What I'm cooking, baking, and eating right now
Issue No. 16: Highlights from what I cooked, baked, and ate (out) this month
Welcome back to Dish Lister!
Since the beginning of January, I’ve been cooking, baking, and eating a lot of really delicious food. On my Instagram on Fridays, I share the best dish that I make each week, and there are always so many other deserving candidates that don’t get recognized. “What I’m cooking, baking, and eating right now” highlights my biggest culinary successes (and the occasional misstep) from the last month, as well as noteworthy restaurant experiences I’ve had. I hope these lists inspire you to try something new and delicious!
Now it’s time to dish!
What I’m Cooking
January was a successful month for me in the kitchen. Coming off of the holidays, I wanted to eat out less often, but was also very busy. As a result, I cooked a lot of dishes requiring minimal time and effort (thank you, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking!). With the colder temperatures, I also made a lot of soups. Here are some of my best dishes of the month (as always, links in recipe names):
Good Luck Soup, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking Substack. My new year started off strong with this curry-based soup featuring black-eyed peas, pancetta, and collard greens (all ingredients believed to bring good luck) plus some crispy croutons. While I’m not superstitious, I did find this good luck soup to be cozy, warming, and filling—an ideal meal for the chilly night on which it was eaten.
World’s Best Lasagna, Allrecipes.com. The Kitchn named this lasagna the best out of six popular recipes they made, so naturally I had to try it. And my husband’s recent birthday provided the perfect excuse. I liked this one a lot, but will always have a soft spot for Ina Garten’s turkey sausage lasagna (which surprisingly scored lower in the Kitchn ratings). Added bonus: the leftovers are even better than the day one lasagna.
Peanutty Pork and Brussels Sprouts, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking (book). I’ve talked about this flavorful stir-fry before, and it’s still a top choice when I have an excess of Brussels sprouts on hand.
One-Skillet Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking Substack. This recipe looked so promising on paper (I mean, chicken pot pie with a broccoli and cheese filling?!), but it ended up being a bit too salty and rich for us. I am determined to make it again, next time with less salt.
Chopped Turkey Taco Salad, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking Substack. My family gave this turkey-based taco salad with a spicy crema dressing their stamp of approval, and it gave me an excuse to use up some of the tortilla chips left over from my review last week. This will undoubtedly make future appearances at our dinner table.
Oven-Roasted Chicken Shwarma, Sam Sifton, New York Times Cooking. Here’s another easy single sheet pan dish that I make regularly and serve with warmed pita, tzatziki sauce, feta, and shredded lettuce on the side. I’ve also made it into a yummy salad and served with pita chips.
Dumpling and Smashed Cucumber Salad with Peanut Sauce, Hetty Lui McKinnon, New York Times Cooking. This interesting recipe takes Chinese dumplings (found in the grocery store freezer section) and salted, smashed cucumbers and coats them in an addictively sweet, spicy peanut dressing. Great discovery!
Good Soup, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking Substack. This soup has a creamy, light tomato based broth with Italian sausage, collard greens, farro, and lentils. It’s topped with homemade crispy garlic croutons and enough Parmesan cheese “to look like it snowed.” Good soup, indeed.
Taco Soup, Jenn Segal, Once Upon A Chef. This great weeknight dinner option is similar in flavor to a tortilla soup, but has a stronger taco flavor. Next time, I will add some crispy tortilla strips to take it up a notch.
Thai- Inspired Chicken Meatball Soup, Ali Slagle, New York Times Cooking. Continuing my January soup trend, I really enjoyed this soup that’s chock full of gingery chicken meatballs and spinach in a lime-coconut broth. Rich flavors, but not too heavy.
Lamb & Hummus Bowls, Caroline Chambers, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking (book). I’ve made this restaurant-quality dish a few times and serve it with my favorite pita bread from Angel Bakeries. Chambers called this recipe (as well as the above-noted Turkey Taco Salad and Peanutty Pork and Brussels Sprouts) as one of ten “must-makes” from her cookbook.
Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen. This homey, rich beef stew was the perfect Sunday snowstorm cooking project (taking about 3 hours from start to finish). I threw in some collard greens that I had on hand for extra nutrients and served it on a bed of buttery noodles.
Potato Leek Soup with Halloumi Croutons, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen. This puréed potato leek soup is anything but ordinary. It has a fun oven-crisped potato skin topping, plus I added some halloumi croutons for extra protein and pizzazz.
