The radiators in both of our apartments kicked on last night. Fall is almost here. Figured we probably should make a cake to celebrate.…
Hand Pies with Peach Preserves
“Peach Hand Pie” sound like the punchline to a dirty food pun. Probably is. But it’s also the best thing we’ve eaten this summer.
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Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Shortbreads
Books were our first boyfriends and, to this day, remain our truest love.
As bored youths surrounded by corn, books were the escape route. They were a free ride from sleepy midwestern towns to places that were big enough hold our personalities and inspire something beyond our freckled, skinned-knee existence. They fed our imagination, giving us dumb ideas like “move to the big city” and “you can do more with your life than be a waitress at Pizza Hut” – and they went oh-so-well with an after-school snack. As grown-ass women, even though food takes up most of our mental space, books are still our favorite form of self-care. Especially when cozied up to a big-ass plate of cookies.
Tomorrow (May 2nd) is Independent Bookstore Day and it might be our new favorite holiday. My (Rachel’s) husband owns Uncharted Books, a used bookstore here in Logan Square. He asked us to make snacks for their day of amazing events– and we immediately knew what we’d make.
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Garlicky Brown Butter Spaghetti Squash with Greens and Hazelnuts
Spaghetti Squash does not need your baggage. It is not here to be your therapist, or surrogate lover now that you’ve ixnay’d all carb and grain. Spaghetti Squash is a strong, independent woman and can make it on her own.
Spaghetti Squash is not better than spaghetti, because Spaghetti Squash just… isn’t… spaghetti. It’s a vegetable. And it’s a delicious vegetable all by itself. You can drown it in tomato sauce, finagle it into pad thai, and it will predictably be damn fucking tasty– but why not let its own virtues shine. Spaghetti Squash is a study in contrasts. It’s sweet and savory, creamy and crunchy. It’s weird-but-good, straight out of its roasted skin.
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Honeyed Nut and Seed Bars
n case y’all haven’t noticed: we like to eat. And, when we don’t get fed, we go from zero to I-will-eat-your-soul real fast.
Hangry was OK when we were in college, but as adults, it ain’t cute. Hanger has ruined dates and meetings– and maaaybe could have been the motivation behind one or two (hundred) strongly worded emails to customer service representatives. Maybe.
We deserve better. The poor souls dealing with the brunt of our food rage deserve better. In an effort to make our lives and the world a bit of a less grump’ed upon place, we started to carry snacks. Everywhere.
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Cauliflower Gratin with Ham Breadcrumbs
Cauliflower is one of the most magical vegetables we know. It’s a work horse, standing up to whatever weird contortionist acts low-carbers, vegans, and paleos throw at it. One day it’s rice, the next it’s an analogue for buffalo chicken. We read a recipe the other day where someone used it to make fucking brownies. For all that hard work, cauliflower deserves a long, decidedly straightforward, culinary nap. Preferably one under velvety blanket of gruyere spiked bechamel.
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Chicken Pot Pie
This lousy Smarch weather has got us down. Despite being basically April, there’s like 8 inches of fresh fucking powder on the ground in Chicago. We’re cold, we’re over it, and we need to snuggle up to something hearty.
Chicken Pot Pie is the coziest of all foods. Somewhere between pastry and stew, it’s the culinary equivalent of napping in a sunbeam. Except it’s, like, a sunbeam made by a chorus of heavenly grandmothers. And it’s easier than it sounds. A little poached chicken here, a pie crust there, and you’re out of the kitchen with less than 30 minutes of hands-on time.
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Breakfast Strata with Squash and Sausage and Greens and Cheese
As is my (Rachel’s) Capricornian wont, Thanksgiving’s menu and grocery lists have been finalized for like a month. The meticulous color-coded spreadsheet that cross references guest lists for allergies and dietary restrictions with conditional formatting and automatically generates a comprehensive grocery list with vlookups is one the most satisfying things I do all year. One of the spreadsheet tabs is a calendar that breaks down Thanksgiving day hour-by hour, and schedules everything that needs to get done. More than just “basics” like what time the oven should change to be the right temperature for the biscuits and when we should start plating the cranberry mostarda, it also schedules the most important task of the entire day: Breakfast.
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Spicy Cheddar Cornbread Biscuits
No adult human should have to suffer the injustice of choosing between cornbread and biscuits. Especially not when these little carb-nuggets have got your back.
Packed with cheese and spiked with jalapenos, they can work with a hearty bowl of chili as well as they do scrambled eggs and bacon. They’re the culinary equivalent of a black push-up bra. They make whatever you put on top look good but, frankly, you don’t need to add a damn thing to bring the room to their knees.
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Christina Tosi Corn Cookies with Lazy Blueberry Ice Cream
Short of the Oreo McFlurry, there is no dessert finer than Christina Tosi’s Corn Cookies. Perfectly crunchy, with a tender, chewy center, we could seriously eat them all day. Add a little blueberry ice cream, and we could eat them all night, too.
These walk the line of salty-sweetness in a big way. It maybe is an acquired taste but, we promise, not as weird as it sounds. Corn, especially when freeze dried like this recipe requires, is so candy sweet, it hardly counts as a vegetable. Instead, it brings a grassy– almost buttery– top note to the cookie that reminds us of the flawless almond cookies at our favorite Chinese takeout spot.
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