(A more healthful) chocolate chip cookie recipe

(a more healthful) chocolate chip cookie by Pamela Salzman

One of my students asked me the other day if I had a good chocolate chip cookie recipe and I instinctively said, “Sure, just check my website.”  To which she replied, “I did.  But all you have on there is your Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.”  And then it hit me.  I have neither taught in a class nor posted my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Gasp!  Coincidentally, Mr. Picky had been asking if we could make homemade ice cream sandwiches, so I got to work lickety split!

beat butter and sugars until smooth, then add eggs, baking soda and vanilla

In my defense, there are good reasons I haven’t posted my chocolate chip cookie recipe.  First of all, I do use refined white sugar because it just makes the best cookie.  But it isn’t exactly clean and healthful and I want this site to be your destination for high quality recipes.  However, even with the white and brown sugars, I use whole grain flours and everything is organic so these will be waaaaaaay better for you than bakery cookies or packaged (really now?) ones.  It’s all about balance and moderation!

next add the flours, baking powder and salt

The other issue is that I keep changing my recipe when I learn something new to make them even better than the last time.  And this has happened often.  Many of you are so in the know about food trends that you might think my ah-ha chocolate chip moments are sooooo 2005, but I never said I was an early adopter.  Let me first make it clear what kind of chocolate chip cookie I love, because that’s what you’re getting here — my favorite.  If you love the thin and crispy kind, hmmmm, today’s not your day.  Cakey?  Yeah, not me.  Milk chocolate?  Don’t waste my time!  Friends, I like a cookie with some heft and substance, something that you can sink your teeth into.  But I also don’t want a greasy cookie which makes me feel like I’m sucking on butter.  Slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with chunks of semisweet or dark chocolate is the way I roll.  Sometimes I’m feeling fancy and I’ll add a pinch of flaky sea salt on on the tops and that is just heaven.

chop chocolate from a bar for nice chunky pieces

Something I learned to achieve my perfect cookie is to use cold butter instead of room temperature, which is a trick I learned from Mrs. Fields (not that I met her, but that’s how she makes her cookies.)  The combination of cold butter and  a low oven temperature help to keep the cookie from spreading out too thin and too fast.  I also started adding a little oat flour after I saw this Neiman Marcus cookie recipe which I found out later was not the official recipe but the oat flour stayed in mine.  The oat flour makes the cookie a little nuttier and dense.  Ina Garten taught me (via television, of course) that a chocolate bar cut into pieces is much more satisfying than chocolate chips, although I do use those often.  And every fancy restaurant in the last several years has added a pinch of flaky sea salt to the tops of their cookies — a smart and delicious move.

using an ice cream scooper gives you uniform, round cookies

add a pinch of flaky sea salt for a grown-up twist

I grated some of the chocolate into the batter
I grated some of the chocolate into the batter

It may have taken me a while to bring it to you, but I’m sure with certain special occasions coming up, like Father’s Day or end-of-the-year parties, it’s never too late to try a great chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Of course, if you have the latest and greatest twist on chocolate chip cookies, I’m always open to improvement!

freshly baked | Pamela Salzman

(a more healthful) chocolate chip cookie by Pamela Salzman

 

 
 
 

 
 
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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pamela
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup 2 sticks cold unsalted butter or organic Earth Balance, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • ¾ cup cane sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar or Muscovado sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup oat flour you can take a cup of rolled oats and process them in the food processor to make your own oat flour
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 18 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate bars chopped coarsely or use chocolate chips
  • 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts or pecans optional
  • flaky sea salt optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or silicone mats.
  • Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of stand mixer and blend on medium speed until the mixture is smooth.
  • Add the baking soda, eggs and vanilla to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.
  • In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder and sea salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend on low speed until just combined.
  • Stir in the chocolate and nuts.
  • Scoop the dough with a 1 ¾ -inch ice cream scooper onto the prepared baking sheets or use a tablespoon. Space them evenly apart. I was able to get 12 on each sheet.
  • Bake 18-20 minutes or until just set. The cookies will be slightly soft in the center. If you like them crispier, bake them for up to 23 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Notes

Raw cookie dough can be frozen, but it’s a great idea to scoop the dough into balls first and freeze those so you can just pull out as many as you want to bake instead of having to defrost the whole batch of dough.  I have even baked cookies in the toaster oven!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

 

 

Mixed berry cobbler recipe (slow cooker version, too!)

