bites out of life

Baked Buffalo Wings with Creamy Blue Cheese Dip

OH-EM-GEE.

These wings, guys. These frickin’ wings.

I thought I had reached wing nirvana a few years ago, and yes, those Sriracha wings hold a dear dear place in my heart, but these are … FIRE.

The first time I made baked wings, I, like most other people, baked them first and then tossed them in sauce. While that certainly leads to flavorful wings, the flavor doesn’t really penetrate the meat — it just sits on top of it (and on your fingers, which EW). Plus, the wings lose their crispy oomph when they’re coated in sauce, and who doesn’t want crispy crunch in every bite?

I wrote off those flaws as minor quibbles the first dozen times I made those wings, because when you’re eating Sriracha wings with a kick of lemon and cilantro, you don’t really complain. But then, as I am wont to do, those little quibbles started nagging at me. So much sauce being wasted on plates and napkins. So much crunch being totally lost!

So this time, I switched things up. Rather than waiting until the end to add flavor, I marinated the wings in Buffalo sauce before they went in the oven, and then brushed the sauce on the wings while they were roasting. The flavor seeps into the meat itself, and didn’t leave sauce on all over my face, hands or clothes. (I did somehow manage to get butter in my hair, but that’s a story for another day.)

Maximum flavor + minimum mess = so much this.

(We didn’t talk much about the blue cheese dip, but it’s kind of my favorite thing ever: super simple [blend blue cheese and Greek yogurt, refrigerate] and soooo blue cheesy. If you don’t like funk, use a milder blue cheese, because as it sits, it amplifies the cheese’s flavor. I used a pretty flavorful Buttermilk Blue and it’s not for the faint of heart. It is a pretty pale eggshell color though!) …

Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

In all my excitement over delicious sheet-pan dinners, I totally missed the seventh anniversary of this blog. I was a wee young grad student when I started this blog, and in the almost-decade since, I’ve gotten one degree, two internships and three jobs, plus lived in five different apartments in three different neighborhoods in the best city on Earth.

In all that time, I’ve never made a stack of pancakes. In fact, in all of my 28 years of living, I’ve never made pancakes. It’s not that I don’t like them — on the contrary, my mom woke up and made us pancakes every day for breakfast for a few years in high school (clearly have never been on a low-carb diet), and it’s one of my go-to’s when I’m hungover. But somehow, I’ve never woken up on a Sunday morning and whipped up a quick stack (which is how I assume pancake people talk?)

A few weeks ago, while cleaning out the fridge, I found some leftover pumpkin puree. It was still good, as was the one egg I had left in the carton and the juuuust-over-one-cup of milk I had left in the fridge. My destiny could not have been more clear: it was finally pancake time.

Whipping up the batter takes less than a minute — I mixed the wet ingredients right in my extra-large measuring cup, and the five minutes that you let the batter rest allow you to grab a second cup of coffee and prepare yourself for griddlin’. The batter is pretty thick, but I used a ladle to form my pancakes and didn’t have any issues. Add a tablespoon or two of extra milk if yours is too thick to pour.

Since I’ve never made pancakes before, I wasn’t really sure about when to flip and all that jazz, but thankfully, bae stepped in and told me about the bubble trick: when you start to see small bubbles forming on the top of the pancake, it’s time to flip. Since the batter is thicker, by the time you see enough bubbles, the one side may be a bit more “golden” than you’d like. Not a problem — lower the heat a bit and you should be okay.

You may want something fancy with your pumpkin pancakes, but I found that these were pretty delicious all on their own: lightly spiced, fluffy and just perfect with a heap of chopped pecans, a pat of butter and a ~~drizzling~~ dousing of maple syrup. I don’t normally play domestic diva on Sunday mornings, but the when I do, I hope it’s always this delicious! …

Sheet-Pan Mustard Salmon and Broccoli

When a coworker asked me for a quick salmon recipe the other day, I realized something shocking: I have yet to publicly share my absolute favorite way to make salmon. It’s a total shame, because “no, I don’t need another idea for a fast, easy, healthy dinner that requires no cleanup” is not something I hear often. (Or ever.)

Sheet-pan dinners were all the rage in 2016, but they’re something I (and probably everyone else) have been doing forever. Roasting vegetables and meat/fish on the same pan has been my go-to “lazy” dinner for years, and truth be told, they’re often so basic that I thought no one on the Internet would need or want the recipe.

But I’ve slowly been convinced otherwise. Apparently, you can never have too many easy weeknight dinners on your arsenal, especially ones that involve ingredients you likely already have at home. Slathering salmon with a quick dressing of Dijon, lemon and garlic imparts a ton of flavor, and roasting the fish for a short time on high heat leaves it tender and flaky. The broccoli gets crispy and crunchy in the oven (I like mine on the slightly over-roasted side, so the tops get crispy like they’ve been fried) and with a side of rice or quinoa, you’ve got weeknight perfection.

My apologies for keeping dinner this good a secret from you all. Won’t happen again!*
*Get ready for a lot of “toss with [insert 3-4 basic ingredients] and olive oil, then roast/sautÃ©,” because that’s pretty much what I eat most nights. #sorrynotsorry …

Creamy Arroz con Leche

I got so sick of eating food out of bowls … so I switched to cups.

