The holidays are fast approaching and trying to find anything healthy for desserts can be tricky! I’ve been doing a bunch of recipe testing over the past weekend for a healthier holiday desserts class I’m teaching in November. The first is something we had occassionally growing up made with apples from our tree outside. Baked Apples! While I recall only eating the apples for dinner, chances are they were the end to an equally tastey meal. My version – only slightly more mature (maybe) adds another flavor note with some orang zest. The second of the two healthier options is a version of another easy spring tart that I fell in love with last year – Caramelized Pear and Honey Cream Tart (droollll).   

 Citrus Oatmeal Stuffed Baked Apples

Makes 4 larger apples

Ingredients

• 4 medium to large apples, I used honecrisp but another firm apple would also work
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c old fashion rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• Zest of 1 orange
• 4 tsp butter
• 1 cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat over to 375F. 
2. remove the core of the apples, cutting to within a half-inch of the bottom of the apple and creating an opening about 1 inch in diameter. You can use and apple corer, melon baller, or pairing knife. 
3. Mix the brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and orange zest. Pack the mixture into the wells. 
4. Set the apples in an 8×8 baking dish and top each with a teaspoon of butter.  Pour the water into the bottom of the pan and cover loosely with foil. This will help the apples to steam rather than dry in the oven. 
5. Bake for 20 inutes and remove the foil. Continiue baking uncovered for another 20-30 minutes or until the apples are soft (can be easily pierced with a pairing knife) and sugar has turned into a syrup. The skin of the apples will also become wrinkled and soft by the end of cooking.  
6. I like to serve with ice cream, but whipped cream or coconut whipped cream could also be good. 

  
Caramelized Pear and Honey Cream Tart

Serves 16, may be easily halved

Ingredients

• 1 package puff pastry
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 T sour cream
• 3 T honey
• 2-3 pears, sliced
• ½ cup dried cherries or cranberries
• ¼ cup brown sugar, optional

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Thaw puff pastry and lay flat. Cut into four even squares. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 14 minutes or until nice and golden. Caution, puff pastry may look baked while internal layers remain under baked and collapse.
3. While pastry is cooling, whip cream into soft peaks. Beat in sour cream and honey. Leave in refrigerate until ready to assemble.
4. In a large pan place cook sliced pears and dried cranberries or cherries over medium heat. Allow fruit to caramelize in their natural sugars or add bit of brown sugar. Once fruit is tender and nicely colored, set aside to cool.
5. To assemble, spoon honey cream on top of the puff pastry, dividing evenly, then top with fruit.
6. Each piece may be cut into 4 squares for serving

Currently trying to decide on Thanksgiving plans since C and I are hosting this year – perhaps one of these delicious beauties will end up on the menu. 🙂 

Both taste far better than these picture portray – I promise! 

Happy Monday! I’m so excited to share my weekend adventure with you all. After a month of being on the road traveling for work (more on eating heathy on the road later) I really wanted to get away, unplug, and rewind for a weekend. While I’ve been meaning to plan a solo trip again sometime, this weekend happened to be our anniversary as well so I convinced C to come along and spend time together.

And we went too…

  
Ojo Caliente! This was both our first times there and I booked a room and spa package to try and get the full effect. We arrived Friday evening, just a 2 hour drive from Albuquerque. Our room was a Pueblo Suite which included a kitchette and lovely back patio.    

 We also had access to a private community pool only open to guests staying in the suites. 
 

Upon arrival, I promptly ran to go get a massage – don’t normally get massages (other than muscle therapy related) but it was very relaxing. While I relaxed, C headed to grab seats at their wine bar where we also ordered a lighter dinner – I ordered a salad and pizza (yay, leftovers). After dinner we had a reservation for our own private pool – I didn’t get any pictures because it was really dark. We enjoyed a great view of the stars and had a crackling fireplace to light our soak.  

That next morning we had breakfast at the Artesian Restaurant onsite. I had a made-to-order omelet with spinach, turkey sausage, and mushrooms. Breakfast was then followed by another spa treatment. 
  
After the spa, I headed over to a yoga class in a yurt!

  
  
C, who does yoga stretching almost every day on his own, joined me for what was his first (and probably last) yoga class. 🙂 He’s a great sport. I still refuse to try mountain biking with him. 
  
For the afternoon, we headed in to Taos to check out the Halloween festivities. On the way we drove over the Rio Grande Gorge. 