Mixed Berry Cobbler Recipe | Pamela Salzman

Do you know the difference between a crisp, a cobbler, a slump, a grunt and a brown betty?  I hear the terms used interchangeably, when of course, they’re not the same at all.  A cobbler has a biscuit topping, a crisp has a crunchy oat and sugar topping, a slump/grunt is like a cobbler, but it is finished on the stovetop so that the biscuits are steamed, rather than browned, and a brown betty is topped with buttered bread crumbs.  Just so we’re all on the same page.  And just so you don’t go ordering a cobbler at a restaurant thinking you are getting something with a buttery, crunchy, oat topping only to be served a bowl of cooked fruit with a biscuit on top.  I hate when that happens.

Mixed Berry Cobbler Recipe | Pamela Salzman

Mixed Berry Cobbler Recipe | Pamela Salzman

Not that a cobbler is bad.  Oh no, friends.  Cobblers are very, very good.  Especially when strawberries are in season and they are about as luscious as can be.  When strawberries debut at our local farmer’s markets, I feel like a bear coming out of hibernation, like I’m taking a breath of fresh air.  It’s spring!  Weeeee!  I can finally tell Mr. Picky, “Yes, it’s finally strawberry season!”  I swear I have been buying strawberries lately like they’re never coming back.  They’re in the kids’ lunches several times a week, in breakfast smoothies and acai bowls and chopped into pancakes.  I even did a crazy thing and added a little bit of chia seed and water to some mashed up strawberries and let it thicken into a raw jam/spread.  I thought it was really good.  Then I smeared some in between two slices of whole grain bread and made a stuffed strawberry French toast, if you will.  Really tasty!

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

I was feeling spunky last weekend and thought I would surprise everyone with a special dessert, which I knew had to have strawberries in it.  So I started pulling together my favorite cobbler with strawberries as well as whatever berries I had in the freezer.  I had this moment of genius when I thought, I bet I could do this in a slow cooker!  I bet no one in the world has ever done a cobbler in a slow cooker.  I am going to revolutionize the food world with this brilliant idea!  Of course, one quick search on Foodily and I saw that 20 other people/websites already came up with that same idea.  I hate when that happens.  Grumpy face.  Although one of the recipes called for a can of apple pie filling and a box of yellow cake mix.  I mean, is that even a recipe?   That is such a gross idea.  Don’t even think about trying it.

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

Why would you when you can have this wholesome, fresh, clean and YUMMY cobbler for just a little more effort?  I have two versions here, one baked in the oven and the other in the slow cooker.  The oven cobbler has a much prettier presentation, with the classic, nicely browned “cobbled” texture on top and baked in a dish you can actually bring to the table.  But it’s nice to know you can can use your slow cooker for more than just shredded meat.  I was thinking it would be great for the summer so you don’t have to turn your oven on to make a fruit dessert.  The look wasn’t quite as lovely since I spread the dough on the bottom of the insert and laid the fruit on top.  I wanted the fruit to stay intact and not get cooked into a pot of mush.  Which it did not.

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

Either way, the ingredients stay the same for both.  I have used whole spelt flour, whole wheat pastry and white whole wheat all with success.  I know that you can use  gluten-free flour like Kind Arthur with a little added xanthan gum and achieve an equally tasty result.  If you’ve made cobbler before, you might think my recipe doesn’t have enough sweetener.  But I promise, give this a go and you’ll be surprised how much you enjoy tasting the actual fruit and not just sugar.  Of course, a little ice cream on top doesn’t taste bad.  Or, I look forward to leftovers the next morning with a dollop of sheep’s yogurt.  Unless someone ate it all and left me none when I couldn’t stop dreaming about it all night.  Ooooh, I hate when that happens!

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

Mixed Berry Cobbler | Pamela Salzman

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Pamela
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings 6 -8

Ingredients
  

  • 6 cups mixed fresh berries or frozen, thawed
  • ¼ cup coconut palm sugar organic cane sugar or brown sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons flour such as spelt or your favorite GF flour such as rice flour
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest not packed
  • 1 ½ cups whole spelt flour whole whet pastry, white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour OR King Arthur Multi-purpose GF Flour + 1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup OR organic cane sugar if you use maple syrup, add to buttermilk; if you use sugar, add to flour
  • ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter or organic Earth Balance cut in small pieces + more for greasing baking dish
  • ¾ cup buttermilk or unsweetened non-dairy milk + 1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter or organic Earth Balance melted or 1 Tablespoon buttermilk*
  • 1 teaspoon sugar optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9–or 10-inch square shallow baking dish or pie plate.
  • In a medium bowl, gently toss the berries with 3 Tbs. flour, ¼ cup sugar and zest. Transfer berries into the prepared pan. Set aside and reserve the bowl.
  • To make the cobbler topping, blend the 1 ½ cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, 2 Tbs. sugar (if using), salt and butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender or pulse in a food processor just until most of the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to the same bowl used to mix the berries and stir in the buttermilk and maple syrup (if using) until well combined.
  • Using your fingertips, rub the buttermilk mixture until it begins to clump together. Take a heaping spoonful of dough and place it on top of the berries. Don’t cover the berries completely. Brush with melted butter or buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Place the dish on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden and cooked through.

