In winter, it's necessary to balance our more virtuous intentions with our desire for cozy, warming food.

For the crew at Purée in Bethesda, Maryland, winter days are kick-started with a Greensicle, a juice made from oranges, bananas, coconut nectar and kale leaves. Virtue never tasted so good (click here for the recipe).

In response to dwindling fruit and vegetable options, creativity reigns supreme. At Avec in Chicago, chef Koren Grieveson uses the grain of the moment in a quinoa salad larded with apples and shiitake and Maitake mushrooms (click here for the recipe). At Nonna's Table, on New York's Upper East Side, comfort takes the form of cicerchia bean soup, fortified with a ham hock (click here for the recipe).

Grains even make their way into dessert: L.A. chef Susan Feniger makes millet puffs, like Rice Krispies treats on steroids, bound with marshmallow and spiced with a panoply of Indian spices (click here for the recipe).

But if you require robustness on a cold winter day, skip the juice and instead breakfast on Gruyère-and-caramelized onion scones from Pronto in San Francisco (click here for the recipe).

For dinner, invite friends to share a Dutch oven filled with chef Mark Sullivan's classic French blanquette de veau (click here for the recipe).