Food Diary

It’s no secret that I’m a big coffee lover, and that applies both to hot drinks and to desserts that use coffee in one form or another. This Coffee Custard Pie is a simple recipe that delivers a lot of coffee flavor and is sure to be a big hit with any coffee lover out there. It’s also very easy to make and, while you will need to allow time for it to cool after baking, it doesn’t take much time to put this recipe together. The pie filling has a great coffee flavor and tastes a lot like a latte, with just the right hint of sweetness and vanilla. Instant espresso powder is what gives this pie such a distinct coffee flavor. You can find instant espresso powder in the coffee section of many stores, alongside instant coffee. Instant coffee doesn’t have as rich a coffee flavor as instant espresso, so the finished pie won’t pack the same punch. If you don’t have instant espresso, I find that Starbucks Via comes very close in terms of delivering a potent coffee flavor and I prefer that as a

As a Southern California native, I visited Disneyland many times growing up and always had a blast, whether I was with my friends of my family. I took many years off of visiting the park, but recently started going again and picked up an annual pass so that I could take my time enjoying all that the Disneyland parks have to offer. I spent a day this week in Disney’s California Adventure to try out some of their new Lunar New Year Food options. One of my favorite things about Disney California Adventure is that they have a number of food events throughout the year. These food carts – called marketplaces, although you can think of them a bit like food trucks within the park – offer something different than your average theme park fare, often with a gourmet twist (and a Disney twist, of course). The Lunar New Year event (from January 25 – February 19th) offers an array of Asian-inspired foods to try. I picked up a Sip & Savor Pass – which gives you a discounted way to sample six di

It is a lot of recipes. It sounded manageable in theory; write four recipes each week for Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club, keep up loosely here on the blog, my private chef job, occasional freelance... Please visit Sprouted Kitchen to view this Recipe.

Nuts can be a great addition to chocolate chip cookies, adding a crunch to cookies that need a little bit of texture to set off their buttery, chewy texture. Pecans and walnuts are popular additions, but these Chocolate Chunk Almond Cookies feature almond meal and toasted almonds for cookies that have a deeper, nuttier flavor and will still satisfy any chocolate chip cookie fan. The dough is primarily made with all purpose flour, but it includes a small amount of almond flour. Almond flour, also known as almond meal, is very finely ground almonds. It gives the cookies a slightly denser texture – resulting in a chewier cookie dough overall – and adds in a touch of nutty almond flavor. The dough also includes toasted, slivered almonds and a generous amount of chocolate chunks. The cookies are ready to bake as soon as you mix the dough together, but this recipe makes a pretty large batch and I don’t always bake them all off at once. Sometimes, I store the extra cookie dough in the refr

Hello my dears!  Welcome to another fine day!  I hope this finds you with, if nothing else, warm feet.  I hate when my feet are cold.   This week I’ve been putting as much sugar in my coffee as I want because some weeks you remember that life is short and coffee needs sugar. I’ve also been working on a kitchen organizing challenge that I’ll invite you to join me in soon (with very little pressure and expectation).  Making the challenge a thing for you has held me accountable when I’d very much like to slip away and do literally anything besides clean the kitchen.  Making the challenge has also prompted me to clean my refrigerator and roast almost everything in it, see above.  More on all that come next Friday, February 1st.  I’m headed to New York early next week where I will be wearing a very large lavender coat, taking a few meetings, gazing at this exhibit at the Guggenheim , and drinking a martini with one Cara Nicoletti .  If you see me in the streets, say hey. Continue readi

Coffee cake is typically a delicious cake that is topped with sweet streusel. In the case of this Cinnamon Coconut Swirl Coffee Cake, the streusel is found inside of each slice instead of on top! This is a quick bread coffee cake that is baked in a loaf pan, featuring a vanilla and coconut cake that is swirled with a sweet mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and shredded coconut. This loaf is easy to make and it’s an excellent choice of coffee cake if you’re looking for a recipe suitable for a smaller group or simple want a more streamlined recipe that doesn’t involve making a streusel topping. It’s also a standout option if you’re feeding a group that loves coconut, of course! The cake itself is scented with vanilla extract and made with coconut milk, rather than buttermilk or regular milk. I like to use canned coconut milk, as it typically has a nice coconut flavor and gives an excellent texture to baked goods. The majority of the canned coconut milk that I see in the store is reduce

