This Week In Recipes
Hello there!
Didn’t I tell you December was almost over? Friday we leave for Copenhagen, which means I have three days to pack and learn how to pronounce hygge.
Definition: “A mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment.”
Courtney has been making me narrate hygge fantasies to mentally prepare: “You’re in your onsie. Your feet are up in front of a roaring fire. You’re drinking a cup of hot cocoa – with marshmallows!”
“Wait, wait you can’t stop. Is there a bear skin rug?”
Sexy stuff right there guys.
Okay, okay. Recipes. I’ve been getting a Hungry Harvest box every other week, because I find they last us about two. This time around, I went with a customizable “all veggie” harvest which is slightly more expensive, but we really tend to be bigger on veggies than fruit. For $22 we got:
- 1 bunch purple asparagus
- 1 avocado
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 head green cabbage
- 2 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 1 container cherry tomatoes
- 1 lb zucchini
Here’s what I made:
Spicy BBQ & Chickpea Polenta bowls from Half Baked Harvest. I was so excited about this recipe in theory. I think I chatted it to my coworkers on a Tuesday and was like “SHOULD I MAKE THIS FOR LUNCH NEXT WEEK!?” Thing is, I wasn’t all that excited about it in practice. To be fair, I made some tweaks to lighten it up, as I usually do with Tieghan’s recipes… but I’m not even sure that was it. I think I just wasn’t feeling the flavor combo. You know what I was feeling though? The polenta. How is polenta by the roll just now coming into my life?!
It could also be because hers looked like this…
And mine looked like this?
This seems likely. Also did I just forget the avocado entirely? #FAIL
Stuffed Butternut Squash with Sage Brown Butter From Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. After spending approximately $12,000 and five belt loops eating and drinking out the week before, I was straight up sick of it. So I invited my dear friend Laura over for dinner. It was so nice to catch up over wine, cheese, chocolate and these stuffed shells. I’d never made stuffed shells before, but man will I make them again. *Drool*
Cheesy Cabbage Noodle Casserole I’d made this one before. It’s delicious, and healthy (unless you alternate between spraying the spray butter on the cabbage and directly in your mouth – don’t do what I do kids!) But I forgot how difficult it is to cut. And how… WET. Speaking of wet (raise your hand if you’re nervously wondering where I’m going here. Okay dad, you can put your hand down now), we came to the conclusion that we officially have to replace our roof ASAP after multiple failed patch attempts. How fortunate that it also happens to be D.C.’s wettest year on record. Take your wet cabbage and go home, you’re drunk.
Sauteed Cabbage & Kielbasa from Salt & Lavender. This recipe was the biggest surprise. I made it because I had half a head of cabbage left over after making the cabbage lasagna (that sucker was HUGE!) and this looked easy. Well, turns out it was also delightful. I used Trader Joe’s andouille sausage and ate this for both breakfast and lunch, topped with a soft egg of course.
Healthy Chicken Pho from the Healthy Maven. Somewhere between the sixth and seventh glass of prosecco at our holiday party, I ordered myself a cold. Actually, I think I was already coming down with one – my chest hurt and I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t do shit on my spin bike. But I’m sure the prosecco didn’t help. Nor did the hot toddies I tried to cure it with Friday night. But you know what did help? This paleo zucchini noodle pho.
Seriously, I went from barely being able to get off the couch on Sunday to running 4 (slow) miles Monday morning. I’m really sealing the deal on the quality of my judgement aren’t I? But honestly, I woke up Monday not feeling downright terrible and I just had to move. Unfortunately I still had (have actually) a gross, wet, uncontrollable cough brought on – ironically – by laughter. So after Courtney made me watch this hilarious video about a glitter fart bomb engineered to deliver karma to package thieves, I thought I might die or cough up a crucial bit. I don’t know what he was thinking, I don’t think my life insurance is even that good.
Paleo Zucchini Bread from Well Plated. I love this zucchini bread. In fact I made it TWICE. Except I left out the chocolate chips (in case you needed further proof of my poor judgement). It’s super good with sunflower butter.
Spaghetti Squash Taco Bake from Bless Her Heart Y’all. If you’re not from the South, that’s not a compliment. But I have nothing but compliments for this recipe! I added 1 cup of black beans and man, it was divine. We’ll be making this one again when I’m trying to lose the 300 pounds of danish I gain over the next 2 weeks.
Alright, if you’re still with me you’re a trooper.
Let’s end with a quiz:
Which of the following did Johanna have while writing this post?
a) Half of a 7% beer
b) A nice hot cup of night time Theraflu
c) All of the above.
Sweet dreams, y’all.
