New year, new opportunities, a clean slate!  I’m super excited about the concept of new possibilities for 2013, and sprouts seem to me the perfect example of new life!

If you’re trying to get healthier this year (or try your green thumb on for size, maybe?)  sprouting your own alfalfa seeds for salads, smoothies, and even soups is a simple, healthy, and nutritious way to go!

Stay tuned for a how-to post on sprouting your own seeds next time!  For now, I’m taking the rest of the evening to do some relaxing after last night’s festivities, and then heading out to start the year off right with some gym time!

Make a plan to do good things for yourself this year!

xoxo

I love brussels sprouts so freaking much.  I feel like there are some people out there, however, who aren’t such huge fans.  I know!  I’m as confused as you are.  For whatever reason…too bitter, too green, too tiny cabbage-esque, whatever.  Pan roasting is the cooking method that changes all of that.  Brussels sprout haters become brussels sprout lovers, or brussels sprouts toleraters, at the very least!  This recipe is so easy, super healthy, only requires a few quality ingredients, and turns out tasty delicious.  I made this as a Thanksgiving side dish this year, and it was quite the hot commodity!  I can see this being extra yummy with dried cranberries tossed in at the end!  This is a new staple side dish for me, I can see making it alongside brown rice and a piece of salmon or baked tofu.

Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts

Ingredients:

* 4 heaping cups large brussels sprouts, cut into quarters

* 5 medium to large cloves of garlic

* 4-5 Tbsp olive oil

* 1 cup toasted walnut halves

* Kosher salt, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* F.

Line a cookie sheet and spread walnuts evenly.  Toast about 10 minutes, checking often until toasty brown (don’t burn, though!)

Wash and quarter the brussels sprouts and set aside.  In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the olive oil.  Roughly chop garlic cloves and add to pan, stirring constantly until soft and lightly browned.

Add brussels sprouts to the pan, and cover, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.

Once the walnuts are toasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool in a bowl.  Turn oven temperature up to 400* F.  Transfer brussels sprouts from the stove top pan to the baking sheet, spreading out into an even layer.

Sprinkle with salt, to taste.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and toss with toasted walnuts on the pan.  Bake about 10 more minutes, until brussels sprouts are fork tender and slightly crispy on the outside.  Serve!

I have to admit, one of my favorite ways to warm up AND eat something delicious at the same time is to make soup!  There are just so many variations, and so many possibilities!  Here are my two very favorite soups at the moment – warm, hearty, and immune-boosting sweet potato & coriander, and garden vegetable! Don’t even try to tell me you don’t see people getting sick left and right already!  I refuse to let that be me!  Don’t let it be you!  Just click on the links below for the full recipes, and whip up some soup to watch movies and cuddle up on the couch with!

Sweet Potato and Coriander Soup

Garden Vegetable Soup

Happy snuggly soup-making!

Stay warm, be healthy.

PS: I can’t wait for Halloween!

Pumpkin, Please!

Can we talk for a minute about pumpkin?  Everyone’s talking about it this time of year, right?!  But, I don’t mean in the pumpkin spice latte-crazed (although those are yummy!), fall-obsessed, pumpkin “flavored” everything kind of way – I mean in the context of REAL pumpkin and it’s low calorie, high nutrient density profile!  Pumpkin has a lot to offer, and obviously it’s tasty, so it’s understandable why everyone wants a piece of it ( I swear, no pie puns intended! this time of year.

Beta-Carotene

Pumpkins have beta-carotene to thank for their characteristic, bright orange hue.  Beta-carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the body, which then plays a major functional role in keeping our vision crisp and clear, our immune system fortified, and the repair and health of all the body’s cells  healthy (meaning it’s super important for keeping our skin pretty, too!).

Protein & Fiber

Fiber you may have guessed since most plants contain lots of it, but yes, pumpkins contain protein, too!  Good for digestion, good for pumping up those muscles.

Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, & Potassium

Calcium helps keep your bones and teeth healthy, strong, and fracture free.  Iron promotes the building of blood cells that keep oxygen flowing to your cells for energy and optimal functioning.  Muscle and nerve function, as well as over 300 other biochemical reactions in the human body are dependent upon magnesium.  Energy metabolism, bone strength, and bolstering the immune system are just a few others that rely on this mineral.  Potassium isn’t just a banana thing!  Potassium is also found in pumpkins, and keeps the heart healthy, and is especially important in the diet of athletes and active people since it’s lost through perspiration (sweating!).

Vitamin C & E

It hasn’t been proven, but Vitamin C is suspected to be useful in helping to pull through illness more quickly; it’s also essential for wound healing and collagen synthesis.  Vitamin E is also important to help protect the skin from UV damage and free radicals.  Additionally, there is some evidence to suggest it may help prevent prostate and bladder cancer and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

How to Use Pumpkin:

Fresh pumpkin is perfect cubed and thrown into stir fries, casseroles, or soups.  My favorite super simple, tasty way to enjoy it is to cube it, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your seasoning of choice, then roast it on a sheet pan in the oven!

Stir pumpkin puree it in to oatmeal with a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a splash of cold milk, mix it into quick bread and pancake batters, soups, obviously put it in a pie crust, or blend it up into this pumpkin pie-esque smoothie!  Any way you can add the real stuff (not the flavored syrup!) into your meals, you know you’re doing yourself a favor.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie {Gluten-free, Vegan}

(The awesome thing about smoothies is, you really can’t make a mistake!  Here, you have the option to add in any kind of milk you like, protein powder for a boost (or not, if you’re not feeling it!), and chia seeds, or ground flax for extra nutrition.  I love my smoothies not too sweet, but if you want more sweetness, just up the amount of maple syrup you add a little, or throw in another half banana.  Not exactlyyyyy like pumpkin pie, but you’ll get your fill of the real thing this season, so enjoy the lightened up flavor of pumpkin with this smoothie for awhile!)

Ingredients:

* 1 large banana, frozen

* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

* 1/4-1/2 cup milk of choice (I used almond)

* 1 Tbsp chia seeds

* 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

* 1-2 Tbsp vanilla rice protein powder (optional)

* 1-2 Tbsp almond butter

* 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg)

* 3-4 cubes of ice (maybe a few more if your banana wasn’t frozen)

Directions:

Throw everything but the ice in a blender and blend on high until smooth.  Add in ice cubes one at a time until blended – unless you have a fancy Vitamix blender (I’m jealous, if you do!), and then you can probably just throw everything in at once and blend, blend, blend!

LooooooooooooooooVvveee!

Man oh man, I’ve been busy lately!  Not only am I slowly working through molecular formulas and hours worth of organic chemistry labs, I’ve also got my share of to-the-grind work hours and a new internship that I’m super in love with taking lots of my time and energy!  A lot has changed for me in the past several weeks, and while I won’t delve into it that much, I can definitively say it’s really not much of a “loss” to “lose” someone who is unappreciative of who you are and not supportive of life ambitions and endeavors.  It’s so tough to be your true self with someone like that, and life is too short not to be your own, genuine, self with someone who really deserves it.  I believe that you can’t lose the ones who are worth the fight, because they’re the ones who never want to be lost.  Surround yourself with GOOD people, and the others will just sort of filter themselves right on out.  Done and done!

Now on to what’s REALLY important!  It’s THAT time!…it’s THAT season!…APPLE SEASON!!  I wait patiently for this all year long.  Be still my heart, apple season *flutter, flutter* <3

I know you can pretty much get an apple any time of year these days, but you have to admit, you can’t really GET an apple.  Maybe a mealy, lac-luster, whatever kind of apple, but not a good one.  Good apples can only be found this time of year, kissed gently by just enough cool air as it graces leaf-dusted hillsides.  Lucky for me, I happen to live just a hop, skip, and a jump away from just such a hillside-studded place – a veritable apple mecca…a town actually named after the delicious, crisp, refreshing apple; a charmingly sweet town that’s ready and willing to let everyone know just what time of year it is by offering up warm apple cider, hand-crafted pies, and of course, fresh apples.  It’s unmistakable.  Unapologetic.  Amazing.

