I love the flavors of apple pie, but rarely have the patience (or energy) to make a whole pie from scratch.  Besides, of all the pies out there, apple pie falls into the Labor Intensive with Great Risk for Failure category.  Plus, establishing portion control rules for an entire apple pie in a house of two people is just asking for trouble.  Bleh.  No thanks.  Instead, I decided to find a way to incorporate all my favorite apple pie flavors in a simple-to-make, easy-to-hold, and light enough to enjoy with a cup of tea scone.

Made with whole wheat flour and rolled oats, these whole grain cream scones are specked with fresh apples tossed in honey and cinnamon.  Only lightly sweet, they are perfect topped with a slather of apple butter or just eaten plain alongside a warm cup of tea or cider.  All the spiced apple flavors you love from apple pie in a light, simple scone.

Keep reading …

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but there was a time in my life when the majority of my meals came in the form for a bar.  Prepackaged, processed food-like substances pressed into tight bars (usually dipped in some type of synthetic chocolate) were easy to eat on the go, cheap enough to buy in bulk and washed down just fine with a Diet Coke.  Now, much older and only slightly wiser, I’ve abandoned those chemical-laden, artificial-everything bars in favor of real foods, but I find myself longing for the convenience and simplicity of a good bar.  Only this time around, I’m a bit more picky.  I want a bar with ingredients I can pronounce.

Oats, almond butter, raisins, apricots, walnuts, almonds.  Yup, I can pronounce all of those!  Saying that these granola bars are ridiculously easy to make it an understatement.  They are simple enough that you could mass produce them in your own kitchen.  No joke.  They are free of any processed sugar, endlessly adaptable and perfect little snacks to take on the go.  Say hello to the new generation of bars!

Keep reading …

Recently, I’ve been on a quest to eliminate processed sweeteners from my diet.  Say goodbye to Splenda, Truvia, and good ‘ol fashioned granulated white sugar.  Sounds a little hippy, to be sure, but I figured that cutting out processed sugar as much as possible can’t be a bad thing.  Since this quest isn’t managing to quiet my incessant sweet tooth, this has let me on a constant search for sweetening replacements in baked goods.  Hello, honey-sweetened baked goods!

This uber-moist banana bread is made with whole-wheat pastry flour, sweetened with honey and all starts with an olive oil base.  Studded with toasted walnuts and wild blueberries this loaf packs a subtle nutty, banana flavor.  With a tangy sweetness from the honey, this moist quick bread is sure to become a family favorite in no time.

Keep reading …

Folks, I owe you an apology.  An apology for leaving you hanging for the past few months, for leaving you stranded during the biggest cooking season of the year (gulp), for leaving you wondering what was to become of A Dash of Sass.  I don’t have a good excuse, but a simple explanation: Life! I know I’ve mentioned it before, but being a Grown Up is way harder than it looks!  The balancing act of keeping your head above water at an intense job that mandates long, stressful hours, keeping a kitchen stocked with fresh, healthy ingredients (and doing enough menu planning to actually cook all those fresh ingredients!), staying in touch with friends and family strewn across the country, getting enough sleep and exercise … well, geeze, sometimes it feels like treading water is the best you can do!

I have no idea what happened to the last four months, just vague memories of brief moments of clarity.  So what does one eat while trying to keep pace with this hectic life without resorting to yucky, processed nastiness frequently referred to as fast “food”?  Quinoa.  Lots and lots of quinoa.  Meet my new favorite all-purpose grain.  It cooks up in no time at all, takes on the flavors of whatever else you are cooking with, is high in protein and a perfect way to get plenty of whole grains!

Keep reading …

I may be the only person who doesn’t like the sugar-crusted, cake-like, sugar bombs that coffeehouses are regularly passing off as scones.  They generally taste like overly sweet bricks.  Hard, bland and more appropriate for breaking windows than eating for breakfast.  Once I discovered that this is not the true incarnation of a scone, I was more willing to give them a try.  A proper scone is light, moist yet crumbly and only mildly sweet.  That’s my kind of scone.

These almond scones perfectly fit the bill.  With only two tablespoons of sugar in a full dozen scones, these only have a hint of sweetness.  Toasted almonds permeate the dough and when served fresh from the oven they are moist, flaky and a perfect accompaniment to a morning cup of coffee or tea.  Feel free to slather them with butter or lemon curd. We won’t judge you.

Keep reading …

As a perpetual city dweller, my eggs generally come from a styrofoam crate that will take a million years to break down. The eggs are perfectly white, uniform in size and predictably tasty. I had seen farm fresh eggs sold at farmer’s markets but never understood the appeal. My grocery store eggs were just fine.

Then I tried farm fresh eggs. While visiting my boyfriend’s family in Michigan, I made a trip to their family farm. We drove fifteen minutes down the road, visited the chickens, cows, horses and corn fields and came home with breakfast. Talk about eating locally!  These eggs were incredible and I’m already contemplating ways to install a chicken coop on my rooftop back home in New York.

Keep reading …

I’ve had this scone recipe from the incomparable Heidi, waiting in the wings for a few weeks. I’ve become slightly obsessed with agave nectar and, since Heidi already used a natural sweetener (maple syrup), I thought this would be a perfect recipe to experiment with.  I should probably warn you … when you come home from the store with a mountain of strawberries that look as beautiful as these do and you happen to have just enough milk in the fridge for one batch of scones … you might end up having what I’ve termed a Sudden Strawberry Scone Emergency.

Fear not, this emergency can be easily and quickly handled.  However, there is only one way to put out the fire: Make strawberry scones immediately.  Luckily, these only take about 35 minutes to prep and bake (plus a few minutes for cooling … if you can wait!).  Upon devouring these perfect little scones, your Sudden Strawberry Scone Emergency will be under control in no time.  At least mine was!

Keep reading …