My Standout March Meals (And Why You'll Want To Try Them)
Roundup of 20+ must-try recipes and new restaurants I loved last month
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At the end of every month, I love sharing my top recipes and memorable dining experiences to give you a little extra meal inspiration. Happily, March was a productive month in my kitchen—thanks to fewer holidays and some rainy weather in the Northeast, which gave me plenty of time to cook and bake. Also, with the (slow) re-emergence of spring, I’ve been dining out more frequently in and around northern NJ and NYC. Narrowing down my favorites for this post was a tough challenge, but I highly recommend everything on this list!
Before we dive in, here’s a sneak peek at some of the things I’ll be sharing in my posts over the coming weeks:
Celebrating rhubarb. I’ll be highlighting some of my favorite recipes, featuring this incredible veggie (yep, it’s a vegetable!), including an amazing new rice pudding.
High-protein bagels. I’ve been experimenting with a few different recipes for this recent food trend (which is actually pretty tasty) and look forward to sharing a “perfected” version soon.
Great copycat recipes. Recreating my favorite restaurant dishes at home is a fun challenge, and recently I’ve found some incredibly delicious replica recipes that rival the originals.
What to eat and do in Kauai and Maui. Inspired by my upcoming trip to Hawaii (I can’t wait!).
Anything here you're particularly excited for? Or other food topics you'd love to see covered? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Ok, let’s dish!
Best Things I Cooked 🍳
These are the standout winners from everything I cooked in March. If you’re in need of some meal inspiration, these recipes will definitely do the trick.
Favorite Sheet Pan Meal: Sheet-Pan Chicken with Potatoes, Arugula and Garlic Yogurt, Melissa Clark, New York Times Cooking. Not surprisingly, this recipe was ranked one of the New York Times’ 50 Most Popular Recipes of 2024. So easy, so good!
Runner Up: Crisp Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter,
, New York Times Cooking. Gnocchi sheet-pan meals are everywhere these days, and this one is at the top of my list.Favorite One-Skillet Meal: Chicken Reuben Skillet,
, Simply Julia. I love a creative twist on classic Reuben sandwiches (like this Roasted Vegetable Reuben I can’t stop raving about!). This clever chicken-based take, sans rye bread, is cooked in a skillet and topped with plenty of melted Swiss cheese.Favorite One-Bowl Meal: Sesame Salmon Bowls, Kay Chun, New York Times Cooking. Customizable one-dish dinners, like these Sesame Salmon Bowls, are the best. Roasted salmon cubes, seasoned sushi rice, and a mix of ingredients—like cucumber, avocado, cabbage, carrots, scallions, toasted sesame seeds, and nori—are all tossed in a soy-ginger-scallion vinaigrette.
Favorite Make-Ahead Meal: Chicken Freezer Burritos, Simply Recipes. I was motivated by a recent note (thanks,
!) to make a big batch of these chicken, rice, and cheese-filled burritos to freeze for those days when my always-hungry boys need to fend for themselves at dinnertime. They loved them so much that I’ll be making another batch much sooner than I expected!Favorite Side Dish: Grace’s Sweet Potatoes,
, Small Victories. My only regret with this recipe (from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks) is that it took me this long to try it! Roasted sweet potatoes, crispy pancetta bits, and caramelized red onions make this dish one of my new favorites, one I’ll be making on repeat.Favorite Salad: Classic Beet Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette,
, Pizza Every Friday Substack. Omg, I LOVE golden beets and will take any excuse to make them—like in this perfect salad with bitter arugula (which I swapped for mixed greens), toasted walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, and a deliciously tart-sweet blood orange vinaigrette.Favorite Vegetarian Meal: Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Feta and Dates, Kendra Vaculin, Bon Appétit. This sheet-pan roasted cauliflower dish might just be my favorite dish of the month. It hits all the right flavor notes—sweet (dates, roasted red onions), salty (pistachios, feta, capers), tart (vinaigrette), and bitter (arugula)—making it hard to beat.
Favorite Vegan Meal: Salt n’ Pepper Tofu,
, Have You Eaten Yet? Substack. Crispy pan-roasted tofu is tossed in a zesty mix of salt, pepper, and sugar, with sliced jalapeños for a pleasantly spicy, peppery kick. Don’t skip the crispy fried garlic chip that take this dish to the next level.Favorite Pizza (also a great vegetarian meal): Spinach and Artichoke Pan Pizza, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen. As a huge fan of spinach-artichoke dip, I’m all for turning those flavors into a pizza. Genius—and absolutely delicious!
Favorite Pasta: Pasta with Sausage, Browned Butter and Broccoli Rabe, Alison Roman. This is the quintessential Friday night dinner when you want something tasty without the fuss. Pair it with a glass of red wine (like a Chianti or Pinot Noir), and you’ve got the perfect kickoff to the weekend.
Favorite Leftovers: Pesto Chicken Meatballs, Dan Pelosi, New York Times Cooking. What’s not to love about pesto-infused baked chicken meatballs, dipped in even more pesto? We didn’t have many leftovers, but the few that remained reheated perfectly the next day.
