This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Over the past two years, I’ve developed a series of dinner menus with La Crema, each one featuring the flavors of a different country. For most of the dinners in this series – Japanese Izakaya, Italian Seafood, Provencal Rose – my inspiration has been firsthand. But for this one, featuring the warming spices of Morocco, I’m an armchair traveler. An armchair eater maybe? So I can’t tell you if these recipes taste just like they would if they were eaten outside the bustling Medina or in the cool courtyard of a riad. All I can promise is that they evoke warmth and vibrancy, two things I find myself craving as the days shorten and darken.

As usual, this menu contains an appetizer,  a main course, a side dish, and a dessert. The first three courses are all over on the La Crema blog, and you can find the dessert recipe – for Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies – below. The appetizer this time is a Spiced Moroccan Carrot Dip, served with fresh pita bread. It’s a surprisingly flavorful and vibrant appetizer, made bright with a bit of lemon, tahini, and pomegranate molasses. I found myself craving it after work the day after I made it, which is pretty rare for snacks that are mostly made of vegetables.

The main course is Moroccan-Braised Lamb Shanks, served over what I’ve decided to call Royal Couscous – couscous with lots of delicious mix-ins like apricots and pistachios. The lamb is a rich, slow-cooked dish flavored by sweet dates, Pinot Noir, tomatoes, stock, and warming spices. After two and a half hours in the oven the lamb should be meltingly tender. Spooned over couscous mixed with apricots, pistachios, chickpeas, apricots, parsley, red onion, and preserved lemon it makes a meal fit for a feast. Especially with a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir  served alongside it! Lamb is great with lighter-bodied, fruity, yet spicy red wines like Pinot Noir.

And for dessert, Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies. There is a traditional Moroccan dessert called a m’hanncha, commonly translated as snake cake. As far as I can tell, it’s an impressive rolled and coiled version of baklava. I thought about making this massive dessert for this post, but thought it might be a bit much for Trevor and I to tackle eating in the next few days. And also, I really wanted a cookie. It’s that time of year, you know? So I took the flavors of the m’hanncha and translated them to something more bite-sized: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies.

They’re not the world’s prettiest cookie – although that little drizzle of white chocolate helps! The lovely green color I was imagining was instantly lost when I added a tablespoon of cinnamon the filling mixture. But – they are really delicious! The filling has such a lovely hint of rosewater in every bite. They are easy to make and the flavors are unexpected. The cookie base is a simple, soft sugar cookie that I adapted from these thumbprint cookies on Epicurious. It comes together really easily and rolls nicely without any chilling or finesse needed. Since the nut filling is fairly sticky, it’s easy to get the filling to adhere to the cookie.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to head over to the La Crema blog via the links above for the other recipes!

Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies with a rosewater-scented pistachio and almond filling. Inspired by the traditional Moroccan “snake cake” called M’hanncha.

Cookie dough recipe adapted from Epicurious.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 18-24
• Category: Cookie

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 2/3 c. shelled pistachios
• 2/3 c. raw almonds
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBS rosewater
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 egg

For the dough and topping:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c. AP flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 oz. white chocolate broken into small pieces

Instructions

1. To make the filling: Place the pistachios, almonds, powdered sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse several times, until the nuts are very finely chopped and the sugar is evenly mixed in with the nuts. Add the rosewater, honey, and egg to the food processor and pulse several more times, until the filling is evenly damp. It should be a thick, sticky mixture, almost paste-like. Set aside.
2. To make the cookie dough: Cream the butter and the sugar together on medium speed (or vigorously by hand) until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until it is evenly incorporated. Add the vanilla to the dough and beat to combine. Add the flour and baking soda and beat until just combined (don’t overmix). The dough should be smooth and easy to roll into small balls.
3. To assemble and bake cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the cookie dough into small balls, slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball. Space the balls evenly on your prepared cookie sheet, then use your thumb to make a deep impression in the center of each ball. Fill the thumbprints with the nut mixture, pressing the filling gently against the sides of the cookie to help it adhere. Bake the cookies until they are just starting to turn golden brown on the top, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. If you’d like to decorate with a white chocolate drizzle, place the white chocolate in a metal bowl. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, then place the metal bowl on top of the pot. Gently melt the chocolate, using a spatula to stir it and encourage even melting. As soon as all the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat (use pot mitts – the bowl may be hot!) and use the spatula or a spoon to drizzle white chocolate on top of the cookies. Let chocolate harden before serving.

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The weekend before last, Trevor and I got sick. I might be kind of a wimp when it comes to being sick, but I was sicker than I have any memory of ever being before, although Trevor says he was sicker in Ecuador. We think it was some sort of norovirus we picked up, probably compounded by the fact that we’re in Portugal and we don’t have as much resistance to the viruses here. (I could be making that up though; feel free to correct me if you know about these sorts of things). I was totally miserable but at the same time a little fascinated: since I was wearing my fitness tracker, I could tell that I had been “active” for 75 minutes even though I was lying in bed, asleep. That visualization of how hard your body has to work to fight illness was really interesting for me.

It was a good reminder that health is one of the most important things in life. The Herophilus quote in my passion planner is fitting: “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.”

Health is one of my major focuses for this year. Not just weight loss, or exercise, although those are important pieces. Health. Being well. As a day-to-day reminder, I’ve set a little mantra: eat smarter, move more. Simple, to the point. If I tell myself this when evaluating options – what to have for lunch, whether I need that chocolate after lunch, if I should walk home or take the bus – it serves as a gentle reminder of my goals. It’s not a rule, or a restriction. It’s just a little push towards better choices.

The food we put into our bodies plays such a huge role in our overall health. I feel worlds better when I keep my meals light and bright – the trick is coming up with meals that make me crave eating this way. Generally, I find that lunch is the easiest time to get a lot of vegetables in, and when I’m home, I frequent b.good, a Boston-based chain. I think they started out as a burger place, but they also offer great grain bowls and salads. I love their butternut squash and apple salad (and when I’m really hungry, I add a burger to the top – all the flavor and none of the guilt of the bun, french fries, and cheese).

This salad was easy to recreate at home, and so good that I ate it 3 times in one week. In the spirit of #EatSmarterMoveMore, I forwent the burger and replaced it with farro to make the salad filling enough for dinner. In addition to the farro, the salad has roasted butternut squash, diced apple, tamari almonds, cheddar cheese, pomegranate, and spinach. All kinds of good flavors going on. I can’t take any credit for the combination, but I can vouch for its deliciousness. Also, I’d love to see how you’re choosing to #EatSmarterMoveMore, so follow along (and contribute!) to the hashtag on Instagram. I’ll be using it all year to track my healthiest recipes and active adventures.

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Butternut Squash and Apple Buddha Bowl

Inspired by b.good. Serves 2.

• 2 cups peeled butternut squash cubes (1/2 inch pieces)
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups cooked farro, warm (reheated if  not prepared fresh)
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 2 small apples, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 2 oz. cheddar cheese, cut or shaved into thin pieces
• 1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds
• 1/3 cup tamari almonds
• Your favorite tangy salad dressing, or a simple mix of lemon juice and olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the butternut squash cubes with olive oil and sea salt and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast until tender when pricked with a fork, about 30-40 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. Divide the farro and spinach between the bowls, mixing together gently to combine. Top each bowl with some of the butternut squash, apple cubes, shaved cheddar, pomegranate seeds, and tamari almonds. Drizzle with your favorite dressing. Salad is best when the farro and butternut squash are warm.

