bites out of life

A Thanksgiving Roundup + What I’m Thankful For

You’ve now got your turkey and gravy all set, plus a delicious sweet potato biscuit recipe and boozy cranberry sauce, for good measure. But what about the rest? The vegetable sides, the appetizers, the desserts … basically everything that makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.

Well, I’ve got those covered too (sort of). There are plenty of braised, roasted, sauteed and mashed vegetables, plus some pumpkin-y things and some salads and otherwise delicious things.

And now, to the most important part of Thanksgiving: being thankful. This year, I’m thankful for my family and friends, who support, encourage and indulge every one of my crazy whims. I’m thankful that my job is equal parts fun and challenging. I’m thankful that I live in a city where anything goes, and I’m thankful that you all make cooking and photo-ing and blogging so fun!

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for this year?

Sweet Potato Biscuits with Chipotle-Honey Butter

Now that we’ve gotten the hard stuff out of the way, let’s talk biscuits. My family’s Thanksgiving table doesn’t usually include them — we usually go the garlic bread route. But biscuits are so fluffy! And soft! And buttery! So so buttery! (I love them so much that I’ll occasionally walk into a KFC for the sole purpose of buying a biscuit. And KFC’s aren’t even that good!)

These sweet potato biscuits kill two birds with one stone: they satisfy my biscuit needs while also checking off the requisite sweet potato box on your Thanksgiving menu checklist. For me, sweet potatoes pose a weird conundrum. Because my sister loves mashed potatoes so dearly, we always have them at our table, regardless of how delicious this sweet potato mash is. And since I hate overloading the already saccharine carb with more sugar (unless we’re talking dessert obvi), marshmallow-topped casseroles are out of the question. And among all of the roasted vegetables and other sides, it’s easy for the humble sweet potato to get lost.

But not in these biscuits, baby! The creamy flesh of a baked (or in my case, microwaved) potato gets folded into a buttery, barely sweet dough, then baked until golden. The recipes calls on an old trick I once used to make shortbread: grating the butter, instead of the more traditional cutting it into the dough with either a pastry cutter or knives. Grating the butter creates small pockets of butter throughout the dough, ideal for a pillowy soft biscuit.

I whipped up a quick batch of chipotle-honey butter, my absolute favorite compound butter flavor. I’ve almost exclusively eaten it on grilled corn / cornbread, but it’s equally delicious here — the slightly smoky heat is a nice foil for the barely sweet biscuit. But the biscuits are equally good topped with gravy or cranberry sauce, or any other Thanksgiving-related condiment. …

Easy Giblet Gravy

Today we discuss the one thing that is possibly more anxiety-inducing than cooking the perfect turkey: making the perfect gravy. There are countless advice articles on fixing bad gravy (and one memorable movie moment) and a number of steps in which things could wrong : a roux and drippings and that’s before I even mention giblets.

Giblets are the offal of the turkey (or other fowl): the heart, the liver, the gizzard, and often, the neck. Most turkeys will place the giblets in a bag inside the main cavity of the turkey, and one of the first steps on turkey-cooking day is to remove them. But don’t throw them out!* Use them as a base for a quick stock that infuses your gravy with tons of flavor. A mirepoix of carrots, celery and onions, softened in butter, rounds out the stock, which cooks on the stove while the turkey roasts in the oven.

There are two important parts to gravy: the turkey drippings and the roux. The vegetable trivet I used for the turkey added a ton of flavor to the drippings (also, the roast vegetables at the bottom of the pan are DELICIOUS.) so if you can add vegetables to your roasting pan, I highly recommend it.

The second part: the roux. A roux is a thickener made with flour and fat, and a base for many sauces. Cook it for a minute, to work off the raw flour taste, and then start adding the drippings and stock.

In order to avoid lumps–the death of any gravy–allow your drippings to cool slightly before you add them to the roux. Also, add everything incrementally, whisking in each addition. Get your guns out — you’ll need to whisk constantly. It really helps to have two sets of hands here, one whisker and one person who adds in the ingredients.

And all that whisking and hustling is worth it because man this gravy is good. It’s velvety and savory without overwhelming everything else. I didn’t add the cooked giblets back into the gravy because I like mine smooth, but the meat was unnecessary (and I rarely think that). It was an ideal counterpart to the stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, turkey … basically everything that was on my (very full) plate.

*I didn’t actually use the liver or heart, because they impart a stronger flavor than the gizzard and neck and frankly, they grossed me out. …

Herb-Buttered Roast Turkey: A Step-By-Step Guide

Obviously the centerpiece of Friendsgiving was the turkey. And it turned out pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.

Since I didn’t use one set recipe to cook the turkey, I needed a full-on guide, with every single step laid out beforehand. (And yes, I still missed one or two things … ) But too much information is always more useful to me than not enough, so: a step-by-step guide to making roast turkey.

STEP ONE: GET YO BIRD.

When buying a turkey, you start with two options: fresh or frozen. Frozen is cheaper, but requires a bit more pre-planning, since a turkey takes serious time to thaw (ideally 1 day in the refrigerator for every 4 pounds). Also, you need to prepare enough fridge space to house a potentially giant turkey for a few days. And some say the flavor isn’t as “turkey-ish” as fresh, but that’s why we slather it with herbed butter and gravy and cranberry sauce.

If you go the fresh route, bear in mind that it can only stay in the fridge for 1-2 days, so you can’t buy it too much ahead of time. There are usually more options for types of turkey: organic or pasture-raised or heritage breeds, etc. This is a great explainer on the different varieties, and what you choose can affect how you cook the bird.

I went with frozen, since it fit my schedule and my budget best.

STEP TWO: SUPPLIES.

