Last week my sweet tooth called my name, begging me to indulge it with something … anything! It was 10pm. Yeah, I know, bad eating habits die hard, but I’m working on it. Sugar is my biggest weakness.

I took a look at what I already had in the kitchen to figure out what kind of tasty treat I could come up with. I considered making chocolate chip cookies or brownies; however, all of the recipes I consulted called for brown sugar, of which, I had none. I didn’t have molasses either, which can be used to make a brown sugar substitute.

Stuck on the idea of cookies, I continued to skim various cookie recipes while trying to decide what to bake. Heidi Swanson’s Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from her Super Natural Cooking served as good inspiration. The recipe didn’t call for brown sugar, and it got me thinking about other flours I could use aside from all-purpose white flour. Heidi explores using non-traditional flours regularly.

I’ve had a package of almond flour sitting in my refrigerator for months, which I bought with the intention of trying Daisy Martinez’s recipe for almond cake. I’ve yet to make the cake, so the almond flour, a fluffy powder of ground almonds, was available and I wondered how it would work in cookies. The recipe below is what I came up with, and they turned out very well. The cookies are thin and crispy, and slightly chewy in the center when you take them out of the oven. Enjoy!

Almond White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes about 2 – 3 dozen cookies
Adapted from Heidi Swanson’s mesquite chocolate chip cookies.

1-1/4 c Whole wheat pastry flour
1 c Almond flour
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbs Unsalted butter, softened
1-1/4 c Sugar (I prefer evaporated cane juice)
Ground flax seed egg substitute (2 tbs Ground flax seed meal +
6 tbs water) or 2 large eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1/2 cup Sliced almonds
1 cup White chocolate chunks ( or chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If using the ground flax egg substitute, put flax seed meal and water in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in flax mixture or two eggs and the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Stir the flour (a little bit at a time in three increments) into the wet mixture until just combined. Stir in the almonds and white chocolate until just evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop about 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie (2 inches apart for pretty, round cookies) on a parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheet (you’ll likely only get 6 cookies on a sheet).  Bake for about 12 minutes. Cookies are done when lightly brown. Take the sheet out of the oven and let the cookies sit for a few minutes before moving them with a spatula to a cooking rack.

Rinse the cookie sheet under cold water and dry each time between baking batches. Bake the rest of the cookies as described.

Today is the first official day of fall, so that means the time for soups, stews and hearty foods is upon us. This recipe for a cozy chicken vegetable soup is perfect for getting the soup-eating season started. It calls for store-bought rotisserie chicken and low-sodium chicken broth, which provide time saving short-cuts, while the use of fresh vegetables, herbs and spices still give the soup great homemade flavor.

In this recipe I used green beans, peas, carrots, corn and potatoes, but you can just as easily try other vegetables such as broccoli or diced bell peppers. You can also add in some cooked rice at the end for an even heartier dish. Experiment with various herbs and spices as you wish. Using the simple base of chicken broth and pulled chicken gives you room to explore many options. Enjoy!

Chicken Vegetable Soup
Serves 6 – 8

3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 Liter of low-sodium chicken broth (4 cups)
6 c water
5 – 6 small red potatoes, quartered
5 – 6 large carrots, peeled and coined
1/2 lb. string beans cut into 1” pieces
1 cup frozen peas
Fresh corn from 4 ears, shucked and cut off the cob
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat pulled
3 – 4 bay leaves
1 tbs dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp paprika
1 – 2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground all spice
1 tbs kosher salt, plus more or less to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Skin and pull apart the meat from the whole rotisserie chicken and set aside. Cut the larger pieces of meat down to bite-size. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat, add in cumin seeds. When the seeds begin to sizzle, add in the chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Add in all of the vegetables, except for the corn and peas, and add in the Italian seasoning, bay leaves, paprika, all spice, coriander and salt.

Allow the pot to come back up to a boil before adding in the pulled chicken, corn, peas, and pepper. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and simmer for about 20 – 25 minutes. Add in the fresh parsley and taste for seasoning. Simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes or until root vegetables are tender. Serve hot with toasted French bread or crackers.