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Every year I seem to end up posting Christmas recipes just days before Christmas is here. December is a busy month, and although I have the best of intentions to share delicious, festive recipes with you all month long, I always seem to get overwhelmed by the whirl of wrapping up projects and preparing for all the events and tasks that go along with the holidays. So here I am, two days before Christmas, with three Christmas cookie recipes for those of you who are planning on some last minute baking or some really early planning for next year.

Actually, if I’m being fully honest with you, this year is a bit different. I’ve been carving out more time to prepare for Christmas and here I sit, two days to go, with all my presents purchased and wrapped, three kinds of cookies in the freezer, two Christmas movies (and four of six Star Wars movies) watched, one party successfully thrown and several others attended. In fact, I’ve had these cookies baked and photographed for the past few weeks, I’ve just been having trouble finding the right words to accompany them. I’m trying to be more purposeful with the words I share on this space – less fluff and more meaning, and better use of the excellent education I’ve been so fortunate to receive (looking back at hastily written posts makes my former straight-A English student self cringe).

Earlier versions of this post, the ones that went unpublished and sounded eerily reminiscent of past Christmas posts, were filled with thoughts of stress and to-do lists and cold dark days, which is so counter to the idea of Christmas spirit that I couldn’t bring myself to publish them. But I woke up this morning, the first morning of my brief 5-day vacation, knowing what I wanted to say. So here it is: Rest. Take a deep breath. Stop worrying and enjoy being with the people you love, just for the next few days. Throw out your to-do list and congratulate yourself for everything you’ve already done. Celebrate Christmas with a calm and joyful heart. Drink a little too much wine or have an extra cookie and don’t stress about a few extra pounds. Take a break, because next year will be here before you know it and you need to rest every once in a while. I write these things with myself in mind more than anything – it’s so easy for me to forget to enjoy myself, even when I’m in the midst of something that should be a wonderful experience. So for the next few days, I’m going to focus on just that – enjoying myself.

And because I promised you cookies, here’s three. First, chocolate peppermint snowballs, dotted with chocolate chips and rolled in crushed candy canes. Second, soft and gently-spiced speculoos stars, dipped in white chocolate and colored sprinkles. Third, delicate, lacy florentines with candied orange peel, candied ginger, almonds, and a drizzle of dark chocolate, the most elegant holiday cookies you’ll put on your table. They’re all lovely, although I have a soft spot for the speculoos, which are like a gentler version of gingerbread. And with that, I’m signing off for a few days, hopefully to take my own advice and come back feeling refreshed and calm. Merry Christmas!

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Peppermint Snowballs

Recipe adapted slightly from Bon Appetit. Makes about 36 cookies.

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 stick butter, cut into quarters
• 1/2 c. finely crushed peppermint candies, plus more for decorating
• 6 TBS sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 c. milk chocolate chips

1. Place bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and butter into a medium saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring, until chocolate and butter are completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 c. crushed peppermint candies and sugar. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
2. Whisk eggs into chocolate mixture one at a time, then whisk in vanilla extract and peppermint extract. In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder, then stir into chocolate mixture. Stir chocolate chips into mixture. Cover batter and chill for 30 minutes, or until easy to roll into firm balls.
3. Preheat oven to 325°F. Roll cookie dough into balls that are approximately the size of a ping pong ball. Place on cookie sheets and bake until puffed and cracked on top, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then sprinkle with additional crushed peppermint candies or powdered sugar.

White-Chocolate Dipped Speculoos Stars

Recipe adapted slightly from Bon Appetit. Makes about 36 cookies.

• 2 c. flour
• 1 TBS ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 4 oz. high quality white chocolate, cut into pieces
• colored sugar sprinkles

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in egg. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients a few scoops at a time, beating to incorporate flour between additions. Dough will be slightly dry. Divide dough in two, flattening into two large rectangles. Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out one of the dough rectangles to about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutter to cut out stars and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling dough as necessary. Bake cookies until edges begin to darken, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
3. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on low power, stopping to stir every 20 seconds, until the chocolate is runny. Do not overheat or chocolate will seize and you will need to start over. Brush or drizzle the chocolate onto the cookies, then sprinkle with the colored sugar. Let chocolate cool, then store the cookies between waxed paper sheets in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

Chocolate-Dipped Orange and Ginger Florentines

Adapted from Bon Appetit. Makes 30.

• 3 oranges, scrubbed
• 1 c. plus 4 TBS sugar, divided
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. plus 2 TBS heavy cream
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 TBS butter
• 2/3 c. sliced almonds, toasted
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 TBS finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1. To make the candied orange peel, peel the orange using a vegetable peeler, being careful to remove only the orange part of the peel and not the white pith. Finely chop enough of the orange peel to measure 1 TBS and set aside for the cookie batter. Place the remaining peel in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes, then drain. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water to the orange peel and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain, reserving the orange syrup for another use. Sprinkle 2 TBS of sugar on a plate or other flat surface, and transfer the candied peel to the sugar. Sprinkle another 2 TBS of sugar on top of the peel. Let dry for 20 minutes, then roughly chop enough candied peel to measure 2 TBS.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray (this is very important, as cookies will stick to aluminum foil if not prepared properly. You can also use silpat mats but you will need to let cool for longer before removing the cookies).
3. In a medium saucepan, combine cream, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, then add the 1 TBS of reserved un-candied orange peel, the 2 TBS of candied orange peel, the toasted almond, crystallized ginger, and flour. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat.
4. Use a tablespoon to scoop the warm batter onto the prepared pans, spacing cookies 3 inches apart as they will spread a lot. You can expect to fit about 6-8 cookies per pan. Place pans in the oven and bake until edges begin to crisp, about 10-12 minutes. Slide foil off sheets and cool cookies on foil, then carefully peel the cookies from the foil. Repeat until you have used all the batter.
5. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on low power, stopping to stir every 20 seconds, until the chocolate is runny. Do not overheat or chocolate will seize and you will need to start over. Use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate on top of the cooled florentines. Let chocolate harden then transfer cookies to fridge for storage.

The post Ready for Christmas // Peppermint Snowballs, White Chocolate Speculoos, and Chocolate-Orange Florentines appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve learned by now that there’s really no way around my post-lunch chocolate cravings. I’ve tried ignoring them, or substituting something healthier, and sometimes that works for a few days, but it inevitably ends in a huge chocolatey binge at some point.  I’m just a person who needs chocolate, and that’s that. But since I’m determined to rein in the travel-driven overeating of the last few months, I’m currently searching for less-bad-for-you, more-portion-controlled chocolate treats.

For the past few months my chocolate fix has been to go down to the lobby shop and fill a bag with chocolate covered almonds, chocolate covered raisins, and white chocolate pretzels. This is a bad, bad habit, because even if I tell myself a lot of times that the bag of chocolate-covered goodies will last me all week, I always eat it in one sitting, staring at my computer screen, during that 3pm work slump. (Is that a universal thing? It seems to be at my office). And then I usually feel sick, because I usually overfill the bag.

So taking inspiration from this habit, I came up with a recipe that hits the same notes but is a bit less indulgent: Chocolate Almond Granola Bites. Using oats, rice cereal, a mix of Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Almonds, almond butter, honey, and of course, chocolate, I whipped up a batch of these bars, and then cut them into very manageable pieces. They are still chocolatey and satisfying but the almonds, almond butter, and oats give them more staying power and nutritional value. I also used unsweetened chocolate, which made me feel extra virtuous. I’m not saying that eating one of these is the same as eating a bag of chocolate covered pretzels… but it does the trick!

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Chocolate Almond Granola Bites

Makes 16 bars.

