Roasted Chicken Legs with Smoked Paprika, Blood Orange, and Ginger AND Bulgur "Pilaf" with Swiss Chard and Dried Apricots

I was sold on this chicken recipe from Cook This Now.  Orange, cilantro, jalapeno, smoked paprika.  I opted to bake boneless skinless thighs with the marinade and chose a side suggested in the recipe notes, a fragrant bulgur pilaf.  Both came together quickly and with a little advance prep, would be a perfect weeknight meal.  (I would recommend marinating the chicken ahead of time.)

A few little notes... I took the seeds out of the jalapeno and found the spice level to be good that way.  We baked the chicken for about 20 minutes and it was perfectly moist and tender.  The pilaf was an excellent accompaniment, though next time I will chop the chard more (instead of ribbons like I did this time).  I took the suggestion to drizzle pomegranate molasses on at the end and I highly recommend this.  I definitely intend to make both of these dishes again - the chicken especially, since it was super easy and I think would be great cooked on the grill as well as in the oven.

Fig and Walnut Biscotti

For our annual Cookie Exchange, I chose to make Fig and Walnut Biscotti.  They are super easy, aside from that you have to bake them twice, and addicting.  The flavor combination packs a big punch with orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  They have a pleasant crunch level with figgy soft spots.  I made a quadruple batch (based on the linked recipe - technically it was double the original recipe) and I had to make a second batch before Christmas, because I ate them all!  I can see this becoming one of those recipes that I always make and become somewhat "known for."

Black Bean & Butternut Chili

The chili recipe below was adapted from another blogger's recipe, which was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.  I didn't want to change much, except for omitting the meat and making it in the slow cooker instead of on the stove.  I looked for instructions on how to adapt a recipe for the slow cooker and then modified the directions so that I could just toss it in the slow cooker.  It came out great - I think one of the reasons I really liked it was the red wine, which gave it a really unique flavor compared to other chili recipes I have made.   I stashed a bit of this in the freezer, but I'll probably make it again.  By the way - you can use any winter squash, and I'm sure different types of beans would work well too.  I'd like to try the original version with meat and red kidney beans sometime this winter.  (Note: do NOT cook dried red kidney beans in the slow cooker or you might die.)

Ingredients:

• A splash of olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic 
• 1 small chipotle pepper in adobo, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ancho chile pepper 
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup dry red wine
• 1 (28-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (28-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained 
• 2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash or other winter squash 
• 1/2 cup water

Method: 

1. Add 2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add onion; sauté 8 minutes until the onions are a deep golden brown. Add tomato paste, garlic, chipotle and spices; sauté 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add wine; bring to a boil, scraping pan. Cook until wine has reduced a little, a few minutes. 

2. Add onion mixture to slow cooker.  Stir in tomatoes, beans, butternut squash, and water.  Cook on high for 4 hours.

Apple Crisp

A few weeks ago we went apple picking.  My mom and sister made pie and my dad eats like 20 Stayman Winesap apples a day because he is a crazy person.  I, on the other hand, ate a few each week, but that's about it.  I had intended to can applesauce and/or apple butter, but things don't always materialize the way I want them to, so I had a bunch of apples that really needed to be used.  I decided I wanted to make an apple crisp, and a fairly healthy one at that.  I got this recipe from Clean Food.  Pretty basic stuff here, with a cookie-like topping made of oats.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, though I subbed applesauce for the oil as I always do in baking.  I honestly never notice the difference.  I was supposed to cover it with foil, but didn't have any, so the topping did get a little overcooked.  It actually worked out really well for reheating, because the topping softened up to be more like a cookie.  The filling seemed watery, but thickened up as it cooled.  When you have a lot of apples to use up, you're not looking for a complicated recipe - this worked out really well for me.

Eggplant Stuffed With Rice and Tomatoes

This recipe for Eggplant Stuffed With Rice and Tomatoes appeared in the NY Times Recipes for Health with a collection of stuffed vegetable recipes for late summer vegetables - zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  It's been on my radar for a few weeks, and I decided to give it a try.  As I often mention, I cook for two, not twenty as I sometimes would like to believe, so when I started to take out the ingredients for this recipe, I opted to make roughly half of it.  Even so, not all of it was eaten :( but what was eaten was very good.  I tried the dish both cold (as suggested) and hot and it worked both ways.  The thick, vibrant sauce, made from grated tomatoes and interesting spices, made it even better.  I ended up cooking the dish for far longer than intended - I opted for brown basmati rice, so it needed a bit more time to cook.  (My mom tried the related recipe for stuffed tomatoes, and the rice didn't cook at all.  So I was cautious when starting, but this recipe called specifically for uncooked rice.)  I omitted the mint because I didn't have any, and the cilantro was really enough herb for me, especially with the strong flavor of the sauce.  This was a tasty "farewell to summer" recipe, which I ate with a friend at a picnic table in a sunny park on my lunch break.  I'll be keeping this in mind as an eggplant recipe for next summer.

