Pumpkin Yogurt Muffins with Pepitas

Xavier is not a kale-eating kid. I think you have to live in Brooklyn to have one of those. He will, however, eat a muffin in any form so sneaking vegetables into muffins is one of my many clever parenting strategies. My other ones involve TV and sugar.

These muffins from the Whole Foods site use 100% whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup of ground flaxseed, pumpkin, yogurt (I used full-fat) and molasses among other things. The recipe skips butter entirely...although you can see in the photo how Ryan made up for that 'flaw.'

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3339

 For the hell of it I just googled kale muffins. They do exist. Yuck!

Ghormeh Sabzi

Ghormeh Sabzi is a Persian stew made with a mixture of green herbs, dried limes and fenugreek. I have been anxious to make it ever since I bought dried limes and fenugreek only to have them gather dust on my shelves. Rupal to the rescue!

Last night she came over and taught Jen and I how to make what I hope was the first of many Persian dishes.  

 Soak and cook 1.5 cups of dried adzuki beans and ½ cup kidney beans or set aside 4 cups of canned beans.

Chop up a mixture of 6-9 cups of green herbs in any combo (e.g. 2 bunches parsley, 1 bunch cilantro, 2 cups/2 bunches of chives or scallions or even leeks, 1/2bunch dill)

 Saute two sliced onions, 4 garlic cloves and a green chili pepper until soft. Add in a few tablespoons of dried fenugreek as you cook. Add the beans and stir.

In a separate pan, sauté the scallions and then add all the green herbs. Cook down for a few minutes.

 Combine the two pans into one and add water until the mixture is just covered. Add one teaspoon turmeric, salt to taste and a bit more fenugreek. Add 6-8 dried limes and push down under the liquid. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Press the limes against the side of the pan so all their yummy juices seep out before serving with rice.

Need winter vegetable ideas? Fennel Compote with Tomatoes and Olives

The vegetables in the produce section in January don't exactly tempt me. I wish I were more of a parsnip and turnip fan but I'm not. Mark Bittman's recent post on fennel compote caught my eye though - even if it's cheating a bit to call olives and capers 'vegetables.'

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1014477/Fennel-Compote-With-Tomatoes-Olives-and-Fish-or-Not.html

The compote is a basic mixture of fennel, tomatoes, garlic, olives and capers. He recommends it as a side dish or over fish. It packs quite a punch allowing you to be lazy with how you prepare your fish, potatoes, rice or whatever else you want to prepare to go along with it.

Mediocre winter tomatoes work well in this recipe but use decent olive oil and olives.

Pimenton Roasted Chicken

Lottie and Doof is one of my favorite food blogs and at the end of the year, he picks his top favorite recipes. Make these recipes...especially the pimenton roasted chicken with potatoes. This is one of those recipes that makes you squirm in your chair, confirm its awesomeness with whoever you are eating with seven times and then help yourself to seconds before you are even two bites in. The bonus is that it uses a lot of paprika which tends to have a slow turnover rate in my spice cabinet.

The key here is the smoked Spanish paprika. If you don't have it, don't make this...or go buy it and make this 15 times this month. The recipe is quite simple.

http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2012/12/pimenton-roasted-chicken-and-potatoes/

You make a paste out of the two paprikas, garlic, salt and olive oil. You then rub it all over the entire chicken and let it chill over night before roasting it. The nice part is the paste goes over the skin so you can avoid that overly-intimate moment of running your fingers between the meat and the skin of the poor bird. Eeck.

New Years Pho

 Erin and Trevor took on Pho for New Years Eve. Step number one was a road trip to Little Saigon in Westminster, Orange County - the home to the largest population of Vietnamese Americans in the US. For $54, they purchased all the ingredients necessary to whip up Beef Noodle Pho and shrimp spring rolls for eight end-of-year revelers.

Using this recipe as a starting point, they boiled the beef bones , removed some of the marrow to keep the broth from getting too greasy and braved the pungent smell of fish sauce before it mellowed out with the addition of ginger, onions, rock sugar and spices.

http://steamykitchen.com/271-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup-pho.html





The result was a rich, flavorful broth that you could never get from a bouillon. We poured it over rice noodles and thin slices of raw beef and then each tailored our own soup by adding Sriracha, hoisen sauce, sprouts, and cilantro.

We had some leftover rice paper from the spring rolls so we made fried bananas with chocolate sauce to finish off the meal. Happy 2013!

Kale Tabbouleh with Chickpeas and Pomegranate Seeds

My friend Julie recently encouraged me to try a the Kale Tabbouleh recipe she had just posted on her blog Weekend Table. I hadn't felt inspired by kale recently so I gave this recipe a shot to see if I could figure out how to get it back into my weekly menu.

Mission accomplished. This is an awesome recipe! I tweaked it a bit to meet my dietary requirements and to use some of the ingredients I had on hand but stuck to the heart of the recipe.

1. Cook one cup of bulgar, millet, or other small grain. Set aside and cool.
2. In a small bowl, mix 3 tbsp lemon juice, one shallot or half a red onion, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp paprika and a heaping tsp of salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup of olive oil.
3. In a large bowl, combine the grains, 5-6 cups VERY finely chopped kale, 1/3 cup of chopped mint and a cup of chickpeas. Julie added two cups of diced tomatoes and I added a generous handful of pomegranate seeds I had on hand. Both add color and both work very well.

This hearty salad lasts easily for three days in the fridge. Refresh with some olive oil and a splash of lemon juice. Its colors also provides good evidence against Fox News' claims about the War on Christmas.

Slow Cooker Black Beans and Holiday Budgets

A few days ago I analyzed my spending patterns for groceries in November. Gulp. My new diet is not cheap! Fresh cashew milk, lamb, and chia seeds add up quickly and don't leave a lot of room for buying Christmas presents and stocking stuffers.

Luckily I love black beans and so does my family. Xavier, following in his mother's ''wanna-be-latino'' footsteps, chants rice and beans the way most kids say mac n' cheese. The new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook has a simple recipe for black beans in the slow cooker that I have put into rotation about once a week. If you feel like splurging (or are annoyed with the relatives on your holiday list), you can serve this with pickled red onions, avocado, cilantro, etc. but it works well on its own too.

In a large 6-quart slow cooker, combine one chopped onion, 3-5 minced garlic gloves, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon oregano, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 dried chile, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and 1 lb ( 2 1/4 cups) of dried black beans. Cover with 8-10 cups of broth or water depending on how soupy you like your beans. Cook for about 6 hours on high and then mix in a tablespoon of lime juice.