This salad is a mash up of the many grain and asparagus salads I’ve seen floating around the web lately. With asparagus season truly getting underway, and a big bag of barley in our pantry, I knew this just had to be made. The general idea is that delicious fresh cooked asparagus is tossed with hot barley, a sharp lemony vinaigrette, and topped with shavings of salty Parmesan. The concept is simple, and so is the recipe, and the result is nothing short of delicious.

I don’t want to jinx mother nature, but we finally appear to be turning the corner with spring. You guys, it has been an effing long winter and I am SO happy it is over. I even caught myself going through the spring cleaning ritual yesterday. One minute I was getting rid of a shirt that my son had outgrown. The next minute his dresser contents were all over the floor and I had a fresh bag of hand-me-downs. I also went through our pantry and dining room chucking this and that and even had the windows open for a little while. Welcome, spring, we need you to freshen us all up right now!

I’ve been having a little fun styling up our table for Easter and generally getting things put together again and thought it would be fun to look at some photos for inspiration. Here are a few of my favorite spring tables styles from around the web:

Sometimes I forget how food makes a great centerpiece. A giant footed bowl, or even a cake stand, piled high with a pyramid of fresh tangerines is so pretty and bright! (via Frances Palmer)

I love the newly revived Dodie Thayer line for Tory Burch. This green is my favorite color in the whole world and it would be the most gorgeous table setting for spring and summer. (via Tory Burch)

These egg shells holding flowers and succulents are adorable. This would be such a fun project with kids! (via Camilla Styles)

Anna’s friend Chinae just launched an event company and created these gorgeous flower arrangements. I love how they are dramatic without feeling heavy. They’d be beautiful for the late winter/early spring Easter we are going to have this year. (via The Yellow Table)

Artichokes are my favorite vegetable so this is right up my alley. A big pitcher full of artichokes would look so pretty on a side table or a countertop where they can really make a statement. (via Shelterness)

I’ve been having so much fun seeing what recipes you want to try from Butternut Mountain Farm. Don’t forget, the maple syrup giveaway is continuing until Thursday so please come by and enter!

In the mean time, last week I had gathered some great recipes from many of my favorite food blogs. These all feature maple syrup as a natural sweetener and main ingredient. Since maple syrup season is now in full force there is no better time to try them. Enjoy!

Beverages:

Maple Latte – Simply Stacie (image above)

Maple Bourbon Smash – Food & Wine

3 Maple Syrup Cocktails – The Wall Street Journal

Dark Chocolate Maple Cocoa – Babble Food

 Maple Syrup Milkshake – Bite Me More

Meat, Poultry, Fish:

Grilled Salmon with Maple Sriracha Lime Glaze – Kalyn’s Kitchen (image above)

Maple Sausage Patties – Simple Bites

Maple Bourbon Apple BBQ Ribs – Snappy Gourmet

Maple Steak Walnut Salad – Our Small Hours

Bourbon Maple Glazed Chicken Wings – Simply Recipes

Maple Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon, and Cornbread Stuffing – Creative Culinary

Vegetables:

Maple Glazed Carrots with Bacon – Confessions of an Overworked Mom

Maple Roasted Butternut Squash – Sidewalk Shoes

Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Maple-Balsamic Dressing – Two Healthy Kitchens (image above)

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Maple Orange Glaze – Pinch of Yum

Miso Maple Sweet Potato Tacos – Love & Lemons

Desserts:

Pumpkin Bread Pudding Maple Glaze – Confessions of an Overworked Mom

Maple Apple Pudding – Simply Stacie

Maple Delicata Squash Brownies – Fearless Dining

Maple Chocolate Fudge – Our Small Hours

Spicy Maple Cashew Crunch – Around My Family Table

Maple-Pecan Mini Tarts – Babble Food (image above)

Over the weekend we tapped our maple tree and hope to be making our homemade maple syrup soon. While we love this new tradition we never make enough syrup to last the whole year. I always end up buying a big jug or two of pure upstate syrup in Cooperstown whenever we visit. Over the years people have told me they find buying maple syrup intimidating and wonder if it is even worth it. All the grades can seem confusing and it is more expensive then the fake manufactured syrup you find in most grocery stores. So, today my friend Emma from Butternut Mountain Farm is here to clear up any confusion and share a few fun facts about maple syrup.

