bites out of life

Snow + Vanilla Pudding (Soup)

In case you haven’t heard, it’s snowed a lot in the Northeast. This week was particularly brutal, with snow on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday … can you tell I’m a little annoyed?

Snow in Maryland was the best. It was fresh, white, pristine and smelled so clean. It capped the firs in our front yard and made everything look like an idyllic English countryside. I loved to sit in the living room in front of a fire, sipping hot chocolate while watching the snow fall, filled with excitement about the pending “Montgomery County Public Schools: Closed” I’d see the next morning.

But in New York, snow is a nuisance. It covers sidewalks and makes them difficult to navigate, ruins leather boots, delays subways and creates lakes of icy slush that are impossible to traverse without a boat. Â It turns gray (or worse, yellow) within hours and lingers on streets for weeks, stubbornly refusing to melt. Still, as I realized on Tuesday (let’s not talk about the lag time in my posting … ), there is nothing prettier than falling snow. Walking through Riverside Park filled me with an almost eerie sense of calm, as there were maybe two other people there. It was a great opportunity to clear my head, and almost has me anxiously awaiting the next storm.

And then I made vanilla pudding. After falling head over heels for the milk chocolate pudding I used in my Christmas trifle, I became obsessed with making a vanilla version. My first attempt was a little … off. The recipe, from Mark Bittman (who sadly left his Minimalist column this week, leaving me without delicious recipes to drool over on Wednesday mornings), seemed as simple as my beloved chocolate version, and best of all, called for no tempering of eggs. But somehow, it never set. So here I present you the best vanilla pudding soup I have ever tried, a luxurious faux-creme anglaise that would be perfect spooned overÂ Â anything (I humbly suggest thisÂ Ginger Pumpkin Tart or even this Apple Yogurt Cake). Perhaps an additional tablespoon of cornstarch would convert it to pudding, but I’m out of whole milk and well … it’s snowing outside.

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Happy Birthday To …

… this blog! It started exactly one year ago, with an introduction to me and to what I’d like to accomplish here. To take a short trip down memory lane:

I think of myself more as a food-obsessive: someone who Googles recipes all the time, watches Food Network like itâ€™s her job and eats constantly. Here youâ€™ll find:

1) Stories of my disasters (and occasional triumphs) in the kitchen

2) â€œReviewsâ€ (I use the term loosely) of restaurants and meals from around NYC

3) Interesting recipes I come across, or sometimes make up

4) Random food-related thoughts â€” there is nothing I canâ€™t ultimately connect back to food

5) And because when Iâ€™m not thinking about food, Iâ€™m thinking about my schoolwork at Columbiaâ€™s journalism school, thatâ€™ll probably come up every now and then too â€¦

I think I’ve stayed relatively true to that goal. There have been plenty of disasters, some food musings, Â a few great recipes, Â the occasional restaurant review and one fabulous birthday cake triumph. I’m very excited for what Year Two will bring, so I hope you’re there with me to check it out!

Best Banana Walnut Bread

In my head, banana walnut bread is one of those perfect breakfast foods that one should always keep on hand. While granola is my weekday go-to, banana bread seems suited for lazy weekend mornings, nibbling on something slightly sweet and slightly wholesome — there is fruit in it, after all — while sipping a bottomless cup of coffee and perusing the paper (or this).

While I love them, I have a very strict window with bananas: The peel must be bright yellow, with the slightest tinge of green on the top and bottom. Insides must be wholly unblemished, creating the perfect slightly sweet, slightly starchy treat. Since this stage lasts about oh … about a day, we made banana bread fairly often while I was growing up.

And in case you didn’t pick up on this before, I love it. It’s almost a caramel-y sweet, from the burnt sugars in the banana, incredibly moist and dense with cinnamon-y flavor, packed with nuts (and chocolate chips if you’re so inclined) and fills your home with bewitchingly delicious aromas. And this recipe, which I completely overhauled and almost botched in my attempts to un-fancify it, is the only one I’ll use from now on. It’s extremely easy, my self-sabotage aside, requires just one bowl and one spoon and only 20 minutes of your time. It was quite the hit with my family, who devoured most of it last night so that only a quarter of it remained for my breakfast this morning …

(Yes, I am eating it while typing this now. And the bread is so good that it motivated me to write this post, instead of continuing to marvel at the wonder that is Snooki’s book.) …

Balsamic-Braised Red Cabbage

Winter is the season for braising: braising in wine, braising in cider — okay, maybe that was fall, but you catch my drift. Braising turns tough meats and vegetables into soft puddles of awesome, and with the long cooking time this method generally requires, doubles as extra heating in your apartment!