A food dehydrator is not a piece of kitchen equipment that every household needs, but it is one that can do things no other appliance does. A food dehydrator dries out a wide variety of foods – from fruits to herbs to beef jerky – by exposing them to low but warm airflow for an extended period of time. I’ve been using my Hamilton Beach Digital Food Dehydrato r for several months now and figured it was time to deliver some feedback on how it is working out! There are a lot of food dehydrators out there and I opted for the Hamilton Beach for a couple of reasons. This model (32100A) comes in at a reasonable price point and has five stacable drying trays that allow for a considerable amount of drying to take place at one time. It also includes a fine mesh sheet for drying extra small foods – they recommend herbs but I’ve used it to make muesli – and a solid sheet to make fruit leathers/fruit rolls with. It takes up a little more counterspace than a coffee maker, but it is very lightweigh

It can be safely assumed that if I’m home and if ‘m hungry I’m eating an egg.  It’s a thing that happens multiple times a day in the most inglorious of circumstances: eggs just boiled, eaten standing in front of the dishwasher / eggs scrambled with six day old rice eaten from the small skillet it was cooked in / eggs fried with accidentally too much hot sauce / eggs in a torn tortilla while texting.   Eggs – because they’re so versatile, because they’re always in the fridge, because they bring actual energy back to my brain. Continue reading Pan-Fried Egg Salad at Joy the Baker.

I typically drink my coffee black, but I always have coffee creamer in my fridge. Not only do I enjoy trying our unusual coffee creamer flavors – because if I’m not going to drink it black, I probably want to drink something sweet! – but it is handy to have on hand for family and friends who might prefer their coffee with a little something extra added to it. While the store-bought creamers are convenient, it is easy to make homemade coffee creamer at home and I prefer to do that when I have a few extra minutes to spare. My Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer only takes a few minutes to make, but has a wonderful vanilla flavor to it and just the right balance of sweetness and milk to give your coffee the perfect finishing touch. The creamer starts with a simple syrup made with sugar and water. I used vanilla extract to infuse it with vanilla flavor, however you can splurge and use half a vanilla bean if you have a few extra beans on hand. There is enough vanilla in here that you’ll still

I typically drink my coffee black, but I always have coffee creamer in my fridge. Not only do I enjoy trying our unusual coffee creamer flavors – because if I’m not going to drink it black, I probably want to drink something sweet! – but it is handy to have on hand for family and friends who might prefer their coffee with a little something extra added to it. While the store-bought creamers are convenient, it is easy to make homemade coffee creamer at home and I prefer to do that when I have a few extra minutes to spare. My Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer only takes a few minutes to make, but has a wonderful vanilla flavor to it and just the right balance of sweetness and milk to give your coffee the perfect finishing touch. The creamer starts with a simple syrup made with sugar and water. I used vanilla extract to infuse it with vanilla flavor, however you can splurge and use half a vanilla bean if you have a few extra beans on hand. There is enough vanilla in here that you’ll still

Carrot cake is almost always finished with a generous layer of cream cheese icing. The combination of the sweet, tangy frosting with the moist, spicy cake is what makes this dessert such a favorite. This Carrot Cake Cheesecake is a twist on classic carrot cake, combining a spicy carrot cake with a dense cheesecake – instead of cream cheese frosting – for a dessert that delivers two delicious treats in one. I love the idea of a dessert that combines two of my favorite things in one package. While cream cheese icing is good, cheesecake delivers even more of that tangy cream cheese flavor. You get the same idea as a traditional carrot cake in each bite, but this dessert is even more decadent. The dessert also happens to be very easy to make, which means that if you are a carrot cake fan, this just might become a new favorite in your kitchen. The cake itself makes a relatively thin layer that covers the bottom of the pan. It is loaded with spices that give it that classic carrot cake fl

Hello dear friends!   Welcome to this fine Sunday.  I hope this finds you well, warm and dry from all the rain that seems to be falling everydangwhere. The pride of my week was that I was able to roast and stock all of the wilting vegetables in my refrigerator.  Most everything went onto a pan or into the stock pot and listen, I’ll count these small victories when I win them.  As part of the Food in Jars Mastery Challenge I even turned six past-their-prime satsumas and blood oranges into shrubs with some forgotten rosemary and ginger.  Truth is, things are going to be alright.  Likely even better than alright.  The offering this week is on the lighter side.  Although – thank you for all of your thoughtful comments on last week’s post .  I am thankful for your presence here and the thoughts you share.   •   Let’s talk about fried chicken:   Popeye’s:  when you know,  you know . Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 206! at Joy the Baker.

