Posts Tagged food blog

Hello there, 2012: It’s Time to Detox.

And just like that, life is suddenly normal again.

The holidays have come and gone. The Christmas decor is all packed away. I’m back to sitting at a desk in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. And, of course, since it’s the first week of January I’m doing what every other resolution-making, gym-membership-buying American is doing this week: I’m detoxing.

To be clear, I’m using the term ‘detox’ very loosely. Really, I’m just cutting back on sugar, alcohol, and carbohydrates (and all those other things that taste really good but aren’t actually good for you). Since life has returned to normal, my diet should do the same. It is officially time to say goodbye to holiday treats. As much as I love them, they certainly do not love me: I feel tired, old, and sluggish.

So, I’m going back to square one. I’m going to eat simple, whole foods. I’m going to eat fruits, vegetables, and grains. I’m going to be good to my body. There is no formula; this isn’t rocket science. I’m just going to do the best that I can.

If you’d like to join me, I’ve compiled a list of a few of my favorite “detox” recipes. These recipes have inspired me to eat better, and they’ve certainly made me feel better. Please do let me know if you have any detox recipes that you’d like to share! I’d love to hear your suggestions. Happy new year, everyone. Here’s to healthy, happy living!

POST-HOLIDAY DETOX RECIPES: A FEW OF MY PERSONAL FAVES.

Cleansing Ginger Chicken Soup from Bon Apetit: I made a big batch of this broth last week and I LOVE it. For the first few days after Christmas, I simply drank this ginger chicken broth on its own (alongside a simple kale salad). I still had quite a bit of the broth leftover (I made a giant batch), so I roasted some carrots, fennel, parsnips, celery and onions and added that to the broth, along with some leftover cooked chicken. It made for the best chicken and vegetable soup ever. It is full of flavor and nutrients, and it makes my belly really really happy.

Kale and Peanut Slaw from The Kitchn: I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for ages, but I didn’t get around to making until last week. It’s simple, fresh, filling, and wonderful. (It’s also reminiscent of my all-time favorite salad: Raw Kale Apple Salad.)

Coconut Black Eyed Pea Soup from Boulder Locavore: A new year’s tradition (black eyed peas), transformed into an amazing soup. This soup looks rich, yet bright and refreshing (and healthy!). I will be making this soon.

Detox Salad from Oh She Glows: I’ve not yet made this salad, but how could I not add a salad called ‘Detox Salad’ to my list of detox foods? This salad contains SO many wonderful things, and I plan on making it sometime this week.

Miso Soup from 101 Cookbooks: I’ve made Heidi’s miso soup recipe many, many times. I adore this recipe, as does my stomach.

Vegan Caesar Salad: This is my adaptation of 101 Cookbooks Vegan Caesar salad. It’s lighter than a typical Caesar and uses a mix of greens as opposed to iceberg or Romaine lettuce. It’s much healthier than a typical Caesar, and in my opinion – it tastes every bit as good. The secret? Capers.

Warm Chickpea & Butternut Squash Salad from Smitten Kitchen: I’ve also made this salad a zillion times. I like to eat it alongside hummus & pita, but it can be served on its own as a meal. The Tahini dressing is the key, as it really marries all the flavors together beautifully. This salad is also great leftover (and eaten warm or cold).

Balsamic Roasted Roots with Spinach Sauce from Sprouted Kitchen: I could easily include every recipe from Sprouted Kitchen in my roundup, but this recipe seemed particularly appropriate for the season. Plus, the photos are gorgeous.

Curried Quinoa and Apple Salad: What’s not to like about quinoa with apples, curry, coconut milk, golden raisins and almonds? This is such a simple salad, but it’s full of bright and bold flavors. This is also my favorite weekday lunch recipe.

Spicy Slaw with Shredded Chicken from The Unexpected Harvest: This is a recipe from my dear friend Mari that I’ve had bookmarked for ages. Somehow, I’ve never gotten around to making it! It is a simple cabbage slaw with a spicy dressing, served with shredded chicken and soft boiled eggs. It looks hearty, without being too heavy.

Carrot Soup with Orange and Lemongrass: This might be my favorite soup of all time. It’s spicy and powerful, bold and bright. And, it’s vegan!

