Photo: Sam Howzit/Flickr

I can relate a lot to the opening lines of Erin Cooks‘ most recent post. Like her, farro has been “haunting” my kitchen, too, and I haven’t spent the time lately trying to find the right recipe with which to make it.

I also have two young kids to pack lunches for each day. Monotony is a problem, especially at this point in the school year, with camp (more packed lunches) around the corner. Eep!

For Erin, the Cranberry Farro Quick Bread she crafted is a kind of two-fer. She’s honest about her doubts in using the grain, but delightfully surprised by the end results. “The loaf rose, it sliced beautifully, and smelled lovely,” she writes. Check and check: 1) whole grains used up, and 2) nutritious new breakfast food created.

For me, Erin’s farro quick bread is also a two-fer. Over the past year, I’ve taken to baking breads for my kids (banana, pumpkin, zucchini, etc.) as a nutritious replacement for the crackers they like to take for lunch. Cranberries are as constant in our house as milk. Now I can check two things off my list, too: 1) whole grains used up, and 2) nutritious new lunch food created.

Can you?

Photo: GlennFleishman/Flickr

Today’s food therapy takes us further afield than the Boston region. Much further, actually, to Chicago. But a virtual journey there will be well rewarded with a bit of nostalgia and forward-thinking in honor of Mother’s Day, plus the recipe for a sumptuous-looking pound cake.

I hear you. Pound cake is perhaps the most ‘vanilla’ of desserts out there. But this version from Some Kitchen Stories nears exquisite. It’s got a surprising twist: rosemary, with fresh lemon. It’s also calls for a whole lot of eggs, and buttermilk and sugar, which makes for the “sumptuous” profile of this oh-so-not-vanilla Rosemary Buttermilk Pound Cake.

Judi, the ‘words’ person in this two-person blog, writes a beautiful intro to the recipe that has everything to do with her mom, and not at all with the cake. We’re left to ponder the impact our own moms have had on our lives, and asked to share.

The choice of a pound cake to accompany Judi’s thought piece about a mom’s love is up to each of us to decipher. But my own guess is that simple elegance, warmth and sweetness have a lot to do with tying the two together.

Cardamom pods for Chai (photo: Steven Jackson Photography/Flickr)

Ready to ring yourself out yet? Feel like you’re growing moss?

Let’s face it: it’s been a damp, dark week. And we have one more day to get through til we see that gorgeous orb, the sun. Somerville-based Cooking The Seasons has posted what may be the best form of food therapy — and heat — you could hope for while we wait out the wet stuff: tea.

Here’s a recipe for homemade Chai, “one of those things that smells amazing and tastes even better than it smells.” The line-up of spices is tantalizing, and the method of cooking so, so easy.

Thanks, Cooking The Seasons, and hold tight, everyone. Before you know it, the sun’ll be back.

Photo: SingChan/flickr

It’s a three-day weekend for many Bostonians, and so far I’ve spent my extra day doing something I never have time to on a Monday: baking.

Does that sound unappealing with today’s muggy weather? Perhaps — but these banana coconut muffins, from Cookie and Kate, were worth heating up the apartment. They’re not too sweet, but they are intensely coconut-y, rich with the fruit’s flakes and oil. They’re a tropical, summery snack. I suggest taking them down to the nearest spot you can watch the marathon for an al fresco breakfast amid today’s excitement.

Tortillas. Photo: Little Blue Hen/Flickr

You think you’re an adventurous eater, but have you tried sweetbread – in other words, cow glands?

Sounds gross, but prepared the right way, they’re chewy and meaty and delicious (and this is coming from a person who is occasionally grossed out by the modern chef’s apparently boundless enthusiasm for random acts of butchery. For instance: I would not recommend head cheese).

These mollejas tacos from Homesick Texan look like a good introduction to sweetbreads, for the skeptic. Consider that the first time my boyfriend tried snails, they were also in a taco. A tortilla and some pico de gallo can make pretty much any sundry food look appetizing.

