I’m not gonna lie, I’m excited to go back to posting non-health-food recipes here. I’ve been enjoying a lot of delicious, good-for-you food, with a handful of not-so-good-for-you indulgences, and I plan to keep eating well, but writing solely about salads and soups etc. is getting a little boring. But before we jump ahead to brownie sundaes and boozy milkshakes (can you tell what I’m craving?), I have the plan for the second week of this year’s winter cleanse to share with you.

You can read a bunch more about the idea behind this cleanse, why I even call it a cleanse, and find the plan for week one over on last week’s post. I should also note that this second week plan relies heavily on leftovers from week one, so if you’re going to play along, you’ll probably want to start there anyways. In the link below, you’ll find the daily menu, grocery list, and prep tips for week two, and at the bottom of this post links to all the new breakfast/lunch/dinner recipes for this week. And if you’re one of the stalwart few who plans to continue your diet resolution into February, you can find four more weeks of meal plans in these cleanse posts from 2012 and 2013 (also, good for you!).

Happy eating!

Winter Cleanse 2014: Week Two – Grocery List, Meal Plan, and Prep Tips

New Recipes for Week Two

Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel

Roasted Broccoli and Kale Caesar Salad

Bulghur with Butter-Roasted Almonds and Cinnamon Chicken

Roasted Carrot and Tahini Soup with Chickpeas

Greek Egg and Lemon Soup with Brown Rice and Chickpeas

Quinoa Puttanesca

Kale and Pecorino Salad

Strawberry Balsamic Salad with Candied Pecans and Goat Cheese

Whole Wheat Fruit and Nut Pancakes

Apple Pie Oatmeal

The post Winter Cleanse 2014: Week Two appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Falafel is kind of a health-food poser. Sure, it has nutritious ingredients like chickpeas and herbs, and healthy fast-food chains like Pret a Manger and Sweetgreen put them on top of salads, but really, eating falafel feels kind of indulgent. It’s certainly better for you than a grilled cheese sandwich or pasta carbonara or fried dough or a lot of other things, but at it’s heart, it’s fried street food. Delicious. Just not that good for you.

However, falafel can be easily transformed into something healthier – just nix the oil and trade the soft, floury pita for a crunchy cabbage wrap, and your craveable Middle-Eastern snack has become downright virtuous. David and Luise of Green Kitchen Stories have done just that with their Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel, a flavor-and-nutrition-packed recipe from their book, Vegetarian Everyday (one of my favorites). These falafels are about 50% chickpeas and 50% pistachios, a combo that gives them a wonderful and unexpected creamy sweetness. Baked instead of fried, nestled into a crisp leaf of cabbage, drizzled with lemon-honey tahini sauce, and topped off with bright pink beet and turnip pickles, they make a filling and delicious meal that’s vegan and gluten-free. And you’d never know from the taste how much your body will thank you for giving it all those good things.

P.S., one of my first posts ever was about falafel, too. 2010! So many years ago! Does having been a food blogger for four years mean I’m getting old? Also, reading that post reminds me that those polka dot plates that I kind of hate are also four years old, and it really would not be a crime if I got some newer, more attractive ones. They have been used well, and served their purpose. I’m totally just trying to justify that I might spend a good portion of my snow day online shopping for kitchen things. I mean working.

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Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel

Recipe adapted slightly from Vegetarian Everyday. Makes about 24-30 falafels, serves 4-5.

• leaves from 8 sprigs of mint
• leaves from 8 sprigs of parsley
• 2 c. shelled raw pistachios (8-1/2 oz.)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas (or drained, canned chickpeas)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 TBS buckwheat flour (or another gluten-free flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• sea salt
• 1 small head green cabbage
• lemon-honey tahini sauce (recipe below)
• quick spicy beet-and-turnip pickles (recipe below)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the mint and parsley leaves in a food processor and process for about 30 seconds. Add the pistachios, garlic, onion, and olive oil and process until all ingredients are well minced and combined, about 30-60 seconds. Add the chickpeas, cumin, flour, and baking soda and blend for about 15 seconds at a time, stopping to scrape the mixture down the sides of the processor as needed, until the mixture is fairly uniform but not smooth – you want the mixture to still have some chunks of chickpea and pistachio in it.
2. Remove the mixture from the processor and season to taste with salt. Form the mixture into 24-30 small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the falafel balls on the sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, using tongs to turn the balls over every 5 minutes so that they brown evenly.
3. Slice off the end of the cabbage with a sharp knife. Remove the large outer leaves and rinse them individually. Pat them dry, then fill with the baked falafel. Serve with lemon-honey tahini sauce and spicy beet-and-turnip pickles. Baked falafel balls are also delicious tossed with a green salad with some avocado and feta cheese.

Lemon-Honey Tahini Sauce

• 3 TBS tahini
• 1 TBS honey
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1/4 c. water

1. Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Quick Spicy Beet and Turnip Pickles

Technique adapted from Eating Well and Cook for Good. Makes two 1-pint jars of pickles.