• 1/4 c. almond butter
• 1/2 c. honey
• 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 1/2 c. puffed rice cereal
• 1/2 c. Blue Diamond Sea Salt Almonds
• 1/2 c. Blue Diamond Dark Chocolate Almonds
• 16 white-chocolate covered pretzels

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the almond butter, honey, and chocolate. Stirring, melt the liquids over low heat until the mixture is smooth and even in color. Remove from the heat
3. Add the oats, rice cereal, and almonds to a large bowl and stir to combine. Pour the chocolate-honey mixture over the cereal and stir to thoroughly coat the cereal with the chocolate. Let cool to room temperature, then press the mixture firmly into the prepared pan. Press the white-chocolate covered pretzels on top of the mixture, spacing them evenly.
4. Bake the granola bites for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.

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The Book: Like many, I’m a long time fan of Green Kitchen Stories, the wonderfully vibrant blog written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. David and Luise are masters of inspired, healthy cooking, making fruits and vegetables shine in new ways with every post. I loved their first book, Vegetarian Everyday, which was released in the states last year (you can see my full write up here), and it quickly became a go-to book for me when I needed something fast and healthy, as evidenced by this baked pistachio falafel, these savory corn muffins and this baked blackberry oatmeal. When they announced that they were writing a second book, this one based on their travels around the world, I immediately knew I had to have a copy. And Green Kitchen Travels, now safely nestled into my cookbook shelf, does not disappoint.

This is one well-traveled family: together with their four year old daughter, Elsa, they have been everywhere from Spain to Mexico to Morocco to Thailand, picking up new flavors and inspiration in every corner of the globe. The recipes they’ve included to mark their travels are not meant to be recreations of authentic local dishes, but instead are healthy recipes in the unique GKS style influenced by the flavors, ingredients, and techniques they’ve found around the world. It’s fusion at its finest – adopting whatever works from each cuisine and blending it with an existing style to create something balanced and new. I was particularly taken by the chapter dedicated to soups: Vietnamese pho and Indian dal and Italian ribollita all in the same few pages! Of course, the pictures are stunning, as anyone who reads their blog already knows. The travel theme just gives the couple the green light to add to their colorful collection of food pictures with jawdropping landscapes from around the world, market scenes dripping with color and life, and of course, their adorable daughter in exotic locales worldwide. I do love the feeling that in a way, this book is a love letter to Elsa, as you see and hear her influence on their journeys and cooking style throughout the pages – this book is very much a family affair.

The Food: The day I left for my recent trip to Malaysia, I felt like cooking just because. Knowing that I wouldn’t be around to eat whatever I made, I flipped through the pages of Green Kitchen Travels looking for something that I could leave behind for Trevor. I quickly settled on this light Italian cake, which felt like the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon espresso on a warm fall day. The cake is gluten-free, made from a combination of polenta and almond flour, and uses only honey as a sweetener, so you can cut yourself a big slice without too much guilt. I’ve had hit or miss results with “healthy” cakes, and in particular cakes made with ricotta, but this one was very good. It was moist and not overly crumbly, with a delicate flavor of lemons, almonds, and honey. It’s not very sweet, so while I’m not sure I’d serve it for dessert, it’s the perfect thing for an afternoon break or an indulgent breakfast.

Recipe Shortlist: Mexican Breakfast Salad; Rye and Chocolate Croissants; Halloumi Veggie Burgers; Sweet Vietnamese Cucumber Salad; Harira Soup (Tomatoes, Chickpeas, and Dates); Baked Eggplant Rolls; Berber Tagine; Sweet Potato and Eggplant Moussaka; Turmeric Lassi

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Green Kitchen Travels from Hardie Grant, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Ricotta and Polenta Almond Cake (Torta di Ricotta e Polenta)

Recipe from Green Kitchen Travels. Serves 8.

• 1/2 c.(100g) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. clear honey
• finely grated zest of three small lemons
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 c. (5 oz) almond flour, or whole almonds, ground into flour in food processor
• 1 c. (4 1/2 oz) fine ground polenta
• 1 c. (9 oz) ricotta, preferably creamy
• 1/2 c. flaked almonds
• powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the base of an 8 inch springform tin with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place the butter, half of the honey, the lemon zest, and the vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until creamy, using an electric mixer if you have one. Add the egg yolks and continue to beat until fully incorporated and creamy. Add the almond flour, polenta, and ricotta and fold everything together using a spatula.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Still beating, drizzle in the remaining honey and continue to beat the egg whites until medium peaks hold and the honey is fully blended in. Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired.

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In January, I decided that instead of setting one big, difficult goal for my health and fitness for the whole year, I would create a new, smaller challenge for myself each month. The idea was that my progress would be more measurable and the goals would be easier to achieve, and so far, that’s been true. I’m now in the middle of challenge #3, and I’m really glad that I’m doing it this way. I’m feeling pretty fired up about exercise (at a time of year when it’s easy to want to give up on it entirely), and I’m craving super indulgent foods less and less. Thinking more about fitness and my body does mean that there are some days when I’m much more frustrated than I would be if I weren’t trying to achieve something, and on those days I have to continually remind myself to take the long view – the negative emotions that come with overthinking your size and shape can be so overwhelming. But there are also days when I feel really happy about something I’ve achieved – like making it to the top of a rock climbing route I’ve been struggling with for weeks (seriously, that caused elation), or noticing that I feel really good three miles into a run. While sometimes I think that feeling neutral about yourself is preferable to the emotional highs-and-lows of struggling to achieve something, when it comes to my health, I should probably choose the highs-and-lows.

February’s challenge, which was to have one entirely vegan meal every day, was eye-opening for me in a couple of ways. First, it’s really hard to find vegan food in restaurants, even in a  big food city like Boston. Even at health-food and salad chains completely vegan choices are few and far between, making finding lunch on the days I was too busy to make it ahead of time a real challenge. Second, just having to think through all of the ingredients in a dish to make sure they were fair game made me a lot more aware of what I was putting in to my body at any time of day. I will admit that I cheated on the two days that my girlfriends were visiting, but I didn’t beat myself up about it. Although I don’t love eating vegan meals, I did like the way doing this challenge made me think and feel, and that I’m starting to see the numbers on the scale creep down, so I’m thinking about how I want to incorporate this into my eating habits longer term.

Since I’ll be on vacation for a third of March, I’m only applying this month’s challenge to the 20 days that I will be home. This doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on being active and healthy while I’m away – on the contrary, I think it’s going to be a super active and outdoorsy trip. What I am giving up is lists and schedules and my daily routine, which is definitely where these fitness goals tend to fit in. So, with that in mind, I decided that my goal for March is to run 40 miles over the course of the 20 days that I’ll be home, a goal that is certainly achievable but feels like a true challenge. Since I started using the Nike+ Running app to keep track of my runs, the most miles I’ve logged in any month is 41, and that was last June. To be fair, I started using the app after my two half-marathons and I probably only use it for about 90% of my runs, but still, I’m not running more than 40 miles most months, and 10 miles a week is something that I should be able to achieve on a regular basis. I’ve already gotten 10 miles in so far this month, so if I can squeeze in another 10 before we leave, I’ll be halfway done.