Beyond the bird itself, there a few essential supplies for roasting a turkey. Obviously, a pan — there are a plethora of roasting pans out there (this is a good buying guide). But I went with a heavy-duty foil one from the supermarket because a) I didn’t want to spend the money on a roasting pan; b) I don’t have space to keep a roasting pan; and c) I don’t want to clean said roasting pan.

Sitting the meat on a roasting rack ensures that the heat circulates better around the turkey and the skin stays crispy on all sides. Most roasting pans come with racks, but if you don’t have one, there a few ways to hack a rack. I went with a “vegetable trivet” instead (totally co-opted from Jamie Oliver): piling the turkey on a crisscross of carrots and celery, with some onion halves and a potato or two thrown in for good measure. It’s inexpensive, adds a ton of flavor to the meat and especially to the gravy.

You’ll also need twine to tie the turkey legs together, a meat thermometer to check for doneness, and an oven thermometer if your oven is like mine and has ZERO temperature markings.

STEP THREE: PREPARE YOUR TURKEY.

To brine or not to brine? The eternal question. It wasn’t an option for me, since I could barely fit my teeny 10-pound turkey in the fridge, much less a multi-gallon bucket. And, truth be told, we didn’t miss it in the end.

I also wanted to air-dry my turkey, removing the turkey from its wrappings and sitting it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours, so that the skin would dry up and get extra-crispy when it roasted. But I couldn’t really do this in a way that didn’t contaminate the entire fridge, so c’est la vie.

Once the bird is thawed and you’re ready to cook, the first step is unwrap the turkey (if you haven’t already) and remove the giblets from inside the main cavity. You should really save them to use for turkey stock or gravy, but you can also toss them. And DON’T WASH YOUR TURKEY! Cooking the turkey to the correct temperature (which you should do anyway) will kill off any surface bacteria, and you’re just risking contamination of your sink / kitchen by trying to rinse a 20-pound turkey.

Pat the skin of the turkey dry with paper towels — the drier the skin, the crispier it will be.

STEP FOUR: FLAVOR THE MEAT.

Now we get to the good part: herb butter. One of the many ways to keep a turkey from drying out is by slathering the meat with flavored butter, both under and over the skin. I followed Tom Colicchio’s instructions on this, sliding my hand between the meat and the skin to loosen it up, then rubbing butter all over the meat. (There is no way to say that without it sounding dirty. I’ve tried.) I used a combo of fresh sage, rosemary and thyme, with a bit of minced shallot thrown in.

Since this was a potluck Friendsgiving, I wasn’t making any stuffing, so no stuffing the bird (also, there’s all sorts of cooking and food safety concerns with stuffing a bird, so it seems like a lot of trouble for something that tastes equally good when baked separately). Instead, I filled the cavity with more carrots and celery, a whole lemon, a half-head of garlic and some fresh herbs. The aromatics add an extra boost of flavor to the turkey.

STEP FIVE: GET YOUR TURKEY IN PLACE.

Make sure your oven is preheated and the roasting pan / rack / vegetable trivet / whatever else you may use is set up. Then place the bird in the center. Most people roast breast-side up, but after reading this, I decided to try roasting it upside down. The meat basically self-bastes, keeping the breasts from drying out and ensuring that all the different parts cook evenly.

STEP SIX: ROAST.

I followed the roasting instructions for the upside-down turkey, but whatever recipe you’re following, there are three important things to remember:

1) Don’t keep opening the oven door to check on the roast, since that can change the oven temperature and mess up the heat circulation around the turkey. Since I buttered my turkey, I didn’t need to baste it, so I just checked on it once to flip the turkey and once or twice when I thought it might be done.

2) How long to roast for? Plan for about 12-15 minutes per pound for an unstuffed bird. My ten-pounder took a little over 2 hours.

3) Cook your turkey to 165F. That’s the temperature at which all bacteria is killed. A good instant-read thermometer is a godsend here — insert it into the thickest part of the thigh. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can cut into the meat (it should not be pink), but honestly a thermometer saves a lot of guesswork and costs $10. No point spending hours and days cooking something only to have it make everyone sick.

4) Let your bird rest. Once it’s hit 165F, take it out of the oven, tent tin foil over it and set it aside for at least 30 minutes, or definitely longer if your turkey is huge. That allows the juices to redistribute, so they don’t leak out when you carve (a juice-less turkey = a dry turkey). Rejoice in this rest period — it gives you time to finish your gravy, heat up the rest of your sides and get everyone to the table.

STEP SEVEN: CARVE.

A sharp knife and a large fork are your best friends here. I had neither, so I had to hack at my bird a bit. At the end of the day, this is just about looks — the turkey will be delicious regardless of how you carve it.

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Boozy Cranberry Sauce

I think we all know how I feel about Thanksgiving — no need to rehash it here. But, though there have been a multitude of sides and some desserts and a few appetizers thrown in, I’ve never blogged about the main event: the turkey.

Simple reason: I’ve never made one. (If we’re being honest, I’ve never roasted any kind of whole fowl before.) But I wanted to host a “Friends-giving,” as a chance for friends to test out their holiday recipes before the big day and for me to actually try my hand at turkey, so here we are. Or actually, where we will be tomorrow, when I actually roast the bird. Today, let’s talk cranberries.

In my opinion, cranberry sauce is a must-have at any Thanksgiving table: something tart and a little fruity to balance out all of the rich, heavy side dishes, a piquant relish for turkey, a tangy spread for leftover-filled sandwiches the next day. I don’t like sweet cranberry sauce and I definitely don’t like anything that resembles the shape of a can. I want fresh, bright, snappy.

I also want a hint of orange and some spices. This cranberry-Pinot sauce is basically mulled wine with sugar and cranberries tossed in. A cinnamon stick, whole cloves and some peppercorns add warmth, an undercurrent of fall, if you will. But the best part of this recipe is that you can make it ahead of time,* and refrigerate for a few days. And when you’ve got a million things to make, that is a godsend.

