November = Thanksgiving and at Thanksgiving you have to have mashed potatoes. Many will argue that Thanksgiving has to have turkey, but I grew up a turkey hater (until I had a deep fried turkey) so I understand their perspective. The Thanksgiving turkey can easily be substituted for a Thanksgiving ham or a Thanksgiving roast. Regardless of the main protein (you can even have a tofurkey!), I find that mashed potatoes is always on the menu.
I like mashed potatoes that are creamy, but they still have to have some texture/resemblance of it’s original potato form. Hand mashing a potato gives you a smooth potato, with the perfect chunk, and additions of sour cream, cream cheese, and heavy cream give a little acidity and creaminess that keeps you reaching for more!
Ingredients
Potatoes – I used a mix of Yukon gold and red potatoes to add to the texture difference. If you want a smoother, creamier mash, I would only use the Yukon gold.
Dairy – The sour cream gives the potatoes a distinct tang, the cream cheese adds a really nice creaminess, and the heavy cream helps thin out the potatoes so the mash isn’t too chunky. If you don’t like sour cream or cream cheese, substitute with an equal portion of heavy cream.
Dill – I like dill to add some freshness, but if you would prefer something else, I’d recommend some green onions or chives to finish your potatoes.
Peel potatoes and cut into golf ball sized chunks. Keep them approximately the same size as each other. Put cut potato chunks to soak in water to rinse starch and prevent oxidation.
In a pot of boiling water, add 1 tbsp of salt and cut and peeled potatoes.
Boil for 15-20 minutes until a knife passes through the potatoes cleanly.
Strain potatoes from water and return to warm pot. The warm pot will evaporate any remaining liquid on the potatoes.
Mash potatoes alone until they are broken up into smaller chunks.
Add sour cream, cream cheese, heavy cream, and black pepper and continue mashing until desired texture is observed.
Taste and add more salt as needed.
Stir in one teaspoon of fresh chopped dill and serve!
It’s like the weather flipped a switch! Really, it was 70F one day and the next, dropped to 50F. Pretty rude, but I guess with less than a week left of October, it was time for fall to truly set in. Fresh beans are out of the season with their pods all dried out. I got some fresh plucked beans from my CSA (are these fresh, dry beans?), there was leftover tomato sauce from the homemade tomato sauce used for the Zucchini Parm Lasagna, and I had a few peppers starting to wrinkle. With the chilly weather & these ingredients, I wanted something hot and cozy and fall? I think that means chili.
Ingredients
Beans – Use any beans you would like. When I have a lot of dry beans and I’m feeling especially beany, I’ll cook off a large batch and then freeze the cooked beans to use in future recipes. These beans can also be substituted for canned beans. In chili, no one will ever know.
Tomato sauce – I had some extra tomato sauce from the last batch of fresh tomatoes from the farm. My tomato sauce was flavored only with onions, garlic, and salt, but you can use any canned or jarred tomato from the grocery store. If using plain canned crushed tomatoes, more salt may need to be added.
Protein – I wanted to keep my chili veggie friendly, so I used a soy protein alternative. Use whatever you like! Some good options might be ground pork, beef, chicken, or even Italian sausage or seitan chunks.
sauté onions & peppersadd sauce & beansreturn protein
A warm and hearty chili that can be easily made vegetarian or vegan.
Course Main Course, Soup
Keyword chili, vegan, vegetarian
Ingredients
1poundprotein
1yellow oniondiced
2bell peppersany color, diced
30ouncescooked beansany kind
32ouncestomato sauce
1tspCajun seasoning
1tspchipotle chili powder
2bay leaves
1/2tspcumin
1tspgarlic powder
salt & pepper
Instructions
In a heavy pot, cook ground protein until browned, breaking up into smaller pieces. After mostly browned, removed from the pot. It's ok if it's not fully cooked yet, it'll finish cooking later.
Lower heat to medium, and add some oil to the pot, and sauté onions and peppers with a pinch of salt until softened. Scrape bottom of the pot to loosen any brown bits from the protein.
After onions & pepper are soft, add the beans, tomato sauce, Cajun seasoning, cumin, chipotle chili powder, bay leaves, and garlic powder. Stir until combined.