I am also excited to be giving away two bottles of her delicious Vermont maple syrup which her company is now packaging in squeeze bottles. Emma knows what happens when you mix syrup jugs with small children (a huge mess!) and had the genius idea of making maple syrup easier for kids to handle. I love her ingenuity!

Easy Tomato Sauce on The Meredith Vieira Show (click link to view live segment)

Asparagus & Feta Squares on Babble

One-Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread on Lifetime Moms

I am not Irish, but I never shy away from a good chocolate quick bread recipe and this seemed like a good day to share one made with a strong Irish beer. I assure you, this is also family-friendly. The alcohol from the Guinness burns off while baking so don’t worry, the kids can eat it too. We made this on Sunday while my son napped. It was a quick one-bowl affair that came together quickly and tasted amazing. It even has made an appearance in the lunchbox this week! I hope you enjoy eating it as much as we do. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’ve am longtime fan of Gesine Bullock-Prado. I own every single one of her books and often dream of someday (someday!) being able to bake at her level. She possesses a rare talent for inventing dreamy cakes and succulent sweets, and even elevating things like everyday cookies to a whole new gourmet level. Luckily for us, this spring she has given us yet another incredible baking book: Let Them Eat Cake: Classic Decadent Desserts with Vegan, Gluten-Free & Healthy Variations. There are over 80 recipes for popular homemade sweets and variations on how to make them healthier, gluten-free, and even vegan. Genius! Earlier this month Gesine and I had a quick email chat about her new book and I am thrilled to share it here today. And don’t forget to enter to win a copy below!

1) This is the baking book of my dreams. You update all favorites and give me ways to make them (successfully) for my gluten intolerant/food allergy friends. Hurray! How did you learn all these excellent variations when you don’t struggle with food intolerance yourself? You’re the first person I’ve found that can remove gluten from a cookie without making it taste like cardboard.

I was, for better or worse, raised as vegan (macrobiotic) with intermittent bouts of utter butter and sugar (and pork) insanity when we went back to Germany in the summers. Baking (and cooking) with an eye to both vegan and health concerns is forever ingrained in my soul. And despite my deep resentment at having been forced to bring tempeh in my grade school lunch, I thank my mother, begrudgingly, for making this way of eating and cooking a way of life.

Now, I get giddy when I see new products that expand my alternative baking horizons. My background also benefitted me in my pastry shop and had to bake for customers with food allergies and intolerances. Gluten free baking came naturally since so many European treats are naturally GF (I started my pastry career 10+ years ago making French macaron years before it was the new cupcake and it’s, the ultimate GF pastry) and when a celiac suffering customer craved something all-American, I reveled in the challenge and got to play with all manner of GF flour combos.

I’m also a marathon runner and I find when I’m in training, I want a baked treat that can also act as legitimate fuel for a long run. I’ve developed healthier versions throughout the years where I use nutrient rich grains, healthy fats and sweeteners, like organic palm sugar, that have a low glycemic index and a host of healthy minerals.

2) I see a lot of German and Vermont influences in your baking (marzipan! maple! The Big Winooski!) As you continue to develop recipes and expand your repertoire how do these places play a role in your kitchen?

We have a farm and everything around me influences my baking life. I use our goose and duck eggs to make gorgeous meals and insane cakes and I bring my eggs to the other instructors at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center when I teach to spread the eggy love. We tap our maples and sugar each year, so we’re never without the syrup. I keep bees and our little buzzers do their thing and make us honey. We get apples, plums, cherries, berries and even peaches from our land. We get tons of veggies too but it probably won’t surprise you that I lean towards the sweetness in life.

3) Looking at the variety of recipes in here I’ll admit I’d have had a hard time narrowing down what to include. Are these some of your all-stars? How did you choose?