There probably aren’t many dishes that transcend cultures, cropping up in country after country in some form or another.* Rice pudding does, which is understandable because it’s the ideal comfort food: easy to make (with ingredients you probably already have at home), hearty and warming and basically the culinary equivalent of your favorite cable-knit sweater. It’s flavored with rosewater in the Middle East, cardamom and pistachio on the Indian subcontinent, raisins and eggs in Italy, butter and fruit juice in Scandinavia, apple sauce and cherries in Germany, in the oven in England, and in Latin America, with citrus peel, cinnamon and ground cloves.

As someone who’s been burned one too many times by one-note rice puddings from the local diner, the spice and citrus in arroz con leche add nice bright flavors to the standard recipe, and it’s quickly become my favorite version of rice pudding (don’t worry, I’m no traitor — my favorite version of India’s take on rice pudding, kheer, is actually made with orzo). Like most comfort foods, there are a million versions of arroz con leche, as recipes vary from region to region and human to human. Which means you can basically do what you want, and what’s better than that?

I went with orange zest, cinnamon sticks and a pinch of ground cloves, and used arborio rice. The same starchiness that makes such creamy risotto also makes an exceptionally creamy arroz con leche, though one word of caution here: cook the rice pudding to a bit looser of a consistency than you would normally, since it will firm up a bit as it cools.

There’s some stirring involved here, but otherwise, no work at all — and within 45 minutes (ie. one episode of my new TV addiction, Breaking Bad [and yes, I’m 100 years late to the party, and yes, I know, I basically haven’t lived ’til I’ve watched this show]), perfectly creamy, dreamy dessert. There’s a reason people eat this stuff everywhere around the world.

*My brain, in its current post-work, writing-while-simultaneously-watching-The-Devil-Wears-Prada state cannot think of any. Can you? What other dishes show up across different cultures? …

Asian Chicken Meatball Soup

As you may have guessed, I am a terrible human to be around when I’m sick. I’m very specific about my needs, but usually I can go out and deal with them on my own. When I’m sick however, “specific” becomes “extreme pain in the you-know-what,” which, coupled with my inability to get up off the couch, generally leads to problems.

Exhibit A: the almost-meltdown I had while making this Asian chicken meatball soup. It’s no fault of the soup: in fact the soup is lovely and this story has a happy ending. But hear me out.

This all began earlier this week, when Smitten Kitchen posted a delicious-looking recipe for chicken wonton soup that I wanted to make immediately. I got distracted by another soup (equally delicious, can’t wait to share my version with you), and then fell sick. The can’t-lift-your-head-up-except-to-sneeze kind of sick, which calls for extensive vats of brothy soup.

For lunch, I ordered soup dumplings and wonton soup. It was … meh. The soup dumplings were excellent, with the perfect ginger-scallion hit that I love, especially when sick.* But the wonton soup was really bland and really disappointing, and I knew I’d have to dust off that Smitten Kitchen recipe and give it a try myself.

The original recipe is easy enough, but I wasn’t about to sit there and make wontons with a low-grade fever, so I just turned the filling into meatballs. I increased the ginger and scallion in the meatballs and in the broth, and added some chili-garlic paste to the meatballs (that spice really cleared out my sinuses). I also added mushrooms and snow peas for bulk, but you could do whatever vegetables you like: shredded carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, etc. Noodles would also be excellent here, and I may add some ramen to the leftovers.

But a little bit of effort was rewarded BIG. This Asian chicken meatball soup (… I didn’t know what to call it) is full of flavor — no blandness here. I kind of wanted to bathe in the broth, which is rich with mushroom, chicken, scallion and soy sauce flavors, plus the glorious spicy-sweet ginger. The meatballs were tender, full of flavor and just enough sustenance for me to muster up the energy to make dessert (foreshadowing!). With a swirl of spicy chili oil, it was perfection, leading to that oh-so-rare moment where my sick self got exactly what she wanted.

*I LOVE fresh ginger (I think it’s an Indian thing?), and when I’m sick, I buy it by the pound. My go-to “get better in an instant” tonic: bring 2 cups water, two lemon quarters and an inch of peeled ginger to a boil on the stove. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes, until it’s drinkably hot. Drink all day and all night, until you feel 100 times better. (Add a touch of honey if you need it.)
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Beef and Barley Stew

I often find myself stuck in a weird food dichotomy in the early weeks of January. On the one hand, in a desire to undo some of the excesses of the holiday season, I want salads and soups and fresh green things. But on the other, it’s COLD. “Feels like 5 degrees” cold. “Chill me to the bone” cold, where the only things that can warm me up are cheese-laden carbs, braised meats and fleece-lined tights.

There’s not a ton of overlap between those two categories, which makes it hard to maintain a “healthy eating” goal at the beginning of the year. But I like to think that there can be some middle ground, something that’s more satisfying than a plate full of greens but less artery-clogging than mac and cheese.

Enter this beef and barley stew. While it may not be the most healthful recipe in the world, it is laden with whole grains (barley) and vegetables (carrots, celery, mushrooms), and the added protein (beef) makes it a complete meal in one bowl. (This is also a huge plus if you, like me, promised to cook more often this year and are looking for more one-pot meals that can feed an army. This is DEFINITELY one of those.) It was excellent as a stew, and still extremely delicious even when the barley had absorbed most of the liquid by leftover day 3.*

This stew certainly kept me warm during a cold, snowy weekend, and didn’t leave me feeling comatose afterwards. It’s a compromise between healthy and hearty that tastes way better than any compromise ever should.