Red Lentil and Chard Soup

I've had Ottolenghi: The Cookbook sitting on my shelf for a while now.  I like to flip through and look at the pictures.  But the recipes are usually a little too demanding for me.  I've heard only success stories from people who have made recipes from this book, but I just didn't have the time or energy.

We wasted a lot of Swiss chard from the farm last year, so this year I am determined to make better use of it, and this Ottolenghi recipe used the first of the Swiss chard this year.  Red lentils, sauteed onions, Swiss chard, cilantro (coriander, as they call it), plus seasonings with which you can't go wrong - cumin, cinnamon, coriander seed, garlic, a bit of butter, and a squeeze of lemon at the end.  The smell is filling my house right now.  I wish I could send the scent through the internet.

As with most of the recipes in this book, this Red Lentil and Chard Soup is pretty time consuming.  I cooked the red lentils about 36 hours in advance - I didn't have time to do the whole thing right then.  I left that on the back burner while I made something else for dinner, then finished it in the day after next in the morning - it took about 2 hours with all the chopping and such.  Just the delicious scent is worth it though, and the flavors are ones that I tend to love.

Oatmeal Muffins

I was eating muesli every day for a while, so for a few months, I was buying the 32 oz containers of yogurt.  I bought one a few weeks ago and never got around to opening it - I guess that's around when I started eating omelets for breakfast.  So I need to use up this yogurt over the next few days, and I went searching for some easy recipes.  I decided to adapt Heidi's Oatmeal Muffins.  Instead of the all-purpose flour, I used 100 g Multigrain Flour Mix (from Good to the Grain).  Besides that, I used 100 g unsalted butter instead of 200 g, plus 1/2 cup (one individual package) of unsweetened applesauce.  I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon sugar on top because I didn't feel like making the crumble.  It came out pretty good - definitely moist - but very dense.  If you like eating oatmeal, though, you'll probably like it.  I'm interested to find out how the original version tastes, but it was fun to kind of wing it and use up some of the miscellaneous ingredients I have lying around.  It could easily be adapted many different ways so I will probably use this recipe as a base again in the future.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal-Cranberry Muffins

I bought buttermilk recently to make the Granola Muffins and the Buckwheat Amaranth Muffins.  Those two combined used a total of two cups, so I had two cups left to finish in order to avoid wasting any of the buttermilk.  I searched the blogs I read for recipes and found these Whole Wheat Oatmeal-Cranberry Muffins.  I like oats in anything so I decided to make them.

These are fantastic muffins.  They are extremely moist and tasty.  I substituted oil for the 2 tablespoons of applesauce because I didn't have any, but I'd like to try it that way next time to make them healthier.  I was hesitant about the dried cranberries, since they are kinda boring, but I went with them anyway and I think they work really well here.  I'd like to try some frozen cranberries, or orange zest instead of the cinnamon.  I think this could be a great base for a lot of other flavor combinations and different fresh, frozen or dried fruits.

Fava Bean Stew with Bulgur

I bought some frozen fava beans a while ago, just because I hadn't seen them before, and I had nothing to do with them.  They have been taking up space in my freezer for months.  I am going down the list looking for recipes to make with the ingredients I have in my freezer, and I found a recipe for Fava Bean Stew with Bulgur from the NY Times Recipes for Health section.  Bulgur is one of those grains that I have on hand in my refrigerator and never used, so I decided to make the stew this past week.

It was pretty good.  The flavors were very delicious - the cinnamon and the heat from the cayenne went really well with everything else.  It was great over the bulgur, which was extremely easy to make.  It reminded me just a bit of steel cut oats, so maybe I'll try it as a breakfast grain.  One thing I'm now thinking I did wrong was regarding the frozen favas.  Based on pictures from a quick internet search, I'm not sure the kind I bought were skinned.  They were not inedible by any means, but I think it would have come out better had I thought of this before.  The bag was a little more than a pound, so I'll have to try peeling them for whatever I do with the rest of the beans.

Butternut Squash Muffins

I wanted to make a particular Butternut Squash Muffin recipe last year, but never managed to carve out the time to do so.  This year I made it a priority.  I still have plenty of squash from the CSA, so I cut up the right amount of butternut squash and put the remaining cubes in the freezer for another use.

This recipe is complicated.  After making it, I think I can say it is unnecessarily so.  I boiled the spiced apple cider syrup down for HOURS and I'm not sure I can say that those spice flavors really came through.  Beating the eggs separately seemed like an unnecessary step as well.  My muffins came out looking much more dense than those in the original photo, and not so cake-like.  They tasted good, though.

