Are we far enough into January that I can talk about dessert?

I’d really like to. I know, a lot of you who are still in that “never eating dessert again” phase of January. I can tell we’re still in the window of active New Years resolutions: the gym is still full of people (I just need one elliptical, folks) and social media is crowded with photos of green smoothies and raw vegetables.

But when you’re ready to return to the light, I urge you to make these little bars.

Rather like lemon bars in their consistency, these bars feature a crisp shortbread crust topped with a luscious, citrus-y custard. But instead of lemon juice, these bars are brought to life by the vibrant, impossibly pink juice of blood oranges. 

Blood oranges reach their peak in the dead of winter on this continent and, in my opinion, are the most welcome food to see in January. Bright orange peels that blush red encase the most amazing colors of pulp, ranging from a pale pink to deep purple. They’re just the prettiest.

You’ll be tempted to drink the juice straight. And at another time, you should definitely do that because it’s frightfully good. But for now, go ahead and just mix it in with the custard and bake it. It won’t stay bright pink, but the finished product is still a delightfully bright shade of orange.

With a sprinkle of powdered sugar, you’ll have a dessert that brightens up your winter. It’s totally worth an extra hour at the gym. Happy New Year, everyone!

Blood Orange Bars
Adapted from Yossy Arefi

Makes 16 two-inch bars

For the Crust
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 c all-purpose flour

For the Topping
3/4 c granulated sugar
3 T all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
zest of two blood oranges (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1/2-3/4 c blood orange juice
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8″x8″ square baking dish with parchment or foil with a lip hanging over the edge and set aside.

Thoroughly combine the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl. Add the flour and mix just until combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the lined baking dish. Bake for about 25 minutes until the crust is golden-brown. While the crust bakes, prepare the topping.

Thoroughly wash and dry the blood oranges. Zest two blood orange and set aside for the recipe. If you like orange zest in other things, zest the remaining blood oranges and freeze the zest in a zippered baggie for future use. Juice the oranges and strain into a measuring cup or small bowl.

In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the orange zest and orange juice.

When the crust is done, turn the oven down to 300°F. Slide out the oven rack with the crust, pour the topping straight onto the hot crust, and slide the rack back into the oven. Bake until the topping is set and does not jiggle in the center, 30-40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool on a rack until the bars have cooled completely.

Once the bars are completely cool, lift them from the pan using the parchment or foil edges and place on a cutting board. Cut the bars to the desired size. Dust with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

The bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator. Add more powdered sugar as needed for serving the leftovers.

It’s lovely, then, to find something to make for dinner that add bright color and spicy, smoky flavor to the room. This soup is just the ticket?

This recipe is adapted from one I learned at a cooking class in North Carolina. The base of the soup is composed of two fall market items that store quite well, so it’s just as easy to make in the winter as in late autumn.

Sweet potatoes and apples: such good friends these can be in dishes both sweet and savory! The sweet potatoes don’t need any special treatment before heading into the oven, and meanwhile, you can prepare your apples and other ingredients.

Once peeled and sliced, the apples are gently spiced with curry and coated with olive oil. They’ll join the potatoes for the last 15 minutes of roasting.

Next, the remaining ingredients come out to play. Here’s where things really get fun: a chipotle en adobo (just one, believe me, it will give PLENTY of spice), a few slices of nice, thick bacon, some garlic, onion, and pepper, and apple cider and chicken stock to give the soup some sweetness and some liquid. All of the above except the cider and stock are sauteed right in the stock pot and would probably be good enough to eat all on their own.

I mean seriously, SO GOOD. The smell is overwhelmingly delightful.

Meanwhile, your potatoes will be finishing up in the oven. One key to this soup really is a nice, long roast for the sweet potatoes. They’ll roast for a full hour, developing their sweetness, and will pop right out of their skins once they’ve cooled down a bit. Plus, we got everything else ready while they cooked, how efficient!

From there, it doesn’t take much to finish; dump the peeled potatoes and the apples in with the aromatics, add the stock and cider, and simmer for about 20 minutes before blending. I’ll put in my usual plug for an immersion blender at this point: who likes trying to transfer boiling hot soup from a giant pot to a tiny food processor to a different pot in multiple batches?

Once blended, dish up what is seriously the most vibrant soup I’ve ever tasted. Each component is equally important: the sweet apple cider nicely cuts the heat from the chipotle, the chipotle gives heat to the potatoes and apples, the potatoes and apples provide a filling and flavorful base, and best of all, the bacon lends its smoky, meaty flavor to the soup in all the right ways.

