December is the season of cookies and champagne and lots and lots of cheese. Everyone has their own favorite food traditions this month. I indulge in Bailey’s-spiked hot chocolate with real whipped cream, in two slices of cranberry-vanilla coffee cake on Christmas morning, and in the truly excellent gouda my grandfather sometimes brings to our house. This year we are headed to Munich and Brussels around Christmastime, so I expect there will also be Belgian waffles, glühwein, pretzels, and lots of yummy Belgian beer. I try not to feel guilty about these indulgences – it’s part of the season! – but I do find myself strongly craving vegetables after a few days of heavy meals. Of course, it’s freezing cold in Boston, so the vegetables still have to be warm and comforting, which is where grain bowls save the day.

Grain bowls are a pretty regular feature of our weekly menu. Usually they are a pretty basic affair. Roast brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes are a staple, along with a few pieces of whatever cheese we have sitting in the fridge. There is maybe a dollop of hummus that serves as dressing and a handful of greens. The grain itself is whatever we have on hand – usually farro or rice. These grain bowls are always satisfying, but they aren’t always cohesive – it’s just a mess of stuff I like to eat on one plate. So every once in a while, I like to put a little more thought into how the components of the bowl will go together. Recently, we made a Middle-Eastern inflected grain bowl that came out so well that I thought it was worth sharing here (as well as documenting for myself!).

This grain bowl has a lot of goodness in it. Spicy honey-cinnamon roast sweet potatoes. Cumin-scented roast cauliflower with sticky dates. Crispy brussels sprouts. To pull it together there’s a tangy tahini-yogurt sauce, creamy goat cheese, and jewel-like pomegranate seeds. Each individual component is highly flavorful – the sweet and spicy sweet potatoes in particular are addictive. All together in one bowl each component enhances the others, for a warming, slightly exotic meal. Plus, if you double up on the quantities below you’ll have plenty of leftovers to see you through the week.

Middle-Eastern Grain Bowl with Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower

A step above your average throw-it-all-together grain bowl. This recipe combines honey-cinnamon-roasted sweet potatoes with cumin-spiced cauliflower and tahini dressing for a Middle-Eastern inflected grain bowl.

Cauliflower recipe is adapted from Dining In. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Prep Time: 20
• Cook Time: 30
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 2-3

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dry farro

For the sweet potatoes:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS honey
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the cauliflower and brussels sprouts:

• 1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into florets
• 20–30 brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed, cut in half
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 1 tsp whole cumin seed
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 8 dates, halved

For the dressing:

• 3 TBS tahini
• 3 TBS plain Greek yogurt or skyr (the tangier the better!)
• 1 TBS honey
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Toppings/other:

• Several handfuls fresh baby spinach
• 2 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled
• Arils from 1/2 a pomegranate, about 1/2 cup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the farro. Cook until al dente, about 20-25 minutes. Drain farro and set aside.
2. For the sweet potatoes: whisk the olive oil, honey, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the sweet potato wedges and toss to completely coat with the honey-olive oil mixture. Spread the sweet potatoes out on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast until very tender, about 25-30 minutes.
3. For the cauliflower: in the same bowl you used for the sweet potatoes, whisk together the olive oil, cumin seed, salt, and pepper. Add the cauliflower florets and toss, making sure to thoroughly coat the tops of each floret with the olive oil mixture. Add the halved brussels sprouts to the bowl and toss to coat. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until the vegetables are tender in the middle and crispy on the edges, about 30 minutes. About 10 minutes, before the vegetables are done, add the halved dates to the roasting pan so that they roast slightly (they will get a little bit more sticky and caramelized).
4. For the bowls: whisk all dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth, then adjust seasoning to taste. Divide the cooked farro and the baby spinach between two bowls. Top each bowl with several roast sweet potato wedges, pieces of cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Crumble goat cheese on top of the bowls, then sprinkle with pomegranate arils. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately.

Notes

All the cooked ingredients have approximately the same cooking time, meaning if you start the farro at the same time as you put the vegetables in the oven, everything will be ready almost at once.

