Comfort meals are a win for our family. I’m sure they’re a win for your family too. This is one of our favorites. I like it because I can make the meatballs ahead and warm them up with the sauce when it’s time to get dinner on the table. AND when you need late plates, this is perfect for that too!

The meatballs are obviously not traditional meatballs. I like to use ground chicken - I am constantly trying to create dinners that are a little healthier and chicken helps with that. I’m not going for authentic here - I’m going for comfort food that’s just a little healthier.

There are two ways to do the meatballs. You can pop them out of the oven and straight into the sauce. Leave them there to stay warm. Or, put the meatballs on top of the sauce when you serve - it looks a little more elegant and it shows off the crispy edges the meatballs get.

Chicken Meatballs with Cacio e Pepe Orzo

serves 4

2 lb ground chicken

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup Italian seasoning mix, divided

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1-28 ounce can diced tomatoes

1-15 ounce can tomato sauce

1 cup orzo

2 tablespoons really good olive oil

salt & pepper

grated parmesan cheese

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin boiling a large pot of water.

In a dutch oven, heat olive oil and cook the onions and two peeled and chopped garlic cloves in it. Cook over low-ish heat until the onions are translucent.

STEP 2

While the onions cook, combine together the meat, egg, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons seasoning, and the remaining cloves of garlic. If the mixture is still stiff like the raw meat, add a few tablespoons of cold water. I usually use 2-4 tablespoons of water no mater what. Form the meatballs into rounds. If the meat sticks to your hands, get your hands wet and try again.

STEP 3

Pop the meatballs in to the oven and let bake about 15 minutes until they are done all the way through.

Pour tomatoes all into the onion mixture and add the remaining Italian seasoning. Cover the pot and let cook on medium until everything else is done.

STEP 4

Pour the orzo pasta into the boiling water and let cook. Drain when it’s al dente and return to the hot pan. Stir in olive oil, salt & pepper and about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Go heavy with all three.

STEP 5

Serve hot meatballs and sauce over the orzo. Make sure there’s more parmesan cheese on the side.

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Negroni Cocktail

Every good meal needs a good cocktail. And this dinner is so kid friendly that you can’t help but want a cocktail!

These are actually the perfect appetizer. I had forgotten about them for years and then I was scrambling for the perfect appetizer for a party and remembered I used to make these all the time. Like ALL THE TIME. The first time I made them for a group people - twenty years ago - everyone was RAVING about them. And that was one of the critical moments in my life when I realized food was my special skill.

These are not hard. My go-to ingredients are tomato paste + tapenade. It’s salty, mostly premade, simple, and kind of tastes like pizza. But I also use pesto when that’s what I have. I have tried fresh vegetables - spinach, tomato, even fresh basil leaves and that doesn’t work. It’s too liquid-y and it makes the pastry all weird. You’re always welcome to try it, but I tried it for you.

Flaky Tapenade Bites

makes 2 dozen

1 package puff pastry

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup tapanade

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Unroll the puff pastry sheet onto a floured cutting board and roll out slightly until you can’t see the lines anymore.

STEP 2

Use half of the tomato paste on each roll. Spread it out evenly over the sheet. Top with the tapenade in an even coat. Roll up the pastry and slice into 1/2 inch pieces.

STEP 3

Pop each slice on a lined baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes until puffed and crispy. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a cooling rack.

Serve warm or room temperature.

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Americano Cocktail

Delightfully simple and totally refreshing. Simple enough to make a batch of them, and a perfect compliment with the flaky tapenade bites!

In New Orleans I ordered shrimp creole at almost every restaurant. I wanted to try it everywhere we went. One thing was clear - it’s amazing. I didn’t just order it because I wanted to test it, but also because it was my favorite thing on almost every menu.

Bringing it home, it didn’t make sense to make it with shrimp. We don’t really have that here. Crab would be epic, but it’s out of season, and then I saw a gorgeous piece of wild caught salmon and BOOM. This is perfect. It’s northwest - and it’s creole - all together. It’s the perfect marriage of two places.