Notes

*For a golden glaze, brush the biscuits with melted butter. For a more brown crust, brush them with buttermilk.
You can use either maple syrup or cane sugar (not both) in the cobbler topping. Pick one sweetener! Please read the directions carefully since the maple syrup is added with the buttermilk and the cane sugar is added to the dry ingredients.
To increase the recipe to serve 12, multiply all ingredients by 1 ½ and use a 13 x 9–inch baking dish. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.
To Make in the Slow Cooker:
Follow all directions for cobbler in the oven except dollop the cobbler topping on the bottom of the slow cooker insert and  pour the fruit mixture on top.  Cover and cook on LOW for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until biscuit mixture is cooked through.  The time will depend on how wide your slow cooker is.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Baked Berry Oatmeal Recipe

Baked Berry Oatmeal | Pamela Salzman

Baked Berry Oatmeal | Pamela Salzman

My favorite thing about the weekends and vacations is lingering over breakfast.  Weekdays are (sadly) so rushed that we don’t really have more than 10 minutes to sit down and enjoy our morning meal.  Not only are we lacking time to relax and  enjoy, but the five of us never eat breakfast together during the week since we’re all on different schedules.  Of course, I’m guilty of the worst offense of all which is eating in my car on the way to work.  I keep thinking getting up earlier is the answer, but somehow that hasn’t been the solution.  It’s a dreadful habit and I am completely embarrassed that I don’t walk that talk, but I would rather eat my porridge slowly in my car than inhale it in 30 seconds at the kitchen table.

grease your pan and scatter the blueberries on the bottom

The weekends are a whole different story.  I love making breakfast foods that take a little more time.  Just the smells of something wonderful from the oven make me giddy with anticipation while I sip my tea out of a real mug, not portable one, and the newspaper spread out everywhere.  Typical weekend creations are baked frittatas with lots of veggies, whole grain waffles (who has time to wash a waffle iron on a Tuesday morning?), and this amazing, versatile Baked Oatmeal recipe.  I make steel cut oats once or twice per week, but the weekend demands something a little more special.  I originally spotted this recipe by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks fame in Whole Living Magazine a few years ago and instantly knew this would become a regular for us.  I have made this recipe with mixed berries and with thinly sliced apples on the bottom — both delicious — and on my to-do list is to come up with versions using coconut and pumpkin puree and spices.  Mr. Picky likes this enough that I think I could sell this as an after school snack if I tossed in a few chocolate chips.  Heidi’s originally called for sliced bananas on the bottom, which were great if you love a super sweet intense banana flavor.

dry mix goes on top next

pour the wet mix on top

Oats are super hearty and filling and make a great start to the day.  If oatmeal tends to raise your blood sugar too much, make sure you pair it with some protein and fat like nuts.  Walnuts are in this recipe, but I’ve used sliced almonds and pecans too.  Of course, if you’re nut-free, feel free to omit them altogether and enjoy this recipe all the same.  Baked Oatmeal can be easily adapted for dairy-free people by using an alternative milk and coconut oil or Earth Balance; and for vegans by dropping the egg.  It doesn’t slice as nicely without the egg, but it’s no big deal.

top with berries and nuts

My family seems to eat this straight as is, but I love pouring on some extra almond milk or (when I wasn’t dairy-free) dolloping a little yogurt on top.  I have access to fresh blueberries grown in a hothouse all year so I decided to splurge and use them here, but if you are only working with citrus and bananas at this time of year, you can always use frozen fruit.  Although, I just saw the first fresh strawberries at the farmer’s market last weekend which means good fruit is on the horizon and more delicious Baked Oatmeal possibilities await you.

Baked Berry Oatmeal | Pamela Salzman

 

 

Baked Berry Oatmeal

Pamela, adapted from Super Natural Everyday via Whole Living Magazine
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats look for gluten-free oats to make this a gluten-free recipe - Do NOT use steel cut oats
  • ½ cup walnuts almonds or pecans, chopped, divided
  • 1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup or ¼ c. for a more subtle sweetness
  • 2 cups whole milk or plant milk like unsweetened hemp milk almond milk or flax milk
  • 1 large egg or flax egg or 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter unrefined coconut oil or organic Earth Balance, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for greasing baking dish
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen berries divided

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking dish.
  • Combine the baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt in a large bowl. Stir in the oats and ¼ cup nuts.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together maple syrup, milk, egg, melted butter, and pure vanilla. (You can also combine these ingredients in a blender.)
  • Scatter 1 cup of the berries on the bottom of the baking dish and then cover with the oat mixture. Pour wet mixture into the pan over the oats and spread evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the nuts and berries across the top. You can make this up until this point the night before and refrigerate, covered.
  • Bake for 35 minutes or until the oat mixture is set and wet ingredients are absorbed.

