Sweet potato casserole! And let me tell you, friends: this crunchy brown sugar topping will give you life.
You didn’t think I would, but oh yes, in fact, I did.

I am tossing you a Thanksgiving recipe today. THANKSGIVING! And I want you to catch it and love it, okay? It is a deep, rich, sweet potato casserole from scratch with a crunchy brown sugar topping, and it’s comforting and cozy and it’s coming for you right now – ready?

I see two options for you right now. You can fall into a state of shock and awe that it is already borderline time for Thanksgiving (admittedly, this would be my default since usually I don’t even think about Thanksgiving until three days before – WHO AM I RIGHT NOW), OR you can realize the true fact that something this good doesn’t need to just be reserved for Thanksgiving and you can go right on ahead with your best kitchen self and make this happen even BEFORE the clock strikes dinnertime on Thanksgiving Day.

HERE’S WHAT’S TO LOVE
This vegetarian chili is all the good things that I’m looking for:

thick and hearty and “meaty”, like a standard chili texture
beans optional – add if you like them, leave out if you don’t
big, big, big happy flavor
packed with a variety of veggies
easy to make
makes awesome leftovers
meatless!
If you’re vegan, don’t you worry – this is also a VEGAN chili if you just watch your toppings. Avocado, pickled red onion, radishes, tortilla chips… we got you, vegans. Also: see our Instant Pot Pumpkin Walnut Chili recipe – it’s real good.
I am not a vegetarian or vegan but I hope it’s obvious that I think creative plant-based cooking is so fun and I love the positive impact it has on our bodies and the earth. You can be all kinds of everything (vegan, vegetarian, or none, IMHO) and 100% enjoy this.

Goals for the rest of the month: more vegetables, and more chili nights!

Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.
Gingerbread loaf reminds me of snowy winter nights, oversized fluffy cardigans, and all that is right with the world.

The smell of gingerbread baking is so warm and cozy that I get an instant hit of serotonin when those signature ginger-cinnamon spices waft through the air.

If you asked me what I liked better: gingerbread loaf or gingerbread cookies, I would say gingerbread loaf for eating and gingerbread cookies for decorating. Cookies are cute and fun and delicious, but there’s just something about sinking a fork into a plush cake topped with thick snowy white glaze that gets me every time.

I LOVE loaves and quick breads because they’re quick, easy, and essentially cake! Who doesn’t love a slice of cake in the morning with coffee? Or mid-morning, after lunch, as afternoon tea, dessert, or a late night snack? Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.

If you are interested in making cutout cookies and decorating them, here are a couple of tips:

1. If the recipe you’re using has a chilling time, make sure you chill the dough, it helps prevent spreading when you bake.
2. In a similar vein, if I have the time, I’ll actually chill the cut out cookies in the fridge.
3. Let the cookies cool completely before icing otherwise the residual heat will cause the icing to melt.
4. It’s best to let the icing “cure” overnight. Sometimes it looks dry but it’ll dent.
5. Practice! I really does make perfect. Plus if your cookies don’t come out looking how you want them to, you always get to eat them.
I feel like they both have really good qualities and are kind of similar. They both have short legs and long bodies and are absurdly cute. Both breeds seem to have fun personalities too. To be honest, some of my favorite Instagram accounts are actually dogs. Dogs just too cute, like these cookies.
If you have a corgi lover in your life, or if you just love gingerbread, I hope you give these cookies a try. The gingerbread recipe is one that I’ve been making for over ten years, adapted from an old photocopy of a recipe that my sister-in-law gave me back in the day – to be honest I’m not sure where the recipe is from. I like it because unlike other recipes I’ve tried, it’s not too hard or crispy, even once it cools. I also upped the ground ginger in it to make it extra gingery.

This Creamy Tomato Lasagna Florentine is so deliciously comforting and simple. Noodles, tomato sauce, and a creamy spinach layer!
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
2–3 cloves garlic, minced
4–5 cups fresh spinach
2 cups 4% cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup ground flaxmeal (optional, see notes)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (mine was salty – if you’re using a non-salted variety, add an additional 1/4–1/2 teaspoon salt)
a very tiny dusting of nutmeg
a squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
4 cups tomato sauce
12 no-boil or oven ready lasagna noodles
3–4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
I like to call this lasagna Super Saucy, which honestly I love. What I learned through the endless rounds of making it, is that if you don’t need your lasagna to hold together with awesome sliceability. And if you’re more the kind of person who is okay with scooping it out with a spoon and straight into your mouth, then you are in for a real lasagna treat when you make it the Super Saucy Way.