But I had no idea braising could do this. Turn a self-proclaimed cabbage abhorrer (that’s right, I pulled out an SAT word) into someone that readily had seconds and thirds and was sad when there was no more. Turned someone who would rather eat anything in the world than cab-bage, which she pronounced in an annoying pseudo-French way like gar-bage, justÂ to enhance the similarities between the two.

Maybe it was the addition of bacon, maple bacon to be exact. Is there anything on earth better than that? Maybe it was the simmer in balsamic vinegar or the Dijon mustard swirled in or the fact that this recipe is the easiest thing in the world. Or maybe it was just time for me to embrace the “fake lettuce,” as I sometimes call it. After all, what is cabbage if not overgrown brussels sprouts, and haven’t I already explained how much I love those? …

Wine-Braised Short Ribs

I hate to have to do this today, especially given that this is a topic that I’ve discussed before and it may actually be the most boring thing in the world to talk about: the weather. Discussions of weather occur only when there is absolutely nothing left to say, when you’re stuck at a party standing next to your roommate’s friend’s brother’s girlfriend and don’t want to be rude enough to ask “uhh, why are you here?” That’s when you pull out the “wow, it was really cold today.” Not now, on a robust, thriving blog like this one (er … ).

But I must, because it’s cold and soggy and wet and some sort of weird freezing rain pelts me angrily (painfully) whenever I walk outside. On days like this, I wish I had something hearty and filling, something that makes me fill with warmth. Unfortunately, Keith and I made these wine-braised short ribs a few days early, when it was merely cold and not wet, and I’m craving it something fierce now.

They were everything I love about winter food: bold, rich flavors, root vegetables, a thick sauce. And meat, gloriously soft meat that falls to pieces at a fork’s slightest touch. The four-plus hours it took to make were so worth it — the oven does most of the work anyway. They were so perfect that I thought, for a few misguided minutes, that I might never be cold again.

And then I stepped in an ice-water puddle. …

Welcome!

Not to alarm anyone, but I’ve moved (domains, that is). To properly celebrate the first birthday of this here old blog, I decided to purchase a domain for it. Turns out abiteoutoflife was taken, but bitesoutoflife.com was not, and is now therefore MINE.

I’ve made a few changes to the look of the site, and I’ll be tinkering around for a bit, so please feel free to let me know what you like, don’t like, absolutely hate … Hope you enjoy!

Spinach Mushroom and Olive Pizza

In the slightly bizarre truths department, I must admit today that I don’t love pizza. Sure, I won’t ever push a slice off my plate, but it’s not something I generally crave. Ordering dinner for me usually means Chinese, while pizza is sadly delegated to the rare day when I’m not in the mood for Otto’s carbonara.

It’s a shame really, because pizza is one of those things that can be a cinch to put together and quite wholesome if done right (hear that, all you New Year’s dieters?). It can be seasonal, laden with vegetables and a real fridge-cleaner: top with whatever odds and ends you’ve got in the crisper. And if you’re the type who prefers not to spend hours waiting around for dinner on a weekday night, then make this tonight. We went from grocery bag to dinner plates in under an hour, and even that long only because I kept stopping to take pictures.Â I went with a pre-made whole wheat dough, thus further upping the speed (and uh, laziness) quotient. …

Roasted Prosciutto-Wrapped Pears

This recipe is perhaps a few weeks too late. It belongs at elegant dinner parties, with fizzy cocktails and sparkling lights and glamorous outfits. But we, my friends, have quickly passed that season to firmly entrench ourselves in a time of chunky sweaters, slush and many a gray sky. (Oh how quickly the excitement of a new year can fade.)

It’s officially winter, people — and not the good kind, with itsÂ carols and cocoa. I walked to work today battered by some weird mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, soaking my boots in the process. At least I had memories of these lovely roasted prosciutto-wrapped pears in my belly to keep my spirits high. Or as high as they can be when you misjudge how big a pudddle is in the early morning darkness and land in 3 solid inches of ice water.