To get ready for the holidays, I’m going to try to post a new recipe every day leading up to Thanksgiving, including the TURKEY.

*Another bonus: it’s so easy that you could theoretically make it at 7 a.m. while packing your lunch and getting ready for work. Not that I would know from experience or anything … …

Ribollita (Italian Bread Stew)

The dirty secret no one ever talks about during the holidays is … that shizz is expensive. Between the gifts and the travel and the ungodly amounts of food (if you’re hosting) and the dozens of fancier-than-you’d-ever-drink-at-home wine bottles (if you’re “guest”-ing), it can all really add up. I end up spending so much for the special occasion nights that regular nights call for especially humble meals.

But “humble” doesn’t necessarily equal “boring” or “lame.” There are a plethora of budget-friendly recipes that are both delicious and hearty enough to keep you full for a long time (essential when trying to keep costs down). Most cheap meals combine some form of starch with a vegetable protein — think rice and beans, or my favorite, kitcheree, a rice-and-lentil stew that was a staple in our house growing up, especially on cold, rainy nights.

Since my mom’s recipe is mostly a “throw some of this in and a little of that and maybe this, but I can’t remember” situation, I went with ribollita, an Italian bread stew, instead. Ribollita relies on stale bread and canned beans for its starch + protein combo, and gets additional bulk from frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes. I contemplated throwing in a wee bit of crumbled sausage, but this soup doesn’t need it — it’s a perfect reminder that vegetarian fare can be just as hearty and heart-warming as a meat-laden stew, often for a fraction of the cost.

The one bit of luxury I added to the pot? A few pieces of Parmeggiano rind, which, to be fair, you can totally buy for cheap-ish and freeze forever. (Or ask the person at the cheese counter if they have any extras they’d like to “donate.”) The rind adds a bit of salty, nutty depth to the soup — it’s optional though, and the soup has plenty of flavor without it.

This recipe makes a gigantic batch of ribollita, which is perfect for freezing and re-heating throughout the holidays. And since you’re saving a few bucks on dinner, you can splurge a bit on holiday merriment.

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Slow Cooker Pork, Chinese-Style

This year for her birthday (which just coincidentally happens to be the day before mine), my roommate got a slow cooker. She used it once, wasn’t impressed and since then, I’ve used it 100,273 times. My favorite use so far has been for oatmeal — I discovered that throwing in steel-cut oats, diced apples, cinnamon, almond milk, ground flax, walnuts and the teensiest bit of maple syrup overnight in the slow cooker produces the most autumnal hunger-inducing aroma the next morning. Like MUCH better than any fall-scented candle. It’s unreal.

Basically, I’m a little obsessed. You simply toss a bunch of ingredients in, put on the lid, turn it on and then … watch TV, go for a run, take a nap, read Amy Poehler’s new memoir, listen to my new favorite obsession, do laundry, go shopping, tinker with your fantasy football team … the possibilities are endless. I made this Chinese-style pork on a Sunday, set the slow cooker up and then watched football, Gilmore Girls, The Voice and an SVU marathon. (But you know, didn’t actually leave my apartment, because who does that on a Sunday?)

The pork is ridiculously easy, and makes a ton. Rather than put all of the meat into the noodle soup below, I kept part of it separate. So far, in addition to the noodles, I’ve eaten it with fried rice, eggs, tortilla chips (hello, fusion-ish nachos) and in a salad. I also have some in the freezer, reserved for those rare nights when I have no food and no desire to order Seamless. (As I said, this makes a ton of food.)

When you add the pork to the noodles and broth, it becomes the perfect pseudo-ramen-totally-restorative soup that everyone needs by the vat-full from November to March. Thankfully you’ll have enough pork to make at least 8 bowls of soup, and when you run out … well it takes no work to make more. …

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Continuing in the spirit of weird and embarrassing confessions, today I’ll admit that I haven’t bought new dinnerware since college. Though my plates, bowls, mugs and saucers still say “Target College 06” on the bottom and are chipped, scratched and faded all over, I display them on this blog day in and day out, hiding their flaws wherever possible. (Let’s not even talk about the fact that most of my glassware is either from the Whole Foods picnic collection or from Yankee Stadium.)

Every now and then, I try to fancy up my 8-year-old cheap dinnerware, which is why you’ve seen so many stuffed-vegetable recipes here recently. Filling a vegetable with some combination of grains, meat and cheese not only makes it a (delicious, hearty) meal, but also creates its own bowl of sorts. Sure, this stuffed acorn squash is sitting on a plate. But between the wild rice-sausage-mushroom mixture and the bright orange squash, you hardly notice the chipped white plate covered in scratches. Pretty genius, if I say so myself.

Aesthetics aside, this squash is perfect fall fare. The flavors–fennel-y sausage, sage, caramelized onions–are exactly what one imagines when they think “Thanksgiving,” and since it is November, we should all be thinking Thanksgiving all the time. (Or is this just me? As you full well know, I’m OBSESSED.)

The filling can be made ahead, and is delicious on its own, as a side or very seasonal lunch. The only work is cutting through the squash, which actually shouldn’t be too hard if your knife collection wasn’t also from college. (Don’t forget to save the seeds!) These stuffed squash were so perfect that I was bummed when I finished it all, so much so that I may break the cardinal rule of blogging and make them again.

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Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I like to think of this blog as a confessional space. So friends, I have something embarrassing to admit today: around this time every year, I get an unyielding urge to steal pumpkins from bars. It’s a very specific itch — the decorative gourds at restaurants or grocery stores are of no interest to me.Â I dream only of bar pumpkins. And after ~~two~~Â ~~three~~Â six drinks? That pumpkin is mine.

