In February, I fell into an I Miss GBBO rabbit hole (my interest waned when Mel, Sue and Mary Berry left, although perhaps it’s my loss) and found myself on Chetna Makan, the talented semifinalist from the 2014 season’s YouTube page, watching her make her mom’s chicken curry. It looked absolutely amazing. I watched the video, “BEST Chicken Curry recipe!” three times, and, having failed to find the recipe online or in her cookbooks, did that thing I imagine we had to in the pre-internet era of food television: wrote down the recipe from what she was saying. My kids were in the backseat and I kept saying “shh! I need to hear what spice this is!” (I’m fun.)

I have so many dishes of Indian subcontinent origin on this site, but there hasn’t been a go-to chicken curry, just this sheet pan tikka, mostly because I didn’t know I needed one in my life. Silly Deb. But then I followed the recipe from my scrawled notes, we ate it for dinner, and absolutely did not shut up about it for at least three weeks after, telling everyone I saw about this “unbelievably good chicken curry” that would now be a staple in my cooking repertoire forever. I told friends to watch the video and make it, and would then text them a list of the changes I’d made and shockingly, this [“Watch and transcribe a 5-minute cooking video and then make these edits”] didn’t tempt anyone. I mean, if only I had an internet website I could share the edited recipe on and send them a link to? Nah, who needs that noise.

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This Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Chowder is comfort food without all the calories. Made with roasted cauliflower, which adds deep, caramelized flavor while keeping the soup a little lighter.

Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Chowder

When the weather gets cold, we love soup for dinner. This cauliflower soup is lovely, as I am a huge cauliflower fan, especially in my soups! It’s creamy like a chowder, without potatoes and cream. A few other chowders you may like, Seattle Smoked Salmon Chowder or this Cheddar Corn Chowder with Bacon.

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The post Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Chowder appeared first on Skinnytaste.

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a new series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort food means comfort cooking.

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In the 18 years that I spent going to public school in Fulton County, Georgia, I ate my fair share of cafeteria lunches. In fact, I hardly ever packed my own lunch, and neither did my parents, who worked full-time at a beeper store on Buford Highway. This meant that I had the cafeteria menu memorized, and knew exactly which day to fill up on breakfast (because it was mystery-meat sloppy joe day) and when to leave room (because it was grilled cheese and soup day).

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I LOVE LISTS

1. Whoa. Check out this community in Denmark. Looks cool.
2. Bettie White at home with her dogs, 1950s
3. My child is so #12 and #14
4. Cooking is so much more than just cooking.
5. Why you never see your friends anymore.
6. How to deal with constantly feeling overwhelmed.
7. 10 things to do if your child is being bullied.
8. Very cool: magnetic wallpaper!
9. Trader Joe’s is making an advent calendar for cats!
10. Dancing can reverse signs of aging in the brain.
11. I’ve always wanted to go to Joshua Tree.
12. How America lost dinner.
13. Forgotten things found in books. Magical!
14. This is my ideal soup.
15. How to work your way out of a food rut (if you’re in one!)
16. Finishing this book this weekend! It’s been really good so far.
17. Star lovers: hair clips / necklace / cocktail dress / pullover
18. Return to Oz was traumatic for me when I was a kid!
19. Why is middle-school hard for so many people?
20. If you also love seeing leaves change, you’ll love these photos.
21. How about adding some pumpkin french toast to your breakfast lineup?

Need some magic in your life? Check out my Etsy Shop- The Handwriting Club 

The post I LOVE LISTS appeared first on Shutterbean.

Welcome to Set It & Forget It, a new series about all the ways we rely on our slow cookers, Instant Pots, and ovens during the colder months. Whether it’s a long braise on the stove or a quick burst in the pressure cooker, one thing’s for sure: Comfort food means comfort cooking.

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In the 18 years that I spent going to public school in Fulton County, Georgia, I ate my fair share of cafeteria lunches. In fact, I hardly ever packed my own lunch, and neither did my parents, who worked full-time at a beeper store on Buford Highway. This meant that I had the cafeteria menu memorized, and knew exactly which day to fill up on breakfast (because it was mystery-meat sloppy joe day) and when to leave room (because it was grilled cheese and soup day).

