Well, can you imagine that we made it another week? This week my eating wasn’t as successful in the cooking category, but we were running around and such is life.

On Friday and Saturday of last week, we ate out, as we typically do at least one night a weekend. On Sunday, I had leftover nachos from Eva’s cooking (thanks boo!) and Jeff was working.

On Monday, Jeff and I headed to see Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Pantages Theatre and ate dinner out at 33 Taps, a sports bar & restaurant in Hollywood. I had a salad and it was a delight.

On Tuesday, Jeff and I had this recipe by Barefoot Contessa – Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese with Basil. I had made it on Sunday, so I reheated it until the skin was crispy, and Jeff made couscous, and we made green beans. One of my 2016 goals was to cook from cook books that I have more often, and this is in Ina’s book, so we’re off to a good start!

On Wednesday, Jeff made ravioli and meatballs. To be clear, the ravioli with spinach from Costco, and the party meatballs from Trader Joe’s. I had mine over a bed of kale and we split a bag of sugar snap peas. I always make sure to have ravioli in the freezer for quicker dinners when we’re on-the-goal.

Thursday nights I play soccer near my work, so I always go to Mendocino Farms and get the Kale Caesar Salad, which you may know from that time I made my own. It is still my fave thing, ever, and I look forward to Thursdays.

So there you have it – our week in review. Hopefully next week I’ll be back to cooking a bit! Stay tuned for some fun Snapchats this weekend too, as I am cooking tomorrow morning.

Happy Friday, folks. Hope you’ve been cooking – any awesome recipes this week?

I L.O.V.E. nachos. They are a guilty pleasure that I’m just not very guilt-ridden over anymore. I don’t know when that happened exactly but I’m definitely past any shame I ever felt upon eating an entire plate of nachos all by myself while watching Netflix and drinking a glass of wine. (aka #theperfectnight!)

I have a favorite nacho joint here in Los Angeles (Mexicali in Echo Park) that I will indulge in after a long day at work. Their veggie nachos are gooey and grilled with zucchini and mushrooms – not your typical nachos, but they are a welcome new sub-genre of nacho-eating.

But even those, as perfect as they may be, are just not quite the same as homemade nachos. With simple delicious ingredients and a block of cheese you can watch disappear in the name of nacho glory, there’s just nothing better: chips, beans, pico, sour cream, avocado, jalapeños and cheese, glorious cheese.

Sure, nachos may not be entirely healthy for you and sure, they’re not the most practical food: they don’t keep well (you can’t make them and bring them to work the next day – although I have tried). Yet, something about a hot plate of nachos, cheese bubbling, chips browned, beans roasted, jalapeños steaming, that is good for the soul.

So I say, “Happy New Year” to you, friends, with an industrial-sized tray of homemade nachos. Get the full recipe here.

El Niño is here. Rain is coming down hard, and the nights are cold. Normally at this time of year, Corelyn throws together a cassoulet and we have a magical couple of days and nights of leftovers. But now that she’s in Atlanta, I had to figured out how to make this delicious dish on my own. This weekend, I attempted to make one myself. I switched it up for you guys for something a little different, and let me tell you it was not a mistake, despite not being as well versed as Corelyn in such a dish.

First of all, I received a subscription to RawSpiceBar from my brother-in-law and his girlfriend for Christmas, and I received the first batch after the holidays. This month was focused on Norwegian spices, and they did not disappoint.

I wanted to start making these ASAP and I figured the Winter Herbs would be the most perfect mix for this cassoulet. It contained tarragon, sage, white peppercorns, thyme, allspice, black peppercorns, garlic, and marjoram. Winter in a bag, right?!

I followed the basic recipe from this Sweet Potato Cassoulet that Corelyn wrote. I took out the sweet potatoes out and added mushrooms, and let me tell you it was a good decision. I love sweet potatoes, but the mushrooms add always a little something different.

The full recipe is located here, but it’s basically cannellini beans, leeks, onions, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, and pork sausage. It doesn’t get much better folks. This simmers together for an hour and then bakes for a few minutes with a bread crumb crust topping that makes a nice balance of flavor with the stew-like cassoulet.

I suggest you make this as soon as possible to get you through the winter. It will make you a happy camper, it’ll keep your family happy, and it makes stellar leftovers.

What are you making to keep you warm through the winter?

Whew! We made it through the first week of the year with flying colors, you guys. This year, I wanted to spend some more time getting back to the core of why I started this blog: to help you cook. And I figured, who else to help me figure out what you’re looking for than YOU. YES YOU READING THIS. So tell me what you need, what you want, what you love. I’ll get on it. Meanwhile, I wanted to show you a little behind-the-scenes about what I actually eat on the regular. On the weekends, I try to make awesome dishes for y’all, but during the week I’m just like most of you – full time job, exercise, commitments, etc.

So I’m going to try to share with you what I’ve eaten each week and what was awesome and where you can find recipes, with the hopes that we might all expand our wheelhouses this year!