Continue cooking on low until mixture starts to simmer. Return protein to the pot and cover. Simmer for another 30 minutes – 1 hour.
After simmering, add additional water, salt, or pepper to thin the chili to your desired consistency and season to your preference. Enjoy!
Most of my recipes are really based on what I get from my weekly CSA box and what is leftover in my refrigerator/pantry. At my last CSA pick up, I got my hands on some of the last of the summer squash. This guy was absolutely massive. I had leftover homemade tomato sauce (adapted from Tomato Basil Soup, no dairy, no basil, add onion), a variety of cheeses in the fridge, and some breadcrumbs aging in the pantry. I wanted lasagna but also wanted eggplant parmesan, so we ended up with a zucchini lasagna!
Ingredients
Squash – If you want to use squash, you can really use any. Green and yellow summer squash or zucchini is excellent. Squash could also be substituted with eggplant if you want to keep the lasagna low-carb. If you want a real lasagna, you could use lasagna noodles.
Tomato sauce – Make your own or just use a jar! The sauce is meatless, but you could sear off some extra protein and mix it into the sauce.
Cheese – I used a combination of mozzarella, monterey jack, and parmesan. Use any combination that you like.
Breadcrumbs – I like the breadcrumbs since it gives the “eggplant parmesan” texture and also supports a crispy top. If you don’t want them, don’t use them.
A low-carb lasagna that's actually super hearty and satisfying. The crispy top gives you that "eggplant parmesan" feel.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword lasagna, parmesan, squash, zucchini
Cook Time 30 minutesmins
Equipment
1 9×13 dish or 2 5×8 dishes
mandolin slicer
Ingredients
4poundszucchini1/4 in slices
16ouncestomato sauce
1cupItalian style breadcrumbs
1/2cuppanko
1/4cupolive oil
1tspsalt
1cupmozzarella
1cupmonterey jack
1/2cupgrated parmesan
Instructions
Cut and trim your zucchini. Remove all of the seeds and slice into 1/4 in pieces.
In a dry pan, add breadcrumbs, panko, olive oil, and salt.
Mix and toast mixture until light golden brown. Remove from heat.
Grate mozarella and monterey jack. Mix cheeses together.
In baking dish, add one layer of sauce. From there, add layers in order of:1. squash2. sauce (~3 tbsp for 8×5 dish, double for larger dish)3. cheese (~2 tbsp cheese mix and 1 tsp of Parmesan for 8×5 dish, double for larger dish) 4. breadcrumbs (~2 tsp for 8×5 dish, double for larger dish)
Continue layering. There should be enough zucchini to make 3 full layers.
For the last layer, add extra Parmesan and breadcrumbs to completely cover the top.
Bake @ 350F for 30 minutes until top is golden brown and Parmesan looking roasty. A knife should go through the dish like butter, indicating tender squash. If the top is too dark, cover with foil and continue baking.
The weather is so odd. I was expecting there to be so rain and clouds at this time in October, but it’s still sunny! I can definitely tell it’s getting colder, but as long as there isn’t rain, I’m happy. I’ll absorb all of the sunlight for as long as I can before it’s gray out and I start needing to take my vitamin D supplements.
Even though summer vegetables are basically gone, I renewed by CSA through the fall to take advantage of some more hearty root vegetables and squashes. Pumpkin patches are abundant and the last of the apple varieties are ripening and orchards near the Seattle area are offering u-picks. Lucky for me, I get apples in my CSA! Other than eating my apples fresh with some peanut butter or hazelnut spread, I love them in a crumble-topped apple pie (in my opinion apple crumb is better than one of those lattice apple pies).
I love using my cast iron skillet when making pies and other baked goods. The cast iron really ensures a crispy crust (no soggy bottoms!) and is sturdy enough that you don’t have to worry about it falling out of your hands when you are pulling your juicy, hot pie out of the oven. If using a glass pie dish, an extended bake time may be required.
Ingredients
Apples – I find you can really use any type of apple, but the best would be honeycrisp or granny smith. Other apples can leave your pie too dry or too mushy. In my case, my mystery CSA apples ended up leaving me with a pie on the drier side. You could also swap this apple filling with peaches or berries.
they’re so prettyslice your applesmix them upmake the crumbletop it!
