Admittedly enough, it all started with an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (my secret guilty pleasure). We were practically drooling over a Mexican joint known for their fiery, authentic dishes and that led to a craving for a hearty meal steeped in south-of-the-boarder flavors.

Instead of keeping it 100% classic, we opted for a slight deviation and swapped out the rice for farro, a substitution that made the whole meal heartier and perfect for a chilly night. Ironically enough, the star of the dish was not the chicken or the rice and beans, it was the chili sauce, the constant thread that tied it all together. Robust and warm with spice, it made its appearance in every component of the dish but in different capacities. With the farro and beans it was accompanied by some tomato paste to stretch it out and make it richer. It also made for a terrific marinade for the chicken, forming a nice, spicy crust when roasted. Finally, the chili sauce made its way into some sour cream to create a cooling, yet still spice-kissed crema. The dish was plated and dotted with fresh cilantro leaves and splashed with fresh lime juice, just before serving.

This dish quickly became a favorite; spicy, hearty and balanced by the different textures and flavors and it totally hit the spot.

Chili Roasted Chicken with Black Bean Farro and Chili Crema 
Serves 2-3, comfortably

- 2 chicken breasts, trimmed of visible fat
- Chili Sauce (Recipe follows)
- Olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 cup Farro
- 2 small bay leaves
- 2 TBS tomato paste
- 1 can black beans, drained
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Cilantro Leaves to garnish
- The juice of 1/2 a lime

Preheat oven to 400. In a small bowl, marinate the chicken in just enough chili sauce to coat it evenly. Set aside. Reserve the rest of the sauce for later use. In a medium sauce pan, heat enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Add the diced onions and a pinch of salt and heat until translucent. Add the farro and 2 cups of water. Add the bay leaves and bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer the farro until it is tender, but still has a bit of a bite to it. Remove bay leaves and discard. Add the tomato paste, plus two heaping TBS of the chili sauce. Stir to combine and then fold in the black beans. Season to taste. Add the rest of the chili sauce to sour cream and set aside.

Salt the chicken breasts on both sides and roast until cooked through. Let rest a minimum of 5 minutes and then slice the chicken breast. To assemble, make a small pile of farro and beans, fan chicken slices out on top and top with a spoonful of the chili crema. Garnish with cilantro leaves and and lime juice juice just before serving.

For the Chili Sauce:

- 2-3 dried ancho chilies
- 1-2 chipotle peppers
- The zest of 1 lime
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander

Re-hydrate the chilies in hot water for about 15 minutes. Using a blender, puree the chilies with about 1/2 cup of the water used to re-hydrate the chilies. Add the lime zest, garlic, cumin and coriander. Puree until smooth.

Even though we haven’t had a traditional winter here, little snow to speak of and only a handful of bitterly cold days, that doesn’t mean we should miss out on our opportunity to make some classic winter dishes, before this winter (or what we’ve had of it) slips away into early spring.

Of course a really great French Onion Soup requires just a couple of ingredients and the time to let them develop into a surprisingly complex soup that hits all the notes; sweet and complexly meaty with a bit of a subtle tang. To create a rich broth with a buttery quality, I simmered roasted marrow bones (which by the way can be found at almost any grocery store for just a couple of dollars) and then in a separate skillet I caramelized onions until they developed a nice golden sheen and sweetness. I do this in a separate pan because if I were to add those beautiful caramelized onions to my simmering stock, I’d run the risk of them disintegrating. Thus, I add them to my soup at the very last minute. Getting back to my stock, along with the roasted marrow bones, I add the classic trio of carrots, onions and celery then a couple of bay leaves and some sprigs of fresh thyme. Then I simmer it for at least 4 hours (although it gets even better the longer you let it go).

Besides the caramelized onions and rich broth, the third part (and my most favorite) is the crouton raft and melted gruyere cheese that sits on top. The bread absorbs the broth and you have to wrestle with the cheese but to me that’s the fun of eating French Onion Soup in the first place. And even though I think a grey snowy day is ideal for a soup like this, it’s certainly not a requirement. So check out the recipe below and get your stock pot out…it’s soup time!

French Onion Soup
- 2-3 marrow bones
- 6 onions; 2 of them cut into fourths, 4 of them cut into thin half-moon slices
- 4 carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 4 celery stalks, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
- Olive Oil for the pan + 1 pat of butter
- 3 Bay leaves
- 7 sprigs of fresh thyme
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Splash of Sherry Vinegar
- Sourdough Bread, cubed and toasted (any bread you have on hand works well here too)
- Enough shredded Gruyere cheese for the top of each soup

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a foil lined baking sheet, roast marrow bones until they start to get fragrant and brown a bit. Remove from oven and set aside. In a medium size skillet, melt 1 pat of butter and enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Add the thinly sliced onions and a generous pinch of salt. Stir onions to coat them in butter/olive oil mixture and reduce heat to low, continuing to stir every once in a while until the onions are very soft and deep brown in color.

