Beef and Eggplant Red Curry

Over the past few months, we have been making arrangements for our first child as well as learning the ropes of pregnancy. One of the most common tropes we’ve heard is the random, off-putting, late-night food cravings; in most stories, the dutiful spouse rushes off to a store or restaurant to buy whatever will satisfy the craving. This hasn’t been our experience, however. It’s true that we may have more coconut- and cashew-based ice cream on hand than normal; but we also finished wiring the outlet for our chest freezer very recently. The extra space for frozen foods also meant buying 36 pounds of grass-fed lamb.

Even before the pregnancy, there were regular requests for curry dishes. Our local international market has a great red curry paste, that we’ve since found online, and we have a homemade green curry we love. This recipe was another excuse to make curry, and it does not disappoint. We ate it for days, and it was a hearty meal by itself or paired with cauliflower rice.

Karottensalat (German Carrot Salad)

I can’t remember why, but a couple of weeks ago Brent and I thought it would be a good idea to buy one of those 10-lb bags of carrots at Costco. I had visions of carrot juice in the morning, carrot soufflés, and finding other creative ways to use the carrots. Admittedly, we have made neither juice nor soufflé of carrot.

Fortunately, Brent remembered that during our first trip to Germany, we enjoyed a carrot salad that was bright and tangy as we sat on a bench outside Nymphenburg Palace. In our research, we found quite a few varieties but we settled on keeping our version simple. We’re enjoying it now, and I think we’ll be making it more often once spring time arrives. It’s a perfect side dish for a picnic or cookout!

Creamy Carrot & Parsnip Soup

We may or may not have mentioned before that we enjoy cooking for others as much as we enjoy it for ourselves. We’ve made a habit of cooking food for new parents we know, either by taking over their kitchen for a meal or dropping off batches of food.

One of our neighbors recently had a baby, and they’re similarly focused on eating real food. We did what we do best and took them a batch of this soup after they came home from the hospital. The next day, while out walking our dog, their oldest son ran up to the fence and said, “I really liked your soup!” With eight nieces and nephews, I know how hard it can be to get kids to eat. So, unsolicited praise must mean we did something right!

Just this weekend we made another batch for ourselves, and froze more than half of it. As we look forward to our own baby’s birth in June, we are slowly planning ahead for the inevitable weeks of exhaustion that will follow bringing the baby home. Batch cooking now will save us time and money in the future. We hope you’ll like this soup as much as we and our neighbors do.

Italian Pork Sausage Bake

As spring draws closer, we are still experiencing cold weather with unexpected jaunts of warm weather. My case in point is that last Thursday it was over 60ºF and on Friday it snowed. With this kind of unpredictable weather, we wanted to have a hearty, filling meal for the week.

This Italian Pork Sausage Bake hits the nail on the head. We love the simplicity, and that this goes from start to plate in less than an hour. Also, Kite Hill’s plant-based ricotta cheese is a shoe-in for the real thing. That said, enjoy your high-quality dairy if you like! However you choose to have this meal, we know you will enjoy it.

Creamy Mushroom Chicken Thighs

A few weeks ago, we found out about a factory seconds All Clad sale, and I went a little bit overboard. One of the spoils of our bounty was a gorgeous 6-quart, sauté pan. This thing is out of control, and is now a go-to cooking utensil for our morning breakfasts as well as dinner. Our previous sauté pan of a similar size is starting to warp, and this was an awesome opportunity to upgrade.

For our christening of this new pan, we wanted to bring you an easy and delicious recipe that will feed you and your whole family. Having a one-pot recipe that will last a couple of days is great for time management, cleanup, and convenience. We know you’re going to enjoy this recipe.