Monthly Archives: September 2012

Deep Dish Pizza with Brussels Sprouts & Bacon


I’ve been waiting for months to make this pizza.

There’s a restaurant around the corner from our house that serves a pizza topped with brussels sprouts, pancetta, and brie. I excitedly gave it a try over the summer but was pretty disappointed. It just wasn’t right – the flavors were too flowery, the crust was too delicate, and the brussels sprouts were too small. Plus, who eats brussels sprouts in August anyway?

I promised myself that as soon as the weather was a little more appropriate, I’d make my own version of the pizza at home. It was hard to wait, but I didn’t want to start eating all of my favorite all foods too early because I was afraid that I’d get burned out on them before the cool weather even started to set in. Finally, I decided that it was sufficiently Fall enough. This version is everything that I had hoped the restaurant’s would be: the dough is thick, chewy and charred; the meat is smokey; and the brussels sprouts are slightly caramelized and abundant.

I had originally planned to leave the pizza sauceless, but at the last second I grabbed a jar of apple butter. It was the right move. The subtle sweetness and warm spices of the apple butter were the perfect compliment to the more bitter sprouts. A pinch of crushed red pepper tied it all together.

I also tried a new technique that I had read about where the pizza starts to cook on the stovetop. It cuts down on the cooking time of a deep dish pizza, but also results in a super crispy bottom crust that I loved. A cast iron pan will give you the best char, but any oven safe pan will do. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to a standard pizza stone or baking sheet again.

Enjoy with your favorite pumpkin or Octoberfest beer. Welcome, fall!

Savory Oat Pilaf

I was scrolling through my photo archives the other day and came across these photos of savory oat pilaf. I can’t believe I have’t posted about it yet!

I know savory oats may sound a little weird but trust me on this one, ok? Because this is some seriously good comfort food. And I promise they don’t taste like breakfast oats at all. I wasn’t sure myself how this experiment would turn out, but I’m completely hooked!

Just imagine it: nutty steel cut oats cooked in broth with sautéed onion, garlic, and shredded carrot, then seasoned with a pinch of cayenne pepper and some grated lemon peel. It has the perfect balance of earthy and bright flavors, a risotto-like texture, and all the health benefits of oats! Top it off with a fried egg – a slightly running yolk makes a great “sauce” for the pilaf – for what is my new go-to quick winter dinner.

Go check out my full RECIPE FOR SAVORY OAT PILAF on Live Better America.

Shawn’s Split Pea Soup


I didn’t plan to post two soup recipes back-to-back, but that’s just the way things go sometimes. I always get so excited when it’s finally cool enough out to make soup!

Shawn must have been in a soup mood too, because he’s been bugging me to make pea soup for a few weeks already. I guess I took too long, because he took matters into his own hands and made it himself on his day off. (He pretends that he can’t cook, but he’s actually really good at it! He also makes awesome stroganoff.)

Anyway, he made this on Friday and when I came home from work the entire house smelled sooo good. We dug in, and found that it tasted every bit as good as it smelled. Honestly, it’s one of the best split pea soups that I’ve ever had – I just had to post it right away. Smoked ham hocks and pancetta give it a smokey, porky flavor and whole black peppercorns soften up as they cook and provide a little bit of spice. Use a combination of green and yellow peas, which hold their shape a little more, to give the thick soup texture.
We ate it with crusty bread and olive tapenade, and it was perfect. (It was also perfect for this week’s assignment in the photography class that I’m taking, which was to shoot something difficult! As delicious as it is, pea soup isn’t exactly going to win any awards in the beauty department.)

Carrot & Red Lentil Soup

I’ve had an old pickle jar full of red lentils sitting on top of my fridge and doing nothing other than looking pretty for far too long. (Don’t judge – those barrel-shaped jars are great for storing things like lentils and dry beans. Yay recycling!)

I’ve also wanted to make carrot soup for, oh, about two years. Shawn wan’t thrilled with the idea though, so I never got around to it.

Now that the says are a tad cooler, it seemed like the perfect time to bring the two ideas together. I made a big pot of this soup one Sunday and ate it for lunch all week. Shawn didn’t want any part of it – too bad, because he doesn’t know what he was missing out on.

This soup is perfect for nippy fall days, and it makes me look forward to pulling on wool socks and curling up with a book in front of the fireplace.  It’s rich, warm, and incredibly comforting but won’t leave you feeling weighed down.

Leeks and carrots give this soup a subtle sweetness and red lentils, which cook down to a very thick paste, thicken the soup and give it an earthy, nutty flavor. With base ingredients like these, it’s so easy to immediately reach for the curry powder or cumin. I didn’t want to do that, and did everything I could think of to avoid reaching for those jars. Instead, I used lots of freshly grated ginger and lime juice to keep the flavor bright. Coconut milk ties everything together and makes the final soup rich and luxurious. Top it off with a few spice encrusted shrimp for a real treat or just eat the soup plain – either way, it’s delicious.

Wilted Spinach Salad with Chevre & Pecans

wilted spinach salad with goat cheese and pecans

I’m not typically a fan of spinach salads, but this one is different – and I’m obsessed! To make it, you sautée onions and the throw the spinach into the hot pan. The heat from the pan gently wilts the spinach just enough to soften it up a little and take some of the bitter edge off it. Then it all gets tossed with toasted pecans and crumbled goat cheese. The contrast between the sweet onions, crunchy pecans, and creamy goat cheese (which melts a little from the residual heat) is amazing!

The cheese and nuts also make the salad substantial enough that it can hold it’s own as a side dish – I’ve actually started planning meals around it – and it’s become my go-to item to accompany richer entree like the burgers I posted the other day. Last night, we ate it with grilled strip steak that I topped with a sprinkle of porcini sea salt. The dinner was absolutely delicious, and we didn’t miss not having a starch at all.

And to top it all off? It only take about 5 minutes to make.

spinach salad

wilted spinach salad

Juicy Bison Burgers with Mushrooms & Onions