Vegetarian African Peanut Stew from Big Girls, Small Kitchen: A hearty winter vegetable stew with sweet potatoes, peanuts, edamame, spinach and more.

Hazelnut and Dried Cherry Biscotti with Orange and Cardamom

It feels good to sit down.

I’m taking a minute for myself. Elf is playing on the television, my (turquoise-themed) Christmas tree is twinkling in the background, and my cat is snuggled up next to me. It’s been a busy month, and I’ve not had many moments to myself recently. I blinked, and before I knew it my December schedule was filled with meetings, holiday parties, food swaps, catering gigs, meetings, baking, cooking, crafting, and so much more.

To be honest, I sort of love the hustle and bustle of it all. I’m the queen of overcommitment and I’m always busy, busy, busy. But, that gets old quickly. In fact, it’s downright exhausting. I have to remind myself to slow down, and to take things one day at a time. I desperately want to enjoy this holiday season, and the only obstacle standing in the way of a peaceful and restful holiday is me.

But, I’m working on it. Baby steps. Tonight, I snuggled with my cat and watched Elf and all felt right.

And the cherry hazelnut biscotti? They were part of my holiday stress-reducing plan. I needed something to bring to the PDX Winter Food Swap and I needed a treat to bring to a holiday party. So I made a double batch of biscotti and I killed two birds with one stone. The biscotti were an absolute hit at each event (i.e. they disappeared quickly), they were easy to make, and they crossed two things off my to-do list. Huzzah!

I’d like to say thank you (yet again) to my sister, Danielle, for baking with me. We baked the biscotti together while her baby and my bunny played together on the kitchen floor (and made a giant – but adorable – mess). Baking is so much better with company (if I do say so myself)…

DRIED CHERRY & HAZELNUT BISCOTTI (WITH ORANGE AND CARDAMOM)
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Note: This recipe could easily be adapted to include various dried fruits and nuts (cranberries, blueberries, dates, pistachios, almonds, pecans, etc), I just used what I had on hand. And, of course, I decided to dip each biscotti in dark chocolate…because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Ingredients:
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried bing cherries, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
12 oz. (1 bag) dark chocolate chips (I used extra dark, 60% cacao from Ghiradelli)

Method:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), beat butter on high speedy, until fluffy (1-2 minutes). Add in the sugar, and continue beating until well combined. Reduce the speed to low, and add in the eggs one at a time. Mix until blended, and then mix in the vanilla.

In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until incorporated. Gently stir in the hazelnuts, cherries and orange zest until evenly distributed. The dough should be very soft.

Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface and divide in half. With well-floured hands, transfer one-half onto one side of the lined baking sheet and shape into a log about 12″ long and 1.5 inches wide. Repeat with the remaining dough on the other side of the sheet, leaving at least 4 inches between the logs.

Bake the biscotti until the edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Gently (and carefully) transfer the biscotti “logs” to a flat surface. Using a serrated knife, cut off slices of biscotti (1/2 inch wide). Place biscotti pieces on the baking sheet (on their side) and bake for 10 minutes more, or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire racks.

Optional: Once the cookies have cooled, melt the chocolate chips, using a double boiler. (You could always try the microwave to melt the chocolate, but you can easily overcook the chocolate and then it becomes gritty and gross. I prefer the double boiler method.) Dip each biscotti in the chocolate, coating 1/4 to 1/2 of the cookie (I just like to coat the tip of the biscotti, so I dip it 1/4 of the way in the chocolate). Carefully place each biscotti on a piece of parchment or wax paper, and allow to cool.

Store biscotti in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen biscotti.

A photo of my biscotti at the PDX Winter Handmade Food Swap

Recipe Swap: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

For thirteenth installment of the Burwell General Store Recipe Swap, we’re switching things up!

For the past year, we’ve been remaking recipes from a funny old cookbook (and hymnal!) called All Day Singin’ and Dinner on the Ground. I don’t personally own the book, but I feel a connection to it as I’ve been making (or re-making) recipes from it for a year now. I love how old timey the book is and how utterly simple the recipes are. For most of the recipes, the instructions are a few mere sentences.

