 Amsterdam is one of those cities where you can turn any corner and find yourself staring at a scene that looks exactly like a postcard. It exceeded my expectations in so many ways. Canals wind through the city lined with narrow, historic houses that lean just enough to make you wonder if they're architectural masterpieces or simply tired after several hundred years.🏡 There are countless bridges adorned with baskets overflowing with brightly colored flowers.💐 There are impossibly adorable cafes, incredible museums and bicycles - everywhere.🚲  
 One of the great joys of Amsterdam is that you don't have to work very hard to find something beautiful. Amsterdam gave me beautiful memories of wandering beside the canals, getting lost among masterpieces at the Rijksmuseum, taking in a show at the Carre theater, strolling through Vondelpark, discovering charming neighborhoods and eating our way through the city. I came home with some new favorite foods, a few rounds of cheese, more than one sd card filled with photographs and memories that will last a lifetime.🧀  Maybe it's just me but I find it nearly impossible to spend that much time near the water and not crave something that lived in it.😅🐟 So naturally we set out to sample as much of the incredible seafood that Amsterdam had to offer as we could while we were there. We tried oysters, cod, razor clams, mussels, crawfish, lobster, crab legs, periwinkle(snails), langoustine, shrimp and clams vongole. 🦪🦞🦀🐚🐠 It was DELICIOUS!!😋 Perhaps one of the greatest souvenirs that I brought home from Amsterdam was the reminder that good food doesn't have to be complicated. Fresh ingredients. Simple preparation. Sitting at a table across from people that I love and enough time to sit down and enjoy it. That's something Amsterdam understands beautifully. So while I may not be able to recreate Amsterdam's canals in my backyard, I can bring a little bit of the Netherlands to my kitchen if I can keep this simple understanding in mind. I'll start with trout. I'll add lemon, butter and herbs. I'll pour a glass of wine and for just a moment, I'll be back on a canal in Amsterdam—watching the city glide by, listening for the bicycle bells and planning which delicious fish I'm going to eat next.😅 The best souvenirs aren't always the ones you put on a shelf. Sometimes they're the ones you put on a plate.😋  Trout Almondine 2 trout filets ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 1 Tablespoon olive oil 4 Tablespoons butter ⅓ cup sliced almonds ½ lemon, juiced 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
 Place on serving plate and spoon sauce over each filet.  Ciao!
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 Amsterdam was amazing. The architecture was breathtaking. The museums were magnificent. The little cafés tucked into cobblestone streets were positively charming. And the food? Let’s just say that I never met a stroopwafel I didn’t think deserved a chance. But eventually, I came home, unpacked my clothes and discovered that approximately 60 percent of my belongings now smell distinctly like the cheese that was tucked inside my suitcase. 😂🧀 I've been home for 3 days and I'm still working my way through the hundreds of pictures of our whirlwind trip and realizing that I may have been overly ambitious with my camera.😬 Did I really need 30 pictures of the same windmill? The answer is yes. Yes, I needed to capture every turn of the slowly rotating blades because I didn't know which angle would look best in a picture. 🤣🤷🏻♀️  Safe to say I'm now in desperate need of a post vacation reality check and healthy diet reset. My body is craving something that doesn't come with a flaky crust, a sweet fruit compote or a cheese course. Something light, fresh, colorful and full of protein. 🥗 Now is the perfect time for chicken with bulgur. It doesn't need to be served on a tiny porcelain plate with an artistic swoosh of sauce. It's not meant to be served on Delft pottery while sitting at a small table along on a cobblestone street. It's just really good, hearty, healthy and delicious chicken. And most importantly, no reservations needed. The beauty of this chicken and bulgur meal is that it feels like a reset without feeling like punishment. I've never understood the idea that healthy eating has to involve a sad piece of lettuce sitting next to three almonds. After vacation, I don't need deprivation. I need balance. I need a meal that says, “I had a wonderful time in Europe, and now I'm going to make some sensible decisions.” This is that meal.  Chicken with Bulgur 6 chicken thighs, skinless bone in 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon paprika ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 1 medium-size onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 package sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water 1 ½ cups bulgur wheat 1 ¾ cups chicken stock ½ cup parsley, chopped
 Transfer skillet to a 400 degree oven and cook 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked to 165.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with parsley.
Ciao!  Traveling through Europe is magical... and exhausting ... and magical.😅 I spent 4 days last week speed walking through the cobblestone streets in the Netherlands and experiencing the breathtaking countryside on bicycle like I was training for a duathon.🚵🏼😂 I visited museums that were the size of small cities, took a boat cruise on the Amstel canal, witnessed the making of traditional Dutch clogs and filled an SD card to capacity with of pictures of windmills. 🤣 I had the best time and I considered it my civic duty to eat my way through Amsterdam. I sampled Dutch cheese, apple pie, stroopwafels, poffertjes and pancakes - so many pancakes.🥞😋 There was no chance of being hungry while in Amsterdam because there are cafes and stands selling delicious treats on every corner. I still packed a granola bar in my camera bag every day because I'm an eternal optimist. I never give up the hope that I would somehow summon the willpower to resist the temptation of a warm stroopwafel and choose a healthier snack option instead. I mean... you never know - it could happen one day.🤷🏻♀️😂  Travel isn't really about seeing every landmark, checking every box or sticking perfectly to the itinerary. It's about getting delightfully lost. It's about finding the little bakery I wasn't looking for. It's about lingering over dinner and laughing when the train I'm on goes in the wrong direction and apparently, it's about carrying healthy snacks in my bag to keep me from stopping at every wafel bakery. I'm super excited to share the pictures of my journey through Amsterdam with you so stay tuned if you love photos of windmills, canals and cheese. 😂 🧀
 Almond Butter Granola Bars ½ cup honey ⅓ cup coconut oil ⅓ cup almond butter 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 cups rolled oats ½ cup almonds, chopped ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
 Ciao!