Notes

So many people have made this recipe many times, so I don't want to abruptly change it BUT I mix everything together in the same bowl and pour it into the prepared baking dish. You can also assemble this the night before, cover and refrigerate it, and bake it uncovered in the morning. Leftovers are great cold, room temp or reheated.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

 

Mini flourless chocolate cakes recipe

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes | Pamela Salzman

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes | Pamela Salzman

The last school the kids attended allowed cupcakes with 2-inch high thick blue frosting to be handed out at 10:30 am on your child’s birthday.  And if I do the math, that was about two birthdays every month.  The school also made a big deal about celebrating holidays with food, so my child went to school on Halloween and loaded up on candy even before she started trick or treating.  Then there were the ubiquitous bake sales and Friday candy, soda and pizza sales to raise money for whatever.  Nevermind the disruption to classroom teaching and the disastrous effect on learning, but what a poor message this sends to the children about food and how much we care about their health.

chocolate

melt almond butter, butter and chocolate

smooth and creamy

The public schools my kids attend now have a policy against any food (even if you wanted to bring in kale chips) being sent in for birthdays and holidays.  If your child is in elementary school and you would like to mark his birthday, feel free to buy a book to donate to his classroom and volunteer 15 minutes to read it to the students.  All the kids will also give him a big card that says all the things they like about him.  Is this freakin’ awesome or what?  Just a happy birthday with no sugar rush before noon.  No bouncing off the walls when he gets home.  No pressure to be the mom who brings in the treat with the most sugar or artificially colored candy.  I always lost that one.

egg whites

I think 99% of children get more than an appropriate amount of sweets and treats outside of school that we don’t need to give it to them in places where it doesn’t belong.  Don’t even get me started on snack after soccer games.  BUT, I am of course a reasonable, fun mom who encourages eating a wide variety of wholesome foods with the occasional treat.  Actually, I allow treats more often than I’d like to, but the message is that those are not foods to be eaten more than once a day, preferably only once or twice a week.  But when a special holiday like Valentine’s Day rolls around, I am the first one in the kitchen baking up something special for my darlings.

folding egg whites into chocolate

I discovered these flourless chocolate cakes from the True Food Kitchen website.  True Food Kitchen is a chain of healthful restaurants started by Dr. Andrew Weil.  It’s really the kind of food I love — natural, unprocessed, flavorful, but not extreme in one way or another.  I happen to love chocolate and I drank Dr. Weil’s Kool Aid, so to speak, and believe all the wonderful benefits about dark chocolate’s antioxidant benefits and high mineral content.  It also happens to be a natural aphrodisiac.  Hmmmm……  Before you get any ideas, M&M’s don’t fall in the same category, sorry!  I also try to limit everyone’s consumption of gluten to just a wee bit, so these mini cakes looked perfect since they are flourless.  You figured that out on your own, I’m sure.

they'll puff up in the oven

These are the bomb, no joke.  I have never served them to anyone who didn’t think so, even Mr. Picky who could probably down all six of them if I let him.  They’re kind of a cross between a rich and dense cake and a souffle.  The cakes have a really nice chocolate flavor without making you tired of chocolate after two bites.  I think they’re just great plain, but everyone loves the raspberry sauce I make to go along with them.  The raspberry sauce is a great instant sauce to know how to make regardless of the cake.  It’s terrific poured over oodles things like yogurt or ice cream, French toast or pancakes, even your favorite porridge.  Did you catch that amazing nut butter and banana French toast I posted on facebook?  You’re not my facebook fan?  Bummer.  You should be!  This sauce would be awesome with that.  How about this, let’s say you don’t have time to whip up these chocolate cakes for dessert on Valentine’s Day.  Make the raspberry sauce the day before and serve it with store bought ice cream or pancakes just to have something a little special.

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes | Pamela Salzman

For lots more fun Valentine’s ideas, check out this post from last year.  You won’t believe all the things you can do with a heart-shaped cookie cutter!