So if you, like me, are counting the days until the return of green trees, blue skies, and bright yellow flowers sprouting from every crack in the sidewalks, I encourage to stop counting long enough to enjoy this perfectly delightful soup. It really goes best with cold weather, and for many of us, we have several weeks of that left!

Spiced & Smoky Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from Durham Spirits Company

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (3-4 large)
3 small, tart apples
2 T olive oil, divided
1 tsp curry powder
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 chipotle en adobo, chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 c apple cider
4 c chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash sweet potatoes and place on a baking sheet, leaving about a third of the baking sheet open (you’ll be adding the apples partway through). Roast for one hour. While the potatoes are roasting, peel, core, and slice the apples and place in a small bowl. Add 1 T olive oil and curry powder and mix well. Add the apples to the baking sheet for the last 15 minutes that the potatoes are roasting. Once the roasting is done, remove baking sheet from the oven and set aside until the potatoes are cool enough to handle. Once cool, slice into the skins, peel them off, and discard them.

While the potatoes are cooling, heat 1 T olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Roughly chop bacon and sauté in the pot. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and cook until onions are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the chipotle and the garlic and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add apple cider, chicken stock, apples, and the peeled potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender or a regular blender. Soup should be fairly thick. If you prefer a thinner soup, add a bit more chicken stock or apple cider.

Serve immediately. This also makes great leftovers.

Happy December, friends! I feel like the super-late date of Thanksgiving has caused December to sneak up on me even more rapidly than usual. For me, December usually equates to a significant uptick in baking, candy-making, and gift-crafting that keeps me in the kitchen late into the night breaking up toffee and tying ribbon around pretty little boxes of mulling spices before packing them gently in bubble wrap and shipping them to friends and family across the continent.

And as much as I might like to convince myself that I can survive on party mix, mini cheesecakes, and pomegranate salsa, I work really hard to make sure I also have some real food in my fridge to sustain me. Something, warm, easy to prepare after late nights of baking, and filling enough to get through the busy days. To keep cooking to a minimum, I often turn to soups.

I had a bit of a soup explosion last fall and posted A LOT of them on the site: Butternut Squash Soup, my Favorite Chili, Sweet Potato Soup, Colorado Cape Cod Chowder, and more. This year I’ve been repeating many of those soups, but I did discover a simple potato leek soup recipe that I HAD to share with you.

Like so many soups, this one has fairly humble components: potatoes, leeks, and an onion make up the base, and a little butter, salt, pepper, and cream bring it all together.

The potatoes and onions get a rough chop, and the leeks should be cut in slivered rounds, then rinsed to remove any dirt hiding between the layers. If you’ve not cooked with leeks before — I hadn’t until a year or so ago — I highly recommend them. They are sweet and bright, rather like a green onion in flavor, and the play so nicely with the potatoes and onions that I didn’t even use chicken stock at risk of masking their flavor.

Once everything is chopped, it all heaps into a pot for a little less than an hour to cook to softness.

Then, in keeping with my favorite soup tradition, it’s all whirled together with an immersion blender. You can also work in batches using a food processor if you don’t have an immersion blender.

Once it is seasoned to taste, the soup is very thick: you may feel the need to add more water or even some milk to loosen it up a bit. But I rather like it thick, as it is almost almost like eating mashed potatoes for lunch every day for a week. Not a bad thing, in my book.

Potato Leek Soup
Adapted from The Pleasures of Cooking for One

Makes 4-6 meal servings, 8-10 sides

2 T butter
3-4 leeks
1 medium onion
about 3 pounds yellow potatoes
6 cups water
1 tsp black pepper
1 T kosher salt
1/4 c heavy cream
sour cream to garnish
green onions to garnish

Trim the dark green tops off the leeks. Chop up the white and light green parts of the leeks and place them in a bowl of water. This will allow any dirt to fall to the bottom; the leeks will float at the top. Remove the leeks to colander and set aside. Peel and chop the onion and potatoes.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and sauté for about 5 minutes until they have softened. Add the leeks and potatoes and allow them to sweat for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the water, the pepper, and about half of the salt and bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for about 40 minutes, covered with a lid that is slightly askew. Once the potatoes are very tender, remove from the heat. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. You can also transfer in batches to a food processor if you don’t have an immersion blender. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add a bit more hot water.