• 1 medium turnip, peeled
• 1 medium beet, peeled
• sea salt
• 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• 1 c. white wine vinegar
• 1 c. water
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 20 whole  black peppercorns

1. Cut the turnip and the beet into quarters, then slice each quarter as thinly as you can (use a mandoline if you have one). Layer the slices in a colander, with a sprinkling of sea salt between each layer. Place over a bowl and let sit for 10-15 minutes, then toss and squeeze with your hands to remove some of the excess liquid. Repeat this process until the vegetable slices feel a bit limp, about 30-45 minutes. Rinse the slices under cold water to remove the salt and then drain.
2. Toss the beet and turnip slices with the sliced red onion and sliced jalapeno. Divide the vegetable mixture between two clean glass pint jars.
3. In a small pot, mix vinegar, water, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and peppercorns. Heat over medium-low heat, bringing just to a gentle simmer. Stir to dissolve sugar and salt, then remove from heat and pour through a funnel into the two veggie packed jars. Cover the jars with lids and shake a few times to distribute the brine. Put the pickles in the fridge and let sit for at least 3-4 hours. Will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.

The post Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Welcome to the 2014 winter cleanse! This is the third year that I’ll be creating, following, and sharing a two-week plan for healthy, seasonal, “clean” eating here on the blog. The first year, I was inspired in part by the Bon Appetit Food Lover’s Cleanse and in part by my parents’ experience following the eating plan in the book Clean. I started out ambitious: no gluten, no dairy, no alcohol, no coffee. Mostly salad. All those changes at once sustained for two weeks proved to be a little bit too much for me, and I quickly gave in to dairy and gluten cravings.  I also learned that preparing 3 healthy meals and a healthy snack for 14 days in a row is a lot of work, and requires making a game plan ahead of time. Armed with this knowledge, I tackled last year’s cleanse a little differently, and had better results sticking with it. I’ve built in even more flexibility for myself this year, and there’s more on those adjustments below, but first, why do I call this non-scientific, not that diet-y, healthy meal plan a “cleanse”?

Every year, I write that I hesitate to call this two-week healthy eating plan a “cleanse.” And it really does make me a little bit uncomfortable. Especially at this time of year, the media is so full of cleanses and health tips and detoxes and diets that I find it super overwhelming. I read things like “I’m a really indulgent eater – I start every day with a green smoothie and an egg white omelette, and I eat an entire bowl of sorghum with my poached salmon and mustard greens at dinner. The 17 day juice cleanse that I do every other month really helps me press the reset button.” and I want to scream a little bit. Who eats like that?? Are you real people?? What do you you do when you want, say, an entire pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk? Just have a single dried fig and feel satisfied? I feel like these people must be lying, and are secretly eating an entire pizza every day at lunch. Am I the only person out there who has, oh, say, infinity less self control than these people? This introduction/loosely-disguised-rant is just to warn you that my “cleanse” is not based on re-balancing your acidity levels or drinking only fresh juices or raw foods for two weeks. It’s much, much less hard core than that. Really, it’s just a collection of common-sense healthy recipes – more veggies, less fat, whole grains, but still with the occasional sprinkling of cheese or piece of bacon. I like eating. I like flavor. And I like feeling good. But I don’t like denying myself. So that’s what these recipes aim to give you – a flavorful, satisfying, sustainable approach to healthy eating. Hopefully, you’ll find healthy recipes that might even make it into your all-year dinner rotation.

I’m approaching the cleanse a little bit differently this year. Instead of forcing myself to adhere to a strict schedule, I’m outlining the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks that are on the menu for the week, and then I pick and choose from these options based on what I feel like. This helps me look forward to each meal – instead of dreading going home to a salad on a 20° day, I can decide at lunchtime that I’m going to make a hot pot of soup and anticipate it for the rest of the day. It also allows me to be flexible with the excess of leftovers I find myself with when doing all this cooking – if my fridge is full, new recipes get put on hold and leftovers (pre-approved on the week’s menu) get put to good use. I do find it helpful to outline dinner, lunch, and an afternoon snack the night before, so that I have a plan of action for packing my bag in the morning. I’ve still included a daily plan in the document below for those of you who prefer a schedule, but you should feel free to mix it up. Also included in that little document is a shopping list, and some tips for how to plan ahead for the extra time in the kitchen.

So, without further ado, here’s the goods: in the body of this post, the 5 breakfasts, 7 lunches/dinners, and 4 snacks on week one of the cleanse menu, and in the attached word document, your shopping list, daily meal plan, and prep tips. Get cooking, friends!

Winter Cleanse 2014: Week One – Grocery List, Meal Plan, and Prep Tips

Breakfast/Brunch Recipes

Shakshuka

Green Smoothie

Baked Blackberry Oatmeal

Raspberry Maple Breakfast Quinoa

Brussels Sprout and Sweet Potato Hash

Lunch/Dinner Recipes

Roasted Beet and Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Almonds, and Pomegranate

Sesame Chicken Bowl

Mushroom and Olive Veggie Burgers (served with 1/2 roasted sweet potato)

Roasted Brussels Sprout and Bacon Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Roasted Poblano and Black Bean Soup

Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

Soba Noodles with Kale and Slivered Brussels Sprouts

Snack Recipes

Gluten-Free Corn Muffin with Feta and Olive

“Snack Bag” – 1/4 c. nuts, 2 TBS chocolate chips, 1/4 c. dried cherries

Avocado Tartine – 1/2 an avocado mashed on one piece whole wheat toast

Apple Quinoa Cake

One disclaimer: I am not a dietitian, nutritionist, doctor, or medical professional of any sort.  I simply wanted to share my personal menu and goals for healthy eating, so please realize that I have tapered this plan to what I feel my own nutritional needs are, and carefully consider your own health needs/consult your doctor before following any diet, cleanse, or detox plan!

