Recipes

Creamy Maple Steel Cut Oats

September 25, 2015 by mollygilbert520 2 Comments

Oh look! A new recipe! Well hallelujah and glory be.

Is anyone else getting totally zonked by mercury in retrograde this month? If you’d asked me a week ago if I believed in this crock, I’d have told you to take your crock elsewhere, because I wasn’t buying it. But a batch of burned brownies, several stress-induced/bizarro dream-y sleepless nights, and not one but TWO clogged pipes later, the joke seems to be on me.

At least I’ve got a handle on breakfast.

Did you know that oatmeal could be luscious? Because it can! These are steel cut oats, cooked gently in water and milk, with plenty of salt and just a touch of sugar. They’re beautifully simple, but simply perfect – warm, incredibly creamy, just slightly chewy, and doused with a healthy amount of maple syrup. Plus a scatter of roasted pistachios and yeah, okay, maybe a handful of (un-photographed) chocolate chips because IT’S BEEN A WEEK.

Make these oats (or make a double batch!) this weekend, and eat breakfast like a goddess for days. Just store leftovers in the fridge, and scoop out a bowlful each morning to warm with some milk, or even a splash of cream. Because you deserve it! And mercury in retrograde can eat my oats.

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Best Zucchini Bread

September 9, 2015 by mollygilbert520 9 Comments

Oh HI! You may have noticed my random and entirely unannounced little blog break over here. Yep! I didn’t think about this little nook of the interwebs for ten whole days, and I have to say, it was kind of spectacular.

Not that I didn’t miss you! I definitely did. But sometimes, life starts to bubble up around you and ping you with stress (and sometimes it even gives you the shingles virus, TRUE STORY), and you need. a. break. And it’s okay! Things don’t fall apart. In what I find a both reassuring and terrifying universal constant, the interwebs are ALWAYS here.

So HELLO, people of the interwebs! What have you been up to these first few days of September? Soaking in the last rays of bright summer sunshine? Or hopping on the autumn train early to featherweight cashmere and pumpkin spice lattés?

I always find this time of year tricky. I want to savor the last drops of summer, to make it to one more outdoor concert, to eat dinner on the patio, but at the same time, fall is a welcome change. Something about routine getting righted, and my old boots, and feeling content to turn on the oven again, maybe? It feels happy and familiar.

I’m calling this zucchini bread “best,” because I’ve made a lot of zucchini bread, and this version is by far my favorite. Other recipes often come out of the oven too watery and dense, or else don’t really taste much like zucchini. This loaf is sturdy yet springy, rich and cakey but definitively zucchini bread. I made it twice in two weeks — that’s four loaves, total — and we didn’t even have any leftovers to freeze for later. It feels like the right kind of recipe for this time of year – hanging loosely onto summer while settling cozily into fall.

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Ginger Peach Whiskey Smash

August 19, 2015 by mollygilbert520 33 Comments

Hey, all! Today I’m celebrating #DRINKTHESUMMER (a low-key, high-vibe, boozy internet bash created by Sherrie and Renee ) with these sweet, smokey, spicy whiskey smashes!

They’re everything that’s great about summer (which I’m trying my best to pretend isn’t almost almost over), in drink form. Juicy fresh peaches and a smack of lemon? Check. Ginger bubbles? Check. Whiskey? Check CHECK.

Let’s ignore the fact that it’s almost September (gah!) and get into this end-of-summer drink the drinks situation. Everyone’s doing it! In fact, if ginger peach whiskey smashes aren’t your thing (but like, come on… they are), you can find a whole slew of other summertime libations (both alcoholic and non) created by a great group of bloggers below!

Join the fun. #drinkthesummer!

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I Think Thursday 8.13.15

August 13, 2015 by mollygilbert520 1 Comment

Happy Thursday, peeps! How’s your week? Here are some thinking links for your weekend.

Time to revive Octavia’s warm shrimp salad with cantaloupe and feta.
The news isn’t all bad.
Color me SKEPTICAL.
Have you listened to the latest And Eat It Too! podcast episode yet? You have? You’re a PEACH.
#shadeballs.
I need to make more ice cream cake.
hahahaah TOUCHÉ, New Yorker.
From Ottolenghi to school lunch.
27 food stories no one needs to write again.
The color of this drink! Perfect.

Blackberry Root Beer Float Popsicles

August 10, 2015 by mollygilbert520 6 Comments

There are certain things in life which, no matter the spin you try to bestow, scream ADULT. Things like vacuuming. Lady doctor appointments. Home improvement projects. MORTGAGE PAYMENTS. Amiright? (Note: a decidedly un-adult pastime is googling the spelling of “vacuuming.”)

Ben and I fixed our broken dryer this weekend (so, fine, Ben fixed the dryer and I kind of helped by holding a thing (technical term) in place while he replaced the belt. Because, apparently, dryers need belts? #teamwork), which I think pretty much glues our “grown-up” badges in place, front and center.

