Who needs an introduction, anyway?
Tons of recipes, a few book recommendations, and toddler tips that are working for us right now
Hi friends! I’ve realized that writing intros is what puts me off of actually sending these newsletters into the world, which makes me sad because I have so much stuff I want to share with you. So, I’m just going to skip that part today and dive right into the good stuff. (Thanks Sam T for the nudge here!)
What we’re eating:
Romesco sauce: For the uninitiated, it’s a blend of almonds, roasted red peppers, smoked paprika and other good stuff that works great as a toast spread, on eggs, and on bowls of roasted vegetables (this week I did butternut squash and leeks - divine.) My friend Lia told me about Anna Jones’ recipe almost a decade ago and I’ve loved it ever since!
Poached shrimp: I’ve been loosely trying out some of Zoe Barrie’s meal prep plans (influenced by Instagram, of course) and as one might expect, it’s made weeknight cooking a LOT easier. One great tip was to simmer cilantro stems, ginger, garlic, and other aromatics in water to whip up a low effort poaching liquid; then when it’s time to cook the shrimp, you just bring it to a boil, dump them in, turn it off, and take them out 4-5 minutes later when they’re cooked through. Genius.
Brown butter omelettes: It took me years to discover that omelettes are wildly simple to whip up, and now I eat one for breakfast most days (and sometimes for lunch!) The key to a delicious omelette is, in my opinion, pre-salting your eggs and then browning the butter before you pour them in (both tips picked up from Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Serious Eats recipe.)
Quinoa bowls: I’ll admit to being a longtime quinoa hater, but made the swap from rice about a year ago for health reasons and was surprised at how little I minded it, especially when paired with flavorful toppings. Stellar examples from recent weeks include a burrito bowl with pulled chicken, pickled red onions, TJs hot and sweet pickled jalapeños and some avocado, and a separate edition with roasted cherry tomatoes and celery (if you’ve never roasted celery before, STRONG endorsement) plus a can of TJs smoked trout. PS, I also now make it in huge batches and freeze in souper cubes so it’s easy to reheat.
30-minute cabbage and pork noodles: I’ve made these before but recently did a round with double the cabbage, double the sauce and half the spaghetti, which was the perfect ratio for me personally!
Black pepper tofu and eggplant: The Smitten Kitchen recipe that got me cooking and loving eggplant is now a hit with the whole family! I double the eggplant and use about half the black pepper for Diana’s sake, and it’s always well received. That said, my child will eat raw unseasoned firm tofu off the cutting board, so your mileage may vary with other toddlers.
Instant pot shredded chicken: Julia Turshen shared this method in her newsletter a while back and it’s genius - even if you don’t have a hand mixer to do the shredding, the basic premise is a useful one. I’ve done it with a jar of TJ salsa verde and with some fairly spicy tinga sauce, both thinned out with broth, and it works great for meal prep.
Oatmeal blender muffins: I reliably have a bag of these in my freezer for toddler snacks (though we have now deemed these an outside-only option because there are only so many crumbs you can wipe up without losing your mind.) So easy and quite tasty even if you are not 19 months old! A generous tablespoon of cocoa powder is a nice addition.
Creamy salmon pasta: I love creamy pastas but keeping a container of cream in your fridge at all times is impossible; this tip to use a few tablespoons of cream cheese blew my mind! I just sauté onions and garlic until soft, add a 1/2 can of whole peeled tomatoes (squeeze with your hands or use a potato masher!) and a couple of cans of salmon or tuna, simmer for a little while, then stir in the cream cheese and let it meld in. A bit of chopped basil is a nice addition too! I think you could totally use Rao’s in lieu of the tomatoes to make things easier.
Crispy farro with sausage and asparagus: Another Caro Chambers winner, which I tweak in a similar way to the pork noodles - I use about 2/3 of the farro and a whole 1lb bag of Trader Joe’s petite peas.
Mushroom wafu pasta: We discovered this recipe a few years back when trying to figure out what to do with our Red Fire Farm summer mushroom share, and it’s been in the rotation ever since. It’s excellent with shiitakes but also great with crimini or white button, takes well to using whole wheat spaghetti, and you do not need 8 full tablespoons of butter; 4 or even 2, if that’s what’s left on your stick, will be totally fine. I like to go heavy on the mushrooms and lighter on the pasta (noticing a trend here?) and I start the sliced mushrooms in a hot cast iron pan, no oil, and just stir occasionally until they’ve given off all their liquid and it’s mostly evaporated. Then I add the oil, garlic etc and proceed from there.
