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Entrée, Fall, Winter, Personal

PASTA WITH ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, CHORIZO + WINTER PESTO

She told me about what she thinks about her body; that people at her table are talking about getting married. She listens to my feedback about her effort at soccer practice and asks me to speak in a more calm voice (I wasn’t yelling for the record, but I do get passionate when I want to make a point. That point being: please act like you want to be there). He wants me to listen to the fart joke in his audio book or the techno song that he likes, even though it “feels stressful” (it does). He tears up over feeling like everyone at school just argues over football rules everyday and remarks he wants to live with us forever. I get so much from them at bed time, like everyone is ready to unload, and maybe this is a season, and one I’ll miss if it is, but when did they become people? Messy ones who still need to be reminded to put their clothes away 385798410 times, but these complicated feelings over friendship and motivation and little and big questions are pretty remarkable. I am planning some travel for a few book events, and it struck me how much I really love the ages of our kids. It’s so much easier now - they’re more flexible to take along, their thoughts are interesting and funny. I’d want to be both of their friends if I got to go back to elementary school. Curran is turning 10, I’m turning 40, a book that feels like it took forever to make it finally coming out this Spring and in a good way, it feels more like New Years than January did. At a glance, zooming out, asking questions and reorienting perspective. Here we are, and isn’t that just amazing.


All those memes about how people hate that bloggers write musings instead of just post recipes. It’s not always for you, dearest recipe searcher, sometimes the writing is just as much the connection as the food is, so you’re going to have to bear with me. Many people I know who connect through making people food, are also writers and thinkers and communicators, so it’s a package deal, folks. It’s pillow talk and pasta over here.


Speaking of the cookbook! Most every recipe in there has a photo except for, maybe 4? There are factors that contribute like page count and price etc. so a few final shots just didn’t make it in. Unfortunately, no photo usually means less intrigue and the recipe can get overlooked, so I’m going to highlight one of my favorites here. I love pasta with lots of bits in it and this one is heavy on the bits. My kids will eat this, picking around the extra kale and Cleo won’t actually like it, but they eat it. Either way, I do think you should put this one on your list soon.

I also wanted to post a few dates for some cookbook events coming up around the time of publishing. If you live in any of these areas, I would really love to meet you! If more get added, I will include them here as a landing page.

April 30th - Kitchen Lingo in Long Beach, CA 6pm
May 3rd - Vivienne’s in Portland, OR 5pm
May 5th - IG with Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille
May 6th - Book Larder in Seattle with Ashley Rodriguez, WA 6:30 pm
May 9th - HOM in Dana Point, CA 6pm
May 15th - Preorder Incentive Class at 12pm PST with Laura of The First Mess
(sign up!)

June 22st - Olivia and Daisy in Carmel, CA 1pm

PASTA with ROASTED CAULIFLOWER, CHORIZO + WINTER PESTO

Serves 4

A dish that has excellent ROI with your cooking time, it is filling and textured and has lots of vegetables. You may end up with more kale pesto than you need for this recipe, but it has lots of other uses, such as with eggs, atop roast potatoes, or as a veggie sandwich spread. We don’t want the fresh sausage-like chorizo in tube form; instead, look for a dry chorizo, typically from Spain, not Mexico, that you will find in a well stocked cheese and deli section. It looks like salami.
I do think sucessful dinner prep takes a bit of planning. The pesto can be made a few days in advance to save time. Vegetarian? Replace the chorizo with some chopped, sun dried tomatoes.

Printed from Around Our Table by Sara Forte

FOR THE WINTER PESTO
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup cilantro or parsley
1 packed cup lacinato kale, deribbed and chopped
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

FOR THE CAULIFLOWER
1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
sea salt and fresh ground pepper


2 oz. dried chorizo, cut in 1” ribbons
1 small bundle lacinato kale, deribbed and cut in ribbons

12 oz. any short pasta
half of one lemon

grated parmesan, red pepper flakes, fresh parsley, for garnish

Make the kale pesto. In a food processor, pulse the garlic, pine nuts and lemon juice together. Add the cilantro and/or parsley, chopped kale, salt and pepper, and run it again until well chopped. With the motor going, drizzle in the olive oil and parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Preheat the oven to 425’. On a rimmed baking sheet, pile the cauliflower, and drizzle it with the olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Toss well to coat and roast for 30 minutes until the edges are toasty. To the baking sheet, add the chorizo and kale ribbons, toss everything to coat. If the sheet looks dry, add another drizzle of oil. Roast an additional 3 minutes to warm. Set aside.