The post Winter Cleanse 2014: Week One appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve been sort of slow to come around to the idea of green smoothies being worth drinking. The first few I tried were not pleasant. This is not a smoothie, I thought, this is poorly blended, slightly chewy spinach water! Thankfully, I kept trying, and after much trial and error, I genuinely love starting my day with a green smoothie. My friends and coworkers are still skeptical, and I figured some of you might be as well, so I wanted to put together a list of tips I’ve discovered through experimentation. Hopefully, this gives some of you the encouragement you need to keep blending up those greens.

Tips for making tasty green smoothies…

• Use sweet fruits and juices when you get started. I tried to make my first few smoothies with just a banana, spinach, and some milk or water. They were not good, and I ended up adding several tablespoons of sweetener to them. I quickly realized that I needed at least half a cup of orange or apple juice along with sweeter fruits like peaches or mango to make myself really enjoy a smoothie – even though juices can be pretty sugary, the trade-off of consuming a salad’s worth of fresh greens before I start work is worth it to me!
• Start out with mild tasting greens, like spinach, and work your way up towards more intensely flavored greens like parsley and kale. Smoothies made with even a generous amount of spinach will still taste like their other main ingredients (banana, mango, strawberry, etc.). You will notice the flavor of kale in your smoothie, so work more intense greens in in stages (adding a little bit of kale to your spinach smoothie, working up to 50/50, then going all-out kale).
• If you find yourself chewing your smoothies, take the extra 2 minutes to strain them through a fine mesh strainer before drinking them. You’ll have to scrape the edges of the strainer with a spoon as you strain to get as much liquid as possible through, but having a smoothie that’s actually smooth will make the whole experience so much more pleasant.
• Make sure to include something creamy in your ingredient list – it will make a big difference in the final texture. Bananas are the most obvious choice, but if you’re not a banana lover, peaches and pears will also add creaminess (although not quite as much as a banana), or if you’re up for something different, try using half an avocado.
• Follow a recipe for your first five smoothies. Take it from someone who’s tried a lot of times – the results of “winging it” can be pretty gross when it comes to smoothies. Over time, you’ll learn to balance sweetness, the amount of liquid, and the intensity of “green” flavor in your own combinations, but practice some basic recipes first.
• If you want your smoothie to look vibrantly green and appetizing, stick with other ingredients that are light in color – oranges, bananas, peaches, mango, apple, etc. If you don’t care what it looks like, throw in those blueberries! Just be warned that it’s going to look like brown sludge.

I’ve included a recipe for my favorite green smoothie  below – it’s fairly basic, but super creamy, sweet, and energizing. It’s also delicious with frozen peaches instead of frozen mango. I won a Vitamix this fall, and I’m a little bit obsessed with it, but the ingredients in this smoothie will get blended up just fine in a regular blender. And since no one wants to have the exact same breakfast every day, I’ve rounded up some other delicious-looking smoothies from around my favorite food blogs. Any other favorite smoothie recipes? Please share them in the comments! I’d love to give them a try.

Other delicious looking smoothies to try…

Persimmon and Tangerine Smoothie with Vanilla, Ginger, and Turmeric by The Bojon Gourmet

Fig and Grape Oat Milk Smoothie by Golubka Kitchen

Kale-Ginger Smoothie by Oh My Veggies

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Sweet Spinach-Mango Smoothie

Serves 1.

• 1 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 banana
• 1 c. frozen mango pieces
• 2 c. fresh baby spinach

1. Add all the ingredients to blender in order listed and blend on high until smooth and thick. If your blender is not powerful enough to fully blend the spinach, strain the smoothie through a fine mesh sieve for a finer texture. Drink immediately, or keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours, stirring before serving.

The post 6 Tips for Tasty Green Smoothies appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Guys, so far the first 8 days of 2014 have been a huge success, health-wise. I’m not going to get too excited, since 8 days is a really short period of time to maintain motivation in the grand scheme of things, but still, it’s nice to remember how rewarding taking care of yourself can feel. I’ve done two solid treadmill sessions, two strength training sessions, spent an afternoon rock climbing (and made it to the top of the wall for the first time!), and gone to a great ballet class. I downloaded the Moves app to try and trick myself into walking more every day, and dragged the dusty scale out from under the bed. We stocked the fridge up with veggies and have been noshing on green smoothies, homemade minestrone, big roasted beet salads, and this carrot and tahini soup (which I had forgotten is really, really delicious). And tonight, as soon as I publish this post, I’m getting out of bed and doing one of those killer Nike Training Club butt workouts. I swear. Getting out of bed is a realistic aspiration. I’m going to do it. I know everyone’s on the straight and narrow right now, but let’s see if we can make it last!

One of the tasty, healthy things we’ve been eating is this salad, which contains several of my favorite ingredients, namely bacon, avocado, and brussels sprouts. I’m not the best at putting together inspiring salads – put me in front of a salad bar and I get kind of overwhelmed and end up with a bunch of weird things that don’t really go together, finished off by a healthy sprinkling of bacon bits, no matter what the other ingredients are. However, I’ve recently discovered that pretty much any green salad is drastically improved by including a warm, craveable element: crispy spiced chickpeas, shredded rotisserie chicken, salty chunks of pancetta, or whole roasted brussels sprouts. So when I saw a recipe for spinach and bacon salad with avocado dressing in Diane and Todd’s new cookbook, and then saw a recipe for bacon-roasted brussels sprouts immediately after, my mind started turning, and a salad that I could actually look forward to eating was born. I like that this salad is fairly simple but still feels like a complete meal – it’s much more put-together than a boring bowl of dressed greens, but doesn’t have 20 separate components to be prepped in order for it to taste good, like a Cobb salad does. It’s also seasonal, filling, and… it has bacon. What’s not to love?