An easy apple pie that doesn't require you to make that complicated lattice top.
Course Dessert
Keyword apple, crumble, pie
Cook Time 42 minutesmins
Ingredients
1pie crust
Apple Filling
4cupsapplessliced
1/4cupbrown sugar
1tspvanilla
1/4tspsalt
1/2tspcinnamon
1tbspcornstarch
1tspapple cider vinegar
Crumble
1/2cupflour
1cuprolled oats
1cupwalnutschopped
1/2cupbrown sugar
1tbspcinnamon
1/4tspsalt
3/4cupvegetable oil
Instructions
If using frozen pie crust, remove from freezer to thaw in refrigerator.
Chop apples into 1/4 inch slices. Combine with remaining apple filling ingredients (brown sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, cornstarch, apple cider vinegar).
Mix apple mixture and set aside.
Make crumble topping by mixing together flour, oats, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and vegetable oil. Set aside.
Remove pie crust and roll out to pie dish size.
Fill in pie crust with apples in an even layer.
Top pie evenly with crumble mixture.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. If top is browning too quickly, cover with foil.
Allow to rest 10 minutes after baking before slicing. Enjoy!
I was fortunate get a trip to Las Vegas for work, so I ended up extending my trip earlier into the weekend so that my friends and family in California and Arizona could meet with me as well. This trip was definitely a family-friendly affair and mostly involved exploration and food.
Friday
I arrived early afternoon and my family picked me up from the airport. We were so hungry that we went straight for lunch/dinner. I had gotten a recommendation from a friend to try The Modern Vegan, an entirely vegan restaurant in between the Las Vegas airport and the Strip. The menu had some very interesting items, but I’d highly recommend the fish and chips and the burger. I was shocked that so many items were actually vegan, even though they definitely did not taste vegan.
We ended up staying at a Marriott just off the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel was booked a little last minute and it was one of the few places left that were able to accommodate a larger group. We went back to the hotel and relaxed while the rest of our guests arrived.
The last of our group arrived at 1 AM and we were off to dinner! We had made reservations at Herbs and Rye, a restaurant off the Strip open well into the morning. At the time we went, there was a late night happy hour in which beers, wines, and well drinks were discounted, and steaks and select items were 50% off too. I had a cocktail and tried their steak, clam linguine, flatbread, and mac and cheese. If you stop in, definitely get a steak and a cocktail from their menu.
diablo cocktailsteak flatbreadclam linguine
Saturday
After such a late dinner, we had a late start to the day. We ended up starting at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and walked around window shopping. We stopped and grabbed some cookies from the Nestle Toll House Cafe (hot take: I think my Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies are better).
From Planet Hollywood, we crossed Las Vegas Boulevard to the Cosmopolitan for lunch at the Block 16 Urban Food Hall. This was a great option for our large group. We ended up sharing so we could try as many items from the different vendors in the area as possible. It would be really great if you’re trying to satisfy palettes in a large group.
nestle cookieshot chickenlardo fries
After lunch, we continued to the Bellagio. First stop was outside to watch the fountains and then inside to explore the conservatory and botanical gardens. The plants were so beautiful and I was so tempted to take cuttings… but I didn’t. We stopped at the Bellagio Patisserie and admired the world’s largest chocolate fountain for some time, wondering what happened to all the chocolate that flowed through it. We then grabbed some lattes as we were getting so sleepy-full from all the food we had just eaten.
My brother wanted to do a bit of gambling at the Cosmopolitan so we decided to venture on to Caesars Palace. We wandered through the casino floor until we stumbled upon Vanderpump Cocktail Garden, an alluring oasis from the gambling. The cocktails were delicious (and pricey) but it was a nice stop from our exploring.
After an afternoon of walking, eating and drinking, we decided we needed a break to rest. We went back to the hotel for a nap and some rest. Before the trip I had watched so many food YouTube videos on where to eat in Las Vegas and obviously we needed to try a buffet. Many videos later, I had settled on trying the Buffet at the Wynn. The reservation/cut-the-line situation is a little confusing where you can pay to be seated sooner, but we decided to wait in line. We waited about an hour and a half to get a table for 7 people. We were seated about 30 minutes before closing, but there was still plenty of food leftover and plenty of time to eat.
