Hello, everyone! I hope your week is going well so far. Last week was extremely cold here in Michigan!

Definitely warming up a bit this week. Which I’m not sure how I feel about since it will probably go back to being cold and snowy. I don’t love the temperature fluctuations and resulting ice/slush!

What do you like to do during winter to keep the season more enjoyable/interesting?? I find myself reading + cooking more, watching college basketball, getting to bed earlier… nothing too exciting but that is how I often roll!

Here to inspire you in the kitchen with some recent cold weather eats!

Leftovers for lunch one day featuring Instant Pot Thai butternut + cauliflower curry that I had made when two of our friends came over for dinner one weekend recently. I like to add some extra curry paste, an actual onion (instead of onion powder), and some red chili flakes!

I also made this delish flourless chocolate cake for us to enjoy after dinner. In the middle of preparing the batter I realized I was short on some of the butter so I ended up subbing a bit of vegetable oil. It was just one of those days where thing after thing was not going to plan (#life) and I didn’t want to take the time to scrape off the car and run over to the grocery store especially when the baking process was at a time-sensitive moment… thankfully I don’t think it made a difference, really! I also made a quick raspberry compote using frozen raspberries, some sugar, and a bit of water + cornstarch for thickening.

Speaking of chocolate and raspberry, have you given my chocolate raspberry avocado pudding a try? As you can tell, our household has been all about the chocolate + raspberry desserts lately! Few flavor combinations can be said to be finer.

If you are a regular reader of the blog, you know how I love frittatas! This is one of my favorite combinations (inspired by the best quiche flavor combination at Juicy Kitchen!). Roasted sweet potatoes + jalapeño + yellow onion + fresh Iowa corn + shredded cheddar. Results in a winning frittata every time! Served with some fresh homemade sourdough.

Other recent frittata — a simple but tasty version with broccoli, corn, and more shredded cheddar. I buy the frozen organic broccoli at Costco to keep things extra easy. Served with some delish roasted potatoes with all the paprika, salt + pepper, and garlic powder.

For snacking one week I made these tahini hemp seed bars. Other homemade bars I love are Hummusapien’s chocolate peanut butter, chocolate raspberry, or carrot cake protein bars. These all come together pretty quickly and are certainly much cheaper than store-bought! That being said, I am all about the store-bought bar on occasion for ease and convenience. Or on the regular if that is what works for you!

Nutritious + satisfying chickpea broccoli bowls with peanut sauce. Another quick weeknight meal! Served over a blend of quinoa and brown rice. I like to store the components separately for easy leftovers the next night.

I made some fabulous gingerbread cake using my sourdough starter. I also threw in some mini chocolate chips, of course! Would also be amazing with cream cheese frosting, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or caramel sauce.

Blueberry cacao smoothie bowl featuring frozen blueberries, dates, avocado, cacao, yogurt, chia, and almond milk for blending. My favorite smoothie side is a salty + crunchy bowl of popcorn! Perfect mini meal/snack while catching up on some work.

Overnight steel-cut oats with sesame seeds, peanut butter, honey, and fresh berries. Sesame seeds are a good source of certain micronutrients, including zinc, copper, and manganese!

Random salad I threw together with leftover roasted cauliflower + butternut squash, chopped carrot + cucumber, pickled beets, shredded parmesan, salted pistachios, and raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.

Consider these delightful chocolate chip orange muffins for this weekend’s baking foray! For such a chocolate connoisseur as me, can you believe I had never tried the wonderful chocolate + orange combination until now?? It seems like chocolate + raspberry/strawberry gets all the attention, but I’d say I am a new chocolate + orange convert in addition!

Sometimes dinner is scrambled eggs! Checking the boxes for quick and easy, super nutrient-dense, and (previously, but still relatively) cheap?? Hopefully the egg shortage issues don’t continue on too much longer! Ugh. My main tips for soft and creamy scrambled eggs are to cook on LOW heat (slow and steady definitely wins the race here) and to add some milk to the egg mixture before cooking. Kicking up the flavor a notch with some yellow onion, jalapeño, paprika, shredded cheddar, and TJ’s hatch valley salsa for topping.

Lastly, Saturday morning pancakes using this recipe but with several modifications including an actual egg and subbing whole wheat pastry flour. Wrote down my specific changes for future use because they turned out so well! Can share more specifically if you are interested in a basic pancake recipe. Topped with some drizzly peanut butter + maple syrup, with a winter fruit medley on the side. Looking forward to making these again this weekend!

Everyday Enjoyment:

Morning sun: It was seriously cloudy here for like two months straight other than the one weekend we went to Phoenix (perfectly sunny in Michigan, cloudy/rainy in Phoenix…) so am very happy there has finally been a bit more sun lately! I’ll take all the cold weather if we can at least have some consistent sun. Any morning when I can see the sunrise while I’m out running or walking is my favorite way to start the day.

Upcoming recipe ideas: I’m a perpetual collector of future recipe ideas. Lately I’ve been eyeing chai-spiced coffee creamer, oatmeal fig bars, orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies, and roasted veggie bowls w/ tahini honey mustard sauce. Follow me on Pinterest for a continual influx of ideas!

Other recent favorites: Lately I’ve been loving…
— Nail polish: Loving this nail polish color. I’m not that into painting my nails because I don’t think it’s very good for them, but I do like to have my toenails painted during the warmer months or before a trip like our recent AZ trip!
— Playlists: Kasey Musgraves Radio and Patrick Droney Radio on Spotfiy
— Blogs/other posts I enjoy: Check out What to Cook in February, Breaking the Dependency to my Phone, and Most Anticipated Historical Fiction of 2023
— Restaurant: Recently went with a friend to Crawford’s Kitchen in Plymouth (MI) which I loved and would definitely go to again! I enjoyed the cherry nut chicken wrap.

What random things are you loving lately??
Anything fun you have been making in the kitchen?

Enjoy the rest of your week!