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Roasted Brussels Sprout and Bacon Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Inspired by Bountiful. Serves 2.

• 1 lb. fresh Brussels sprouts
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 strips bacon
• 1 avocado
• 1 1/2 tsp champagne vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 4 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the white end off the base of each brussels sprout, remove the outer leaves, and then slice in half lengthwise. Toss the halved brussels sprouts with 2 TBS of olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spread on a roasting pan and roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender with crispy golden-brown spots, flipping with a spatula after the first 15 minutes.
2. While the brussels sprouts are cooking, cook the bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels, and then roughly chop.
3. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh. Place half of the avocado in a mason jar and mash up with a fork. Add the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil, the vinegar, and the lemon juice to the jar, close the jar, and shake vigorously to mix up the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining half an avocado into rough chunks.
4. Divide the spinach between two bowls. Top each with some avocado pieces, crumbled bacon, and a generous helping of warm brussels sprouts. Spoon some of the avocado vinaigrette over each salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately

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Although I know making a big long list of resolutions is somewhat out of vogue, it’s something I still enjoy doing. Even if I don’t accomplish everything (or anything) on my list, I like to sit down and reflect on what I want out of the year, to think purposefully about change and direction. Plus, I just like making lists. I’m happy with 2013, and I’m excited for 2014, but one area of my life I’m going to need to be diligent about is fitness. I know it’s cliche to make health and fitness resolutions at New Year’s, but hey, anytime you can recommit to healthy living is a good time. Last year I was really good about exercising for the first half of the year – I was consistently working out 5 times a week, was loving my Nike Training Club strength workouts, and even got my 5K time under 24 minutes for the first time in years. Then July happened, we moved (away from my lovely bike path running route), I started going to Russia every month, and exercising just fell by the wayside. I haven’t gained any weight back since then but my fitness levels are just abysmal – doing 10 push-ups makes my ribcage ache and and I’ve been defaulting to pathetically short 2 mile runs instead of my typical 3 or 4. So, it’s time to bite the bullet and get back into it – even though I know the first few weeks are going to be torture, I also know how great being in shape again will feel.

Instead of making one big weight-loss or fitness goal for the whole year, which is an easy way to throw yourself under the bus with overly aggressive or too-distant goals, I’ve decided to commit to giving myself an achievable but challenging fitness goal every month this year. And, going against that not-so-tiny, lazy voice in the back of my head, I’m going to share them here for added accountability. Plus, I know you all like healthy recipes and this means I’ll post at least one a month. For January, my goal is to make it to the Y at least 10 times. I have a two-month trial membership there, but I have a history of paying for these things and then never using them. I’ve been an outdoor runner since I was 13, and going to the gym instead always feels a little bit like torture, but in January and February in Massachusetts, it’s really the only option, since I know from experience that convincing myself to go for a run after work, in the dark, in freezing temperatures, is much harder in practice than in theory.

In the vein of fitness and taking care of your body, I’m also gearing up for this year’s winter cleanse. Finding healthy snacks that will really fill me up in the afternoons is always a challenge, so I’ve been on the lookout for recipes that will make a satisfying replacement for my typical latte and chocolate cookie. I tried out these savory corn muffins from Vegetarian Everyday without letting my hopes get too high – while it’s a great cookbook, gluten-free baking can be really hit or miss in my experience. Luckily, these were a happy addition to the “hit” category. While certainly not calorie-free, these are pretty virtuous for muffins – no gluten, no butter, no sugar – and they have tons of flavor without being dry or crumbly. I’m warning you now that these are going to feature prominently in this year’s cleanse – as a mid-morning treat to have if my green smoothie leaves me hungry (usually), crumbled on top of hearty soups, toasted up for salad croutons, and of course, tucked away in my purse to satisfy those 3PM cravings.

So wish me luck with my exercise goals! Do you have any fitness-related goals for the new year? Please share if you do, and here’s to kicking off a happy, healthy 2014.

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Gluten-Free Olive-and-Feta Corn Muffins

Adapted very slightly from Vegetarian Everyday. Makes 15 muffins.

• 2/3 c. raw millet
• 1 c. cornmeal
• 1 c. rice flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 c. Greek yogurt (about two 5-oz containers)
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• One 6-oz. container of crumbled feta cheese
• 25 pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 2 TBS fresh thyme leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bring a small kettle of water to a boil, then pour 1/2 c. of boiling water over the millet in a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes, then drain the millet and rinse with cold water. Add the cornmeal, rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the millet and whisk to combine thoroughly.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy. Beat in the yogurt and olive oil until thick and smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine thoroughly. Add the feta cheese, olives, and thyme leaves and stir to combine.
3. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. Spoon batter into cups to fill just to the top. Bake the muffins for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown and crusty on top. Best served warm.

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The post Monthly Fitness Goals: January // Gluten-Free Olive-and-Feta Corn Muffins appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Tah-dah! I have the menu/grocery-list/pictures for the second week of my 2013 winter cleanse! I have some wrap-up thoughts on how this went for me this year, but before I get into that, I want to direct everyone over to the week one post for more info on the reason behind the cleanse, why I even call it a cleanse, how it’s set-up, and more. The only new logistical thing I’ll mention is that the beginning of week two makes use of leftovers from the end of week one, so keep in mind that there will be a little bit more cooking if you do this week as a stand-alone menu.