   
   
Taos already has snow!  

We stopped first to do some wine tasting at the Black Mesa Winery. Thanks to some very generous tasting pours, we bought a few bottles to take home. 

  
We continued to walk through the plaza and find a place for dinner – Byzantium. Super cute inside with only 7 tables. I had the pork tenderloin with the lemon chicken sides – just couldn’t seem to want to make up my mind. 

  
Later that night we went for a last soak in the mineral pools. 

  
Sunday morning, thanks to the time change, we went out on an early morning hike before breakfast.

  
I tried to do a little healthier for breakfast with a pot of Earl Grey and oatmeal. 

   
 All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

  
Happy 3 Years with this guy!

  
Cheers!

Almost every October for the past 4 or 5 years I’ve had a race to train for – in three of those years it was training for the Urbanathlon in Chicago or New York. This year I had intended to complete the city trio and do San Francisco because it was a November race, but for whatever reason they canceled the SF version this year. Bummer. 

So instead of traveling, I stayed at home to run the Duke City Marathon with a relay team. It was my first time doing a relay run and it was so much fun!  For one, training was a lot better when meeting with the whole group or just a couple people.  And there was also more motivation because other people were counting on me. I was honored to be part of the team that first ran the same race 4 years ago. We named our team in honor of one of the orignal team runners who is completing her own marathon recovery after a car accident that took place earlier this year. 

Our race time was 3:52 and finished in 10th place in the female relay category.  Not too shabby for not doing much tempo training.   

 The day itself was a pretty perfect day. Cooler in the morning while I cheered on my team and then warmed up a bit by the time I ran the last leg of the race… I was pretty sweaty. It’s too bad they didn’t do pace times at the different handoff points. I am really interested to see what my pace actually was, but overall we all averaged under a 9 min mile. 
And some other fun shots of the day:

  
All done running!

 
Pre-race fuel from Rebel Donut. Thanks, Ashley! (They were mini and portion controled, right?)

  
The handoff.   

Racing to the finish line! Everyone else looks so fresh faced. 

All in all what a great race and I’m so thankful to C for waking up at 5am after getting in late the night before from a flight and driving me around to the different handoff locations. I will no longer hold it over his head that he missed my last race finish because they were still walking back from breakfast!  

Now to plan for another race?

I’ve been making Pumpkin Lasagna for almost 5 years and it literally changed my life. Ok, not literally, surely, but certainly made an impact on someone who has always loved pumpkin and winter squash. Yep, I’ll go out and say I loved pumpkin and pumpkin spiced foods before it was cool, before Starbucks did Pumpkin Spice and changed the season forever. I grew up in a pumpkin patch. My parent raised pumpkins for sale since I was a baby and are still selling today, only now it’s my little nephew “helping” in the patch instead of me. 

  
Pumpkins, squash, and gourds were a big part of my life and the smell of fallen leaves still reminds me of fall in Minnesota. I’m still baking and cooking with pumpkin whenever I can regardless of season, but I thought it best to share this delicious recipe while most everyone’s traditional pumpkin season lasted. 

This time around, C made the noodles from scratch, but I’ll keep the packaged in the recipe. I also added sage to try – sort of on the fence still… it’s good, but so is the original. 

  
Pumpkin Lasagna

Serves 9-12

Ingredients

• 1 pound 5 ounces (or 21 ounces) fresh mozzarella, divided (I used 12oz preshredded/bagged and 10oz fresh)
• 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in a few pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 large fresh sage leaves, lightly chopped (optional)
• 3 cups pumpkin puree (or butternut squash puree)
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (preferably grade B)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch white pepper
• 1 (1 lb) box lasagna sheets

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Shred 12 ounces of mozzarella and mix with the ricotta in a large bowl. Set aside. You can also use bagged preshredded mozzarella for this portion – much quicker and easier. 
3. In a 2 quart pot, melt butter on low heat. Add garlic and sage and brown lightly. Stir in pumpkin, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until it’s all warm. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Smear a thin layer of pumpkin mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.
5. Place 3 lasagna sheets across. Smooth a layer of ricotta/mozzarella on. Smooth a layer of pumpkin mixture on top. Repeat until you have 4-5 layers of pasta, cheese, pumpkin. (You will use 15 lasagna sheets in total so there may be extra sheets in the box.)
6. Slice the remaining 10 ounces of mozzarella. Arrange in one layer on top. A neat trick is to semi freeze the fresh mozzarella for 30 minutes before slicing – it will be a lot easier. 
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes for light browning. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

  
Enjoy!  Look at that creamy pumpkin cheesey goodness. 

