Unfortunately, a bisque usually implies butter and cream – which is partly what makes them so delicious, but also the reason they’re not that great for you and tend to be pretty heavy. Vegan bisques are better I guess, but a lot of those use a ton of vegetable oil or fake non-dairy cream stuff as a substitute, which isn’t not particularly nutritious either. I find the fake dairy stuff oily and weird anyway. The point being, bisques are as fattening as they are delicious and I just can’t get passed that. Enter Silken Tofu as our rich and creamy substitute that’s actually loaded with protein and we’ve got a truly magical bisque here…

We all love our extra firm tofu, but when it comes to pureeing or adding texture and protein, silken tofu is where it’s at. This slippery stuff incorporates right into just about anything when blended well. Great for smoothies and when it comes to bisques, silken tofu is heaven sent for those of us looking for a healthy non-dairy alternative (and you seriously can’t tell the difference in this case).

We tend to think of celery as a base ingredient or something we toss in as a background ingredient for some extra flavor or crunch. Like in tuna salad or chicken soup. But I think we forget how incredibly flavorful celery becomes when it’s cooked down and all that off-putting stringy stuff transforms to velvety texture and rich flavor. For this soup we cook it down until it’s very tender and falling apart, like this. and then whip it up (using and immersion blender, food processor, or blender) until it’s sliky smooth.

This soup tastes clean and rich at the same time. It’s buttery and smooth with a fantastic balance of sweetness and heat from the cayenne pepper. Nobody will believe that it’s so healthy, delicious and dairy free! Super simple to make and freezes great. Truly magical.

These sweet mini cabbages are great eaten raw – extra crunchy and refreshing. And separating the leaves is not only beautiful, but makes them perfect little cradles for dressing and all the other good stuff in this salad. Brussles are tight little bundles so I find that the best way to separate them is to trim their bases off to loosen them at the joint a little. The outer leaves are typically beat up and tough so you can toss those, and then just proceed to unfold each little cabbage one or two leaves at a time. Reserve the very centers for another use if they are too tight to open up.

To brighten these babies up I went with a tangy dressing made with lemon and fresh tarragon as well as a hint of Dijon mustard for extra depth. You can whip up the dressing with a whisk or take it a step further by tossing all the ingredients into a food processor or blender for a fluffier textured dressing.

The pepitas are nice because they’re such a tender seed, which is nice here since the brussles are already crunchy enough. The avocado and goat cheese soften and smooth things out in all the right places, unfolding and coating each raw leaf as you work your way through the salad.

I’ve made a couple versions of this salad – with goat cheese and without, with apple and without. Good both ways. I will say that the paper-thin slices of apple are a great base layer on your serving platter because they’re hidden at first glance, but make for a lovely sweet and juicy surprise to complement everything else.

Sweet potato, acorn squash, green beans, Portobello mushrooms, onions, parsley and alfalfa sprouts for some crunch. I just roasted the mushrooms, onions and green beans in a cast iron pan with some garlic and parsley, salt and pepper. The sweet potato is straight up, but the acorn squash was brushed with cumin, thyme, chili powder, cayenne pepper, coconut oil and honey. Instead of cilantro, I went with parsley because if felt more fitting here.

Now before you judge me, I’m going to tell you flat out that I absolutely hate Tabasco sauce. It’s a sucky hot sauce. However, the smokey chipotle flavor by Tabasco is another story. It’s phenomenal. I don’t understand how, but it is truly nothing like it’s pathetic ‘original flavor’ cousin. I used it here to whip up a quick chipotle cream sauce. Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, but that’s up to you.

The texture of these tacos is great. You’ve got the meaty mushrooms, crunchy green beans and tender squash with the smokiness from the cream sauce and the alfalfa sprouts, which add just the right amount of freshness. Avocado is also a really good addition.

Last week while up visiting family in New York, my aunt mentions that lobster is in season – that’s all I needed to hear. We decided to pick up a few to have out at the beach over the weekend. And by a few, I mean 10 live Maine lobsters for $65, which basically blew my mind. $6.50 a piece???

Back porch lobster chow.

You’d think that two lobsters per adult would be plenty (excessive even), right? Apparently I was wrong because I had to basically beg my family members to “donate” lobster meat from their plates so that I’d have enough to make this recipe the next day. They reluctantly did so. Lucky for all of us!

Very jealous dog.

Now, this is not your classic lobster roll by any means so don’t you Mainers be jumping down my throat. It happens to be a very nice take on one though.

The sauce and the bread are key here…
And the sauce is pretty simple. You’ll just roast or pan sauté a few garlic cloves on low heat until soft enough to easily mash with the back of a fork. Then you’ll whisk together some Dijon mustard, mayonnaise and honey or agave. And combine it with the garlic and some salt, cracked black pepper and fresh chives. The larger the chunks of lobster meat the better.