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Creamy Spiced Pumpkin Oatmeal

Like many of you, I use the first week of a new year to reset: evaluate the year that has just passed, map out goals for the year ahead, and take stock of habits, both bad and good. 2016 was a rough year for many reasons. I was busier at work than I have been in a long time, and in the chaos of it all, allowed myself to move away from some of my best habits. I simply didn’t have time (or so I thought) to pack breakfasts and lunches, hit the gym, floss, take vitamins or many of the other little ways I try to take care of myself.

Rather than bring everything back all at once, I’m trying to reintroduce small changes one at a time. This week, it’s vitamins and making breakfast. (And running, since a random streak of “luck” landed me a spot in the New York City Half in March [eeeek!]) My vitamins are being shipped to me on a monthly basis, and to make things easy for breakfast, I’m going to go back to batch cooking.

While I’m all about the big baked egg dish, I wanted something a bit more abstemious this week. (It is Resolution-uary after all.) I’ve done big batches of oatmeal in the past, but hadn’t yet shared one of my go-to recipes. Somehow, this creamy pumpkin oatmeal manages to taste indulgent while retaining its health halo, easing you into the new diet you’ve just started.

Slow-cooking steel-cut oats in a mixture of pumpkin puree, milk and water is always a recipe for success, but the added step of cooking the spices really makes this oatmeal feel special. The entire process takes less than 30 minutes though, and you can do most of it while you sip coffee and watch The Today Show. Basically, it’s a very low-lift way to start your day off strong, and perfect for cold mornings.

Cheers to a happy, adventure-filled 2017 — what are your new year’s resolutions? …

Lobster Scampi

I LOVE the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Christmas is great, but sometimes the lead-up to the actual day can feel aggressive, an all-caps assault of HOLIDAY CHEER! and MERRIMENT! and JOY! that’s a bit overwhelming for my cold, cynical heart.

But the week after Christmas? Perfection. There’s still a festive hum in the air, but it’s a bit quieter and more subdued. The city empties out around the holidays (at least if you avoid midtown), so everything feels less frenzied and chaotic. I can actually get a seat on the subway, or a table at the new trendy restaurant, or gasp! a treadmill after work at the gym.

And since New Year’s Eve is still around the corner, I can do things like get oysters and champagne on a random Thursday after work because it’s still “the holidays.” Indulgence is definitely still on the menu, and in fact, has its last hurrah before Resolution-uary begins on January 1.

Enter this lobster scampi. It’s luxurious, with butter and garlic and fat chunks of lobster meat tangling through a pile of linguini. But it won’t kill your budget (the lobster goes a long way here, and you could easily do a two-people-per-lobster-tail ratio if needed) and thanks to the generous hit of lemon juice and zest, plus a hefty pinch of red pepper flakes and a handful of fresh parsley, feels fresh and light, and not like the butter-laden carb bomb that it actually is.

The pasta feels especially apt this week: it’s celebratory, fancy but a little bit restrained, and perfect with a glass of wine. What better way to count down to the new year? …

Pecan Pie

I was supposed to post this recipe a full month ago, when I actually baked this pecan pie. I brought it to my BF’s Thanksgiving dinner, and had planned to post the recipe on Thursday morning. But instead I went for a run, got distracted by the Thanksgiving parade, then traipsed off to India for an epic wedding and a Taj Mahal sighting, and then, well … here we are.

Thankfully, pecan pie is welcome all the time, especially when chestnuts are roasting o’er an open fire and Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. You may still be on the hook to bring something to Christmas dinner, and what better than a homemade pecan pie that exudes caramel-and-toasted-nut flavors and pairs delightfully with barely sweetened whipped cream or better yet, a scoop of vanilla ice cream?

In the nearly 500 posts on this blog, I’ve never made a real pie. Sure, there are galettes and hand pies and tarts, but not a real roll-out-a-pie-crust-and-fill-it-with-things pie. The truth is, pie crusts terrified me a bit. There are all those stories of shrinkage and tearing and to parbake or not to parbake, and frankly, graham cracker crusts are so glorious that why even bother?

But when told that my BF’s mother loved pecan pie, I had to oblige. And no store-bought crust would do. So I turned, as I often do in times of need, to Smitten Kitchen. Deb’s pecan pie recipe had everything I was looking for (easy pie crust, lots of pecans, the extra but oh-so-necessary step of toasting your nuts) and one curious addition: golden syrup.

As a semi-responsible eater, I know all about the problems with high-fructose corn syrup, but my biggest issue with cooking with it is that it has no flavor other than tooth-achingly sweet. And, in my 28 years on Earth, I’ve been burned by a fair number of pecan pies that seem perfectly fine on the outside, but when you bite in, offer little more than saccharine goo.

But golden syrup, a popular British alternative to honey (also called light treacle or cane sugar syrup) is more caramel-y and has a pinch of salt, so it gives this pecan pie a depth of flavor that corn syrup could only dream of. (It’s also the base for treacle tart, Harry Potter’s favorite dessert, and you best believe that I’ll be using the rest of my golden syrup to make this while marathoning HP at some point this winter.) I found it pretty easily in NYC (at Whole Foods, D’Agostino’s and Morton-Williams, in case anyone’s wondering) but if you’re having trouble tracking it down, Amazon‘s got your back.

