Hello from 2021, which looks a lot like 2020, except this year we’re letting ourselves off the hook for resolutions because we’re all just trying to make it through this trying time safe and well and that’s enough.
Comin’ at ya with another month’s worth of dinner ideas! There’s Kenji Lopez-Alt’s uber-creamy mac and cheese, my usual tray bakes (if it’s a month that includes the letter “R,” you can count on me making some tray bakes), and the spoils of Christmas cookbooks gifting. I tend to go into January super energized around experimenting with new recipes, ingredients, and techniques– here’s hoping we all carry that energy into another year of lots of home cooking!
- Gingered tomato and crab soup with creme fraiche and smoked olive oil
- Tray bake: Broccoli, chickpeas, gnocchi, and feta
- Stovetop macaroni and cheese
- Rice bowls with crispy caramelized pork crumbles, pickled cucumber, and nuoc cham
- Root veggie tart: Puff pastry with garlicky labneh, cumin-roasted carrots, beets, and potatoes, pistachio, honey, and olive oil
- Rainbow root raita
- Kale sesame Caesar salad with apples and crispy chickpeas
- Brown rice bowls with curry-scented beef patties, pickled cucumbers, shredded carrots, nuoc cham, and chopped peanuts (I received Andrea Nguyen’s Vietnamese Food Any Day for Christmas and have been loving cooking through it!)
- Cold soba noodle salad with cucumbers, sugar snap peas, shredded carrots, avocado, bell pepper, and garlic sesame oil (the oil is from Season, another Christmas list gem)
- Pastitsio
- Panang curry with sweet potato, paneer, bell pepper, and kale served on brown rice
- Shrimp, bell pepper, onion, and green bean stir fry with gochujang sauce
- Homemade gnocchi with roasted tomato and bell pepper sauce
- Buttermilk biscuits with confit turkey chive pesto salad and pickled cucumbers
- Cauliflower rice crispy beef bowls with green beans, shredded carrots, and nuoc cham
- Romaine salad with roasted sweet potato, green beans, soft-boiled eggs, and spicy cashew dressing (looooved this dressing recipe)
- Pernil, a very bastardized arroz con gandules based on what I had on hand, tostones, and coquito
- Pork chile verde with avocado, sour cream, and lime
- Veggie stir fry with bell pepper, broccoli, green beans, and pickled cucumber on rice
- Romaine salad with raw shaved beets, broccoli, pistachio, soft-boiled eggs, and goat cheese with a splash of rice vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper
Law and Lentils 
OMG! Where did you get the cooking gene? Grandma Wiggins, I guess! Quite an ambitious cooking month, though. Be sure to pass on any of the simpler ones you think we might like!
Love ya, Mama
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