Apple Hill is this wondrous, wondrous, magical place (especially if you’re into popcorn or kettle corn, but don’t even get me started on that!) in Northern California where fall has officially taken root.  It’s the town you read about in books because places like it are all but extinct.  If any place in the world could actually give you a hug and grab you by your sensibilities at the same time, it’d be Apple Hill!  Boxes, and crates, and bins of apples, as far as the eye can see, every size, every color, about a million different varieties and names I’d never even heard of!  An apple for every personality, every mood, every thought…every baking endeavor, and then some.

Naturally my curiosity got the best of me and I ended up with a bag of stand-by, classic varieties (Granny Smith + Fuji), and a mystery grab-bag of four or five other new-to-me types that caught my attention – Stayman Weinsap, Mutsu (what, an apple with a first AND last name… and huh??), Rome, Empire, etc.   Mystery is fun, right?  The only real problem is that if I fall in love with a new apple flavor I may never actually figure out which of the aforementioned varieties it is, and run the risk of never tasting it again!  That particular type of potential issue never actually occurred to me in the moment, but then again, they never do!  Send help, please, or just more brown sugar & cinnamon!

Enough blabbing about my fall, apple, apple-fall combo love affair and obsession with a certain teeny tiny town packed full of both (for now)…I’ve got a recipe for you, inspired by a favorite childhood treat – the caramel apple!

Apple Bread Recipe

(Brimming with sweet, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth apple chunks, cinnamon brown-sugary sweetness, a hint of caramel-y chew, and just a touch of almond crunch.  This quick bread is moist, flavorful, and perfect with a latte in the morning (hello, pumpkin spice latte, anyone?! , or a tall glass of milk (I’d go with almond!) as an after dinner treat.  You can use most any apple variety you’d like, though I recommend something crisp, with just a bite of tartness like a Granny Smith or the ridiculous Stayman Weinsap, and pecans or walnuts would sub in well for the almonds if you prefer!)

Ingredients:

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 tsp ground cinnamon

* 1/2 tsp salt

*  1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

* 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

* 1/2 cup granulated sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 large, or 2 small-medium apples (I used 1 large Weinsap)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Grease or line a single loaf pan.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing between additions.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Chop your apple(s) into small cubes.

Slowly incorporate the dry mixture into the wet, mixing until combined, but don’t over-mix!  Stir in the apple chunks with a large spoon.

Scoop batter into prepared loaf pan, sprinkle with crumb topping (recipe below) and bake for 50-60 min, depending on your oven.  Bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Crumb Topping

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

* 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

* 1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds

Directions:

Crush together the flour, brown sugar and butter with a fork or pastry cutter in a bowl.  Once it resembles course meal, toss in the almond chunks.  Sprinkle on top of bread batter before baking.

Salted Caramel Drizzle

Ingredients:

* 1 cup granulated sugar

* 1/4 cup water

* 1 Tbsp corn syrup (or agave nectar)

* 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

* 2 Tbsp butter

* 1 1/2 tsp crushed sea salt (optional)

Directions.

Heat the water, sugar, and corn syrup on high in a sauce pan on the stove.  Bring to a boil without stirring (swirl occasionally if necessary) until the mixture turns amber in color.  Remove from heat, and slowly, carefully add in the butter and cream, stirring to combine.  Sprinkle in salt if desired.  Allow to cool completely before drizzling on top of cooled bread.

If you get the chance to head up to Apple Hill this fall, I suggest you not pass it up!  My family drives up every winter to hunt down our Christmas tree…can’t beat the years when it’s gorgeous, snowy, and the paradigm wintery dream!  Ya, it’s exactly like the “picture print by Currier and Ives” reference!   I’m getting excited about it already!

If you need me, I’ll be sorting through all my apples like a sugar-crazed kid with a pillowcase full of Halloween candy