Finally, I’ve created a recipe I’m proud of. It’s no big feat, considering there’s only 2 ingredients (3 if you’re feeling fancy), but given my last pseudo-disaster while improvising, this dish turned out extremely well. It could be a nice fork-and-knife appetizer at a sit-down dinner, a salad, if you place the pears on a bed of sharp arugula, or as we ate it, a side dish to round out a nice meal. However you intend to serve it, be sure you do — it’s a nice reminder of “special” during a time when all seems blah. …

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year!

I love this time of year — new beginnings, new goals, new opportunities. While December 31 is my day to reflect on the year that has just passed, January 1 is my day to dream unabashedly of what’s to come (and clearly, I did a lot of dreaming, which is why this post is being written on January 2). I’m a big fan of resolutions, so I’ve got plenty, like going to yoga at least once a week, limiting my coffee consumption to a cup a day, flossing every night …

But for the purposes of this blog, I’ve got some resolutions too:

1) Posting more regularly. Naturally this also means cooking more often, which both my wallet and my waistline will thank me for.

2) More vegetarian/vegetable-starring recipes. One of my personal resolutions is to eat at least 2 fruits/vegetables a day (my low goals should indicate how often I eat fruits/veggies now … ), so I hope to embrace salads and sautÃ©s this year.

3) Try more of my own recipes. While I’ve been a little … let’s just say off … when improvising my own meals, it’s time to buck up and start creating some original recipes. It’s in my blood.

4) Host my own dinner party. I’m hoping to move into my own place at some point this year, so you know that a dinner party is coming.

5) Improve, improve, improve. Most important resolution of all: practice photography, develop a stronger editorial voice, write easier-to-follow recipes.

But while I want new and exciting in 2011, I’d still be very happy if any of these showed up on my plate:

Hopefully your new year is bigger and better than 2010!

Toasted Pecan Sandies

If there’s only one recipe you ever make from this blog, make sure it’s this one. In my opinion, these are the best cookies known to mankind and Martha Stewart’s greatest gift to this world.

I only make these sandies once a year, because I end up eating so many of them that well, that’s all the cookie hit my body can take. A few years ago, my mom got the recipe from a co-worker and asked my sister and I to make them for our family’s annual Christmas party, hoping to fob off some of the dessert duty on us. They were such a hit that a) they are requested by guests year after year, and b) my mom has entrusted us to more elaborate dessert callings. But we always have to make these first.

These little bites of heaven, which crumble and dissolve in your mouth with the slightest hint of sweetness and notes of rich, buttery pecans, are even better if you take the 10 minutes to toast the nuts before grinding them up. I know that there are a million other recipes for pecan sandies out there on the Interwebs, and I have no idea which is the most traditional or revered. All I know is, if you say you’re bringing pecan sandies to my house and show up with anything other than these, I may or may not leave you standing out in the cold. Just sayin’ …

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Dark Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

Holiday sweets are all about excess. Think colored sugar on top of already sweet sugar cookies, thick buttercreams frosting buche de noels, rich egg nog … there’s nothing light about Christmas. And while I’m a huge fan of dessert in most incarnations, I appreciate the less sweet side of things, especially on a day when sugar is consumed with jaw-dropping rapidity.

For as long as I can remember, we’ve had trifles on Christmas. The layered dessert always makes for excellent presentation, and because the different components can be made in advance and then assembled a few hours before guests arrive, it was always a convenient option for our family’s yearly Christmas dinner.

My mom usually went the semi-homemade route, as she had you know, an entire meal for 30 to take care of. Boxed yellow cake mix formed the base, instant vanilla pudding the custard, the fruit layer consisted of fruit cups and Cool Whip formed the whipped cream topping. It was delicious, and disappeared every time.

But this year, she handed over dessert duty to my sister and I. Along with the sugar cookies (and my favorite cookie ever, the recipe to come soon!), I made this dark chocolate raspberry trifle. While I understand the appeal of semi-homemade for a busy cook, I decided my version had to be totally homemade. The recipe, which is more like a collection of recipes for the different components, is extremely manageable if you plan ahead — the cake, pudding and whipped cream can all be made at least a day in advance, and the trifle should be assembled at least four hours before serving, so that everything has time to meld together.

