Easy Honey Caramel Pecan Bars

This is a great dessert to make for parties, especially when you don't have much time---it goes together amazingly fast. They firm up nicely when cooled and stay perfect even when stored for a few days, so feel free to make them early before that holiday potluck. I also like them as "power food" for long days hiking and skiing in the winter.

Citrus Yogurt Cake

This is my go-to loaf cake for any occasion or no occasion at all. It's moist, the slices hold up, and the flavor is delicious. I have made it with all different kinds of citrus: lemon, orange, grapefruit (as in the original), lime, key lime, tangerine, and even kumquat. I have made it with 100% all-purpose flour, almost 100% whole wheat pastry flour, and usually a mixture of the two. I have made it with nonfat, full-fat, and Greek yogurt. I once made it dairy-free and it was still great. Sometimes I add random berries (raspberry, blueberry) or other fruit (pear) into the batter. This cake, it never disappoints.

A version of the very adaptable citrus yogurt cake with lemon
and poppyseed.

Grow Kale!

Let's talk about kale, even if you don't like it. First of all, if you're not growing it already, you should---it's impossible to kill, very productive, and you can grow it indoors all year 'round. Before we had the greenroom, we grew kale indoors in a planter in a sunny window and harvested tons of it and the plants lasted a few years. It also grows outside in almost any climate, but if you live somewhere with a cold snowy season I'd just recommend doing it indoors only so that you can harvest all through the winter.

Awesome Sesame Kale Chips

I never thought of kale chips as being difficult, but when I brought a bowl to a party everyone ooohed- and aaaahhed and said they had trouble making good ones. I must have lucked into a great recipe from the beginning. The chips are crispy, melt-in-your-mouth perfection (and this is coming from a certified kale hater). By the way, even if you are a kale hater, you should go ahead and try growing it anyway. It's easy and you can hide kale in a lot of things to take advantage of the health benefits without having to taste it straight-up. But these chips make kale the star, and they are awesome and addictive.

Perfect Vegan Cupcake (high altitude)

I've adapted sea-level recipes for dairy-free, egg-free cupcakes before, but they usually end up sunken and stuck to the muffin tin (or stuck to the paper liners, even worse). So, I went on a hunt for a really good cupcake/muffin that would work at high altitude. (I'm not sure what separates a cupcake from a muffin. I've reduced the sugar from the original cupcake recipe, bringing these dangerously close to muffin territory.) These can be frosted for dessert, or filled with power ingredients like nuts and raisins to make a breakfast or snack. Most recently, with autumn on its way and apples falling from the trees, I made these with apple chunks and walnuts, cinnamon and allspice, and brown sugar instead of white. It tasted like fall and it was delicious.

Colorful Upcycled Table

I mean, really. This is almost too easy to count as a legitimate DIY.

Whole Wheat Crepes

With the chickens popping out 4-6 eggs every day, we look for ways to use them up. I'm not the biggest fan of straight-up cooked eggs, but I love to make crepes, high-altitude popovers, and German pancakes, all of which use a lot of eggs with a little flour. This crepe recipe uses 4 eggs, fills the whole blender, and makes delicious crepes to last a week. Cook them all up at once and store in a baggie in the fridge.