I’m a mercurial baker and eater. I change with the temperature. This winter, with the insane cold, I’ve been all about chocolate, caramel and shortbread. I’ve also been making loads of puff pastry. Nothing like a few pounds of butter to nurse away the wintertime blues. Come spring time and sugaring season, I’ll be deeply invested in all things maple while I pray for temperatures above freezing. So the recipes are among my favorites with plenty of caramel, chocolate and buttery goodness but my main focus was to choose a well-rounded selection for every baking occasion. So if someone says to you, “Can you bring a Thanksgiving pie….but make it gluten free?”, I’ve got you covered.

4) Can we please pray that spring is on the horizon here in the Northeast? What desserts can you recommend for our spring table? I have a lot of baking for Easter and Mother’s Day coming up!

I hate to be a broken record but spring is all about maple for me. But it’s also about the hope of sunshine and rebirth and that always makes me thing of fresh fruit tarts. The brightness of fresh fruit, arranged just so, is magical. Add some pastry cream and a flaky quick puff crust, you’ve just entered heaven. And despite my love of all things sweet, I have to say that spring means asparagus. It’s the first thing to pop out of the ground here, even when there’s still snow littering the asparagus plots. I grab my garden shears, snip off as many stalks as I need and tear back to the kitchen to sauté or blanch them so they retain 100% of their sweetness. It’s worth the danger to run with scissors just to taste the freshest of asparagus. Most of the sweetness is lost and toughness sets in after the first day of harvest so getting those puppies prepared minutes after cutting is a beautiful culinary experience. One of my favorite savory tarts with crazy with asparagus.

5) What’s next for all these amazing desserts and books you produce? I need to see you make them on television!

I’m lucky that the lovely folks at The Talk and Today Show ask me back regularly. I have a great time flying through recipes with those lovely and interesting people. We’ll see what else pops up in the future. Frankly, I’m just happy puttering around in my little animal filled world, exploring the thing I love most: baking.

Thanks for the lovely chat, Gesine!

To enter to win a copy of Let Them Eat Cake!

1) Share your favorite classic dessert and a variation on it you’d love to learn how to make (healthier, gluten-free, vegan, etc.)

2) Follow Kelsey Banfield on Facebook.

3) Contest runs from March 16th at 7:00am until March 23rd at 7am. Winner will be announced in the March 27th newsletter. Good luck!

This blueberry breakfast bread pudding came about when I had to use up leftovers from the fridge. Eggs, challah, blueberries, you name it, all the ingredients were front and center and just about to outlive their welcome in the kitchen. Since the challah had already been used for other things I decided to break it into chunks and marinate it overnight to absorb the flavor like I do with my overnight French toast. In the morning I popped it in the oven and let it bake and bubble until a gorgeous casserole was ready for us all to enjoy.

This is a great breakfast (or dessert!) for a crowd. It can be easily prepared in advance and appeals to guests of all ages. Be sure to drizzle it with fresh maple syrup before diving in!

What do you get when you combine flaky pie crust with your favorite cookie recipe? Peanut butter cookie pie, of course. This treat is a super-duper kid favorite recipe that is bound to be a family favorite for years to come. And if you really want to ensure its place in the dessert hall of fame make it into a giant peanut butter cookie pie overload sundae. You’ll be the most popular person in your house and bask in praise for days on end!

We are on the mend at Chez Naptime after last week’s kiddie virus invasion. I am still amazed at how many tissue boxes we went through! I am slowly getting back on the cooking wagon and am sticking to quick, easy meals that can be whipped up in a jiff. I even make them easier on myself with a little naptime food prep. So simple! These green beans with frizzled shallots have become a recent favorite of ours. We love the salty crunch of the shallots with the snappy beans.

I’ve written about my friend Aimée before as she is the editor of Simple Bites, one of my favorite food blogs. Her recipes and tips are timeless and she is one of my most constant sources of inspiration. I should also mention that her incredibly organized refrigerator makes me weep with envy! Today I am writing about Aimée for the best reason – she wrote her first cookbook! Brown Eggs and Jam Jars: Family Recipes from The Kitchen of Simple Bites is a triumph of family food, gardening tips, and the warmth of Aimée’s hearth. I can’t say enough about it. Here is my little interview with Aimée and your chance to win your very own copy!