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Last weekend, I had such a lovely, rejuvenating visit with my best college girlfriends, as always. The four of us try to get together for a long weekend at least once a year (this year we’ve actually managed three!). It’s the easiest sort of friendship – one where you know everyone so well that you don’t have to worry about what you say or how weird you sound. We spend a lot of time snuggling and a lot of time talking and laughing and last, eating. We love to eat. Obviously, eating is very important to me, so it’s great to have friends that are on the same page. But it can get a bit heavy, particularly at this time of year. I have a lot of dinners out coming up in the near future, and I’m looking forward to all of them, but I’m also trying to eat lighter at any meal that is not a celebration. I’ve been craving vegetables and whole grains and other things that leave me feeling light and fresh in between eating fests, so it was perfect timing to receive a copy of Diana Henry’s newest cookbook, Simple.

I’m a big fan of Diana Henry – I have four of her books, all of which are in heavy use in my kitchen. I love her books first and foremost because she is a whiz with flavors, and I love her food, period. But I also love that all the books have the same clean, appealing design and colorful, casual photography. The books are inviting – they remind me what it is I love about food. As is perhaps obvious from the title, this book focuses on simple food – the kind of thing you can throw together on a weeknight with what you have in the fridge. It’s basically an ode to the way I cook when I’m only feeding myself, full of vegetable roasts and fancy nourishing toasts and quick but healthy pastas. There’s even a special two page section dedicated to fillings for baked potatoes! Seriously, Diana is a woman after my own heart. This is the book I’m going to recommend to friends who love food and want to learn to cook but don’t know where to start. It has all the simple recipes and techniques that you need to learn when you first learn to cook for yourself, but still feels creative and balanced.

The first recipe I made is an adaptation of Diana’s Roast Cauliflower with Pomegranates, Green Olives, and Chickpea Puree. I love crunchy roasted chickpeas, so rather than blending the chickpeas into a hummus, I roasted them with the cauliflower and used the other hummus ingredients to make an addictive tahini dressing. I tossed everything together with a generous amount of fresh parsley leaves and juicy pomegranate seeds and it was amazing, exactly what I want to be eating in between plates of Christmas cookies. And bonus: about halfway through the bowl, I realized that this recipe was naturally gluten free and vegan.  This is not a very frequent occurence in my house – we love cheese and we love bread. So when I don’t even realize a recipe has neither? That’s a win.

Recipe Shortlist: Huevos Rotos; Baked Merguez Sausage with Beans, Eggs, and Feta; Smoky Couscous; Salmon, Fennel, and Potatoes en Papillote; Roast Maple and Mustard Spatchock Chicken with Figs; Spanish Spiced Pork with Sherried Onions; Baked Sausages with Apples and Cider; Butternut Squash Strata; Roast Apple, Blackberry, and Whiskey Trifles

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Simple from Mitchell Beazley, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Roast Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Pomegrante, Green Olives, and Tahini Dressing

Adapted from Diana Henry’s Simple. Serves 3-4.

• 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 6 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp sea salt
• black pepper
• 1/3 cup walnut halves and pieces, toasted in a dry pan for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned
• 1/2 cup pitted, chopped green olives
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 3 TBS minced fresh parsley
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled and finely minced or crushed
• 3 TBS tahini paste
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the cauliflower florets out on one rimmed baking sheet and the chickpeas out on another rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together 4 TBS of the olive oil, the cayenne pepper, the cumin seeds, sea salt, and black pepper until evenly combined. Pour half of the oil over the cauliflower and half over the chickpeas. Use a spatula to flip the ingredients to coat with the olive oil.
2. Place pans in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. The cauliflower is done when it is tender all the way through and caramelized on the edges. The chickpeas are done when they are crunchy and golden brown. Add roasted chickpeas and cauliflower to a large bowl. Add the toasted walnuts, chopped olives, pomegranate seeds, and chopped parsley to the bowl and stir together.
3. To make the dressing, whisk the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil together with the minced garlic, the tahini paste, the lemon juice, and the cumin until smooth and thick. Taste and adjust balance of ingredients if desired. Add the dressing to the bowl and stir to coat the ingredients. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Just a quick hello today to share with you a series I’ve been working on over the past few months. I’ve been collaborating with La Crema Wines to come up with three winter salads – salads that are healthy and fresh dishes but still hearty enough to make a filling meal on a cold night.  It’s tempting to eat comfort food all winter long – it’s what we crave! – but I find that keeping my diet balanced (e.g. following that bowl of cheesy, comforting pasta at lunch with a lighter salad at dinner) can help me stay feeling energized and motivated.