And the results are show-stopping. It’s a grown-up trifle, slightly sweet from the milk chocolate pudding and the barely sweetened whipped cream, tart from the raspberries, subtly rich from the moist dark chocolate cake. It’s light on sugar, with less than 2 cups in the entire shebang. You could make it more grown-up by dousing the cake with Chambord or another type of raspberry liquer, but since we had small children at our party, I skipped this and didn’t miss the booze one bit. Now that‘s saying something. …

Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies

[UPDATE 12/6/18] I’ve revisited this recipe on and off in the 8(!!!!) years since I first posted it, and I’ve made a few tweaks that make it a bit easier to roll out (noted in the recipe). I’ve also discovered my new favorite way to “decorate” them, because everything is better with a quick dip in dark chocolate and sparkly sprinkles.

It comes as no surprise to most that I’m obsessed with the holidays. I’m neither Christian nor Jewish, yet I love Christmas and Hanukkah dearly, for the dreidels and latkes, the gelt and the menorah, Santa and his reindeer, the carols, the lights, and above all, the cutely decorated cookies. It never ceases to amaze me how intricately people can design a piece of sugar, butter and flour — the shapes, the different frosting colors, the patterns. While I’m no big fan of sugar cookies in general, they form the best base for these designs, and so, ignoring my total lack of cookie decorating skills, I decided I needed to find the perfect Christmas sugar cookie recipe for the holidays.

Naturally, I turned to Martha and Ms. Stewart did not disappoint. She had an array of cookie recipes, but I chose the Christmas sugar cookies for their pretty star shape. We won’t talk about why I didn’t have my assortment of holiday-themed cookie cutters, but I found that the top of a cocktail shaker makes perfectly sized cookies. I’ll never buy a round cookie cutter again.

I changed the recipe slightly to make it a one bowl, one measuring cup affair. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that I lack the hand-eye coordination to make intricately frosted cookies, but these cookies look just as pretty with a little colored sugar sprinkled on top (EDIT: ORRRRRR DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE). They’re the perfect festive treat for the holiday!

MORE COOKIES: Iâ€™ve got a bunch over here, and all would be perfect for your Christmas cookie baking spree. …

Coffee Chocolate-Chip Shortbread Cookies

Sometimes, I’ll see a recipe that I like and sort of hem and haw my way out of making it. It won’t be the right season or the ingredient list seems a little long or it looks too complicated or maybe no one else will be in the mood to eat it or … I, a procrastinator extraordinaire, can come up with a thousand ways to not do something.

I’m very sad to admit that I did such a thing with these magical coffee chocolate-chip shortbread cookies. I found the recipe, from Dorie Greenspan by way ofÂ Smitten Kitchen, during one of my frequent summer perusals of Smitten’s archives, and filed it away in my brain. Summer was the time for blueberry crumb bars and clafoutis, not shortbread, I told myself. Shortbread is meant to be eaten with a large cup of hot chocolate in front of an open fire, preferably while roasting chestnuts or something else equally Christmas-y.

But on an impromptu trip home this weekend, with snow on the deck and Jack Frost nipping at my nose, I decided I had to have these. We even had all of the ingredients necessary (it was fate!). I was so determined to make these that I didn’t even let a lack of camera stop me, and just grabbed the old point-and-shoot. I apologize, because the pictures don’t do justice to how cute these cookies actually are. …

Dark Hot Chocolate For Cold Nights

It’s been that kind of week. Cold temperatures, biting wind, flurries … makes you just want to bundle up inside with your favorite blanket and a big cup of hot chocolate. Or at least it makes me want to do that, so that’s what I did last night. I was in dire need of a chocolate fix period, and since we’re all out of crackles, I found comfort and warmth, per the usual, in the bottom of a glass. Except this glass contained a recipe I can share!