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes

Pamela, adapted from True Food Kitchen via Dr. Andrew Weil
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 6 ounces dark chocolate at least 70%
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter + 1 teaspoon for greasing the ramekins
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted creamy raw almond butter
  • 1 teaspoon 100% pure vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs at room temperature, separated
  • 6 Tablespoons granulated cane sugar* divided
  • pinch of fine grain sea salt
  • Raspberry Sauce
  • 5 ounces frozen raspberries about 1 cup
  • ¼ cup natural cane sugar Sucanat or granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup hot water

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  • Over a double boiler (can use medium glass bowl over a pot of simmering water), melt chocolate, butter and almond butter. Let cool. Stir in vanilla.
  • While the chocolate mixture is cooling, lightly grease 6 4-ounce ramekins with the teaspoon of butter. If you don’t normally have success turning out cakes without leaving some in the pan, feel free to trace circles of parchment paper to line the bottoms of the ramekins.
  • Separate the eggs and place the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add 3 tablespoons sugar and beat until a light, pale yellow color, about 6 minutes. Slowly pour the in the melted chocolate and mix until combined. Pour back into the bowl that had the chocolate. Wash and dry the mixing bowl.
  • In the clean mixing bowl, add the egg whites. Whisk until frothy. Slowly add the sugar and salt and whisk until soft peaks form. Carefully fold the whites into the chocolate mixture until combined. You do this by getting your spatula to the bottom of the bowl and pulling some chocolate out and over the egg whites. Turn your bowl a little and do it again. Keep pulling the chocolate out and over until you don’t see any more white streaks.
  • Spoon the batter into the ramekins. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are dry and the cakes are set. They will be puffed when you take them out of the oven, but if you let them sit on the countertop, they do deflate. Feel free to eat them warm out of the ramekin or allow to cool before unmolding. If you unmold them while they are too warm, they won’t unmold easily.
  • Prepare the raspberry sauce: place raspberries, sugar and hot water in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. (Can be made one day ahead and kept refrigerated.)
  • Serve each cake with raspberry sauce spooned around decoratively.

Notes

*You can substitute coconut palm sugar for cane sugar in the chocolate mixture. If so, increase cooking time by an extra 2-3 minutes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

Creamy polenta recipe

People have asked me (actually one person in particular, i.e. my Italian-born father) why I don’t have more pasta recipes on my site or on my class menus.  I know everyone loves pasta and it’s super easy to make, but I think the internet and cookbooks have more than enough pasta recipes to keep everyone busy.  But more importantly, I think most people eat waaaaay too much pasta.  And not just too many times in a week as my family was guilty of when I was a kid, but also too much in one sitting.

I’m not a big fan of processed wheat flour which is nutritionally empty, loaded with hard-to-digest and inflammatory gluten, and causes a spike in blood sugar especially when eaten in large quantities.  When blood sugar surges, the pancreas releases insulin, a fat-storage hormone which is also pro-inflammatory.  If people could eat 1/2-1 cup of pasta in one sitting without any other concentrated carbohydrates at the same meal (that’s right, pasta plus garlic bread plus French fries is NOT a balanced dinner), and perhaps no other gluten-containing foods the rest of the day, I think we’d be in better shape, so to speak, than we are now.  But it is really, really easy to overeat pasta.  If you go to your neighborhood Italian restaurant, pasta is very often served as a main course, as opposed to in Italy where it is served in a much smaller portion as a first course.  American restaurant portions can be upwards of 8-12 ounces per serving which is about 4-6 times the recommended serving size.  Insanity.

Believe me, I love pasta as much as the next person, but I don’t love its effect on my body.  When I do eat pasta, I like to load it with vegetables and limit myself to a 1 cup serving.  I also try to rotate different pastas in our meals, including ones made from brown rice, quinoa and spelt.  But over the last few years, I have really enjoyed finding tasty and nutritious substitutes for pasta, such as spaghetti squash, millet-cauliflower mash, zucchini “noodles” and very often polenta.

Polenta is kind of like grits, but from ground yellow corn.  You can find fine, medium or coarse ground.  It does have a little bit of a corn flavor if you make it with just water and salt.  But add some grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese and a bit of olive oil or butter and you’ve got yourself a bowl of spoon-lickin’ goodness.  I really don’t know why more people don’t eat polenta.  It’s super easy to make, incredibly affordable, gluten-free and pretty nutritious (try to get organic or non-GMO.)  Most of all, it’s really creamy and luxurious-tasting.  I prefer it thick and pourable, rather than firm and sliceable, but that’s fine too.  I like to eat it with anything that I would serve on top of pasta such as meatballs, saucy vegetables, juicy greens, sautéed shrimp and so on.  I usually make the coarse-ground kind because I like a little texture, but if I’m strapped for time I’ll throw some fine ground cornmeal into the pot and I’ll have it ready in 5 minutes and it’s very silky smooth.  I think my girls like the “instant” polenta better because it’s creamier.  They’ll eat it with anything I mentioned above.  Mr. Picky has really only had a bite or two of polenta at a sitting and he thinks it’s “okay.”  He always mentions he would prefer pasta.  Thanks for the feedback, dude.  What I will do for the little guy is make sure I cook something else that night that I know he will eat like meatballs or lemon-thyme chicken.  Because if it were up to him, we’d be eating pasta every night.  Insanity!

