Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

I’m going to revisit one of my favorite cookie recipes today. Made using 100% whole wheat flour and hand-chopped chocolate chips, this is a skillet-baked twist on Kim Boyce’s celebrated chocolate chip cookies. It’s also a fantastic recipe to make with kids. We had a house guest this weekend, and this was the recipe he wanted to make. Instead of shaping individual cookies, you spread cookie dough across an oven-proof pan or skillet, and bake it. You can cut the finished cookies into wedges or squares, or whatever shape you like.

Variations

You can also bake individual versions in tiny skillets or these tiny cast-iron Staubs. Served warm with a little dollop of vanilla ice cream – you get the idea. They’re fun, fast, and couldn’t be simpler. You can see how it all comes together, and meet my favorite kitchen helper, in the video below 😉 Enjoy!

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Genius Kale Salad

There is a special kale salad in the in the new Food52 Genius Recipes cookbook. A single kale salad that ran the gauntlet, beating out all others, for a slice of limelight in the book. Which is saying something. There is no shortage of kale salad inspiration out there, and I knew this one must be pretty special to make the cut.

The whole premise related to the genius recipe series is highlighting recipes that aren’t just great – they need to be more than that. They need to change, or surprise, or shift the way you think about a recipe – or cooking in general. Kristen Miglore selected 100 recipes for the book, and this was the kale salad – special it is! The details! It is from Northern Spy Food Co. Shredded kale is tossed with olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice, and accented with rough-cut almonds, roasted squash (or, this time of year, asparagus), strong chunks of good cheddar cheese, and whispy shavings of Pecorino. I made it with the last delicata squash in my arsenal, and a second time with roasted asparagus. It’s kale salad well punctuated. Meaning, there you are enjoying a fork full of lacinato kale, and along comes an exclamation of cheddar, or all-caps CRUNCH of almond. It’s really nice, and to my palette it’s the well-accented simplicity that makes this version stand out.

Technique

If you give it a go, I’ll encourage deliberate chopping and slicing. Thoughtful, intentional prep is one of the things that takes this salad from good to great. You want the kale stemmed, and sliced into ribbons not too thick, not too thin. Good cheddar is assertive, so you want crumbles that function as good accents on the fork – too big is overwhelming, but you also don’t want to go too small. The book has beautiful photography accompanying each recipe by James Ransom, and they are illustrative as well as enticing. Meaning, you’re able to see the intended result, and can take cues from not only the recipes, but the visuals as well.

You can prep this a day or two ahead of time. I might wait until you’re relatively close to eating to toss it with the lemon juice and olive oil, but aside from that it’s incredibly simple. And I recommend doing a double recipe while you’re at it. The leftovers were brilliant, wilted for a flash in a hot pan, and then tossed with fresh pasta for a quick one-pan dinner.

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Lentils folded into Yogurt, Spinach, and Basil

There is a tiny, thoughtfully curated bookstore on a North-west corner of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood. I was a few minutes early for a lunch nearby and couldn’t help but pop in for a quick browse. Five minutes later I walked out with Lunch at the Shop: The Art and Practice of the Midday Meal. It is an inspired volume by long-established Seattle book store owner Peter Miller celebrating the simple pleasures achieved by taking and appreciating (what I consider) a proper lunch. The emphasis is firmly put on food that is simple, fresh, thoughtful, and often communal. Said another way – lunch doesn’t need to be complicated or elaborate to be meaningful.

Taking time for lunch. This book struck such a note with me because there are few things that can make more of a difference in your day than this gesture. It’s something I believe in, and something I do my best to put into practice whether I’m sitting down by myself, with a few friends, or with many. There is something incredibly positive and optimistic about this small volume with the happy, tomato-red cover. On a practical level it is filled with thoughts and advice on how to eat well, pace your day, and stock your work pantry…but it comes together into something beyond the sum of its sections and chapters. I love that it exists as a reminder of how important this break in the day can be – how it can help relationships grow, how it can help energize, nourish, and revive, and how in-sourcing lunch can bring a bit of magic to a work environment.

