Red lentil soup with north African spices. My friend Tim hosted for lunch and whipped this up in about half an hour along with some cornbread. It was so simple, but so good! Especially finishing with the paprika butter. The next day I had a long one at work and didn’t really have a dinner plan…so quick, and comforting soup again! I know it is a tease that you can’t see the recipe at that link, but it is worth signing up for Cooks Illustrated trial to get it (or, drop me a line on the contact page and I’ll see what I can do).

Broccoli cheddar soup. A quick, vegetarian dinner completed in the midst of Thanksgiving prep.

Thanksgiving! I stuck to the menu I laid out last week and it all went off smoothly. My personal favorite was the Brussels sprouts with bacon that were finished with cider vinegar from Thanksgiving. Next time I would crisp the bacon, remove it from the pan, then cook the Brussels in the fat, and return the bacon at the very end. The bread crumbs were superfluous to me, but if you like bread crumbs then they were good ones.

Mashed potato cakes with Brussels sprouts and a fried egg. I’ve yet to perfect the mashed potato cake….but as long as they get hot its all fine. I mixed and egg into these to try to firm them up, but should have let them crisp for longer. Flaws were irrelevant once leftover Brussels and a gooey egg went on top.

Pecan pie. My grandma LOVES pecan pie, so I made her this one. I forgot to add the eggs into the filling after it cooled, half poured it into the crust, then remembered and had to pour it all our to rectify the situation. I am honestly not a pecan pie lover, but this one is not nearly as saccharin as others and was happily accepted by the other dessert eaters around the table. The dough is easy as pie, and I doubled it and froze the other half for my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Though it is sticky and I wish the weight for the golden syrup was included so I didn’t have to measure it in cups, the filling comes together easily (just don’t forget the eggs!). Oh and I did not parbake my crust, which I think would be nice but I didn’t have the time.

Pasta with caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, garlic, and parmesan cheese. While the pasta water boiled, I caramelized the onions, chopped up about 1/2 a cup of sun-dried tomatoes, and shredded the Brussels (maybe 10?). When the onions were cooked I added the sun-dried tomatoes and Brussels sprouts and tossed so the sprouts wilted. In a small pan I poured a few tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes, and added in 4 cloves of garlic that I minced. That mingled over medium low heat until fragrant. When the pasta was cooked I drained it, then tossed with the vegetables, sun-dried tomato and garlic oil, and a bunch of black pepper. Served with parm on top.

Twice baked potatoes with buffalo chickpeas and cauliflower. I can’t quite put my finger on what I didn’t like about this recipe. It may have been that you don’t roast the cauliflower so the flavor wasn’t as concentrated, or the tomato sauce added to the hot sauce which wasn’t exactly right. All in all it was a wholesome, vegetable heavy meal, but I think I will stick to my own buffalo cauliflower method next time. (I did also add some bleu cheese on top, making it not vegan.)

Israeli couscous, roasted cauliflower, radish, feta, and dill. I had half a head of cauliflower already prepped, only two people to feed and no leftovers needed. I raided the pantry for a quick grain and found Israeli couscous. I popped the cauliflower in the oven at 425F (oil, salt, pepper), cooked the couscous, and got out some lemon, more olive oil, feta, dill, and watermelon radish. Once the couscous and cauliflower were done I drizzled them with olive oil and lemon juice, then added the salad toppings.

Crisped potatoes with fried eggs and chard. This was yet another iteration of my most favorite breakfast. This time I used leftover baked potatoes (from the twice baked potatoes), which I cubed and fried.

Smoked chili and pumpkin sausage, squash polenta, and sauteed radish greens. This meal was entirely build around the sausage. I had a vision of it on a bed of squashy, cheesy polenta. I made polenta as usual, then stirred in about 3/4 of a cup of cooked squash and 1/2 a cup of shredded parm. I cooked the sausage, then took them out of the pan and sauteed the greens in the sausage fat. It was a great balance of smokey spice, creamy polenta, and slightly bitter greens.

Dating a Vermonter has opened up a world of maple products to me. Maple syrup is just the beginning, and then there is maple sugar, a delightful spread called maple cream, maple cotton candy, and solid maple candies. Will’s mom gave us a jar of maple sugar I have been savoring and trying to find the best possible uses for. Over the weekend I took my favorite buttermilk pancakes, swapped in whole wheat flour, maple sugar, and added a grated apple. Paired with maple breakfast sausage and topped with maple syrup, it was a breakfast to make a Vermonter proud. If you were really tempted you could add some cinnamon to the batter, but I like letting the maple flavor shine through.

Whole Wheat Apple Buttermilk Pancakes with Maple Sugar

Serves 2-3. Adapted from Cup of Jo.

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons maple sugar (or granulated sugar)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled (plus additional butter for cooking)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 apple (leave it unpeeled)
• Maple syrup for serving

Combine the whole wheat flour, maple sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl (make sure it is a bowl large enough to accommodate the wet ingredients as well).

Whisk the buttermilk, egg, butter, and vanilla extract. Grate the apple on the largest side of a box grater. Pick out the seeds and stem and discard.

Add the wet ingredients and the grated apple to the flour mixture, and stir until just combined. Stir up from the bottom and it is ready when there are no more dry pockets of flour.

Preheat your oven to 200F with a baking sheet placed on the middle rack.  Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Melt a bit of butter around the skillet and dollop the batter into four inch circles. The pan should be hot enough so that the batter does not spread much after it is added, so adjust accordingly. Cook the pancakes 4-5 minutes, until the edges are set and you can see bubbles on the top. Flip, cook for another 3-4 minutes, and then move to the baking sheet in the oven. Repeat until all batter is used. Serve with maple syrup (and maple sausage, if you eat meat and want to go all out).