Favorite Make-On-Repeat Snack: Roasted strawberries with whipped cottage cheese. I was inspired by a simple roasted strawberry recipe from Olga Massov and Sanaë Lemoine's brilliant cookbook, Hot Sheet. Serving the roasted strawberries with cottage cheese, a dash of sumac, and fresh mint or tarragon (when I had them), it quickly became my go-to snack of the month.
Best Things I Baked 🍪
My March baking efforts were mostly dominated by high-protein bagels (as mentioned earlier), along with a couple of new cookie recipes I’m working on. Still, I managed to squeeze in a few other baked treats that are definitely worth trying.
Buttermilk Banana Cake, Kendra Vaculin, Bon Appétit. I can never let brown bananas go to waste, and this tangy and moist buttermilk cake recipe was the perfect way to use them up.
French Onion Buns, Jennifer Perillo, Homemade With Love: Simple Scratch Cooking From Jennie’s Kitchen. I love finding amazing recipes in cookbooks I haven’t used in a while! These soft, pillowy rolls have all the deliciousness of French onion soup—baked up with deeply caramelized sweet onions and melty Gruyère cheese. Need I say more?
Absolutely Best Vegan Brownies, Nisha Vora, Rainbow Plant Life. I first read about these vegan brownies on the Pancake Princess blog, where they won her Best Vegan Brownie bake-off. I would definitely make these again!
Copycat Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Scones,
, Food 52. I’ve been dying to try one of Mary O’s famous scones in NYC, but until I make it there, I’ve been settling for copycat recipes. While I’m not sure how closely these mimic the originals, they’re awesome! Enjoy them warm, ideally with butter and jam...cue the drool, please.Buckeyes, Instagram, Danielle Sepsy. Any dessert featuring both peanut butter and chocolate is the ultimate expression of love to my kids. So, you can imagine how thrilled they were to try these buckeyes—with Rice Krispies folded into the peanut butter centers for a nice crunch. Bonus: no baking or cooking required!
Where & What I’m Eating Out 🍽️
I tried and really enjoyed three newly opened restaurants in NJ and NYC in March:
Bar Mutz (Westwood, NJ). Robbie Felice, the chef behind the wildly popular Pasta Ramen in Montclair, NJ, has just opened his latest venture in Westwood. Start with the cocktails and antipasti plates, including their signature fresh mozzarella, made table-side upon request (for an extra fee). Try the Branzino in a heavenly lemon garlic caper butter sauce, Trottole with short rib ragu and mozzarella whey (my favorite), the Chicken Milanese Caesar, and the indulgent Samoa Cookie Cheesecake for dessert.
Best Bar Mutz bites (clockwise from top left): Chicken Milanese Caesar; Trottole,; Samoa Cheesecake; Branzino; Prosciutto with Fresh Mozzarella. Golden HOF (NYC). From the team behind Golden Diner and its famous Instagrammable pancakes comes this new modern Korean spot near Rockefeller Center—perfect for a pre-Broadway meal. The food lives up to the hype, with standout dishes like the refreshing Cilantro & Cucumber Salad with a burnt sesame gochugaru vinaigrette and crispy Korean Fried Chicken Wings with a garlic-soy glaze. But the real star was the Golden Cheeseburger: a perfectly seasoned beef patty, topped with cheese, sauce, and other accompaniments, all nestled in a dreamy milk bread bun.
Golden HOF highlights (clockwise from top left): Jeju Margarita; Cilantro & Cucumber Salad; Golden Cheeseburger; Korean Fried Chicken Wings. Kura Sushi (Garden State Plaza, Paramus). This was my first sushi train experience, and it definitely won’t be my last. While waiting for my preferred dishes to circle the conveyor belt wasn’t ideal, you can also order directly from the online menu, and the chefs will send it right to your table on a separate belt. The sushi was surprisingly solid for a mall restaurant chain, and the mochi and sesame balls with red bean paste are must-tries for dessert. There are 74 other locations nationwide.
And A Few Extras…
Try this: Oatly Barista Edition Oat Milk is super creamy, fortified with calcium (350mg per one-cup serving), and makes the best addition to my morning iced coffees and shaken espressos. I’ve even used it for baking.
Recreate this: The AM Superfoods Bowl from First Watch (coconut chia seed pudding with berries, bananas, house-made granola, and a slice of whole grain toast with almond butter and flaky sea salt) was the ultimate post-workout recharge. I can’t wait to recreate this dish at home asap!
Watch this: I can’t stop thinking about the haunting, emotionally charged Netflix series Adolescence. It follows a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a classmate after potentially being exposed to misogynistic ideas online. A powerful exploration of the dangerous impact of smartphones and social media on children, it hits especially close to home for me as a mom of teenage boys.
I hope there’s something in this post that you're excited to try! If you do, I’d love to hear what you think!
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Have a delicious week!
I've heard such good things about Golden HOF — now it's a must-go!
Also, you are on such a roll with the cottage cheese! I think roasted strawberries are probably the only thing that could get me to like it.
Gnocchi is the unsung hero of late winter. We just did some in brown butter sage that might have been inspired by the same NYT recipe. Have to get the gnocchi in before it gets warm!