One of the challenges of fitting runs in during the work week is figuring out how and when to eat to best fuel yourself. I am not a run on an empty stomach type of person, and whether I’m running in the morning or after work I need to eat something filling and energizing 45 to 60 minutes before I hit the road. As I thought about the attributes of my favorite pre-run snacks, I began making a mental list of the features I’m looking for in the perfect snack: portable, so I can easily bring it to work with me; dense, so that I feel energized without having to eat a large volume of food; a little sweet, to satisfy my dessert cravings and get my blood sugar up; a good balance of carbs and protein, for short and long term energy. Where did this list lead me? To these almond butter cookie bites, portable mouthfuls of energy-dense almond butter, dates, oats, and chocolate. There are lots of recipes for no-bake almond butter bites out there (these ones and these ones both look good), but I wanted these to be baked so they felt more like a cookie, and were easier to throw in my purse without having to worry about melting/smushing. These little cookies come in at just under 100 calories per piece, with 2 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber in each one. They’re a little bit crumbly, so you have to be careful while dipping them in the chocolate, but I think that might be their only flaw. They’re flavorable, filling, and sweet enough to feel like dessert without the “empty” ingredients that most cookies and desserts have.

Past Fitness Challenges

January: 10 Visits to the YMCA; Recipe: Gluten-Free Olive-and-Feta Corn Muffins
February: One vegan meal every day; Recipe: Pakistani Chickpea Pulao with Sweet-Hot Date-Onion Chutney

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Chocolate-Dipped Almond Butter Cookie Bites

Makes 18 small cookies.

• 3/4 c. oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 pitted dates
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. almond butter
• 1/3 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the oats in a food processor or blender, and blend until finely ground. Pour into a bowl, and whisk in baking soda, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
2. Add the brown sugar and the dates to the food processor or blender, and pulse until a smooth paste has formed. You may need to stop to scrape the mixture down the sides once or twice. Scrape the paste out of the blender and into the bowl with the oats. Stir to combine. If there are still a lot of big chunks, add the whole mixture back to the blender and pulse a few more times to fully integrate.
3. Add an egg to the bowl with the oats and sugar mixture, and stir until all of the mixture is evenly moistened. Stir in the almond butter until fully combined. You should have a smooth, moist dough that holds its shape when rolled into a ball. Roll the mixture into 18 small balls (less than an inch across) and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are starting to turn golden brown and the cookies have cracked on top. Carefully transfer to a baking rack to cool.
4. While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler, whisking just until the chocolate is smooth. Carefully dip the cooled cookies into the melted chocolate so that half the cookie is covered. Place on wax paper to cool completely.

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I’d been moping a little bit about Valentine’s Day this year. Even though it’s not a huge holiday in my book, the fact that Trevor would be away (and far away, at that – he’s in Oman!) for business seemed unfair. But then scrolling through my feedly last week I came across this post by Melissa and remembered that I loved celebrating Valentine’s Day long before boys were in the picture. Like she says, it’s about “spreading a little extra love and joy to friends and family,” and when I think back, my best memories of this holiday are mostly of my girlfriends and family. I’m lucky enough to get to spend almost every day with my man, loving him, and even though the flowers and chocolates on the 14th are nice, they really aren’t the point. So I’m postponing the romantic part of February until Trevor is back, and today, I’m celebrating friends and family. [Edit: Because he’s the sweetest, Trevor still managed to get roses to my desk at work today even though he’s thousands of miles away. I love you, Trev.]

First up, family – as far back as I can remember, Valentine’s Day meant coming downstairs to a big heart shaped box of chocolates and a card from my mom telling us how much she loved us. I mostly remember these mornings as sort-of bleary-eyed surprises, probably because I had to get up for school at 6am most days and it’s pretty dark at 6am in February. She also always helped us make little homemade valentines to bring to school – bags of foil-wrapped hearts tied up in pink and red tuille with doile-and-construction-paper cards attached. Our valentines were way better than the average school valentine. So tonight I’m having dinner with my parents and my baby brother (who is probably dreading today, seeing as fifteen is probably the most awkward age for Valentine’s Day). We’re heaving steak and red wine and heart-shaped shortbread cookies and I’m really excited about it.

As for friends, I’m sending my three best college girlfriends these little care packages because celebrating your girlfriends is important. In high school, we used to have Valentine’s Day parties at my house where we would all wear pink and make each other goofy homemade cards and decorate sugar cookies while getting a little hyper from too much hot chocolate and giggling. It was great. Later, during our freshman year at Duke, Becky and I got all the pink things we could find at the Dollar General and then covered her dorm room floor with candy hearts while making valentine’s for our new found boy friends. Because part of celebrating your girlfriends is talking about how much you both love boys.

I was going to make cookies for these packages but after thinking about it, decided that maybe some crunchy dessert masquerading as a healthy snack would be more appropriate for my friends, who are all super busy and on-the-go students/teachers. This chocolate-almond-strawberry granola is inspired by (OK, I’m blatantly ripping it off) the only commercial brand of granola I’ve ever liked, LoveCrunch. I think I might like my version a smidge better, but I’m not sure I’m saving any money by making it myself – freeze-dried fruit is surprisingly expensive. The base is simply oats and almonds, which are coated with a mixture of melted coconut oil, cocoa powder, and honey before it’s baked. After it’s baked but while it’s still warm, you stir in the chocolate chips, resulting in heavenly clumps of granola held together by creamy bits of melted chocolate, which is seriously going to elevate your yogurt-eating experience. I made the mistake of bringing the care packages to work with me before I shipped them, and I was eating out of everyone’s bags – sorry if they seem a little light, guys, I promise I’ll make you some more when you come visit. But seriously, this stuff is kind of addictive. Be careful with it. Or just give it away to someone that you love.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone!

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Chocolate-Almond-Strawberry Granola

Inspired by LoveCrunch and adapted loosely from Yummy Mummy. Makes about 8 cups.

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 2 c. chopped almonds
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 3/4 c. mild-tasting honey
• 3/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips (or more or less depending on how dessert-like you want it…)
• 1 c. freeze dried strawberries

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, and salt until evenly mixed. Set aside.
2. Add the coconut oil and the honey to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring, until the coconut oil has melted and the consistency of the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder, whisking until all clumps are removed. Pour the chocolate mixture over the oats and stir to evenly coat the oats with the cocoa-mixture. Spread out on two large sheet pans and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir up the granola to prevent burning, then bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes, until warm but touchable. Return to the mixing bowl and add 1 cup of the chocolate chips to the warm granola, stirring to evenly combine.
3. Let granola cool completely, then stir in the remaining 1/2 c. of chocolate chips and the strawberries. Keep in an airtight container.

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Back in September, I did a little recipe development for the California Almond Board, after which I found myself with a lot of leftover almonds and a huge tub of almond butter sitting in my pantry. I’ve always been a faithful peanut butter lover, but I started playing around with the almond butter, adding a little bit to my various breakfast recipes to see how I liked it. I quickly stumbled upon a combination that I couldn’t get enough of – oatmeal flavored with thick pieces of cooked apple, a sprinkling of cinnamon and brown sugar, and a healthy tablespoon of almond butter swirled in at the end. It was sweet, it was creamy, it was filling, and it satisfied my autumnal cravings for a hot breakfast without the guilt of some of my other hot-breakfast staples. I dubbed it “Apple Pie Oatmeal,” and proceeded to make all my coworkers jealous of the warm, sweet-smelling breakfast I was enjoying every morning. Yes, my coworkers, because one of the best things about this recipe is that it’s portable – you can assemble all the ingredients for this in a tupperware before you leave for work, microwave it for 2 minutes once you’re there, and have a warm, delicious breakfast to savor at your desk. Believe me, it really brightens up a dreary morning. After four months of eating this for breakfast at least once a week, it has become a tried and true favorite, and I figured it was high time I shared it with you.

I want you to know: I’ve experimented a lot with this recipe. I’ve swapped out the apples for frozen blueberries and raspberries. I’ve used maple syrup instead of brown sugar. I’ve replaced the almond butter with peanut butter and tried omitting the cinnamon. However, nothing is as good as that initial combo: oats, milk, apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, almond butter. It’s perfect. That said, you should feel free to play around with it on your own! Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself coming back to the original, too.