Creamy Polenta

Pamela
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 5-6 cups water or chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup polenta*
  • 1-3 Tablespoons unsalted butter unrefined olive oil or organic Earth Balance (I prefer butter)
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese optional

Instructions
 

  • In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt. Then add the polenta to the pot slowly, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low and cook COVERED, stirring often, until the mixture thickens and the cornmeal is tender, about 20 minutes. The polenta can be eaten now, but the flavors develop more and you’ll lose some of the grittiness if you can allow it to simmer another 20-30 minutes. Not essential, though.
  • Stir in the butter and cheese and serve immediately or keep warm in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Polenta should be pourable and creamy. If it’s too thick, stir in more liquid.

Notes

*You can also do a more “instant” version of this using instant polenta or fine ground cornmeal (like the kind you use for corn muffins.) That will take you 5 minutes.
Other options: For extra richness, you can stir in an additional ½ cup of whole milk or plain, unsweetened hemp milk at the end, or some mascarpone or cream cheese; Mozzarella or fontina cheese.
You can also add corn kernels, roasted garlic, or herbs, such as rosemary, basil or parsley.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

Broccoli stalk soup recipe

bowls of broccoli soup with bread

up close bowl of broccoli stalk soup

This month I’ve been teaching a broccoli and cauliflower stir-fry in my classes.  I am using only the florets since I know the stalks aren’t as popular in my house.  It’s all very well and good, except for the fact that I’ve been left at the end of each week with a heck of a lot of broccoli stalks.  I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that I am a compulsive use-everything-you’ve-got kind of a cook.  I absolutely hate to waste food!  In fact, I started a tradition in the house called “Frittata Fridays.”  That’s when I pull together bits of leftovers and random vegetables and turn them into breakfast.  Everyone’s happy!

So in order to not throw away the perfectly good broccoli stalks, I have been juicing lots of them into our juices.  But there’s only so much of that I can take.  What else could I use them for?   On a whim I decided to see if I could turn the stalks in a pureed soup like my Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup, which is one of my absolute favorites.  My biggest concern was that the stalks wouldn’t have enough flavor and the soup would taste like nothing — WRONG!  It was delicious.  Warm, rich, creamy and using one of my favorite soup-thickening techniques (cooking and pureeing Yukon Gold potatoes with the soup), it tasted like there was lots of cream or butter when there was none.

Nutritionally speaking, the stalks are quite comparable to the florets, which is awesome since broccoli is once of those super foods you should be eating a lot of (and not throwing into the garbage!)  In fact, I’m big on the whole cruciferous family of vegetables which includes all the cabbages, kale, bok choy, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collard greens and more.  These vegetables contain incredible amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, cancer-fighting compounds, and even protein.  Load up, people!

I enjoyed this soup straight away with an extra pinch of flaky sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.  My husband stirred into his bowl a big pinch of shredded raw cheddar cheese and thought that was great.  For the girls, I made them grilled raw cheddar cheese and kale pesto sandwiches on spelt bread and they loved dipping those into the soup.  Even Mr. Picky finished his entire bowl — plain of course, with absolutely nothing added.  This was a winner all around!

finished bowl of broccoli soup with bread on the right, big bowl in the back

bowls of broccoli soup with bread

Broccoli Stalk Soup

Pamela
4.94 from 16 votes
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Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or unrefined cold-pressed olive oil
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 large garlic cloves chopped
  • 2 ¼ - 2 ½ pounds broccoli stalks ends and any tough woody layers removed
  • 1 large Yukon Gold potato about 8 ounces, peeled if desired and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock preferably homemade
  • 2-3 teaspoons sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter or warm the oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté, covered, until tender and translucent, about 6 minutes.
  • Add the broccoli, potato, stock and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower to a simmer. Cook partially covered until potatoes and broccoli stalks are tender, about 20 minutes.
  • Puree soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender. Taste for seasoning.

