hoo to the loo!

This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click a link and buy something, I may receive a small portion of the proceeds. Thank you for supporting Kitchen Treaty!

The post Our Gray & White Half-Bathroom Remodel appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

Most successful bloggers wrote their posts memoir-style, with an intro – sometimes related to the recipe, often not – a few (or a lot of!) photos sprinkled in, and then finally, the recipe. It was a format that felt right at the time – title-story-photo-story-photo-recipe. Pretty much all food bloggers fell in line. This is how we wrote our blog posts because it’s how it was done. It’s also one of the reasons I got into food blogging. I love to write.

For better or worse, memoir-style is still how it’s still done.

Five or six years ago, things really began to change. Mobile views began to surpass desktop views – over 80% of my readers now read my website via phones or tablets. At the same time, more and more people turned to recipes online instead of phoning mom or flipping through cookbooks. Food bloggers flooded the space with their story-recipe posts, the readers followed, and the best recipes – fueled by ratings, reputation, viral videos, Pinterest, and/or Google juice – rose to the top.

Not related.

At the same time, our readers became more task-oriented. Sure, we have our loyal readers who come to us via email lists or social media, but if they really have the time to want to get to know the story behind the writer or the recipe, they’ll follow us on Instagram.

Meanwhile, if they found us on Google or Pinterest, it’s true – most of the time, they just want the dang recipe. They didn’t type  “Best blondie recipe and a touching golden retriever rescue story” into the search bar. The format that served food bloggers and their readers 10 years ago has become at best a distraction, at worse, a hugely annoying obstacle. Especially when having to scroll and scroll and scroll on a phone.

I surveyed my readers a couple of years ago and they were evenly split between wanting to read a story vs. just wanting to get to the recipe. I figured that if only 50% of my loyal readers wanted a story before the recipe, the average person who finds my blog via Google is probably much less likely to want it.

And you know what? Most of the time, when I’m in reader mode, I just want the dang recipe too! I don’t want to scroll and close pop-ups to get to it. I do get it. When people say “just get to the recipe” I nod and say “I know, I know.” I believe way, way more readers feel this way than food bloggers realize.

But dear readers, please just know that when a food blogger has poured heart and soul and hours and hours of their life into a recipe blog post, “just get to the recipe” stings a little. So take it easy on us, will you please? And for us food bloggers, we need to remind ourselves that it’s really not personal … this is just how things have evolved. And will, I’m pretty sure, continue to evolve.

Here’s the thing, though. There’s no solution – not yet. We can’t “just get to the recipe,” and here’s why.

1. Google doesn’t like it.

Earlier this year, I ran an experiment. On a handful of my well-performing recipe posts, I moved the recipe up to the top and the story down below. (Google likes more words rather than less, and many times there are some great recipe tips within my story, so deleting the story entirely isn’t an option.) So rearranging seems like an easy solution, right? Welp, within a few months, all of those recipes moved down in search results – and, of course, pageviews for those recipes, in turn, had gone down too.

2. My ad network doesn’t support it.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my ad network. But their philosophy on this issue – which echoes that of many food bloggers – is that food blogs are different than your standard grab-and-go recipe website like AllRecipes. Their perspective is that food blogs have heart; a story; a person to get to know. We want people to settle in and stay awhile. Our goal as writers should be to make them want to. My ad network is my bread and butter, so I at least need to consider their perspective.

Also, those in-content ads? The ones that pop up in between paragraphs? If the paragraphs don’t exist, those ads don’t exist. And they need to load fully – not be skipped – in order for revenue to be made. For many of us these days, our food blogs are our full-time jobs – or at least, our side hustle. We need to make money in order to keep doing this. Would you like to know how much good, solid, fast web hosting costs for Kitchen Treaty? $2200 per year. I LOVE my food blog and I love that it’s my job, but it IS my job. It’s a business. And I need to make money in order for it to continue to exist.

My solution for the past few years to the “just get to the recipe” conundrum is a “Skip to recipe” button at the top of every post. It’s not a perfect fix, but it gives people an option to skip the fluff and just get to it. As far as the in-content ads go, I’m okay with sacrificing some income for a better user experience. (It’s a balance.) My ad network thinks those are a bad idea too, and here are some good reasons why, if you’d like a little inside perspective.

3. I don’t know what the solution is.

If I go back and edit all of my posts – delete the story, remove all but one photograph, and just post the recipe – as of right now, my blog will fail. And moving the recipe to the top of the post was a bust, too. So what’s the solution? I don’t know. 

I do believe that food bloggers need to evolve when it comes to the format of their recipes. But evolve to what? That’s the million dollar question.

What do you think?

Are you a food blogger that’s tired of hearing “Just get to the recipe?!” Are you a reader frustrated with food bloggers’ mile-long preambles? I welcome your vents, thoughts, and especially your ideas in the comments below.

Update: I just learned of this very similar article written by Cadry’s Kitchen. YES! Great read on the subject. 

The post Why I Don’t “Just Get to the Recipe” appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

It was a good one, though (personally, at least – I’ll not get into politics).

I started the year determined to strengthen my culinary knowledge, and spent half of it going through a professional certification program. It was definitely a great education, and I now feel like I know so much more about how to create a successful recipe. Though the program is plant-based, my own diet is primarily plant-based, and I LOVE creating plant-based recipes, I still plan to create a wide variety of recipes – especially those with non-plant options – moving forward. I’m definitely evolving, though. Don’t we all?!