Unfortunately, my coordination skills are suspect on a good day, and definitely compromised after a few beers, so I’m often rebuffed in my pumpkin thievery attempts, by bemused bartenders and bouncers who refuse to indulge in my whim. But last week, I finally brought one home!* Aaaaaaaand promptly left it on the dining table while I figure outÂ how toÂ carve it withoutÂ slicing off a finger and/or making a blood-covered trip to the emergency room.

While I haven’t quite mastered its intricacies, I do know the first rule of carving: don’t throw out the seeds. They’re so delicious when roasted, and so easy to roast, that tossing them is a such a missed opportunity. The fibrous gunk takes a few minutes to rinse off, but that’s the most tedious part. Then, it’s a simple matter of patting them dry, seasoning them and roasting them up.

I haven’tÂ actually carvedÂ my pumpkin (yet.), so these seeds are actually from an acorn squash I stuffed this week. (Trust me when I tell you, you cannot wait for this recipe — it’s bomb.) But any winter squash will do for this recipe, which is more of a jumping off point than a hard-and-fast “follow this to a T.” I used paprika and a touch of cayenne to season mine, since I love smoky, spicy things in fall. But you could sweeten yours up with a touch of honey and cinnamon, or go the herb route with dried or fresh thyme, rosemary or sage. You could even throw in some grated Parmesan or Pecorino (though be careful that the cheese doesn’t burn while baking — toss the seeds on the sheet frequently to prevent this).

The roasted pumpkin seeds are the perfect snack for all sorts of fall activities: football-watching, leaf-peeping, pumpkin beer-drinking. They’re also great salad toppings, especially when paired with their squash brethren. Basically, I’ve discovered another reason to fuel my pumpkin kleptomania this time of year … be worried.

*This was my second success. Mili and I nabbed one a few years ago, and when I walked into my apartment with another pumpkin, my roommate looked at me and exclaimed, “Again?” …

5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes the best part of a recipe is its simplicity. This one has only 5 ingredients, and 3 steps: mix, roll and bake.

And to go with the theme of the recipe, I’ll keep it simple. Everyone should have a super easy cookie recipe, one that you can pull out of your back pocket on gloomy, rainy days to make just because. One that uses ingredients you already have on hand, that you can pull out of the oven less than 30 minutes after you get your butt off the couch to make them.

This is all of those things. Plus it’s delicious. And that should be reason enough to bake them. …

Pork Sugo + Dinner Party Tips

For my birthday this year, I decided to host a small dinner party at my apartment. It was a mildly ambitious idea, since my birthday was on a Monday this year and I was away that weekend. But with a bit of planning, I was able to throw something together, something that was so well-received that there were barely any leftovers. A few things I learned along the way:

1) PLAN AHEAD. I cannot emphasize this enough — decide what you’ll be making, buy all of your ingredients and create a cooking schedule a few days before the actual party. Even if you plan to cook mostly on the day of the dinner, have a mental timeline of what you’ll make, when you’ll make it and how long you’ll need. This was essential for me, since I wouldn’t be able to do any shopping over the weekend, and had very limited time to actually cook.

2) Many people say that you should never try new recipes when cooking for others. I won’t go that far, but I do think it’s best to avoid new techniques. If you’ve never used a pressure cooker before (or roasted a chicken or cooked fish, etc.), a dinner party isn’t the time. But if you’ve braised meat a hundred times in the past, go ahead and try that new braised short ribs recipe. Since you already know what you’re doing technique-wise, trying new ingredients won’t derail you. Just taste as you cook, to make sure that you like the flavors.

3) Lean on make-ahead recipes. Because my party was on a Monday, I knew that I’d have to make the bulk of my meal on Sunday night. So I chose something that I knew I could make ahead of time and that would reheat well. Even if you have all day to cook, make things easier on yourself by giving yourself some extra time to get everything together.

4) Avoid any embarrassing moments — ask your guests about any food allergies or preferences beforehand. There is nothing worse than spending all day cooking up pot roast and then finding out that half of your guests are vegetarian.

5) Keep it simple. You don’t need a hundred items or ten-step recipes or tricky-to-use ingredients. You’ll have a million things to do without adding complicated elements to the dinner. Keep things relatively low-maintenance, so that you can really focus on making a delicious meal.

6) Let your friends help. You might be making the bulk of the dinner, but ask friends to bring snacks, wine, dessert and any other small things. They’ll be more than happy to contribute (I’m assuming. You’re friends with them for a reason, right?), and it’ll ease some of your workload.

7) And definitely don’t forget to have fun! At the end of the day, you’re hosting a party. It’s supposed to be a good time, and your friends will love you regardless of what you serve.

For my dinner party, I made pork sugo, which is an Italian meat stew that’s often served with pasta. I simplified Food 52’s recipe a bit, partially because I am incapable of following instructions properly and partially because I used what ingredients I had on hand. Like all braises, the meat cooked itself slowly on the stove while I slowly worked my way through the Gilmore Girls ouevre. I served it with polenta and Brussels sprouts, and barely got a chance to grab a pic before it was devoured. Guess that’s a sign of a good dinner party?

…

Fudgy Red Wine Brownies

Lest you think that I refuse to eat anything other than red wine and chocolate for my birthday, these red wine brownies were not for me. (Though Nila did unknowingly bake me the same red wine chocolate cake from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for my birthday this year–my friends know me so well.)

These were for Abby’s bachelorette party, as a snack during our wine tasting at Macari Vineyards. For the occasion, I wanted something intensely chocolate-y, but not too rich. My first thought was truffles, but rolling out a few dozen truffles seemed tedious. (I could better spend that time watching yet another episode of Gilmore Girls, of course.) Next I thought fudge bars, but that could become a sticky mess.

Then I remembered my red wine birthday cake, and how the wine and chocolate complemented each other so nicely. Plus, wine for something to be eaten at a vineyard seemed like the perfect fit. But since cake is kind of hard to distribute, I went with my favorite picnic standby, bars … aka red wine brownies.