1) There are so many angles to this book and they all demonstrate your love for urban homesteading and how you grow a lot of your own food and feed your family. As you outlined this book how did you go about organizing the chapters and deciding what to include (kids in the kitchen, egg education, building garden beds, recipes, and more!) and how to include it? (ps­ thank you for all the jam jar hack ideas!)

The cookbook closely follows our day-­to­-day life, so it made sense to build the content around the seasons and events they bring. We eat and preserve food very seasonally, so that helped narrow down which recipe went where. I wanted each chapter to feel like a menu ­ with a beverage, a salad, a main, a dessert, etc, so that whittled down my options for recipes and brought a balance to the overall selection. The homesteading features were woven in to fit with the season, and the Kids Can sections were slotted in near the end of the books completion.

2) The photography and styling of this book is so rich and inviting. After I finished it I felt like I had visited your home and met your family! How did you determine what would be photographed and how it would be presented? It was one of the homiest and warmly photographed cookbooks I’ve ever read.

Thank you! I wanted to achieve exactly what you have felt ­ that readers had joined us on our urban homestead, celebrating the joyous events that the seasons bring. So I really appreciate the feedback! My photographers wrote a ‘behind the scenes’ post about the photos in the book  that was really fun. I chose to work with them because of their unique approach to lifestyle photography. They are able to capture life as it happens, which was ideal for BEJJ, because I didn’t want to really ‘style’ our events. Gathering such as the Harvest Dinner or Jam Swap happened in the same way they do every year, only Tim and Angela were around to document them for the cookbook.

3) Canada plays a staring roll in this book. Can you tell us a little how Canadian cuisine differs from American and British food? You’ve really helped me see how it is a unique niche and your distinctly Canadian view deserves some attention.

Canadian cuisine is uniquely diverse because of the melting pot of cultures and the sheer expanse of the country. We eat close to the land and feast on an array of gorgeous produce, fine cheese, wild and domestic meats, and uniquely grown ingredients. I have lived nearly coast to coast and there are recipes in the book that reflect that history, from my Baba’s pickles to my take on classic Quebec Tourtiere. And of course there’s an entire chapter on maple syrup ­ it doesn’t get more Canadian than that! So many people are saying that the books feels decidedly Canadian and that makes me so happy.

4) Were there any “outtakes” we don’t see here? I always have to wonder if there was a wilting plant that wouldn’t stand up, or a child that upset the perfectly styled cookie plate at the last second. Those kind of things happen in my house all the time and often make for the best behind-­the­-scenes stories!

Oh plenty!! We worked with anywhere from 2-­5 kids around (mine plus the photographers), and there were countless upsets and re-­shoots.The hardest part was holding them back from diving into the food all the time, because it was always perfectly edible and ready-­to­-eat, not overly propped and styled! Clara’s picnic photo (the opening image for Chapter 3: Picnics) was a challenge and a half. She wouldn’t sit still, the wildflowers kept getting trampled so we had to move to a new area, and the food kept wilting in the sun. Oh and those yellow blooms only last about 5 days in spring, so there was no option for a re-shoot. Still, we got the shot!

5) I’ve hear that there is another book in the works. Can you share a little tidbit about the theme and what we can expect?

You’re right! I’ve started working on a second cookbook, although the theme is still under wraps. Readers can expect it to feel like a natural sequel to Brown Eggs and Jam Jars, with 100 more family­-friendly recipes featuring natural ingredients. I’m once again working with Penguin Random House and photographer’s Tim and Angela Chin, so the new book will be every bit as beautiful as the first.

Thanks for stopping by, Aimée!

To enter to win a copy of Brown Eggs & Jam Jars:

1) Leave a comment sharing your favorite kind of dinner to share with your family!

2) Follow Simple Bites on Facebook and follow Kelsey Banfield on Facebook.

3) Contest runs from March 3rd through March 10th. Winner will be announced in the March 13th newsletter! Good luck!