As you may recall, last month was the year anniversary of the Recipe Swap. To celebrate, all the recipe swappers were asked to make our own versions of a Maple Syrup Cake. I went with a Butternut Squash Layer Cake with Maple Cream Cheese frosting (and yes, it tasted every bit as good as it sounds). The cake was the perfect way to celebrate the year anniversary of a group I’ve grown so fond of.

However, going forward, we’re going to be making recipes from a new book: The Second Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes From Famous Eating Places.

I’m not what you would call an inflexible person, but some might describe me as stubborn. When I heard that we were going to be using a new cookbook, I was dubious. I’d grown rather fond of our funny little cookbook! I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to All Day Singin and Dinner on the Ground. But, then I realized that introducing a new book to the group only further encourages creativity in the kitchen and will bring a whole new set of interesting recipes to recreate. I’m all for creativity in the kitchen, and so I set aside my hesitations and decided to embrace the new book.

It probably didn’t hurt that the first recipe that Christianna selected from the new book was a recipe for the classic Tollhouse Cookie. I mean, seriously, what’s not to like about the Tollhouse cookie? It is the epitome of classic recipes; it is the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.

I was slightly flustered by the idea of remaking such a classic, so I decided to give the Tollhouse cookie a slight twist. I didn’t want to do anything TOO crazy, as I’m a big fan of the original Tollhouse cookie. I wanted to make something that paid proper homage to the original recipe, and yet updated it at the same time. So, I made one giant whole wheat chocolate chip cookie in a cast iron skillet and sprinkled it with sea salt.

The cookie was rich, chewy, dense, and was the perfect marriage of sweet and salty. The whole wheat flour added density and flavor (and I’d like to pretend that it means this cookie is healthy). At the end of the day, I loved this recipe because it tasted like everything I want out of a chocolate chip cookie. The dark chocolate, whole wheat, and seat salt work so well together. This is the perfect (giant) cookie.

I didn’t attempt to improve on the original Tollhouse cookie as I believe that is an impossible feat. But, I took the spirit of that recipe and I made it my own. I baked it in a cast iron skillet. I sliced off a big old wedge of cookie and ate it warm with vanilla bean ice cream. And I was happy (!).

All that to say: happy recipe swap, y’all. I hope you found as much happiness in your Tollhouse recreations as I did. I certainly had a good time.

“Cast Iron Skillet Cookie”: Whole Wheat Chocolate Skillet Cookie
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, plus more for buttering the pan
1 cup dark brown (or muscovado) sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate, roughly chopped into small pieces (I used lightly salted dark chocolate from Lindt)
High quality sea salt, for finishing

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 10 (or 11″) cast iron skillet, that is at least 2″ deep (this is important! if the skillet isn’t deep enough, it will overflow).

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

In another large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) add the chilled butter and the white and brown. Mix just until the butter and sugars are blended (low speed), about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl along the way. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is combined. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and blend on low speed until the flour is barely combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Add most of the chocolate to the batter and mix until the chocolate is just incorporated. Use a spatula to scrape the batter out into the skillet, pressing it into an even layer. Sprinkle any remaining chocolate across the top and sprinkle a bit of high quality sea salt over the top.

Bake the cookie for 35-45 minutes, or until until the dough is a deep golden brown along the edge, and the center has set. Remove from oven and let cool before slicing. Cut into wedges (or squares). Best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Please see below for all the other fantastic contributions to this recipe swap!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter (and an Apple Recipe Roundup)

You know what’s funny about the typical grocery store Red Delicious apple? The fact that, chances are, that apple is decidedly not delicious. They are mealy, waxy, and completely devoid of flavor or nutrients.

It is for this reason that I’ve been mostly ambivalent to apples my whole life. Sure, I’d eat apples if they were smothered in caramel or baked into a pie. But, for the most part, I avoided apples like the plague. Biting into a mealy apple is one of my least favorite things on the planet.

