Food Talk – Page 88 – Life as Lauren

With a new season comes new cooking inspiration and the return of some old favorites.

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Putting a batch of cookies in the freezer is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It took me 26 years to learn this, but now that I know, I’m not wasting another second of this life without cookies stashed in the freezer. These ones ooze fall flavor, and chocolate chunks — are you kidding me?! So much better than chocolate chips! I just take one out of the freezer at dinner time and by dessert time, they are perfectly soft.

5 Ingredient Coconut Curry

Kinda forgot how much we used to make/love this quick curry recipe. Do yourself a favor and use full fat coconut milk because that creaminess is so worth the extra fat/calories. This time around, I didn’t even mix in the water/cornstarch because I didn’t really want the sauce to thicken up and I’m doing that every time from now on.

Roasted Vegetables with Nutritional Yeast

Joey and I might be the unofficial spokespeople of nutritional yeast. I know it sounds (and looks and smells) weird, but GAH, IT IS SO DELICIOUS. For this recipe, you roast some squash (or broccoli, but I prefer the squash) then toss it in nutritional yeast and prepare your tastebuds for pure delight.

White Bean & Hominy

We made this a handful of times last fall/winter and we love it so much! The recipe calls for meatless sausage but that sounds ew so we just leave it out and it is so so good. Eat a bowl + a jalapeño cheddar corn muffin for the most perfect winter dinner.

Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola

I’m on something like my fourth batch of this granola and I eat it EVERY SINGLE MORNING. It’s on the softer side, so if you’re looking for big crunchy clusters, this isn’t it, but if you’re looking for fall spices and that perfect blend of oats and nuts, HERE YOU GO! Also, you mix chopped dates into the mixture after it’s done baking and I kinda never want to eat granola without dates ever again.

United States of Meatloaf

Never thought I would wax poetic about meatloaf until I tasted this one. If tender is a word you can use to describe meatloaf, that’s exactly what this tastes like. Sautéing the onion and garlic before mixing it into the meat and adding a delicious glaze on top are serious game-changers. Jeff Mauro, I love you for this recipe.

P.S. I use half beef, half pork and nix the veal, I use panko instead of Saltines and have left the sriracha out of the glaze when I made the horrible mistake of leaving the bottle at work. It still turned out perfectly.

Ginger Cashew Chicken Curry

I turned down an invitation to get a manicure with my sister for this chicken curry. And it was so luxurious, decadent and flavorful that I almost cried upon first tasting it. You know when you eat something and with every bite, you feel like yelling “HOW’S THIS SO GOOD??” This is that meal but with the added bonus of having MADE IT YOURSELF.

Kale Salad Bowl with Tahini

Alright, I’m not sure a kale salad fits in the winter comfort food category, but this one has lots of cheese, sauce and roasted sweet potatoes so it’s about as comforting as a salad can get. Plus I just gave you a list of sweets, stews and meatloaf, so our palate could probably use a salad, right? I ate this every day for lunch last week and would do a little salad happiness dance while eating it. It’s that good.

Happy Winter Eating!

It is 3:45 PM on Friday and the weekend is so close, I can smell it. But my energy is waning and that 7:35 movie is sounding way better than the 10:30 movie.

It’s 6:00 PM and I’m boldly ordering two “Pussy Riots” for Joey and I at a local brewery. When a group of women brew a beer that taps at five different breweries on Inauguration Day and donates a portion of the proceeds to charities like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, the community turns out. Goldspot was packed to the gills and positive female (and male!) energy was pumping though the place like whoa.

It’s 10:15 PM and I’m going on and on about how Hidden Figures felt just a little bit too Hollywood for me to love it (though, I did like it) and how everything seemed to work out just a little too well for me to believe it. In other news, Janelle Monáe, what’s up girl? Killin it in two critically-acclaimed movies this year!

It’s 8:30 AM and I’m scrolling through post after post of women turning out all over the country to march for our rights. It’s empowering and overwhelming and too amazing to put into words.

It’s 9 AM and there’s waffles, Master of None and a lot of laughter. I begrudgingly agreed to binge-watch the show before Aziz hosted SNL Saturday night and then I had to eat all my words because I ended up thinking it was so hilariously good. I was sad when I found out there’s only one season so far.

It’s 11:30 AM and I’m listening to new John Mayer while taking everything out of my pantry, sorting it and putting it all back. Afterwards, I’m fairly sure it looks almost exactly the same except things are switched around, so now we don’t know where anything is.

It’s 1:30 PM and I’m watching Joey clean up an egg I just exploded in the microwave. Don’t ask.

It’s 6:30 PM and I’m eating a perfectly-cooked steak and bowing down to Joey’s cast-iron searing skills.

It’s 7:30 and I’m texting my sister to say “The movie starts at 7:50 so try not to show up at 7:55.” She showed up at 7:55. We saw Lion and Dev Patel is great to look at, but I kind of thought the first half of the movie (without him) was way better. Sunny Pawar is about as cute as a human being can be. But seriously, what an incredible true story!

It’s 10:35 PM and I’m watching Aziz knock it out of the park with that Opening Monologue. But also, how great was the “Five Stars” Uber skit??

It’s 7:45 AM and I’m annoying Joey until he wakes up and agrees to go to an early Sunday Breakfast. My choice and I choose Vert. Croque Monsieur for him, Croque Madame for me. And coffee, coffee, coffee for all. I expected that teensy place to be packed, but it was nice and empty(ish).

It’s 4:00 PM and somehow the day has fast-forwarded through 8 hours that were spent grocery shopping, cooking lunch for the week and cooking two different kinds of enchiladas (plus THE BEST guac!) from scratch. But for as much work as it was, it was also so much fun hanging in the kitchen with my best friend all day.

It’s 5:00 PM and we’re driving to Joey’s dad’s to feed everyone enchiladas and guac, while looking out at snow-capped mountains and the prettiest blue-pink-purple sunset. Never ever gonna tire of that view!

It’s 10:00 PM and I’m closing my current book because I’m freaking exhausted, as only the best of weekends leave you feeling.