Winter

Sweet potatoes were not my responsibility this year, instead, I volunteered to make my stuffing, a shaved brussel sprout salad, cranberries, this tart, and mini-cranberry hand pies.

While the tart was baking in the oven, I decided to roast the one sweet potato I had on hand and 3 purple beets. The oven was already pre heated – time management is the key to life. Don’t you agree? I knew I wanted to make a quinoa and beet salad over the weekend and roasting the beets in advance, stored in a bit of vinaigrette is always a great time saver. The sweet potato, I decided, would be breakfast, “the day after”.

I had found this muffin recipe a few weeks back and experimented by swapping out some of the original ingredients and turned it into a pumpkin-pecan muffin. They were very good. Packing some up for both Levi’s teacher as well as a friend of mine who suddenly lost her husband to a massive heart attack, I was only left with a nibble and a few crumbs. I liked them enough, but felt they needed that WOW factor.

Bittersweet chocolate chips and a sprinkling of streusel topping was just what I was looking for. The WOW factor was achieved and a basic, gluten free muffin base is now happily tucked away in my overflowing recipe binder.

Not too many years ago I was standing in the produce department at a grocery store, gazing at a variety of pears. I was planning to make a special dessert that involved poaching pears. I’d never poached pears. I had no idea what kind of pear to use.

Lucky for me, the produce manager recommended Bosc pears for poaching. He explained that their flesh is firmer than most pears, so they tend to hold their shape well during the poaching process. His voice took on a note of passion as he described their wonderful flavor, “Like the best white wine you could ever taste,” he said. “That is what a ripe Bosc pear tastes like.”

The cinnamon-colored skin of the Bosc makes them stand out in a crowd of Anjou and Bartletts. Their elongated neck flowing down to a rounded bottom gives them a look of regal elegance. The produce manager helped me choose Bosc pears that were ripe, but still firm. I tasted one as soon as I got home. That man was absolutely right. The juicy pear was divine. That was the day I fell in love with the Bosc pear.

There was a wicker basket filled with pink grapefruit sitting on my counter. In the background, my kitchen window was like a snow globe, showcasing big flakes falling thickly in the woods.

Scones were baking in the oven, sending off curls of cinnamon aroma, and they were almost done. Now was the time to definitely decide what to make to serve with them, and the quickest recipe I could think of was to make curd. It's one of the most asked for recipes from the students in my cooking classes so I could do it with my eyes closed, but the problem was, no lemons. Thank goodness! The pink grapefruit made the most luscious, tart, sweet, amazing curd. And it only took minutes.

Requiring only 4 ingredients, I was able to whip this up and cool it in time to serve with the scones, which also needed a few minutes to cool down to room temperature.

So far I have stuck to my New Year’s resolutions except for the part about the peppermint bark. I resolved to eat nothing but healthy foods and have done so religiously since December 31st–except for the peppermint bark. I just gave the peppermint bark (what was left of it) to Aunt Christina so now I am totally on track.

I made this soup which is full of high-fiber vegetables and makes you feel virtuous even before you finish chopping the leeks. Tom and I have been eating it all weekend and we both feel as fit as say, that guy in “Creed.” (Michael B. Jordan, not Sylvester Stallone.)

I gotta be honest, it’s a pain in the neck to make but worth the trouble because you end up with enough to last for ages so it’s three meals for the aggravation of one. Plus you get all that upper-body exercise from the veggie choppage. Okay, it’s unlikely M.B.J. got those biceps by this method but still.

So give your peppermint bark to an unsuspecting relative and make this soup. You will be glad you did.