While bad apples are really bad, I’d argue that good apples are really, really good. Biting into a crisp, juicy apple is one of life’s simple pleasures. Last weekend, I attended the Portland Nursery’s Apple Festival and was overwhelmed by the sheer apple-ness of it all. The Apple Festival boasts 30+ varieties of local apples, all picked at the height of apple season. They offer apple tastings, as well as apple cider, caramel apples, apple pastries and so much more. Oh, and did I mention that they sell all the varieties apples for .99 cents a pound (!). It was like I died and went to apple heaven.

Naturally, I bought ten pounds of apples. I could have easily bought more, but I have a whopping two people in my household (and 5 pounds a person seemed reasonable?). After perusing and tasting the countless apple options, I finally settled on 6 pounds of King David apples (for canning) and 4 pounds of Winesaps (for eating).

From the outset, my plan was to make apple butter. I’m a sucker for a good apple butter, and I happen to think that apple butter tastes like autumn. I love that apple butter isn’t butter at all, it’s just glorified apple sauce — apple sauce that has been cooked down for hours and hours, until it is thick, dark, rich, and wonderful. I’d seen a few recipes for making apple butter in the slow cooker, and I was keen on the idea of filling my slow cooker with apples in the evening and then waking up in the morning to apple butter.

Let me tell you, waking up in the morning to the aroma of slow cooked apple butter is nothing short of magical. The whole house smelled like apples, cinnamon and cloves…and it was fabulous. Sadly, the apple butter wasn’t quite as thick and rich as I wanted it to be, so I wasn’t able to slather any on my morning toast. I finished cooking the apple butter that evening (after work) and I’ve been happily eating it ever since. And while eating apple butter is much different than biting into a fresh apple – making apple butter is a fantastic way to preserve the apple harvest. I plan on devouring as many fresh apples as I can over the next few weeks, but I now have multiple jars of apple butter to get me through the winter. A few jars might even end up as Christmas gifts…

So, then, happy apple season to you all! I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. I’ve included a roundup of some of my favorite apple recipes at the bottom of this post (and feel free to include any of your favorite apple recipes in the comments).

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
(Canning instructions for this recipe taken from Simply Canning)

5 lbs* of apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices (*amount may vary, just slice enough to fill your slow cooker to the very brim)
1.5 cups sugar (I used a combination of muscovado and white sugar)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice berries (or ground allspice)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Place apple slices in your slow cooker, and fill to the very brim. Pour sugar and spices over the top of the apples. Place the lid on the slow cooker and set the heat to low.

Allow apples to cook down on low heat for 10 (or more*) hours, stirring occasionally. For the last two hours of cooking, remove the lid (or place the lid on partially) to allow the moisture to cook off. Once the mixture is thick and brown, turn off the slow cooker. If you desire a smooth consistency, use a potato masher, immersion blender, or food processor to ensure the apple butter is smooth. (*Note, after I pureed my apple butter I allowed it to cook down for another hour as I like my apple butter really thick & dark).

If canning, pour apple butter into hot, sterilized jars and process in a water bath for 5 minutes. (*Note, please can at your own risk. Some sites say to process for 10 minutes, but please refer to official canning guides for processing times).

AND NOW, AN APPLE RECIPE ROUNDUP!
A few of my own apple recipes:
Pork and Apple Pot Pie with Rosemary Gruyere Biscuits
Raw Kale and Apple Salad
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Curried Quinoa and Apple Salad

A few apple recipes from other lovely people:
Whole Grain Pumpkin Pancakes with Apple Maple Compote
Roasted Apple and Butternut Squash Soup with Dill
Apple and Honey Challah
Dutch Baby Apple Pancake
Apple and Carrot Shortbread
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Apples
Baked Apple Donuts

Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

I’m not making any claims that this is the best tomato sauce of all time. If you’re looking for the best tomato sauce of all time, you may want to consult Scott Conant, Mario Batali, or some other famed Italian chef. This isn’t one of those tomato sauces.

However, I can claim that this is a good tomato sauce recipe. A really good tomato sauce recipe – one that I invented myself, with a little help and inspiration from others. At the end of the day, it’s a basic tomato sauce made with the last of the ripe tomatoes from my garden.

