You know what is a total buzzkill? Fitting triumphantly into your skinniest pre-pregnancy skinny jeans one week and the next having someone ask you if you're pregnant again. You know, because of your belly?
Zing!
Yes! (I mean Yes! that happened. Not Yes! I'm pregnant.)
Urgh.
It's okay, I've mostly gotten over it and I do think this friend is far more mortified (still) than I was. Also, I'm still nursing and my belly was never my best feature, let's be honest, and yadda yadda yadda, I have a beautiful baby boy in exchange, so who really cares, right? Except of course that one does care even if one is sort of amazed at how much less one cares now than one would have before one became a mother. Oh, self! You contain multitudes.
Luckily for me, I can identify pretty clearly the factors standing between me and Rock! Hard! Abs!, or, you know, Abs That Do Not Look Like They Are Encasing A Fetus. And those factors would be 1. Total and absolute sedentariness (is that a word?) and 2. My afternoon cookie-cake-whatever-as-long-as-it-is-sweet-and-delicious break that I've been doing religiously since Hugo's birth.
Since daily exercise is really limited only to what I can do at home during Hugo's naptime, it's the afternoon cookie break that I'm training my eyes on. It needs serious reforming and Sara Forte's The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook is currently my reform master.
Specifically, her recipe for Sesame Date Yogurt Cups, which jumped out at me last year when I was reviewing the pages for a blurb (full disclosure!) and hadn't left my mind since. They're so simple – just dates mashed with sesame seeds and then layered with yogurt that's been flavored with a pinch of cinnamon and crisped brown rice – but so much more than the sum of the parts. I mean, flavoring yogurt with cinnamon? So good. Pairing dates and sesame seeds? Of course! Putting them together with crisped rice on top for texture? Lady, you are so smart. These lovely little treats are as satisfying as they are virtuous. I really love them.
(If salt is your vice, not sugar, may I direct you to the recipe for nori popcorn on page 161? You're welcome.)
Sara's cookbook is full of little gems like that; healthy ingredients matched up in inspired ways that would have never occurred to me and that taste so, so good. Sara's idea of enlivening that old standby pesto with lemon zest and lemon juice to serve with lentil meatballs is so easy and yet I'd never tried it before. I usually ignore pesto, but now I plan on using this combination as a dressing for grain salads and cooked beans, anything, really, that needs a little kick. I loved her zucchini roll-ups, in which za'atar and Greek yogurt give grilled zucchini slices new style. And I cannot wait to try what sounds like breakfast cereal nirvana: pearled barley cooked in coconut mik and cardamom, then topped with toasted coconut, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses. Yes?
YES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
Happily, I have an extra copy of this lovely book for a giveaway! So for a chance to win a copy of The Sprouted Kitchen, please leave a comment below and I'll pick a winner at random tomorrow. Good luck!
Update: Erin is the winner and has been emailed! Thank you all for participating – comments are now closed.
Sara Forte's Sesame Date Yogurt Cups
Adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen
Serves 4
7 Medjool dates, pitted
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling
Sea salt, optional
2 cups whole-milk plain yogurt (or Greek or goat's milk)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup crisped brown rice
1. Soak the dates in warm water for 10 minutes to soften. If the dates are soft enough, skip the soaking. Put the dates in a bowl with the sesame seeds and a pinch of salt, if using. Mash together to create a chunky paste. Press a fourth of the date mixture into the bottom of four small glasses.
2. In a bowl, stir together the yogurt and cinnamon, then spoon 1/2 cup of the yogurt into each jar. Sprinkle a few sesame seeds and a couple of spoonfuls of the crisped rice on top. Eat immediately.
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325 responses to “Monday Giveaway!”
luisa, i saw you at vroman’s in los angeles, loved your book, and love your blog!! my husband and i both left with a crush on you! i have a baby 5 months old and relate to so much of what you write about. this cookbook looks terrific, by the way!
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Barley with coconut milk and cardamom – something I’ll try whether with or without a new cookbook.
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I hear ya! Had similar comments after both (!) of my pregnancy just at that point where you are no longer wearing maternity clothes and starting to feel semi normal and then BAM! Maybe i’ll find some recipes in there to switch out my chocolate break!
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This looks perfect for midafternoon – would love to try it!
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Don’t sweat it– you fit into your skinny jeans =) And loved your book btw– was sold out when I saw you at the Harvard Square bookstore in October but I snagged it over winter break and was a lovely read.
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ooh! i have been wanting a copy of this cookbook!
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Thank you for being you!
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It already sounded amazing and THEN you mentioned pomegranate molasses. That stuff makes everything superlative! I would love to add this one to my kitchen counter (where all the cookbooks live for at least their first few months before graduating to The Stack).
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Thanks for this tasty looking post! I’d love to win the book and try the recipes. All the best
Anna
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Please pick me. I have a new baby– she’s 3 months old– and I bought one of my best friends a copy of your book (online) from Powell’s here in Portland sheerly so I wouldn’t have to figure out how to get myself and the baby downtown to pick it up. I haven’t been able to borrow it back yet, but I’m so excited to read it. Strange the things we do once we have kids.
I only recently started reading the Sprouted Kitchen blog, but I am in love with the herb-miso sauce she uses on her mushroom lentil tacos (they are really, really good). I’ve been making it once a week and keeping it in the fridge and using it to sauce everything: salads, roasted vegetables, leftover sweet potato fritters…
I would really love a copy of her book. Please send it along.
Excited to try your baby food suggestions, too. My little girl, Beans, sucked on her first piece of food the other day– a chunk of apple. She got it nice and soft and hot and wet.
And then I ate it. Mm.
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Oh my goodness it all sounds so delicious!!
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Currently 36 weeks preggo, now terrified! Pick me! I need some motivation for when this is all over in just a few weeks!
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Wow 🙂 The front photo looks stunning.
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I have a vacation belly (sort of like a baby belly, but earned much quicker), so this book would be much appreciated.
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If there is an alternative to the afternoon cookie/cake/butter-sugar-celebration cravings (affectionately called “le goûter des enfants” here in France, as if only children had the right to it, ha!), then yes, please!!!
ps: Luisa, I know you might have heard this a million times but I really, really loved your book, and I’m planning to send it as a gift to my best friends fiancée, because they moved recently to Berlin, and him being Greek, her being half American-half British, I thought she might as well love it too!!! Your book, and eventually, Berlin!!!
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Yes please!
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As a college student, I don’t have many resources to hand, but you’ve made all of my friends think I work magic in the kitchen. Cheers for keeping me alive through finals!
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i’m curious about that book! the yogurt looks and sounds delicious!
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oh, i love the sprouted kitchen!
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“Oh self! You contain multitudes.” How true. Thank you for the reminder. I strive to embrace all my multitudes.
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This cookbook has been on my wish list for far too long now, I would love to win!
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I love that blog too! I also love the tight community you food bloggers have. Lovely. And please sign me up for the giveaway!
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This is exactly what i need, an healthy eating inspiration! Too many holidays to cope in the past month. love the cookbook too.
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This popcorn fan would love to try out the nori version!
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This looks delicious. For better or for worse, I’m with you: my vice is definitely sugar, not salt!
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