Photo: jlodder/Flickr

Even though I celebrate Easter, not Passover, I made a classic, spontaneous purchase at the grocery store last night and grabbed a box of matzah from the display shelf at Trader Joes. Not only do I want my kids to try matzah, I really want all of us to try matzah brei.

Maybe a simple rendition of matzah brei is the best intro to this most traditional of Passover foods. But I am taken with the Coconut Matzah Brei created by Katherine Romanow, who writes the Eating Jewish column for the Jewish Women’s Archive blog “Jewesses with Attitude.” Katherine uses macaroons as the launching point for her post, gives a bit of historical context (love this), then shares the recipe, which calls for vanilla and almond extract as a complement to the coconut flavor.

What’s your favorite version of traditional matzah brei?

Photo: plutor/Flickr

So you’ve dyed those Easter eggs. What to do with them?

For all those finalizing their menu for Easter Sunday, here’s a classic recipe — The Italian Dish’s Easter Bread, with its colorful sprinkles and an egg in the middle. It’s a sweet, yeasted dough that isn’t too rich for Easter brunch — and it’s certainly more festive than a basket of muffins.

In the past, The Italian Dish has used both dyed and plain brown eggs for the middle. Though the plain eggs might look more elegant, dyed eggs seem more like Easter to me, and so I have one more “recipe” to recommend — Bon Appetit’s tips for making natural Easter egg dye.

Photo: Theodore Richard/flickr

A doctor told me once to give up coffee. Coffee is arguably a perfectly healthy drink, of course, but some people — like me — are more sensitive to caffeine than others. I didn’t listen to the doctor, of course, because coffee is amazing.

Still, maybe the doctor would approve of my caffeine habit if I turned it into this hippy-dippy health smoothie, courtesy of Well + Good NYC. With coconut, raw cacao and a frozen banana, it sounds lovely and refreshing as breakfast or dessert. Plus, all those antioxidants and good fat and vitamins or whatever! Really, it would be unhealthy NOT to drink my coffee with this in the blend.

Take that, medical professionals!

As I’m sure you’re aware — it’s an impossibly lovely day out today. In fact, the weather this week looks downright summerish. So to celebrate these jacket-free times, why not keep the oven off this week and make a dinner salad you can throw together in minutes, perhaps for an impromptu picnic? (Even if it’s just on your fire escape — it still counts!)

Here are some suggestions, culled from around the web:

• Sesame Orange Chickpeas, Cabbage and Soba Noodles from Naturally Ella. Soba noodles are great cold, and they add a bit of heft to healthy fare.
• New York Style Chopped Salad from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Because anything healthy tastes better with a blue cheese dressing, right?
• Mostly Raw Kelp Noodle Salad from Scandi Foodie. Because there’s one exception to the above rule — on a really hot day, creamy dressings fall flat. This is, perhaps, a more inviting option.
• Fennel and Raisin Salad with Walnut Croutons from Big Girls, Small Kitchen. This winter-to-spring salad pulls inspiration from rustic Italian cooking for a classic combination.
• Watercress and Forbidden Rice Salad from Cookie + Kate. Black wild rice makes this dish — filled with otherwise ordinary ingredients — look exotic.
• Bluefin Nicoise with Lemon-Pepper Mayonnaise from Island Menu. I will never find a salad I like better than a good Nicoise — and this one, with homemade mayonnaise and freshly seared tuna, fits the bill.

Photo: courtesy of Sweet Fooodie

There’s tofu in there. True or false?

True. Caroline at Sweet Foodie created this recipe, Dark Chocolate Orange Tofu Mousse, for a theme-based recipe share that called for marrying dark chocolate with other heart-healthy foods (read the details in her post).

Caroline’s mousse is a non-dairy version. It calls for silken tofu to attain the creaminess you want in a mousse without the saturated fat that comes with cream. Add in an orange — high in fiber and glorious to the eye — and a bit of vanilla, and voilà!

Caroline says she “loves a good presentation.” But she hardly needed to say so. Who could resist this?