Happy December, everyone! I know preparing for the holidays can be a source of stress – everywhere you look, it seems like friends and family are ahead of the game with decorations, party planning, sending cards… It’s enough to make anyone want to just take a big long nap until January is here. So this year, at almost eight months pregnant, I’ve made the decision to only take on a little bit this holiday season, and so far it’s been the most wonderfully relaxed and stress-free one I can remember! We’re hosting just one holiday party at our house and it’s going to be a casual potluck. We’re sitting out far away family gatherings because long car rides make me queasy, so there won’t be the usual running around. Scaling back leaves me with the time, energy and sanity to actually enjoy the holidays this year, and for me that means lots of leisurely baking while listening to Christmas music!
This gingerbread cake is my first bake of the season, and everything about it says holidays. It’s loaded with rich molasses and lots of wintry spices for a dose of nostalgic gingerbread flavor, then coated in silky Stash Chai Spice Tea-infused buttercream.
If you’re in the market for an easy to make, crowd pleasing dessert this holiday season I’ve got you covered with these fudgy, maple tea-frosted brownies. They’re perfect for Friendsgiving potlucks when you don’t want to be the fourth person to bring 
A lot of the past week has been spent dealing with a water-leaking-through-the-ceiling-and-subsequent-costly-repair situation. Normal me would be a little stressed but calm and collected. Increasingly pregnant and emotional me, however, has a much lower threshold for meltdowns and seeing our 90% remodeled living room torn down to the studs almost pushed me over the edge. Honestly, when Bisou started meowing like crazy to alert us to the indoor rain my first impulse was to lay on the floor and cry. My second impulse was to distract myself with pie, and that’s the one I acted on. Whew! I filled a buttery crust with a mountain of fresh apples, lots of cinnamon and a hefty drizzle of homemade caramel, then baked it to golden, mouth watering perfection. And it was gooooood. So good, in fact, that we temporarily forgot all about the plumbing disaster and that’s saying something!
You may have seen me post about these pink apples a couple weeks back on 
It’s been cold, gray and rainy here in Portland and when dreary weather hits the Northwest, there’s only one thing to do: embrace it, because it’s not going anywhere for the next several months! To me, that means bundling up, staying inside and eating and drinking everything cozy and indulgent – like this rich and silky black forest hot chocolate. If decadent, made-from-scratch hot chocolate isn’t made for this season then nothing is. This one’s a mix of melted chocolate, cocoa powder, vanilla and milk that’s been infused with 
This was my first time trying black forest in non-cake form and I’m happy to report it’s just as tasty in a mug! The tea’s chocolate and cherry flavors aren’t overpowered in the hot chocolate–instead, you get a nice, subtle taste of black forest in every sip. It’s a black tea, too, and I very much appreciate the little caffeine kick now that the days are shorter and I have trouble staying awake past 5 pm. This hot chocolate is super rich thanks to the melted chocolate I stir in, so I like to keep the other flavors on the subtle side. But feel free to add a few more tea bags when you infuse the milk for even more black forest flavor! The same goes for the whipped cream–I only used a couple tea bags to infuse the cream because I didn’t want it to turn “tea” colored, but for a stronger flavor you can always use more. The lesson here is that you can’t go wrong with chocolate, cherry and vanilla. Mmm. 
First off, I know that post title is a bit of a mouthful. And that’s the pared down version! I also wanted to tell you right off the bat about the peppery watermelon radishes, crunchy, pink pickled onions, tender kale and nutty pepitas. Suffice it to say this grain bowl is bursting with flavors, colors and textures and is my new favorite make-ahead (and eat for days in a row because I’m hooked) meal. We’ve been stuck in a dinner rut for a while now and seem to make the same basic pastas, soups and pizzas week after week, and those old standbys have been tasting…blah. I’ve had very little appetite the whole time I’ve been pregnant (weird, huh) so the biggest motivator behind this grain bowl was making something really healthy and super flavorful, so even when I’m not that hungry I’m excited to eat it. And it worked! This is the first meal I’ve eaten in a couple weeks that I haven’t forced down half of, then passed off on Ponny, my dutiful husband/human composter. I’ve even gone back for seconds.
Let me tell you why. First, the corn salad – my inauthentic yet addictive version of esquites – is incredibly creamy yet fresh tasting, with a little bit of char on the corn and a sprinkle of cilantro and red onion. The chickpeas are wonderfully crunchy and flavorful thanks to a dash of cumin and cayenne. I love pickled red onions on anything and everything. Who wouldn’t!? And then the dressing. At first the cilantro is really bright and in your face and then, magically, it mellows out to a creamy, nuttiness with a subtle kick of garlic. It ties the whole thing together and I’m tempted to put it on every sandwich, bowl, pizza and sundae I make from now on. I cooked the brown rice in vegetable stock, so even the base of this bowl is extra savory.