A not-so-complete list of what I’ve been cooking and enjoying recently.
Lentil and Tomato Salad
Canned lentils, tomatoes, and an Italian seasoning packet—what could be easier? Add in other veggies and herbs to your preference; I can recommend avocado and parsley.
Lemony Chickpea and Parsley Pasta
Tangy, hearty and fresh if you use extra lemon zest and juice!
Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
This was so tasty, and a great way to use up some leftover cream and tomatoes. I didn’t have the oil packed sun dried tomatoes, so I caramelized some tomato paste in the regular olive oil. Yum!
Eton Mess
This recipe is delicious. I swapped the cranberries and raspberries for strawberries to make it spring-y. So good!
Eggplant Bolognese
Chop the veggies up really small and it’s like they’re not even there.
Sweet Potato Soup with Chili Oil
Good even without the chili oil, this thick soup is comforting and filling.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms
Mixed with a parsley and lemon gremolata and served with quinoa. Yum!
Cauliflower Piccata
A great option for meatless Mondays. Tangy and savory. You could add farro or pasta to make it a more complete meal, too.
Lemony Farro Soup
A very forgiving recipe. I used farro instead of the barley, added potato, and subbed parsley instead of dill.
Leek and Mushroom Tarts
This recipe makes two tarts! Just so you’re aware. Par-baking the crust keeps it robust and flaky beneath the veggie toppings. I added smoked salmon to the mix. Yum!
Creamed Spinach Pasta
Go crazy with the garlic, and add some lemon juice and red pepper flakes if you want to kick it up another notch or two.
Holiday cookies
The holiday cookie box tradition continues! Here were the selections for this year:
Fudge - a good standby
Piparkakut - a Finnish gingerbread that’s thin and crispy
Jam bars with homemade cranberry jam
Brown butter sage sables - a holiday favorite
Butternut Squash Stew
This Iranian stew has chickpeas, butternut squash, and prunes. Don’t think about it, just make it!
Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad
This salad is a tasty feature for butternut squash. I subbed feta for goat cheese, and added spinach for extra greens (I blanched first, but it could wilt from the heat of the roasted squash).
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars
These are super easy, and you can decrease the butter to accommodate a full can of pumpkin. Yum!
Coconut Lime Rice
This rice salad makes for an excellent side dish, or a main if you add protein to it (I steamed salmon on top of the rice as it cooked). Creamy, fragrant, and delicious.
White Bean and Quinoa Soup
This soup is perfect: light but with a good depth of flavor. Feel free to add additional veggies (like green beans, corn) or starches (orzo, elbow noodles) to add oomph.
Muscadines
If you don’t want to eat your muscadines straight (or if you can’t, because you picked so many), then you can turn them into all sorts of things: juice, wine, shrub, jelly, and even pie. I tried my hand at canning to can some juice, and I have some shrub in my fridge right now.
Zucchini Pasta
Go easy on the lemon slices (peel the rind off before slicing, or zest it into the veggies). Skip the capers if you want. Be careful toasting the walnuts. Then, enjoy!
Coconut Lemon Pie
This pie packs a bunch of tartness into a velvety lemon base, and I’m sure the coconut cream on top delivers extra coconut flavor (I used regular whipped cream which downplayed the coconut).
White Sangria
This sangria is the perfect drink to whip up for a summer party. I added slices of peaches instead of strawberries.
Berry Trifle
This red, white and blue trifle was a great dessert for July 4th. I used store bought pound cake and homemade whipped cream.
Cowboy Caviar
Fresh corn and tomatoes mixed with beans, onion, avocado, and dressing? Hell yeah. Dip of the summer.
Caramelized Zucchini and White Bean Salad
My conquest of zucchini continues. This time it’s cooked down with onions and mixed into a big bowl of beans and herbs. I added cheese for more heft. Yum!
Lemony Garlic Pasta
Is using a recipe for pasta in a buttery lemon sauce necessary? Maybe not. Did I still screw it up in a post-travel haze? Yes. It still came out fine, just a little heavy on the garlic.
Chickpea Zucchini Salad
Lime juice and zest make this zingy salad a great summer side (or meal, with some additions). I used my mandoline to matchstick the zukes instead of cubing them.
Tortellini Soup
This is basically a vegetable soup with tortellini added at the last minute. Plus a vehicle for cheese. What’s not to love? I used fennel instead of celery and it was *chef’s kiss*.
