I recall not liking the simplified version, actually, and wondering why it needed simplifying when the base recipe is very easy and mostly hands-off, lol.
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That’s the one issue I have with the cookbook. Some of the recipes are too dumbed down in a way that I think is disrespectful to the original.
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My reaction back when it came out was that it might make some flavor profiles accessible to those who might now otherwise have gotten exposure - maybe? Whereas folks like us might prefer the “original” because the flavors aren’t really new.
(As I recall it might have been to do with the seeming face-off between Milk Street & “new improved” Cooks Illustrated pivoting to international flavors & getting excited about “new” ingredients like sumac, gochujang, fish sauce, and the like,)
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Aw, thank you.
Greetings, People.
Still on the comfort food train following the elections. Contemplating the ramifications of staying on it for the next 4 (8? 12?) years. A personal request for no tariffs on pasta and cheese, please.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW:
FRI: Ricotta and spinach stuffed shells. Salad greens.
SAT: Cook’s Illustrated recipe for stove-top mac and cheese. Pan-roasted chicken thighs. Salad greens.
SUN: Halibut tacos with cabbage slaw.
MON: Tomato-basil soup from the freezer. Savory scones. Green salad.
TUE: Smoked tri-tip on the grill. Leftover mac and cheese. Green salad.
WED: Italian cabbage and sausage soup from the freezer. Focaccia.
THUR: Leftover tri-tip. Baked potatoes with the works. More salad.
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So many delicious and comforting meals here!
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Doin’ my best! 
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Oh, such wonderful and comforting meals.
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Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in Chattanooga, where the weather is finally turning seasonal. A bit of a cozy theme this week.
Friday, November 15: Black bean soup with tortilla strips
Breakfast: Soda bread with dates
Saturday: Pulling leftover turkey out of the freezer for a pot pie; beet salad
Sunday: Hosting a group lunch; will be making beef and cheese enchiladas, maybe a pot of beans, and gingerbread; others will fill in.
Monday-Tuesday: Scrounge/takeout. Monday is a Costco run, so maybe hot dogs?
Wednesday: Lentil sloppy joes
Thursday-Friday: TBD. Medical appointment across town near Trader Joe’s, so I may be bringing some treats home from there…
Have a good week, and happy cooking!
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Greetings from Ottawa where dressing for the weather continues to be a challenge. It was cool and overcast yesterday so the fleece lined jacket I wore during my lunchtime walk yesterday wasn’t warm enough. When I went to the movies last night I pulled out my parka and winter boots for the first time this fall since the cooler temperatures called for it. When I went errand running earlier I dressed based on yesterday’s weather even though it is a gloriously sunny day and I was way overdressed wearing my parka! 
One of these days I will get it right! I have a busy weekend coming up with a combination of social engagements and chores. Tonight I go back to the movie theatre with one of my meetup groups then for drinks after for a lively discussion about the movie. Tomorrow I take out my truly winter clothes then Sunday is Grey Cup Sunday! The Grey Cup game is our Canadian Football League’s year end championship and this year I have decided to assemble a tapas style dinner to watch during the game. And I have beer chilling in the fridge already so I’m all set! This is my menu for the week:
Today: homemade salad for lunch. I will be going to the movies again, this time with a meetup group, so I will have a quick bite to eat on the way to the movie theatre and right now it’s a toss-up between Chinese food or Carribbean food. Then I have to decide which dessert I want when we go for drinks after the movie - decisions decisions!
Saturday: Take out the rest of my winter clothes day. I will also be making some homemade chicken soup to have for lunches this week since one of the grocery stores had whole chickens on sale for $1.99/lb. That’s cheap by Canadian standards so I bought a whole chicken earlier this week then broke it down to breasts, legs, wings and carcass. The breasts, legs and wings are individually wrapped in their respective ziploc bags for future dinners and the carcass will morph into soup tomorrow. I will have a shrimp and bok choy soba stirfry for dinner.
Sunday: Grey Cup Sunday! I will head up to the market to forage for dinner although I am leaning towards cheese, paté, baguette etc. There is a cheese store in the market I go to that is owned by a Lebanese man so in addition to an impressive selection of cheeses he also has a nice selection of olives and some prepared Lebanese dishes such as hummus, stuffed grape leaves, etc. I should really think about a vegetable dish to include so I can get my vitamins in but he sells tabouli so I might get some and call it a day. We shall see what Sunday brings. Then I will be watching football all evening
Monday: Spaghettini with sesame bok choy that I had intended on having last week but I had some basil to use up before it perished so I had fettucine al pesto instead. So the bok choy dish is getting bumped to tonight.
Tuesday: Risotto with leeks and sundried tomatoes.
Wednesday; A repeat of pork and green bean stirfry from recipetineats because I love this dish. Also because I have some green beans to use up.
Thursday: Another film society screening so I will have a bite to eat on the way to the theatre.
I hope my American friends in this group are faring a bit better than last week.
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One more week until Thanksgiving Break. Counting the seconds.
For two adults in San Diego:
Breakfasts: Thinking about baking chocolate chip scones.
S: (tonight) Takeout - holiday turkey pot pies with cranberry sauce from our local pie shop. We typically have ham for Thanksgiving, so this should scratch the turkey itch.
Su: Chicken fajitas with all the trimmings
M: Spinach tortellini with tuna and peas - seafood
T: TJs Santa Maria tri-tip, creamed spinach, garlic bread
W: TJs gorgonzola tortellini with spinach and pecans - vegetarian
R: Purchased potstickers in broth with veggies - soup
F: Tacos with leftover tri-tip and all the trimmings
Have a good week!