Ultimately, we didn’t end up eating these at the vineyard — we inhaled them in a limo instead. They were a huge hit, delivering on the promise of intense chocolate flavor without being too sweet or too heavy. I used a red blend that had notes of cocoa and vanilla in it, but any medium-bodied wine will do. (Don’t use anything too dark, since it may overpower the rest of the ingredients.) The original recipe added a glaze, but I wanted to avoid anything potentially messy. The brownies didn’t need it though, since they were perfect all on their own. …

Mini Plum Cakes

Plums get a bad rap ’round these parts. They fall low on my stone fruit totem pole, well below peaches and nectarines and cherries and apricots, and even below pluots and apriums and other weird hybrids that derive from the plum. Too often, I’ll bite into a seemingly ripe plum only to recoil in horror, eyes watery and mouth puckering — man, an unripe plum can be tart.

So, rather than get burned ~~twice~~ a hundredth time, I’ve just stayed away. But then there were some very pretty looking plums at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago and I couldn’t resist. And then I kind of forgot about them, and let them languish a bit in my fridge. And then somehow what was supposed to be a quick afternoon snack turned into a perfect afternoon snack: buttery, plush cake enveloped around a tart-sweet plum that softens and becomes jammy in the oven.

I could tell you more about these, but let me just show you instead:

A lid of sliced almonds adds a little crunch, and they bronze beautifully in the oven. Aren’t they so pretty? Is it just me?

Plums are making their final appearance this summer, so don’t miss your chance. Make these beauties before time runs out. …

Autumn Crostini with Kale and Squash

I’ve been in a bit of a weird food rut lately. I can’t ever figure out what I want to eat, I don’t crave things with the same ohmygahhhmusteatthisnow intensity. I float between “hmmm, I guess that sounds good” and “maybe I’ll make that,” no longer spend every waking hour contemplating what I’ll eat next. It’s all very weird. (Or, maybe normal? How often should one think about food anyway?)

Maybe it’s end-of-summer listlessness. There’s only so much one can do with zucchini and tomatoes and corn before they get boring. Or maybe the prospect of cooking yet another balanced meal for lunch and dinner is bit … blah. I haven’t been truly excited to be in the kitchen for a while, despite spending copious amounts of time there cooking stuffed peppers or making banana bread.

So I thought I’d try “unconventional” this week. Monday, I had a grilled cheese for dinner, with sauteed kale, sharp cheddar, pesto and tomatoes. It was pretty glorious, and kind of fun to indulge in something I very rarely eat. Tuesday night, I had these autumn crostini, appetizers for dinner, if you will. A puree of butternut squash, roasted garlic and balsamic vinegar (similar to these mashed potatoes) formed the base, topped with sauteed shallots, kale and feta.

Usually, I’d just toss the roasted butternut squash cubes with the kale (either sautÃ©ed or fresh) and create a salad, maybe with a grain. And in fact, I did use half of the squash in a lentil salad to (maybe) be named later. But crostini seemed like a fun way to use up leftover bread, and the butternut squash mash is a cinch with a food processor, stick blender or even just a fork and strong biceps.

Even though the recipe is by all accounts “healthy” and “balanced” and all those other things that grown-up dinners should be, it felt weirdly exciting and special to basically have a snack for dinner. Paired with a glass of wine and the strangest episode of television I have ever witnessed, it was a respite, however brief, from my food apathy.

Do you ever get stuck in food ruts? How do you deal? …

Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa and Ground Beef

Growing up, Sundays used to be my mom’s cooking day. She’d start by chopping up a big mess of vegetables, then slowly cook most of the food we’d eat that week, working through each recipe one by one until, by dinnertime, she’d made six days’ worth of lunch and dinner for four people. We’d “help” by keeping her company, aka watching football and getting in her way.

Obviously, I’m not nearly with it enough to plan and make that much food in one sitting. (Also, I don’t have the patience.) But sometimes, I kind of love day-long “cooking projects.” Most days, I don’t have a ton of time to spend slaving away in the kitchen, so on those occasions when I do, it’s nice to spend a few hours chopping vegetables, turning on the oven, stirring multiple pots and pans and just generally working towards creating a real meal. It’s my version of my mom’s cooking days, only the only person getting in my way is me (not hard to do — I have basically one square foot of usable counter space) and no one yells at me for cheering too loudly when my team scores.

These stuffed peppers with quinoa and ground beef can be a project, or, if you don’t have the time, something that can be assembled in parts over multiple days. You could cook the ground beef in 20 minutes one day, the quinoa in 15 on another day and then spend 30 minutes assembling and baking on a third. Start to finish, the recipe takes a little over an hour, so it’s not a terribly difficult endeavor regardless, though there will be a lot of dishwashing involved. You’ve been warned.

Is it worth it? Totally. Every day that I’ve brought these peppers to work, my co-workers have raved over them, and they’re just going off how good they smell. They have a nice crunch from the nuts and from the quinoa, which gets toasty when the stuffed peppers go in the oven for the final time. The raisins, which I added because they were in the back of my pantry and needed to be used up, actually taste good here (shocking, I know!), adding a slight sweetness to balance all of the savory, spicy notes. If only all of my cooking projects turned out this delicious … …

Whole Wheat Roasted Banana Bread

I eat a TON of bananas. Like at least one per day. Like this diet would be no sweat for me, if it didn’t also involve eating only uncooked food. But I have a very short shelf-life for them — no green spots and definitely no brown spots. (I freeze any “about to turn” bananas before they can get too spotty, which is why my freezer looks like this.)

So what to do faced with a craving for banana bread, but without the requisite almost-black-and-attracting-flies specimens needed for delicious banana baked goods? In two words: roast them. Sticking the bananas, still in their peels, in the oven caramelizes their sugars and turns them into soft, sweet piles of concentrated banana-y goodness.