Most of the really good hot chocolate recipes call for melting bars of chocolate in simmering milk. While that’s all fine and good, I only had unsweetened cocoa powder and I sure wasn’t going back out in the cold for anything. But, in perhaps the service journalism category, this is a great mix to pack into jars and give as a holiday gift — if you know anyone that loves dark, rich chocolate, they’ll love this. I’m sure it would be even better with high-quality cocoa powder and whole milk, but the Trader Joe’s brand did me proud. Also, in an effort to get the hot chocolate in my hands as soon as possible, I kind of forgot about taking pictures … but the chocolate is definitely better than the terrible pictures I took. …

Mini Chocolate Crackles

Freshman dorms are the grandest social experiment of that awkward transition from adolescence to adulthood. Stick a bunch of awkward teens at random in a room (or thanks to NYU, a pretty decent apartment with our own kitchen and bathroom), and hope they don’t kill each other? It’s the ultimate Real World, minus the staged drama and fake jobs.

Instead of living with some of my good friends who went to NYU, I lived with three “strangers” my first year, hoping for it to be a “learning experience.” This here recipe is one fruit of such learnings, introduced to me by one of my suite-mates. Amelia made chocolate crackles for us around the holidays, saying that it was a Christmas tradition in her family. The cookies were cake-y, fudgy, perfectly chocolate-y, a much-needed treat as we trudged through our first set of finals.

These mini chocolate crackles are what I’d like to think are the grown-up version of Amelia’s cookies. They’re slightly bitter, from the unprocessed cocoa and limited sugar, a little lighter (think more cake, less fudge) and bite-sized. Because everything is better when it’s petite. …

Go-To Basic Granola

Tis the season for gift-giving, especially in the form of baked goods. (Okay, maybe in the form of Kindles, but I’ll save that wish list for another day … yes, I have no shame.) But considering that the 25 days of Christmas and the 12 days of Christmas and the month of December have all become excuses to trot out the best and most delicious cookie recipes, there’s no doubt that this time can be a cruel month for those trying to limit their excess to only the 25th.

Enter this basic granola recipe. First of all, who doesn’t like granola? Swirled into some thick Greek yogurt with fresh berries, it’s the only breakfast I consider worth the 15 minutes of sacrificed sleep. But it’s great as a mid-morning snack, mid-afternoon snack, midnight snack, and when you make it yourself, you can control exactly what goes in it. Plus, packed in an airtight jar, it makes a wonderfully thoughtful gift for friends and family members who wish to end their year in a slightly more wholesome way. (I, on the other hand, accept all holiday cookies, and won’t turn down a chocolate bar or two either.)

The best part about granola is that it is not a hard-and-fast recipe by any means. I used a formula from Chocolate & Zucchini, but basically tossed in whatever I had in my pantry. Got a couple of cashews, a handful of almonds and a quarter-cup of chopped walnuts left over from Thanksgiving? Throw them in there! Don’t know what to do with that half bag of Craisins that you bought for stuffing? Granola.

You could make this 100 times and never use the same ingredients twice, because there’s that much leeway to add what you want. But I’ve been mainlining this since I made it, so I have to say that the below “recipe” yields some pretty good stuff. …

Chocolat Moderne’s Joan Coukos Todd

There’s a moral to today’s story: always pay attention to what’s going on around you, even in the elevators. I know it’s customary in New York City elevators to pretend as though your fellow riders don’t exist, but one day, while riding the slowest conveyance ever created to my sixth floor office, when a friendly FedEx guy said, “Going up to the ninth floor today, hope she made me some chocolate,” I had to stop and say “what?” The guy went on to explain that on the ninth floor of my building, a woman makes and sells gourmet chocolate — “the sweetest office in the building,” the guy added, as if there was much competition.

Naturally, I had to check it out. So one day after work, I stopped in to say hello. Joan Coukos Todd, who runs Chocolat Moderne out of a huge loft in the building, answered, and showed me around before sending me home with a sample. The chocolate was complex, full of flavor, not overly sweet — even slightly bitter. It’s grown-up chocolate, for those days when a Reese’s cup just won’t do.

A few weeks later, Keith and his classmate Ben returned to create a video about Joan’s transition from banker to chocolatier. I swung by after work to take a few photos. Their video is above — it was their first effort using the video feature on a dSLR camera, and I have to say it came out pretty well!

Smoky, Spicy Beef Chili

It seems that winter is finally upon us, at least in New York City. This week I had to bust out the gloves, hat, scarf combo for the first time, and even dusted off my winter coat. In this colder clime, is there anything that warms the soul faster than spicy, smoky chili? (Short answer: no.)

