STAY INSIDE & WARM UP WITH THESE RECIPES
bc it's just too cold out + a mocktail for dry january
It is frigid right now in Chicago…even by Chicago standards. Besides hibernating and worrying about losing our beloved TikTok (please say it isn’t so 🙏), we’ve been craving meals that warm our bones and souls. So this week, we are featuring some of our cold weather favorites— a creamy soup, a spicy Moroccan pan-roasted chicken dish, a cozy baked good (I love baking on a chilly night), and a mocktail for those partaking in Dry January.
A creamy soup is a classic pick-me-up in the dead of winter. We especially love a mushroom soup with its delicious umami flavor. I like to use Crimini mushrooms in this recipe, but if you can’t find them at your grocery store then any mushrooms will do (white, button, or shiitake). This recipe includes homemade croutons that will beat any bought in a store… hands down. It’s also a perfect and easy way to finish any leftover bread that’s starting to get stale (shout out to last week’s Digest on not wasting food).
Crispy chicken thighs cooked in a skillet are the perfect vibe for a winter meal. Add some Moroccan flavor with harissa and chickpeas and you got yourself a dinner that hits all the tastebuds. Bonus! The heat from harissa will defrost you in no time when the temps dip below zero degrees (but it can be extremely spicy so we recommend you only use the mild version).
The smell of something baking when you walk into a house on a chilly evening is one of the best smells in the world. It’s like a warm and cozy hug. So what better way to beat the winter blues than to fill your home with the sweet aroma of a baked good? Growing up we were obsessed with zucchini muffins from a local bulk food store. Choosing zucchini over a chocolate muffin seems crazy but these were that good. I recently thought about those muffins and decided to create my own version. I ended up making a loaf of bread and some muffins. I added dark chocolate chips and maple syrup for a little sweetness and pecans for an extra bite. It came out perfectly moist 🙌🏻. We love having a little bit of this bread with our morning coffee or as a mid-day mood booster.
Since it’s “Dry January” for some of you (and it seems like even more people are doing it this year!) we created a delicious alcohol-free mocktail that will certainly hit the spot! This ginger pomegranate mocktail is spicy, sweet, and a little tart. And we guarantee it beats sparkling water with lime in a wine glass lol. You can easily make it as a single mocktail or a batch.
THANKS FOR READING!
Cheers 🥂
Hil & Nat
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