 There was a time, not all that long ago - despite what my children say — when finding a recipe required actual detective work. You didn't simply type "best sourdough baguette recipe" into a search bar while standing in your kitchen wearing pajama pants and one oven mitt. Oh no. You embarked on a culinary treasure hunt that involved a deep dive into century old cookbooks stored at the back of the very deepest of kitchen cabinets. 😅 My cookbook collection is vast and it contains a church fundraiser cookbook from every church we've ever visited, the Better Homes & Gardens binder I got for a wedding gift and an extensive collection of Williams Sonoma cookbooks. When I first started baking bread, I would spend hours flipping through stained page after stained page of these books hoping someone, somewhere, had cracked the code for the perfect crusty baguette.📖
If all that failed to produce a recipe that I thought would work, it was time to ask mom. This is how that conversation usually went: Me: "How much flour?" Mom: "Oh... enough." Me: "How long do I knead it?" Mom: "Until it feels right." Me: "How do I know when it feels right?" Mom: "You'll know." 😂 Then there were the handwritten recipe cards. Some stained with vanilla. Some with mysterious grease spots that suggested the recipe had survived at least one Thanksgiving disaster. And measurements were often optional. Recipes with only half of the instructions assumed that I inherited generations of baking intuition.🤷🏻♀️😬  Fast forward to today when the internet has become every baker's overly enthusiastic best friend. If I want to bake a sourdough baguette - I have approximately 4.7 million people ready to show me how to do it. There are step-by-step photos, slow-motion videos of dough stretching like mozzarella in a pizza commercial, charts explaining hydration percentages, diagrams on scoring and articles comparing Dutch ovens, baking steels, pizza stones, lava rocks, steam trays and what appears to be equipment borrowed from NASA.🥖 Why does my baguette have one giant hole the size of Delaware? There's an online forum dedicated entirely to discussing it. When I need emotional support because my dough looks more like pancake batter than bread - complete strangers will message me to let me know that my starter just needs another feeding along with some reassuring words of encouragement. Honestly, it's magnificent. And somehow in the middle of this digital buffet of information, I found the recipe that finally convinced me that I too, could produce a bakery-worthy sourdough baguette. Thank you Amybakesbread.com.😉  Fortunately, baguettes are incredibly forgiving. They don't care if your scoring belongs in an art museum. Once they hit a blazing hot oven with plenty of steam, they puff proudly into golden loaves with crackling crusts that sing as they cool. That sound—that tiny chorus of crackles—it truly is one of life's greatest sounds. The internet tells me that I should let sourdough cool for an hour before slicing but honestly, cutting into one while it's still warm to discover an airy, chewy interior with glossy pockets is amazing.😋 It's rustic. It's beautiful. It's also astonishingly satisfying to realize that what once required generations of family wisdom, dozens of cookbooks and at least two phone calls to Grandma can now be learned from a recipe on your phone while your starter bubbles happily beside your morning coffee.  Of course, I wouldn't trade those conversations with my mom or my grandmother for anything. Recipes were never just about ingredients. They were stories. They were family history. They were passed along with reminders to "use the good butter," directions to "fold" ingredients and tips on how to knead the dough "just enough." The internet may have made recipes wonderfully accessible, but mom still wins when it comes to seasoning every loaf with laughter, encouragement and the occasional unsolicited life advice. So bake the baguette. Bookmark the recipe. Watch the video. Read the comments. But every now and then, call someone who's been baking longer than you've been alive.❤️  Sourdough Baguettes 2.0 Levain 65 grams active sourdough starter 65 grams water 65 grams all purpose flour Autolyse 1000 grams all purpose flour 625 grams water Baguette Dough 180 grams active levain 50 grams water 1 Tablespoon salt
 Place baguette in floured couche. Repeat with remaining baguettes. I put each baguette on a piece of parchment to make it easier to get them in and out of the oven.
If you don't have a fancy couche - lay the baguettes on a towel lined cookie sheet.
 Bake 30 minutes.  Let rest 1 hour before slicing - if you can. 😉
Ciao!  Coquilles Saint Jacques - even the name of this dish makes it sound super fancy. I don't speak French so I had to google the correct pronunciation. (ko-KEEL san-ZHAK) Pretty sure I'm still not saying it correctly.😂 I'm pretty sure that to pronounce it correctly, it requires me to say it with one eyebrow raised and my pinky finger extended.😂🇫🇷 What you should know is that Coquilles Saint Jaques simply means scallops baked in a creamy mushroom sauce beneath a blanket of golden, bubbly cheese.🤫 It's not nearly as hoity toity as it sounds but if you can master the pronunciation it just might lead your dinner guests to believe that you attended culinary school in Paris.👩🏻🍳  The best part? Despite its elegant name and reputation, this dish is surprisingly forgiving. The only real rule is this: don't overcook the scallops. These little beauties have the attention span of toddlers. Leave them on the heat too long and suddenly they're chewy like pencil erasers. But cook them over high heat for approximately two minutes and they'll be absolutely spectacular. Serve this elegant little dish with crusty French bread because leaving that velvety sauce behind should be considered a culinary misdemeanor. Add a crisp green salad, pour yourself a glass of chilled white wine and suddenly your dining room will feel remarkably European.  Coquilles Saint Jacques 2 Tablespoons butter 4 shallots, chopped 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 cup dry white wine 1 pound sea scallops 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 egg yolk 2 teaspoons tarragon 1 teaspoon lemon zest pinch cayenne pepper 1/4 cup gruyere cheese, shredded
 Top with gruyere and paprika. Brown cheese and serve.  Ciao!
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