Welcome to our good on grains series
what to cook this week, and the one thing you should buy this Black Friday
A new series - good on grains
Very excited to share that we are starting a new series over here today! Over the next month, I’ll be sharing recipes that are perfect to cozy up with some grains.
All the recipes can be made in under an hour, require less than 15 ingredients to make, and are well balanced and include a protein, a carb, and a veggie.
There will be 15 easy recipes as part of this series. The first 2 recipes in this series are a tomato ginger salmon curry and a thanksgiving turkey rice bowl.
Both recipes are released and can be found in the links above.
The tomato ginger salmon curry is a take on my coconut curry steamed salmon I’ve been making for years. It’s decadent yet balanced, simple, and so delicious. This version poaches the salmon in the broth, then rounds out the dish by wilting spinach in that same sauce. It’s a 30 minute recipe that can feed a family, and make everyone happy.
Next is a thanksgiving edition of my classic weeknight turkey meatballs. These meatballs are tender and pillowy - Shiping always gets so excited when I make them and they make for great leftovers as well. Plus, this time of year is the time you will most likely already have the thanksgiving herbs in your fridge (sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley), which are what make these meatballs festive and taste like thanksgiving.
Other recipes to make this week
If you’re looking for other recipes to make for thanksgiving this year, you can also make my holiday panzanella salad, or my leek and chard Mac and cheese. I just had a reader recently comment that this was the best Mac and cheese she had ever had!
What to Meal Prep this week
If you’re looking for some meal prep options for this weekend, we’re making chicken noodle soup this week, and I think everyone could use a bowl it this time of year. This recipe calls for poached chicken breast, but you can use a whole rotisserie chicken to make things simpler.
I’ve also still been loving kale salads as well (even in this cold weather!), and my Sweetgreen harvest bowl hits the spot every time. With these 2 recipes, you should be all set with lunches for the upcoming week :)
What to Indulge In
With the holiday season coming up and Black Friday hitting everyone’s inboxes by a storm, I’m sure you may be experiencing decision fatigue.
When it comes to kitchen equipment, my philosophy of buying falls into 2 buckets - one is to buy things I know are great quality and will be good “lifetime cooking” investments. An example of this is the All Clad 4 qt Essentials Pan I just got. It was pricey - I spend ~$180 on a single pan, but know it’s going to be with me for literally the rest of my life. I’ve used it to make all my good on grains recipes so far, and it’s actually the perfect one pot pan.
Then, there are things I need that, to be frank, don’t really matter if I get the super nice one. I’ve found that there are small tools (like a silicon brush I just repurchased on amazon), that don’t really matter if I get the nice one.
Black Friday can be great because if you’ve been eyeing something and want to a reason to finally get it, it’s like the universe giving you a sign to buy it. But I’ve always believed that a deal shouldn’t be the only reason why you should buy something.
Buy something because you’re going to love it, or because you know you’ll feel good using it in your kitchen everyday. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you buy kitchen equipment as gifts for other people, because to be honest, I wouldn’t really want someone buying kitchen equipment for me. (I want to pick out my own stuff, and my kitchen is already so full, I literally have NO ROOM for error! lol).
Now if you’re buying some kitchen equipment to give them a head start in their first apartment, or to encourage them to start cooking, that’s a different story. I have my full kitchen equipment list here which will help identify everything you could have to make cooking for yourself easier.
All of that is to say, buy with intention going into this week. If there’s anything I highly recommend, it’s this Global G4 oriental knife. They describe it as the nimble powerhouse, and that is just so accurate.
I’ve tried so many knives and brands (ranging from $300+ knives to $35 knives), but this brand, and this oriental knife is my new favorite. I also love their G5 vegetable knife, but am not as big of a fan as their chefs knife.
That’s all for today.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and a happy thanksgiving!
Don’t forget to share gratitude to whoever is cooking and hosting this year - cooking is a labor of love, and a sincere thank you will always be appreciated <3
Jackie