All that to say, I’m not going to go on and on about tomato sauce as if I’m an expert on the subject. I’m not. But, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to making (and using) tomato sauce. First of all, I figured out a way to make tomatoes peel themselves. You see, I hate (hate!) blanching, peeling and de-seeding tomatoes. It is a tedious and obnoxious task. So, then, I figured out that if you quickly roast the tomatoes underneath your broiler, the skins pretty much just come right off. I simply halve the tomatoes, sqeeze out the seeds, and then broil them for 8-10 minutes (or until the skins blacken and loosen from the tomato flesh). It’s a win-win situation: the tomatoes get a bit of smokiness from the ‘fire roasting’ and the skins come off easily. No blanching required!

Secondly – and this may sound painfully obvious – use high quality or heirloom tomatoes when making tomato sauce. Your sauce will taste as good as the tomatoes you put in it. Those sad, bruised, unripened Roma tomatoes at the grocery store? Don’t use those. It’s as simple as that.

And lastly, I want to share with you my new favorite way to enjoy tomato sauce: baked with rounds of goat cheese, and enjoyed with a fresh baguette. And yes, of course, I eat a lot of tomato sauce with pasta. But I made a giant batch of this sauce and was looking to use it in a number of different ways. And let me tell you, baking goat cheese in tomato sauce is dangerously delicious. I made it one evening while Nich was at work and I may have devoured it al by myself. Oops?

So, then, the actual recipe that I’m posting is for my fire roasted tomato sauce. But my helpful suggestion is to bake some goat cheese in that sauce. Just make sure that someone else is around to ensure you don’t gobble it all down by yourself. :)

FIRE ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE
(Inspired from recipes from Smitten Kitchen and Vie La Table)
5lbs of tomatoes
1 small carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup red wine
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Pepper, to taste

First, halve the tomatoes (from top to bottom) and cut off stems. De-seed the tomatoes, by either squeezing them over a bowl (or trash can) or by using a spoon or your fingers to remove seeds. I find that fingers work best!

Turn on your broiler. Place halved tomatoes, skin side up, on a rimmed baking sheet (be sure to use a rimmed baking sheet, as there will be a lot of tomato juice!). Place baking sheet under the broiler and roast the tomatoes until the skins have blackened (about 8-10 minutes). Repeat this process until all tomatoes have been roasted. Set tomatoes aside and allow to cool. Once tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove their skins and pour off any juices. The skins should come off very easily (the roasting does the work for you).

In a dutch oven or large pot, heat butter (or olive oil) over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add in onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown (10-15 minutes). Deglaze the pan with red wine, and add in the bay leaf, rosemary and oregano sprigs. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, and then add in the roasted tomatoes, dried basil, and salt & pepper. Allow to simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or more. The longer you let this sauce simmer, the better it will be. When you feel the sauce is ready, remove from heat. After 30 (or more) minutes, taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Blend with an immersion blender (or food processor) until smooth. Serve over pasta (or bake with goat cheese!). The sauce will keep in the fridge for a week (or more).

Recipe Swap: Brussels Sprout Slaw

Why hello, everyone!

I’m sure that most of you know the drill by this point. Every month, I participate in a Recipe Swap that is organized by the lovely Christianna from Burwell General Store. If my memory serves me correctly, I’ve been participating in this swap since last November – which means it’s almost been a year (!). How time flies when you’re having fun…

And I certainly always have fun with the recipe swap. Last month I managed to turn a recipe for Wild Rabbit with Vegetables into a recipe for a Bloody Mary(with lots of gratuitous pictures of my cute bunny rabbit, of course).

But that was last month! This month, Christianna sent out a doozy of a recipe. She asked us to re-interpret a recipe for Hot Slaw.

This recipe cracks me up. I think that the words “coddled” and “custard” should never be used with cabbage. Ever. I can’t even begin to imagine what this hot slaw tastes like, but it certainly doesn’t sound especially appetizing.

So, my basic goal with this particular swap was to make something that sounded a bit more appetizing than coddled cabbage custard (I dare you to say that five times fast!). I chose to use Brussels sprouts as the base of my slaw because I LOVE Brussels sprouts and I happen to think that they look (and taste) like miniature cabbages.