Greetings! So how did you spend your Labor Day weekend? What did you make? I came up with two tasty contributions to take to a cookout on Sunday – black bean and corn pasta salad and sly, white peach sangria. I made the pasta salad using items I just happened to have in my kitchen (black beans, fresh corn, whole grain macaroni, bell peppers, cilantro, grape tomatoes, garlic, white onions, olive oil, and lemon juice). It was fresh-tasting and delicious, but this post is about the unassuming sangria.

I call my white peach sangria sly because it’s a deceptively coy drink with its charming strawberries and dainty sliced white peaches looking oh, so cute from the pitcher and glass. If you spot it on the table at a daytime BBQ, it will have you thinking, “oh nice, sangria — a light adult thirst quencher.” However, this little fruity beverage sneaks up on you. Just give it 15 to 20 minutes. After taking a sip, even your most snobbish “real drinker” guest will say wow as he looks with a double-take into his glass.

You’ve been warned. This sangria is very yummy and aesthetically appealing, but feel free to add another cup or two of juice if the mild buzz it provides is not-so-mild for you. Enjoy!

White Peach Sangria
8 – 12 Servings

1 bottle of prosecco (750 ml)
1 bottle of white wine such as pinot grigio (750 ml)
2 cups of white grape juice
Juice from 1 – 2 white peaches, freshly pressed
(try bottled peach juice/nectar if you don’t have a juicer)
1/2 cup triple sec
1/4 cup brandy
Juice of a half lemon
Fresh berries and sliced white peaches, with skin on

Add all ingredients, including fruit, to a large pitcher in the order listed. Stir well and refrigerate for several hours. Serve in glasses garnished with fresh berries and sliced peaches.

Drink Responsibly.

Cream sauce – it’s something I limit in my diet to “on occasion” status. Well, this past weekend was an occasion to purchase the heavy cream. Not for any special reason, but simply because the recipe I saw Giada De Laurentiis make on the Cooking channel looked really delicious.

Wanting to try out her recipe for chicken scallopine with saffron cream sauce, I made a variation adding cumin and mustard seeds. The result is a wonderfully fragrant dish that’s slightly reminiscent of Indian cuisine, yet with dry white wine maintaining classic Western flavor.

I served my spiced cream sauce and chicken over fresh baby spinach; however, an option I tested as well is to add the spinach into the cream sauce along with the chicken during the last 5 minutes of simmering. The chicken and sauce will also work well over angel hair pasta. Enjoy!

Chicken Scallopini in Spiced Cream Sauce over Spinach
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis’ Chicken Scallopine with Saffron Cream Sauce

1 lb chicken cutlets (about 2 thin cut chicken breasts)**
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbs olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and sliced thin
2 plump garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup white wine
1-1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 large pinch of saffron (about 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt, plus more for seasoning chicken
Freshly ground black pepper
6 oz. fresh baby spinach

Rinse and pat chicken dry before seasoning with salt and pepper. Place flour in a large Ziploc bag and season with 1/4 tsp salt. Place chicken cutlets in bag and shake well. Remove chicken from the flour shaking off the excess and place flour-dredged chicken aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and heat for about 1 minute. Add chicken cutlets and brown on one side for about 3 – 4 minutes before turning chicken over to brown the other side for another 3 – 4 minutes. Remove browned chicken from the pan and set aside under aluminum foil.

Add garlic and shallots to the pan and sauté for about 2 minutes (don’t let garlic burn). Add mustard and cumin seeds and continue to sauté for another 2 minutes. Add white wine, broth, and saffron scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen all of the flavor bits from the chicken. Simmer for about 10 minutes allowing wine and broth to reduce.

Add heavy cream, fresh cracked black pepper, and stir before adding the chicken back to the pan and simmering for another 5 minutes. Serve chicken over fresh or steamed spinach along with several spoons full of the cream sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley.

** Note: Scallopini (Scallopine) means thinly sliced chicken breast or chicken breast butterfly-cut and pounded thin usually between two pieces of plastic wrap using a mallet. My store-bought chicken cutlets were thin enough, so I skipped the step of pounding them thin.

