An allergy-friendly valentine to Paris

I’m more of a romantic than I like to admit because I often dream of the world as it ought to be.  In one of these imagined worlds my family is strolling down a cobblestone street in Paris.  My son’s hand is tightly holding mine as we pass by the cafés and watch les parisiens leisurely sipping their drinks and discussing the news of the day.   

We are drawn into a pâtisserie by the smell of freshly baked baguettes, croissants and pastries wafting through the air.  Jac stands on his tiptoes, his nose barely above the marble countertop.  His eyes widen.  Lined up in rows are tarts filled with crème and adorned with peak of the season berries.  Madeleines, carefully placed in a bowl, are ready for snacking.  Jac’s wandering gaze takes in the textures, colors and sweetness of it all.  He looks at me expectantly.  Then I let go of his hand and say, Ça va. Tu peux choisir.  Tout les produits ici sont sécuritaires.  It’s okay.  You can choose.  Everything is safe. 

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Easy Spicy Nacho Kale Chips

There's nothing like eating your greens to make you feel redeemed of a guilty diet, is there?  Last month I resolved to eat more green leafy veggies as part of a larger plan to ensure that each meal consist of at least half veggies or fruits.  It had gotten to the point where couldn't say I ate a plant-based diet and look you in the eye.  It didn't help matters that, every other day for a solid 4 months I'd have a new dessert recipe coming out of the oven, filling the air with wafting scents of dark chocolate, vanilla, Grand Marnier or caramelized fruits.  And I have to admit, there were plenty of batches not quite suitable to give away to friends, yet not terrible enough to ditch.  Where did those go, I wonder?

So I'm cleaning up my act around here and bringing a little redemption and love to this space, by way of kale (of course).  This vegetable seems to be having its heyday.  It really is deserving of all the accolades, though.  You know, with a perfect ANDI score of 1000 and all.

After hearing the praises of kale chips from friends and several vegan bloggers at Vida Vegan Con, I figured I'd get around to trying them one day.  But I couldn't bring myself to spend $8 on a smallish plastic container of these goodies that I might, okay, that I would definitely consume in one sitting.

For weeks, well, more like months, I eyed those kale chips at the store.  Until last week, when I realized that the Superbowl is upon us.  My guys are going to want snacks.  And we don't want to undo a whole month's worth of good eating, so I set about gathering inspiration from a few places:

Dan Barber's Tuscan Kale Chips for Bon Appétit

Smitten Kitchen's Baked Kale Chips

Todd Porter & Diane Cu's Spicy Smoky Kale Chips

And then I set to work choosing and prepping my favorite dinosaur kale...because I loved Jurassic Park.  The book, not so much the movies.  The prepping is really not that tedious.  All of 15 minutes, really.  But I was so hungry and anxious to taste the end result.  It got the better of me and I was caught up in kale's magic.

Apparently, my offspring was, too.  I reveled, watching him eat half the batch moments after it came out of the oven.  I see far fewer bags of tortilla chips in our future.  Spectacular.

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Brooklyn Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's give this place a new look, shall we?  It's been an enjoyably busy spring and summer, testing recipes, baking, and watching Jac grow into a toddler.  He's now in the habit of lingering in the kitchen to see what comes out of the oven next, like his mama. 

Last weekend I made these chocolate chip cookies with Mast Brothers Chocolate for a tea and pastry event for friends.  There was also lemon bundt cake with Earl Grey icing, madeleines, sunflower seed butter cookies, and banana muffins with pumpkin seed struesel.  These cookies were my favorite, though. 

In the spring I took a tour of the Mast Brothers Chocolate factory, located near the waterfront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  You can smell chocolate in the air from a block away.  And I've been baking with it ever since! 

Is is that good. 

I met a friendly group of guys wrapping the bars in gold foil while overseeing the roasting as well as one gal in the tempering room.  This is American craft chocolate at it's best.

This cinema screen-worthy video tells their story.

Not only is it some of the best chocolate I can remember tasting, but it's great for those with dairy or soy allergies.  No milk is used in the factory because they don't make any milk chocolate bars.  You can get a bar with just two ingredients: cacao and sugar, which is unbleached.  No soy lecithin here!  Tree nuts are used in the facility, however.  My favorite is the 72% Madagascar.  They buy directly from the grower and occasionally bring back a bounty of beans via sailboat.  That part makes me smile.

Tomorrow I leave for Portland and the Vida Vegan Bloggers Conference.  I'll take some granola and probably one of these cookies to sustain me for the trip.  I can't wait to meet some new friends, share cooking ideas and come back with lots of photos from the trip.  Meanwhile, I'll leave with you with this recipe.  One of the very best from my coffers. 

I hope you're enjoying the end of summer with family, friends, music, trips to the farmer's market, and cookies.  Of course.

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