While I could have used the roasted bananas in my always perfect banana bread recipe, I wanted to try something with whole wheat flour, since its nuttiness is delicious in quick breads and breakfasty sweets. The Kitchn’s original recipe was pretty perfect, though of course I had to make it a one-bowler and used oil instead of butter and brown sugar instead of maple syrup because that’s what I had at home. And then I threw in chocolate chips because … well why not?

I made this early on a Saturday morning, while home for a very lazy Labor Day weekend. It was ready just as we were starting our second cups of coffee, after teasing us for almost an hour with an impossibly delicious aroma. Obviously it was good straight out of the oven, but it really shone the next morning, after the flavors had some time to deepen and blend together. There was no Day 3. …

Greek-Style Orzo Salad

I should have made this pasta salad a few months ago. Pasta salads are resolutely picnic fare, and well, the season for picnics is kind of over. But pasta salads fall into the broader “grain salad” category, and as evidenced by the numerous quinoa, farro, barley, wild rice (and more quinoa) salads on this site, I love a good grain salad.

They’re especially perfect for packed lunches, since they can be made the night before and then eaten hot, cold or at room temperature. They also travel easily, and are filling enough to keep you out of the vending machine come 3 p.m. And since fall is the start of “serious” time, that weird three-month gap between summer and the holidays in which school and work and commitments and schedules and productivity seem to take on increased importance, a go-to collection of recipes for good packed lunches is essential. I’ve already gone through my tips for packing lunch here and here, but a few more:

1) Keep things interesting. Eating a sandwich five days a week is pretty boring, even if you switch up the sandwich fillings every day. (A Chipotle burrito sounds especially amazing when you’re tired of eating the same lame thing day in and day out.) Try salads one week, soups the next, pasta the week after — add new recipes to your rotation of old faves.

2) Don’t forget snacks. I get to work pretty early, so I pack my breakfast, lunch and at least one snack on a regular basis. I can’t make it through the day without at least one mini-meal, whether it’s apples and cheddar, bananas and peanut butter, carrots and hummus, sliced apricots and almonds, yogurt and granola, etc. Without one, I’d buy peanut M&Ms every day, and neither my wallet nor my waistline could handle that.

3) Vary your diet. If you eat eggs for breakfast every day, don’t pack a frittata for lunch. You’ll get bored (see: “Keep things interesting.”) and health-wise, it’s not ideal to eat a dozen eggs a day. (Unless you’re Gaston.) If I have peanut butter with my breakfast, I’ll pack apples and cheese for a snack, if I have a spinach smoothie in the morning, I won’t pack a spinach salad for lunch, and if I have a carb-heavy lunch, I’ll take chia pudding in the morning. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized more and more how important it is to eat a balanced nutrient-heavy diet, and varying what you eat with each meal is essential to that.

This orzo salad takes all of the delicious components of a Greek salad (cucumbers, olives, red onions, dill, feta [plus tomatoes]) and tosses them with a bit of olive oil, vinegar and orzo, which makes the salad hearty enough to keep you full throughout the day. You could add white beans, toasted pine nuts, a teaspoon of pesto or tapenade, or you could leave it as is. Either way, I guarantee it’ll convert you to a “lunch packer.” …

Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola

I had a hard time writing this post. I wasn’t sure if I should go the travel angle (you know, “this dark chocolate cherry granola is great to pack on trips because it’s healthy, easy to transport, delicious to snack on, will save you from making unnecessary rest-stop-chicken-nugget purchases [or is that just a me problem?] or buying a $17 turkey and Swiss airplane sandwich, etc. etc.”) or the back-to-school angle (“now that you’re back on the grind, make sure you’re a) eating breakfast; b) that that breakfast is actually fueling you properly and not setting you up for an 11 a.m. crash; c) said breakfast is actually delicious and doesn’t taste like weird bran-cardboard”).

Is it too late for a travel-related post? Do people still take vacays on Labor Day weekend? Or has school already started and am I just so out of the loop that I don’t even know these things anymore? These are the things I think about when I’m not marveling over Blue Ivy’s “Flawless” dance or that kiss between Elaine Benes and Tim Whatley.

So instead of having an angle, I’m just going to talk about this granola. It features dark chocolate and cherries, two of my favorite things, and I threw in pecans for good measure. The inspiration came from a KIND bar, which float around our office as “healthy snacks” and I devour as a substitute for candy bars. (No really, their dark chocolate sea salt one with almonds basically is a candy bar. With only 5 grams of sugar. It’s a magic candy bar.) This one, with dark chocolate, dried cherries and cashews (+antioxidants, whatever that means) was pretty good, but I wanted pecans, a bit more crunch and a little less sweet, and more spices. I found a granola version at Whole Foods, but at $5 a bag, I knew I’d eventually be forced to make my own.

In my head, even though I’ve made it before, the prospect of making my own granola seems daunting. All those ingredients! There’s a reason this stuff is so expensive, right? Thatâ€™s where the bulk section of your grocery store is a godsend, since you can buy as little or much of any ingredient you need. And then when you consider that the only steps here are “stir,” “dump” and “bake,” well … why aren’t I (and you) making homemade granola all the time??

And as it turns out, the recipe is fail proof. I somehow graduated from an oven knob
whose temperature markings are all wrong to one that has no temperature markings whatsoever (asdfk;sdkfj;sdf;asdf), so my granola got a bit burned before I realized what was what. But it was still delicious — loaded with toasted nuts and tart cherries and spiced oats and dark chocolate chips.