Now for confession time: I don’t eat a lot of chili. I love the idea of it, but I’m so afraid. Most chilis are too salty, some are way too spicy and others are just all wrong. The idea of making it myself never occurred to me, and the few times that it did, I talked myself out of it. A lot of chili recipes I’ve seen require hours of simmering, which I just didn’t have time for.

But my cousin and I decided we had to have chili for dinner last night, and I immediately picked this recipe from Martha Stewart. It took under an hour to make, for one. And it was touted as “lighter” for its use of ground sirloin, rather than the fattier chuck, which is always a plus.

Make no mistake: This chili is light in name only. It’s everything you want on a cold night — meaty, full of beans and tomatoes, with plenty of flavor and a good kick. I fooled around with her recipe naturally, the main change being that I didn’t have chili powder on hand, so I improvised. Topped with a little sour cream and some cheese, it was perfect. …

Dulce de Leche

Confession time: I waste food. It’s one of my worst qualities and something I’m very ashamed to admit. I have no excuse, other than to plead with restaurants to please, please limit their portion sizes. But I do it at home too — make ridiculous amounts of something only to eat it for a few days and then grow tired of it and stop. Occasionally I’ll succeed at using something up (see: the never–ending carton of buttermilk) but most of the time, it’s just horrifying, I know. One of my New Year’s resolutions will be to stop, as a part of a broad cut to my consumption of all things.

But until then, I can start by using up all of the random things I bought during my Thanksgiving baking spree. Almond slivers? Go nicely on top of greens dressed lightly with balsamic. Ginger thins? Perfect with my daily post-work cup of tea. Sweetened condensed milk? Okay, how about dulce de leche? This caramel is traditional in most of South America, something I learned ages ago in a middle-school Spanish class and had forgotten since. I’m a tad caramel-averse, you see (with this glaring exception — I could eat salted caramel all day). But most caramels I find to be too sweet, too sticky, too much.

I had no doubt that this caramel would be the same. In fact, that’s what it’s known for: its richness. But it seemed like the simplest way to use up the condensed milk (other than my dad’s suggestion, to just eat it straight from the can with a spoon [Yes, I tried it. Yes, it was decadent]). …

Chewy Amaretti Cookies

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over (tear, tear) it’s time for Christmas cookies. I’ve been planning for this time since August, compiling recipes and “To Bake” lists on my computer, on my phone, in my planner, in my head … okay, maybe sometimes I get carried away.

I saw this recipe for chewy amaretti cookies at Smitten Kitchen and immediately thought “ooh, like macarons” and marzipan and had to make them immediately. But Deb said that her version, with a full cup of sugar, created very sweet cookies. Since I like my sweets with a cut of tangy fruit or some salt, I decided to cut the sugar to 1/3 of a cup. Silly me, I didn’t realize that in a recipe with four ingredients (four!), cutting one of the main ingredients by more than half would result in major structural changes. Her cookies formed perfect little circles. Mine formed blobs all over my baking sheet (which I stupidly forgot to grease, in an effort to undermine myself further. Don’t be like me — these cookies were extremely difficult to remove from the baking sheet).

But. Despite my multiple attempts to destroy these cookies, they were delicious. They were very chewy, very almond-y and not very sweet. If you’re okay with deformed-looking, less sweet cookies, follow the recipe below. But if you’d like yours sweeter and cuter, go with the full cup of sugar. Either way, they’re sure to be a hit. …

Ginger Pumpkin Tart + Thanksgiving

Some people I know are in the business of service journalism. This is the opposite of that. It may have been more useful for all if I posted this recipe a week ago, or even yesterday. But that would require me to have made it a week in advance, and well … I’m just lucky that it hit the table last night.

But as you plan ahead for Christmas or Thanksgiving 2011 (I won’t judge — trust me, I’ve already got a menu brewing), I encourage you to try this tart. It’s everything you and I love about pumpkin pie but a little spicier, with its ginger cookie crust. It’s silky, not very sweet, and pairs magically with a little maple whipped cream. Best of all, there’s only 8 ingredients.