I use honey in tea drinks more often in coffee drinks, but honey is a sweetener that works just as well with coffee. Honey has a wonderfully subtle flavor to it and has lovely floral and vegetable notes that are often complimented by the flavors of tea. In a coffee drink, although it is brewed more strongly than tea, the honey still brings its unique flavor and sweetness to a finished beverage. I find that adding some milk to the coffee helps to soften it and allow the honey to come through even more and that is what inspired this Honey Vanilla Latte. This Honey Vanilla Latte is flavored with both honey and some vanilla simple syrup, a mixture of equal parts sugar and water. I found that adding a touch of extra sweetness in the form of simple syrup helped to highlight the honey and allowed me to sweeten the drink a bit more effectively than I could with honey alone. The latte is creamy and the sweetness of the honey is fantastic with the natural sweetness of the milk. While the drink

Carrot cakes are known for being moist, spicy and loaded with plenty of complex flavors. They are also known for being topped with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting. Carrot cake is always a comfort food dessert, so it’s no surprise that Nabisco decided to make Carrot Cake Oreos one of their newest limited edition flavors. The carrot cake-flavored cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of cream cheese-flavored frosting. They’re a light orange brown color with visible specks of spice in them. Unfortunately, there is no carrot in these cookies. Instead, the carrot cake flavor comes for the same variety of spices – like cinnamon and nutmeg – that are usually found in carrot cake. You don’t really taste the carrots in either the cake or the cookies, so the cookies are really quite similar to the cake in that way. The filling has a good cream cheese frosting flavor, which really ties the whole carrot cake idea together. The cookies are sweet, spicy and with just the right amo

Maple syrup is one of my favorite sweet ingredients to work with in the kitchen. Not only is it delicious on pancakes and waffles, but the rich flavor of maple can add a lot of complexity – and sweetness, of course – to a wide variety of recipes. These Coconut Maple Pecan Bars combine a buttery shortbread base with a surprisingly rich topping of coconut, maple syrup and toasted pecans. These bars have a little bit in common with pecan pie, although the topping is baked in a much, much thinner layer than the filling of your average pecan pie. While a classic pecan pie is made with a generous amount of corn syrup, this one is made with maple syrup as the base. Coconut is added to the maple syrup, giving the topping a pleasant chewiness that contrasts well with the crunch of toasted pecans. You might normally associate coconut with more tropical desserts, but in this one it blends beautifully with the rich maple syrup and nutty pecans for a dessert that tastes like pure comfort food. T

These days I’ve been known to linger in the kitchen because the oven is on.  Or linger with the dishes , my hands under the warm water.  I’m looking for warmth is basically any and every household chore… and I’m definitely also wearing socks with my slippers.  It’s a mood, and these New Orleans houses are drafty. These are the days perfect for long pre-heated home baking.   I’m working my way through a mountain of almond flour, these strawberry wedges being my latest experiment.  They’re hearty, in a way that feels more indulgent and warming than it does healthy.  There’s hints of maple flavor, bites of oats, and thick strawberry jam.   Simple. Continue reading Almond Flour Strawberry Crumble Bars at Joy the Baker.

I am forever and always a proponent of having sauces, dressings and condiments in the fridge to make something out of pantry staples or the end of the vegetable bin. I got into garlic confit after I... Please visit Sprouted Kitchen to view this Recipe.

Quick breads are some of the most versatile bakes that you can make. While banana bread may be the first one that comes to mind, you can use any combination of flavors to whip up a loaf that is just as suitable for brunch as it is for dessert. This Applesauce Citrus Bread is like a ray of sunshine on a cool winter day, made with applesauce, cinnamon and fresh citrus zest. I use unsweetened applesauce for this loaf, applesauce that doesn’t contain any chunks of apple. The chunks of apple in applesauce tend to be a bit too saucy (haha) to bake up well in a loaf like this, which has a relatively long baking time, so I recommend sticking to plainer applesauce if you can. The applesauce adds a lot of moisture to the loaf and a hint of apple flavor. Apple doesn’t have as dominant a flavor as, say, bananas or pumpkin do in quick breads and that allows the cinnamon and citrus in this particular loaf to really shine through. You might not think of combining cinnamon with lemon and orange zes