Stir in the cream and taste, add more salt as needed. Serve hot, garnished with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chopped green onion.

This soup reheats very well and makes excellent leftovers.

Let me begin by saying that I realize the title of this post doesn’t make sense. Colorado is home to neither capes nor cod. I know.

I also know that I cooked this meal in North Carolina and cooked this meal using East Coast cod.

In addition, I have no idea what chowder from Cape Cod actual tastes like. No idea what the recipe is. So despite the fact that both my mom and grandma have been making “Cape Cod Chowder” (as is written in my grandma’s hand on a splattered recipe card) to ward off the chill of January in Colorado for my entire life, I couldn’t really call it that for fear of the wrath of proper Cape Cod residents with their own opinions on what is or is not Cape Cod Chowder.

It’s rather dizzying.

But I adore this soup. I look forward, each winter, to the stick-to-your-bones warmth provided by this hearty meal composed of relatively simple ingredients.

As most good soups do, this one starts with an onion, chopped up and sautéed in a bit of butter. The onion is followed by a pile of potatoes, some seasoning, and water.

After the potatoes have simmered and softened for a few minutes, a filet of fresh cod is added to the pot to steam atop the hot potatoes and onions before adding corn and evaporated milk.

Now for full disclosure, I must confess: I don’t particularly care for fish. In fact the first few times I flexed my post-adolescent cooking muscles in my tiny apartment kitchen, I defiantly excluded the cod from this chowder and added extra potatoes. However, in an effort to try to eat more fish and to give you a recipe with some semblance of balance, I gave it a shot again. Do I still guiltily prefer this soup without cod You bet. But I feel like I’m doing a good thing for my body by keeping it in the recipe.

This meal can be done, start to finish, in less than an hour. It makes fabulous leftovers and freezes pretty well, so a large batch can last you for quite some time. And if you’re like me, you can leave the fish out. If you like fish, you can add more.

And even if you live on Cape Cod, you can still make this and protect your chowder heritage. Because this is Colorado Cape Cod Chowder from a North Carolina food blogger.

Make sense?

Colorado Cape Cod Chowder
Adapted slightly from a family recipe

3 T unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced (should yield about 2 cups)
2 lbs potatoes, peeled cut into 1″ cubes
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
2 bay leaves
2 c water
12 oz fresh or frozen cod, cut into 1″ cubes
two 15-oz cans corn with liquid
one 12-0z can evaporated milk (I used 2%, but you can use regular as well)

Dice onion and peel potatoes. Melt butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add onions and sauté for about 5 minutes until onions are soft. While the onions are cooking, cut potatoes into one-inch cubes. After the onions have softened, add potatoes, salt, pepper, basil, bay leaves, and water to the pot and stir well. Cover the pot and increase heat to medium-high. Cook for about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, cut the cod into one-inch cubes. After 15 minutes, you should be able to easily stab the potatoes with fork, but they should not be totally soft. Place cod on top of the potatoes, not stirring, and re-cover the pot. Cook for an additional 10 minutes until the cod flakes easily with a fork. Add the corn and evaporated milk and stir well. Cover and bring just to boiling.

Remove from heat and remove lid. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

If fall is pumpkin-everything season, then early winter is certainly the moment for the tart, gem-like cranberry to rise to prominence. I find myself recently obsessed with the immense versatility of cranberries, but this simple recipe is, by far, the best way I’ve found yet to feature these beautiful little berries.

Cranberries are, on their own, incredibly tart, and I rarely see them served raw and unaltered. But they are also so fashionable in that state, aren’t they It’s sort of a shame that most of us consume the majority of our cranberries either liquified in fruit juice cocktails or gel-ified in classic, ruby-red sauce served aside turkey and cornbread stuffing at Thanksgiving.

This method gives the cranberries a nice level of sweetness to cut the sour but lets the berries glisten as a centerpiece of your holiday party spread. And while the berries require several hours of soaking in the fridge, these are incredibly easy to make. All you need is a bag of cranberries, sugar, and water.

The first step is to make a simple syrup, or, a mixture of sugar and water in equal parts. Once the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes just to boiling, the cranberries get a nice, long soak. I like to make the mixture the night before I need the berries and allow them to sit in the fridge overnight, but you can also start the morning of your festivities if you’re short on time.

