Spinach Pesto (Dairy Free)

When I close my eyes and dream of the ultimate comfort food, it's nothing fancy... it's the dinner that my mom cooked often when I was a kid: roast chicken with broccoli and white rice, with the chicken juices poured on top. I probably complained about it at the time (chicken again?!) but even now when I go to my parents' house and smell her chicken roasting in the oven, it's a comfort like no other. I'm hungrostalgic just thinking about it. 

Beyond dishing up delicious food, though, cooking enabled my mom and I to spend time together. As a food writer and cookbook author, she was always in the kitchen and she encouraged my sister and I to get on board early and often. It was a thrill to be included. Today, I invite my kids into the kitchen as often as possible. And while they don't always take me up on my offers, I see that each of them is slowly developing an interest in flavors, ingredients and cooking. Most recently, my youngest (2 1/4 years old) joined me in the kitchen for the very first time and helped get her own dinner on the table! 

She's at an age where she enjoys bold flavors and doesn't shy away from new foods or textures so pesto was a huge hit. She helped me to wash spinach and basil, peel a clove of garlic and pour olive oil. When I loaded the ingredients into my mini chopper, I let her press the buttons (and naturally, made sure to unplug immediately after we were done). This was a hit! 

When the pesto was done (in about 2 minutes), I let her spoon it into the bowl of cooked macaroni and stir. Voila! 

Fast, easy, delicious. My gal gobbled this up and reminded her older brother and sister at least four times during dinner "I made that, you know!" I used the leftovers in her lunchbox the next day: 

Here's the very-flavorful, super easy recipe: 

Spinach Pesto (Dairy Free)

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch spinach, washed and cut
10 basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 cup olive oil
2-3 cups of cooked macaroni (we used half whole wheat and half plain pasta) 

Method
Cook the pasta as directed on the box. As it cooks, add the spinach, basil, garlic, salt and olive oil to a cuisinart or chopper of your choice (an immersion blender can also work) and blend until smooth. Spoon into cooked pasta, stir and enjoy! 

Hot Cocoa Pancakes

My kids beg for chocolate chip pancakes. Do yours? I've made them a handful of times and apparently the experience is stuck in their heads as the ultimate breakfast treat. I decided to use my go-to pancake recipe and added my homemade hot cocoa mix. Boom! Hot cocoa pancakes. 

First, make the pancake batter. Next, add the homemade hot cocoa mix. Stir to combine. 

Fry these babies in butter or coconut oil. Flip when little bubbles start to appear on top. 

Woot woot! 

Hot Cocoa Pancakes 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup buttermilk or plain kefir

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add buttermilk and oil and mix to combine, making sure not to leave any big flour lumps. Add egg and gently fold into the batter. Add flax meal, cinnamon, cocoa, sugar and vanilla extract and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. 
Pour desired pancake size into a hot, buttered pan. Flip pancakes when tiny bubbles appear on the top. This recipe makes enough pancakes for my three kids for three breakfasts. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.  

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My 5 favorite quick breakfasts for hectic mornings

Chick Pea Salad with Dried Mango and Avocado

Hello, lunch! Refreshing, filling, sweet and savory. YUM. 

Chickpeas with Dried Mango and Avocado

Ingredients
1/2 cup of chopped dried mango
1/2 cup of chick peas
1/2 avocado
1/3 cup chopped bell pepper (we used yellow pepper here)
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
2 teaspoons of olive oil
juice of half of a Meyer lemon
1.5 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro
teaspoons of fresh chopped mint

Method
Combine all ingredients and let the flavors dance together. This is best at room temperature and even better on day two! 

Honey Oat Whole Wheat Bread

I'm all about kids in the kitchen. I'll admit, it's sometimes hard to deal with the unbelievable mess that happens when kids pour and measure but in the long run, it only adds a few more minutes to the clean up and the pleasure of having my kids by my side to make our food is huge. 

I stumbled across this recipe on Food52 the other day for Honey Oat Whole Wheat Bread and asked my 4 year old son if he wanted to join me for a cooking adventure. It's actually not as simple as that... we measured the dry ingredients but alas! I had no yeast. There were about a million things that distracted us from going to get the yeast so this project was delayed for hours. I don't have a standing mixer so this was all done by hand. Happy to report, it was easy peasy! 

After the mixing and the rising, and then more rising, my son painted water on top. He LOVED doing this and asked if we could make another loaf! Once the dough was painted with water, he sprinkled oats on top. 

After that, we popped it into the oven and waited (somewhat) patiently as the smell of fresh bread filled our home. 

How good does that look?! It was dense, chewy, moist and oaty. It was slightly salty, so I think I'd reduce the salt next time - and there will definitely be a next time. 

For the full recipe, head on over to Food52 right here. Happy baking! 

Lentil Curry Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale

I'm knee deep in winter soup obsession. 

I'm pretty sure if there were a log of my cooking patterns, I'd see repetition every January with hearty soups. So when I saw this recipe for Sweet Potato Lentil Curry Soup on Food52 posted by Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog, I got all kinds of excited. 

Typically, I wanted to make it immediately, but I didn't have exact ingredients, so I made some substitutions. That said, I do plan to make the original recipe and am certain it's amazingly delicious. 

The first change I made was in the lentils; I only had black beluga lentils, not brown. Additionally, I didn't include the red pepper or carrot and I cut the amount of garlic in half and increased the amount of ginger. As long as I was making changes, I figured I'd add the last bit of lacinato kale that was in my fridge. We're all friends here, so I suppose I can admit that I had three bowls of this in one sitting. 

Give this a go! It sure hit that must-heave-hearty-winter-soup spot for us! 

Lentil Curry Soup with Sweet Potato and Kale

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
1/3 cup peeled and minced ginger root
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (I used mild) 
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (or roughly 2 1/2 - 3 cups)
1/2 bunch lacinato kale, chopped 
1 14 oz can of coconut milk (I used full fat with the cream)
2 cups black beluga lentils
1 teaspoon salt 
7 cups vegetable stock (or water) 
Juice of 1 lime
1 bunch of minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup tamari

Method: 
1. In a large pot, saute the red onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until onions are translucent. 
2. Add the curry powder, hot pepper flakes, sweet potatoes and kale. Sauté for 5-8 minutes or until the seasoning has evenly coated the sweet potato. 
3. Add the coconut milk, lentils, salt and vegetable stock. Simmer and cover until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender, approximately 45 minutes. 
4. Add the lime, tamari and cilantro, stir and enjoy!