Hello dear friends, I’m currently in denial about what might be a cold?  A cold because it better not be the flu.  I’m not accepting any mail from the flu.  Part of my denial this weekend involves me roasting a chicken with butter and lemons and making a variation of this lentil soup for next week.  The old wive’s tale is definitely something like ‘feed a cold that you’re denying’ right?  This week I went to dinner at, inarguably, one of the most special places in New Orleans:  Mosquito Supper Club .  It’s an authentic Cajun restaurant, open three nights a week for one seating each night, communal tables, family style, so many biscuits and so much crab – it’s a perfect evening.   I’m gathering up my other New Orleans favorites to share with you later this week.  It’s an ever evolving list. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 205! at Joy the Baker.

Chocolate and peanut butter is an addictive combination in any form it comes in. I’ve made brownies with a peanut butter swirl in them before, but took a different approach to this classic flavor combination by using peanut brittle in the brownie batter for these Peanut Brittle Brownies. Peanut brittle is a candy where pieces of roasted peanuts (or other nuts, in other types of brittles) are embedded in a hard, toffee-like candy base. Even though it has some similarities to plain toffee, peanut brittle tends to be less sweet due to the inclusion of so many nuts, so it delivers lots of roasted peanut flavor and makes a salty-sweet snack all on its own. For this recipe, I took a bunch of one of my favorite peanut brittles – made by See’s Candy – and chopped it up into a mixture of coarse and fine pieces. No pieces should be larger than a single peanut, as you want to get as even a distribution as possible of brittle throughout the brownies. You should have a good mix of toffee and wh

Let me guess. You are trying to eat a little healthier after all that sweet December craziness and perhaps put chips and candy on hold for a while, but you still want something good to snack on in front of a movie this weekend? Well, we’ve got you covered. We have created a snack platter that leaves nothing behind and that you can toss together in 15 minutes. Fresh fruit, nuts, carrot sticks, dark chocolate, nut butter truffles and a little peanut butter cinnamon dip. Sounds good? It is! And here below is a little video where we show how to make it. We actually recorded this last year but forgot to share. Our little assistant Noah looks so tiny and sooo cute. Now that we’ve showed you how to make it, go create that snack platter and crash in the couch with your family, friends or pets. And if you have any movie recommendations, please share! A Healthy Movie Night Snack Platter All the fruit on the platter are just suggestions, you can of course add anything you wish. We do like t

For all of the time I find myself in the kitchen space cooking between my stovetop and kitchen counter, it’s really a wonder how many boxes of crackers I eat in a week.  Crackers, that is, that I don’t have to measure, chop, saute or bake.  Crackers, that is, that I don’t have to tidy up after. Crackers that I can eat quickly to satisfaction.   But… crackers do not a meal make…arguably and unfortunately.   I’ve found a healthier option to my lazy cracker obsession.  It’s the can of chickpeas that live right next to the box of crackers in the pantry.  Take the can, drain and rinse and turn the contents in olive oil, good parmesan, and fresh cracked black pepper.   The result is a toasty and tender, elevated bean snack that’s salty and spicy and deeply snackable!  Get at this with me! Continue reading Cacio e Pepe Roasted Chickpeas at Joy the Baker.

Looking for easy exercises at home? This 28 day Home Workout Plan helps you get fit with cardio, chest, arm, leg and abs workouts at home! In a busy world, how do you balance healthy eating and working out? Many of you have asked us that question! Alex and I have a busy life with work and family, but we’ve found a system that works for us. Here’s our secret: doing easy exercises at home! Because we have so much going on, we haven’t found a good way to fit going to a gym into our schedule. But 25 minutes of easy exercises without leaving the house? Sign us up! Here is our 28 Day Home Workout Plan that includes abs, chest, cardio, arm, and leg workouts at home. And we’ve got a Home Workout Plan Spreadsheet download to keep you on track (it’s been the only way we’ve stayed motivated!). Keep reading for more. Related:  Try our 28 Day Healthy Meal Plan , 28 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan , or 28 Day Vegan Meal Plan ! Before you start Important: if you’re trying to lose weight, remember that

