The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Everyone has their own idea of a perfect chocolate chip cookie. Mine is one that’s chewy, bakery-size, and cooked until just golden. I prefer dark chocolate, which is a little less sweet, and chunks over chips, because I want to bite into pockets of chocolate.
Miso Ramen
I wanted a miso soup that felt like a whole meal. I also didn’t want to work very hard. We always keep ramen in our pantry in case of extreme laziness - we’ve been known to dump some peas and carrots into the ramen pot and pretend that counts as eating our vegetables. So… miso ramen?
In the Garden: First Growth
Every spring, my favorite season is spring. Every fall, my favorite season is fall. I think the reality is that I crave that middle space; whether temperament, politics, or weather, I don’t enjoy extremes. But I’m also perpetually captivated by the rhythms of nature, and the closer I look, the more I see. I’m trying to imprint things onto my brain - what week does our wisteria begin to bloom? When will the ginkgo tree finally shudder and drop its golden leaves? When will the hummingbirds reappear?
The Lost Year
It was like packing for a trip and then getting stranded on the tarmac. I was supposed to be somewhere, doing something. Instead, I lost a year, and my world shrank to a quarter of an acre in northern Alabama. My social circle is a line: me and him.
In the Garden: Starting Seeds
I am touched, in many different ways, by the simple thought that it’s all going according to plan in there. Whatever chaos swirls around this moment in history, these seeds are doing what they were meant to do. And if I can just give them what they need, they’re going to keep doing that. Slow, steady, beautiful.
How I Learned to Roast a Chicken
Last spring as everyone else was making sourdough and I was finishing unboxing my kitchen, I saw Smitten Kitchen’s Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Cabbage on Instagram. She swore it was easy, she used a small chicken, and for the first time in my life, I thought “I could do that. I should do that.”
10 Great Movies to Stream for Valentine’s Day
Every year on Valentine’s Day weekend, I end up sifting through the streaming platforms looking for a love story that’s not eye-rollingly cringey or too horribly acted. Here are a few favorites!
Our Backyard, Part 2: Dreams for the Future
To figure out our goals for the landscaping at our house, I started searching for visual inspiration. I’m ignorant enough about gardening and landscaping that I didn’t know the name for my preferred style until I decided to treat this like an interiors projects: gather images of what I love, and then find the thread that connects it all together. It didn’t take too long to find the thread connecting my images: I am super into cottage gardens.
Our Backyard, Part 1: What We’re Working With
Fun fact: I didn’t even want to look at the house we eventually bought. It was over our budget, and the pictures didn’t look spectacular. We’d looked at so many houses in person, and I’d flipped through dozens of other listings online. Why bother with another showing of a house that was out of our budget to begin with? But Joey said we should go. So we scheduled it. We walked through the house, and it was cute. It seemed like the perfect size for the two of us.
Then we stepped out onto the deck.
Curried Chicken and Barley Soup
I love chicken noodle soup, but it doesn’t really satisfy as a meal. This take swaps the noodles for pearled barley, which is high in fiber and has a slightly chewy texture that makes it a great sub for noodles. The recipe is packed with good-for-you aromatics like garlic, ginger, and turmeric. The carrots and celery turn the recipe into a little bit of a cuisine mashup, but I think it really works.
From Joey: Why I Reject Christian Nationalism
It is painful for me to see family, friends, and respected Christian leaders adopt the toxic values of Christian Nationalism that have been spreading for years, and have exploded during the Trump administration. Trump's slogan of “America First” perfectly captures the sentiment held by this value system: “Me First”. As a Christian, this pride and selfishness should be appalling.
How I Meal Plan
We’ve all been there: busy days, no motivation, and you’re trying to figure out how to turn a fridge full of half-bad food into a half-decent meal. I’ve cracked the code. For me, all it took was Pinterest, a binder, and a custom shopping list. Let’s talk!
Beautiful Moments: 2020
It’s wonderful, the way time smooths edges and crystalizes beauty. Every year brings good and bad, light and dark, joy and pain. It’s true, the scale on 2020 seems tilted, but there was beauty even here. And memory is a finicky thing; it discards what seems like most of our lives, holding onto just a few glimmering moments. Here are a few of my moments, as they unfolded through this year.
My Dad’s Chili
Fun fact: a few years ago, this chili won me second place at an office chili cook-off. There were more than twenty entries… it’s that good!
Every region and family has their own favorite chili, and this is mine: a thick consistency, a little sweet, heavy on the meat and beans.
Our House, As it Exists Right Now
The week the world began to end, we closed on our first house. As we pried off baseboards and painted our bedroom, NASA told employees not to come back to the office... No social life, no in-person church, no international travel, but a house that was ours. A home that we slowly worked on, checking things off our list one weekend at a time.
Cheesy Broccoli Casserole
That top layer of cheese gets golden and slightly crispy in the oven. Every bite here is a cheesy, broccoli-filled dream. You’re going to love this.
The 10 Best Books I Read This Year
I read almost 40 books in 2020. I’m a reading generalist: I’ll pick up most anything and finish it, but I don’t like them all equally. I went through my list of this year’s reads and pulled out my favorites. These are books that deserve to be read.
Our Thanksgiving Dinner
It was the most triumphant day of my home cooking career to date. Seven dishes on the table at the same time. Nothing raw, nothing burned, all the correct temperature for serving. And I love that our plates were full of colorful vegetables!
Wish List: Upgrade Your Life
If something is intentional, beautiful, and high-quality, I’ll probably love it forever or at least until it falls to pieces in my hands.
10 Healthy(ish) Holiday Dishes
We have arrived at the season in which even the least enthusiastic home cooks will be entering their kitchens with the intent to make something from scratch… let’s save a little spot on the plate for something more produce-forward, shall we?