If you space out the pie crust-making and the pecan pie-baking, the recipe is extremely manageable. I did everything in one day and it was still very doable. I had a bit of trouble figuring out when exactly the pie was done baking, and would recommend you pull it out a few minutes before you think it’s ready, since the pie will set further as it cools. I probably could have baked it 2-3 minutes less, but let me tell you — not a single person at Thanksgiving dinner complained. The pie disappeared entirely, and I left with a request to make it next year. So if you’re looking for a way to “win” Christmas or just make your family extremely happy this holiday season, look no further than this pecan pie. I promise it was worth the wait. …

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie is one of those classic winter foods that hits all the spots when done right, but most of the time, is done so so wrong. A gluey interior encased in a soggy crust — rather than being hearty and warming, they can often be upsetting and sad.

It’s a shame, because a good chicken pot pie can be dreamy: shreds of chicken and root vegetables enrobed in a velvety gravy and topped with a flaky crust that crackles when you cut into it. It takes that most basic of ingredients — chicken — and elevates it to comfort food greatness, something that makes winter seem wonderland-y instead of cold and aggressive and harsh.

I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey for my version, but poached chicken breasts or store-bought rotisserie chicken work well too. The combo of carrots, celery and mushrooms in gravy is the real star, and I think an all-vegetarian version (with additional root vegetables or different types of mushrooms) would be just as delicious. Traditional pot pies are topped with a pie crust, but using puff pastry saves some time and I think is just way more delicious. It is a bit frustrating to deal with however (especially if you’re impatient and don’t wait for the dough to fully thaw, not that anyone you know would do that …), but I had a terrible time with mine and the end result was just as beautiful, and more importantly, devoured just as quickly.

Since we’re in full swing on the holiday revelry and I like to save my calories for cookies, I swapped most of the milk in the gravy with low-sodium chicken stock, and didn’t miss much. I’d never call anything that features a pound of puff pastry and a half-stick of butter “healthy,” but there’s a fair amount of vegetables in here and it’s hearty enough that a small portion goes a long way. The pot pie also reheats very nicely, so I’d make a big skillet-full and save it for those insanely busy December nights when even ordering Seamless feels like too much. This is the kind of pot pie that I dream about*, and I promise it will be a lifesaver for you this winter.

*What, you don’t dream about food?

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The Perfect Negroni

As I’ve mentioned many many times before, Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays. It represents the things I care most about: family, food and football. And despite its dubious origins, it brings people together, something that seems especially important right now.

I’m not a “feelings” person by any stretch of the imagination — in fact, some might say that I’m a robot (or that I’ve been watching too much Westworld). But I’ve been feeling all sorts of things over the past few weeks: stress, fear, anger, sadness, anxiety, with a little bit of joy thrown in, thanks to ~~Harry Potter TV marathons~~ seeing my family last weekend and hosting my friends on Sunday. I’m sure many of you have felt similar things recently, because life.

In the middle of this whirlwind of emotion, it’s really nice to take a day to feel something new: grateful. Feel grateful for your family, who love you regardless of whatever you serve tomorrow. Feel grateful for your friends, who always find ways to keep you going and, most importantly, keep you laughing. Feel grateful that you’re here, and you’re resilient, and this too shall pass.

The holidays are always stressful. It’s just impossible to do everything you need to do and everything you want to do while also hitting up the many holiday parties and events on your calendar. Taking a few minutes, maybe while you sip your morning coffee or right before you go to sleep, to remind yourself of the good things in your life, the things to be truly thankful for, can do wonders to ease that tension a tiny bit.*

And if all else fails, pour yourself a negroni and call it a night. The sweet-bitter cocktail will ease your worries, at least for the moment, and it requires no effort to make (any cocktail whose instructions are “pour” and “stir” sounds perfect to me). I love it as an aperitif as guests arrive for dinner, since they take zero time to make and you can make them in batches. However you get through the next few days (and weeks!), may it be with a smile and a good stiff drink on the side. Cheers!

*It sounds super cheesy, but on particularly hard days over the past few months, before going to sleep I’ve named three things I’m grateful for that day. Could be as small as getting a seat on a crowded subway or as big as my health, but it was a nice little reminder that things aren’t as terrible as they seem. And it works! …

Pancetta-Herb Turkey

After two relatively smooth Friendsgiving turkeys, I got a bit cocky this year. I took some chances and made one major mistake, but learned a number of life lessons along the way …

After receiving my turkey on Thursday, I very quickly dry brined it at midnight on Thursday, packed a bag and headed home to Delaware on Friday, blissfully unaware that when dry brining for more than one day, YOU HAVE TO COVER THE TURKEY.

Life Lesson #1: Always read ALL of the instructions, even that last little one at the end.

When I got back on Sunday morning, my turkey looked like it belonged in a horror movie. Sure, the skin was crispy AF, but all of the moisture had been drawn out of the meat and then evaporated into thin air. I was devastated, sure that I had completely destroyed my (very expensive!) turkey, and would have to tell all my friends that I failed.