It’s less sweet than store-bought granola, which is a big plus for me, but you may want to add a tablespoon or two of honey if you like your granola sweet. And I’m not so into clumps, but if you are, Food52 has some tips for creating big granola clusters. I used olive oil since that’s all I had, which added a fruity, slightly savory note to the granola that I liked. But you could always use a more neutral oil like canola, or go the coconut oil route.

Regardless of how you tweak it, you should make this. Because as it turns out, dark chocolate cherry granola is perfect, either as a back-to-school breakfast or a road-trip snack, or even as an afternoon pick-me-up during a busy week. …

Nutella Cheesecake Dip

Guys, it’s time to get serious. There are two weekends left before the unofficial end of summer, this weekend and next. Soak up all that summer has to offer between now and then: lazy days by the pool or beach, picnics in the park and backyard barbecues, dinners al fresco with a cold glass of rose … once fall hits, life will be a little less “chill.”

And if you’re in search of an easy put-together-in-two-seconds dessert to bring to the beach or the park or your friend’s backyard, look no further. I managed to throw this Nutella cheesecake dip together in 5 minutes, 3 of which were used to clean the bowl and beaters once I was done. (It helps that my sister sat there and hulled strawberries for me, and broke all the graham crackers because I inevitably can only break them like this.)

I’d never really explored the world of sweet dips (once again, very late to the party), and had no idea how easy they could be. It makes sense of course: mixing together softened cream cheese, Nutella, a wee bit of sugar, a teeny amount of milk and an even smaller bit of vanilla extract always seems like a good idea. But a creamy, slightly tangy, barely sweet dip that pairs perfectly with strawberries, bananas, pretzels, graham crackers, etc. etc.,Â so delicious that 10 people devoured it in less than 2 hours? Who knew?

You could, of course, make a quick graham cracker or chocolate wafer crust, pour the dip into the crust and then freeze it, to make a quick no-bake Nutella cheesecake. But keep it simple. Summer’s almost over. Get out of the kitchen and soak up those last few rays of sunshine, preferably with a big bowl of Nutella cheesecake dip and a pint of summer’s last glorious strawberries. …

Zucchini and Sweet Corn Soup

This was supposed to be a recipe for zucchini ribbon salad, with crunchy roasted chickpeas and crumbles of bright, tangy ricotta salata and a drizzle of extra fruity olive oil on top. But then I caught a weird midsummer cold, no doubt from the frigid tundra that is my office, and somehow that light summery salad became soup.

Unless you’re going the gazpacho route, soup in the summertime is a controversial option–hot liquid on a hot day is usually no bueno. But it’s been pretty mild the past few weeks (downright fall-like in the mornings, much to my chagrin), and soup can be such an easy, satisfying meal on weeknights, even if you don’t have a runny nose and a hacking cough.

Look for small-ish zucchini, since they tend to have more flavor. I used frozen corn that I had in the back of the freezer (see: last minute recipe change), but it was still delicious, and fresh corn would be even better. Lemon zest and juice plus a handful of fresh mint add a zesty freshness to the soup, grounding it firmly in “summer” territory. And I couldn’t resist adding a few crumbles of ricotta salata to finish, because y’know, cheese.

While eating this soup for lunch today, I came to a sad realization: summer is almost over. Labor Day is around the corner, and with it, all the back-to-business craziness of fall. I’m not ready to give up on summer dresses and Central Park picnics and days that last ’til 8 or 9 p.m. Let’s not think about it, and just eat soup instead. …

Skillet Gnocchi with Blistered Tomatoes

Regardless of how much you cook, acclimating to a new kitchen is a process. Finding the best place for your pots and pans, your utensils, more (or less, for most NYC-ers) counter space, learning the quirks of each new oven and stove, not to mention where to keep all those spices you’ve accumulated in 4.5+ years of blogging?? Oh wait, that’s my anxiety seeping in, sorry.

Getting used to the in and outs of a new place takes time. The best way to do it? Cooking. Otherwise, you’ll never learn that the oven runs hot, or that the stove angles downward, or that two people cooking at the same time will be impossible without a kitchen cart.

But obviously, that doesn’t mean jumping into a multi-part, 25-ingredient masterpiece in Week 1 at the new place. (For one, if you’re anything like me, most of your stuff is still in boxes because you hate unpacking.) Keeping the recipe simple allows you to focus on the kitchen itself — do the stove knobs get stuck at certain heat levels? Can I use this counter for prep work or is it in an awkward area? (If you have the luxury of multiple counters, you might find that one spot is easier to use than another.) Is the stove so small that my big skillet doesn’t fit? (Yes.)

I learned that the hard way, while making this skillet gnocchi with blistered tomatoes. Lost amidst the moving drama and excitement over Chicago was that summer produce has taken over the farmer’s market. Cherry tomatoes come in all colors and sizes, each paper pint basket like a

You can get fancier with this, sauteeing diced zucchini or adding toasted pine nuts or shaved Pecorino. But it’s just as delicious in its simplest form, an easy weeknight dinner that doubled as my opportunity to test out my new home. …

3 Bites from Chicago

In my annual “fly to the Midwest for a concert I could’ve seen at home” series, last weekend I went to Chicago. The vacay served the triple purpose of allowing me to: a) see Beyonce a second time; b) catch up with old friends and family; and c) avoid packing / preparing for my pending move. AND I got to eat some amazing food. Win-win-win-win.

Chicago’s food scene is pretty well-established, so much so that the James Beard Awards, one of the most important stamps of approval for an American chef, will move its awards ceremony to the Windy City next year, after 24 years in NYC. There are the obvious superstars: Grant Achatz’s Alinea and Next, Paul Kahan’s The Publican, Stephanie Izard’s The Girl and the Goat.