I’m back. If you’re a regular reader of FlavorDiva.com, you’ve probably noticed that I took a break from blogging since January. Like many of us, I’ve had a lot going on during the first quarter of 2011 – from working my day job in marketing communications to sharing my passion for health and wellness by teaching weekly dance and yoga classes.

Given all the activities I’ve had on my plate, I’ve definitely struggled with the modern challenge to wellness – cooking fresh, homemade meals daily. I can’t say that I’ve mastered how to get a wholesome and tasty, yet quick meal on the table without much effort after a long day, but I plan to keep working on it. If you have any tips, please let me know!

This weekend I spent some time testing recipes and recharging my culinary batteries. The first recipe I worked on was for vegan zucchini bread. I continue to be fascinated by egg- and dairy-free baking. Eggs and dairy play such a critical role in many baked goods, is it really possible to make substitutions without affecting the taste or texture? Maybe not always, but for zucchini bread, the answer is yes. Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini shredded and press in paper towel to remove excess water)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (such as canola)
3 tbs ground flax seed ( The substitute for eggs in this recipe, flax seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.)
9 tbs water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and sugar. Grate zucchini and set aside. In a small bowl, add the flax seed meal and water, then allow it to sit for about two minutes. You can substitute the flax seed mixture (water and meal) with two large eggs.

Add zucchini, oil, flax seed mixture and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Stir with spatula until just combined. Fold in the walnuts. Spray 8″ x 4″ x 2-1/2″ loaf pan lightly with cooking spray. Add batter into the pan and place pan in the middle of the center oven rack. Bake for about one hour, turning pan around half way after 30 minutes of baking. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Several months ago, I helped plan a baby shower for one of my close friends and came up with these Cajun chicken skewers for the menu. I thought they would be a good accompaniment to the crawfish pie one of our other friends from Louisiana was bringing to the shower.

Once again, my Staub grill pan came in handy. I love this caste-iron treasure because of its extra high ridges that deliver lovely grill marks. Yes, taste and nourishment are most important with food, but appearances play an almost equally important role. As the culinary saying goes, you eat with your eyes first.

Rubbing my chicken breast first with a Cajun spice blend, I then grilled them for about 8 minutes on each side. Smoked turkey links was my sausage of choice for the skewers pictured due to cost-effectiveness for the amount I was making, but I recommend using Cajun chicken sausage or Andouille sausage to add more of that Louisiana flavor. These skewers are perfect to serve for party finger food that’s filling. Enjoy!

Cajun Chicken Skewers

4 – 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (I used this one.)
2 large green bell peppers
2 large red bell peppers
4 pre-cooked sausage links (smoked turkey, Cajun or andouille)
Kosher salt

Rinse and pat dry chicken. Slice the sausage links into rounds and chop peppers into 1″ squares. Preheat a large grill pan on medium-high heat. Liberally rub chicken breasts with Cajun seasoning blend and place chicken on the grill. Allow to cook for about 8 minutes on one side before turning over to grill on the other side, lowering heat to medium, and grilling for an addition 8 minutes. Once the chicken is done, allow it to sit for five minutes before cutting into chunks for your skewers.

Grill vegetables and sausages (you can do this in the same pan with the chicken or separately) and then set aside for a minute or two until they are cool enough to handle. Once your vegetables, sausage and skewers are cooked and cool enough to handle, assemble your skewers alternating between pieces of chicken, peppers, sausage, peppers and chicken. Placed finished skewers in an oven-safe pan, cover with foil, and place in oven at 200 degrees F until ready to serve.

Happy Holidays! I hope you’ve been enjoying the Christmas and holiday season with family and friends. If your season has been anything like mine, then I’m sure it has been filled with an abundance of comfort dishes, decadent desserts and festive beverages.

So far this season, I’ve done more holiday eating than holiday cooking, but I did perfect a spirited hot chocolate drink (or so my taste buds tell me) that I had been experimenting with earlier this month. My smooth Spirited Hot Chocolate recipe came to fruition at the best time … a rare, snowy day-after Christmas.