But after a bit of frantic Googling, I realized: all is not lost. Butter is a magical way to add back moisture to meat, and my original plan, of creating a pancetta-herb butter, would provide plenty of moisture and flavor to resuscitate the turkey. So, I tried.

Life Lesson #2: Butter fixes everything. (And don’t give up — things are more salvageable than you think!)

I don’t have a food processor, so I tried combining the ingredients for my pancetta-herb butter in the blender. It was ultimately successful but required a bit of olive oil and a TON of patience. It took a long time to get the butter to come together, and if you’ve got a sharp knife, I’d recommend just mincing everything together by hand.

Life Lesson #3a: Always be flexible in the kitchen (and beyond!) You can always hack something together. (Related: Life Lesson #3b: sometimes the simplest way is also the best way.)

Life Lesson #4: You don’t have to do things alone! Ask for help!

Thankfully, I had some help putting everything together. Debleena assembled the vegetable trivet in my roasting pan while I wrangled the pancetta-herb butter, so that when I was ready to slather that butter over my turkey, I already had a place to put it. She also helped with trussing the turkey and laughing at my discomfort in touching the turkey in all sorts of places. What are friends for?

Ultimately, we got the turkey in the oven and did our math totally wrong, so probably for the first time in history, the turkey was ready early. (I can’t make it anywhere on time, and yet somehow my turkey was done an hour early. How??) In any case, if this ever happens to you, remember: turkey stays warm for a loooooong time, so tent a large piece of foil over it and set it aside. Even if it sits for an hour or two, it will stay warm. You don’t need to reheat it. I promise. Plus, you can leisurely make your gravy, instead of sweating over the stove while a dozen people loudly clamor for dinner.

The turkey itself came out beautifully: bronzed skin that literally crackled as I cut into it, juicy white meat and rich dark meat. My fears that it would be too dry were unfounded (🙌 🙌 🙌), though I found the skin, with the dry brine and the pancetta, a touch salty. No one else in my crew did, so that might be a personal preference. And everyone loved it — seven people ended up demolishing most of a 12-pound turkey. Which bring me to the most important lesson I learned:

Life Lesson #5: When you’re cooking for friends and family, everything will be okay.

The turkey could be terrible, the mashed potatoes could be glue, the gravy could be lumpy and everyone will still love you and be excited to spend a few hours with you, so don’t stress! (And remember: Dominoes is always just a phone call away … ) …

Ginger Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce never gets the shine it deserves. It’s often an afterthought, or worse, canned. But it should really take on more of a starring role. For starters, it’s beautiful — all garnets and rubies and jewel tones. Plus, it offers a tangy bite, a little something-something to cut the richness of mashed potatoes and gravy and cream-laden casseroles. AND you can make it ahead of time, refrigerate it for a week (or even freeze it) and the flavors meld together and taste extra wonderful.*

While my go-to version is basically mulled wine with cranberries thrown in, I stumbled upon this ginger cranberry sauce while browsing the Internets and was intrigued. Ginger is one of my favorite things, and I was sure it would be lovely with the tart-sweet cranberries. I love it when I’m right. The combo of the ginger, cranberries and orange is all the flavor you need, and making the sauce ahead of time really allows the flavors to meld. It’s cranberry nirvana, and definitely deserves a prominent place at your Thanksgiving table.

*AND AND you can take any leftovers you have, slather them on a wheel of Brie and bake it at 425F for 10-ish minutes, until the whole thing becomes a delicious gooey mess. It’s an easy, elegant appetizer … if you’re willing to share. …

Sweet Potato Streusel Cake

I’ve always been an emotional baker. When bad things happen to me, I bake. When good things happen to me, I bake. When I wake up early and everyone is still asleep, I bake, relishing the quiet and the meditative nature of sift, measure, stir.

After an incredibly long election season, with countless nights in the office until dawn, even more early mornings and SO.many.feelings., I gave myself an extra-long weekend to relax, recover and recharge. After two blissful days of catching up on my TV shows, long walks in Central Park and starting some long-overdue reading, I woke up on Sunday with a mission: bake myself into (mental) shape.*

I first made this sweet potato streusel cake last Thanksgiving, as a quick stand-in for pumpkin pie. It provided all of the sugary goodness of pie, with no finicky crusts to roll out and a buttery pecan streusel that was so good that certain family members literally picked off the top of the cake when no one was looking. We had roasted and mashed the sweet potatoes in advance as a part of our overall Thanksgiving prep, which made the cake-making part a cinch. If you’ve got family members eager to help in the kitchen, this is the perfect dish to hand off, as it requires very little cooking skill (and let me tell you, using your hands to squelch butter into sugar is an instant stress reliever).

If pie is a non-negotiable at your Thanksgiving dinner, this cake also makes an excellent breakfast or afternoon treat the next day. The sweet potato keeps the cake impossibly moist and lush, while keeping it sturdy enough to hold up to that aforementioned streusel. The spices add a hearty, but not overpowering, embrace, and imbue your home with all sorts of “fall candle” aromas. This cake is an ideal companion for a cup of coffee and ~~maybe a polite family conversation about politics~~ a book.** It is warmth, comfort, everything you need right now. …

Moroccan-Style Short Ribs

Hot DAMN, these Moroccan-style short ribs are good. I mean look at them. The nice char on the meat, the chunky stew laden with briny olives and jammy dried apricots, the perfect seasoning (a spice blend with all the faves: cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne and ginger) … it’s enough to make a girl go all googly-eyed.