The original recipe, from Claire Robinson of 5 Ingredient Fix, weirdly enough had 6 (apparently she doesn’t count butter or oil as an ingredient), but I couldn’t resist adding a little cinnamon and some nutmeg. If you have ground ginger, you could toss a half-teaspoon in too. I found Claire’s process a little difficult, so my simplified version is below. It’s dummy-proof, as evidenced by the fact that it worked for me.

We had this pie alongside a ginormous Thanksgiving spread, which we ate heartily and I’m sure I’ll enjoy for the next week. Not to get too sappy, I’m thankful that I got to spend a couple of hours eating and laughing with my family. What are you thankful for? And what graced your Thanksgiving table? Hope your day was wonderful! …

Olive Oil Bread

In all likelihood, you’re all baked out by now. Maybe you, like me, baked all night yesterday. Or you’re baking all day today. Your oven is probably exhausted by now, and it’s still got hours of turkey-cooking to do. I don’t judge you if you hear the word “baking” and scoff. I’d be with you.

Except that I already made this olive oil bread last night and had it for breakfast this morning and let me tell you — it is good. Good enough to make you decide you have time to make just one more thing. Good enough to make you turn on that oven one more time. Good enough that your oven won’t even fight you on it. And after a day of unbridled excess, it’s nice to wake up to something a tad sweet and, with its use of heart-healthy olive oil instead of butter, a little earnest.

The recipe, from Epicurious, was pretty darn simple, with its one bowl and and four steps (one of which is preheating your oven). But after rooting around in the comments, I decided that the best way to produce a moist bread was by mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately. I promise this only adds an extra two minutes, as the rest of the process is a total cinch. I made a few other changes: using less sugar, swapping out pine nuts and raisins for slivered almonds and adding orange zest/juice to boost the citrus flavor.

The olive oil flavor is very light here — you really have to look for it, so if the idea of baking with olive oil skeeves you out a little, this is a good place to start. If you’re looking for a more pronounced flavor, you might try playing with the proportions of oil and milk, though I went with what the original recipe said.

With a cup of coffee, this is the perfect breakfast bread for those of us looking to give ourselves a break after the big day. …

White Bean Soup

Well … this wasn’t necessarily the way this recipe was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a white bean puree, a lighter substitute for mashed potatoes. This was supposed to be the recipe that converted me from a potato lover to someone who could forego the creamy, garlicky, cheesy, buttery, fresh rosemary-flecked and gravy-drizzled goods to carve out a special place of honor on my dinner plate for something more earnest.

The recipe, from Orangette, extolled the puree’s virtues admirably. I wanted some of this lush puree and I had to have it last night, ignoring the fact that the original recipe calls for dried beans, soaked overnight, and that I was out of garlic. But canned beans seemed easier anyway, so I went with it, forgetting that canned beans are much mushier than dried ones and hence have a shorter cooking time. I also decided to “eyeball” the amount of liquid I added to the beans while blending, and well … without further ado, here’s my take on Orangette’s white bean puree, better known to me as white bean soup. …

A Few RecipesÂ andÂ aÂ ThanksgivingÂ Plea

It’s exactly a week until the big day. If you’re the person I aim to be, you already have your menu planned, your grocery lists made and a few trips to the store scheduled. If you are me, you’re only just now realizing that all of your grandiose ideas must now somehow come to fruition and land on an actual plate — meaning, you’re overwhelmed.

This year, my family is heading up to the city to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt, cousin and I. While our menu is still coming together, here are a few recipes that I think would be welcome at any Thanksgiving spread — and hopefully, if my cooking is deemed passable by my much more qualified mom and aunt, ours.

Starters:

Warm Cauliflower Salad with Chevre

Spinach Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

Sides:

Carrots with Sausage and Rosemary

Cumin-Scented Butternut Squash Couscous

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Cider-Braised Swiss Chard with Apples

And a little something something for the morning after:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Buttermilk scones

Apple Yogurt Cake

Vanilla Orange Buttermilk Cake

As for that plea — I have to work all day next Thursday, so I’m looking for desserts/sides/appetizers that can be made in advance. I should be able to cook Wednesday night, but would prefer to start “building components” throughout next week. Please save me from a night spent frantically in the kitchen and send me your no-doubt fabulous ideas!

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