Notes

You can stir in shredded cheese before serving, garnish with grated Parmesan or Pecorino, top with grilled cheese croutons or chopped chives
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Gingerbread cookies recipe

Mr. Picky asked me the other day if I would make cookies with him and I was this close to saying “Not today, sweetie.  I’m too busy.”  That would have been absolutely true.  We’re all so busy.  I don’t know anyone whom I have asked lately “How are you?” that hasn’t responded, “Really busy!  How are you?”  It’s not just this time of year either.  I feel like we’re running around at 90 miles an hour all year long.

In my classes and on my blog, I try to emphasize balance and moderation, yet I’m not so sure I practice what I preach with respect to finding downtime.  And as I had that thought, my daughters came home from school.  That is to say, they pulled into the garage in a car driven by Daughter #1 who turned 16 two months ago.  They walked in and all I could see was a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old.  I used to hate it when people told me kids grow up so fast, but the cliché couldn’t be more true.  It goes by in a nanosecond.  I can’t say my daughters have asked me recently to bake cookies with them, instead they invite their girlfriends over to stay up late and eat the cookie dough I keep in the freezer.  Believe me, I’m thrilled they even hang out at our house!  So last week I skipped writing a post that I thought would get published last Friday and instead baked cookies with my favorite little dude.  Totally worth it.

Mr Picky is a funny kid.  Some people joke with me that a boy who eats lentils and beans cannot be labeled “picky.”  And every year he adds more and more foods to the still narrow “approved” list.  But he doesn’t seem to like what most kids do such as buttered pasta, macaroni and cheese, pizza or sandwiches, not that I’m complaining.  His favorite cookies don’t contain candy or sprinkles, but instead are gingerbread.  And that’s what we decided to make last week.

Gingerbread cut-out cookies are a commitment.  It’s not like make a batter and spooning drops of it onto a baking sheet.  There’s chilling the dough, rolling it out, cutting it into shapes, decorating the cookies.  It’s a fairly simple dough to make and I don’t hold back on the spices.  But these cookies aren’t spicy, they’re just really flavorful.  Whole wheat pastry flour can be substituted with a gluten-free flour blend such as the King Arthur Multi-purpose GF Flour plus the addition of 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour.  Mr. Picky’s favorite part is decorating which I always keep pretty simple with raw sugar, currants or mini-chocolate chips.

We had the best afternoon.  It was so nice to have one-on-one time with him and chat about school, football and his favorite new book.  We also talked about the mystery of Santa and that this was definitely going to be the year that he stayed awake to watch him leave gifts under my parents’ tree.  Sweet.  Spending time in the kitchen with my son was such a gift and a reminder to me that the biggest joys in life don’t come from checking off my to-do list.

Gingerbread Cookies

Pamela
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Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups whole wheat pastry flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend +1 tsp. xanthan gum
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon allspice
  • a few grinds finely ground black pepper optional
  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup dark natural cane sugar i.e. muscavado, or dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup unsulphured molasses not blackstrap unless you like that bitterness
  • large grain sugar for decorating or mini-chocolate chips or currants

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
  • In a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand), cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix again until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time and then the molasses. Add the flour mixture in two additions either by hand or on low speed. Divide the dough in two pieces, wrap each in plastic and chill for at least an hour.*
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or Silpats.
  • Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop to about 1/8-inch thick and cut with cookie cutters of your choice. ** Reroll the scraps and continue to cut additional cookies. Decorate with sugar crystals, dried fruit or chocolate chips before baking. For softer cookies, roll out a little thicker. Transfer to baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes for 3-4-inch cookies (less for smaller cookies, more for larger.) I like to see a little tinge of golden color around the edges of the cookies. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes and then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

*Dough can be prepared up to 2 days in advance.
**If you are not comfortable rolling on your countertop, roll the cookies out on a piece of parchment cut to fit the baking sheet. Remove scraps. Then transfer the parchment and cookies to the sheet and bake.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Deer Valley-Style Turkey and Black Bean Chili Recipe

Are we having fun yet?!  Good, good.  I have been running around the house yesterday and today like a busy bee, very excited that the big day is almost here.  I’m taking a quick breather from the Thanksgiving marathon just to touch base and check-in with you all.  Hope everything is going according to plan and that you’re enjoying the process.  What I am not doing today, however, is sharing a Thanksgiving recipe on the day before Thanksgiving because I know you are all planners and that ship has sailed!

Instead, I thought I would give all you super organized and efficient people a great way to use up any leftover turkey you might have on Friday.  I always make turkey stock and a simple turkey vegetable soup the day after.  I have also given in to chicken pot pie or shepherd’s pie with turkey.  But I also think it’s nice to make something on Friday that tastes NOTHING like the dinner you just spent a month thinking about!  It’s actually one of my strategies for getting everyone excited to eat leftovers even the day after Thanksgiving.