Read More >>

I have to admit that, for most of my life, I've been skeptical of vegan food. Maybe it was the rubbery, cardboard-like vegan mozzarella my mom tried to sneak into our lasagna (I noticed), or the frozen vegan "burgers" she'd stock the freezer with growing up. Maybe it was the fact that I loved meat, fish, and cheese in all its wondrous forms. Or maybe it was this one time when, during my freshman year of college, a girl in the dining hall shamed my friend for choosing bacon and eggs over the soyrizo scramble. Whatever it was, at a young age I had it set in my mind that vegan meant a delicious food (one that I’d normally love) trying to be something it could never, ever be.

This misbegotten attitude persisted well into my almost-adulthood. There were glimmers of hope: a fluffy cinnamon roll that almost fooled me into thinking it was chock-full of animal fats; stuffed mushrooms that were tender and flavorful yet utterly meatless; and the vegan Van Leeuwen salted caramel ice cream that almost made me a believer.

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Every week in Genius Recipes—often with your help!—Food52 Creative Director and lifelong Genius-hunter Kristen Miglore is unearthing recipes that will change the way you cook.

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I’ve promised a number of times to revolutionize the way you make eggs—soft-scrambling in 15 seconds, spiking your frying oil with smoky spices, pouring beaten eggs into boiling water and ending up with a fluffy omelet and not egg confetti.

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Whether outdated or just plain obnoxious, these are the culinary trends we find as sad and unappealing as a pile of zoodles. Read More

Happy Monday, friends!

We are now on week 41 of 2019.

Here’s what My Everyday Life Week 41 looked like last year.

This weekend we had baseball tournament.  It was nice to spend time away from home with friends!  Cooper had a chance to go swimming with his teammates and play football at our hotel.  I filled up 4 pages of my sketchbook with coloring club drawings on the bleachers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coloring on the bleachers with my friend Cosie.

A post shared by the handwriting club (@thehandwritingclub) on Oct 6, 2019 at 9:23am PDT

We lost two games and won one.  I enjoyed spending time with my boys. 

Now the LAUNDRY PILE UP BEGINS as we start unpacking. We have another family trip coming up again so we’ll have to pack again!  Lots to do before then. It’s time for me to spend some time jotting down my Intentions for the Week.  

Intentions for the Week:

• laundry
• unpack /pack
• catch up on social media
• accounting
• tax stuff
• therapy appointment
• have a date with my calendar
• package/ship orders for The Handwriting Club
• write down what I eat in my food journal 
• workout/walks
• send thank you note
• return stuff to the library
• finish up final pages for Currently Workbook
• order workbook
• drink enough water/drink tea!
• make a new playlist for October
• make a dentist appointment
• clean out fridge
• clean out the back of my car
• work in the yard/clear out space/leaf blow
• refer to my carry on essentials post while I pack
• quality time with family
• do some reading
• work in sketchbook
• confirm dates with Marty
• edit photos
• write post/recipe
• make a new recipe if I have time
• do something fun with sister-in-law
• make art with Elle
• edit photos for Melissa
• complete thing for school
• listen to a podcast (this is keeping me entertained currently) 
• get my steps in my with my Fitbit 
• pull cards & work in sketchbook
• take good care of myself

 

LAST WEEK’S INTENTIONS: 

• laundry
• be better about drinking water
• grocery shop
• card/gifts/party Cooper
• write thank-you note
• complete thing for school online
• drop off at MV library
• make chocolate banana bread (ate the bananas!)
• edit photos/send to friend
• order more postcards
• catch up on social media
• conference call
• trip to post office
• therapy appointment
• make doc appointment
• post new recipe
• make a new recipe
• figure out thing for November
• go on a hike/walk
• be more mindful while eating
• write down what I eat in my food journal 
• package/ship order for The Handwriting Club
• get my steps in my with my Fitbit 
• have a date with my calendar
• work on Currently Book for 2020 (preorder soon!)
• work in Currently workbook for September/post (posted here!)
• pull cards & work in sketchbook
• work in the yard
• make time to meditate
• take good care of myself (trying!)

Recipes to Inspire:

Toast 12 Ways

Roasted Tomatoes with Polenta and Spinach

Veggie Cream Cheese Bagels

School Lunch Ideas

Truffled Popcorn

Masala Kale Chips

Kale Soyrizo Tacos

Coconut Lime Macaroons

Pump Jam for the Week:

 

Mantra for the Week:

Feeling stuck? Make a list! Write down your Intentions for the Week to help hold you accountable to action.

I’m rooting for you!

Sending sparkles, 

Tracy

 

The post Intentions for the Week appeared first on Shutterbean.

