Pure Holiday Magic

T and I had a lovely holiday in Florida, at my mom's yearly Xmas extravaganza. You'll notice the dessert photos come first. During these breaks I prefer to get my workout climbing that Xmas cookie tower several times a day. I especially love in the first photo how it looks like one of the three wise men brought the cassata to the party- like "ta heck with the myrrh, I'm brangin' choc'lit cake!"

I also hung out around that antipasto plate a lot. A lot.

Oh, and Happy New Year from NumNumNum! We're officially in our third nummy year!

Chicken Romano

This chilly weather has got me thinking in layers- sweater, scarf, coat, chicken, cheese, sauce. This is a take on pretty straight forward chicken parmesan, except I used romano cheese and layered in a few sauteed veggies. All we had in the kitchen for breading were whole-wheat panko flakes and which had more of a consistency like Grape Nuts. So I pounded them down a bit and added dried herbs- basil, oregano, parsley. We had homemade marinara still frozen from last summer, and which had roasted-red peppers blended in. I smothered the top of the breaded chicken breasts with sauteed onions and swiss chard, and then covered the whole lot with more sauce, mozzarella, and romano.

Arugula, Cuc, Radish and Tomato Salad

Hey it's 13° outside today! Let's celebrate with a summery salad! We found these cute little blushy radishes at the winter farmer's market, along with some hothouse tomatoes and arugula. I topped it off with shavings of parmesan and for the dressing I used e.v.o.o., fig-infused balsamic, lemon juice, salt and fresh ground pepper. We had this with pasta and the last of the lamb meatballs and marinara we froze last month. Oh, and did I mention that its 13° outside today?

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

We saw this recipe on Ina's show, but when I googled it there were several variations online. For a creepy and cozy Halloween dinner, what could be more perfect? The garlic gets sweet and deep, the longer it cooks. The cous-cous was tossed with lemon zest, currants, and cashews and was a great sauce-soaker to the chicken. Lovely table decorations by Beth!

Seitan Scramble

Quick weekend breakfast scramble with seitan, onion, garlic, tomato, spinach, and egg.

Sweet Potato and Ricotta Soup

This sweet potato soup is spicy, herby, sweet, and creamy. It starts with a combination of white onion and shallots sauteed in olive oil until soft, to which I added the cubed (and peeled) sweet potatoes (about 2 large ones). When the potatoes were a little seared, I added the spices and herbs: nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme and sage. Then I poured in 5 cans of low-sodium chicken stock and brought it up to a simmer. When the potatoes were very soft, I then pureed it with the emersion blender. When it was nice and evenly smooth, I added a pint container of low-fat ricotta cheese and 1/3 cup of grated parmesan. Then I blended to soup again to break up the cheese solids. Here it's served with a little arugula salad and a chunk of french walnut bread from out favorite farmers market vendor. Very autumnumnumnal!

Soup, Salad, Apple Crisp

Salad: Pear, Red Onion and Parmesan with a Maple-shallot Vinaigrette

Soup: Butternut Squash Minestrone

Dessert: Apple Crisp (thanks Sarah!)