There’s a fairly long list of foods I wouldn’t eat growing up. Ok, I should say very long list, but luckily I got over most of my pickiness when I reached my 20′s (I’m a late bloomer when it comes to food). Liking fish however, took me over 30 years to really enjoy.
Well hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? It’s hard to put into words why I haven’t been here. Part of me wants to say that it’s because life is so busy—and it is, as anyone with a toddler can tell you—or that I haven’t been cooking—but I have been, in fact more than I have in years—but for some reason, this space just seemed too far away, too much work when all I need is a little “me time”. To be honest, I’ve been trying to sort out what the heck I want to do with my “me time” along with the other 10 hours a week I’ve finally been able to set aside for my projects.
Life has finally begun to feel normal again, like I can start to think about bigger picture things. After we got home from Claire’s hospital stay, my life revolved around her and the thought of cooking (and photographing and writing) was low on my list of things to do. I kept waiting, I kept thinking about my blog, my magazine, my work, but it just felt so distant and unimportant when compared to caring for Claire and watching her grow and learn (being a parent is really one of the most amazing things ever). Gradually, things have normalized—Claire’s doctors have all said that she’s right where she should be physically and developmentally (she really is an amazing little lady), I’ve managed to publish a few issues of Remedy Quarterly that I’m really proud of, and I’m getting used to life on the West Coast. Looking back, so much of the first year and a half that we’ve lived here has been all about living in the moment, about making sure that everyone/everything is ok, and I simply couldn’t handle thinking about where I might want to go, what I might want to do.
If it sounds like life has been bleak, it hasn’t, I promise. I’ve been so full of joy and love and laughter taking care of my daughter—words will never adequately be able to express the awesomeness that she brings to my life. There have been so many times while I’ve been cooking lately that I’ve thought, “Oooooh, this would be good for the blog” or in the case of this recipe, which I’ve made approximately a gazillion times, “Why haven’t I put this recipe on the blog?!”. So the last time I made these pancakes, I left the excuses and worries behind and just had fun. I made pancakes for my family, including cute mini-pancakes for Claire, and took photographs along the way. It didn’t seem like work at all. And oh me, oh my, friends, these pancakes are just perfect. So let’s talk about them a little bit.
Last week I went to my local farmers market and as I was browsing the various tents I spotted these purple asparagus. They were beautiful—a deep, eggplant-esque purple with hints of green peeking through. I asked the vendor what the deal was—do they taste any different? He looked at me, smiled, and said “Once you try these purple asparagus, you’ll never go back. They’re sweeter than the green and just delicious.” Well, sold.
I think the best thing to do with a new vegetable is to cook it simply so you can understand the flavor. I also think that getting vegetables a little caramelized around the edges is always a good idea. So I went about this simple skillet sauté using a little olive oil and butter (I like Jenny Rosentrach’s thought on that subject “You cannot go wrong when you start and finish with butter. And also, butter is much less likely to burn if you heat it in a pan with olive oil.”), those beautiful stalks of royal-looking asparagus, some green garlic, and just as it was done cooking, a splash of lemon and a dusting of parmesan. It. Was. Amazing. Both Aaron and were mad at me for not making more. The asparagus was sweet—not sugary sweet, just a lovely underlying yum, yum sweet—while still maintaining the rich, earthy flavor you’d expect from asparagus. Read the rest of this entry »
While it may not look like I’ve been cooking up a storm lately, I kind of have. Between recipe testing for Remedy Quarterly (which is currently at the printer!!), introducing Claire to solids (FYI, baby-led weaning has been amazing for us), and making sure Aaron and I eat dinner together, my kitchen looks like a tornado came through on a daily basis. After many months without the urge to cook, it feels good. I’ve been enjoying making those messes and it’s hard to explain the awesomeness that is watching Claire learn to enjoy food.
With recipe testing behind me, and an unexplainable surge of energy, I decided mama needed a treat for herself. After seeing a photo of this sweet potato pound cake in my Instragram feed, I knew exactly what that treat would be. Right then and there, I put on a little cooking show for Claire—complete with lovely background music composed of Claire clanging her toy against her tray and a few gah blah blahs just to mix it up a bit. It was pure entertainment as you can imagine. But since we were the only two to experience that magic, it’s only fair that I share the results of my baking with you, because it was SO GOOD.