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Hi everyone, I hope you’re enjoying your weekends. LLD has been away at a conference in Montreal for a few days (and snuck in a Canadiens game last night). I have broken out in a rash on my neck. Not sure if it is allergies or stress, but grateful for calamine lotion and Benadryl. Here is what we ate this week:
Sun: LLD cooked; salmon, roasted potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts
Mon: North African chicken, vegetable, pearl couscous soup (Dinner in One)
Tues: took the leftover filling from the zucchini, mushroom, soyrizo tacos and served over grits with some dollops of sour cream. Loved it this way.
Wed: spicy tomato, leek, fried egg toasts (Dinner in French)
Thurs: LLD away, leftover soup
Fri: took myself out for sushi
Sat: chilled tofu with gochujang sauce (NYT) over rice I’d gotten to go from sushi place, cucumber spears
Sun: LLD will be home. I’ll be making pasta with garlic, anchovies, chilies, and chard
I baked SK’s cranberry crumb bars with mulling spices for a potluck but cut back on the spices. Pleasant but probably not a repeat. Might make Better than Apple Pie bars from Snackable Bakes today for a friend’s birthday, or strawberries and cream bars to send to Lulu. Almost finals time for her, and she’ll need sustenance, right?
Wishing everyone a happy week.
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Actuals for Nov 11 week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where I found freezer space for a bone-in turkey breast which will be T-Day dinner and baked pumpkin pie bars which we’re enjoying now. My permanent dental crown should be in the day before Thanksgiving, so I’m planning pecan pie for that dessert.
Mon: Sloppy Joe beefburger on homemade bun
Tues: Make Ahead pork tenderloin w dried fruit (apricots, cherries) and warm spices. A recipe saved in 2009, finally made in 2024! Pearl couscous steamed over onion, mushrooms and spinach (a Jacques Pepin video recipe, minus his tomatoes)
Wed: Orzo sausage soup, wild rice bread, red grapes
Thurs: Costco chicken, butternut squash, red grapes
Fri: reheated Pork Tenderloin, couscous, butternut squash, red grapes
BAKED – pumpkin pie bars
Sat: (commercial) Seafood stuffed salmon, (commercial) sweet potato/rice/spinach bowl, cubed fresh pineapple,
Sun: (today, planned) bacon apple pizza, BAKE planned – apple crisp
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It looks like you had some nice fall dishes on your menu this week. Good luck with the crown!
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Greetings from the Boston area, where I am cooking for two adults (and feeding Parker the cat his twice daily rabbit kitty food)! We are finally getting some fall like temps, although we’re in an awful drought. Here’s what we’re having tonight and what I anticipate for the rest of the week:
Lunch for the week - Soup of red and brown lentils, cooked with chiles, garlic, ginger, and garam masala. Peas were added in the last 8 minutes and then some cilantro and cooked brown rice.
Sunday - Yellow Eye beans from Rancho Gordo cooked with a ham shank and collard greens. I also made a batch of cornbread, but I may have over baked it (and it didn’t rise very much, which probably means I need fresher baking powder). I also roasted some mushrooms for BF to use with his lunches this week (InstaPot black beans and quinoa).
Monday - Leftover beans, collards, and cornbread.
Tuesday - I found a two cup container of a red chile tomatillo sauce from 2020 in the freezer that I am going to cook some shrimp in for tacos.
Wednesday - Haddock, red potatoes, and snap peas. Probably a sheet pan affair.
Thursday - Salmon with yellow beans, peas, scallions, and bacon. A more late fall/early winter riff on a similar spring dish from the Le Bernardin Cookbook.
Friday - probably our usual sushi delivery
Saturday - We have tickets to see Steel Panther at the Boston House of Blues, so we will likely eat there.
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Hi, everyone. I made it through a stressful week - that class I was teaching was not exactly what I expected, but I hope the students learned something. (side note: I would not have expected to bring up a Kardashian in a college class, but I did!) DS’s school laptop (which we bought in July) also threw up the blue screen of death, so I spent Tues night and Weds night fixing it; we’re now looking into replacements (hooray for Costco…). And I loved the pumpkin spice granola I tried last week and made another batch today, but my oven decided to be evil and burn it. 
Fortunately the Steelers won and I squeezed in a walk with a friend before it got too dark out.
Sun: pork ramen
Mon: “Greek chicken” (marinated in Ken’s Greek dressing) and pizza rice (NYT). Maybe some broccoli.
Tues: sheet pan chicken fajitas
Weds: oven-roasted fish with cherry tomatoes (NYT), twice baked cacio e pepe potatoes (What Goes With What, which I just borrowed from the library)
Thurs: beef stew with carrots and parsnips, egg noodles
Fri: ramen again
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Cooking for 3 in southwestern Ontario
Nov 17th: Mac & Cheese based on Martha’s Perfect Mac & Cheese, take-out fried chicken
Nov 18th: lamb souvlaki chunks in the oven, a yogurt sauce, roasted oregano potatoes, roasted butter ginger parsnips, mixed salad with lettuce , tomato, avocado and green onion, Greek baked beans, home-made russet apple and cinnamon applesauce
Nov 19th:
all-beef Swedish meatballs adapted from this
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/swedish-meatballs-recipe-1916539.amp
Lingonberry sauce
Nov 20th
Pork chop, prep tbd
Nov 21st
I’m waiting for inspiration 
Nov 22nd, halibut, prep tbd
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I’ll be right over.
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For Nov 21st - how does your crew feel about hearty soup – Chili and cornbread or Chicken Pot Pie soup with crust crackers
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Both sound good.
Thanks! I might make the chicken pot pie soup, since we had ground beef and pork tonight in the meatballs.
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