The best thing I learned about making this sauce is that it’s virtually the exact same recipe no matter where you look. The secret to making it the best version is to keep cooking it. Can you make it this morning? That will be your best sauce. Can you make it yesterday? Even better. You will not regret spending a few extra minutes on this sauce.

I doubled the sauce when I made it. And then froze it. Then when I need a quick-ish dinner, this is ready to go. If you bring the sauce to a boil and pop in frozen shrimp, you’ll have a fab dinner on the table in no time.

Salmon Creole

serves 4

1 cup chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cup chicken or seafood stock

2 bay leaves

1 - 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tablespoon worchestershire

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 pounds salmon

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper

long grain rice

fresh parsley

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large stock pot, melt together onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook for a while over low heat until everything is translucent. Season with salt & pepper.

Add herbs and stir to coat.

STEP 2

Pour in stock and add bay leaves. Bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes until things start to smell good.

STEP 3

Add tomatoes, Worcestershire and lemon. Stir and let simmer. Let this cook as long as possible. The longer, the better. Season with salt & pepper. But at a minimum, cook for 20 minutes.

STEP 4

Pat the salmon dry. Drizzle the top with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the filet on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake 10 minutes or until flaky.

STEP 5

Serve fish hot over rice smothered with the creole sauce. Top with fresh parsley.

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Pour the perfect cocktail

A Hurricane cocktail on the side transports you to New Orleans!

Thanks to our friend Taylor Swift, this classic cocktail made a return to the scene last year. Some of us are old enough to have had the cocktail the first time around when Sex and the City made it a hit. Some of us lamented the demise of it when we decided that Sex and the City was passè. Thank goodness it was made cool again.

And made cool in time for Valentine’s Day! It’s the perfect drink to shake up this holiday. Especially if you can garnish it with a heart shaped strawberry. I mean, can you even?

Classic Cosmopolitan

makes 2

4 ounces vodka

2 ounces cranberry juice

1/2 ounce cointreau

juice of 1/2 lime

STEP 1

In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, juice, cointreau and lime. Add ice and shake well.

STEP 2

Strain into a coupe and serve immediately.

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It’s the big game! There are loads of things still on Amazon that you can get in time. Click through - host a party! Remember, it doesn’t have to be a full house to make a fun celebration. The best parties at our house have been with our kids and a few neighbors. Make it fun, and it’s fun!

Football Picks

Pop these in cupcakes, Bloody Marys, or make caprese bites on them!

Be a fan!

Wear something that screams football! without totally choosing a team. Just choose Taylor.

Taylor’s lips

Weren’t we all jealous Taylor’s lipstick didn’t smear at all?! Here’s the latest one I’m trying. Fingers crossed!

Icing the kicker

OMG - how adorable are these ice cubes?!? I’m absolutely in love with them. And you won’t end up with a watered down drink halfway through the game!

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Lemonade Shandy

A simple drink that’s refreshing and boozy without being too boozy. You are still watching a whole game, a halftime show, and some great ads!

For a while, Ikea meatballs were a regular in the freezer and a quick dinner on nights I couldn’t think of what else to do. It made such a simple dinner AND they sell little packets of gravy so it’s so stinking simple!

I haven’t talked about it a lot, but there are twelve allergies in my family. TWELVE. Some are normal (hazelnuts) and some are weird (yeast) but all make for weird cooking patterns. If you notice on this blog, I tend to cook dinners that are healthy, dairy free or dairy light, and filled with good ingredients. The reason is simple, we can’t eat out a lot.

Ikea meatballs contain yeast, a nutritional yeast that boosts the flavor - vegans use it all the time to replace cheese - it’s totally normal, unless you have an allergy. So we had to scrap the freezer full of meatballs and if we wanted them, I need to make them myself.

Obviously, I’m cool with that. I love the challenge of making things myself. So here they are! My hot tip for them is to bake until they get a little crispy on the edges. I love that little crunch and I know you will too!

If you throw a pan of little chopped potatoes into the oven at the same time, then you have a dinner on the table in literally half an hour. I’ve done mashed potatoes too - but really the key is any kind of a potato. Oh, and the lingonberries. You can’t skip the lingonberries - buy a jar at Ikea and keep it on the shelf.