This pan of hot melted cheese I MEAN LASAGNA, while not at all clean and tidy like lasagna is supposed to be, was actually my favorite – it was so saucy, so soupy at first, but absolute lasagna perfection the next day with just the right amount of moisture and a clean(er) sliceability once it was completely cooled.

The healing properties of ginger allow you to relieve cough. Grate the fresh ginger and mix it with hot water and let it sit for ten minutes. Strain and drink like tea. Another method is to pour salt on a piece of ginger and chew it.
Lemon-Honey: Mix 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of honey and heat it on the stove. For a teaspoon every hour.

Vinegar-honey: Mix 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with 2 teaspoons of honey. Take small sips.

Black radish-honey: Black radish is a miracle material for the treatment of colds and coughs. Cut the top of the turbine like a cap. Cut the bottom a little too. Play the inside with a vegetable carver (use it in a salad of course) and place the radish in a glass. Fill it with 1 teaspoon of honey. Cover the top like a lid. Leave it outside for 1 night. As the radish waits, it will pour its water into the glass. Drink 2-3 spoons a day from the water collected in the glass.

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine gave me an electric takoyaki maker for my birthday. Takoyaki literally translated means octopus fried, but takoyaki isn’t just fried octopus – it’s a tiny, piping hot ball of batter filled with green onions, ginger, crispy tempura bits and octopus. It’s crisp, it’s gooey, it’s delicious.

Takoyaki is one of Osaka’s quintessential street foods. Thankfully for us, you don’t have to travel to Osaka for takoyaki – they’re basically found everywhere in Japan and are quite popular in North America too. If you ever come across a takoyaki stand stay awhile and check out the takoyaki makers. They’re mesmerizing.

Professional takoyaki makers have rows and rows of cast iron pans with half spherical molds. A dashi flavoured batter is poured into the molds and then each ball gets a piece of octopus, some ginger, and green onions. When the bottom of the balls are cooked, they’re flipped with skewers so that the inside batter flows out to create the other side of the ball. It’s amazing to watch a real takoyaki maker. They’re fast, furious and churn out the little balls like there’s no tomorrow.

We loved this easy keto friendly low carb beef and broccoli stir fry, especially with cauliflower rice! Even Mike said it was good. It comes together super fast, especially if you buy stir-fry beef that’s pre-cut at the grocery store. Then, most of your prep time is just using a garlic crusher and grating ginger. I’ve been meal prepping whole cauliflowers as cauliflower rice and that’s been a game changer too because when it’s time to eat, it’s just a question of heating it up. Perfect for when I get too hangry to function.
It’ll still taste good, just not super authentic.
PS – Here are the macros for this guy (not including the cauliflower rice): 6 grams net carbs, 16 grams fat, 38 grams protein. I used my kitchen scale and Carb Manager to calculate and if you’re anything like me (super exacting), I suggest you enter your food weights yourself so you know exactly what you’re getting.

We know the season of gingerbread is over, but I couldn’t resist making these little gingerbread corgis. I get that gingerbread is associated with Christmas, but I think it’s really a winter cookie; I love the warmth of the spices and fresh gingerbread out of the oven on a cold day can’t be beat.
Of course these guys aren’t right out of the oven – they’ve had a lot of time to cool off before being decorated. Decorating cookies with royal icing is something that I find deeply satisfying. I even had a short stint as a professional cookie decorator. Real talk: I just decorated cookies and sold them at a local bake sale, but it’s kind of sort of like being professional, right?
Anyway, these corgi cookies are so cute that after I finished decorating, I stared at them for a good five minutes. Mike walked into the kitchen and asked me what I was doing and I was so entranced that it took me a couple of seconds to reply. Corgis are one of my favorite dog breeds (dachshund are the other) and I’m forever trying to decide if I want a corgi dog or a wiener dog.