Now for the wrap-up: overall, I feel better about the cleanse this year than I did last year. I wasn’t as stressed out by all the cooking, in large part due to better planning, and I stuck to the plan more closely than last year. I think having snacks built-in helped, as did writing out by hand each night what was on the plan for the next day, and checking off each thing that I ate (plus writing down any mistakes in an “oops” section – I’ll admit to one fresh chocolate-chip cookie, and a couple days where a little piece of chocolate may have found its way into my belly after dinner). I also think setting aside one night “off” to attend a party I’d known about in advance was crucial – it gave me a special meal to look forward to, and extra dedication to eating well that day and the day before. Having that meal out also gave me perspective on how this might work if I stuck with it all year – knowing that you’re going to indulge ahead of time and treating it as an indulgence that should be balanced with healthful habits before and after is a good way to approach eating in general!

One thing that I didn’t anticipate was the sheer volume of leftovers I ended up with. At first, this was kind of stressing me out – I like to be able to eat all the food that I make/buy, and typically, I only make three or four dinners in a week, so making seven different things meant almost twice as much food, even with most recipes scaled down. I also only have one shelf in a fridge shared with four people, and even less space in the freezer, so between more fresh ingredients than usual and more leftovers than usual, to say I was squeezed for space is an understatement (every time I took anything out of the fridge it was like doing a jigsaw puzzle). Eventually, I snapped out of it and turned on the extra freezer in the basement (sometimes it’s the littlest things that you procrastinate doing…) and stored all the leftovers, neatly labeled, in there. The added benefit of this is that I actually have a ton of “cleanse” food to keep me eating healthy through the next two weeks or so, so I’m planning on continuing with the general plan for the most part.

The last thing that I want to mention is that this time around, not only did I lose 4 pounds, but I really felt like doing this cleanse gave me a ton of energy (and also protected me somewhat from the flu that’s going around… knock on wood). It’s nice to find that sort of balance, and I hope I can continue to maintain it!

With all that said, here are the logistics for this week:

Weekend prep activities (i.e. things to do when you have extra time that will make the rest of the week a little easier):

• Make granola
• Roast broccoli
• Roast beets
• Cook hard-boiled eggs
• Wash and dry spinach, arugula, and kale
• Make the almond salad dressing for the spinach salad
• Remove pomegranate seeds and prepare pomegranate gremolata (for pear and pomegranate salad)
• Make the pomegranate salad dressing
• Soak chickpeas (for beet and fried chickpea salad)

Menu Attachment
Grocery List Attachment

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian, nutritionist, doctor, or medical professional of any sort.  I simply wanted to share my personal menu and goals for healthy eating, so please realize that I have tapered this plan to what I feel my own nutritional needs are, and carefully consider your own health needs/consult your doctor before following any diet, cleanse, or detox plan! 

Winter Cleanse Menu 2013 – Week Two

Day Eight, Sunday:

• Brunch: Homemade Granola, Greek Yogurt, and Fresh Fruit Parfait; Small Latte
  
• Snack: Leftover Quinoa Puttanesca (from week one)
• Dinner: Mushroom and Olive Veggie Burgers; Kale and Avocado Salad with Almonds, Apples, and Nori
  

Day Nine, Monday:

• Breakfast: Leftover Shakshuka (Eggs and Potatoes in Spicy Tomato Sauce, from week one)
  
• Snack: 2 Clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Bulghur with Butter-Roasted Almonds and Chicken (from week one)
  
• Snack: 1 c. Roast Broccoli
• Dinner: White Bean, Kale, and Pesto Soup; Pomegranate, Pear, and Arugula Salad
  

Day Ten, Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Leftover Apple Quinoa Cake (from week one)
• Snack: Small Latte
• Lunch: Leftover Mushroom and Olive Veggie Burgers, Leftover Pomegranate, Pear, and Arugula Salad
• Snack: 1 6-oz. Greek Yogurt
• Dinner: Roasted Beet and Fried Chickpea Salad
  

Day Eleven, Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Granola, Greek Yogurt, and Fresh Fruit Parfait
  
• Snack: 2 Clementines
• Lunch: Leftover White Bean, Kale, and Pesto Soup
• Snack: Snack Bag – 1/4 c. Pecans, 1/4 c. Dried Fruit, 2 TBS Chocolate Chips
• Dinner: Chickpea Dumplings in Tomato-Yogurt Sauce, Kale and Avocado Salad with Almonds, Apples, and Nori
  

Day Twelve, Thursday:

• Breakfast: Leftover Apple Quinoa Cake
• Snack: Fruit Smoothie – 1 c. orange juice, 1 c. frozen mixed berries, 1 6-oz container greek yogurt, 1 TBS maple syrup
• Lunch: Leftover Chickpea Dumplings in Tomato-Yogurt Sauce
• Snack: 1 c. Roast Broccoli
• Dinner: Roast Beet and Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Pomegranate, and Eggs
  

Day Thirteen, Friday:

• Breakfast: Raspberry-Maple Breakfast Quinoa
  
• Snack: Small Latte
• Lunch: Leftover Roast Beet and Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Pomegranate, and Eggs
• Snack: Snack Bag – 1/4 c. Pecans, 1/4 c. Dried Fruit, 2 TBS Chocolate Chips
• Dinner: Greek Egg and Lemon Soup with Chicken, Brown Rice, and Chickpeas
  

