01 January 2016

Best Recipes of 2015

I did quite a bit of cooking this past year, but for whatever reason there weren't a lot of new recipes that ended up on our repeat favorites list. Several from last year's best of list, in particular the Whole Bowl and Sweet Potato recipes, made frequent appearances this past year. I did more experimentation this year as well, "making up" things based on the veggies we received from our neighbors and what we happened to have in the fridge. On the whole, I think my experiments were mediocre to good, but none worthy of this list (yet). Here are some new favorites and old standbys from the past year.

Russian Cabbage Borscht
Source: AllRecipes.com

Borscht is like the chili of eastern Europe: there are tons of regional variations and a wide range of different kinds. We happened to get a lot of beets this summer and fall (and actually had some leftover from last fall), so I was on the hunt for good beet recipes. This was one of them. Beets seem to elicit strong responses from people, probably because most people first experienced beets from a can and rejected them out of hand after that. You don't know what you are missing! If anybody has a favorite beet recipe out there, send it our way! We always seem to have some on hand.

Sausage, Potato and Spinach Soup
Source: Damn Delicious

As the author mentions, this has sausage and heavy cream, so it probably wouldn't be classified as "healthy." But it does have dark greens and is a good, warming soup for those evenings that call for just such a thing.

Bourbon Sweet Potato and Apple Casserole with Pecan Crust
Source: Fine Cooking

This is not a new recipe for us this year, but it did make an appearance at Thanksgiving. It's one of those dishes that is just enough work that you don't want to make it very often, but it's tasty enough that you do want to pull it out for those special occasions. Put aside your marshmallows and try this casserole next holiday instead.

Bildner's 5-Alarm Chili
Source: The New England Cookbook

This is also not a new recipe for us; I think we've been making this one since we still lived in New England. But I haven't mentioned it here yet and it appears in our house several times each winter. This is just a solid, beans and beef chili with a good level of spice.

Masala Chai
Source: The Kitchn

We've been enjoying weekend lattes at home for many years now, thanks to a simple stove-top espresso maker from my aunt and uncle many years ago. (Thanks, Anita and Lew!) But recently we decided to expand our repertoire to include masala chai, or what American coffee shops call a "Chai Latte." The specific combination of spices is fungible, depending on your spice preferences. Green cardamom seems to be the important base spice that holds it all together. If you use a red tea, or Rooibos, you can even make a caffeine-free drink to warm your mornings.

You can check out the recipes from other years through the recipes tag. Happy eating!

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders

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