Welcoming Spring with Food

Cooking and baking are extra exciting when the seasons shift. There are new ingredients in the grocery store, but there’s one last chance to whip up something with a staple that’s going out of season. And because it’s Lent, we’re getting creative with some meat-free meals on Fridays Here’s what we made in March:

Indigenous-Style Salad

I learned about the “Sioux Chef” this past winter when writing a freelance article on Native American foods. After being in Utah last fall and learning about the many native plants that were staple parts of the peoples’ diets, what Sean Sherman was doing (running a restaurant that served food made with only pre-colonization ingredients) was fascinating. In late February, Tim stumbled across his cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, when browsing the library’s catalog, and checked it out.

While we can’t make many of the foods due to the trouble or cost of sourcing ingredients, we did find a fancy salad recipe, and we’re a sucker for those! This one featured wild greens (we just got spring mix from Walmart), acorn squash, toasted walnuts, cranberries, sautéed apples, and fresh sage. The dressing was a maple vinaigrette (we used olive oil instead of the listed sunflower oil). Very tasty, and we were both impressed with the acorn squash, something neither of us had had before. But, after the first night, we both agreed the salad was missing something. So, on the second night, we added goat cheese (making it no longer pre-colonization since they didn’t use milk or cheese at all), and this extra ingredient upped the salad’s game! But, I can’t say we’d make it again since we liked our previous fancy salads better…

Chocolate Almond Butter Swirl Muffins

Though I wouldn’t necessarily opt to put almond butter on a sandwich, I do prefer it over peanut butter in baking. Not sure why. I think I like the extra nuttiness it brings. I have a flourless almond butter and chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s my absolute favorite, and these muffins absolutely lived up to the expectations those cookies set.

Packed with four bananas and 1/2-1 cup of almond butter, they’re a hearty way to start the morning. The chocolate (cocoa AND chocolate chips) make them the perfect indulgence that encourages a morning to start. 😆 These muffins are dairy-free (calling for coconut oil, but I used canola) and can be gluten-free as well (I used AP flour instead of the coconut flour it calls for). The banana and eggs give the muffins excellent structure, too, so they’re more packable than the muffins I made last month, which I love when I leave the house to write.

Maple Banana Bread

As I wait for butter to go on sale again, I’ve been trying to find bakes that use oil instead. This limits me to muffins and quick bread, mostly. It also meant I couldn’t use my mom’s banana bread recipe this time (even though it’s the best). So I went for this one, trusting that my favorite food blogger would come through.

It’s a decent rendition of the bread, but not as moist as Mom’s. It also uses maple syrup as a sweetener rather than sugar, so the bread is more subtly sweet. Would I make it again? Maybe if I were short on butter, but otherwise no. Banana bread is one of those things that if you find a keeper recipe, it’s best not to try a new one. It is dairy-free, though, if that’s something you’re looking for.

Guinness Soda Bread

When I was looking for the online version of Tim’s favorite Dutch oven bread (below), I found this recipe for Guinness soda bread and couldn’t resist. Fair warning, though, it’s not Irish soda bread at all. Yes, it’s leavened with baking soda, but it’s a quick bread. Batter and not dough. Chewy and not crumbly. Moist and not dry. Delicious, though. I would make this again, and Tim prefers it to traditional soda bread, so it’s definitely a win!

The flour – I used All Purpose, but you can use wheat – is mixed with oats, making it hearty and filling,
and the Guinness adds a delightful nuttiness.

Hot Cross Buns

This isn’t a new bake for me, but it’s become something of an Easter tradition for Tim and me. I’ve been making them since I got my first apartment, minus last year of course when we didn’t have an oven! They were delicious as always – and more so since I got to share. The buns came out of the oven, and we headed over to one of Tim’s choir mate’s house to do some gardening, buns on a plate. Since we don’t have the space for our own garden here, Kim, lovely lady that she is, has invited us to share hers – as long as we share in the work. Fair’s fair! Kim gave us our first tasks, and then eager gobbled one up, delighted. 😊

Carrot Cake

Though it may be a bit cliche, I couldn’t resist making carrot cake for our Easter dessert. So, I dove into my email “archive” – you know, all those emails we save just in case – and found the recipe my aunt sent me in 2019 while I was in Ireland. I spent €7 on vanilla for the cream cheese icing and was put out for a long time! 😅 It’s a story I’ll probably tell forever. But, as always, the recipe is delicious and oh-so-easy to make!

For the cake:

3/4 C oil (my aunt recommends Crisco, but vegetable works just fine)
2 C of sugar
4 eggs
3 C shredded carrots
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp cinnamon

Mix oil and sugar. Add eggs and mix. Add carrots and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix. Bake in a greased & floured pan at 350℉ for 35-40 minutes.

For the icing:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 C powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese. Mix in sugar and vanilla.

We had our brunch day when Matthew and April visited, opting for classic waffles with blueberries for a special touch! We’ve also cooked up our favorite Thai shrimp soup (another Friday meal), more pide for the start of Ramadan, and Tim has been on a Dutch oven bread kick, so there seems to always be some of that around.

iterum (adv): again; afresh; anew

For Easter dinner, we made Moroccan pie, something we made once soon after we married, and quickly fell in love with – even though we never got around to making it again! And we finally got our pizza stones out again, using our much-loved dough recipe for a meatless Friday. I got creative this time and topped one of the pizzas with a homemade white sauce, goat cheese, blueberries, honey, and rocket. It was a fun change of pace, but honestly, nothing beats a veggie pizza.