Day Fourteen, Saturday:

• Brunch: Whole Wheat Fruit and Nut Pancakes with Maple Syrup
  
• Snack: Leftover Roast Beet and Chickpea Salad
  
• Dinner: Quinoa Salad with Broccoli-Avocado Pesto
  

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Alright, guys – one more salad recipe, then I’ll post the week two menu and groceries tomorrow, and then I’ll shut up about cleansing for a good long while. In fact, I have two decidedly non-cleanse-friendly recipes coming up in the next week – think comforting Italian, then think Valentine’s Day planning. I’m excited already. Not that I’m going to give up all my cleanse habits – on the contrary, I plan to continue eating a lot of salads and veggie-based dishes for at least the near future. It’s just that I’m sneaking some indulgences back in there too.

But first thing’s first – salad. This salad is from the November issue of Food and Wine, and was actually developed by chef/blogger/recent-cookbook-author Aida Mollenkamp (check out her new book, Keys to the Kitchen, if you haven’t already). It’s very simple and refreshing and sweet, with juicy pomegranate seeds and fresh pears, just the thing for when you’re not feeling too much like eating a traditional salad but want to get your greens in. Making the dressing, which uses pomegranate molasses, honey, and mustard, is a must. The only thing I changed was the ratios of the pomegranate gremolata to the greens and of the greens to the dressing – the original recipe was made to serve 10, and I certainly can’t eat 10 servings worth of the same salad before it goes bad. I also like my salads a little bit fruit-heavy, so that’s reflected below.

Arugula Salad with Pears and Pomegranate Gremolata

Recipe adapted slightly from Food and Wine magazine. Serves 4.

• 1/2 c. pomegranate arils
• 2 TBS fresh, finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 small shallot, peeled and finely minced
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated orange zest
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS pomegranate molasses
• 1 TBS red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard
• 5 oz. arugula, washed and dried
• 1-2 ripe Bosc pears, thinly sliced

1. To make the gremolata, combine the pomegranate, parsley, shallot, and orange zest in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Make the dressing by vigorously whisking together the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, honey, and mustard. Season to taste with salt. Pour the dressing over the greens and toss to coat. Divide the greens among 4 plates, and top each plate with a few slices of pear and 2 heaping TBS of the pomegranate gremolata. Serve immediately.

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For the last cleanse brunch meal, I decided it was OK to push the boundaries of my rules and let pancakes onto the menu. In part, I think it makes sense to ease your way back into normal eating habits by creating healthy versions of your favorite foods. If you can eat the foods you crave without all the negative health effects, it’s that much more likely that the benefits of “cleansing” will stick! These pancakes, adapted from SELF Magazine, not only have no sugar and use whole-wheat flour, they also have berries, bananas, and crushed pecans to up their healthfulness.

I was surprised by these pancakes – I was expecting them to be decent, but not particularly good. I just haven’t had that much luck with whole wheat baking in the past, and I also have really high standards for pancakes, having grown up in a house where mixes were sneered upon and a fresh batch of dad’s blueberry-buttermilk pancakes was a weekend staple. However, these healthy little guys ticked off all my pancake check-boxes – they were tender, moist, flavorful, and thick. The fact that I could eat two with a generous drizzle of maple syrup and not feel guilty about it was just an added bonus. I will definitely be making these again!

Whole Wheat Fruit and Nut Pancakes

Adapted from SELF Magazine. Makes 8 pancakes / Serves 4.

• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/4 c. crushed or roughly chopped pecans
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 c. frozen or fresh mixed berries
• cooking spray or a small pat of butter

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, oats, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to combine. In another medium bowl, mash the banana into a paste, then beat in the egg, buttermilk, and almond extract to combine. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly mixed.
2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-low heat, or melt butter in skillet over medium-low heat. Make pancakes using 1/3 c. batter each. Top each pancake with a few berries. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the batter is bubbling on the top of the pancake and the bottom is golden brown, then flip and cook for 3-4 minutes on the other side. Repeat until batter is gone. Serve warm with extra berries and maple syrup. Place any extra cooked pancakes in plastic bags and refrigerate to store.

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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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It seems as though we’ve entered flu season. I actually haven’t been sick yet, but I’ve seen several co-workers, a few family members, and lots of blog-friends succumb in the past week or two. I just want to send everyone a big bowl of chicken soup, but that seems unfeasible, given, you know, the logistics of shipping chicken soup around the country, so I made this lovely, thick, Greek-inspired bowl of avgolemono with chicken to inspire health in all of you (and I’m also hoping that eating it myself will help stave off illness a while longer). In particular, Grandma Joyce – I hope you’re feeling much much better!

This is another recipe that’s inspired by Maria‘s Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. I really love this cookbook, but I’m always tinkering with the recipes, which sometimes gives me cooking guilt, as I know it’s not a fair test of the recipe (and that a lot of work goes into recipe-testing for cookbooks to get them just right)! I set out to make this one exactly as written, but realized as I started cooking that I didn’t have any scallions, and that I didn’t have any par-boiled rice on hand, and that I really needed to use up the chickpeas that have been sitting in my fridge. So I sighed, and adjusted here and tweaked there, and made it my own. I promise, I’ll make the next recipe from Maria’s book the way it says to!