The first salad in the series is an all-white stunner. Roasted cauliflower, crunchy Belgian endive, sweet pears, grapes, and toasted pine nuts all come together with a blue cheese and buttermilk dressing to hit all the notes a salad needs: savory, bitter, sweet, and rich. I served this one with a glass of La Crema Monterey Chardonnay, which has a buttery richness that complements the funky blue cheese and bitter endive really nicely. Find the recipe here.

Sticking with the monochrome theme, the next salad is a festive mix of red fruits and veggies. With Russian red kale, beets, red cabbage, fresh pomegranate seeds, and balsamic vinaigrette, it’s tangy, juicy, and really good for you. Served alongside a glass of La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, it makes a light lunch or dinner that will leave you satisfied without feeling bogged down by heavy carbs and dairy. Find the recipe here.

The last salad in the series, and my favorite, celebrates sweet, juicy January citrus – such a welcome relief in the middle of the winter. This salad, featuring grapefruit, blood orange, fennel, and white-wine poached shrimp, is super simple, but still very flavorful, light, and satisfying. The rich and buttery shrimp offset the fresh tang of the citrus and the faintly sweet crunch of the fennel. Serve this salad with a glass of La Crema Monterey Pinot Gris. Its clean brightness and slight acidity are the perfect match for the tangy flavors of the salad. Find the recipe here. 

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of La Crema. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Friends! It’s my 7th Sunday Dinner post! This is a series I started two-and-a-half years ago to force myself to slow down and make a meal worth savoring every once in a while, the kind of seasonal, made-with-love food that deserves to be enjoyed while sitting at the table, engaging in conversation, and enjoying a nice bottle of wine. It’s something I don’t do as often as I’d like, as indicated by the fact that I only manage to put together one of these posts every 5 or 6 months. But when I do take the time to put together a real, wholesome meal – and to share it here with you – it’s always worth the effort.

This Sunday Dinner – which consists of a Rosemary-and-Sage-Crusted Roast Beef, a cinnamon-and-ginger-spiced Roasted Root Vegetable Salad, and Cauliflower Gratin – is the first (hopefully the first of many) that I’ve made in our new house. Although the kitchen and dining rooms are not yet the cozy, functional spaces we hope they will be one day, we’re making them work for us. And if you want to enjoy a Sunday Roast Beef like this in front of the Patriots game, in the much-cozier living room – I say it still counts.

This meal is not nearly as extravagant as some of my past dinners (I’m looking at you 4-course Valentine’s Day dinner) – there was no dessert, and no special cocktail to go with it. But what it lacks in elegance, it more than makes up for with flavor and ease – it’s the kind of meal that you could easily make and serve at a small family gathering or holiday event without needing to spend 8 hours in the kitchen preparing or 3 hours after dinner cleaning-up.

The star of this meal was the roast beef, cooked to a perfect, juicy pink if I do say so myself. The cut we used was called a “spoon roast,” something we had picked up on sale at Wholefoods on a whim. I did a lot of research on how to properly cook a low fat cut of meat like this, and found that the consensus was to dress it simply, sear it off, then roast it at a very low temperature until medium rare. As I was prepping the roast, Trevor told me that the new thing in food science is to sear beef after it’s been cooked, and since I trust him, that’s what we did – and it came out really beautifully. Served alongside the two veggie-heavy sides and a nice bottle of wine, it was just the thing for a casual December afternoon at home.

The Menu
Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Pomegranate (recipe below, inspired by A Change of Appetite)
Herb-Crusted Roast Beef (recipe below)
Cauliflower and Horseradish Gratin (recipe below, adapted from Bon Appetit)

Past Sunday Dinners:

May 26, 2013: Coffee-and-Chile Rubbed Strip Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce; Charred and Smoky Belgian Endives; Oven-Roasted Potatoes; Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

July 1, 2013: Strawberry-Lime Agua Fresca; Smashed Pea, Dill, and Feta Crostini; Chilled Asparagus Soup with Meyer Lemon Yogurt; Mustard Spaetzle with Mushrooms; Ricotta Bavarese with Red-Wine Poached Rhubarb