This recipe is inspired by the fabulous chili at the Deer Valley ski resort in Utah.  I first skied Deer Valley in 1994 when my husband and I were engaged.  He and his family have been going to the resort since it first opened over 30 years ago.  It is a really special place and we are fortunate to be able to go there a couple times each year with the kids.  Although I enjoy skiing and Deer Valley is absolutely stunning, I’m not super gung-ho about getting out there early and making the most of my day on the slopes.  I’m really in it for the food.  My favorite part about skiing is building up a good appetite and rewarding myself with a nice hearty lunch.  I actually start thinking about this turkey chili when I sit down on the chair lift for the first run of the day!

Turkey chili is one of the few items that the resort serves every single day.  I happen to notice the the lunchrooms also serve a roast turkey plate every single day.  Hmmm, could it be the kitchen needed to find a way to use up yesterday’s roast turkey?  Hmmm….  Anyway, we all love this chili because it’s lighter than a beef chili and a totally different take on the typical red, tomato-based ones that are so common.  This one is lighter and tastes fresher, perhaps because of all the delicious vegetables.   Regardless, all the signature shops on the mountain and many of the local grocery stores sell the special seasoning packet and the dried black beans in addition to the recipe so you can make it at home.  For $7 or $8 plus the cost of the turkey, vegetables and stock, you can make this pot of deliciousness at home.   Hmmm….$8 for 1/2 pound of dried beans and a few dried spices.  It wasn’t long before I decided I need to figure out what the heck was in that seasoning packet!

I can’t say this turkey chili is exactly like Deer Valley’s, but it’s close enough and I’m not sure my kids have noticed.  For sure I use half the amount of butter than the recipe calls for and I omitted the leeks, which I think don’t make or break this chili.  I also don’t use canned creamed corn, because ugh — canned and creamed and sugar don’t go with corn — so instead I just make a little corn puree.  The only ingredient you may not have lying around is masa, which is ground dried corn that’s been treated with lime.  It’s what corn tortillas and tamales are made from.  I have to say, it does thicken up the chili and give it a fabulous Southwestern corn flavor.  It’s also not an expensive ingredient, so I say definitely go for it.

Alrighty, dear readers, that’s all the time I have today. I am elbow-deep in sweet potatoes and butternut squash and my kids are starting to bicker about who gets to pick the music we listen to while we work.  Ahhh, sounds like Thanksgiving!  Hoping you all have a lovely holiday.  xoxo

 

Deer Valley-Style Turkey and Black Bean Chili

Pamela
5 from 3 votes
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Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter you can use oil, but it won’t be as good -- vegans can use organic Earth Balance
  • 2 pounds boneless skinless turkey breast, cut into 1-inch cubes or cooked turkey, cubed -- vegetarians and vegans can add 5 cups of additional vegetables and beans
  • 1 red onion chopped
  • 1 cup chopped celery about 3 stalks
  • 1 sweet red bell pepper chopped
  • 1 jalapeno seeded (or leave seeds for extra heat) and finely diced (optional)
  • 2 cloves garlic finely diced
  • ¼ cup masa harina more if you like a thick chili
  • 2 ½ Tablespoons ground cumin
  • 2 Tablespoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne cut back if you don't like spicy
  • 2 Tablespoons maple sugar or natural cane sugar
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt double if you’re using unsalted stock
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 4 ½ cups of chicken or turkey stock divided* -- vegans can use vegetable stock
  • 2 ¼ cups frozen sweet corn thawed (about 12 ounces)
  • 5 cups or 3 15-ounce ounce cans cooked black beans drained and rinsed

Instructions
 

  • Melt butter in a large pot. If using raw turkey, add half the turkey and sauté until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining turkey. If using cooked turkey, do not saute in butter, but add in step 3.
  • Add the onion, pepper, celery, jalapeno, and garlic to the pot and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes.
  • Add the masa harina, spices, sugar, salt and pepper to the pot and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Return turkey and any accumulated juices back to the pot.
  • Add 4 cups stock, 1 cup corn and the beans to the pot. Take the remaining 1 ¼ cup of corn and puree with the remaining ½ cup stock in a food processor (a mini processor works too.) Add the pureed corn to the pot. Mix well and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered for 25 minutes. Serve with desired condiments (sour cream, cheese, minced onion, cilantro) or serve on top of a baked potato.

Notes

*If you only have stock in 32 oz. containers, no need to open a new one just for a 1/2 cup of stock. Puree corn in 1/2 cup water.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

 

 

Deer Valley-Style Turkey and Black Bean Chili | Pamela Salzman