In the past few years I’ve really slowed down my holiday baking—life is just so busy this time of year, it’s easy to let it go. But this year I was determined to make something—anything. I saw a picture of these chocolate cookies sprinkled with mint m&m’s on my Pinterest page and I got weak in the knees. I am a sucker for mint m&m’s. Why are they so delicious and why do they call my name every time I walk by a bowl of them?! Damn you mint m&m’s! So yeah, that photo was just what I needed to get myself together and back in the holiday baking spirit.
I have to say, it felt so good to be back in the kitchen baking. I’ve done a fair amount of cooking in my kitchen, but believe it or not, this was the first time I’ve made cookies in this kitchen since moving in nearly a year ago. That is just embarrassing—and after making a batch—it’s a real shame too because it’s a great kitchen to bake in. I guess that just means there will be more cookies in my future, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. But back to those mouthwatering mint m&m cookies. They have a chocolate base, enhanced with a little instant espresso powder which makes them nice and rich, and perfectly moist. And in case the m&m’s weren’t enough, they’re also dotted with chocolate chips—they’re almost too good.
So in case you need a little inspiration like I did, I hope this helps. What are you baking this year? Read the rest of this entry »
Do you ever you have those moments when you frantically whip up dinner from scraps in you fridge? That’s how this little number came about… After scrapping plans for a dinner out, I scrambled to find something to make, I quickly remembered that I’d just picked up some butternut squash ravioli at the farmers market. With something like butternut squash ravioli, you can’t just toss some sauce on it and call it dinner. Luckily a peek in my crisper revealed two ears of corn and some sage-hallelujah! I got to work whipping up the toppings, the whole time keeping my fingers crossed that it would be as good I imagined it would be.
Say hello to my new favorite pizza. I’m going to admit something to you—when it comes to dinnertime, I’ve got about 3 things I make every week and mix them up just enough to not go crazy. We’ve got tacos, pasta of some sort, and pizza. I know what you’re thinking, she so healthy! Jokes aside, I’ve been feeling uninspired in the kitchen. And then I did something crazy—I looked at my vast assortment of cookbooks (honestly, there is no reason I should ever make the same thing twice with all these recipes at hand, but alas, I do). I remembered one that I picked up shortly after I found out I was pregnant, Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach. It’s all about making delicious meals for your family to share but also ones that don’t take so much time to make that you actually miss out on the family time. Since rediscovering it on my shelf this past weekend, I’ve made two recipes, both of which have been delicious, but this one—white pizza with arugula, Parmesan, lemon, and ricotta is downright magical. The antithesis of boring, this pizza is full of flavor and anything but ordinary.
Wow. It’s been a long time and a crazy journey since I was here but it feels so good to be back. I’m happy to say that after 55 days in the hospital, my sweet daughter Claire is doing so much better. Thank you for all the kind words and thoughts sent our way—it really meant the world to me and my family.
We’ve been home for a few weeks now and things are beginning to feel normal again—of course it’s a new normal, but one I’m pretty jazzed about that. I’m not only seeing things through a new lens as a mother, but also as a Californian—it’s so fun (on both accounts)! When we arrived home, the tree outside our window that had little green berries on it a few months ago was now laden with deep red plums, some of which literally fell into my window when I opened it. Umm, yeah, that’s kind of awesome. After getting adjusted to our new routine, it seemed high time that I pick some of those plums and start whipping up some tasties. I got a few suggestions on instagram and my sweet tooth won—a simple plum tart was the first one and sounded like a perfect way to ease back into the swing of things while using up some of those plums. Ok, and it sounded pretty dang delicious. Lucky for all of us, it lived up to my expectations.
One of the biggest lessons I learned while Claire was in the hospital was to savor the small things. There were days when I dreamt about simply sitting on my couch with my family, or even better, I loved dreaming about all the adventures we could go on together—from a walk down the street exploring the crazy botanicals California has to offer to taking a trip to Point Reyes together. These things got me through the crazy— I just had to believe that they were more than just dreams, that they were really going to happen. Standing in my kitchen this week picking plum, I felt so thankful that I was able to be in my kitchen, not only look at, but pick awesome fruit, and actually bake something—(there was no kitchen in our hospital life). This tart was like a welcome-back-to-life-tart and man, it tasted good.
My name is Kelly and I'm so glad you stopped by! Go ahead and relax, get comfy and let's talk about some tasty stuff!
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