My husband is one of the trickiest people to shop for. Yes, I live with him. Yes, I know what he likes. But he doesn’t really need anything—and there are only so many kitchen gadgets you can get a guy who loves to cook before it gets old. Enter the RawSpiceBar monthly Flavor Kit, which includes unique freshly-ground spice blends and recipe ideas delivered to your loved one’s mailbox every month. Think spices like German Gingerbread, Indo-French Vadouvan and Peppercorn Chai. It’s an adventurous chef’s dream!

With the biggest BBQ weekend of the year coming up (at least in the States), I thought it made perfect sense to share some simple (colorful!) side dish ideas for your barbecue.

Prepare to drool…

Hey girl. Treat Yo Self is a series (inspired by my beloved Parks and Rec) that focuses on inexpensive indulgences that make you feel good without feeling guilty. Because when momma’s not happy, nobody is happy.

Most of the day I try really hard to fuel myself with healthy, clean foods. Yes, there are the occasional stress-induced dives into a bag of chocolate chips. Yes there is fro yo. A lot of fro yo. Still, most of the time I make good choices.

That said, when the sun sets, the girls are in bed and my husband and I are collapsed on the couch binge-watching TV shows, Momma wants some chocolate. Momma needs some chocolate.

Dark chocolate squares carried me through the winter but the other day I tried something new that has totally captured my heart. Even more impressive, it captured my husband’s heart too.

Before I even get started on this post, I want to make it clear that I’m not telling everyone they should run off and live a gluten free life. It’s not easy to go gluten free (the stuff is in everything from bread and some cheese products to soy sauce and salad dressing) and if you don’t have an issue digesting it, there’s no reason to go crazy and remove it completely.

That said, going gluten free does remove a lot of crap from your diet—but mostly because you eat more clean. Most of the recipes I’ve included here don’t require you to go out and buy expensive gluten free substitutes (which are sometimes loaded with sugar). It’s a lot of real, whole foods that will fill your belly without feeling bad about what you eat.

It’s no secret that I rarely cook. I’m not very good at it, which frustrates me and only makes my feeble attempts at culinary excellence infinitely worse. My husband, on the other hand, enjoys cooking and happens to be way more talented at anything kitchen-related (except for washing dishes. He totally sucks at washing dishes—probably on purpose).

So when I do actually cook something, it should come as no surprise that it is always an insanely easy something (see: zucchini pasta). My latest obsession? Portabello pizza.