October 28, 2013: Braised Lamb Shanks with Gremolata; Creamy Polenta with Fresh Corn and Blue Cheese; Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Classic Apple Pie

March 31, 2014: Fried Halloumi with Spring Veggies and Strawberry-Basil Gastrique; French Gnocchi with Watercress Sauce; Strawberry-Rhubarb Meringue Pots

August 31, 2014: Roasted Garlic, Ricotta, and Maple-Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini; Eggplant and Pesto Napoleons; Maple Mixed-Berry Pie

February 15, 2015: Blood Orange Mimosa; Endive and Blood Orange Salad; Chanterelle and Chestnut Bisque; Coffee-Crusted Duck Breast with Brandy-Balsamic Sauce; Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake

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Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Pomegranate

Adapted loosely from A Change of Appetite. Serves 4.

• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 large parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 5 oz. fresh baby spinach
• seeds from 1 large pomegranate
• 2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1/4 c olive oil
• juice from 1/2 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the cubed vegetables on a large rimmed baking sheet in an equal layer. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne. Drizzle over the vegetables, using a spatula to fully coat them with the spice mixture. Season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Roast until tender, about 20-30 minutes.
2. To assemble the salads, divide the spinach between 4 plates. Top with a generous helping of the roasted vegetables, pomegranate seeds, and crumbled feta cheese. In a small bowl, whisk together pomegranate molasses, mustard, olive oil, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then spoon over the salads.

Herb-Crusted Roast Beef

Serves 4-6.

• 3 TBS minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 TBS minced fresh sage leaves
• 1 TBS fresh thyme leaves
• 1 TBS kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/3 c. + 2 TBS olive oil, divided
• One 2 to 3 lb. spoon roast (top sirloin roast)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together minced rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, black pepper, minced garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil. Use your hands to rub the herb mixture all over the spoon roast. Let the roast sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes to absorb the flavors of the herbs.
2. Preheat the oven to 275°F. Place the roast on a roasting rack in a roasting dish. Cook the roast until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast registers 130°F, for a medium rare roast. The cooking time will vary depending on the size of your roast – budget at least 30 minutes per pound, potentially longer. For a 2 pound roast, start checking the temperature after one hour. Once the internal temperature has reached 130°F, remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. After the beef has rested, heat the remaining 1 TBS olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the beef and sear until browned on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the beef, let rest for 5 minutes longer, then slice against the grave and serve.

Cauliflower and Horseradish Gratin

Adapted from Bon Appetit. Serves 4-6 as a side.

• 1/2 a large head of cauliflower, cut into florets (3-4 cups florets)
• 3 TBS butter, divided
• 2 TBS flour
• 1 1/4 c. whole milk
• 3 TBS horseradish sauce
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 oz. fontina cheese, grated
• 2 c. fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 TBS mustard

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the cauliflower florets in a microwave and oven proof 1.5 quart casserole dish. Add 2 TBS of water to the bottom of the baking dish and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Microwave until cauliflower is tender, about 3 minutes (check after each minute by poking cauliflower with a fork). Carefully remove plastic wrap and drain water from pan.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt 2 TBS of the butter. Add the flour and stir to form a thick paste, then cook for 1-2 minutes, until flour smells nutty. Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking the flour-butter mixture as you do so to incorporate the milk. Once you have added all the milk, continue cooking until sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, which should take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in horseradish sauce, nutmeg, and half of the fontina cheese. Stir until cheese is melted, then pour the sauce over the steamed cauliflower and stir to coat. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top of the cauliflower.
3. Heat the remaining 1 TBS of butter in a frying pan. Add the breadcrumbs and toast, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard and sprinkle on top of the cauliflower.
4. Bake the casserole until crumbs are toasted and cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

The post Sunday Dinner // Herb-Crusted Roast Beef, Roasted Root Vegetable Salad, Cauliflower and Horseradish Gratin appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

This blog has not been getting a lot of love lately, and I feel bad about it. Not bad in a guilty way, per se, more just frustrated because I don’t have the energy or time to put into something I love. Between everything going on at work, my increasingly insane travel schedule, and our frenetic search for a house (alongside seemingly every single other young couple in Boston) my mind/energy is pretty-well consumed. Still, I’m here today, and on sunny mornings like this one where spring seems like a real possibility instead of just a daydream, the light at the end of the tunnel feels closer.

