What we've been eating...or not eating
Confession time…. there hasn’t been a whole lot of cooking in our house this month. Lann’s been gone a lot and I’ve had a cold that seemed to stick around too long. Other than going through a heavy brussel sprout stage, there has been a lot of quesadillas, grilled cheese and some pretty heavy charcuterie boards.
I run into the same problem every time I get out of my daily cooking habit. There comes a day where I want to get back to exploring new recipes and creating my own but I just can’t seem to get started. So I pulled out some of my very favorite cookbooks and some new ones to get some inspiration for the week ahead.
I started with an old standby that can make the simplest sides (read frozen peas) feel like the best meal ever, Jenny Rosenstrach’s Tony’s Steak. Hint; use the leftovers (if you are so lucky to have any) to make steak tacos for lunch the next day. It’s the meal that keeps on giving!
With that mission accomplished, I figured it was time to get some vegetables back into our diets. Cue the warm comfort of Deb Perelman’s Wild Mushroom Sheperd’s Pie from her new book, Smitten Kitchen Every Day; this dish combines two really fantastic things; a large dose of veggies and heavenly mashed potatoes. Also a selling point, if there are just two of you, you will have lunch for the rest of the week!
I rounded out my return to the kitchen with the salmon cakes that we can’t seem to go more then a few weeks without eating. They were the perfect light protein to compliment our week of rich and comforting dishes.
I’m so happy to be back into my routine, making meal plans, browsing new cookbooks and buying way less cheese. If you’re also coming out of a kitchen standoff or perhaps just in that middle of the winter rut, here are some new recipes that I will be trying this weekend.
Modern Jewish Cooking’s Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tart
Smitten Kitchen’s Brussel Sprout and Three Cheese Pasta Bake
Dishing Up the Dirt’s Roasted Acorn Squash with Tahini and Hazelnuts - sadly this
recipe isn’t online but here is a link to the amazing cookbook.