Roasted Beet and Horseradish Creme

After a long, gray winter, I positively crave color. As soon as the air begins to warm, I find myself reaching for bright linen scarves and scattering jewel-toned throw pillows throughout our home. Certainly, this desire for color translates to my plate, too.

Pickled Mustard Seeds W/ Honey & White Peppercorn

For most of my life, mustard was the one condiment I avoided with a relentless passion. We rarely ate it in my home, so when a spicy dollop snuck its way onto a restaurant burger, the unfamiliar taste left me unpleasantly surprised. While my childhood exposure to mustard ended with a crusted yellow bottle on the door of our fridge, my early adulthood introduced me to an entirely new variety, one that felt somewhat grown up in comparison and helped to teach me to appreciate my once forbidden lunchtime enemy. 

Grapefruit & Fennel Seed Salt

This morning was one of my favorite types of mornings spent in our kitchen. The house was quiet when I woke and, on one of those very rare occasions, I had the place to myself for a few hours. As I moved into the kitchen, I could see that the gray sky finally broke, giving way to a sun-drenched kitchen. While sipping my morning coffee, I allowed myself to relish in the moment for a bit longer than I normally might. Through the window above our sink, I stared into the deep woods that surround our home, the snow finally gone and replaced with a world of shadows thanks to the ambitious early spring sun. It was the first time in a long time that I permitted myself a momentary brake from the more complicated things in life to instead find joy in such a simple task. Which is when I began to think about this recipe...

Blood Orange Curd

Now and again, I find myself whipping up a recipe that makes me feel very adult. It has nothing to do with expensive ingredients or fancy preparation techniques, but more with the fact that it is something my twenty-two year old self never would have taken the initiative to make (let alone buy). Homemade citrus curd is one of those recipes.

Vanilla and Raisin Granola

As I write this post, I am well-prepared for about 85% of people I know to call me a hippie. It's hard for one to stay in on a weekend night to make a fresh batch of warm, honey-glazed granola without most people she knows cracking a few Birkenstocks jokes. But I'm willing to put my dollar on the fact that, after whipping yourself up a batch of this stuff, you'd be okay with the occasional "can I borrow your hemp necklace" joke now and again, too.

Oatmeal, Golden Raisin and Sea Salt Cookies

I'm terrible at keeping New Year's resolutions. Case in point: yesterday's baking project. Following a rather gluttonous holiday season, I swore I would survive until the first day of spring without baking a single cookie (I know...a truly adorable but impossible goal). Sure, I told myself, you can bake breads (one can put other healthy foods in between two slices of bread), or muffins (my kind of muffin often contains a generous serving of fruit or veggies). Just no cookies, I promised myself, are permitted on this side of Christmas. 

Always such good intentions...

Soft Pretzels with Hot and Sweet Mustard

Things got pretty serious in the kitchen this morning. First, the chef revealed his most recent project: a giant hunk of homemade pastrami that he’s been brining/smoking/steaming for the better part of the last week. Then came my turn. My original plan was to bake mini brioche rolls, compliments of Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc, to accompany the pastrami.

Fail.