As you might have guessed, this is another one for my winter cleanse. It’s great cleanse food – the avgolemono, a Greek technique that involves adding an egg and lemon mixture to thicken hot broth, makes it thicker and more substantial than your average soup, without adding a lot of extra calories. With chicken, chickpeas, and brown rice, it’s filling and warming and lovely. Give it a try… and feel better to all of you who are under the weather!

Greek Egg and Lemon Soup with Chicken, Brown Rice, and Chickpeas

Inspired by Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. Serves 2.

• 4 c. chicken broth
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, fat trimmed (about 8 oz.)
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed or finely minced
• 1/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 egg, separated, at room temperature
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice (from about 1/2 lemon)
• 1/4 c. chopped dill
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the chicken broth, chicken, minced/crushed garlic, and brown rice to a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 35-45 minutes, or until both the rice and the chicken are fully cooked – the rice should be tender and the chicken should be cooked through, with no pink in the middle when you cut into it.
2. Remove the chicken from the pot and place on a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, tear into bite-sized pieces, and set aside.
3. Beat the egg white with a whisk in a medium bowl until it is white and thick. Lightly beat the egg yolk, then add the egg yolk to the beaten egg white and whisk together. Slowly pour the lemon juice into the egg mixture as you whisk. The mixture should be pale yellow and fairly thick. Slowly add a thin stream of the hot broth-rice mixture to the egg-lemon mixture, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so, to temper the eggs. Use about half of the broth mixture in doing this. Pour the tempered egg-lemon mixture back into the pan, whisking the soup as you do so. Continue to stir, and add the chicken pieces, chickpeas, and dill to the pot. Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring, to heat all ingredients through and slightly thicken the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve hot.

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So I know I’ve been talking about it for a while now, but I finally have the first week of this year’s winter cleanse menu ready to go. I struggle a lot with what to call this “cleanse” – I flip-flop between “cleanse,” “detox,” “diet,” and other typical health-food plan words. At it’s core, it’s really just a healthy eating plan focused on whole foods and vegetables. While I do tend to lose weight while doing it, not every recipe is low calorie, and some even include typical diet no-no’s like cheese, and chorizo. Still, the goal for me is to get a lot of the holiday junk out of my system and fill up on wholesome, nutrient-packed foods that will be kind to my body, so “cleanse” always ends up winning the word-choice battle.

Last year I was a little too ambitious with my cleanse “rules,” and I ended up having a really tough time sticking to them. This year, I’m being a bit more generous with myself in the plan, but stricter about sticking to it. Basically, I try to limit sugar, dairy, meat, and gluten (although I have some whole wheat foods), and replace those foods with lots and lots of vegetables, whole grains, and beans. I have to have a green salad every day, and drinks are mainly water and tea, with an occasional latte built-in as a snack/treat. No booze. It’s not a super strict plan, but I find having everything mapped out and the rules firmly in my mind really helps with my motivation – and so far I feel great (and have lost 4 pounds in as many days)!

Another difficult part for me last year was the sheer amount of cooking that doing this required. There were definitely nights when I just ran out of energy – in particular, the night I stopped at a cafe and wolfed down a cheesy sandwich because I was too exhausted to think about getting more groceries comes to mind. This year, I put a lot more time into planning and prep so that this wouldn’t be a problem. I got all the groceries for the whole week in one go, and I’ve attached a grocery list (enough for 1-2 people doing the cleanse) for you as well (as well as a menu print-out to hang on your fridge). I also identified all the activities that could easily be done on the first day, Sunday, or any other time that you have a little extra free time, so that making meals the rest of the week would be quicker. I didn’t do all of these in one day, but spread them out over my free time:

• Making the ginger-cassis dressing
• Making the Caesar dressing
• Making the tzatziki
• Soaking and cooking the chickpeas (if not using canned)
• Toasting and grinding breadcrumbs and croutons (if not using store-bought)
• Roasting the broccoli
• Roasting and peeling the chestnuts
• Roasting the sweet potato
• Washing, drying, and cutting the kale leaves
• Peeling and segmenting the grapefruit
• Prepping “snack bags” for the week
• Peeling and cutting onions, carrots, and garlic for various meals (store in snack bags in fridge)

A few last notes – the attached shopping list is written for one person to have enough to make all the meals in the first week, plus a little extra (you can’t buy half an onion!). For the most part, I scaled the ingredient amounts down to be enough to serve 2 – one serving for dinner, and one serving of leftovers for lunch the next day. There are some recipes, though, that just don’t scale as easily, and I did end up with a lot of leftovers. I froze all of the leftovers and encourage you to do the same, if you have them – it will just help you to continue eating healthily after the cleanse is over! You’ll notice that the weekends are structured a bit differently, with larger brunch and dinner meals and one substantial snack – this reflects the way I eat during the weekends, but feel free to bulk up these days with more healthy fruit and vegetable snacks (or leftovers from other meals). In general, mixing and matching recipes you like and don’t like is fine – I only have them in the order I do so that meals don’t overlap too much within a day (aka you don’t end up having eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and so that leftovers get used up. Last, if you miss a day or give in to something not on the plan, don’t beat yourself up over it – just start again with fresh focus the next day!

Menu Attachment
Grocery List Attachment

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian, nutritionist, doctor, or medical professional of any sort.  I simply wanted to share my personal menu and goals for healthy eating, so please realize that I have tapered this plan to what I feel my own nutritional needs are, and carefully consider your own health needs/consult your doctor before following any diet, cleanse, or detox plan! 