Cook your pasta according to instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot with a few heaping spoonfuls of the pesto and a giant splash of the pasta water. Stir to mix, we want it generously sauced. Add the contents of the baking sheet, squeeze of fresh lemon and stir again. Add more pesto if you’d like or more pasta water to loosen things up.

Serve portions with a generous sprinkling of parmesan, red pepper flakes, a grind of pepper and some fresh parsley.

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INTRODUCING : SK COOKING CLUB

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Cooking Club is live!

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Before you roll your eyes at one more blogger/influencer person selling you something. Hear me out. Most of you don't know me personally enough to hold your trust, but I can say with utmost confidence, that I believe this product can help people.

Some time last year, I started working on a third cookbook. When I got about 40% of the way through, I tried to sell the idea to my publisher. I was working on this project diligently, madly in love with many of the recipes, having them tested, we'd shot about half, and then I got turned down. The cookbook world continues to be a super over saturated market, and with all the different diets these days, it is only becoming more so. They didn't think my book would sell without a strong hook, and I couldn't come up with one that felt true to the way that I cook and eat. We eat a moderate, healthy-ish diet. Sometimes I feed tables full of friends and other nights I attend to picky toddlers. I'm all in with the coconut yogurt and the gluten free baked goods, but I will also sit and watch Queer Eye with a pint of McConnells Peppermint Stick if the spirit leads. I shoot down the middle with these circumstances, and apparently, that doesn't sell. I do not take that personally. That doesn't mean never, but it does mean not right now. I was surprised and disappointed, because that was the trajectory my life had been going the last six years. I blogged, I wrote cookbooks, and honestly have NO clue what my career pivot is from here. So more cookbooks, right? Apparently not.

I tell my kids to problem solve. I may have a tendency to do things for them because it's quicker, but in a good parenting head space, my job is to guide them into figuring out how to solve problems on their own. So I took my own advice. Problem solve, Sara. Par it down. Why am I doing this? I like taking care of people. Food is the most natural creative expression in how I can live out that care taking. I want to sit around a table and listen and laugh and cry. There are studies that say the happiest people ever are is around a table, enjoying food with people. How can I push people towards that happy place? I pursue good health in a number of ways, but the community I have nurtured here, is by way of feeding our bodies wholesome foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, foods cooked from scratch, and making things taste good because eating is for pleasure as well as for sustenance. I'm sharing recipes because I want to encourage people to cook and eat with people. I can do that, perhaps even more acutely and intimately, by way of the program we're creating in Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club.

If your interest is perked, head to this page to read more about what it is. If you're ready to go, you can sign up here. Per request, there will also be a gifting option, which will be available in the shop, so you can purchase the program for a friend or sibling who may enjoy cooking along with you. This is not designed for the super competent cook, these will be simple, straight forward meals intended to spice up and simplify the dinner process. I know we all have different tastes and preferences, but I am hoping this will be a really neat community where we can share ideas about what we changed or did with the leftover dressing, etc.

One way or another, it is worth expressing my gratitude to you all, who have been fans and supporters of Sprouted Kitchen in all its forms, and given me the confidence that I have something valuable to share. There is nothing that humbles me more than your kind notes or seeing your pictures of my food in your kitchens. 

Sign up! Let's make dinner together. 
 

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GIFTS + THINGS OF 2017

I know they get overdone but I love a good gift guide. I think I end up buying more things for myself than I do for other people, but they serve their purpose for sure. You get new ideas from sites and brands you otherwise may not have heard of and I just like them. So in no particular order, are a few things we've either really enjoyed this year, or wish we can enjoy in the future or will be gifting to someone else. Hugh's recommendations are marked with an (H). Thanks!


Donations

We hosted a few dinners this year to benefit the International Rescue Committee. You can read more about them on their site. If you are looking to make some year end donations yourself, or give on behalf of someone else as a gift. We have done some research (Charity Watch helps you look further into the details of specific charities) and are also giving to International Justice Mission and A21.


Business&Pleasure Umbrellas

We spend a lot of time at the beach. After finally wearing through a fairly useless umbrella we had for years, we replaced her with the most well made umbrella I've ever seen. They have all metal hardware, a solid wood stand, the fabric is sturdy and not to mention absolutely beautiful. We have one of the beach tents that the kids settle into as their special fort, but the umbrellas are a little easier set up and I'm certain it will outlive me. They are even offering you lovely people a 20% code! Use SPROUTED20 at checkout. 