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Apple Pie Oatmeal

Serves 1.

Note: I prefer making this in the microwave – it’s faster, less messy, and the apples get softer. However, it’s also good on the stovetop if you prefer to make it that way. I’ve included instructions for both, below.

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1 c. skim milk
• 1 small apple, cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBS almond butter
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 1 TBS sliced almonds, toasted in a dry skillet (optional)

1. If making in the microwave: combine all ingredients except the sliced almonds in a microwave-safe tupperware or bowl. Cover loosely with a lid or paper towel, and microwave on high for one minute. Remove, stir, and return to microwave. Microwave in 30 second intervals until oats and apples are cooked and slightly soft, stirring in between intervals in the microwave. It usually takes only two or three 30 second intervals to finish the oatmeal. Careful – if you cook it too long it might overflow from the bowl, so watch it closely! Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the top, and serve.
2. If making on the stovetop: combine oats, milk, and apple in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until oats and apples are soft, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in cinnamon, almond butter, and brown sugar until fully incorporated. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

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The idea for this pasta came to me after reading a post on Not Without Salt that had absolutely nothing to do with green beans, or pasta, or pesto. The post was about apricot pie, and it’s a beautiful post and a beautiful pie, but the sentence that stuck with me was the one about what preceded the pie – “a picnic dinner with steak sandwiches, horseradish butter, pesto laden green beans with capers and an onion-spiked salad of tomatoes and peaches.” A) I was reading this on a plane, and even though I got to fly business class for the first time and the food was quite good, (and I totally took advantage of every single offer of champagne), that picnic meal made me want to run off that plane and drive immediately to an idyllic country house and picnic in a meadow. B) Pesto-laden green beans with capers? What an amazing idea. We’ve had pounds and pounds of beans come out of the garden, and have tried several yummy recipes (we especially liked this one with romesco sauce), but this one sounded like it could top them all.

This is my first batch of pesto this summer – sadly, our basil plants never really took off this year. I usually make pesto by throwing the five ingredients – pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, and basil – into the food processor all at once, blending, then tasting, usually adding more cheese, and blending again. The thing is, I’m never quite happy with the results – it’s inconsistent, and it’s never as good as my mom’s pesto. So this time, I did a little research into “best pesto” recipes, and take a more methodical approach. Two recipe caught my eye – this one, by The Best Remedy for A Cup of Jo, and this classic Marcella Hazan recipe. The two recipes aren’t so different from one another, so I followed the Marcella Hazan recipe and borrowed The Best Remedy’s idea of toasting the pine nuts first. The extra steps – grating the cheese by hand and stirring it in at the end, pre-chopping the garlic, and the little bit of butter added to the final product – made a huge difference. It really was perfect pesto. Tossed with the quickly blanched green beans, a few spoonfuls of capers, lightly toasted almonds, and hot pasta, it was a perfect and light summer lunch. And a really good way to use up some green beans.

Green Bean Farfalle with Pesto, Capers, and Almonds

Pesto recipe adapted from Marcella Hazan. Green Beans inspired by Not Without Salt. Serves 4.

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 3 TBS pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• salt
• 1/2 c. finely grated parmesan cheese
• 3 TBS butter at room temperature
• 2 lbs. green beans, ends trimmed, sliced in half on the diagonal
• 1 lb. farfalle
• 1/3 c. almonds, roughly chopped
• 1/3 c. capers

1. Wash the basil gently, then pat completely dry with a paper towel.
2. Toast the pine nuts until they are fragrant in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir frequently to prevent them from burning.
3. Finely chop the garlic by hand.
4. Add the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and a pinch of salt to a food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Stir in the parmesan cheese by hand, then stir in the butter.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the green beans until bright green, then remove with a slotted spoon and set in a large bowl. Add the farfalle to the boiling water and cook according to package directions, then drain.
6. Lightly toast the chopped almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until they are golden brown and fragrant. Stir frequently to prevent them from burning.
7. Toss together the green beans, pesto, farfalle, capers, and almonds, until everything is equally coated. Serve hot.

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Don’t tell anyone, but I’m taking tonight off from my cleanse to go out and celebrate my friend’s birthday. We’re going to Masa, and I’m so excited to a) drink margaritas, and b) eat cheesy, meaty, gluten-y things that are decidedly un-cleanse-worthy. I promise I won’t go too crazy – I don’t want to undo all my hard work thus far! – but I am looking forward to the meal.

To make up for tonight’s planned splurge, I made my other main meal today a super satisfying and healthy salad. With loads of spinach, roasted beets, hard-boiled eggs, pomegranate seeds, oranges, goat cheese, and a delicious honey-almond vinaigrette, it’s fresh-tasting and filling enough that it doesn’t need any accompaniments. I made extra hard-boiled eggs and roasted beets so that I can easily make it again throughout the week. I’ll probably bring some to work Monday… having a lunch that I’m looking forward to always makes Monday morning a little easier!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a healthy and delicious brunch recipe (got to ease back into healthy eating after a night out, right?). I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Roasted Beet and Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Eggs, Pomegranate, Orange, and Almond-Vinaigrette

Adapted from Serious Eats. Serves 2 as a main.

• 2 medium beets, greens removed
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• sea salt
• 1/4 c. blanched whole almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1 TBS honey
• 1 TBS sherry vinegar
• 1 TBS minced shallot
• 1 navel orange
• 1 blood orange
• 4 large handfuls of clean baby spinach
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils
• 2 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Scrub the un-peeled beets and place in the center of a large sheet of tinfoil. Drizzle with 1 TBS of the olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Fold the edges of the tinfoil up to make a sealed packet. Place the packet on a baking sheet, and roast for 1 hour, or until a toothpick can easily penetrate the center of the beets. Let cool for ten minutes, or until they are cool enough to handle comfortable. Slip the beets out of their skins, then thinly slice them and set aside.
2. Whisk the toasted and chopped almonds, honey, sherry vinegar, shallot, and remaining 3 TBS of olive oil together to form the dressing. Season to taste with sea salt.
3. Cut the peel and pith from the oranges. Supreme/segment the oranges to remove the membranes. Set the orange segments aside.
4. Divide the spinach between two plates and drizzle each generously with dressing. Top each plate with orange segments, one and a half hard-boiled eggs, roasted beets, pomegranate arils, and fresh goat cheese.

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Happy 2013, everyone! I’m back from a lovely, restful long weekend in Maine with my family and Trevor, and am feeling refreshed and ready to start up some new projects. Maine is so beautiful at this time of year – we had 18 inches of snow, and spent many hours trekking about “exploring” like little kids, tracking the deer and snowshoe hares, and reveling in being able to be outside in such a pristine and quiet place. And once the sun went down, we had board games and reading by the fire, and warming meals of lamb curry and seafood lasagna. I was out like a light by 9 every night. Of course, I think I undid some of the restfulness last night… but it was completely worth it. We started off the evening by having tapas and cocktails at Dali with one of my oldest and best friends and her boyfriend, and then met up with some of my favorite people from high school for a relatively mellow but very fun night of board games and beer pong and excessive drinking. It was just right.

And now it’s 2013! By this point, you’ve probably seen dozens of New Year’s posts – round-ups of the best recipes of 2012, recaps of years both good and bad, hopes for the future, lists of resolutions, and rants about the futility of resolutions. It may seem a little silly for there to be so much fuss about reflection on just one day, but the truth is it’s nice to have a natural time to take stock of your world, to think back on what you accomplished in the past year, and to set goals for the future.