After several hours of absorbing simple syrup, the berries are certainly sweeter, but still quite sticky. That stickiness is perfect for the final step: giving these pretty little rubies a glistening, sparkly coat of sugar!

I used a cookie sheet, shaken back and forth on the surface of a table, as a vehicle for covering the berries evenly with sugar. I attempted to roll them with a fork on my first batch, but the cookie sheet works much better. And a little sugar goes a long way: I used about 1/2 cup to give each and every berry its shiny coat.

And how shall we use them OH. LET ME COUNT THE WAYS. They would make an elegant topping to cheesecake. They make a great garnish for cocktails. I tossed a handful in a bowl of cranberry lemonade punch. But mostly, we ate them straight up, one by one, right out of the bowl. Sweet, tart, perfectly festive finger-food.

Let the season of the cranberry begin!

Sparkling Cranberries
Adapted from Tokyo Terrace

1 bag cranberries (picked through, removing any berried with soft spots)
1 c granulated sugar
1 c water
1/2 to 3/4 c additional granulated sugar

Wash cranberries thoroughly and drain in a colander. Combine 1 c sugar & water in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and heat just until mixture comes to a boil. Remove the simple syrup from the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Pour cranberries into a glass or metal dish, preferably with a lid. Pour the simple syrup over the cranberries. Place the lid on the bowl or cover with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator. Chill berries in the simple syrup overnight or for at least 8 hours.

After berries have chilled, pour into a colander and drain for about 10 minutes. Dump berries onto a medium cookie sheet. Sprinkle a bit of the 1/2 of sugar over the berries. Slide the cookie sheet back and forth over the surface of a table or counter so that the berries roll around in the sugar. Continue adding sugar a bit at a time to cover berries evenly and thoroughly. Allow berries to rest for 1-2 hours on the counter to allow the simple syrup to begin forming a hard shell. Sprinkle with additional sugar to cover any final sticky spots.

Serve as is, as a cocktail garnish, as a topping for cheesecake, or in any other way you can imagine. Keep refrigerated when not serving.

This Halloween is a bit odd for a huge swath of the U.S. A deep cold has arrived much earlier than normal due, in major part, to the massive storm that walloped the Eastern seaboard early this week and continues to wreak havoc as it churns slowly west. Durham was spared much of the power of the storm, but for many cities with transit systems shut down, widespread power outages, hugely destructive flooding, fires, and heavy snows, it is a bit of an understatement to suppose that many a trick-or-treater’s plans have been marred or cancelled all together.

This chili, based on my mom & dad’s recipe, is normally something I strongly associate with winter. I didn’t particularly care for it much as a kid, and yet there was nothing I wanted more after a day outside in the snow. Thick, warm, and hearty, I’ve come to favor it earlier and earlier in the season every year.

This year, for the first time, I was able to use my own home-canned tomato sauce to make chili. After my initial panic over the work it took to produce such goods, I now have firmly committed to making this every year.

Perhaps most importantly, this chili comes together quickly. With nothing more than an onion to chop, it’s a great thing to whip up when you need a filling dinner for a crowd fast. And you can adjust it exactly to your liking. Too hot Leave out the cayenne. Not hot enough Dice up a jalapeño or two and toss those in, as well.You can top it off with cheddar and sour cream, serve it with cornbread or crackers or biscuits, or just eat it plain.

So if you still have power and want to use up some of those canned goods you bought to ride out the worst of Sandy, make a big batch of this and invite your neighbors whose homes are still dark. There’s nothing better than sharing a good, hot meal with the people you care about.

To those of you in the path of the storm, I’m thinking of you and sending all the warm, dry thoughts I can in your direction.

Favorite Chili
Adapted from our family recipe

Update: I now only use one can of pinto beans instead of two. I’ve updated the recipe below to reflect this. However, if you like lots of beans in your chili, I’d add a second can of pintos.

2 tsp canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
30 oz tomato sauce
15 oz can pinto beans, with juices
15 oz can kidney beans, with juices
4 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes until onions soften. Add ground beef. Season with salt & pepper, adding more to taste if desired, and cook until meat begins to brown and is cooked through. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat slightly so that chili is at an active simmer and cook for 20 minutes covered. Remove the lid and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste and add water if you find the chili is too thick.

Serve warm, garnishing with cheddar cheese and sour cream if desired. It’s super-dreamy with cornbread, too!