The recipe yielded me 12 regular-size muffins plus 12 mini-muffins as well.  I baked the mini muffins for about 20 minutes and the full-size for about 25, but I think both could have used 2-3 minutes less in the oven.

I can't say I'll be making this again, as it was quite complicated and there are many other butternut squash muffin recipes out there, but I'm glad I finally gave it a shot.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

The first time I made this... well, it was gross.  There was way too much liquid, including 1.5 cups of apple juice, which was just not appetizing at all.  I should have listened to my instincts!  I tried it again with less liquid and used a small amount of apple cider.  It's still a little sweet for my liking, but would be the perfect sweetness for most people. 

Apple Pie Oatmeal adapted from Bob's Red Mill CookbookServes 4-6.

1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 apple (peeled, cored, sliced)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup apple cider
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

1. Combine butter and sugar over medium heat, stirring frequently until melted and blended together, about 2 minutes.
2. Add apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and stir until the apples release juice, about 4 minutes.
3. Add the oats, stirring to prevent sticking and help them absorb the juice, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the apple cider and water and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Let it rest with the top on for 2 minutes, then serve topped with the pecans.

Nigella's Granola

I like to make granola bars to take as snacks when I'm out, but I don't have a perfect recipe yet.  In the meantime I got distracted by a recipe for loose granola.

You can substitute some things here to suit your tastes.  I personally LOVE the pecans, while Ken prefers the almonds - you could use different nuts instead.  Use more or less sunflower seeds or sesame seeds.  You can use another liquid sweetener other than maple syrup - the original recipe uses brown rice syrup, which I didn't have.  I thought about trying agave nectar, but I thought maple syrup would contribute more to the flavor.  And next time I might substitute some rolled grains for a bit of the oats.

Granola
Adapted from Orangette's adaptation of a recipe from Nigella Lawson.

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds
2 cups raw pecan halves
1 cup hulled raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup honey

Rack in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 300 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl, and the wet ingredients together in another.  Then, mix the two together very thoroughly and spread it evenly on two rimmed baking sheets.  Bake it for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown (I went for about 45 minutes).  When you take it out, if you DON'T want clumps, go ahead and mix it right away.  If you DO want clumps, just let it sit.  It should crisp up as it cools, but a lot of mine remained soft.

If you want to add dried fruit, you can mix some in after it cools.  This can be stored at room temperature if you're going to eat it soon.  Otherwise, to preserve the nuts, you can keep it in the refrigerator.

It was very, very delicious!  In the future, I might like it to be crunchier or clumpier.  I might try to spread it out more on three baking sheets instead of two next time.  I ate it with yogurt, as a cereal with milk, combined with Total with almonds cereal, and plain.  I thought it would make a great apple crisp topping, too.

Moroccan Eggplant and Couscous Salad

Something struck me about this Moroccan-inspired eggplant recipe, but I wasn't sure what it was.  I knew I wanted to eat it but I didn't know why.  When I tasted it, though, it all made sense!  It was delicious.  I was skeptical, especially because instead of amounts of seasoning it's "go with what smells good," but it turned out good.

This is made of several components: roasted eggplant cubes, roasted chickpeas (roasted separately from the eggplant), couscous, and a dressing with white balsamic and cilantro.  The spices (cumin and cinnamon) are key.  I left out the golden raisins, because I didn't see them at the store, and I also hate raisins, but when I made it a second time I added some currants - yum!  I also left out the chickpeas the second time around, as we didn't really like them.  They did not get crunchy at all!  So sad.  Luckily it's just as delicious without them, and the leftovers are fantastic too.  This would still be fine at room temperature so it could make a great picnic food or packed in a lunch.

Carrot Muffins

As we are all well aware I love baking and I love baking whole grain muffins specifically.  These Carrot Muffins from Good to the Grain used spelt flour, which I haven't used until now.

I don't have too much to say about these, as I only ate one and the rest went in the freezer or were shared.

My carrots were too dry - the muffin was good, but a little on the dry side - my carrots must be pretty old.  I usually use a trick from Mark Bittman - cut them into carrot sticks, then fill the container with water.  This works pretty well, but when these were cut up, they went into two huge containers and I only remembered the next day to put water in, and only in one container.  Also, it was a pain to grate carrot sticks on a box grater.  Next time I will just go get more and use whole carrots - or the food processor!  What a fabulous invention.

The streusel topping on this was delicious - and although it's a LOT of extra calories I think it added a sweetness that the muffin itself was lacking.  I'd like to play around a little and find a way to add a little more sweetness to the muffin without using the streusel topping.

While I'm writing this I couldn't help but think of the Carrot Oatmeal Cookies I made for this past year's cookie exchange.  I would love to try the carrot/ginger/coconut flavor profile in a muffin form - this could be a great starting point for that recipe.  Maybe I can do a combination of this with the Ginger Peach Muffins to move toward that flavor profile.