I’m excited to continue focusing on our unique mixed-diet perspective going into 2018. It’s not so unique anymore though, is it? I swear, everyone I know knows someone who is dealing with mixed-diet situations. Friends who have gone vegan but still have a meat-eating spouse; parents whose kids are exploring vegetarianism; friends who are learning, like I did two years ago, that dairy is not kind to their bodies amidst living with cheese-loving families. Flexible recipes are where it’s at, and I’m looking forward to continuing to create them – along with many delicious plant-based recipes that appeal to ALL – in 2018.

Another focus in 2018 for me will be to revisit many of the recipes in my archives. This blog goes back more than 8 years, and there are quite a few recipes that I want to tweak, rephotograph, and resurface. So in 2018, not only will you see new recipes from me, but you’ll also see a lot of recipes from years past. I really want this blog to be a quality, reliable resource of recipes for you all, and now that I’ve expanded my culinary knowledge, I feel like it’s time to revisit some of the old stuff. Past time, actually. Plus, it’s always fun to add new options to recipes, and that’s what Kitchen Treaty is all about: Options for all.

Happy New Year to you and yours. Thank you so much for reading. It truly means the world to me.

And now, finally, Kitchen Treaty’s Top 10 Recipes of 2017! These are the recipes that I created and published this year that resonated most with readers (in the form of page views).

See any trends? (Hi, Instant Pot!)

10. Plant Protein Power Breakfast Bowls – Best rib-sticking breakfast ever. Aside from lentil soup, that is.

9. Massaged Kale Salad with Avocado & Chickpeas – Healthy, simple, hearty. Love this salad.

8. How to Make Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot – The only way I made hard-boiled eggs this year. And I made a lot of them!

7. Healing Soba Noodle Soup – Seriously, move over chicken noodle. Love this anti-inflammatory, uber-comforting soup.

6. 3-Ingredient Healthy Caramel Apple Dip – Date caramel joins up with creamy almond butter for this super easy dip.

5. Vegan Creamy Lemon Pasta with Peas – Ah, the magic of cashews. This is a great recipe for vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores living together – each person can customize to their tastes.

4. Crowd-Pleasing Vegan Vanilla Waffles – This one’s a great example of how a recipe can be plant-based yet still appeal to the masses. Everyone loves these!

3. Instant Pot Banana Walnut Steel-Cut Oats – Love all the omega-3 action going on here.

2. Instant Pot Curried Carrot Red Lentil Soup – Red lentils add satiating protein to the mix here. A great hearty soup.

And, by a landslide, my most popular new recipe for 2017 was:

1. Instant Pot Vegan Golden Lentil Soup with Spinach! – Probably my most-made soup of 2017, too. I make this a couple of times every month!

That’s it from me for 2017! Happy 2018 to you all!

The post Top 10 Recipes of 2017 appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

Under admittedly a bit of duress, I continued my dairy-free adventures. But 100% dairy-free recipes didn’t feel quite right. Keeping in mind that I started this blog with lots of dairy-licious stuff and that many of you still enjoy it, I decided to bring on two contributors to help create some new, and usually dairy-full, recipes. Brandy and Gina have developed several fabulous recipes for the blog, including one that made the top 10! Love it.

One benefit of going dairy-free was my 2016 relationship with Silk, in which I worked with them to create several posts and recipes about embracing plant-based living. It’s been a ton of fun to work on recipes created with one of my favorite products.

This year, I also really started thinking about Kitchen Treaty and how I wanted it to evolve. I sent out a survey in the spring and incorporated much of what you asked for in my redesign. Speaking of: the redesign! My largest business investment and probably the biggest change yet. I love it. And I hope you do too.

Speaking of love, I did a little analyzing and these are the recipes you loved most of all this year. I looked at the recipes with the most pageviews between January 1, 2016 and now – which means that recipes published earlier this year have more of a chance of ending up in the top 10. I’m sure there’s a much more scientific and accurate way to extrapolate the top published recipes of 2016 but math was never my strong suit. Nonetheless, we can still get a good idea of which recipes resonated, even if there is probably a more accurate way to go about it.

And the overall trend? Healthy, healthy, healthy, and probably for the first time ever, nary a slow cooker recipe in the mix. Looks like I need to step up my slow cooker game or finally master my new Instant Pot … we shall see.

Anyway, here are Kitchen Treaty’s Top 10 of 2016! Thanks for reading; I hope to see you around a lot in the coming year!

10. Sheet Pan Tofu & Veggie Dinner – Sheet pan dinners were hot this year! This was my super simple take on a vegan version. So easy.

9. Buffalo Chickpea Salad – Buffalo (the sauce, not the meat) continues to be popular, and for good reason – it’s delicious! Especially in this salad. One of my faves, too.

8. Pea Pesto Pasta Salad – I’m always looking for new pea recipes and I was pretty excited about this one. Okay, still am.

7. Zucchini Fettucine with Creamy White Bean Alfredo Sauce – In which I finally embraced zoodles!

6. Vanilla Turmeric Tea Latte – Another popular trend, turmeric! I drink this golden milk at least once a week. Still obsessed.

5.  Simple Lentil Vegetable Soup – Just a good, simple recipe.

4. Vegan Camping Food Idea + A Recipe for PB&J Overnight Oats – Vegans like to camp too! This post that I created in partnership with Silk has tons of food ideas for vegans plus my favorite overnight oat recipe yet.

3. How to Cook Asparagus 3 Ways – I was especially obsessed with asparagus this past spring! One of my fave veggies.

2. Spinach Feta Breakfast Wrap – Gina created a flawless Starbucks copycat and you took note!

1. Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Oat Blender Pancakes – It makes me happy that this recipe is #1 because I worked my tail off making it just right. I still make the final recipe all the time!

And that’s a wrap! Well, there was one wrap – and I do promise more wraps in 2017. But I meant to say, we’re done! Looking forward to more deliciousness in 2017.

And thank you, thank you SO MUCH for being here!

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