Measuring cups are a staple in the kitchen, whether you do more dessert-making or savory cooking. My first sets of measuring cups were inherited from my grandparents and I still have several of those Pyrex pieces in my kitchen, but over the years I’ve always been looking for a better set. A great measuring cup set will be easy to fill and will measure accurately. It will also allow you to pour ingredients into a bowl (or other container) without spilling anything. I recently picked up the Isi Flex-It Measuring Cup Set and have found it checks a lot of my boxes. The measuring cups are made of food-safe silicone and are completely flexible. They don’t have a built-in pour spout like some measuring cups; you create your own pour spout by gripping the measuring cup close to the opening and gently squeezing. While they are flexible, they are thick enough to feel sturdy while you’re handing them and grippy enough that you won’t feel like you’re going to drop them – even if they’re quite f

Ricotta cheese is a fun ingredient to use in the kitchen because it can be incorporated into so many sweet and savory items. While lasagna or ravioli filling is probably one of my favorite uses, it can be amazing in a variety of baked goods, as well. These simple Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins showcase the mild cheese well – and are studded with chocolate chips for extra sweetness. The muffins use a generous amount of ricotta cheese instead of other dairy or liquids that would typically be found in a muffin, such as juice, milk or yogurt. The ricotta is thicker and makes a drier batter, but it also gives the muffins a wonderfully soft, tender texture. They are fluffy and tender, but not overly sweet. Vanilla really highlights the soft dairy flavor of the cheese, making the muffins feel rich even though they are relatively plain apart from the chocolate chips. Since the batter is thick, the chocolate chips are nicely suspended in the mix and deliver a delicious burst of chocolate ever

It’s not a diet.   It’s not a diet because I’ve never been particularly good at restricting what I put on my plate, the amount of butter I put on my toast, or the incredible amount of popcorn I sometimes eat for dinner.  It’s not keto or paleo or a diet with any classification.  This is an exploration.   With the new year coming into focus I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to play with in my kitchen, what I want my baking to taste like, and how I want to stretch myself and my ingredient list.  But the thing is… I’m always thinking about you and your pantry, your time and your wallets when I develop recipes.  I want this to be a place where the recipes feel both accessible and reliable – where you know what you’re getting yourself into.   You know by now you’re getting yourself into a lot of butter – that remains the same.   This year I’ll be experimenting more often with the following ingredients. Continue reading The 6 Ingredients I’m Baking With This New Year at Joy th

Hello my dear friends!   What’s so beautiful about these days is that life feels like it’s everything all at once.  The new year feels exciting and fresh. I’ve spent some time the past week sorting through my 2018, feeling pretty proud of the ways I challenged myself, and grateful for the surprises the year held.   A fresh year always feels exciting but I’ve been slower this year about defining what sort of personal and professional challenges I want to take on. Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 204! at Joy the Baker.

Banana cream pie is a favorite of mine and, while I don’t make it as often as I bake banana bread, that is where ripe bananas in my kitchen frequently end up. A basic banana cream pie has a vanilla custard filling and lots of sliced bananas, then it is topped with a layer of vanilla whipped cream. It’s an easy and delicious combination. This Cinnamon-Kissed Banana Cream Pie puts a slight twist on the classic by adding just a touch of cinnamon. The cinnamon blends well with the banana and gives the whole dessert a surprisingly fresh flavor! This recipe adds cinnamon to the vanilla pudding and is topped with a bit of freshly ground cinnamon just before serving. Instead of using ground cinnamon in the pudding, which would give it a deeper color (and make it look less like a classic banana cream pie), I used several cinnamon sticks to infuse cinnamon flavor into the milk for the pudding. This takes a bit longer, but the resulting pie looks nicer – and you won’t have a layer of cinnamon f

Looking for a healthy weekly meal plan? Here’s a 28 day healthy meal plan with planning ideas and a meal planning calendar with food to cook. Are you overwhelmed by what healthy food to cook but don’t know where to start? Alex and I were there when we first got married! But over the last 10 plus years, we’ve invested a huge amount of time and energy into a system of eating healthy that actually works. Since then, we’ve become authors of the cookbook Pretty Simple Cooking , named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018 and best vegetarian cookbooks. We’ve cooked everywhere from our home kitchen to the  TODAY Show with the message that healthy eating can be “pretty simple”. Healthy eating is more than just making a recipe here and there: it’s finding a sustainable practice. The goal of this healthy weekly meal plan is to help you find a handful of favorite healthy recipes that you can make again and again! If you’d like,  subscribe to our newsletter for new weekly recipes. Related