Just as a white Christmas sparks a special delight in most, drinking hot chocolate made not from a powder mix, but from directly melting chocolate bars will do the same. Hot chocolate made from scratch is so incredibly delightful and comforting that if you’ve never had it before, you’ll wonder how in the world you missed out on this liquid treasure all of your life.

Granted, making your hot chocolate from melting solid bars or chips takes a little longer than just stirring a spoonful of cocoa mix into a mug of hot water, but what awaits is a grand reward. Even if you choose to only make it on occasion, hot chocolate from scratch is perfect for special occasions like holidays, parties and the coldest of winter days.

By itself, melted hot chocolate is super delicious, but it’s the perfect amount of Irish cream and amaretto liqueurs that put the spirit in my Spirited Hot Chocolate. There is still plenty of holiday cheer and cold winter days left for you to make this drink. Please do! I’m so serious … you will not be disappointed.

Spirited Hot Chocolate

1 oz. premium dark chocolate
(eg: 2 squares of Ghirardelli’s 60% cocao bitter sweet 4 oz. dark baking chocolate bar)
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 oz. Irish cream liqueur
(measurement is usually the smaller end of a double jigger)
2 teaspoons amaretto liqueur
1 cinnamon stick or a dash of ground cinnamon (optional)

Using a chef’s knife, chop chocolate into small chunks and set aside. In a small sauce pan, heat the milk and cinnamon stick (optional) over medium-high heat for about 5 – 8 minutes. Do not let milk boil.

Once milk is hot, stir in the chocolate chunks and continue to stir as chocolate melts. Stir regularly until chocolate melts completely (about 10 minutes). Add sugar and stir.

Remove hot chocolate from the heat, then add Irish cream and amaretto liqueurs. If desired, add a small dash of freshly ground cinnamon. Serve immediately and enjoy!

While nothing much can beat fluffy pancakes cooked to perfection in the morning, crêpes offer a delicious alternative for breakfast. Crêpes are tasty with so many different kinds of fillings such as sliced fruit, fruit spreads, Nutella or even drizzled chocolate for the sweet variety.

A great thing about these thin little foldable French treats is that they actually move well beyond breakfast and make delicious desserts as well as savory dishes for lunch or dinner. Just decrease the amount of sugar in the batter for savory crêpes and fill them with sliced chicken or deli meats and seasoned vegetables like steamed or grilled slices of bell peppers, for example.

Either way you want them, sweet or savory, crêpes are very easy to make at home. When you go to a café that specializes in crêpes (crêperie) you may notice that they cook them on a large flat griddle using a handy T-shaped crêpe spreader. That set up looks really cute, but it’s not at all necessary to make thin crêpes in your own kitchen using a non-stick skillet.

As long as your batter is thin enough and you pour lightly with a steady hand, and then tilt the pan back and forth to evenly coat the bottom of the skillet, you’ll have nicely shaped crêpes at just the right thickness. Making a fruit filling isn’t hard either. I simply blended a handful of raspberries with a little maple syrup for my crêpe filling. After spreading the filling over half of an open crêpe and then folding it a few times followed by a light dusting of powdered sugar, I was ready to enjoy … in my own cozy crêperie at home.

Sweet Crêpes

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup organic milk
2 large organic eggs
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
1/2 tablespoon organic butter, melted
1-1/2 tablespoons cane sugar
2 dashes ground cinnamon
1 pinch kosher salt

In a small blender or food processor, blend together all ingredients, then set aside for 30 minutes. After allowing the mixture to sit, heat an 8″ – 12″ non-stick skillet on medium and spray lightly with cooking spray or melt 1/2 tablespoon butter in the pan.

Cook crêpes one by one, by pouring in just enough batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook on one side for about 2 minutes or until the bottom starts to brown and the crêpe is set.

Using a silicone spatula, flip the crêpe over delicately (this takes some finesse) and cook for another minute or two on the opposite side until half of the crêpe browns slightly on that side. Then remove the cooked crêpe and set aside.

