Wintertime Recipes
I fall deeper in love with Winter each year. This year, for the first time, I didn’t get into a cooking rut.
I am not dogmatic about what I eat. I am both practical and whimsical. I strike a balance of returning to dishes that I love and experimenting with new ingredients and recipes.
The remedy I found to avoid a Winter flavor slump was investing in local ranch grass-finished beef and making an outing to Nude Foods, a bulk grocery store in Boulder that also supports local food purveyors. When I went to Nude Foods, I was on a mission…
To find grains, beans and seeds in the colors black, purple, blue and deep red.
In Chinese Medicine, foods that are these colors nourish our body-mind-spirit in the season of Winter.
Armed with dense foods, shelf-stable or frozen, and plenty of protein, fat and carbohydrates to satisfy me, it was time to play in the kitchen. My weekly grocery store runs were driven by scanning the produce section for ingredients in the Winter color palette. My basket filled up with:
Purple potatoes, shallots and garlic.
Purple cabbage, kale and radicchio.
Eggplant. Beets.
Blackberries, blueberries and grapefruit.
When I got down to cooking, I made simple sautés with leafy “purples” and a splash of apple cider vinegar, added a fried egg and black sesame seeds on top. I made bowls with fulfilling bases of purple potatoes, ground beef and roasted beets.
The beloved recipes I revisited this year (several times) were:
The ever popular Black Sesame Peanut Butter Cookies, original recipe by Julia Park, which I gleefully pack for long days outside hiking or XC skiing.
Purple Night Pasta, original recipe by Sarah Bercholz, which I honestly didn’t share. I wined and dined myself with this warm and nutrient dense meal several times. In addition to the veggies in the recipe, I used Purple Kale.
I expanded my repertoire by making elderberry syrup for the first time. With some gal pals, we dyed our fingertips purple in elderberries from Jack’s Solar Farm and brewed a medicinal batch of syrup with cinnamon and local honey. I put 1-2 tablespoons of Elderberry syrup in hot lemon water and managed to avoid (knock on wood) the flus and colds that went around.
Below are 3 Wintertime Recipes I will return to when the seasonal spiral takes me back here. Feel free to use my version of the Black Sesame Peanut Butter Cookies below or the original recipe linked above :)
Black Rice & Purple Potato Bowl with Ginger Garlic Tamari Sauce
Prepare rice, veggies and sauce in bulk and store separately in fridge. Build your bowl made-to-serve with ratios to please your taste.
Black Rice *cook with broth for extra nutrients and minerals
Roasted Purple Sweet Potato *cubed and baked
Roasted Broccoli *I put on the same pan as the sweet potatoes, it gets a little crispy ;)
Pan fried ground beef *if you eat red meat
Edamame beans steamed and de-shelled
Ginger Garlic Tamari Sauce
2 Garlic cloves *grated into blender with microplane
1” piece of Ginger *grated into blender with microplane
1 cup Tamari
½ cup Coconut Aminos (this adds sweetness, decrease for less sweet)
Blend all ingredients until integrated
Kimchi *a heaping spoonful
Black Sesame Seeds *sprinkled on top
Black Sesame Peanut Butter Cookies
Set out 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cube and bring to room temperature
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt
1 cup all purpose flour GFO
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar together until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, which should take about 45 seconds.
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
½ cup creamy natural peanut butter (look at label to see if salted… you can increase or decrease salt in recipe to your taste)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar or coconut sugar
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything is well combined.
Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Now, add the black sesame butter to the bowl and BARELY mix to create the marbled look.
¼ cup black sesame butter
Use ice cream scoop or spoon to portion and work with hands to hold together cookie ball. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed up and set on the edges but still gooey in the middle. They might not look cooked, but they will continue to bake on the sheet. Let them cool on the baking sheet completely before enjoying!
Elderberry & Osha Root Oxymel from David Lohndorf
Add elderberries to a jar, dried or fresh.. I prefer fresh. Fill jar with a 1:1 ratio of raw apple cider vinegar and raw honey. Shake/mix occasionally and let sit for at least 4 weeks, I prefer 6-8.
In a smaller separate jar add pieces of chopped osha root and the same 1:1 ratio of ACV and honey. Also let sit for time as elderberries.
Once done strain the liquids and combine!