I mean, just look.

It’s the perfect weekend dinner project, with the bonus of making your home smell divine. I could go on and on, but I’m too busy drooling over these photos.

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One-Pot Farro with Sausage, Kale and White Beans

Cooking has been very sporadic for me over the past few months (past year, really) but it really makes things more exciting when you stumble upon a “forever” recipe, one that you clearly see becoming a staple in your repertoire. This one-pot farro is DEFINITELY on that list.

I came across it during a routine perusal of Food52, and immediately knew I had to make it that night. The original recipe calls for mushrooms and kale, which will be happening in the future, but because I was cooking for bae and he’s not a mushroom fan, I went with my tried and true combo: sausage, kale and white beans (see also: this sauteed kale, this stuffed sweet potato). Cooking the farro risotto-style makes it creamy and hearty, but it’s still pretty healthy: full of vegetables, whole grains and a little bit of sausage for ~~protein~~ porky, salty goodness.

The best part: it cooks in under an hour in only one pot. It’s the perfect weeknight recipe, especially as those chilly nights set in. This one’s a keeper! …

Three-Bean and Turkey Chili

Oops I did it again* …

I disappeared. Mostly to have an insane amount of fun (Kanye concert + weekend at Penn State with the crew + my BIRTHDAY + an INSANE Beyonce concert + an amazing surprise birthday party) and spend a lot of hours in the office covering the debacle that is the 2016 presidential election. It’s been a crazy busy few weeks, and I was lucky enough to have had the foresight to make a big pot of this three-bean and turkey chili beforehand.

Seriously, chili is a godsend for busy weeks. You make a big batch and it reheats like a dream (and even tastes better on the second or third day), travels easily and is a full, well-rounded meal in a bowl. This version, with kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans, plus ground turkey, is hearty without being overly heavy. It’s a pretty standard recipe, and could be kicked up in a million ways: a bit of beer thrown in, a different blend of beans or my all-time favorite chili move, a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder.**

Fall is always insanely busy for me, and unfortunately shows no sign of slowing down, at least until Election Day (T-minus 29 days!), so I’m on the hunt for big-batch recipes that I can keep in the fridge all week and pull out as needed. Any favorites you have? Leave ’em in the comments!

*It’s been 16 years since that video came out. SIXTEEN. I feel so old and also kind of sad that youths of today never got to grow up obsessing over Britney Spears in a red plastic/leather bodysuit.

**I know, it sounds weird, but the cocoa really adds some depth to the chili. …

Jalapeño Cheddar Corn Muffins

A good corn muffin is a beautiful thing. Slathered with salted butter, it is a supremely satisfying breakfast. Topped with vanilla ice cream and roasted strawberries, it makes a surprisingly tasty dessert. But where it really shines is as an accompaniment to chili, the slightly sweet muffin a perfect foil for a bowl of spicy, smoky chili.

I’ve made a lot of chili on this site. There’s the original (and still to this day, my favorite), a hearty beef chili that uses an ingenious secret ingredient to add depth and flavor. There’s a slow cooker version, a turkey version and two vegetarian ones: one with butternut squash and one with beer (all are fire bombs of flavor and spice).

But it’s kind of tragedy that I have yet to post a single corn muffin recipe. Thankfully, that error has now been rectified, thanks to these stupid-easy jalapeÃ±o cheddar corn muffins from The Kitchn. Seriously, these guys require one bowl and less than 10 minutes tops to come together, and bake up in less than 30. And for all of your “hard work,” you’re rewarded with plush muffins that are a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, a little bit cheesy and 100% delicious.

They were a dream alongside the three-bean turkey chili I made — a standout of a recipe that I can’t wait to share with you guys — and would be just as good alongside scrambled eggs and bacon. I’m doing both, to make up for lost time. …

Harvest Roast Chicken with Grapes and Olives

One of the biggest things I’ve missed while I’ve been running around this summer has been cooking on Sundays. Spending a few hours in the kitchen stirring some pots or working on a dinner project is really meditative for me, a relaxing way to prepare myself for the week ahead. This is one routine I couldn’t wait to reincorporate into my life, and what better way to to get back in gear than with one of my favorite recipes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook?

This harvest roast chicken feels like a natural choice for early fall dinners: it requires minimal oven time and doesn’t leave you with the meat sweats, unlike some of the heartier cold-weather roasts.

And that combination of roasted grapes, olives, shallots and rosemary? OH EM GEE. Sweet, savory, slightly bitter, it’s perfection, especially when bathed in the white wine-laced pan sauce. I want to bathe in the white wine-laced pan sauce. Is that weird? #sorrynotsorry I can’t be held accountable when presented with chicken as delicious as this. You need nothing more than a hunk of good bread and sharply dressed greens to make this a meal, and what a meal it is. No more Sunday scaries here, not when dinner is this delicious. …

Orzo-Stuffed Peppers

This summer kind of blew by. Somehow, in July and August, I attended two weddings and two bridal showers, hosted one bachelorette party, went on two vacations, visited one hospital (hello food poisoning!) and moved to a new apartment. It’s been a whirlwind of fun and exciting experiences, but at this point, I’m really craving routine. (Is that an incredibly boring thing to admit? Does this mean I’m getting old?)