I wasn’t really feeling a traditional white hoagie roll for this so I went with a nice loaf of braided challah bread. It was prefect for tearing apart and each wavy piece created the perfect little bread boat for the lobster meat. If you can get your hands on a fresh loaf of challah for this I’d definitely recommend it because the slight sweetness from the egg bread really compliments the lobster salad perfectly.

The unroll is best served on a platter with some lemon wedges so everyone can just grab at it. I sprinkled a little shaved celery and celery leaves for crunch and that extra element of freshness!

It’s essentially just some egg and flour, milk and butter on a pan. No big deal. But once in the oven, they start to puff up, and up and up, right before your eyes, until they’re peaking and spilling out of your pan. It’s insane. And so pretty!

I used a miniature cast iron pan so the ones you see here didn’t puff up as much as ones made in larger dishes can.
Exhibit A: this guy.

Don’t worry, they do actually deflate and settle once removed from the oven, which is kind of fun to watch too.

To help with rising:
1. Use room temp/warm eggs and milk.
2. Beat the eggs a lot before adding the rest of the components.
3. Get the pan immediately back into the oven once you pour the batter in.

Flavor wise, they’re kind of like a pancake, but not as cakey. Lighter and spongier. So maybe more like a soufflé. But…less delicate and eggy. In a way, they also kind of remind me of a crepe. Okay, forget it. You get the point. They are delicious.

The question is, where have these babies been hiding all my life? I’ve never seen them on a menu. Never heard any talk of them. Never even seen photos of such a thing. My mom recently introduced me to Dutch babies, sometimes referred to as German pancakes, after she had them at a bed and breakfast somewhere in Oregon. (Oops, can’t remember where right now.) She’s been all about them ever since, topping them with fruit and yogurt and syrup. I’ve made them several times now and see exactly why she’s so into them.

Traditionally, Dutch babies are finished off with a little lemon juice (which sounds weird) and powdered sugar. I’m not crazy about powered sugar so I messed around with a few other toppings. I did one with pumpkin puree, cinnamon and maple syrup. That was awesome. But, even better was the simple pairing of raspberries, sliced almonds and maple syrup.

Not sure what it was about this mix, but it was fantastic.

I was also really pleased with this savory one of sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes and arugula, topped with Romano cheese. Looks like a cute little deep-dish pizza!

They cool thing about Dutch babies is that you can play around with them. Just serve them up and let people have fun with the toppings. You can make large ones for people to share, or smaller individually sized ones like the ones I made here. They’re usually eaten for breakfast, but I think they’re good any time of the day depending on what you top them with.

Yes, yogurt is actually fermented milk, which I realize on the surface doesn’t make much of a case for its digestibility. But in actuality it has everything to do with why many people who can’t tolerate milk can enjoy yogurt. The live active cultures in yogurt create lactase (an enzyme lactose-intolerant people lack) and the bacterial enzymes created during the culturing process actually partially digest the milk protein called casein, making it much easier for the body to absorb and much less allergenic.

Okay, so all that made sense to me, but what I was stuck on was how on earth I was going to safely ferment milk in my kitchen. As in, how was I not going to end up with a bunch of rotten milk?!

Here’s how: Yogurt is produced by adding a “starter” of active yogurt culture, which produces lactic acid during the fermentation process. Lactic acid lowers pH, gives yogurt its tart flavor and most importantly, causes the milk protein to thicken, acting as a natural acidic preservative that prohibits pathogen bacteria from growing. That’s what keeps the milk from spoiling during fermentation! The partial digestion of the milk when these bacteria ferment makes it easily digestible. And these are the same ‘healthy’ bacteria that help settle GI issues by replenishing non-pathogen flora of the gastrointestinal tract. These are the tiny microorganisms called probiotics and ‘live active cultures’ that everyone talks about. Bored yet?

Okay, here are a couple good links if you’re interested in more of the health benefits of yogurt. Why Yogurt is Good for You via Live Strong And 10 Reasons Yogurt is a Top Health Food via Ask Dr. Sears

And on to the yogurt making!

It helps if you have a meat or candy thermometer for this process, but plenty of people wing it without one so don’t worry. I repeat, you don’t need a thermometer. Heat your milk (I used 2 percent organic milk) to just before a simmer, which is 185°F. The milk should be a little frothy, but not boiling. Stir the milk intermittently or use a double boiler to avoid any burning. Once milk reaches desired temp, you need to cool it back down to about 110 – 120°F. The best way to do this is to place it in an ice bath and whisk it a little. Once cool, you add in the starter, which is a tablespoon of store bought yogurt (after the first batch of yogurt is made you will use your yogurt as a starter). You can also add a teaspoon of sugar to help the bacteria grow. Whisk it in good, convert it to a clean glass jar and now it’s time to do some incubating!