I made the Lentils folded into Yogurt, Spinach, and Basil. A double batch, in fact. It was enjoyed on walnut bread, tartine-style, for multiple days. Friends that can’t handle wheat or gluten can enjoy this combination on appropriate crackers or wrapped in a sturdy, fresh leaf of romaine lettuce. It has lentils, loads of spinach (arugula is great too), herbs, and Greek yogurt – a hearty, healthy, satisfying line-up of ingredients that set you up strong for the rest of the afternoon!

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Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

This is my take on tortilla soup – a full-bodied, spicy vegetarian broth envelops a nest of baked tortilla matchsticks. Many tortilla soup recipes call for egregious amounts of shredded cheese, but I’ve found that a bit crumbled goat cheese or greek yogurt lends just the right amount of creaminess, without throwing everything entirely out of whack nutritionally. And you can take the toppings in a number of tasty directions.

There are a thousand ways you can remix this recipe based on your personal preferences or what looks good at your local markets. If I’m after a one dish meal, I’ll add some grilled (or smoked) tofu, or a poached egg. If I feel I need greens as well, I’ll toss in some shredded chard or spinach. For a more typical take you might (instead) finish the soup with sliced avocado and/or cilantro, chopped white onions, and a squeeze of lime.

This is clearly what happens when a tortilla soup meets a California pantry – you can either flare it out with salted yogurt, sliced avocado, and a squeeze of lime (above). Or take it in another direction altogether, and top the soup with cherry tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese (below). That being said, I’m hoping my remix will inspire you to try you own using whatever ingredients you might be inspired by. Use the broth as your base and play around from there.

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Pasta with Baby Kale, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, and Pesto

Last week, on Instagram, I posted an on-the-fly, super-quick pasta dish I made for lunch. It was cute, little, elbow pasta tossed with the last of a jar of pesto, a few handfuls of baby kale, toasted pumpkin seeds, and a shower of lemon zest. So good! So easy! A number of you requested the recipe, and I’ve included it down below. If you’re blessed with the good fortune of having access to a Meyer lemon tree, by all means, use those. Otherwise, regular lemons will do the job just fine. Enjoy! -h

 

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7 Halloween Cocktails You’re Less Likely to Regret

I went down the Halloween cocktail rabbit hole the other day, and (wow!) there are some spooky, wild drinks out there. You might encounter Glowing Jell-o Shots, or candy corn cocktails, or even an eyeball punch. There’s no shortage of cocktails you’d probably regret the next day – weird mixes of alcohols, overly sweet, lots of gummy worms in drinks, etc. So, I thought I’d do a quick round up of Halloween cocktails that were a bit less theme-y, ones that still had some ghoul and ghost, but also seemed delicious.

1. Cardinale – (PUNCH)
Blood red, and bone dry. Get the recipe here.

2. Blood Orange Test Tubes – (Martha Stewart)
I love the test tube delivery here, with the downloadable labels. Get the recipe here.

3. Jekyll Gin Glowing Cocktails – (Delish)
This twist on a Gin Daisy glows in black light! Gin, grenadine, lemon juice, and tonic water. Get the recipe here.

4. Pirate Mary – (Food & Wine)
Yes to this cocktail. There’s a nested recipe in the ingredient list, but it’s no big deal (aside from sourcing the yellow tomato juice ;)…Get the recipe here.

5. Kombucha Dark & Stormy – (101 Cookbooks)
These are so delicious. Essentially, a twist on the classic cocktail make with strong ginger kombucha in place of ginger beer. A splash of rum, optional twist of lime, and you’re good. Get the recipe here.

6. Death in the Afternoon – (PUNCH)
Two ingredients – absinthe and chilled Champagne. Get the recipe here.

7. Mother’s Ruin Punch – (Food & Wine)
If you’re going to go the punch bowl route for your party, this looks gooood. Gin, grapefuit juice, and Champagne. Get the recipe here.

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