Marbled Pumpkin Gingersnap Tart from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. This is a very pretty tart. Unfortunately it was not the best tasting tart because I forgot to buy heavy cream but I was already in pajamas and could not be bothered to go out. I substituted whole milk and yogurt but the richness was sorely missed. Don’t make my mistake and you will have a beautiful AND decadent tart.

Chickpea, cauliflower, and Old Bay veggies burgers. I love veg burgers with cauliflower. They nicely lighten the burgers. These are fully flavored with the old bay and lemon, and are topped perfectly with creamy avocado. They would also be excellent over a salad. The vibrant root vegetable slaw alongside is from Jerusalem, and I’ll be posting an adapted recipe next week!

Pipa tofu from Every Grain of Rice. The tofu puffs get a 10 for being the absolute cutest. I was expecting a fully flavored sauce and it was quite mild. As I’ve never had this dish before I can’t say what exactly it should have been, but I wanted more punch. I had the leftovers with extra soy sauce and would add more in the sauce next time. Alongside I served tatsoi sautéed with a little garlic and ginger and miso eggplant.

Fresh rolls. Nothing like a little Vietnamese-Chinese-Japanese-Israeli fusion!! Fresh rolls have become my favorite way to upcycle leftovers. These had brown rice, tofu, miso eggplant, root vegetable slaw, cucumbers, scallions, and cilantro (just a little bit of everything). I made the sauce that The First Mess conveniently posted that same day which was a nice tart pairing.

Roasted sweet potato and leek soup with chorizo. I confirmed a lot of things about myself with this soup: sherry is not my favorite, I have a hard time liking squash/sweet potato soups without coconut milk, and I will eat anything with chorizo. The sherry comes through strongly, and I think I would halve it next time. I used an immersion blender and then pureed it again in the food processor, but just couldn’t get it really smooth.  Maybe I just need a Vitamix. The sherry vinegar at the end was really nice and the bits of chorizo added a nice meaty bite. This went over well at my work potluck so it is a good soup, just not perfect for me.

Breakfasts this week included mashed avocado and a fried egg on toast (I know, revolutionary), multigrain waffles and yogurt with maple syrup and pomegranate seeds. The waffles I’ve made numerous times and they work with all various of flour (though once I forgot the baking powder…those did not work). After finally making it with the pictured topping I can confirm maple syrup is really my favorite.  It was such a treat to have a pomegranate…with yogurt it made for the simplest breakfast that felt so special. Pomegranate arils have their own crunch so granola is not even necessary and they are tart, juicy bursts in the creamy yogurt.

Not something I cooked, but this interview with Deb Perelman was a great read. I especially loved hearing how her career progressed to her blog because my career path has been similarly scattered (and still meandering).