*keeps nicely in the refrigerator and can be frozen.

Balloon Fiesta! Or at least it typically starts to feel like fall once the festival starts. It’s been averaging 90 degrees as a high throughout September and now that the first weekend of October is here (which is also the start of Balloon Fiesta each year) the temperature dropped to feelng very much like fall. Beautiful crisp mornings and a slight chill in the evenings. I love fall and everything it brings with it. 

October is a busy month in the wellness world, so I missed posting a recipes last week because I was in Taos for work. It’s beautiful there, everyone should probably visit there at least once in a lifetime. I’m planning to make some pumpkin lasagna at the end of the week, so you’ll have that receip next week. For today, I’m just going to show you how beautiful balloon fiesta in Albuquerque is and do a quck recap of some family visiting in September. 

I didn’t go this year yet – maybe next weekend if there’s time, so these photos are from the 2013 year. 

 Lots and lots of people all bundled up. 
  
  It’s pretty freaking ccold down on the field in the morning.  
And I almost forgot! Autumn also means my little nephew’s birthday! My sister and bro-in-law came to visit Albuquerque in September. The litte one turns two very soon! This boy is the apple-of-my-eye. 

I got him a Thomas cake to celebrate because he loooooves Thomas. I think it was a hit. 😉  
 He made friends with our fur child – Kate. He was so excited to see the “puppy” every morning. 

   
We went to the zoo. 

 He was probably more enthralled with the leaves and nature than some of the animals, but that’s ok. 

*Notice the “seed pod” in his hand below – wouldn’t let it go all day after we found it on a walk.   
His “cheese” smile melts my heart. I am so happy to be his Auntie Ingy (pronouced ingy like thingy, soft “g”).  Can’t wait to see him and his other autie “Lula” for Christmas!  He will have grown so much more by then!  

I love autumn, especially in the Southwest. 

I love carbs, truly I do. I know they need to be balanced with my protein and healthy fats, but they are my main love. One note, not just any carb – sweets and pastries. Potatoes I can live without, same with white breads, rice, and even pasta. But I couldn’t live the rest of my live without brownies, danishes, or cake. Sigh. 

Whenever possible I’ll try to make these healthier or have a little more nutritional value with whole wheat, reduced sugar, reduced saturated fats, etc. So after cruising around pinterest one day trying to get ideas of what to do with the over abundance of peaches we got from our tree I found this Greek yogurt cake from Julia’s Album. It tastes as amazing as it looks! And I feel a little better about myself knowing there’s fresh fruit in my cake and the yogurt replaces some of the fat and adds a bit of protein. 

Peach and Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake

*This recipe was followed exactly according to orignal creators instructions. 

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 peaches, sliced into wedges
• 6 oz blueberries
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Grease the side and the bottom of the pan with butter or cooking spray. Line the bottom of a 9×3-inch springform pan (or 9 inch round cake pan) with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper too. *I used a 10″ springform and it worked out fine too. 
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, together into a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugar, and 2 eggs until very light in color and fluffy, 2-3 minutes on high speed. Add vanilla and Greek yogurt and continue beating until very creamy and light in color, for about 1 more minute.
4. Keeping the mixer speed low, mix in the flour mix until combined. Do not overmix.
5. Transfer the cake batter to the springform pan. Top with sliced peaches, and scatter blueberries evenly on top in the spaces between the peach slices. Sprinkle the fruit with 1 teaspoon granulated sugar.
6. Bake until cake turns golden, and the tester comes out clean in the center, about 1 hour, depending on your oven. Midway through baking, I like to put some extra peach slices and extra blueberries on top of the cake for prettiness, and return cake to baking. (Optional)
7. When the cake is done baking, let it cool (still in the baking pan) on a wire rack. After cake has cooled for about 40 minutes, release the cake from the springform pan. At this point, if the cake is cool enough, you can slide your hand under the cake, between the parchment paper and the bottom portion of the springform pan and move the cake with the parchment paper attached to its bottom onto a cake plate easily.
8. If using a 9 inch round cake pan, cook in pan for about 40 minutes or more (up to 1 hour, depending on your oven), then invert onto a plate.