Bushwick Kitchen Condiments

First off, the packaging is simple and smart. Second, this stuff is delicious. The spicy honey with cheese is perfect and I've roasted Brussels with the spicy maple and oil. Hugh lacquered some of his bacon in the coffee maple before baking and still talks about it. You get free shipping when you order three things and I see no reason why you would not. 

(Speaking of other food gifts, loving this Central Coast Family Farm pretty olive oil for special cocasions)


Imperfect Produce

I know this is limited to the West Coast and Chicago at this time, but they're expanding! So hear me out. If you've been following along here for awhile, I've been a long time proponent of a local CSA box program. I took a break from them for a couple seasons because I was getting burnt out of the same things and lack of flexibility, but have recently been into Imperfect Produce. It's a weekly produce box, with the option of customization (brilliant!) so I can opt out of the potatoes if we still have some from last week, and add more squash, for example. They offer gift certificates, and while this may only be a gift for the right kind of person (read:me), our pediatrician once wisely suggested that it is better to gift a family healthy food above more plastic. Merrrrrry Christmas, kids ;)


Penn and Olive

I am actually not a big essential oils gal (though I do have this diffuser on my list because I want my house to smell nice), HOWEVER, I rub the sleep and immunity rollers on my kids every night because... why not? Does my son still wake up at 5am before the sun? Yes, yes he does, but at least he smells dreamy. 


Print Shop . Hugh Forte

As his biggest fan, I understand my bias here, but I think these photos are beautiful. The thing about Hugh's talent, is that as his work lies largely in weddings and food, we miss where his heart and eyes are most drawn to: the ocean, waves, a quiet desert landscape, the beauty of the world around us. He takes in so much visually, things I wouldn't have noticed; to experience his photos is to see a piece of him. He just started a print shop and will be adding to it slowly. A super generous Santa brought him a drone this year, so stay tuned for more aerial images as well. For the rest of this month, you can use the code SK20 for 20% off your order. It is too late for framing, but if you order by December 12th, they will arrive by Christmas. 


Bonavita Electric Kettle (H)

I can't believe this item hadn't made it into previous years gift guides at any point... we use this every day, multiple times a day. Coffee. Tea. Give it to me faster and at a more precise temperature and at the push of a button AND without me having to manage the target temperature. And keep it there for up to an hour for when I get distracted. This thing is worth every penny. 


Rancilio Rocky (H)

More coffee gear? Ok. Sara got me this grinder for my birthday this year and I love it. We primarily brew pour over around here so the primary bottleneck in quality has always been the grinder. I've slowly upgraded grinders over the years and always been slightly disappointed that I couldn't quite get the cup of coffee I knew was possible because I was skimping (even after dishing out for relatively expensive machines, like our previous Virtuoso) on the grinder. Anyway, this grinder finally unlocked the potential of that cup of pour over. Cheers.


For Kids:

Magnatiles

Curran (3.5) actually got these last Christmas, by recommendation of my sister is law, and they are great. I can't say there are many toys that he is happy to play with on his own. All sides are magnetic, so they're a little easier to build than traditional blocks. They also make a 100 piece set if you're wanting to invest deeper into the set, but either way, I would swear by these for any kid over 3. 


Books:

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
I don'd think I've waxed poetic enough about how much I love this book. I haven't tried too many of the recipes to be honest, but Samins' writing is so charming, easy to read and helpful. It's unlike any other food related book I own and I think it'd make a great gift for both a beginner cook or just someone who loves to learn from another perspective. 


Dark Matter (H)

This was a surprisingly engaging read. Speculative fiction often times demands too much suspension of disbelief for my taste, but something about the character's plight in this story hooked me. It's a fast paced romp through the multiverse (or at least a small part of a Many Worlds version... ok good talk).


Finding God in the Waves (H)

If you're familiar with the Liturgists Podcast, this author's name may look familiar. This may not be for everybody on your shopping list, but this title claimed my prestigious "Most Underlined and Dogeared Book" award for the year. I mean, a cover blurb from Richard Rohr is pretty cool too, I guess. 


Lastly, if you're still looking for more ideas, you can take a peek at our previous gift guides:

2016
2014
2013


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