What I’m Baking
Even though I didn’t have much time to cook during the week, I did manage to fit in some baking projects on the weekends. Consider my sweet tooth sufficiently satisfied!
Sweet Corn Cookies, Charlotte Rutledge, King Arthur Baking. I’m a fan of NYC’s Culture Espresso’s corn cookies. Since discovering them a couple of years ago, I have wanted to replicate them at home and found this recipe from King Arthur Baking that comes fairly close. It uses both corn meal and masa harina (finely ground corn flour) for a nice texture and corn flavor. The cookie wasn’t as thick as Culture Espresso’s, but the taste was comparable.
Southern Coconut Cake, Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne, Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. I made this insanely good three-layer coconut cake for my husband’s birthday. The cream cheese frosting called for in the recipe (a Swiss buttercream) was a bit fussy, so I opted for a more straightforward version from Ina Garten that worked perfectly. Every last crumb was consumed—a true measure of success!
The Best Banana Scones, Jenna, Butternut Bakery. I’m a huge scone fan and constantly trying out new scone recipes. This one caught my eye with its middle layer of caramelized bananas and drizzle of cinnamon maple glaze. While I wouldn’t call them the “best” banana scones I’ve ever made, and the recipe was a bit fussy, they came out quite good.
Pumpkin Banana Bread, Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman. Cleaning out my pantry the other day, I realized that I had way too many cans of pumpkin puree and also a couple of overripe bananas. I was happy to find this recipe from the Pioneer Woman that combines these two items into one tasty quick bread.
Coconut Almond Blondies, Samantha Seneviratne, New York Times Cooking. Almost every dessert recipe from baking genius Samantha Seneviratne is flawless and amazing. This chewy, chocolatey, nutty blondie, reminiscent of an Almond Joy candy bar, is no exception. These didn’t very last long in my house.
Where and What I’m Eating (Out)
I have also been fortunate to enjoy some memorable dining out experiences in January. These are the high points, all recommended:
Angeloni’s Restaurant and Pizzeria (Cauldwell, NJ). Angeloni’s is known for their “thinny thin” pizzas that have a paper thin, well done crust and a mess of cheese oozing to the edges. FWIW, in his One Bite Pizza review, Dave Portnoy gave their pies a respectable 8.8 score out of 10. The Caesar salad is really good too.
Spring House (Tenafly, NJ). I have been wanting to try this Mediterranean-inspired restaurant located in a 19th Century historical house in Tenafly, NJ ever since it opened last year. We finally went with some friends and thought the space was charming, the cocktails tasty, and the food solid. I enjoyed the crispy fried artichokes and steak frites. They also host a Happy Hour with discounted cocktails, wine, and small bites every night (except Mondays) from 4:30 to 6:00pm.
Twin Tails (NYC). This Southeast Asian spot from the Quality Branded restaurant group was my favorite dining out experience of the month. Located in the Deutsche Bank Center, formerly Time Warner, the space is massive, and everything my family and I ordered was delicious. Highlights were the salmon crudo, duck platter, crab fried rice, and the dessert soufflés (we loved the mocha and pistachio randan).
Barney Greengrass (NYC). I have been going to this NYC institution for years (especially when my Upper West Side apartment was located just blocks away). However, since moving to the New Jersey suburbs six years ago, I’ve been left to wonder if it is still as great as I remember. A recent visit with my husband happily confirmed that it is still worthy (albeit a bit pricier now). The lox, onions, and eggs served with a toasted everything bagel on the side is perfection and made me miss my NYC Sunday brunch routine.
Graze Brunch Kitchen (Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ). I recently lunched at this new-ish breakfast and lunch restaurant in Ho-Ho-Kus. Their most Instagrammable dish is the Grand Marnier pancakes with whipped butter, orange zest, and Vermont maple syrup, but since it was after 1pm, I opted for the hearty and satisfying Harvest Bowl (sweet potato hash with spinach, Hen of Woods mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, a poached egg, and manchego cheese) along with a side of delicious chicken sausage. The space turns into a supper club on Friday and Saturday nights (called Graze at Night), which I plan to try some time soon too.
Love it? Hate it? Want to see more? Let me know your thoughts about this issue by leaving a comment below. Also, please share what your best eats in 2025 have been so far—your comments inspire me!
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