Author: Ellie Krieger

Simmering port with orange, cinnamon and honey into a luxuriously syrupy sauce is just the thing to tame a medley of crisp fall fruit into an elegant dessert. Be sure to use a ruby port, as opposed to a tawny, because the sweetness of the former is essential. Once the plush purple liquid is boiled…

Lately I’ve been playing with date sugar in my kitchen, and I’ve become increasingly sold on it as an alternative sweetener. Date sugar is not a true sugar; it is a naturally sweet dried fruit finely ground to resemble white granulated sugar, and it can be used to replace true sugar in many recipes. Because…

Take advantage of sweet potatoes’ inherent moist creaminess, so you can use minimal butter mashing them. And with the bottom layer being lean poultry, a bonus of meaty mushrooms also are in the mix. With a layer of savory, seasoned chopped meat tucked beneath a creamy blanket, my healthful dish this week is like a…

Big, juicy pork chops get stuffed and sauced with a flurry of fall flavors, and it’s all cooked in one pan. They are filled with a savory-sweet mixture of sauteed apple, onion and kale, done just enough so the apple becomes tender, the onion mellows and the kale wilts a bit. To stuff the chops,…

Celery root is like the Shrek of the food world. Its gnarly appearance makes it seem tough and unapproachable, but it is actually tender and lovable once you get to know it. Also called celeriac, it comes from a variety of the celery plant that has been cultivated for its root rather than its stem.…

One of the best things about tacos — and why I suspect Americans love them as much as pizza — is that they are a blank canvas, easily adapted and made your own. Tortillas seem to invite you to play with all kinds of filling combinations. A new California style puts an Asian spin on…

Hummus in a wrap with vegetables might be an everyday kind of lunch, one you’d likely bring to work in an effort to eat more healthfully after a summer of indulging. But it needn’t be an uninspired one. Here, two elements take the sandwich from boring to absolutely crave-worthy: a sprinkle of tongue-tingling dukkah (a…

When you want something more flavorful than water to quench your thirst, and you’d like to keep it healthful, you ordinarily can just plop a few sliced berries, citrus wedges or chunks of melon into your water bottle with a sprig of mint. But for holiday weekend gatherings that call for something more elevated, this…

Using a slow cooker at the end of summer yields a tasty, nourishing meal while relieving you of the dread of standing over a grill or stove. (Don’t even mention turning on an oven.) Slow-cooking also allows for some extra play time once you get the ingredients in the machine and turn it on. Sure,…