Two key words here: warmth and darkness. You want to keep your milk as close to 110°F as possible without going over during this process. Any hotter will kill the bacteria. My mom just wraps her jars of yogurt in towels to keep the warmth in during this process. That does work, but I’ve been filling a stainless steel pot with hot tap water and then dropping in the lidded jar(s) of yogurt, covering the pot and wrapping it in towels like a baby. You’ve got to let it sit for at least 7 hours, but the longer you let it sit the more firm and flavorful it’ll get. I did my last batch for 9 hours and it was awesome.

So much fun to unwrap your little bundle to find yogurt!

The flavor comes out very mild (just a little tang) and the texture is somewhere between Greek yogurt and store bought Dannon type stuff and it’s much creamier and less tart than store bought stuff. I think people who aren’t really yogurt fans might actually like it. Don’t think I’ll be buying yogurt anymore because I actually really prefer the taste of this and it’s so easy to do!

The almonds!

What makes these muffins (or cake/bread if you choose to do that instead) so great for you is the almond factor. Instead of refined flours we use almond meal, which is very easy to make just by pulsing your almonds in the food processor a few times. There are just tons of health benefits linked to eating almonds (like lowering cholesterol), and almonds are loaded with vitamin E, antioxidants and monounsaturated fats (the same fats found in olive oil). By the way, go ahead and use almonds with the skin on because the flavonoids found in almond skins paired with the vitamin E in the their meat have been shown to more than double antioxidant power in the body. More on that here.

The eggs and almonds pack a good amount of protein, and then paired with the sugars in the banana, these muffins give you a nice boost of long lasting energy. Really nice for the morning.

So this recipe is pretty much brilliant, and I can say that because it’s not originally mine. It came from Jules over at the Stone Soup who is committed to cooking using 5 ingredients or less. Love that. (I did add to the recipe a little here and there so it’s not as simple as the original, but whatever.)

It just blows my mind when baking is so simple, successful and so guiltless too! One important thing to watch out for though is that you don’t pulse the almond meal too long in the food processor or you’ll end up with almond butter. Just stop when it gets like couscous. And if you can, also use a food processor to beat the eggs together with the banana so the mixture gets really really fluffy – this will help with the overall texture. If you can handle these two steps, you’ll find this recipe pretty no fail. I’ve made several variations of this same core recipe many times. It works great as bread or muffins, and feel free to add in more cinnamon and even some raisins. For today though, I’ve added cocoa powder to half the batter to give it a chocolaty center!

Everyone loves a little chocolaty surprise. It’s super easy to do this. You just mix some unsweetened cocoa powder into 1/3 of your batter. Then you do a scoop of original batter, followed by a small scoop of the chocolaty batter, followed by another scoop of the original batter. The result is a subtle hit of cocoa goodness at the center of each muffin that nobody will know about until they take a bite! (If you’re doing bread, just follow the same idea using your bread pan.)

Topping it off with some thinly sliced bananas & almonds and a few dots of coarse sea salt is a nice touch too. Oh yes, that salty + sweet.

All that healthy mint does the trick!

I worked on this recipe with Andy (chef friend and biz partner on the La Empanada Food Truck .) one beautiful Friday evening. We followed it up with a nice dessert of dark chocolate and red wine, and I’m going to go ahead and recommend you do the same! (Today happens to be Friday too, so go for it!)

This dish merges the always-lovely combo of peas and mint with another classic, pasta alla carbonara. Traditionally, pasta alla carbonara uses cheese, olive oil, pasta water and egg yolk to create a nice, creamy sauce that coats the pasta. Of course, you can stir it all together in the pot, but better yet is to present the egg yolk in a nest of piping hot pasta to be stirred in and cooked right there in your bowl for an even creamier version!

We decided to prep and season the egg yolks in their own little bowls so they would be closer to room temp and ready for adding on top of the pasta just before serving.

Little gems…

We wanted to go fresh peas all the way but couldn’t find large enough snap peas so the compromise was half frozen and half fresh. The frozen peas are sautéed with olive oil, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and shallots, but the fresh peas are left raw and just stirred in at the very end. The two different pea textures – the crisp, raw snap peas with the more supple and sweet frozen ones – ended up working really nicely together.

Another little extra touch was the addition of thinly shaved smoked tuna that I brought back from Spain. It resembles cured ham a little in color, but instead has a much saltier and smokier flavor…well, and it obviously tastes like fish, not ham. It’s pretty strong so you only need a little. I know there are some specialty food shops that sell it in the states, but I’d suggest substituting with a little prosciutto or even a couple diced anchovies. Or just leave it out all together.

What I enjoy most about this dish is it’s many layers, each representing a very different flavor profile, and each complimenting the other, oh so nicely.
1. Our canvas of linguini
2. Two different kinds of peas (one soft and sweet one raw and snappy).
3. Creamy and rich egg yolk
4. Palate cleansing mint
5. Sharp pecorino romano cheese
6. Smokey cured tuna (or prosuttio or even anchovies depending on what you’re into)
7. A little heat from red pepper flakes.

Try it out and let me know what you think!