NOVEMBER MONTHLY DIGEST
November was the month where I began seeing a glimmer of hope for the future — official announcement of president-elect Joe Biden, getting towards the end of the year and holiday spirit, fantastic weather. Some highlights from this month: anxiously watching the election results color the map with my roommate while projecting a terrible movie on our living room wall, Storm King with perfect weather and alllll the fall foliage, some gorgeous rounds in Central Park, lunch with a Brooklyn Bridge view at Pier 17 and passing by the Statue of Liberty lit by a golden glow on the Staten Island ferry, college roommate moving to the city, seeing my orchid sprout new growth after 9 months, watching the Rockefeller tree go up and seeing a lone Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon from afar, and warm quality time at Friendsgivings.
For the post format wise, I’m getting rid of the ingredients lists since they seem pretty arbitrary and the linked recipes themselves will provide the quantities that you can adjust based on how much you need.
WEEK 1
Lunch: Kabocha & Caramelized Onions Galette
The autumnal herb star of the week is SAGE. Love sage. Made this kabocha squash galette with caramelized onions, sage and goat cheese for Election Night and ate the leftovers for lunch throughout the week. Instead of making dough from scratch, I got frozen puff pastry sheets from the store, and I used the other half of the kabocha squash I roasted last week for the kabocha sage blondies. If I made this again, I would make more caramelized onions because they are the star and shine so well in this galette, but there wasn’t enough (imo).
Dinner: Turkey & Sweet Potato Hash
Made this hash since I had some ground turkey in the freezer and a bag of sweet potatoes waiting to be used. Felt very fall in ingredient list (including the sage!!!) and also felt somewhat healthy without being a salad. Used olive oil and omitted the apple and rosemary since I didn’t have either on hand. I also added a tbsp of minced garlic while cooking the meat and a couple shakes of garlic powder on the veggies as they cooked because garlic always makes every savory dish better.
WEEK 2
Lunch: Shrimp Tacos
Made shrimp tacos similar to the salmon ones from July, Week 2. Made garlicky yogurt, corn and onion mix, and cooked some shrimp in butter, garlic, salt and pepper in a fry pan. Assemble with a tortilla, chopped cilantro, avocado slices and a squeeze of lime.
Dinner: Outdoor Dining
Honestly I at out A LOT for dinner this week, so I was basically eating leftovers or subsisting on yogurt and granola to carry me between nights once the Shrimp Tacos ran out.
WEEK 3
Lunch: Salmon Salad + Guac & Chips
Went to TJs and picked up a bag of Cassava Chips, which were actually really great! Using my leftover avocados, cilantro and onion from last week, I whipped up some guac (1 avocado + 1/8 onion, diced + 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped + squeeze of lime) and ate that with the chips on the side of my salmon salad. Roasted salmon covered in olive oil, salt and pepper at 450 degrees F for about 15 minutes, then added to a bowl of baby kale, balsamic vinegar, and sliced cucumber. Once I ran out of cassava chips, I added the avocado, onion and cilantro directly to the salad and called it a day.
Dinner: Dumpling Soup (Manduguk) or Dumplings with Chili Oil
My go-to easy/lazy meal is always dumpling soup (manduguk). Bring water to a boil and add a chicken bouillon cube (or use chicken stock). Add 1 tbsp of soup soy sauce and as many frozen dumplings as you want to eat. Let boil for about 8 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through. During the last minute, crack in an egg and add chopped green onion. Eat straight from the pot with kimchi on the side. My recent non-soup variation of this has been boiling dumplings in water, draining water, then dousing the dumplings in chili oil (s/o Lao Gan Ma).
Special: Fig Jam & Goat Cheese Thumbprint Cookies
Hosted a couple dinners this week, which meant a lot of cooking for others (hence the limited Lunch and Dinner variety). For the Fig Jam & Goat Cheese Thumbprint Cookies, I subbed TJ Fig Butter for the jam and added a tsp or so of honey to loosen it up a little. Such a simple cookie recipe, but beautiful results — got the most comments on this vs. all the other actual food I made for dinner that night.
WEEK 4
Lunch: Kimchi Mac & Cheese
Made this for a Friendsgiving at the end of Week 3 and had so much leftover that I ate it for the rest of the week. I subbed the ground mustard powder for a bit of turmeric, and the white pepper with black pepper and a dash of ginger. Omitted the bacon, and it was still fantastic. This makes A LOT of pasta, so would recommend halving the recipe if you don’t want to be eating this non-stop for 2 weeks.
Dinner: Butternut Squash, Sage, & Crème Fraîche Pasta
A creamy, indulgent fall pasta recipe that is simple with impressive results. I made this on Thanksgiving day to treat myself in lieu of a turkey spread, using butternut squash instead of kabocha, but I think any fall squash can be subbed here. Will definitely repeat this recipe!