We were so full that we had to end the evening with a walk through the Venetian and the Grand Canal Shoppes to help digest the food.
buffet aftermathvenetian shopsvenetian shops
Sunday
Another late night led to another late morning. We slept in and took our time getting packed up and ready to go as groups would be driving back to California, driving back to Arizona, flying back to Washington while I stayed behind for business. After checking out the hotel, we went straight to Rainbow Kitchen for dimsum.
I was expecting the restaurant to be so busy, but we only had to wait 10 minutes for a table to be ready. We tried nearly everything on the dimsum menu and it was all divine. We were hungry and ended up going a little overboard on the ordering, but that’s what you’re supposed to do when you have dimsum, right?
After our dimsum brunch, we said our farewells. Until next time.
I’m most proud that I didn’t spend a single dime gambling in Las Vegas 🙂
Hot take: I do feel the first week of September is a little early for Starbucks to debut their fall menu (pumpkin spice latte), but I understand they are a business and it really does generate plenty of revenue for the die hard pumpkin fans. It’s hard for me to call the first week of September fall, because I’m still in the denial phase that summer is mostly over. However, the last week of September, my arms are open to welcome the coming rain and cooler temps. I will accept pumpkin and make them into pumpkin bars.
These pumpkin bars are pretty quick to mix together and it’s so fun to swirl the cream cheese topping. The tart cream cheese balances the sweet, spiced pumpkin and the walnuts add a good textural change.
Ingredients
Pumpkin puree – I like to make my own Homemade Pumpkin Puree with fresh pumpkin, but you can always use canned.
Cream cheese – If you don’t like cheesecake/cream cheese, you can eliminate the swirl altogether. The pumpkin bars can be eaten alone or you can make a simple powdered sugar/milk icing to top them if you do want a little bit of a decorative touch.
Walnuts – I prefer toasted walnuts in my desserts but this would also be lovely with toasted pecans or hazelnuts. If you prefer no nuts, do that too!
Combine pumpkin puree, oil, and eggs. Mix well until combined.
Mix in white and brown sugars, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
Add in flour and baking soda and mix until streaky.
Add in toasted walnuts and finish mixing.
Cheesecake Swirl
Mix together softened cream cheese, egg, sugar, and salt until blended smooth. Make sure there are no lumps.
Assembly
Pour the pumpkin bar mixture into baking sheet/dish and ensure it is leveled.
Drizzle cheesecake swirl over the pumpkin bar into lines.
Using a spatula/spoon/chopstick/utensil of choice, cut lines through the cheesecake and pumpkin batters to "swirl" the two together. Don't go overboard otherwise it will turn into a mixture.
Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, until bars have puffed up, cheesecake has set, and toothpick comes out clean.
It’s getting darker in the mornings and weather is dropping below 60F, so it’s soup season! Tomato season is drawing to a close, so the farms near me are rushing to harvest all their tomatoes before the cold sets in. These fresh tomatoes are so juicy and so sweet. I always end up with too many to eat fresh in sandwiches and salads, so I turn to tomato soup when I need to get through them all. This tomato soup thickens up on its own over time and requires very little work to make it shine. It doesn’t require a lot of baby-sitting and there are few ingredients required. After all my ingredients have spent a few hours together, I like to blend them up for a smooth texture. If you like the chunks, leave it as it!
I also like to save some leftover My Favorite Focaccia, chop it up into small cubes, and bake to dry out to make croutons. These croutons are lovely to top the soup with. If you would rather just have some bread to dip into the tomato soup, the fresh focaccia is great too.
Ingredients
Tomatoes – Use any that you like!