Kirkland or Bare chicken nuggets are something I now always keep in my freezer (thank you, Costco-by-way-of-instacart!) for emergency protein. They’re really great on a bagged salad with good dressing (I like the Trader Joe’s vegan Caesar) or, let’s be real, just in a bowl with ketchup or Japanese barbecue sauce.
Bakery-style chocolate chunk scones: My friend Alice hosted a mother’s day afternoon tea a little while ago and it was such a fun hangout! There were cucumber sandwiches and fancy cookies and my contribution was a batch of these scones, which are dead simple but really excellent. You do have to rub butter into flour, but it’s such a small amount that it goes fast. They also freeze well if you want to bake them off a few at a time.
Other stuff I’m liking:
In the past month or so I’ve torn through The Will of the Many by James Islington, Provenance by Ann Leckie, The House In the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher, and System Collapse by Martha Wells. Thanks are due to my friend Emily (a former librarian!) who recommended downloading the Libby app, which I somehow had not bitten the bullet on in my many years of public library patronage; I was a skeptic, but it’s amazing and makes putting books on hold way easier.
I generally read at night when my brain is too fried for nonfiction, but a few weeks ago I had the luxury of a 5.5 hour plane ride with nothing to do but read the 2025 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters (IYKYK) and a book of my choosing. I used that time to finally finish Recoding America by Jennifer Pahlka, which is as amazing as everybody says it is. It’s a must read if you work in or adjacent to government, and a should read for everyone with a stake in ensuring a functional US government (i.e. all of us who live here!)
Every day after work D runs to the stairs and signs/says “outside”, then drags me around the neighborhood for a walk. Mostly we just sniff flowers, play I Spy and watch the squirrels, though one time she walked me all the way to the nearest Flour bakery and asked for a scone. It forces me to get outside if I’ve been in the dungeon (ahem, basement home office) all day, and has become really special 1:1 time.
Lately D really enjoys looking at pictures of her friends on our phones. In an effort to limit the phone time, I printed a bunch of pictures for pickup at CVS and stuck them in a cheap photo album. She loves flipping through and hunting for pictures of specific people!
Our Red Fire Farm CSA: we do this all year round and it’s been a nice alternative to my erstwhile habit of wandering the Stonestown Farmers Market back in SF and picking up random stuff. I’m always surprised at how much fresh stuff we get even in deep winter (they have greenhouses, so there are reliably greens in our box and not just squash and potatoes!) Diana has dibs on all beets and radishes, which when roasted are (bizarrely??) some of her favorite foods. Summer CSA season starts next week and I couldn’t be more excited!
How to talk to kids about food: I’ve enjoyed following dietitian Jennifer Anderson’s instagram account (Kids Eat In Color) for a while now and loved this interview with her, which offers really pragmatic ideas for how to talk about food accurately and neutrally. For example, instead of labeling foods as “good for you” and “bad for you”, we can talk about some foods do lots of important things in your body and others only do a few. It’s really important to me that I do my best to ensure D has a healthy relationship with food and her body, but it can sometimes be hard to find the right words to express nuance to a young kid!
Running during the choruses: I always feel mildly silly sharing exercise advice, as somebody who (with the exception of a few years of college walk-on crew, seriously, what happened there?) has never much liked to work out. As I have talked about in this newsletter before, giving up on the idea of “real” exercise and just committing to walking was a gamechanger for my (mental & physical) health, but even a 30-45 minute brisk walk can be tough to fit in with a kid. I hate running with a fiery passion because no matter how fit I am, it always immediately jacks my heart rate up way too high; but with limited time, that’s now an asset! I’ve used interval apps before but they’re kind of annoying, so now I just go for a walk, put on a good playlist and jog during the choruses — that way even 20 minutes feels worthwhile.
That’s all for now, folks! Hopefully giving myself permission to avoid intro paralysis will bring the next edition your way sooner, but in the meantime, you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.