No frosting required!  Only the best of nature’s sweetness. 🙂

Take a look at the work station – so many peaches! So grateful for this island and all it’s space. 

I think next I’ll have to whip up some peach muffins… mmmm, I love breakfast and muffins are a breakfast quick bread in portion sized form. 🙂

Until next time!

Peace and love all. Now time for cake. 

I admit that name doesn’t really make it sounds very good, however the pepperiness comes from a few different sources – the arugula (a delicate peppery green), a black pepper viniagrette (that one is obvious), and some tart acidity from pickled red onions. This recipe I’ve taken pretty exactly from a Pinch of Yum with only major additions of how to cook farro. I also added some micro greens. 🙂

  
Just a warning, you will need to think in advance about making this since the onions require 24 hours of marinating. We ate this salad for a few days, so it does keep relatively well. 

Peppery Grape Salad

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the Pickled Red Onions

• ¾ cup red wine vinegar
• ⅓ cup champagne vinegar
• ⅓ cup water
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 red onions, very thinly sliced (I only had room for 1 onion and it was more than enough…)

For the Black Pepper Vinaigrette

• ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic

For the Salad

• 2½ cups red grapes, halved
• 2 cups cooked farro or a gluten free alternative like quinoa (directions below)
• 3 cups arugula
• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, cut into ribbons
• ½ cup chopped cashews
• 1 cup chopped micro greens/sprouts (I used pea shoots, but beet sprouts would also add a nice splash of color)

Directions

1. Pickled Red Onions: Place the vinegars, water, sugar, and salt in a jar with a tight fitting – shake lid until well combined. Add the sliced red onions. Refrigerate at least 24 hours or longer for best flavor.
2. Dressing: Place the vinegar, olive oil, sugar, pepper, and salt in a jar. Crush the garlic clove and just drop it in the jar in one or two pieces – the idea is that you’ll still get some fresh garlic flavor infused into the dressing without the little pieces of raw garlic in the dressing when you serve it. 🙂 Shake to combine. You can make this ahead.
3. Assembly: Toss the grapes and farro with about half of the dressing. Add the arugula, basil, cashews, and a handful (however much you want) of the pickled red onions. Toss to combine. Add additional dressing if it needs any more – for me, the original amount of dressing was just about right.

Making farro:

To make 2 cups of cooked farro you’ll need 3 cups of water and 1 cup dry farro. 

Tips:

• Use 1 part farro to 3 parts liquid. 
• As it cooks, the mixture foams, so 1 cup farro needs at least a 4- to 5-quart pan.
• Simmer farro, covered, until tender to bite, about 25 minutes.
• There will be extra water, it will not soak up all of the liquid like many other cooked grains. 
• If you want a creamy texture, let stand off the heat for about 10 minutes.
• If cooking farro ahead of time, drain while still hot; save liquid to add when reheating or ― since the grain makes a good salad ― to use as part of a dressing. Let farro cool, then cover and chill up to 2 days. Reheat in a microwave oven or use cold.

  
Enjoy!

This recipe is almost embarasingly easy, but I was recipe testing last week (I love my job) and the theme for my next couple cooking classes is Quick and Easy Dinner Solutions, so this fit pretty well. I decided to serve it with rice, but you can use just about any starch you’d like. 

  
I found the original recipe on Greatist, but made a few tweaks, mainly with the sauce. Apricots are my favorite stone fruit and even though the season for them is really short I likely to add them in whenever I think it might work or improve something – so in other words almost always. Or at least will always order apricot anything from a menu. 

Blackened Chicken with Apricot Citrus Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

Seasoning: 

• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

The rest:

• 4 thin skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup apricot jam
• 2 T orange marmalade
• 2 T to 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Combine all of the seasoning ingredients. 
2. Coat chicken liberally with blackening seasoning. Turn pan to high heat (I used a cast iron pan) and sear chicken for about 1 minute on each side. Turn down heat and cook chicken untl no longer pink inside, over 160F. 
3. In a small bowl mix jam, marmalade, and water to make the sauce. 
4. Pour a few tablespoons of sauce over each chicken breast when ready to serve. 
5. Time to eat!

Just like I said, insanely easy and won’t take any longer than 30 minutes to make. I also subbed ancho for the original paprika to add and extra kick, but you can change to paprika for a little less spice. 😉