So, in a sense, I made a miniature cabbage slaw. A miniature cabbage slaw with bacon, blue cheese, pears and hazelnuts. Essentially, I took everything I love and combined them together to make one delicious slaw. This slaw is a great fall dish, as Brussels sprouts and pears are currently in season. The flavors are bold, and yet everything works together so nicely. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Below is my recipe for the slaw, but please be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post so you can see all the other amazing creations from my fellow swappers.

BRUSSELS SPROUT SLAW (WITH BACON, BLUE CHEESE, AND PEAR)
Adapted from The Family Kitchen

1.5 pounds of Brussels sprouts
4 strips of bacon
1 ripe pear
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 high quality blue cheese (such as Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue)

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Quickly blanch Brussels sprouts in the boiling water (3-5 minutes). Remove from boiling water and rinse with cold water (or plunge into an ice bath) to stop cooking. Pat Brussels sprouts dry. Trim ends (‘stems’) off the brussels sprout and slice very thinly by hand.

In a small bowl, mix together dressing ingredients. Toss dressing with Brussels sprouts, and refrigerate for at least an hour (to allow flavors to develop).

Meanwhile, cook strips in a skillet over medium heat. I like my bacon crispy for this salad, so I cook my bacon a little longer than usual. Remove bacon to a plate (lined with paper towels) and set aside until cool. Once cooled, slice (or crumble) bacon into small pieces.

When the Brussels & dressing have sat for an hour, remove from the fridge. Slice the pear thinly and toss with the Brussels sprout mixture. Sprinkle roasted hazelnuts, blue cheese crumbles, and bacon over the top of the slaw. Serve immediately.

Vintage Recipe Redo and Swap Project: This recipe redo/swap idea was brought to life by Christiana of Burwell General Store upon finding a cool vintage hymnal/recipe book at a swap meet in Arizona. She had the vision of bringing those recipes back to life with a twist. We swappers must change at least three things to make it our own and stay true to the intent of the recipe. There is a growing group of international talent wielding their monthly vision in our recipe swap. You can check them out by clicking their links below or via the link for Christianna’s blog above. All recipes will be posted by 6 p.m. PST on Sunday October 2, 2011.

See below (or visit the Recipe Swap page) to see all the other great interpretations of Hot Slaw! Happy swapping, y’all!

Welcoming Fall (with The Best Zucchini Bread Ever)

And just like that, autumn has arrived.

I want to fight it! I want to kick and scream and go on strike until the sun comes back out. I want more red tomatoes in the garden (and less rock hard green ones). I desperately want an Indian summer. But, that’s the funny thing about life…you don’t always get what you want.

Despite my protests, the rains have come. The days are getting shorter and darker. Whether I like it or not, the season is changing. And to be honest, I wasn’t having it. I was downright grumpy about the changing of the seasons. I was so fixated on the lack of sunshine that I almost forgot all that I love about fall: chunky sweaters, tights, scarves, all things pumpkin, cappuccinos, soups & stews, apples, pears, and so much more.

So, then, I can’t change the weather. But I can certainly make the best of it. On one particularly drizzly and chilly morning this week, I woke up and decided to do just that. I made my all-time favorite zucchini bread recipe, made a large French press of coffee (all for myself) and snuggled up with a blanket, my cat, and a Harry Potter book.

It was perfect.

It didn’t matter how miserable it was outside, I was happy and cozy and content. If there was ever a day to curl up with a good book (and cat, and coffee, and zucchini bread), this was it.

I won’t lie: I still miss the sun. But I’ll do my best to embrace this season; to curl up with a good book (and baked goods!) as often as I can.

As for the zucchini bread? There’s no point in rewriting the recipe. Heidi (from 101 Cookbooks) nails it. However, I’ll make a couple notes. First off, I don’t like walnuts and so I always make this bread with slivered almonds. Secondly, while Heidi says that the poppy seeds are optional, I disagree. The poppy seeds are totally and completely necessary (and delicious!). I also like to add in a bit of ground ginger and nutmeg and I substitute a cup of white flour for one of the cups of wheat flour. Oh, and lastly – don’t be afraid of the curry powder! I really think the curry powder is the secret of this magical zucchini bread. I promise you, it is the best zucchini bread of all time.