Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese Yogurt Dip
January 5, 2013
Once you fall in love with Brussels sprouts, it is impossible to get enough. We eat them like candy at our house, or most of us do. One child has chosen to shun these green meatballs for now- more for us! While we enjoy them shaved in salads and sauteed with garlic, the best preparation in my opinion is to simply toss them in oil, season them with salt and pepper and roast in the oven.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Blue Cheese Dip can be served as either an unexpected appetizer or a gratifying side dish. The Brussels sprouts caramelize a bit in the oven and match beautifully with the blue cheese and yogurt dip. The dish hits all the notes of a warm, savory, dippable treat, but without the guilt of fat and carbohydrates that so many appetizers carry.
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Potato Salad with Arugula and Snap Peas
April 8, 2012
Spring is officially here. Time for fresh potatoes, crisp peas, and tender greens. This dish celebrates them all. With no resemblance to its more traditional mayo-based cousin, this potato salad is fresh and crisp with a delicate balance between marinated potatoes, plump peas, crunchy toasted walnuts, and peppery arugula. The whole lot is tossed in a simple mustard vinaigrette to make an uncomplicated, appetizing side dish for any spring meal.
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Sweet Potato and Bacon Gratin
November 21, 2011
Sweet potatoes are not very popular at my family Thanksgiving gathering. There are a few of us that enjoy them, but by and large they are passed around the table and politely declined. Even I, a professed yam lover, took years to warm to this tuber. It was not until I had them roasted and unsweetened for the first time that I took a liking to them. I think the added sugar is what gives sweet potatoes a bad name in some circles. If you love those super-sweet marshmallow-covered casseroles, then more power to you, but I cannot stand them. In my opinion, the key to a delicious sweet potato dish is to let the sweetness of the potato itself shine through and season it in a savory way instead.
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Chevre and Almonds
July 1, 2011
Some dishes seem to create themselves. The ingredients radiate with pure excitement when they enter into each others’ proximity. This was the case when the loads of astonishingly fragrant strawberries pushed into the log of chevre in the fridge the other night. They called to me in their sweet seductive voices to please toss them with fresh spinach and roasted almonds, I was powerless to resist. Luckily, this force is pure good. This dish is full of vibrant seasonal nutritional powerhouses, so the guilt factor is nearly nil.
While strawberries are often restricted to dessert or breakfast dishes, they make an excellent salad. Feel free to adapt this at will. The spinach can be replaced with arugula or butter lettuce, the chevre with feta, and the almonds with walnuts or pinenuts, but do not leave out the STRAWBERRIES! They are too good right now to miss.
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Beets with Pistachios and Mint
June 27, 2011
Adventures come few and far between for me these days. It is not that I am not loving my maternal/ professional/ domestic life, but I do feel the nostalgic for the days when I could take off on a moment’s notice for some incredible journey- usually with twenty bucks in my pocket and only the vaguest of plans. So when my husband’s parents offered to watch our kids for a weekend so we could fly away (Yes, on a plane, with no children!) for a friend’s wedding, we jumped at the opportunity.
We filled the weekend with all sorts of adult outings and completely refrained from anything even hinting at a whine. It was fabulous. The wedding itself was special in just about every way. I was especially smitten with the food. Every dish served was beautiful and inspired. One dish in particular though, struck me with its intriguing taste and unique presentation, the beet salad.
My Pantry Shelf 