But fall should hopefully be slower.* I’ve missed coming home from work and putting together a relatively healthy but extremely delicious dinner, something that I used to do all the time but have only done in fits and spurts this year. I, who used to be the queen of packing lunches for work, now buy my lunch four times a week, an expensive habit that frankly, has gotten a bit boring. And while I’ve really enjoyed my inadvertent pizza tour of NYC, there’s something extremely meditative about chopping and stirring and tasting that helps me wind down after a busy day.

It helps that all of a sudden, I’m seeing delicious recipes EVERYWHERE. I’ve bookmarked so much stuff in the past month that my recipe Google doc takes a full minute to load, and that’s before the “fall haul” rolls in at the farmer’s market. I vacillated between so many options that I wandered through Whole Foods in a complete frenzy, putting things in my cart and then putting them back repeatedly before finally cobbling together a completely made-up-in-my-head recipe for orzo-stuffed peppers that vaguely resembled this. (This is next on my list, followed by this and this. Let’s just hope I don’t have a total meltdown in the grocery store again … )

Traditional stuffed peppers can be a lot of work on a weeknight. You have to make the filling, then you stuff, then you bake and then, over an hour later, you finally eat. Well, ain’t nobody got time for that. I halved the peppers and roasted them while I made the filling, which cut down significantly on the prep time, and since I’ve become a decent kitchen multi-tasker, I was eating less than 45 minutes after I started cooking. Which left me plenty of time to pick up my least favorite fall routine: watching the Redskins lose.

*Only things on the agenda: a Beyonce concert, a Kanye concert, a Penn State football game, a REDSKINS football game(!!!), a Michigan football game and a corresponding trip to Detroit, a Berkshires mini-wedding for my sister, a birthday for myself, and oh by the way, it’s kind of my job to cover the 2016 presidential election. So maybe “slow” is relative … …

Zucchini and Lentil Salad with Mozzarella

The importance of a good summer salad cannot be overstated. One that is filling enough to be called a meal, but light enough that you can still gorge on watermelon afterwards. One that is snappy and bright and brimming with summer produce, and easily transportable for potlucks and picnics and barbecues. I’ve got a few in the archives (these are my faves) but whenever I see a new one, I jump.

And obviously, any salad that features lightly browned cubes of zucchini, a tangy Dijon dressing and — the piÃ¨ce de rÃ©sistance — a fat ball of creamy mozzarella cheese, later cut into chunks that melt ever so slightly into the still-warm lentils, is a keeper. The inspiration comes from Smitten Kitchen, and had to be adjusted for convenience (I hate when herbs languish in my fridge so sorry basil vinaigrette, you’ve been replaced), and for availability (Whole Foods was out of burrata asdf;asdfka;sdfkj).

But even with those tweaks, the spirit of the salad is one I could eat all summer long … or whatever two or three weeks we have left SOB. It checks off all those “good summer salad” boxes and tastes even better the next day. And if you run out of mozz, it tastes just as good with a fried egg on top. Def one for the archives. …

Mussels Dijonnaise

In the 6.5 years(!!!) I’ve had this blog, I’ve cooked in four different kitchens, not counting my parents’ or friends’ homes. Welcome to kitchen number FIVE, part of the adorable studio I moved into three weeks ago.

I would have never called my last kitchen “spacious,” but the half-galley style meant I at least had a bunch of cabinets and one large-ish counter. Kitchen 5.0 features two cabinets, a cute, completely hacked together little pantry, some clutch wire-rack shelving, and one tiny little half-counter from where I must do all of my prepwork from now on. Less space = more challenge, to which I say bring it.

Also bring me recipes that require minimal prepping please? Still getting the hang of cooking with no space, but thankfully, it’s been too hot to cook anything major so there’s been some one-bowl pasta salads (olives instead of anchovies + cubes of ricotta salata mamma mia!), a zucchini and lentil salad that I can’t wait to tell you about and then these mussels. These glorious glorious mussels, which bathe in a broth of all my favorite things: butter, wine, Dijon mustard and cream, enhanced by a smattering of garlic and shallots and then topped with a (in my case, very) generous handful of fresh parsley.

The best part of these mussels Dijonnaise: they’re a cinch to make, but feel oh-so-fancy to eat, as if you’ve transported yourself to a Paris bistro and are sitting on a twinkly-lit cobblestone street instead of at your kind-of-unpacked dining table, boxes shoved underneath and to the side, watching the Olympics in a heat-induced daze. And since the recipe is almost fool-proof, these mussels are great for impressing bae on date night*, and as far as seafood goes, relatively inexpensive. TrÃ¨s bien!

*Instead of making these mussels for bae, I ate two pounds of mussels BY MYSELF, and then rubbed in bae’s face how good they were when he got home. #relationshipgoals? …

San Juan Recommendations

Part one* of my “summer vacation” was a five-day trip to San Juan. I didn’t know much about Puerto Rico, and therefore had pretty low expectations for the trip, but wowza did Puerto Rico over-deliver. From awesome rainforests to eye-poppingly beautiful beaches (and my first snorkeling adventure!) to the gorgeous European-style and rainbow-colored buildings of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico was amazing.

