The last, but not least, recipe in my Make Ahead Brunch series: a Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bundt Cake. This buttery and bright cake, spiked with fresh berries, is perfect for brunch, especially with warmer weather upon us. It can be baked in a regular baking pan, but using a bundt playfully hides a cinnamony crunch at the bottom and allows for a lemon glaze over the top. Because who doesn’t need an extra punch of lemon flavor on a sleepy weekend morning?
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We recently had friends over for brunch. They don’t have kids (yet!), so we made a plan for 12:30 pm (a “morning” plan for after noon, imagine that!). That would have normally taken the pressure off of cooking the day-of, except for the fact that we had other friends over the night before, friends for whom I cooked dinner, friends who also have no children and stay up later than we usually do. I needed a plan. A plan that would make back-to-back entertaining possible. Even with two little kids.
And it did. My plan—it worked!
If you ask me, every brunch needs a) coffee, b) savory eggs, c) something sweet and d) something light and healthy to balance out the eggs and sweet. My brunch menu was complete with all of these essential elements and all I had to do the day-of was put eggs in the oven and toss together a salad. THAT’S ALL.
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I wanted to make something different for Valentine’s Day. Something chocolate, of course, but with more. With a twist. My burning desire for something new led me down a long road paved with failed experiments before coming up with these gems. I wandered (way) far afield before remembering that it’s little adjustments made to the familiar things we know and love that make for the most pleasant surprises.
These chewy chocolate chunk cookies, first discovered on Orangette, are a staple at our house. I hate to admit it, but the first thing that drew me to Molly’s recipe was its use of yogurt (she suggests full fat, but I use non- or low-fat Greek style which always works). There’s still some butter and a cup of sugar, so I’m not claiming that these are completely guilt free (c’mon people—if you’re going to make cookies, enjoy them!), but they aren’t gut bombs either. Which might be why it didn’t occur to me right away to adapt this recipe for our Valentine’s Day treats. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be sinful, right?
All weekend I churned out decadent treats that just weren’t right. Then, it occurred to me: Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be over the top. Instead, it can be mellow and warm. Familiar yet surprising. Quietly romantic. And that’s just what my new version of these cookies are.
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Photo: Martha Stewart

You can’t have a party without cake, right?! I love serving cupcakes, at children’s parties especially, because they allow you to offer a range of flavor combinations without too much extra work. And they are just the right serving size—cute little packages of baked goodness!
Lately, my ChowBaby has been very excited by all things chocolate chip. Even just 5 chocolate chips—all on their own or thrown into our “trail mix” with walnuts and dried cranberries—totally make his day, so chocolate chip cupcakes were a gimme.
Because, as I said, variety is part of the joy of cupcakes, I wanted to make a second flavor cake that would go with the chocolate chip icing (so I wouldn’t also have to make two kinds of frosting). Devil’s food cake, a moist chocolatey delight made with sour cream, sounded perfect. So, with Martha’s help (I wasn’t about to experiment with recipes for my son’s party—this was all about reliable sources), I got to it. There’s not much more to say, except… utterly delicious
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Photo: Martha Stewart

It’s no secret that I don’t usually cook kid menu staples like mac and cheese, plain pasta with butter, hot dogs or chicken fingers. It’s not that I don’t like (some of) these foods when they are home made with whole ingredients—I do!–but only every once and a while, and it never seems the right time to make them. I’d much rather invest the same amount of time to make more interesting and healthier foods.
But now we’re talking kids party, and you can’t have a kids party without some reliable kid friendly food. Not only does my “everything in moderation” philosophy apply here, but so does my (our!) need for convenience. It’s super easy to turn up the health and sophistication of chicken fingers, plus you can make them ahead of time, which is especially important for party food (but also great for any weeknight meal or packed lunch food).
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Photo: Stabroek News

My oldest ChowBaby turned 3 (!!!) and we recently hosted a construction themed birthday party in his honor. I’m amazed that we pulled anything off seeing that his birthday is at the end of the always busy holiday season, just days after new years. And this year, we had a little baby, too. But we did. And with style.
To keep things easy, I had first planned on ordering pizza and buying cupcakes from BabyCakes. Then I thought better of it—I had to cook. No. I wanted to cook! So, instead or ordering in, I capped the shindig to 5 of my ChowBaby’s closest playmates to make cooking, hosting and cleaning manageable, even with an infant in the house.
The menu was simple, wholesome, and easy to make ahead (not to mention inspired by the orange and yellow of our construction theme): ChowMama baked chicken fingers, corn pudding, carrot sticks (which never made it out… oops), guacamole, black bean dip, tortilla chips, and homemade chocolate chip and devil’s food cupcakes with chocolate chip buttercream . The idea was to offer comfort food that would appeal equally to kids and parents, and this menu worked perfectly!
Check out the menu plan, my low-impact cooking schedule and recipe for corn pudding after the jump.
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