In 1978, a blizzard befell the East Coast of the United States. Schools were closed for days. Roads were impassable. On our street, in a suburb just west of Boston, children spent their afternoons building caves and carving tunnels through the drifts that nature and plow had teamed up to create. Our go-to grocery store, Star Market, was about a mile and a half away. It hulked over the Mass Turnpike, a beacon in more clement weather, advising drivers that the capital was just down the road.

During the storm, there was no way to drive anywhere. What snow the plows failed to push to the sides of the road, they tamped down under them, packing a thick layer atop the cold, gray pavement. As our larder grew bare in the ensuing days, my parents bundled themselves up, pulled on heavy boots, and trekked off to Star Market, taking with them a slatted wooden sled on red metal riders that would ferry our groceries back home.

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The fact that it’s taken me almost 10 years to find a new version of shakshuka to fuss over, is as much a testament to the superbness of the classic as it is a compliment to these new additions. Shakshuka, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is a North African dish, largely Tunisian, of eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce. It’s also one of the most beloved recipes in the Smitten Kitchen archives, right up there with broccoli slaw and my mom’s apple cake, and for good reason: it’s about the highest calling of eggs-for-dinner I’ve found, and I think we know how hard I’ve studied this category. This recipe takes it a step further into the realm of a stew, with chickpeas and kale, and it comes from a wonderful book out this past spring, Family, by Hetty McKinnon.

McKinnon got her start in Sydney, Australia almost 10 years ago with a salad-delivery service she ran out of her home kitchen and biked the deliveries around town, which sounds amazing right now, doesn’t it? Now in Brooklyn, she co-founded Neighborhood Studio, a communal cooking space. Family, her third cookbook, focuses on vegetarian comfort food with an eye towards the daily ritual of cooking, however your family might look, and it might be my favorite yet. It’s incredibly down-to-earth about weeknight cooking; you get the sense that these are recipes that have really worked for her family while keeping the people who cook from finding it a drag. I’ve made the spinach and halloumi gozleme, the cacio e pepe broccoli with white beans (I mean, talk about all of my favorite food words in one title), I’m eager to try the tofu larb, but this, this is the dish I’ve now made three times since May and don’t expect to stop any time soon. It’s hearty and comforting, so perfect for this first day that really feels like fall.

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Did you have a long week? You need this. READ MORE...

I recently moved from one street in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn to another street two blocks away.

Parts of me felt sad about leaving behind my childhood friends I’d cohabitated and cooked with for 6 years. They had sat through my early experiments: lots of mustardy, caramelized Brussels sprouts and never-crispy-enough sweet potato fries. Classics eventually emerged: kale, chickpea, and sausage stew; tomatoey lentils; and tie-dye pasta (pesto and vodka sauce, duh). For years, we’d cooked shoulder to shoulder like contestants on Top Chef, borrowing a bouillon cube in a pinch or sharing the same whisk to make salad dressing.

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There are a thousand ways to cook a turkey. Just Google it: how to cook a turkey. You'll find that some swear by a wet brine; many, especially these days, swear by a dry brine. 500°F is a favorite oven temperature for roast turkey here at Food52 (hi, Judy), while others vouch for a lower, steadier heat, closer to 350°F or 375°F. Regardless of how you choose to roast a turkey this Thanksgiving, Senior Editor Eric Kim is here to show you his favorite way to do it—from a home cook's perspective—and it's a lot simpler than you'd think.

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Growing up in Georgia, Thanksgiving for me meant driving a couple hours south to my Aunt Joy's house in Augusta. We'd arrive Wednesday night and stay up late playing video games with the cousins. First thing the next morning, at around 4 or 5 a.m., my mom and aunt would put the bird in the oven and roast it low and slow for eight hours, basting it every 30 minutes and watching it like hawks. It was such an ordeal.

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Hey you. Welcome back to What We’re Cooking This Week, a weekly letter about all the recipes our team is cooking and wanting to cook.

Last Thursday, I got home from work, then spent four and a half hours building a buffet (which I feel compelled to tell you I found on Amazon for less than half the price a lookalike costs on West Elm).

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Table for One is a weekly column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves brunching alone and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

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I have a proposition: Let’s cancel brunch. Or at least, what it’s become: waking up before noon on the weekend, followed by an hour-long wait for overpriced food and sugary cocktails at a crowded restaurant.

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