Swedish Meatballs

serves 4

1 pound ground pork

1 pound ground beef

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 onion, grated

1 clove garlic

1 egg, beaten

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon oregano

1 cup water

salt & pepper

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients and stir to combine. I use my hands because that’s easier, but some people are grossed out by that.

STEP 2

Form the meat into balls. I use a scoop to get the right size, then make them look nicer with my hands. If your hands are damp, the meat won’t stick to you.

STEP 3

Pop the meatballs in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes until cooked through. Serve with potatoes, lingonberries, and a vegetable.

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Thom Collins

A refreshing cocktail on the side is perfect! If you add a 1/2 shot of Elderflower liquor, it becomes a little bit Scandinavian.

Does anything scream “New Orleans” more than a hurricane cocktail? They are a classic - invented in the 1940’s. There are several stories. My favorite is that the cocktail began at a speakeasy in New Orleans. The year was 1941. The code to get into the speakeasy was “Storm’s a brewin’” - which clearly led to the thematically appropriately named drink. Whether the glass that’s shaped like a hurricane lamp actually inspired the name of the drink OR was chosen to compliment the name, I prefer to think that someone with impeccable thematic skills made it all happen.

Mr Hedin and I had a classic hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s when we were in New Orleans last year. It was good. It wasn’t “the best thing ever” but it was good. Part of what turns me off is when a cocktail is preprepared and poured out of a jug. Not a fan. I like a drink made to order. I always think it tastes better.

I started researching how to make this drink. There are literally one zillion recipes. Every one of them had a different combination of ingredients, totally different rums, and none could agree on lemon vs. lime.

So I started mixing. And it was hard work. I landed on a recipe that feels like what we had at Pat O’Brien’s but made with real ingredients at home. I also simplified the rum situation. My favorite tiki bar, Smuggler’s Cove, did all the work on finding the perfect rum options for this cocktail - you can use one! Hooray! It’s annoying to have a pantry full of booze that only works for one recipe.

Classic Hurricane Cocktail

makes two drinks

2 ounces passion fruit syrup (see below)

4 ounces black blended rum (I use Blackwell Black Gold)

the juice of one lime

STEP 1

In a sauce pan, pour one cup passion fruit juice and reduce to 1/4 cup. Simmer it on low and just let it cook down. Remove from heat and let cool.

STEP 2

Pour the passion fruit syrup, rum and lime juice over ice in a cocktail shaker and shake it up well.

STEP 3

Pour all contents into a cocktail glass and garnish with a wedge of lime and a cherry! Sip slow.

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When I was a kid I hated butter pecan ice cream. It was my dad’s favorite but I found it unsettling that there were crunchy nuts hidden in the smooth ice cream. It was disorienting. But, because it was my dad’s favorite, it was always in the freezer - and it was often the only thing left. So I ate a lot of butter pecan ice cream.

Eventually, I started to really like it. I love pecans, the butter flavoring is unbeatable, and when I had one with some caramel crumbles with it - I was convinced, it was a worthwhile flavor after all.

As with most flavors I love, I decided to turn it into a cookie. A rich cookie full of butter flavor and crispy pecans, and - the best part - a praline crumble.

The secret is the make the praline first with finely chopped pecans. Then stir it in to the cookie at the last minute when you add the chopped pecans. The two different kinds of pecans is how you take these cookies from good to epic.

You can substitute walnuts for pecans if needed. My aunt had a bakery for a million years and the secret to her pecan rolls were walnuts. Pecan pie = walnuts. Walnuts have a very similar flavor but in the Pacific Northwest, they are loads cheaper than pecans. Since pecans are my favorite nut, I always have a bag in the freezer - but it’s great to know you can make the swap if you need to!

Butter Pecan Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1/2 cup praline crumbles (recipe below)

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine together the butter and sugar. Blend until creamy.

STEP 2

Add in the egg yolks and vanilla. Blend until combined, scraping down the sides. Stir in the flour until combined.

STEP 3

Stir in the pecans and praline crumbles but don’t over mix the batter.