Also, today, I contemplated buying a new bath mat AND a magazine storage container.

…IS THIS MY LIFE??

Most days, being an adult is fun. Because I can have gummy bears for lunch if I want, and also bedtime schmedtime. Other days, when I remember that I need to pay my dentist bill and mow the jungle that has become our lawn, being adult seems… less fun.

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Hello Fresh

August 3, 2015 by mollygilbert520 4 Comments

Happy Monday, friends! Ben and I had the chance to try our first Hello Fresh box a few weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to tell you about it. Have you heard of this meal delivery service phenomenon? You go online to choose your recipes for the week (three, in our case), and then a lovely box, full of fresh, perfectly portioned ingredients, plus recipe instructions, magically appears on your front doorstep. (Wingardium leviosa!?)

It’s pretty neat.

(The box comes with lots of insulated packaging, so the ingredients stay cool, which is definitely great for the ingredients but possibly bad for the environment?)

The recipes we chose (the choices change weekly) were the tortellini kale gratin, Thai beef and carrot noodle salad, and bbq chicken sliders. The ingredients for each recipe were portioned out in their own, clearly-labeled boxes, which took any guesswork out of identifying which ingredients went with which recipe. To be honest, opening the little boxes to find the neat, perfectly labeled packages of carrots, concentrated chicken stock, Parmesan cheese and tabasco really lit up my check-box-oriented brain. Is that sad?

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I Think Thursday 7.23.15

July 23, 2015 by mollygilbert520 2 Comments

Hey, peeps! This week I’ve been spending my time eating chocolate peanut butter ice cream and trying to revive my sad-looking, under-watered and overheated garden. Fun stuff.

Here, some fun links for your weekend!

Now’s the time for a Raspberry Nectarine Clafoutis! Easy and delicious.
Burrito engagement photos? Amazing.
I’m so excited for Sarah’s cookbook! And love reading about her process.
Easiest ice cream cake ever!
Are you all caught up on the And Eat It Too podcast? We’re chatting with RUTH REICHL tomorrow! (Is this real life??) Tune in!!
This girl’s got MOVES.
Hah. (But like, seriously?)
Feeling stressed? Find some nature!
Ileana’s Peach Pie Bars look the bomb dot com.

Honeydew Agua Fresca Popsicles

July 14, 2015 by mollygilbert520 10 Comments

Honey.

Honey, do.

Honey, DEFINITELY DO. Make popsicles! It’s POPSICLE WEEK! Thank you, Billy.

This is the second year that I’ve had the privilege of participating in this most wonderful of web-wide holidays – last year I went creamy and then creamier with homemade Dark Chocolate Pudding Pops (whoa) and Date Shake Popsicles (whoaaaa), so this year I’m going light, fresh, and fruity.

It’s been hotter than hot so far this summer – the blueberry bush in my garden has basically fried to death, and my lawn is the color of Justin Timberlake’s old hair. I’ve been craving cooooool. Icy. Sour. GREEN.

Honeydew agua fresca popsicles! They fit all criteria. They’re subtly, melon-y sweet, plenty tangy from a healthy dose of lime juice, and the prettiest shade of palest green. Plus they’re only 2 ingredients! So breezy!

HAPPY POPSICLE WEEK, dreamlovers. Be sure to check out all of the amazing popsicle recipes floating around the web this week. #popsicleweek2015

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Carrot Apricot Mango Muffins

July 7, 2015 by mollygilbert520 4 Comments

Home feels good. It’s hot in Seattle, our plants are sad and I’m jet-lagged as hell, but still. Home!

I ate an entire box of macaron cookies from Pierre Hermé on the plane ride back (I mean, what else is a person supposed to do when she’s spent all of her airport time buying chocolate at duty-free instead of a new book to read, and it turns out the plane is an old one and there are NO TVs?!? Pray, tell me), and between that and the endless pounds of jamón I consumed in Spain, I think it’s time for some VEGETABLES up in here.

Or, you know, muffins. Eeeeasing back into it, people.

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July 4th!

July 3, 2015 by mollygilbert520 1 Comment

I’M HEADED FOR YOU, AMERICA!

I’ve had one fantastic trip to Europe, but I’m real glad to come home this weekend. I’ve been dreaming of peanut butter. Of burgers and beers and flag cake. Of FREEDOM, y’know?

If you’re looking for a few last minute ideas for your 4th of July celebration, allow me to suggest these (both delicious AND patriotic) gems:

The brownie berry tart! A good idea always.

Marionberry pie (or a mix of blue- and- blackberry, if you like) could be fantastic. I’m imagining tiny stars cut out of the top crust instead of circles? #America.

A smoother, creamier pie option is this sour cream and fresh strawberry number.

You could always be everyone’s favorite person and just make red berries and cream pops! Yep yep.

Swap out the lilac in these strawberry lilac pavlovas for some fresh blueberries and you’re in business, Betsy.

Happy Fourth of July, America! I love you more than croissants. Mostly.