Although I’ve been home from my last trip to Latin America for a little over a week and at this point, my next trip is closer than my last one, I feel like I’m just getting reoriented to life at home. I’m still craving almost all of the things I was when I got off the plane: spending as much time as I can with Trevor, a few lazy mornings spent in a bed that is gloriously familiar, and food that is not some variation of steak, fried plantains, fried eggs, or more steak. Thankfully, I’m no longer craving clean laundry – that, at least, I took care of right away.

It’s a bit tricky to get back into the kitchen after a two-week hiatus. It doesn’t help that the fridge is usually a wasteland. The first thing I reach for are leftovers, tucked away in the freezer for times when I’m really not sure what to cook. After that, I make things that are familiar and simple and that utilize the pantry staples we always have on hand – omelettes, pastas, soups, big bowls of grains and lentils. It takes a few days for my own creative juices to get flowing again, and therefore for me to remember how to blog. Add to that the fact that it’s still unseasonably cold and snowy in Boston, making it hard to focus on healthy cooking and eating when all I want is chicken pot pie and creamy pastas. Still, on Thursday I started envisioning a middle-eastern chickpea stew, something packed with vegetables to help me recover from two weeks of overeating, but still warm and comforting enough to help us deal with the freezing weather. Yesterday we finally made it to the grocery store to restock our fridge, and last night, the stew became a reality. Really it’s somewhere between a stew and a vegetarian tagine, with sweet dried apricots plumped up from the rich broth, hearty chunks of sweet potato and cauliflower, and a thick, sweet-and-sour, almost sauce-like broth. Pomegranate molasses, preserved lemon, cinnamon, coriander, harissa, cumin, and nutmeg are the flavor base, making for a sweet and warming dish. Served over a big bowl of Israeli couscous, it’s a keeper recipe.

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Middle Eastern Chickpea and Cauliflower Stew

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 c. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 5 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 small yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced small
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp dried harissa
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 c. chicken stock
• One 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 TBS pomegranate molasses
• 1 c. dried apricots, cut in half
• 1/2 preserved meyer lemon, seeds removed and finely minced
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 1 TBS butter
• 2 c. dried Israeli couscous
• 1/2 c. finely chopped parsley

1. Drain and rinse the soaked chickpeas, then set aside. In a large pot, heat 3 TBS of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and golden brown all over, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes, then add the cumin, coriander, harissa, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir spices into vegetables and cook until very fragrant, about 5 minutes more. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, cinnamon stick. and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer and simmer until chickpeas are becoming tender, about 1 hour. As the stew cooks, add water as necessary to keep the stew from burning – consistency should be thick but still runny.
2. Add the pomegranate molasses, apricots, and meyer lemon to the stew. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the sweet potato with the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil and sea salt and pepper, then spread out on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, then remove, add the cauliflower, and toss the cauliflower with the sweet potatoes to coat with olive oil. Continue roasting for 20 minutes, until sweet potato is tender and cauliflower is charred in places. Remove from the oven.
3. While the sweet potato and cauliflower are roasting, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the couscous and cook in the butter until toasted in places, about 2 minutes. Add 2 1/4 c. hot water to the couscous and bring to a boil. Cook until tender and water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Stir the chopped parsley into the couscous and set aside.
4. Serve the stew over the cooked couscous, topping the stew with the roasted sweet potato and cauliflower.

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The blogger cookbook I’ve most looked forward to this spring is easily Vegetarian Everyday, the first book from David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, the talented couple behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories. Green Kitchen Stories is a beautiful space. I love their photographic aesthetic – brightly saturated food on dusky blue-gray backgrounds, just a little bit of organized mess in each photo. And their recipes? Really healthy. Not healthy like when I say it – I usually mean something along the lines of “I didn’t put any cheese on this! It’s so healthy!” No, their recipes are packed with things that are good for you – and only things that are good for you. Yet somehow, they still manage to read as modern, flavorful and appealing, not boring, earthy-crunchy and flavorless.