Use the rest of your batter to cook the remaining 4 – 8 crêpes. Be sure not to let the crêpe over cook or they will get a little crisp and be hard to fold.

When you’re ready to fill the crêpes, spread the fruit filling on half of one side of a crêpe. Then, fold the crêpe in half and  fold in half again. Prepare the rest of your crêpes and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with real maple syrup.

Raspberry Filling

1 pint fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Blend raspberries and maple syrup together using a small food processor or simply mash ingredients together well in a small bowl. Serve with crêpes.

In addition to making the freshest, local produce available to communities, they also aim to make this healthy food more accessible to women, children, seniors and low-income families through accepting WIC, SNAP/FoodStamps and offering double-dollars for such programs. Come join the FRESHFARM Markets community on Monday, October 4th from 5pm – 8pm for a “happy hour for a cause” at Passenger Bar.

As quintessential American fare, especially for African-Americans and Southerners, how can I have a food blog and not cover macaroni and cheese? While the thick, creamy richness of mac and cheese doesn’t quite fit in with my attempts to eat, cook, and write about nutritious and nourishing food, I have a hard time banishing this dish out of my kitchen forever!

Yes, change can be good, but macaroni and cheese taps into that soft spot in my heart for tradition and nostalgia. Mac and cheese is like a cornerstone of family gatherings, church functions and potluck dinners with friends. I can’t deny its delicious place in my culture or culinary history.

Now does that mean I’m going to eat it every day? No, but on occasion, I will indulge in this comfort food favorite, preferably with a light side dish of green vegetables or a salad rather than a full spread of other heavy foods. I have no problem breaking from that tradition.

So the question has come up repeatedly among my friends of how to make a good macaroni and cheese. I’ve discovered from friends, family and various cookbooks that there are many approaches to mac and cheese. Of course all the basics are included every time – pasta and cheese, butter and usually milk, but there’s lots of variety out there to achieve various consistencies and levels of cheesiness.

Some people like their mac and cheese ultra creamy and ultra cheesy with an almost liquid-like consistency. Others like their mac and cheese firm, but not dry. Some recipes call for canned cheddar cheese soup, others cheese wiz (processed goo, yuck!), or my family’s old reliable – evaporated milk. But then, there’s the original approach to macaroni and cheese, which is to make a roux turning it into a white sauce (béchamel) as the thickening agent for the dish.

Since I’m interested in going back to the basics with a lot of my cooking and discovering some of those classic approaches to recipes, the roux/white sauce approach is the one I’ve been working on. Although it diverges from how most folks in my family make their mac and cheese, I still stick to the portions and guidance of my mom’s recipe, with the exception of my addition of buttered panko breadcrumbs to the top, which my clan normally doesn’t do.

If you haven’t tried the roux/white sauce approach before, give my recipe a try. It has a loose, but still somewhat firm consistency. Also, I’d love to know your macaroni and cheese traditions. What’s your secret or preference for the best mac and cheese?

Macaroni and Cheese

8 oz. small macaroni pasta
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
6 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated (1-1/2 four oz. packages)
1/2 cup paprika white sauce (see recipe below)
1 large egg
1/4 cup organic milk
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water with 1 tablespoon kosher salt to a boil. Add macaroni and boil for about 7 minutes until al dente. Drain and set aside in a large bowl. Lightly butter an 8” x 8” baking dish and set aside. In a small sauté pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add panko breadcrumbs and toss to coat for about 2 – 3 minutes. Set aside.

Add half the grated cheese to the bowl of cooked macaroni. In another small bowl, mix together the white sauce, milk, water and egg. Add the mixture to macaroni and cheese and mix well. Add salt and pepper and stir well. Pour macaroni and cheese mixture into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top, then sprinkle buttered breadcrumbs over the dish. Place dish on the center rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Paprika White Sauce

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup organic milk
1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 pinch salt

Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour until a smooth paste forms, about one minute. Add milk and stir continuously for about 10 minutes. Sauce will thicken. The sauce is done when it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in paprika and salt. Use sauce in cooking or store remaining sauce in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.