STEP 4

Scoop the batter and bake 12-15 minutes until browned on the edges. Remove and let cool before moving to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for one week.

Pecan Praline Crumble

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon brandy

1/2 cup chopped pecans

STEP 1

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.

To make the pralines, heat the sugars, evaporated milk and butter to a boil over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer - get everything up to 235 degrees or the soft ball stage. The best trick is to stir until it starts to boil, then stop stirring and let it go.

STEP 2

As soon as it comes to temperature, stir in the brandy and the pecans. Keep stirring. Stir for one minute until the mixture begins to thicken.

STEP 3

Pour out the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and let cool. Once completely cooled, chop into tiny pieces.

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Korean food is my comfort food. I adore it. It’s what I choose for my birthday almost every year. I can’t stop. Won’t stop. Pop kimchi on it and I’m in heaven. I make a version of this with ground beef, but I realized a few days ago - mostly because I had some steak hanging around - that this would be delicious with thin sliced thin. So here we go!

It’s so fast. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner when you’re running from one practice/game/tryout to the next. It’s also on the healthier side of things - steak, vegetables, kimchi for probiotics….

The best dinners are also ones that can make a good late plate. This makes a great late plate. I make a giant plate for the late arrivals and let them heat up the rice and meat and leave everything else on the side.

Korean Steak Wraps

serves 4

1 cucumber

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 peppercorns, cracked

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 pear, grated

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons gochuchang

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 teaspoon grated ginger

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 pounds hanger steak, thinly sliced

butter lettuce

kimchi for serving

rice

STEP 1

In a small skillet bring to a low boil the white vinegar, rice vinegar, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns and red pepper flakes. To ‘crack’ the peppercorns you can use a mortar and pestle or smash them with the back of a knife. No peppercorns? Use fresh ground pepper - about 1/2 teaspoon or less.

STEP 2

Slice the cucumbers into large chunks then smash them with the side of a knife to break them apart. Pop them into a bowl or a pint jar. Once the vinegar mixture has come to a low boil (just a few bubbles on the sides and the sugar is melted) pour it over the cucumbers. Let rest until it’s time to eat.

STEP 3

In a large bowl, combine the pear, soy sauce, brown sugar, gochuchang, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds. Add the sliced steak and let it marinade for 20 minutes or as long as an hour.

STEP 4

In a large wok or giant skillet, cook the steak quickly. Use the highest heat you can to get a good crisp on the sides and cook it fast. As soon as it’s cooked through, remove from the heat and serve!

STEP 5

Serve with rice, kimchi, and ‘quickles’ over cups of butter lettuce. Eat it up like a taco.

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How about a cocktail to go along with it?

A little mandarin flavor turns this into something a little more special.

My favorite food is tater tots. FAVORITE. Crispy, recently fried, and served with ranch is my usual order. Highly recommend if you haven’t tried. And tater tots are just a quick skip away from hash browns which is when I realized BREAKFAST TOTS!

Breakfast for dinner, football game snacks, actual breakfast, late night snacks.

I like these to be simple with just the basics. But what do you like with your breakfast scramble? Onions? Add them! Green bell pepper? Add it! You do you - but simple is pretty epic.

Breakfast Tots

1 package tater tots

6 strips of bacon

4 eggs, scrambled

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

hot sauce

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place bacon in a cold skillet and begin cooking over low until crispy.

STEP 2

Pour out tater tots on a baking sheet in one even layer. Don’t over crowd the pan! Use two if you need to! Pop into the oven and bake about 20 minutes until crispy. If they aren’t crispy on the edges, don’t pull them out.

STEP 3

Scramble those eggs!

STEP 4

Pour out the crispy tots on a plate and top with half of the cheese. Top with scrambled eggs and crumble up the bacon. Top with remaining cheese.

STEP 5

Turn on the broiler and pop the tots in - it only takes two minutes to get the cheese crispy on top. Pull out from the oven (carefully! the plate is hot) and serve with hot sauce.

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Espresso Martini

I love these - but only if it’s decaf. Some of us are just too old for caffeine + booze in the same moment.