What to Cook

Aioli for Everything

This aioli is for you. It should be as thick (or thin) as you want, as heavy on the garlic as you want, as tangy as you want.

A Very Easy Macaroni and Cheese

You can make this more interesting any number of ways, but I also think it’s fine to let this be what it is: a really, extremely, very simple and easy way to make a classic macaroni and cheese that tastes very close to the box, as fast as possible.

Gorgeous Chili (The Short Way)

This version uses ground beef (or turkey or pork), is heavy on the tomato, is well spiced but will not necessarily light your mouth on fire, and a good dose of canned bean (yes, there are beans in this chili).

Salty Vanilla Frosting

This is a sort of hybrid basic-buttercream/cream cheese frosting, combining the best of both worlds.

Caramelized Beans with Tomato & Cabbage

This saucy, tangy recipe might be the closest of the three to traditional “baked beans,” but these are sweet not from brown sugar or molasses but rather from jammy tomatoes and browned cabbage.

Spicy Braised Short Ribs with Garlic & Lemon

Short ribs that can be made with ingredients you’ve already got on hand, cooked ahead of time, reheated with ease.

First Bloom Hot Chocolate

The perfect drink all winter long. Top with an immodest amount of whipped cream.

A Cheeky Little Eggnog

Makes 6 cups / serves 4–6 Rompope is a Mexican eggnog made from cooked custard infused with spices and blended with almonds. I am allergic to using a blender, so I avoid that part, but many recipes I found use sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar, which I love. I

Tomato Pasta with Eggplant and Sausage (on the side)

Decidedly a tomato pasta with eggplant and not an eggplant pasta

Lemony Turmeric Tea Cake

This cake is so good and so simple to put together, you might come to call it “house cake,” which is, of course, cake to keep in your house at all times.

A Bowl of Salted Chocolate Pudding

Not unlike my vanilla pudding, this salted chocolate pudding should be left alone, simply celebrated for what it is, which is a bowl of melted chocolate made spoonable and consumable by a LOT of dairy.

Crispy Sausage Stuffing with Kale

If you’ve made a stuffing recipe of mine before, it’s probably this or a variation of this. It’s perfect and I don’t see the need to change it just because we’re in a new calendar year.