Archives for December 2013

Superfood Fall Salad

December 31, 2013 by Mackenzie

I know it’s not really fall anymore, but this salad just looked too good to wait until next fall to make! The foods in it are some of my favorites: sweet potatoes, butternut squash and dates. They also happen to be “superfoods,” full of nutrition and good for your body. This salad was part of our big meal on New Year’s Eve – we served it with salmon (and the apple tart in the background of this photo) and it was delicious!

Superfood Fall Salad
Recipe from Del Sole
Serves 10

Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash
1 large sweet potato
1 cup uncooked wild rice
2 tablespoons flaxseeds
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more
1/2 cup dried cranberries
12 pitted dates, sliced
1/2 cup basil, chopped
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, divided

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds. Cut into one-inch pieces, or however big/small you want them for the salad. Mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg into the cubed squash. Roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Start checking it after 25 minutes or so, so that it does not cook too much and get mushy. When finished roasting, set aside, keeping any juices to add to the salad later for additional flavor.

2. While squash is cooking, boil water in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook rice for 30 minutes or until cooked. Drain and mix in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, then set aside.

3. Peel and chop the sweet potato into small chunks, like the squash. In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup of olive oil with 1/4 cup of maple syrup and mix well. Pour over the sweet potatoes and add some salt and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, stirring to coat. Roast at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through. Keep any juices.

4. In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice, roasted squash, roasted sweet potato, flaxseeds, cranberries, dates and any juices from the roasted vegetables. Sprinkle basil over the top. You can serve it slightly warm or cold – we liked it both ways!

Blackberry Pizza with Goat Cheese, Honey and Pistachios

December 31, 2013 by Mackenzie

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to the new year – I know I am! We cooked a multi-course meal on New Year’s Eve and every recipe was worthy of 10 stars so I look forward to sharing the recipes with you! This pizza was our appetizer for the evening – and it was fantastic! Blackberries, goat cheese, honey, pistachios… It’s so unique and so delicious!

Blackberry Pizza with Goat Cheese, Honey and Pistachios
Recipe from Artisan Bread in Five
Makes one pizza, serving 2-3

Ingredients:
1 recipe for pizza dough
Olive oil
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled
3 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Directions:
1. Prepare crust according to recipe instructions. Roll out to a 12-inch circle and brush with olive oil. Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until it is golden brown and no longer soft on top.

2. While crust is baking, mix the goat cheese and honey in a small bowl. The cheese will kind of dissolve into the honey and it will look slightly creamy. Halve the blackberries and chop the pistachios. When the crust has baked, pull it out, brush it with the goat cheese/honey mixture and top it with the blackberries. Bake for 5-7 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the blackberries are warm. When it is done baking, sprinkle with the pistachios, drizzle with more honey and enjoy!

Crockpot Sweet Potato Basil Soup

December 22, 2013 by Mackenzie

Is there anything better than soup on a cold winter day? It was really cold back in St. Louis and this soup was the best remedy to warm up after a cold walk home from class. It’s also incredibly easy to make – just throw everything in the crockpot and let it go! Serve with a hearty bread and enjoy!

Crockpot Sweet Potato Basil Soup
Serves 3-4
Recipe from PaleoOMG

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 (14oz) can of coconut milk
1 cup vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried basil
Salt and pepper
Pumpkin seeds, optional garnish

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to the crockpot. Turn the crockpot on high and let it cook for three hours.

2. I used a potato masher to mash the sweet potatoes and mix it all up every hour or so, but you can also leave it until it is finished cooking and pour it all in a blender and purée it until smooth. Pour into bowls and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, if desired!

Pear Bites with Pancetta, Goat Cheese and Honey

December 19, 2013 by Mackenzie

It’s finally Christmas break! I’m so happy to be home, to be able to spend time with my family and to craft some new recipes. Check back often because I’ve got a lot of good ones to share!

Today, I’m sharing an appetizer that I made for the first time last Thanksgiving and has been a hit at every family gathering since! It’s very simple to make, yet the flavors meld so uniquely and give each bite a complex, sweet and salty flavor. They would be perfect as an appetizer at a Christmas or New Year’s gathering – I promise you won’t disappoint yourself, or your guests if you make them!

Pear Bites with Pancetta, Goat Cheese and Honey
Makes 12, but easily multiplied
Recipe from Eat.Drink.Smile.

Ingredients:
12 thin slices pancetta (about 1/3 lb)
1 large Bartlett pear
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Freshly cracked pepper
Honey

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Carefully peel the pancetta slices apart and arrange on the baking sheet (keep in circular shapes). Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. Lay a paper towel over a cooling rack and transfer the pancetta to it. Let sit for 10 minutes to cool and get crispy.

2. Core pear with a corer (just so the core comes out not an apple slicer! If you don’t have one, you can find them pretty cheap at a kitchen gadget store like Bed, Bath and Beyond). Cut pear crosswise into 12 thin rings (see photo for thickness). Arrange slices on serving platter then place one slice of crisped pancetta on each pear slice. Top each slice with goat cheese and drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with pepper. Serve right away (they don’t keep well for a second day so you better eat them all!)

My Top 7 Favorite Christmas Cookies

December 5, 2013 by Mackenzie

Well, it’s been a week since Thanksgiving, the weather has turned bitterly cold, (we’re expecting our first real snow this afternoon!) and my taste buds are asking for peppermint flavored things! I’d say it’s officially the Christmas season.

To kick things off for Christmas on Never Skip Dessert, I’m pulling out some of last year’s hit Christmas cookie recipes! These are some of my favorite recipes and I will be making many batches of them in the coming weeks! (Click the cookie name or photo to go straight to the recipe! I also apologize for the poor quality of most of these photos – I’ll take new ones when I make them again this year!)

First, the ever-classic – Sugar Cookies