2012 was a good, stable year: nothing bad happened, and a lot of good things happened. You can’t ask for much more than that. At my real job, I worked on a series of interesting projects with interesting people – I traveled to Spain to hob-nob with CEOs, learned a great deal about terrorism risk, and became close friends with several of my co-workers. Then just a few weeks ago, I was promoted – a really positive way to move into 2013! On the blog, things moved much faster than I expected. Last year, I quietly set two goals which I felt were very ambitious – one, to have 500 subscribers, and two, to host a giveaway. I’m so pleased to have exceeded both, with over 1,000 of you out there reading on a regular basis, and two book giveaways this fall (and several more giveaways scheduled for the not too distant future!). So, thank you, everyone, for reading – it means so much to me that you enjoy this space. On a more personal level, the things that define this year for me include completing my first two half-marathons ever, starting adult ballet classes and totally falling in love with them, building a vegetable garden with Trevor, really settling in to life in Boston, and throwing a few really fun parties.

As for 2013, I have a good feeling about this year. I can see the possibility of being in a very different place in 12 months than I am right now, and I’m excited to see what the year brings. I definitely want this year to include more travel, with trips to Montreal and Italy in the works already. I also really feel the need to get serious about having healthier eating habits. Food blogging is a blast, but I indulge far too often. Trevor and I have grand plans for the Andover garden and orchard – I already can’t wait to start our seedlings. In general, I just want to do more – go camping, finally break in those ice skates, host more dinner parties, make more of an effort to see friends, etc. Oh, and I’m pretty set on going to adult ballet camp. Which is going to be awesome.

With all that introspection done, let’s get back to food. January to me always calls for simple recipes, food that is wholesome and restorative without being fussy. When I saw a recipe in Maria’s Ancient Grains for Modern Meals for Bulghur with Butter-Roasted Almonds and Cinnamon, I was immediately brought back to a meal I had on a cold, winter-y day at the Lebanese restaurant in my hometown. It was similar to Maria’s recipe, but included shredded chicken, cooked until crispy in cinnamon-butter. I knew it would be the perfect meal for a cold day, so I recreated it, using Maria’s recipe as the base, and then threw in some pomegranate seeds at the end for a dash of color and sweetness. It was warm, nutty, buttery, and crunchy – a perfect first meal of 2013!

Bulghur with Butter-and-Cinnamon-Roasted Chicken and Almonds

Inspired by Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. Serves 2-3.

• 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 large shallot, peeled and sliced into quarters
• 10 whole peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3/4 c. bulghur [with 1 1/3 c. water]
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TBS salted butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/2 c. whole skin-on almonds, toasted lightly
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils (optional)

1. Place the chicken, shallot, peppercorns, and cinnamon stick in a shallow pan, such as a dutch oven, and fill with water to cover the chicken by about 1/2 an inch. Bring to a boil over medium heat, boil 3 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes for the chicken to finish cooking. Remove the chicken, check to ensure that it is cooked all the way through, and rinse under water to cool. Tear the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
2. Bring 1 1/3 c. water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add bulghur and salt, stir, return to a boil for 1 minute then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes, until bulghur has absorbed all of the water. Fluff with a fork.
3. While bulghur is cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a large frying pan. Once it has melted, cook for 2-3 minutes, until it smells nutty, is foamy on top, and has brown flecks at the bottom. Scrape the brown flecks up from the bottom with a wooden spoon, then add the cinnamon and cayenne powder and stir to combine. Add the shredded chicken and almonds (they will sizzle!) and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, until everything is fully coated in the cinnamon butter and the chicken is beginning to crisp around the edges. Add the bulghur to the pan and stir just to coat. Remove from heat.
4. Serve warm, garnished with pomegranate arils if desired!

The post A New Year (and Butter-Roasted Cinnamon Chicken) appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

As the official end of summer is upon us, it’s high time I post an update on my summer bucket list from June.  While in my mind summer’s not over until tomatoes leave the farmer’s market and the water’s too cold to go swimming, it is true that the number of nice days left in the season is quickly shortening, and I better make the most of what’s left!

1. Go to the Cape.  While I haven’t done this yet, I haven’t given up on it, either.  Shoulder season on the Cape might even be nicer than the height of summer, who knows?
2. Pick berries.  Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, even a few straggler strawberries on my landlord’s tiny plants – berries have been picked.  Sadly, the backyard raspberry patch season was ended early by raspberry fruitworms – I will get you next year, worms.
3. Learn to grill.  I did light the grill one or two times… and even flip things over on it… but I still haven’t done it myself, so I’m not checking it off yet.  What are some recipes that will entice me to grill?
4. Make Cassis.  Success!  After much searching, Trevor secured enough black currants to make a batch of homemade creme de cassis and it came out perfectly.  I’m so glad I have enough to last me through several evenings of Kirs.
5. Visit the Harbor Islands.  Ditto the Cape.  We actually tried to go to the Harbor Islands – as in, we went all the way to the dock, waited in line for tickets, only to find that tickets were mostly sold out for that day.  Thankfully, the ferry keeps running on weekends until October 8th, so perhaps an early fall picnic is in order.
6. Ride my bike.  You would think this was an easy one, right?  Wrong.  Apparently I have some sort of anxious relationship with my bike – I own a bike, but have managed to draw out the process of getting ready to ride it for over a year.  First the lock, then the helmet, then finding a pump to put air in the tires – easy things, took me forever.  Anyway, as of today it’s all set to go – I haven’t actually gotten on it yet, but I’m for sure doing it this week, so I’m crossing it off anyway.
7. Train for a half marathon.  I’m 100% surprised that this is one of the things I actually managed to accomplish this summer.  When my friend Steph suggested that Trevor and I join her and her boyfriend in Chicago for a half, I said yes and registered without too much thinking ahead, only to realize immediately after that I had only 6 weeks to whip my butt into shape.  But with Saturday’s 10-mile run under my belt, I’m feeling almost ready to hit the pavement – next weekend!  If that one’s a bust though, I’ve a bit longer to keep training for the Newburyport half with my mom – which isn’t until the beginning of November.
8. Do a producer interview.  Still an idea I like, just haven’t gotten around to it!
9. Plan a trip.  Fail, Katie.  We are going to Chicago, but that’s not exactly the trip I had in mind.  I’ll keep you posted.
10. Make at least 3 kinds of ice cream.  Well this one was super easy – making and consuming ice cream has never been much of a challenge for me.  I started the summer off with cherry-chocolate ice cream, proceeded to Bailey’s fudge ripple ice cream, and most recently popped a batch of super-easy and surprisingly healthy plum sorbet in the freezer.  Now that pumpkin beer has started to show up in stores, I’ve had a custardy pumpkin ice cream on my mind – ice cream has no season!

So 5 for 10.  Not too terrible, not too great.  It’s still possible I’ll finish all of them before the end of September, but if not, it was fun to do the things I did.  And as for the tart you’re seeing here, it’s included because the arrival of figs at the market is a sure sign that summer is slowly shifting into fall.  Figs aren’t my favorite fruit, but even I liked this custardy almond tart with caramelized figs and almond brittle enough to have a big slice.  After that, I handed it over to Trevor to finish off our first dinner in his new house.

Fig and Almond Custard Tart

Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  Serves 8.

