Living a Vegan Dream (Guest Post!)

Happy Friday, everyone! Today is especially exciting because we have a guest post from two of our amazing friends - Brie & Suz Waddington! These guys are trying out being vegan while they quarantine and we're loving the recipe they put together with their new lifestyle. We're seriously impressed by their creativity and ability to make veganism (is that the word for it?) be delicious and fun!

Sunday Shack Up: Shakshuka

Sunday Shack Up: Shakshuka
Let me begin by saying we sincerely hope all of you are well and that you have the means to take the necessary precautions during this uncertain time. With all the calmness of Jackie Moon in Semi-Pro, (“NOBODY FREAK OUT”- bonus points if you understand this reference), Boston has been seriously hunkering down for more self-quarantining. What does this mean for us? Getting creative with our pantry supplies while dreaming of our favorite restaurants, of course! Not sure if this needs to be said, but we’re 100% about supporting our local businesses as much as possible right now (and always). Today’s meal is a recreation of our favorite spot, Tatte’s amazing Shakshuka. If you’re in Boston and haven’t had this, stop everything and order it for takeout.

Tapas the Evening To You

(please pardon the terrible pun that is the title - best we could come up with!)

Well all, with COVID-19 seemingly upon us, now is definitely going to be the time to start recreating our favorite meals at home. Keep supporting your local businesses, but stay safe out there!

For us, Round 2 of the Restaurant Recreation attempt coincidentally takes us to another Jamaica Plain restaurant. Since our honeymoon, we’ve been suckers for Spanish tapas and Tres Gatos (@tresgatosjp) has been on our list for some time. This tapas-bookstore-record shop-restaurant checks off almost every box on the Booknerd’s list of favorite things. We highly recommend making a trip out to JP to check this place out, but build in some buffer time into your trip because its easy to spend time enjoying the small plates or perusing the record selection.

Nacho Average Cooknerd Challenge

Nacho Average Cooknerd Challenge:

So I (the Cooknerd) have to be honest, I’ve been lacking a sense of what the blog should be from a cooking perspective, and lacking consistency. But ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve found the solution! First lets take a look at some of the issues that led to a lack of content:

1. When you buy the ingredients for the same staple meals every week, your leftovers don’t exactly cater themselves to creativity. The need? More VARIETY.
2. Where does the inspiration, technique (or lack thereof), and creativity come from? Copying a recipe is easy when you have the internet. Where is the CHALLENGE?
3. The last reason is the most serious, where does the weekly motivation come from? Life will inevitably get in the way, but this is an outlet and a passion. What will make me willingly ACCOUNTABLE?

So there we have it, the recipe for the Cooknerd requires variety, a challenge, and accountability. The answer?

NEW CHALLENGE CRITERIA!
Having recently gotten our feet under us in a new city, it’s time to venture out from the safety of our local haunts and explore some new places...specifically, places to eat! My new challenge and commitment to the Booknerd is to explore a new restaurant/food truck/diner/etc. every week- a “date night” of sorts. From there we'll select something from our meal to recreate. Armed with nothing but the menu description, our best guess of the ingredients, and the confidence of someone who has watched way too much Chopped, I will attempt to recreate the dish at home - in flavor, in presentation, and in skill (ignorance is bliss); all while staying on a budget.🎯

Now lets get into it!

Very Merry Christmas Crème Brulee

★★★★ (4/5)

Merry Christmas everyone! So Book Nerd has been on me about my overdue blog posts… and she’s right, it’s been far too long since we’ve had some OC from the Cook Nerd. I have to preface this post by saying that this is another bake, and that everything that I bake does not always begin as a yellow soup (see: Lemon Curd Tart). This recipe was born from some last minute Christmas shopping and an opportunistic find in TJMaxx. While walking through the aisles I noticed a set of four ramekin & a blow torch and said to myself “Hey, that’s a good price on something that I don’t have, will only use once, and probably don’t need” (I think that should be the TJMaxx slogan). So, as one does, I added the ramekins to our cart, checked out of TJMaxx, and went home to embark on making my first crème brulee (Christmas style, of course).

Taco...Wednesday?

Thank you to this posts guest columnist Talia!

I don’t really feel like having tacos today…said no one EVER.

Taco Tuesday is a staple in our household, and it inspired me to expand the definition of what ‘Taco Tuesday’ typically means and test out a new Mexican-style recipe. After taking a stab at these Crunchwraps for the first time, we were hooked, and Taco Tuesday quickly turned into Crunchwrap Tuesday. While this recipe has a lot of moving parts, especially living with one vegetarian and one carnivore in the household, the end result is worth every minute.

The other good news about this recipe is that you can stack your Crunchwrap with whatever fillings you like (basically any toppings you would put on a taco could work in your wrap) and make modifications depending on your dietary restrictions. In the same breath, you can choose not to include certain toppings that aren’t to your taste.

 

Here is what I put in ours…

When Life Gives You Lemons...

★★★★★ Lemon Curd Tart

Alright, this one’s short going to be but sweet (literally!). We somehow managed to get a late start to the new season of Great British Bake Off this year (one of our all time favorite shows). If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching this show, please do yourself a favor and get on board; it’s seriously the most feel-good show of all time. True amateur bakers competing in a contest for nothing more than their own pride in their passion is really wholesome TV. While I’m sure they get Instagram followers and some endorsements if they make it far enough in the competition, the camaraderie between the contestants and their honest, simple love for baking feels genuine and is truly a pleasure to watch.

Last year while watching the show I had a real “Hey, I can do that!” moment and decided I would put the seemingly decorative Kitchen Aid mixer from our wedding registry to work. Dozens of meringues and cookies later, and with the new season of GBBO on air, it was time to step up my game and take on something a bit more complicated. While this is by no means my own recipe (credit: @FoodNetwork & @InaGarten) here’s my attempt at a simple Lemon Curd Tart. Spoiler alert: it’s delicious.

Tiny Kitchen Problems (and Solutions)

Summer? Meet Fall

★★★

An abysmal start to fantasy football season has limited my enthusiasm & focus, but alas, this is a two sided blog and what is the Book Nerd without an equal helping of Cook Nerd.

This post comes at a time when the weather can’t make up its mind and neither can my spirit. While we refuse to acknowledge the chronological end of summer, the cold brisk mornings are forcing our hand. For this meal we are combining summer favorites of grilled steak, halloumi, and asparagus with a fittingly autumnal, sweet potato hash. One caveat…our confined quarters and lack of communal grill space mean we’re forced to make some trendy cookware upgrades.

Rainy Day Comfort Food

★★★☆ (3.5/5)

Welcome to the Cooking (*cough, better, cough*) portion of BN&CN. This post is a product of both the weather and ease - a chilly, dreary, rainy summer day had us stuck in doors and laziness got the better of us as far as getting special ingredients and getting out of the house. Taking a look in the kitchen, we didn't have much but always have a few staple veggies around. Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and onions are always on hand because of their versatility and adaptability to a lot of different dishes, and quite frankly they're trendy AF.  This time, I was feeling creative so I decided to do more than just chop them up and throw them in a taco (one of our staple meals). Looking at some of the other things we had hiding in the pantry, we had chopped pecans, fusilli pasta, and some handmade pork sausage that I picked up as a Prime deal the other day at Whole Foods - so we went with that.