Sunday – Simple Coconut Chicken Curry from Half Baked Harvest

I have a Pinterest board of recipes to try at home (aka things I think Jeff will like) and this week I picked a couple to make off of this. Overall, I really liked this dish – the broccoli was fresh and delicious, and the curry wasn’t too overwhelming, but it was a bit spicy for me (I am a wimp with spice, and get the hiccups!). We’ll be making this again.

Monday – One Pan Pasta from Martha Stewart

This recipe suggestion came from my friends Jessica & Steve (thanks guys!) and was a crowd pleaser too. Overall I think I’ll use less onion and of course add a little Parmesan to the water, but it is a great dish that is ready in 10 minutes and vegetarian – great because this year I’m trying to eat less meat to help our environmental (among other reasons.) Also adding this to our wheelhouse – and the possibilities with this are endless.

Tuesday – Dinner from Grilliant

This night I had a commitment to watch Downton Abbey with my friend Mary, so we ordered salads from a local place. For those of you who are local-ish, you have to try this place – so, so delicious, fresh, and healthy!

Wednesday – Grilled Cheese & Soup

Wednesday night is the night I walk & do yoga with some of my girls. As such, I am usually rushing to finish dinner pre-work out, so I planned accordingly something Jeff could make and that was fast. I grated cheddar cheese and layered on basil, feta, and sundried tomatoes on sourdough bread. Then I heated up some TJ’s tomato soup and voila! dinner.

Thursday- Cheese Quesadillas & Leftover Soup

No picture here, because this was similar to Wednesday. I got home a bit late, so Jeff made cheese quesadillas and I had a bowl of soup with spinach.

Friday – Chicken with Goat Cheese from Barefoot Contessa

Tonight I plan on making this recipe that I’ve made before – this was originally Thursday’s dinner plan, but I always plan one less meal than nights because inevitably one of us works late one night and we have to move our plans around.

What did you guys eat this week? What are some go-to recipes you always make that make everyone in your family happy?

Hey folks! Happy 2016! I hope this year finds you happy and healthy into 2016. A couple of new things will be going on in 2016 here on GMS, and I am open to whatever needs/wants you guys have, so don’t forget to comment – I’m always around to help you cook more, cook better, cook different.

Here’s a picture from our 2015 cooking classes…a chance for me to get everyone involved.

One of the main reasons I started the blog was to help friends and family learn how to cook more, and I hope that with this blog, whether this is your first visit or your 100th, helps you do that. I try to cook most nights a week, and I do it by building a wheelhouse of recipes I know, trust, and can make in about 30 minutes or less.

So how do you cook more? How do you find time in your schedule? One tiny step at a time, like anything else. Here’s five steps to cooking at home more often this month!

1. Pick a night of the week to cook, and stick to it. I work better with a plan, and I bet most of you do, too. So pick a night to be the one you’ll spend just a few extra minutes in the kitchen. Be it Fridays with your significant other or kids, or Sunday to get ready for the week, or Wednesday as a mid-week pick-me-up, find a day that you can reasonably cook. After this becomes part of your schedule, try to add in another night…and another. You get the idea.

2. Grocery shop with a plan. I meal plan on weekends, working through weekly commitments for Jeff and I, then figure out what nights we’re home. I aim to purchase food for one less meal than we need, because inevitably someone works late, or I make a dinner that’s too big for just two people, and leftovers come around later in the week. Then I add in breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. I always try to grocery shop when I’m not hungry either, so that I can stop impulse plans.

3. Build your wheelhouse from what you like. This might seem obvious, but cook what you eat! For example, if you’re constantly getting take-out tacos, or eating frozen stir fry, go ahead and just look at what you’re eating and make a note of it. Then, find a recipe online that’s close to that perfect fish taco. I always try to cook recipes by the book the first time around, then adjust for Jeff and my tastes. Find a recipe you love? Make yourself a Pinterest board, a recipe book, whatever works for you, a repertoire of your tried and true!

4. Read the recipe. Go back, read it again. I was talking to friends about this last weekend, but a big pet peeve of mine is poorly written recipes. They’ll claim to be 30 minutes but 45 minutes in you’re looking longingly at the freezer hoping that pizza will make itself. Read recipes before you attempt them. A lot of things you can do in advance, or do in an order that makes more sense than what the recipe suggests. Never let the time you’re first reading a recipe be 7:30 pm on Tuesday night as you start dinner!

5. Make cooking time family time. This is a big thing in our house. It’s one of the only times of the day that Jeff and I are both able to relax and talk about our days and spend together. We both do a lot of work outside our 9 to 5s, and we also try to find time in the evenings to exercise, so usually this hour or so is spent together cooking. It’s also more fun that way! So go ahead and get your SO, or your kids involved. Find ways they can be included and be proud of what they’re creating – what a great lesson (plus, who wants to chop all those carrots themselves?!)

In other random news: I’m on Snapchat now (@garlicmysoul), and will try to do some behind-the-scenes of cooking days as they come, if you’re into that sort of thing!

If addition, if you live in LA, I am going to be doing some cooking classes in my kitchen, so if you’re interested shoot me an email at jennie@garlicmysoul.com!