For the pate sucree (crust):

• 2 TBS cold heavy cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 stick cold butter
• 2 TBS ice cold water

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Cut butter into 1/2 inch chunks and add to flour mixture.  Use a pastry cutter to cut butter into flour until dough resembles coarse meal, with even pieces about the size of a pea.  In a small bowl, beat together egg yolk and cream until even in color.  Slowly drizzle egg mixture into dough while stirring with a wooden spoon.  Then add ice water 1 TBS at a time, stirring at the same time.  At this point, dough should hold together loosely when pressed.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 10 mintues.  Remove from fridge and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll out into a 10 inch circle about 1/4 inch thick, then carefully lift over top of tart pan.  Press crust into edges of tart pan, and chill crust in pan for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Prick the bottom of the chilled crust 4-5 times with a fork.  Line chilled tart crust with parchment paper, then fill with pie weights.  Bake for 15 minutes, then remove parchment paper and pie weights, and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown.  Set aside to cool for at least 20 minutes.

For the filling:

• 18 black mission figs, de-stemmed and quartered
• 3 TBS butter, divided
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 10 TBS sugar, divided
• 1/2 c whole blanched almonds
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 TBS cognac

1. Caramelize the figs: add 2 TBS butter to a large frying pan and heat over medium heat.  When butter begins to foam, add 3 TBS sugar, then swirl/stir until sugar has dissolved.  Add quartered figs, and cook, stirring, until figs have released their juices and are coated in sugar.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.  Set half of the fig mixture aside.  Spread the other half over the bottom of the pre-baked tart pan.
2. Wipe out the pan used to caramelize the figs and add remaining 1 TBS of butter and 3 TBS of sugar and stir to dissolve.  Add almonds, and caramelize, stirring frequently, until almonds are a toasty golden brown and sugar has begun to caramelize on them.  Remove from pan onto wax paper and let cool, then break almond brittle into bite sized pieces.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, remaining 4 TBS of sugar, cream, almond extract, and cognac until evenly combined.  Pour custard over fig mixture in tart shell, then bake for 30 minutes (still at 400°F), until custard is set and slightly puffed.  Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then top with remaining fig mixture and almond brittle.  Serve warm or after chilling in the fridge.

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I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking last week.  Do you have weeks like that?  Where the whole shebang – planning out your meals, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning up – just feels like a little bit too much effort for the return?  I assume everyone but the most energetic people does, at least every once in a while.  It didn’t help that our kitchen sink wasn’t draining properly – washing dishes in a sink full of murky standing water is even less appealing than washing dishes regularly is.  Luckily for me, my life is still flexible enough that if I don’t feel like cooking for a week, I don’t have to.  And cheap eats in Boston aren’t hard to find, so I enjoyed a week of takeout, dinners with friends, scrambled eggs, fruit smoothies, and leftovers from the freezer.  It was nice.

What I have been doing for the past week is reading cookbooks – lots of cookbooks.  It seems I went on a bit of a library spree (OK, I do that every time I go to the library), and I now have 8 cookbooks on my “read soon!” shelf.  Some of the titles I picked up on a whim (River Cottage Every Day, Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat), and others I’ve been waiting to get my hands on for a while (In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite, Falling Cloudberries). And now, with the kitchen sink fixed and the type of inspiration that only comes from taking a real break, I’m back in the kitchen.  What better way to dive back into cooking than to test out some of the borrowed cookbooks?  (And decide if they’re worth permanently adding to my collection).

So far, the book I’m loving the most is Girl in the Kitchen, by Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef and chef at Chicago’s Girl and the Goat restaurant.  Something about the book is very inviting – it’s got big, colorful pictures, great graphic design, and fun side blurbs like drink pairings and ingredient spotlights.  This book just has energy.  And the recipes?  They’re fun too.  None of Stephanie’s recipes are tired or overdone; in fact, most of them are entirely new-to-me flavor combinations, like asparagus, goat cheese, and rhubarb salad, or chestnut confit with roasted potatoes, bacon, and kumquats.  Her food also sticks to seasonal pairings, and her techniques and ingredients aren’t on the cutting edge of gastronomy.  It’s just good, honest food, but slightly elevated.  This book makes me want to cook – now.

The first recipe I tried was this asparagus linguine with almond butter crisp, and oh man was it good.  The crisp, which is made from roasted garlic, butter, toasted almonds, bread crumbs, parmesan, and a dash of red pepper, is like crack – it’s not good for you and you just can’t stop.  Good thing there’s a bit of nutrition in the rest of the dish – it’s by no means diet food, but the large quantities of arugula and asparagus bulk up its health factor a little.  I played around with the proportions of this recipe based on what I had on hand and what I like – e.g. doubling the roasted garlic, slightly reducing the arugula (typical, huh?), etc.  I also didn’t think it needed any added salt as called for in the crisp or the sauce, given that the soy sauce, preserved lemon, and parmesan all provide a salty punch.  It’s a stellar combination of ingredients though.  I’m looking forward to trying more recipes from this book, like this pear, parsnip, and pistachio soup that’s on the menu for later this week… and to eating these leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Asparagus Linguine with Almond Butter Crisp

Recipe adapted from  Girl in the Kitchen.  Serves 4.

• 2 heads garlic
• 3 TBS butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 c. panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted
• 3/4 lb. linguine
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 lb asparagus, sliced diagonally into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 5 oz. (1 standard grocery store container) baby arugula
• 2 TBS preserved lemon, sliced thinly
• 8 sprigs fresh mint

1. Roast the garlic – cut off the top of the garlic heads, and place heads, skins and all, in a tinfoil pouch with a bit of olive oil and sea salt.  Roast in the oven for 40 minutes at 400ºF.  Let cool, then squeeze the cloves out of the skins and into a bowl.  (I did this step the morning before, so the dinner-making process would take less time).
2. Mash the roasted garlic with the butter, parmesan, panko, and red pepper flakes, until crumbly.  Stir in toasted almonds, and place mixture in fridge until just before toasting.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add linguine, and cook according to package directions.
4. At the same time you add the linguine to the water, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the asparagus pieces, and sautee for 3-4 minutes, or until bright green.  At this point, add the chicken broth, soy sauce, and 1/3 c. of the pasta water (just dip a cup measure into the pot while it’s cooking and add it to the sauce).  Turn the heat up to medium high, and let cook until sauce is reduced by 1/2, about 3 minutes.  Add the preserved lemon and arugula and turn off heat, stirring to wilt the arugula.  If you’re lucky, your pasta will have finished while the sauce is reducing, and you can just add the sauce to the drained pasta.  If not, wait for the pasta to finish cooking, drain, then add the asparagus and arugula sauce to the pasta pot.
5. Return the frying pan (now empty of sauce) to the stove, over medium heat.  Add the chilled almond-butter mixture to the pan in a single layer, and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown.  Turn off heat.  Plate the pasta, and top each portion with some of the almond crisp and 2 sprigs of mint.  (Alternatively, you can add the mint to the sauce with the arugula).

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This is my 100th post!  How excellent is that?  In my opinion, pretty excellent.  This seems like the appropriate time to speak sagely about blogging and what it means to me and how it has changed my life, but I’m not really in the mood for that today – maybe I’ll save it for hitting the 2 year mark.  However, I do think that having written 100 posts calls for a celebration, so I spent Sunday making myself (and Trevor, ardent blog supporter) a nice dinner with a yummy, blog-worthy treat for dessert.  To my other ardent blog supporters – I would have made you dinner too if you lived as close as Trevor does, don’t worry.  Dad.

