Over the past month or two, I’ve started my day with some variation on this sweet potato breakfast bowl on more days than not. This might not seem like such an odd statement, but I usually change things up a lot more than that as I’m testing out ideas or eating leftovers from the recipe development process. All of which is to say there’s a pretty good reason why I’ve been on such a kick. This breakfast bowl ticks all the boxes: it’s tasty, something I feel great about eating, and it’s easily adapted to be be a make-ahead — even grab-and-go — option.
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Make-Ahead
Pomegranate-Molasses-Glazed Carrots With Crispy Chickpeas and Feta
This is not the sort of recipe you make on a harried Tuesday night, when you’re stretched in a million different directions, and efficiency is the core operative. There are no promises of it being ready in under 30 minutes, or of dirtying only one pan*. Instead, this is the type of recipe you break out when you have a moment to breathe, to at-least-partially concentrate on the task at hand, and to get a little lost in the process. Yes, it requires more attentiveness than the set-it-and-forget-it-ness of most recipes today. And, yes, you will need to be puttering about or near the kitchen for most of this time, but that’s time you can spend catching up on a great podcast, making other components of your meal (if you choose to eat this as a side, rather than the main event), or doing a bit of meal prep to help you along in your week.
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Chocolate-Tahini-Ginger Bliss Balls
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had digestive issues. As a kid, I’d complain so frequently of stomach aches that my mom thought that I might have an ulcer. Throughout my teens, my digestive tract operated on a hair trigger. And for the last decade or so, I’ve struggled with the opposite problem — motility issues, if you will — and, as often goes hand in hand, intense, near-constant bloating. Though it’s long been top of mind, and has been something I’ve intensely, perhaps even obsessively, researched, it’s not something I’ve ever really talked about here or elsewhere in my writing. In part, I suppose, out of embarrassment, and also because I didn’t have a good answer, or even really an inkling as to what my problem was.
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Indian-Spiced Cranberry (aka Borlotti) Beans
I still vividly remember my first trip to one of NYC’s winter greenmarkets: While walking to Tompkin’s Square Park, a dreamy blanket of snow began to cover the streets, so despite the mile-long trek through the cold, I was in good spirits. On top of that, Andrew and I had moved to Manhattan about a month prior, so even something as ordinary as running an errand still felt novel and exciting. All of which is to say that I was feeling quite optimistic. Intellectually, I knew that seasonal eating in the Northeast was a whole different game than doing so in San Francisco, but it didn’t quite hit me until I walked through those greenmarket stalls. Despite the farmers’ efforts to attractively display their harvest, the situation looked quite bleak: bins of onions, potatoes, and apples dominated, with a sad, scraggly head of cabbage here and there. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. A bit dismayed, but still determined, I filled my bag with as many apples and onions as I could comfortably carry, plus a cider doughnut, for the chilly walk home.
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Deep Immune Soup With Turmeric-Ginger Broth
Every once in a while, the stars align and a recipe comes to me just when I need it most. In this case, I was flipping through Laura Wright’s The First Mess Cookbook, tabbing recipes to try, on the same day that Andrew came down with a nasty head cold. Boosted with a generous dose of ginger, turmeric, black pepper, and chili flakes, this golden broth would have caught my eye, sick patient or no, but under these circumstances it quickly jumped to the top of my to-try list. Steamy, spicy, and sinus-clearing, it does it’s advertised job well, and since the solid ingredients are classic noodle soup additions (orzo and the tried and true trio of onion, carrot, and celery) it’s also quite comforting.
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Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Power to those of you that feel otherwise, but I’m not a big reality TV fan*. So, when the publicist for Marissa Hermer’s An American Girl in London reached out offering to send a copy of her book for review, I was a bit skeptical. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Bravo’s Ladies of London, Hermer is one of the stars.) Still, some things from the pitch captured my attention: the book focuses on British fare through an American’s eye (some recipes are lightened up a bit), and in addition to being a reality TV star, Hermer is the owner of three London restaurants. So, I said yes, flipped through its pages, and tried out a recipe or two.
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Lentils With Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, and Yogurt
It used to get to me when someone would describe the recipes I share here as simple or easy, like somehow that was a critique on my culinary skills and creativity, or it was a subtle, passive-aggressive jab at my worth as a cook and recipe developer. I’d wonder if years of working in online media had served as blinders, limiting my focus to the Pinterest-friendly realm of one-pan, slow-cooker, and weeknight-friendly meals. Or, maybe I was *gasp*, in 2014 terms, “basic.” But then something funny happened: I realized that sharing doable, realistic recipes was my goal all along. That by keeping things (for the most part) beginner-cook-friendly, I was creating content that could reach, and hopefully inspire, a wider swath of readers to go to the grocery store (or better yet, farmers market), fill their bags with delicious things, and get in the kitchen.
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North African Sundried Tomato Soup With Couscous and Olives
When the frosty wind nips at your nose and you wake up to dark skies, it can be easy to get down on autumn. (But wait, can’t we have one more month of long, mild nights and bushels of heirloom tomatoes?) Mostly though, I look at this time of year with a lot of love. I’m more than ready to be done with hot, humid, sticky days, where a walk outside practically mandates clutching (and gulping down) an Olsen-twins-sized iced tea for its internal cooling properties. Equally exciting are the endless mountains of squash, apples, pears, beets, and other goodies flooding the markets right now. But if I had to pick one thing I like most about fall, it’d have to be the return to soup season. My love for this coziest-of-cozy foods knows no bounds, and recently I had a particularly-good excuse to try out a handful of recipes: at 29, I had my wisdom teeth taken out.
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Ginger Pork Meatball Lettuce Wraps With Cilantro
Dumplings rank high up there amongst my favorite foods: gyoza, potstickers, har gow, mandu, bao, wontons, siu mai, I love them all. And yet it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see a dumpling recipe here any time soon. Sure, it can be a fun project filling and pleating those tasty packages — especially if it’s a group effort — but it’s fussier than the type of cooking I tend to gravitate towards, and in my mind, something better left to the experts, to those whose muscle memory carries them through this task with ease. These Asian-inflected meatball lettuce wraps are a great compromise; reminiscent of the filling of Chinese ginger pork dumplings, they’re super-flavorful, lighter, and much less time-consuming to make.
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Marinated Bell Peppers With Pine Nuts and Herbs
Strategic cooking is never a bad idea, but it’s particularly useful during these summer months, when the days are long and hot, park picnics and beaches are beckoning, and social calendars are full. In other words, now is the time to maximize your efforts in the kitchen by embracing make-ahead recipes, like these super-versatile marinated bell peppers. Flavor-packed and tender, they’re an excellent addition to sandwiches (try pairing them with pesto, prosciutto, mozzarella, and focaccia), antipasti platters, or as a stand-alone side for some grilled steak or chicken. They also make for a vegetable-packed, Whole30-friendly breakfast, when topped with a couple fried or poached eggs.
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