In a stock pot, Add the other two onions, celery and carrots. Add a pinch of salt and sweat the vegetables until they start to get a little golden in spots. Add the marrow bones, bay leaf and thyme. Add just enough water to cover the bones and vegetables in the pot. Bring water to a boil and then reduce to simmer. Continue to simmer for at least 4 hours, preferably 6-8 hours.

Strain the liquid and discard the vegetables and bones. Return liquid to pot and add caramelized onions. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Sherry Vinegar. Ladle into oven safe bowls and top with croutons and cheese. Heat until the cheese melts and serve immediately.

I thrive on the challenge of repurposing yesterday’s leftovers. There’s a certain thrill I get out of opening the fridge and taking out bits and pieces of this and that and combining it with some basic pantry staples to create something totally new. Not only, have I found, does this help to keep my taste buds anticipating the next dish, but it also helps me with my kitchen improvising skills and learning about how different flavors work together.

The other day, Burger Boy made this incredible Bolognese; slowly simmering some gorgeous steaks in a mixture of diced carrots and onions with crushed tomatoes until all of the flavors just came together. He then used the hearty sauce to make a comforting lasagna made with a mess of pasta sheets, a mushroom brie bechamel sauce and the satisfying Bolognese sauce. Naturally it wasn’t long before the lasagna plate was scraped clean. He hadn’t used all of the sauce in making the lasagna and since I wanted to avoid the easy route of just serving it over a pile of pasta, I took the opportunity to cook the sauce with bulgur wheat to create something new. Bearing similar qualities to polenta but with much more of a bite, the Bolognese and bulgur wheat was heartier and so satisfying, rich with all of the flavors that made the sauce so good to begin with. Once the bulgur was cooked through, it found its way into hollowed out yellow peppers and then cheese was melted on top, because, well, what’s a stuffed pepper without a healthy bit of melted cheese on top?

If you find yourself without homemade Bolognese on hand, fret not. You can substitute your own favorite sauce instead. Also, don’t miss out on your opportunity for creativity here as this dish is a great way to use up some vegetables or meats that may be just kicking around your fridge. If you find yourself a little short on time, feel free to substitute quick cooking couscous for the bulgur or take a little more time and make some quinoa. Nice, easy and just healthy enough, this makes for a great weeknight meal.

Peppers Bolognese 
Makes 2 stuffed peppers with extra bulgur

- 2 peppers
- 1 1/2 cups Bulgur Wheat
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups Bolognese sauce
- Salt to taste
- Cheddar cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Carefully carve out the top of the pepper, where the stem is, and remove the seeds while keeping the pepper in tact. Bake on a cookie sheet until the peppers soften, about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small pot, bring the bulgur wheat, water and a generous pinch of salt to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the bulgur is tender (about 30 minutes). Special note: if you notice that the bulgur has absorbed all of the water and is still not cooked, just add a bit more.

Once the bulgur is cooked, stir in the sauce and fill peppers with the bulgur-sauce mixture. Top with cheese and bake again for another 15 minutes or until the cheese melts. Serve immediately on top of a pile of extra bulgur.

I can’t predict how long this muffin craze of mine will last but until it fades, I’m totally loving it. My pantry is now stocked with all sorts of dried fruits, nuts and seeds and my fridge is full of buttermilk, just to ensure that each batch of muffin is different. Since my craze started a couple weeks ago, my oven’s been churning out about a dozen muffins a week and miraculously they all disappear by week’s end and then I’m back at it, making another dozen.

Because I want each batch of muffins to be different, I’ve been creating different recipes each week and sometimes it takes a couple of tries to make them just right. For some reason, the pumpkin muffins were a little trickier for me to perfect. The first batch wasn’t sweet enough or as light and fluffy as I wanted them to be. It took the addition of more buttermilk and maple syrup to make them just the way I wanted – sort of crispy on the outside and very soft and light on the inside with a great texture, courtesy of the millet and chia seeds that I added just before baking.

Since I don’t expect my muffin obsession to end anytime soon, you can be on the lookout for more to come. Until then, I hope you give this one a try. It’s a balanced combination of hearty and sweet and the texture is what really makes them; chewy from the dried fruit, and moist from the pumpkin and buttermilk. The flavors are bright with an extra bite of sharpness from the candied ginger bits. In addition, these little babies are so cheerful with their orangy hues and sunny millet seeds poking out, they make for a great start to the day.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Date Muffins
Makes 12

- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup millet
- 1 TBS cinnamon
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 can unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
-  1 egg
- 2 TBS minced crystallized ginger
- 1/4 cup chopped dates
- 2 TBS Chia Seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, millet and cinnamon) into one bowl. Add the dates, chia seeds, and crystallized ginger to the dry ingredients and give them a good toss until everything is distributed evenly. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients (pumpkin puree, buttermilk, maple syrup, egg) and lightly whisk to combine. Fold the wet ingredients in with the dry and bled until it just comes together (don’t overmix -you’ll end up with hockey puck shaped muffins!) Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake until a toothpick that is inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean (about 15 minutes or so). Store in an airtight container.