Saturday I visited the Somerville Winter Farmer’s Market for the first time and was so overwhelmed by the quality and variety of produce that I got a little of everything, including a few things that I didn’t need and had no plan for but couldn’t resist.  These pears included.  Once I arrived home I quickly decided that they would be the star of my celebratory dessert.  I went with a ricotta, pear, almond, and ginger tart adapted from this recipe.  It seemed autumn-y and festive and appropriate.  I’ve made a lot of ricotta-based desserts this year – I keep picking them out because somehow they feel healthier to me – but I’m usually disappointed by them.  Although I like the texture of ricotta in some dishes, I don’t love it in dessert.  This recipe was an exception.  I think the addition of sour cream and heavy cream to the custard base smoothed out some of the graininess associated with ricotta, without taking away from the ricotta’s flavor.  The final tartlets had a great mix of flavors and textures – a crunchy almond crust, sweet ricotta custard, caramelized pears, and spicy, chewy bites of ginger.  The only change I would make next time is to increase the amount of pear used – I’m imagining a sort of caramelized pear chutney for the top rather than a single slice of pear.  Give this recipe a try if you’re looking to mix it up a little, or trying to impress someone.  Happy 100 to me!

Pear, Ricotta, and Almond Tartlets

Recipe adapted from Know Whey.  Serves 4.

For the crust:

• 2/3 c. almond flour
• 1/2 c. flour
• 3 TBS sugar
• 3 TBS cold butter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 TBS cold heavy cream
• 1 TBS cold water

For the filling:

• 1 c. ricotta
• 1 tsp almond flour
• 1 tsp flour
• 1 egg
• 2 TBS heavy cream
• 1 TBS sour cream
• 1/4 c. sugar

For the topping:

• 1 pear, peeled and sliced
• 1 TBS butter
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 4 1-inch cubes crystallized ginger, finely diced
• 1/3 c. slivered or sliced almonds

1. Prepare crust.  In a medium bowl, mix together almond flour, flour, sugar and salt.  Cut in cold butter and press with a fork or a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly with pea-sized lumps.  Add the chilled cream 1 TBS at a time, mixing with a fork between additions.  Press the dough together into a ball – if it just stays together, it is ready, if it is still too loose to hold to itself, add the extra tablespoon (or two if necessary) of cold water to get it to firm up.  Press the dough into individual creme brulee ramekins, so that it is about 1/4 inch thick all the way around and up the side.  Freeze the ramekins for 10 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  In a medium bowl, mix together ricotta, almond flour, flour, sour cream, heavy cream, sugar, and egg, until the batter is an even consistency.  Set aside.
3. Heat 1 TBS of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add 1/4 c. of sugar and let sit until it begins to turn golden brown.  Add pear slices and cook until pear is tender and pear syrup has thickened slightly.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Blind bake the prepared ramekins with tart dough for 7 minutes, until just starting to turn golden.  Divide the ricotta mixture evenly between the ramekins and bake on a cookie tray for 15-20 minutes, until custard is beginning to firm up and turn slightly golden.  Remove from oven, and change oven setting to broil.  Brush the tops of the custards with pear syrup.  Sprinkle almonds over the top of custards and broil on high for two minutes, until almonds and crust are golden-brown.  Remove from oven and top with diced ginger and pear slices.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serve cold.

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Every spring, people begin waxing poetic about strawberries.  Tiny, perfect, juicy wild strawberries.  Up until now, I didn’t really get it.  Pretty much every time I get strawberries at the store they’re the same – big, very red, a little lumpy, pretty sweet but nothing to write home about, with about 20% too overripe to enjoy.  Just regular old strawberries.  Then, my mother brought these beautiful berries home from Mann Orchards, the 130 year old local farmstand and orchard (that, for me, is synonymous with absolutely perfect apple pie), and I got it.  These berries are beautiful.  They’re tiny.  They’re incredibly sweet.  Every single one was perfectly red all the way through.  They are deserving of starring in a very special dessert.  Which I’ll tell you about soon.  After I talk about strawberries some more.

More strawberries: I am on a mission to salvage the strawberries in our own, struggling orchard.  It was sort of a nice surprise when I came home and was reminded of all the things already growing at our house in Andover, especially after the trauma of leaving behind my well-loved shoebox garden in Durham.  Sure, the Andover garden is hiding under loads of weeds and none of the trees in the orchard have ever produced a piece of fruit that wasn’t munched by deer, but with my new-found farming inspiration and my father’s instruction, I’ve been slowly loving the garden back to a more attractive state.  The zucchini are planted, the cilantro survived my rather rough transplanting process, and the dill seems to have recovered from losing all the weeds that were holding it up.  The strawberries, however, are a bit of a battle, seeing as how they’re planted up in the orchard way behind the house, where each new strawberry is eaten just before it’s ready, and I cry a little when I go up to check them and they’re all gone.  The current solution is to place a sawed-off soda bottle over each bunch of green berries to protect them.  I don’t know when I got so good at loving plants, but I really love them.  Maybe it’s the absence of children under the age of 5 in my life these past two years – now I have excess love for small things.

Back to dessert.  These strawberries were begging not to be mashed, macerated, stewed, or otherwise transformed.  They were very vain. They wanted to stay whole.  And who am I to mush up something so naturally beautiful?  So I decided to make a tart, one of the pretty kinds you see in pastry shop windows with magically perfect fruit arranged on the top that cost twice as much as you’re willing to spend, but you buy them anyways.  And then the pastry cream is always a little too thick and flavorless and the crust is soggy and you’re disappointed, unless of course you’re in Paris in which case your tart is undoubtedly perfect… but I digress.  I wanted to make a tart equally as pretty as the pastry shop ones, but also delicious.  I had had a recipe for a strawberry almond cream tart for over a year, but upon closer inspection (it’s the Cooking Light one that you’ll find all over the web) I decided it was a little too pre-packaged for me, with the graham cracker crust and cream cheese filling.  Still, I loved the sound of the flavor combinations, so I took the idea my own route, baked a shortbread crust, filled it with almond pastry cream, and topped it with the berries as well as a strawberry-orange glaze.  Success!  Pretty, delicious, strawberry-y.  And, happily, the day the strawberries were really needing to be used happened to coincide with Father’s Day, so I got to dedicate and share this lovely treat to my papa.  Happy Dadhood to you!  And to all father’s everywhere; we (your children) love you.

Strawberry Almond Cream Tart

Serves 8.  Pastry cream recipe from The New Best Recipe.

• 1 qt. strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced lengthwise
• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 10 TBS butter, room temperature
• 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 c. half and half
• 1/2 c. sugar
• pinch salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 3 TBS cornstarch
• 4 TBS cold butter
• 1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1/2 c. strawberry jelly
• 1 TBS water
• 1/2 TBS orange liquer

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Butter and flour a 9 inch tart pan.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/4 tsp. salt and powdered sugar.  Cut in room temperature butter.  Mix together with a pastry cutter or the back of a fork until dough sticks together in pea sized crumbles.  Press dough evenly into tart pan, pushing up around the edges to form sides.  Poke the bottom of the crust several times with a fork, to keep dough from bubbling.  Bake 15 minutes, until just turning golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
2. In a medium sized saucepan, bring half and half, pinch of salt and 6 TBS of the sugar to a full simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.  In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and remaining 2 TBS sugar until dissolved.  Whisk in cornstarch until the mixture is pale yellow and slightly thickened.
3. When half and half comes to a simmer, slowly pour into the egg yolk mixture, vigorously whisking the egg yolks all the while, to temper the yolks.  Pour custard back into pan, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and just beginning to bubble, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in almond extract, and cut in chilled butter, stirring until it melts.  Strain through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean bowl, and allow to cool to room temp.  Press a piece of plastic wrap tightly against the surface of the custard and refrigerate until well chilled, about  2 hours.
4. Use a spatula to spoon the chilled custard into the tart crust and smooth evenly across the surface.  Decorate with sliced strawberries.  Bring the jelly, 1 TBS water, and liquer to a boil, then gently spoon over fruit to create a glaze.  Chill tart until ready to serve.  Best served soon after being assembled.

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