The food, needless to say, was 🔥 🔥 🔥. There were plantains in every form: tostones, maduros, mofongo. We had so much mofongo that our five-day trip basically ended up as an extended mofongo taste test. (Mofongo is a traditional Puerto Rican dish made of plantains, which are mashed and then fried and topped with braised meat or seafood. One should find and eat it in every form, as it is BOMB.)

We found a number of great spots in various parts of San Juan — here were my favorites:

La Jaquita Baya (Miramar)
This is a farm-to-table restaurant that serves up traditional Puerto Rican food, and came highly recommended to us by a friend who visits Puerto Rico on the reg. Homegirl did not disappoint, as pretty much everything here was delicious. Their signature rice dish was comfort food personified, though perhaps a bit heavy for how hot it was. The mofongo with pork belly, on the other hand? Surprisingly not that heavy at all, with a nice bite to cut the richness of the pork. The whole fried red snapper was almost as amazing as my snapper in Tulum, and the alcapurrias with beef were also delicious. The fresh passionfruit juice was also great, especially in my (very good) mojito.

JosÃ© Enrique (Santurce)
Perhaps my favorite meal in Puerto Rico, JosÃ© Enrique is one of those unassuming places that secretly serves up incredible meals. The menu was written on white boards, and changes daily based on what’s available at the market. Their appetizers, while tending towards the fried (like much of Puerto Rican food), still felt relatively light: their cheese fritters were spicy and cheesy without feeling greasy, and their pork belly came with a citrusy salad that really cut some of the fattiness of the meat.

But the real star was the skirt steak (churrasco). Guys, this was one of the best steaks I think I’ve ever had. It was perfectly grilled, and the chimichurri was bright and tangy and garlicky without being overwhelming. I honestly don’t remember how the accompanying beans, rice or tostones were because I was so fixated on the steak. SO GOOD.

Orozco’s (Condado)
This little spot was a short walk from our hotel, and serves up huge plates of authentic Puerto Rican food. The tostones are crisp and the pigeon peas and rice are well-seasoned, but they really shine with their mofongo. We got both the regular (green plantain) mofongo with pernil and a trifongo (green plantain, sweet plantain and yuca mashed together) with skirt steak, and they were both delicious. Orozco’s mofongo come with more gravy than any of the other places we tried, and the mashed plantain was a delicious vehicle for all that savory sauce.

RaÃces (Old San Juan)
RaÃces is basically in the Times Square of Old San Juan, an area near where all the cruise ships dock. But the crowd in front of the restaurant wasn’t only tourists, and when you try the mofongo with skirt steak, it’s easy to forget the “Applebee’s” vibe of the place. The meat was perfectly grilled, the accompanying churrasco sauce verdant and vinegary, the plantains seasoned perfectly … It was so good we ordered it twice. The mojitos are also HUGE (and strong) and pretty good, so I’d def recommend you stop here for a drink and a snack while exploring Old San Juan.

Caficultura (Old San Juan)
And when you’re tired of walking, get a cafe con leche and sit on the sidewalk at Caficultura, which serves up a decent breakfast and excellent coffee, with a side of people-watching on a cute little plaza in Old San Juan. The interior, with its wood-beamed ceiling and antique chandelier, is gorg, but the outside seats offer up an even better view: of the gorgeous European-style architecture and wonderful people of Old San Juan.

And two other tips:

Explore Old San Juan at sunset: while Old San Juan is beautiful during the day, watching the sun set while strolling though the Paseo La Princesa or while wandering the cobblestone streets of the old city gives new meaning to the phrase “magic hour.”

EscambrÃ³n Beach Club is a gorgeous, clean public beach with gentle crystal-clear waters, a few fish swimming around and a bar that serves Cuba Libres to cool you down when even the ocean isn’t enough. You can also do some “sight-seeing” — El Morro, La Fortaleza and the San Cristobal church are all visible from the water.

*Part two was Greece, but I got horrible food poisoning within hours of landing there and therefore subsisted almost entirely on crackers and bread. Go to Mani Mani in Athens though!

Cold Rice Noodle Bowl with Chicken

The past month has been a blur. There was a trip to DC for a friend’s wedding and then a trip to Puerto Rico (full of sunshine and beautiful beaches and so much delicious mofongo … recommendations to come!) and then a trip to Greece that included a gorgeous sunset and a pretty sweet view or two and then some new things happening at work, and oh by the way, did I mention I’m moving?

So, my apologies for not sharing this cold rice noodle bowl recipe earlier. It’s kind of perfect for this time of year, when those horrible summer heat waves, with their oppressive, oven-like temperatures, hit the city. It’s also perfect for busy weeknights, when you need food fast and have little patience for anything complicated or time-consuming. Sure, there are a fair amount of ingredients here. But most of them are for the sauce (which has one step: stir), and impart tons of flavor. Seriously, this peanut-sesame sauce is FIRE, and I want to put it on everything. It’s tangy and savory and spicy, and would be equally delicious as a marinade for chicken, fish or shrimp.

I used cucumbers, bell peppers and packaged broccoli slaw here, but snow peas, carrots or anything else that’s crisp and crunchy would be delicious here. Paired with the chicken, the cold noodles and that sauce, it’s a great easy dinner and makes great leftovers for lunch the next day!

And now, excuse me while I go pack … …

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