2012 | Page 4 Of 4 | Healthy Delicious

Oatmeal Cookies with Whiskey-Soaked Cherries

Soft, chewy oatmeal cookies studded with chocolate chips and dried cherries re-plumped with whiskey… what more is there to say?!

These are, hands down, my new favorite cookies. I generally hate whiskey (it tastes like pencils), but butter and brown sugar mellow out the flavor, leaving these cookies with a complex, butterscotch-like flavor that’s perfectly balanced by sour cherries and sweet chocolate. A touch of coconut* helps keep them soft, and I think they have an even better flavor the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to meld.

Baked Chicken and Spinach Flautas (Taquitos)

Am I the only one who was craving flautas/taquitos after seeing this post on The Kitchn last week? They looked amazing!

We went through a phase a few years ago where we loved the frozen ones, but now they kind of weird me out so it’s been forever since I’ve had them. I’ve actually been meaning to experiment with a baked version for a while, but I never got around to it. When I saw their post though, I immediately changed my dinner plans. (Luckily I was already planning to make enchiladas, so it wasn’t that big of a switch and I had everything I needed). Of course, I had to put my own healthy spin on them….

Ham and Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Pockets

Can I ask a favor? Can you vote for these ooey gooey ham and cheese stuffed pretzel pockets in the Saucy Mama recipe contest? Please? The grand prize is a spa day and, believe me, after the month I’ve had I can really use it.

The recipe is totally delicious. The pretzels have that ballpark vendor “crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside” thing going for them and, well, can you really ever go wrong with melted cheese? I didn’t think so. There’s mustard tucked inside there too. Yum!

Earl Grey Banana Bread

One of the downsides to trying to balance keeping up with my recipe development jobs (I work with both ShopRite and General Mills, plus other random projects) and making sure I have fresh content to post here is that I rarely have time to make recipes created by other people.

Then I heard about the Secret Recipe Club, which pairs up bloggers each month and has them make, test, and write about another blogger’s recipe – meaning not only that I’d get to make something created by someone else, but I’d also get feedback on my recipes. Win-Win, right? Unfortunately, a lot of people agreed that it was a great concept – I’ve been on the waiting list for months. But I finally made it into a group, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Caribbean Pork and Clementine Kebabs

Inspired by the success of my Clementine-Soy Chicken Thighs, I’ve been looking for more ways to incorporate clementines into savory dishes. In this recipe, the sweet-tart fruit combines beautifully with rum, brown sugar, and warm spices to make a glaze for grilled pork kebabs. Served with cilantro-lime rice, these are a quick and easy dinner that bring a little bit of summertime flair to the dead of winter.

(I can’t believe I’m posting a grilled recipe in February, but we’re having such a mild winter this year that it doesn’t make sense not to use it – usually the grill is buried under about 4 feet of snow this time of the year). If the weather where you are isn’t as gorgeous, the broiler in your oven will work just as well.)

Clementine-Soy Chicken Thighs

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

For some reason, we always celebrated Chinese New Year when I was a kid. I don’t know why, but I always looked forward to it. It was so fun, and we didn’t eat Chinese nearly as often back then as we do now. Mom would take out the electric wok and cook dinner right on the table – usually a chicken stir fry. The next night, we’d wrap the leftovers in tortillas and eat them as fajitas. Yum.

I made this clementine-soy glazed chicken a few weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect Chinese New Year post. But then I started researching and apparently I had it all wrong. The holiday has all sorts of food traditions, like eating noodles to bring long life and dumplings to bring wealth. And apparently serving a chicken or duck whole represents health, but serving it cut – like these thighs – is the opposite. Oops.

Oh well. This dish is delicious any time of the year, and you should definitely make it (if you’re superstitious or prefer to celebrate the New Year more traditionally, just wait until tomorrow.)

New England Clam Chowder

Like a lot of people, I re-committed myself* to eating healthier and losing a few pounds in the New Year. Unlike a lot of people, I won’t attempt to live off of cold salads and clear broths. It’s winter, people! I want comfort food – and lots of it.

This milky chowder filled with meaty bites of bacon and the subtle spice of Old Bay and peppery parsnips is what I consider the ultimate winter meal. The combination of smoke and cream reminds me of curling up in front of a fireplace while fat snowflakes fall outside. Close your eyes when you eat it and you can almost hear the bells of a horse-drawn carriage being pulled down the road.

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