Yesterday was dreary. And lazy. I got up at 11:30 and did approximately nothing until 4:30. Nothing. It. Was. Glorious. Lazy days like this come rarely. I can normally talk myself into doing something moderately productive, even on the weekends: errands, cooking projects, editing photos, planting seeds, writing posts. But yesterday, for five surprising hours, nothing.

I crave soup on days like yesterday. Something warm, something filling, something that simmer and bubbles on the stove while the gray sky presses down outside. I have some old standbys, yes, but my friend Sara brought this one to my attention a while back, and let me tell you: it’s perfect for a dreary, lazy day because it’s super easy and comfort food to the max.

There’s really not much to it. Potatoes, some nice sharp cheddar, milk, chicken broth (which could easily be swapped out for vegetable broth, I imagine), a little onion, some seasoning, and pretty little scallions for a garnish.

Soooo comfort food Check. Now how does it help with the lazy part Well, once the potatoes and onion are chopped and the cheese is grated, this is so fast and so low maintenance.

In fact it’s so easy, I just really don’t think there’s anything more to say about it.

Today, it’s back to work, but I’m daydreaming of the next lazy day that finds it’s way into my schedule.

Potato Cheddar Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light

Makes about 5 cups

1 T butter
1 c onion, diced
2 1/2 T all-purpose flour
3 c red potato, cubed into 1/2″ inch pieces
1 1/4 c milk
1 1/4 c chicken broth
1/2 c water
1/8 tsp salt (more to taste if you’re using low-sodium broth)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2-3 scallions (greens only), chopped as a garnish

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and saute until tender. Add flour and stir until evenly combined. Add potato, milk, chicken broth, water, salt, and pepper and mix well. Bring pot to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove pan from heat and immediately add cayenne, garlic, and cheddar. Stir briskly until cheese is melted. Adjust seasoning as desired.

When serving, top with a sprinkle of scallions.

Let’s take a minute to talk about real life.

Some days, there is time to make fresh pasta. Fancy desserts. Elaborate multi-course meals.

Most days though, it’s all I can do to get out the door in the morning toting a breakfast and lunch, and on show days, dinner, so that I can avoid the oh-so-tempting bounties of college food available at work. Especially in January, when fresh food is somewhat difficult to come by and most of my cravings are for something warm and filling.

But I’ve found an answer. An answer to the winter blues, the I-don’t-feel-like-cooking doldrums, and the whoa-we-have-so-much-leftover-turkey-from-the-holidays reality in my freezer.

Sierra’s turkey salad.

I know I’m probably way late catching this train. I’ve never really been a fan of chicken salads and won’t come within ten feet of tuna salads, so I suppose I thought turkey salad would be equally unpleasant. I. Was. Wrong.

Accompanied by fresh apples, dried cranberries and golden raisins, and some roughly chopped pecans, this may now be my new favorite way to eat turkey. It comes together quickly, tastes amazing, and is filling in even small quantities.

And you can mix it up, too. I think Sierra used almonds in hers. I tried my first batch with chopped celery, but raw celery is quite hated for someone else in this apartment, so I’ll leave it out from now on. You could probably also spice it up with some cayenne if you favor a zingy salad. Your food, your call.

And look how pretty! This is how turkey salad looks when it gets dressed up to go to a party. Complete with paparazzi, apparently.

Luckily for me, it looks pretty good in work clothes, too!

I’m always on the hunt for seasonal but delicious recipes to make during the winter. This year, I’m looking to you for ideas! As incentive, I’m sending half a dozen Hot Chocolate Sticks to one random person who contributes an idea to my winter recipe catalog. You get sticks, I get recipes, it’s a great deal.

How to Enter to Win Hot Chocolate Sticks CLOSED

1. Leave a comment on this post describing one of your favorite winter recipes.
OR
2. Like 30 Pounds of Apples on Facebook (early adopters, you’ll have to leave a comment to throw your hat in the game!)

Enter by Sunday night at 11:59pm… winner will be announced Monday (someone’s case of the Mondays fly right out the door.)

Good luck!

Sierra’s Turkey Salad
Adapted from Sierra. And Captain Obvious.

Makes 4-5 cups

2 c cooked turkey, torn or cut into 1/2″ pieces
1 medium apple, sliced into 1/2″ pieces
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/3 c golden raisins
1/3 c chopped pecans
1/2 c scant mayonnaise
1/2 tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Adjust seasoning as desired. Serve with wheat crackers or bread. Take it to work for lunch and everyone else will be jealous.