I've found that, while on business travel, I can usually eat pretty close to how I normally eat--relatively healthy with a bit of indulgence. There are usually enough options at business conferences that I can put together a healthy meal--oatmeal and fruit for breakfast instead of pastries and sausage, or salad and some chicken or fish for lunch instead of pasta and steak. The problem lies with the sheer amount of food available. An hour and a half after breakfast you're breaking for a snack, where there are granola bars and trail mix available. Soon there's lunch and before you know it, the brownies and candy bars are put out for afternoon snack. Cap the day off with a rich dinner and a few glasses of wine and regardless of how balanced you tried to eat, you still feel a little lethargic from eating all. day. long. 
After a week away, I was more than ready for something a little lighter. This soup was just the thing! I made a big batch last weekend and we enjoyed it for lunches most of the week. I consider it the cold-weather version of my favorite shredded vegetable detox salad! The pesto I made and froze over the summer is coming in handy. The scoop I added to the soup added a brightness and a freshness to remind me that healthy food doesn't have to be boring. Served with homemade rolls on the side, this was just the thing to help me recover from my week of thrice-daily desserts and multiple glasses of wine!

Normally I read magazines cover to cover, taking in each article in the order its been placed within the magazine. When I get my food magazines, however, I always flip to the recipe table of contents to see what is within and then I browse the recipes that sound the most interesting to me. Eventually I go back and read the whole thing, but I'm always anxious to see which recipes are in the current issue. That's how I discovered the recipe for this brown butter sour cream crumb cake, long before I had the chance to read the rest of the issue. 
After making the brown butter pumpkin cake, I'm in awe of how much additional flavor you can add to something simply by browning the butter. Thus was the case with this relatively basic crumb cake. Aside from a pinch of nutmeg, there weren't really any spices in the cake and yet this cake was anything but flavorless! The salty crumb topping was the perfect complement to the nuttiness that the brown butter added to the cake. I served this at church last weekend and while people couldn't put their finger on what they were tasting, several commented on how much they liked it. Brown butter for the win, once again!
One Year Ago: Spicy Homemade Salsa (we make this all the time!)
Two Years Ago: Feta and Sundried Tomato Torta
Three Years Ago: Spinach and Black Bean Pasta