Chocolate Brownie Cookies
food

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

When (another) rainy day and a chocolate craving take place simultaneously, a chocolate cookie recipe can’t be far behind. This one from an old issue of Bon Appetit is both heavenly and ridiculously easy. It’s a cross between a cookie and a brownie – the egg whites give it a chewy texture that contrasts beautifully with the deep chocolate flavor – and the cacao nibs provide an aftertaste of chocolate that immediately makes you think you need to eat another […]

Stir-fried Mung Bean Sprouts
food

Grow Your Own Sprouts

Sprouted seeds, whether it’s alfalfa, mung beans, lentils, broccoli, clover, or kale, are incredibly good for you. They teem with nutrients that support the immune system, yet the sprouts I see in the grocery store often seem a little sad and past their prime. So I started growing my own (which I would only do if it was incredibly easy). All you need are the seeds and a couple of containers (I used Mason jars). I bought an assortment of […]

Almond Butter Fudge
food

Almond Butter Fudge

Sometimes it can be intimidating to see the amazing things food bloggers are doing. You can’t help but think, “I can never make a pie that looks like that.” And you’re probably right, because some earnest soul spent two days hours cutting tiny dots of pastry dough to be painstakingly placed in perfect concentric rings on a rhubarb/pomegranate/frangipane pie. Beautiful to see, impossible to replicate, so I stick to things I think people might actually try to cook. This is […]

Chicken with Calvados and Apples
food

Chicken with Calvados and Apples

My uncle had an apple orchard that I loved because I could climb the trees – apple trees being invitingly low to the ground and accessible for a small person. The apples were McIntoshes and it was hard to wait for them to be ripe enough to eat because they’re a particularly good eating apple. It was one of the pleasures of my childhood to climb a tree, pick an apple, and eat it while perched in the branches, but […]

Grapefruit Poppyseed Baked Doughnuts
food

Grapefruit Poppyseed Baked Doughnuts

To me, the fall is the only excuse you need to make doughnuts, and every year I like to try a different version of a baked doughnut. This one has pink grapefruit (I wish you could smell how fresh and clean the batter smells!) It also has blue poppy seeds, which are produced in Canada and Holland, and though the color is pretty it doesn’t affect the way they taste. And finally, they’re baked instead of fried, dipped lightly in […]