Shaved Zucchini and Fennel Salad
This salad was the perfect way to break in my new mandoline, and to start me on my “learn to like zucchini” journey. I added lemon zest, subbed in fennel fronds for the mint, and used a parm/pecorino mix. Yum!
Vegetarian Meatballs
These savory meatless meatballs are so tasty. Chickpeas, mushrooms, starch, cheese and spices get mixed together then you roll hand-formed balls into breadcrumbs, then bake. So yummy!
Popcorn Seasoning
If you have $13 to spend on a jar of San Juan Island Sea Salt popcorn seasoning, then buy it! If not, here’s my recipe dupe:
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons TJ's ranch seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder or cayenne
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Curry Sweet Potato Soup
Time to break out the immersion blender, babes. This creamy soup’s texture comes from the sweet potatoes and coconut milk, and the spice comes from canned curry paste. It’s delicious!
Cranberry Scones
I like this method of making scones: folding the dough on top of itself to make flaky layers. I wasn’t a huge fan of the glaze, so I’ll skip it next time and increase the sugar in the dough.
Savory Tarts
If you have puff pastry in your freezer, as I did for all of December and January, then I suggest whipping up a savory tart! This tomato one from NYTimes is good, and the fundamentals apply for any veggie topping you want!
Squash with Lentils and Feta
A great side dish if made to the recipe specifications; a good grain bowl for a week’s worth of lunches if doubled!
Vegetable Soup
It’s soup season! It’s slop season! This delicious soup is full of veggies and broth and herbs. Slop it up.
Vegetarian Skillet Chili
This adaptable, easy recipe is great to keep in your cooking arsenal. Fast to whip up, delicious with any number of veggie additions or substitions, it’s a winner.
Pepper Cumin Cookies
These are a delightful addition to any cheese board (especially with blue cheese). I recommend toasting the spices, chilling the flattened cookies before they go in the oven, and making extras so you can enjoy some just for you!
Caramelized Leek Pasta
Wash your leeks well! Cut your leeks really thinly! Don’t worry about the dishes! Try to perfect your pasta twirl technique!
Citrusy Lentil Soup
This lentil soup manages to pair earthy and bright flavors together to wondrous effect. Swap in onions for jalapenos if you want a milder topping.
One Pot Macaroni & Cheese
If you have noodles, milk, and cheese (and maybe a few veggies on hand), then you can make this mac & cheese recipe. It’s so easy and comes out creamy and delish.
Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower Grain Bowl
This grain bowl is very easy to make; just roast your veggies of choice (I did broccoli, cauliflower, and leeks), cook your farro, then mix everything with a tasty nutritional yeast dressing.
Coconut-Miso Salmon Curry
This recipe is low-effort but has a big return on investment. Use the full can of coconut milk and reduce the water, and don’t skimp on the lime and the herbs!
Summer Minestrone
This soup uses all the summer veggies and gets packed with flavor from a bouquet garni and fresh basil. Yum!
White Bean and Roasted Cauliflower Salad
If you can stand to turn the oven on, this vegetarian salad is worth it! Roasted cauliflower florets get combined with celery, white beans, and a dijon vinaigrette. I’d follow one comment’s recommendation to add thinly sliced fennel bulb.
Ricotta Lemon Pasta with Chickpeas, Broccoli, and Kale
This recipe uses up a lot of pans (a pet peeve of mine) but the flavors and potential to use the leftover ingredients for another pasta dish help make up for it! Make the recipe as written but save the broccoli stems to cook later and use as a mix in with the leftover ricotta and another 12oz of short pasta. Double whammy!
Corn and Basil Salad
This corn, tomato, and basil salad is the definition of reFRESHing. I added shishitos, feta, and some red onion for extra heartiness and flavor. Yum!
White Bean and Tomato Salad
No cooking required! I subbed mozzarella for parmesan to turn it into more of a caprese. Yum!
Pecan Granola
This granola recipe is a crowd pleaser! I can get 1.75 batches out of the ingredients called for, so it’s economical too. I’ve made it twice and added dried cherries the first time and sliced almonds the second, so it’s adaptable too.
Green Bean Salad
This salad features fresh green beans and tomato paired with feta, chickpeas, and herbs. It’s fresh and delicious, and it could even get the bowl treatment like the recipe below if served on top of a grain like quinoa or farro.
Roasted Potatoes with Jalapeno Dressing
This potato salad is so good! I used it as a topping on a bed of farro, and had broccoli instead of green beans (which I steamed separately). The dressing is very adaptable–I didn’t have an avocado so used some of the white beans as thickener and it was still amazing.
