I say that I rarely eat meat, but the truth is if it’s an Indian or Middle-Eastern dish, I have a hard time saying no. Chicken tikka masala, kebabs, shawarma — I’ll take it! That’s why I love Indiaphile‘s spin on the chicken wing. She takes the classic recipe and adds flavors like turmeric, garlic and garam masala and pairs the wings with a side of cumin-spiced yogurt. I’ve cooked Indian food plenty of times before, but the aroma from this spice blend smelled the most authentic. Even Eaman noticed the difference.
I particularly love her suggestions to cook the wings on a wire rack to get that extra-crispy chicken and to use boiled beets instead of chemical-filled food coloring for that red hue. (I used Trader Joe’s pre-cooked beets; save the rest for a beet, goat cheese, walnut salad!) These could be amazing cooked on a grill, too. What better time to try than during a three-day weekend?
I grew up living in a home whose basement freezer was constantly stocked with Costco-sized boxes of soft pretzels. I have no idea why my mom felt compelled to add soft pretzels of all things to our food regimen, but there I was — obsessed with eating the nubby ends first before demolishing the rest of the twisted bread. Then there was swim team, where I ended every practice with one of those gross, kind of soggy soft pretzels they sold at the front desk. They weren’t particularly good, but you just don’t say no to bread after you‘ve swam butterfly enough to easily peel your arms off the rest of your body. And then of course, there are baseball games. Ah, the sport that so few watch but so many tolerate for the food’s sake. My jam is Wrigley Field with a soft pretzel followed by a cup of Dippin’ Dots. That’s summertime right there.
All these fond memories came flooding back when I saw this recipe for rosemary sea salt pretzels on Pinterest. Even though active dry yeast scares me — it seems so intimidating to get the right rise environment and knead the dough just enough — it was much easier than I expected.
I go through Pinterest phases where one day all I’ll pin is fashion. The next day I’ll ogle at only interior design. Recently, I got into a tizzy over food inspiration. Consistently, I found myself re-pinning recipes from the same place: Gina’s Skinny Recipes. The NY-based author, photographer and recipe developer shares healthier versions of all our favorite foods. She’s not one of those foodies who swears off sugar, dairy and carbs; she just makes small changes and believes in portion control. (Her recipes also come with Weight Watchers points.)
But I wanted to see if she could talk the talk and walk the walk, if you know what I mean. So I picked a typically indulgent meal — macaroni and cheese — and tried her lighter version. It was a hit — and a lot less heavy than the jalapeno macaroni I usually make. Eaman and I devoured all but a small scoop of it by dinner and lunch the next day. (OK, maybe that’s not a great lesson in portion control.)
Here are a few personal notes:
– A face-down wooden spoon really does keep a pot from boiling over, a trick I learned from Paper/Plates.
– I had only regular butter and used 2 tbsp of that instead of 1 regular, 1 light.
– I added cayenne pepper.
– I also added 4 cloves of minced garlic and sauteed them along with the diced onion.
– I didn’t have fresh baby spinach and instead threw in 16 ounces of frozen spinach, but make sure to drain the latter version like crazy. I heated it up in the microwave and squeezed it out portion by portion. (By the way, I think 16 ounces was the perfect proportion of greens compared to the pasta and cheese.)
– The recipe doesn’t come with exact salt measurements, so be sure to frequently taste the sauce to make sure you’re not over- or under-salting.
– I refrigerated my mac and cheese in the baking dish until dinnertime. But I waited until just before putting it in the oven to sprinkle the bread crumbs — I used Panko — and grated Parmesan.
I spent one month in Oklahoma with Eaman’s family before moving to San Diego and I think 75% of the time by choice I was eating soup-e jo, a traditional and healthy Persian soup made of barley (“jo”), lentils, turmeric and herbs. (Eaman’s mom would make a huge pot-ful and I’d be happy to clean off all the leftovers.) As much as a treat as it was to have her cooking different menus for us, it was the soup that always got me rabidly excited.
She was kind enough to share her family recipe with me, and today I share it with you! I took some creative license by adding cilantro and eyeballed the proportions, but that’s the wonderful thing about soup: Just throw it all in there.
These cookies had me at hello. I first spied them on Pinterest and thought to myself, “Whose birthday is coming up so I have an excuse to make these babies?” Colorful sprinkles, rich cake-batter flavor — they were just asking to be unwrapped on a birthday. My friend Sara’s big day was looming and she had requested anything with chocolate, and just like that, I found myself picking up a bottle of sprinkles and box of yellow cake mix.
