The Light Kitchen by Stephie McCarthy

From the Light Kitchen, by Stephie McCarthy

I strive to make all of my recipes original and nutritious. I'm fascinated by foraging, home grown gourmet gardens, sprouting, and super foods.

All of my recipe Archives by CATEGORY here

Stephie McCarthy Light kitchen

featured recipes

Crispy Dried, Marinated Sage Leaves

©StephieMcCarthy

These dried savory leaves dress up so many recipes!

Oil-cured zucchini tapenade

A fabulous tapenade which is really good, I have to say, made with dried zucchini, fresh tomato, oil, and olives ... make it chunky as shown here, or smoother with additional oil.

~ favorite soup ~
Savory Shiitake Hot-pot

Greens and mushrooms tempered in hot broth for just 40 seconds are colorful, nutritious, and soft enough to substitute for Ramen and rice noodles. Shiitakes lose their spongy nature and endive/Tango lettuces stand up well when flash-wilted to combine with nut butter, salt and red pepper (read more).

Vegan strawberry butter

Dry fresh berries into a versatile paste that captures the complex flavors of the berry, that combines beautifully with warm notes like basil or mint, cinnamon, orange, black pepper, jalapeño, balsamic vinegar, and sweeteners. (read more)

Mostly French-inspired, fresh pickles

Sprouts and nuts marinade

Mini-cheesecake molds from recycled containers

We like miniature cheesecakes, fresh from the freezer—instead of one large pie melting in the fridge. Our lemon-cashew cheesecake with carob cookie crust was a big hit on Thanksgiving, and thanks to the quick mini-molds we used, each serving stayed pristine in the freezer until defrosted. (read more)

Green olive & kale pesto

I've always been crazy about green olives and they are wonderful paired with fresh kale. Some markets sell raw olives, but if you can't get those, do try this recipe with what you can find from a good olive bar (read more).

Tomato confit, tomato jam

Turn inexpensive hot-house tomatoes into a luscious ruby-red jam. Pronounced "con-fee", from the French word to conserve, this fresh jam will keep a long time in the refrigerator and can replace more expensive tomato ingredients such as sun-dried tomatoes in sauces and toppings. (Read more)

Eggplant "bacon" chips, salad

This is the kind of vegan treat I am really happy to discover. Though it's a bit time consuming to make, it's well worth it for the savoriness it adds to dishes like spinach salad. (read more)

Pea sprouts, from seed to salad

Fresh peas are back in season, but the peas from our local store were terrible: astringent, mealy, and very expensive! I knew they wouldn't taste much better cooked and, not wanting to waste them, it was an easy decision to try my hand at sprouting. (read more)