Corn and Coconut Soup
Put fresh ears of corn to use in this recipe! Corn kernels meld with aromatics, potato chunks, and coconut milk, then get blitzed until everything is semi-creamy. Yum!
Creamy Chickpea Pasta
Sautéed chickpeas and aromatics mingle with cream and spinach and then lovingly coat your spaghetti. Highly recommend!
Almond Cake
This almond cake was the standout on our Easter table this year. Semolina flour plus blanched almond meal get mixed with citrus zest and the wet ingredients. Once it’s done baking, you make an infused syrup of orange juice and spices that gets poured over the cake once it’s cooled slightly. Grease your pan, halve the sugar, and enjoy!
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
This slow cooker recipe yields a sweet potato curry that can be endlessly adjusted, from spiciness to thickness, based on your preferences. I made mine thick and spicy, served with rice on the side.
Sheet-Pan Roasted Broccoli Pasta
Roast your broccoli, makes your noodles, whip up some parmesan/bread crumb topping, mix everything together on a sheet pan with big spoonfuls of ricotta, then broil. Easy-peasy!
Toll House Cookies
This no-fuss recipe easily satisfies a weeknight cookie craving. It comes together quickly, you don’t need anything special, and most importantly the cookies are yummy.
Green Curry Salmon and Coconut Rice
Sauté scallions and garlic, add short grain rice (I used arborio) with coconut milk and curry paste, cook for a bit, then top with salmon fillets and cook some more until the salmon and rice are both done. Easy, delicious, done.
Marinated Celery and Chickpea Salad
Finally, a way to use up all the celery in your fridge! This salad featuring celery, chickpeas, and tomatoes is very adaptable. I used kale instead of celery leaves, red wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar, and no croutons. It was still scrumptious!
Spicy White Bean Stew with Broccoli Rabe
The stew that Sean called “the best soup you’ve ever made.” The spice level is customizable: you can sub tomato paste for the harissa, or do what I did and do a 2:1 ratio of harissa to tomato paste. Yum!
Holiday Cookies
As always, the recipe line-up this year prioritized a diversity of flavors and textures, and was nut-free. I doubled some recipes so netted out making over 300 cookies!
Fudge - a repeat from last year
Piparkakut, a Finnish gingerbread
Brown butter sage sables - another repeat from last year
Saka Saka Recipes
Here are the recipes for what I made from the Saka Saka cookbook, a delicious food tour of the Sub-Saharan region!
Chakalaka (spicy vegetables and beans)
Apple Carrot Salad
This is technically a slaw recipe (no mayo), but I subbed the cabbage for lettuce to make it a salad. I love the flavors and the crunch from all the veggies. I didn’t make my own dressing, I used the Trader Joe’s maple vinaigrette instead!
Potato and Leek Tart
I made this recipe up based on my fridge contents. Steps: Thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry. Preheat oven to 400F. Thinly slice a potato and a leek. Caramelize your leek slices while the oven preheats and pastry thaws. Roll your pastry out a bit but keep it in a rectangle. Place it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Fold up the edges to make a border, then poke the center with holes and brush on some olive oil. Layer on your potato slices, then brush with a bit of dijon mustard mixed with water or creme fraiche. Top with your caramelized leeks, thyme, and cheese of your choice. Bake for 25 minutes.
Lemon Granita
Making my own flavored shaved ice will be the move of the summer, I can tell you already. With just a flavored water/sugar combination, a baking dish, a freezer, and a fork, I can make something delicious, like this granita.
Golden Milk
There’s a lot of golden milk powders and prepared mixes out there, but this recipe using fresh spices is so much richer (and all of the particulates get strained out, so no powdery dregs to worry about). I’ve been drinking it every day for turmeric’s anti-inflammatory properties, but I would drink it for the flavors alone.
Holiday Baking
I made a lot of cookies this past weekend, and am here to share the recipes with you!
Perfectly set fudge (I followed the comment to cook for 6.5 minutes instead of the recommended 5)
Brown butter sage sablés (a repeat from last year because they were so beloved)
Tempeh Bacon
Tempeh that’s been thinly sliced; marinated in soy sauce or coconut aminos, maple syrup, and liquid smoke; then baked or cooked in a frying pan. It’s not exactly bacon, but it’s not bad either! It gives me the smoky flavor I miss from bacon, and the protein kick I need in the morning!
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