I was so happy to see that both their high-quality recipes and beautiful photography are still present in their book. Add to this the clean, open layout and the thick, matte paper and it really is a beautiful book. It reminds me a lot of Heidi Swanson’s two recent books – Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Everyday. They have similar aesthetics and employ similar cooking styles and flavor combinations. Since Heidi’s books were extremely popular, I think this probably bodes well for Vegetarian Everyday.

The recipes included in this book are suitable for people of all dietary persuasions (well, I suppose not for ravenous carnivores) – a surprising number of them are both vegan and gluten-free, and they’re clearly marked as such with little “V” and “GF” buttons. I usually shy away from vegan and gluten-free recipes because, well, I love cheese and bread, but many of those included here are quite appealing to me – the Roasted Tomato and Chickpea Soup, the Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafels, and the Chocolate and Blackberry Milkshake, all vegan and gluten-free, will all be finding their way onto my table in the near future. For someone just transitioning to a healthier eating routine – whether that’s vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free – this book would be a good one to pick up. Not only are the recipes easy to make, and for the most part pretty quick, the first 30 pages of the book is full of useful information on building a whole foods pantry and basic cooking techinques – cooking fresh beans, sprouting grains, making homemade nut butters, etc.

So far I have tried two recipes from this book – the Flour-Free Banana and Coconut Pancakes, and the Quinoa and Cauliflower Cakes with Ramps. The pancakes, I’ll admit, did not completely meet my definition of pancakes. I was really excited about making them, thinking how great it would be to be able to eat pancakes every day, guilt free! But… I was expecting to eat pancakes, and these, while tasty and filling and quick to make on a work morning, were not quite pancakes. Close, but the texture wasn’t there for me. Still, I really like the idea, and I have a few thoughts for how I might tinker with them to satisfy my own tastes. The quinoa/cauliflower/ramp/feta cakes however, were super delicious. I loved feeling like I was eating something decadent but knowing that I was getting lots of veggies and proteins in. And again, they were really filling.

The bottom line: Vegetarian Everyday, from the talented couple behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories, is a beautiful book full of truly healthy recipes. Many of the recipes are not only vegetarian, but also gluten free and vegan, yet they are still appealing and flavorful. This book would be an excellent choice for someone just transitioning to a healthier lifestyle, as the recipes are simple and easy to make, and the beginning of the book provides a good introduction to wholesome pantry items and basic vegetarian/vegan cooking methods.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Vegetarian Everyday free of charge from Rizzoli, but I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are my own.

Flour-Free Banana and Coconut Pancakes

Recipe from Vegetarian Everyday. Serves 3-4.

• 3 ripe bananas
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 c. shredded dried coconut, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 c. fresh blueberries, plus extra for serving
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp coconut oil, for frying [butter is fine too]
• 2 TBS maple syrup or plain yogurt, for topping [I used leftover lilac-blackberry syrup]

1. Mash the bananas with a fork in a medium sized bowl. Add the eggs and coconut and stir to blend evenly. Stir in the blueberries and cinnamon, and set aside.
2. Heat the coconut oil or butter in a large skillet or on a griddle over medium heat. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake into the hot pan. The batter is fairly thin, so using an actual tablespoon to do these helps keep it from spreading too much. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, flipping carefully (they’re a little fragile). Serve hot with extra blueberries and maple syrup.

Quinoa & Cauliflower Cakes with Ramps

Recipe from Vegetarian Everyday. Makes 12 cakes.

• 1 c. white quinoa
• 1 2/3 c. cauliflower florets, from one medium head of cauliflower
• 6-8 ramps, cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 TBS Ghee, coconut oil, or olive oil for frying

1. Combine 2 1/4 c. water, the quinoa, and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then cook for 15-20 minutes, until quinoa tails have unfurled. Drain and set aside.
2. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor until it has a rice-like texture. Scrape into a bowl and add the cooked quinoa, ramps, eggs, feta, oats, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir until evenly combined. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour, to firm the mixture.
3. Form the mixture into small patties with your hands, squeezing out any excess liquid. Heat the Ghee or oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, then add the patties a few at a time and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Serve warm or cold.

The post Book Club: Vegetarian Everyday // Quinoa, Cauliflower & Ramp Cakes, Flour-Free Banana & Coconut Pancakes appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.