We didn’t bother trying to make rezzos at most of these places, since they’re booked up well in advance (and at least in the case of Alinea, are well out of our very-limited budget). But we did still manage to eat like queens. My favorite meals in Chi-town:

Pequod’s
Our first stop after landing: PIZZA. While tourists (and Steve Harvey) debate whether Lou Malnati’s or Giordano’s, I got a tip from a local and headed straight to Pequod’s. Located a bit outside of downtown in Lincoln Park, Pequod’s serves up more of a “pan pizza” than a true “deep dish” (this explains the difference), but the main attraction is the ring of caramelized ParmesanÂ on top of the crust. The Parm gets all nuttyÂ and frico-like in the oven, and adds someÂ crunch to the otherwise bread-like (in a good way!)Â pizza crust.

I’m not sure if I’ve been converted to a Chicago-style pizza girl yet (I’ll takeÂ a newspaper-thin slice with a crispy crust any day of the week), but Pequod’s was by far the best pizza I’ve had in a while. Bonus: they’re super cheap — our 10-inch pie was $14 with toppings and provided us with both lunch and breakfast the next day.Â And while we didn’t order it, they also have a $5 personal pie lunch special!

Karyn’s on Green
It’s a bit weird to go to a city known for its pizza and its hot dogs and then eat vegan. But Karyn’s on Green, in Greektown, was worth eschewing meat and cheese for. I’ll be the first to admit that I was skeptical — I’m usually not a fan of vegan places that traffic in fake meat, and their dinner menu included crab cakes, chicken parm and a charcuterie plate. But the charcuterie plate made interesting use of mushrooms and sunflower seeds to make pate and salumi, which was surprisingly good.

I stayed on the safe side with my dinner order: roasted portabello caps with a root vegetable hash (and obviously, a side of caramelized Brussels sprouts). Vegetables are bomb when they’re done right, and Karyn’s knows how to do their vegetables — the portabellos were meaty without being rubbery, the hash was perfectly crisp-tender and the tempranillo glaze was a nice added touch.

Little Goat
We closed out our trip at Little Goat, Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s diner on the oh-so-trendy Randolph Street in the West Loop.

Izard’s diner takes bar food to the next level: grilled cheese with guanciale, nachos with homemade masa chips, cream cheese ice cream on top of blueberry pie. Mili and I split an order of the machos nachos, with BBQ pork, pickled peppers and those deliciously crunchy house-made chips, and the kalbi beef ribs. The ribs were BOMB: tender and slathered with a tangy fresh strawberry sauce, then topped with crispy fried onions. We ended with a slice of crazy-good Mexican chocolate cake and of course, a round of photos in the photo booth. The restaurant had a fun vibe and was a really nice way to end our trip — plus, Randolph Street is packed with bars, so the after-party is just a few steps away.

Bonus bite: Leonidas Chocolates. This small Belgian chocolate shop/cafe isÂ just offÂ Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile. We went there for dessert after a perfect lakeside picnic with my family, and between the excellent pastries, the supremely rich/delicious brownie, the amazing truffles and chocolates, and the gigantic chocolate-covered strawberries, I was in heaven. Plus, outdoor seating = perfect people-watching in this busy part of downtown.

Stuffed Zucchini with Ground Beef and Rice

Let’s keep it short and sweet today, since you’re really just here for the meaty, cheesy goodness that is this stuffed zucchini.

Faced with only minuscule opportunities to cook over the past few weeks, my dinners consisted of Seamless, my mom’s frozen dinners,* and quick slices of pizza in between apartment viewings. The rare nights I got home before 9:30, I whipped up 20-minutes-or-less meals: fish tacos, corn salad, etc. I even had a bar for dinner … you know that’s rock bottom.

But in between, I found a recipe for stuffed zucchini that approached “must make this now” territory. (Well, after I changed most of the ingredients to what I wanted the recipe to be.) The best part: I could make the recipe ahead of time, cooking various components when I had time, and assembling and eating it all when I found a respite from the madness.

So I cooked the rice one evening (aka it cooked while I caught up on Suits). I made the bolognese-style sauce another night, stirring in the cooked rice at the end. And then, in a fit of packing procrastination, I finally halved and scooped out the zucchini, filled and topped it with a pile of mozzarella and then baked it for 30 minutes until it was gooey perfection. And it reheats nicely, which means I can finally give my Seamless app a rest.

*For years, my mom has cooked up double-batches of all of my favorite Indian dishes and frozen them in individual Tupperware so that I basically have frozen dinners that are 100% homemade, preservative-free, perfectly portion-sized and you know, delicious. Your mom is probably great, but mine is better. …

Blackened Fish Tacos

I like to think that I handle stressful situations well. In my head, when faced with a challenge, I tackle it rationally, come up with a plan of attack and keep my cool throughout. In reality, I look a little bit more like this, running around like a crazy person until finally, I explode in a burstÂ of anger and frustration, usually at my parents (but they have to talk to me anyway).

Things have been rough around here: in addition to the day-to-day busy-ness of work, two breaking news stories in the span of a few hours made for a crazy week. On top of that, my roommate and I are moving on July 31, and have yet to find a place to live (#notideal) so we traversed Manhattan looking at multiple “meh” apartments night after night. And you know, I leave for Chicago in a few days and need to get ready for that …

Because it’s been so crazy, I haven’t spent a ton of time cooking. And when I am in the kitchen, it’s mostly been to throw random fridge items together haphazardly and label it “salad,” a thoroughly uninteresting, unappetizing meal.

The lone exception? These blackened fish tacos. Though they take no time to make (seriously, the longest part of the recipe is waiting for the fish to marinate), they’re incredibly delicious, the kind of “zero work + immense reward” situation that is ideal forÂ busy weeks. Topped with my favorite no-mayo slaw (also super easy and ridiculously good), avocado, red onion, cilantro and a hefty squeeze of lime, they’re perfect for summer, a light dinner that leaves you with plenty of time to enjoy the evening. (Or in my case, see yetÂ anotherÂ apartment.)Â …

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