Basil/Heavy Cream – Both of these are entirely optional. I love to use fresh basil for this soup, but you can most certainly substitute with dried. I love a splash of the heavy cream in the soup to mellow out the acidity of the tomatoes and make the soup even creamier.
tomatoesadd garlica few hours later…blended with creamsoupy
Goodbye summer. :’-) Apples are in season and that means fall is coming. As much as I love summer, fall might have be my favorite season. There’s a mix of sunny and cloudy days and the weather starts cooling down. I can break out my fun sweaters and fluffy coats and I can start baking whenever I want, not having to worry about how hot the kitchen will get. At dinners with friends, more red wine and darker beers come out, and desserts get a lot spicier (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc). This loaf is a little cakey, the tiniest bit tart, and full of cinnamon to transition you into fall.
Ingredients
Apples/Rhubarb – When baked, I think apples and rhubarb end up having a similar texture (tender but mushy), so you can only tell the difference in the loaf if you were to pick each piece out and eat them separately. The apples are a sweeter mush while the rhubarb is a more sour mush. If you don’t like rhubarb, just do all apple!
Congee is a rice porridge of Asian origins. Most Asian countries have some kind of congee variation and all are delicious. I crave congee during the winter months and when I’m sick. It’s so easy to make and so satisfying. Congees can be customized with flavors in the base or in the toppings, but this recipe will keep the base simple so you can top it with anything that sounds delicious. This congee recipe will utilize day-old/leftover rice, but you can always make congee by just adding extra water to your raw rice grains if trying to make congee instead of fluffy rice. For some inspiration, I most recently made congee by adding century eggs to the base and topping with garlicky purple cabbage, pork floss, and furikake.
Ingredients
Rice – I’ve found that you can really use any kind of rice you want to make congee. I’ve experimented with jasmine, short-grain, and even brown rice. The long cook time of congee causes all rice varieties to break down eventually into a thick, starchy broth, so they all work.
Broth – Use any kind of broth you like, or substitute with the equivalent of water and your favorite bouillon. Use vegetable, chicken, beef, or anything else!
Congee Toppings
Congee can be eaten plain, but the fun of it comes with the toppings. Some of my favorites include:
pork floss
green onion
century egg
soft-boiled egg
garlic sautéed vegetables
furikake
crispy onions
kimchi
shrimp
chinese donuts
chili oil
garlic & gingerbouilloncentury egg, inpork flosswild with the toppings
Have I mentioned how much I love summer? Fruits are so abundant and vegetables just go absolutely wild. Rhubarb grows like a weed and some varieties of blackberries in Washington are actually a weed. They’re spiny and apparently very difficult to get rid of if you have an overgrowth in your yard, but they certainly produce lovely fruit. If you have any summer fruits that just can’t be consumed fast enough, add them to this muffin recipe or a sweet treat.
These fruity muffins have a sweet, crunchy topping and their fluffy base is filled with tart rhubarb chunks and juicy blackberries. If you don’t like rhubarb, you might even like them in this application. I gave them to some friends and they thought that they were apples! This recipe could also be adapted to a large baking dish as a coffee cake-esque dessert with a crunchy topping.
Ingredients:
Fruit – The blackberries and rhubarb could really be substituted for any fruit that you might like! If swapping the fruit filling, keep the total volume of fruit the same (3 cups). If using no fruit, increase the quantity of milk to 1 full cup. Some other fruits that might be lovely in this would be raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, apples, and peaches.
Topping – The crunchy topping is entirely optional. If you just want a fluffy fruity baked muffin, skip the topping. If you’re keeping the topping but want this muffin to be a little bit more of a balanced meal, adding a few tablespoons of hemp hearts would be a great additional source of protein and fiber in these muffins.
Make the muffins first. Mix oil, eggs, vanilla, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.
Add in flour and baking powder. Mix until almost completely combined. If flour is still a little streaky, that’s totally ok.
Add in blackberries and rhubarb and finish mixing. Mix until just combined.
Using a quarter cup measure, scoop batter into greased and/or lined muffin tins.
After scooping all the muffin batter, the topping can be made in the same bowl, or can be made separately to your preference.
For the topping, mix all ingredients together and scoop about 1 tbsp of topping onto each muffin. Muffins will look very full but you’ll get some really lovely muffin tops!
Bake at 350F for a total of 60 minutes. Bake covered for the first 40 minutes and uncover for the last 20 minutes. Verify done-ness using a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done!