Winter Cleanse Menu 2013 – Week One

Day One, Sunday:

• Brunch: Brussels Sprout and Sweet Potato Hash with a Fried Egg
• Snack: Avocado Tartine – 1 Piece Whole Wheat Toast with 1/2 an Avocado
• Dinner: Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pie, Kale and Roasted Broccoli Caesar Salad

Day Two, Monday:

• Breakfast: Mushroom and Roast Broccoli Scramble
• Snack: 2 Clementines
• Lunch: Grapefruit and Avocado Salad, Leftover Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pie
• Snack: Snack Bag – 1/4 c. Pecans, 1/4 c. Dried Fruit, 2 TBS Chocolate Chips
• Dinner: Baked Chickpea Burger with Tabbouleh and Tzatziki

Day Three, Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Leftover Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Hash
• Snack: Small Latte
• Lunch: Leftover Chickpea Burger with Tabbouleh and Tzatziki
• Snack: Green Grapes
• Dinner: Chestnut and Potato Soup, Kale and Roasted Broccoli Caesar Salad

Day Four, Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Raspberry-Maple Breakfast Quinoa
• Snack: 2 Clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Chestnut and Potato Soup, Kale and Roasted Broccoli Caesar Salad
• Snack: Snack Bag – 1/4 c. Pecans, 1/4 c. Dried Fruit, 2 TBS Chocolate Chips
• Dinner: Vegetarian Chili with Brown Rice

Day Five, Thursday:

• Breakfast: 1 Piece Whole Wheat Toast with Peanut-Butter, Chocolate-Blueberry Smoothie
• Snack: Small Latte
• Lunch: Leftover Vegetarian Chili with Brown Rice
• Snack: Green Grapes
• Dinner: Fried Chickpeas with Yogurt Sauce, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Day Six, Friday:

• Breakfast: Raspberry-Maple Breakfast Quinoa
• Snack: 2 Clementines
• Lunch: Leftover Fried Chickpeas with Yogurt Sauce, Hard-Boiled Egg
• Snack: Snack Bag – 1/4 c. Pecans, 1/4 c. Dried Fruit, 2 TBS Chocolate Chips
• Dinner: Quinoa Puttanesca, Raw Kale and Pecorino Salad

Day Seven, Saturday:

• Brunch: Shakshuka (Eggs and Potatoes in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
• Snack: Apple Quinoa Cake
• Dinner: Bulghur with Butter-Roasted Almonds and Chicken, Salad with Ginger-Cassis Dressing

Update: Week Two Menu is now available!

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OK, last pre-cleanse post! Just wanted to get these two breakfast recipes up here so they’re included for the big round-up tomorrow. The first recipe is a favorite of mine, and a frequent breakfast staple, inspired by Heidi a few years back. I use frozen raspberries and stir most of them in at the beginning, so that the whole thing turns pink and has a lovely raspberry flavor. Then I add a few whole ones back in at the end, for that tangy bite. The second recipe is for a roasted broccoli and mushroom scramble – not really a recipe you need, but posted here for convenience of anyone following the cleanse. Both of these recipes are the sort that are infinitely variable, and you can change according to your taste – this is just the way I like them!

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Raspberry-Maple Breakfast Quinoa

Serves 2

• 1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed
• 1 c. skim milk
• 1 1/3 c. raspberries
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 c. pecans
• 2 TBS maple syrup

Add the quinoa, milk, and 1 cup of the raspberries to a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Let simmer, uncovered, and stirring frequently, until quinoa’s “tails” have unfurled, about 15 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, as simmering milk frequently froths up and can make a big mess. Once quinoa is done, stir in cinnamon, pecans, maple syrup, and remaining whole raspberries. Enjoy warm, refrigerate any leftovers.

Roast Broccoli and Mushroom Scramble

Serves 1

• 1/2 TBS olive oil
• 5 large button mushrooms, sliced
• sea salt
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 c. roasted broccoli (roasted with olive oil for 20 minutes at 375°F)

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. Beat together egg and egg white, then pour over mushrooms. Add roasted broccoli and cook scramble, stirring with a spatula, until eggs have reached desired doneness.

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Just here to quickly share the recipe for this salad, which is one of the first recipes in this year’s winter cleanse. I started the cleanse today, and so far haven’t cheated! (Except I had one single sour peach ring, because I haven’t seen them in ages, and I love them. I don’t feel bad about it.) I’ll be posting the full menu for week one of the cleanse on Sunday, along with some additional healthy breakfast recipes tomorrow or Saturday. Until then, you can take a peek at last year’s cleanse (week one, week two), or just enjoy this healthy salad, which manages to be both filling and refreshing at the same time.

Hope everyone’s resolutions are off to a good start!

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Ginger-Cassis Dressing

Adapted from Bon Appetit. Serves 1.

• 1/2 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 large grapefruit
• 2 large handfuls spinach or arugula
• 2 TBS ginger-cassis dressing (see below)

Cut peel off grapefruit and cut supremes away from inner membranes. Layer grapefruit segments and avocado slices over the greens and drizzle with the dressing.

Ginger-Cassis Dressing

Recipe from Bon Appetit. Makes ~2/3 c.

• 2 TBS finely chopped shallot
• 2 TBS finely minced fresh ginger
• 3 TBS high-quality olive oil
• 3 TBS creme de cassis (black-currant liqueur)
• 4 tsp sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small tupperware with a lid and shake vigorously to blend. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Store extra dressing in the fridge and shake before serving.

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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!

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