Detox January, Week 2: Nutella-banana popsicles

Nutella-banana pops

Yes, you read that correctly.

Nutella-banana popsicles.

Yes, for our Detox January.

Because each pop is only about 145 calories and 5 grams of fat (based on my getting 14 pops out of the recipe).

And they are loaded with fruit, which we all know is good for you and very Detoxy.

It's partially a size thing but also an ingredient thing; that is, the size is smallish and the ingredients are just two: yep, Nutella and bananas.

Making these pops really couldn't be easier. In fact, I'm not even going to both to write out a "recipe" because it's ludicrously simple.

Making hard cider: part 3

Bottled cider, ready to drink (almost)

I did tell you you would have to be patient...

But it's ready! Two months of settling and our cider is beautiful, clear and golden, which means it's ready to bottle.

First, you're going to need some bottles. You can use beer bottles or wine bottles but I prefer the Grolsch-style, swing-top bottles with rubber-seal caps.

Yes, the bottles will require an initial investment, but the whole dealy is reusable each year (make sure you ask for the bottles to be returned if you give any of your cider away as gifts).

And hey, remember the bucket that you started fermentation with way back in October? And the siphoning equipment? You're going to need them again, because part of the bottling process is racking the clarified cider back into the buckets to separate it from the last bit of sediment sludge (i.e., what you've waited two months to be rid of). But you are a racking expert now, so no worries.

Detox January, Week 1: Fruity Israeli couscous

Fruity Israeli couscous with chicken

Detox January does not, I repeat, does not involve eating miniscule portions of carboard and kale.

Well, we eat kale but usually with some kind of snappy salad dressing, rather than cardboard.

Really, I'm just trying to point out that you don't have to go on a hardcore diet or cleanse to eat a little better and be a little healthier to feel a little better, which is the goal of Detox January.

(Sidebar: What the hell is up with the cleanse craze right now? It's like the hair shirt of eating. I mean, doing penance for a few weeks is not going to help you get healthier in the long run. As Jason Gay wrote in his recent humorous article in the Wall Street Journal, "There is no secret. Exercise and lay off the fries. The end.")

Enter this lovely pasta dish, which started out life as a side dish (perfect with roast chicken or pork tenderloin) but makes a wicked awesome main with the addition of some cooked chicken or turkey.

Detox January, Week 1: Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Peanut butter-oatmeal breakfast bars

"Mocktail Hour" with a virgin Bloody Mary is not quite the same as the real deal with a chartreuse vodka gimlet, but hey ... otherwise Detox January is not bad at all.

(Sidebar: Except for the annual mob scene at the gym. But I'm not worried: the resolution-breakers will be gone by the end of February. Cynical? Yes. But it's true.)

Take, for instance, these breakfast / snack bars. Wicked, wicked good! And no baking involved -- just some melting. And everyone can find time for a little melting.

Regular readers will recall that I am always on the hunt for good make-ahead, grab-and-go breakfast recipes. I think this one may be the best one yet: sweet yet salty, chewy yet crunchy. Perfecto!

Honestly.

Ninjas don't lie.

At least I don't think so.

Detox January (and a lemon poundcake recipe)

Lemon pound cake (really, it's light!)

Happy New Year! But, more importantly, Happy Detox January!

Regular readers will remember that each year Mr. Ninj and I celebrate (perhaps not quite the right word choice) a little something we call Detox January.

We started doing this a few years ago, as a break from the overindulgence of the holidays and to get the new year off to a good start -- and, quite frankly, to try to drop a few of those excess holiday pounds before we head off on our February vacation, which involves putting on a swimsuit.

Detox January is not some overly ambitious resolution that you know you won't be able to keep (new gym membership, anyone?); it's more like a short-term, mini resolution that you know you can achieve.

The rules are simple. For the entire month of January:

• Abstain from all alcohol (but if a recipe calls for a little bit, that's OK) 
• Eat a bit healthier every day (I don't expect you to get crazy here -- we just try to eat more veggies than cookies and keep our recipes more Cooking Light than Julia Child) 
• Exercise more than you did in December 

See? You can totally do this!

Double chocolate pistachio biscotti: a recipe

Double chocolate pistachio biscotti

A little late for a christmas cookie recipe, right?

It's OK because you can make these bad boys anytime you want. Anytime.

Why not now, in fact?

One of the things I like about these biscotti -- besides the supreme yumminess -- is the beautiful contrast of the chartreuse of the pistachios against the deep brown of the chocolate cookie.

It must be the designer in me, as the patisserie chef who create these, Michelle Myers of Sona in Los Angeles, is a former graphic designer who likes her creations to be pleasing to the eye as well as the palate.

"Boozy Zenith" Bourbon Pecan Cake: a recipe

This post has been a long time coming. Three weeks, in fact. Three weeks of marinating in boozy Jack Daniels goodness.

The cake, that is, has been marinating. Not this post. Or me.

I'll start out this saga by noting that this is a recipe I got from my mother and, short of "I think I cut it out of a magazine a long time ago", she has no idea where it came from, only that it was my dad's favorite. So if you think your Great Aunt Tilly invented it or something, I don't want to hear it.

In my childhood home, this was "fruitcake."

Which should have been explained to me better as a child, as I used to tell people that I loved fruitcake. And they all looked at me as if I were bat-shit crazy. I could not understand why so many people hated fruitcake, when it was so amazingly yummy.

Then at some point I tasted a real fruitcake: how amazingly revolting!

Onion and bacon tart: a recipe

Onion and bacon tart

You know it's getting to be holiday time when I allow myself to cook with bacon fat. A lot of bacon fat.

Regular readers will know that we start out the year with a little something we call Detox January, to get off on the right foot. So healthy! But somehow a downward spiral begins after that, gaining a little more momentum each month without my realizing it, until December rolls around and I have no qualms making a dish that swims in bacon fat.

But it's a lovely bacony dish, fat and all.

You wouldn't think that a dish with so few ingredients (besides bacon fat) could be so amazing. Really, it's just bacon, onions and a flour-egg-milk batter.

But it is.

Stracciatella (Italian chicken soup): a recipe

Stracciatella

Don't worry, I had never heard of it either -- and I'm wicked Italian, on both sides.

I ran across this recipe in the December issue of Food and Wine, which refers to it as a "classic Italian chicken soup." OK, sounds good. More importantly, it looked like you could whip it up quickly and easily -- a perfect weeknight, last-minute meal.

It was almost too easy!

Honestly, I kept checking the recipe to make sure I didn't miss anything because the prep time is about 5 minutes and so is the cooking time. Literally less than 15 minutes until dinner.

It reminded me a little bit of egg drop soup, but with spinach and a little lighter. It's so easy to prepare, I don't think you can go wrong by giving it a try.

Gingerbread cake: a recipe

It's December again and we finally got some fluffy snow here in Vermont, so I guess it's ninjabread time.

Last year,  I made ninjabread men because of the ass-kicking cookie cutters that I got.

This year, it's a cake because who doesn't love cake? Pie, meh. But cake? Come on.

Not really much to say about gingerbread without just diving into the recipe. I don't have any waxing-nostalgic stories about holiday gingerbread growing up or anything like that. If you do, that's great. Please share them in the comments section.

I just like gingerbread. And I like cake. So there you go.