If you are interested in making cutout cookies and decorating them, here are a couple of tips:

1. If the recipe you’re using has a chilling time, make sure you chill the dough, it helps prevent spreading when you bake.
2. In a similar vein, if I have the time, I’ll actually chill the cut out cookies in the fridge.
3. Let the cookies cool completely before icing otherwise the residual heat will cause the icing to melt.
4. It’s best to let the icing “cure” overnight. Sometimes it looks dry but it’ll dent.
5. Practice! I really does make perfect. Plus if your cookies don’t come out looking how you want them to, you always get to eat them.
I feel like they both have really good qualities and are kind of similar. They both have short legs and long bodies and are absurdly cute. Both breeds seem to have fun personalities too. To be honest, some of my favorite Instagram accounts are actually dogs. Dogs just too cute, like these cookies.
If you have a corgi lover in your life, or if you just love gingerbread, I hope you give these cookies a try. The gingerbread recipe is one that I’ve been making for over ten years, adapted from an old photocopy of a recipe that my sister-in-law gave me back in the day – to be honest I’m not sure where the recipe is from. I like it because unlike other recipes I’ve tried, it’s not too hard or crispy, even once it cools. I also upped the ground ginger in it to make it extra gingery.

Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.
Gingerbread loaf reminds me of snowy winter nights, oversized fluffy cardigans, and all that is right with the world.

The smell of gingerbread baking is so warm and cozy that I get an instant hit of serotonin when those signature ginger-cinnamon spices waft through the air.

If you asked me what I liked better: gingerbread loaf or gingerbread cookies, I would say gingerbread loaf for eating and gingerbread cookies for decorating. Cookies are cute and fun and delicious, but there’s just something about sinking a fork into a plush cake topped with thick snowy white glaze that gets me every time.

I LOVE loaves and quick breads because they’re quick, easy, and essentially cake! Who doesn’t love a slice of cake in the morning with coffee? Or mid-morning, after lunch, as afternoon tea, dessert, or a late night snack? Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.

Prep: Heat your oven, lightly butter a loaf pan, and whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Mix: Whisk together the molasses with a bit of warm water to loosen it.
Cream: Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg, applesauce, and molasses-mix.
Fold: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined. Pour into your prepped pan.
Bake: Let the gingerbread bake and enjoy the delicious smells that will drive you nuts with longing.
Enjoy: Let cool completely in the pan, then glaze (if desired), slice and enjoy!

What is gingerbread?
Gingerbread is an umbrella term for baked goods sweetened with molasses or honey and flavored with ginger, cinnamon and cloves. It can range from soft and cakey like this gingerbread loaf to crisp and crunchy like ginger snaps. Gingerbread is especially popular around the winter holiday season because of all the warming spices.

What is the difference between gingerbread and ginger cake?
In most of the world, gingerbread can mean either cookies or cake, but sometimes it’s confusing, so people have started to refer to soft, cake-y gingerbread as ginger cake. This gingerbread loaf is ginger cake, baked in a loaf pan. Really, if you think about it, the name gingerbread is very fitting because it’s kinda sort of bread shaped? This recipe tastes very similar to Starbucks’ gingerbread loaf except there isn’t any crystallized ginger because I don’t really like things like fruit and nuts in my loaves.

This is the best kind of gingerbread out there: heavily spiced with a large amount of ginger and cinnamon, scented with sticky molasses, and made extra soft and moist with a touch of applesauce. It’s a classic old-fashioned gingerbread, the kind you want to come home too after an afternoon of playing in the snow. I like it glazed, which reminds me of a layer of freshly fallen snow, or dusted with powdered sugar, or with a dollop of softly whipped cream. I like it all ways and always

Prep: Heat your oven, lightly butter a loaf pan, and whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Mix: Whisk together the molasses with a bit of warm water to loosen it.
Cream: Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg, applesauce, and molasses-mix.
Fold: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined. Pour into your prepped pan.
Bake: Let the gingerbread bake and enjoy the delicious smells that will drive you nuts with longing.
Enjoy: Let cool completely in the pan, then glaze (if desired), slice and enjoy!

What is gingerbread?
Gingerbread is an umbrella term for baked goods sweetened with molasses or honey and flavored with ginger, cinnamon and cloves. It can range from soft and cakey like this gingerbread loaf to crisp and crunchy like ginger snaps. Gingerbread is especially popular around the winter holiday season because of all the warming spices.

What is the difference between gingerbread and ginger cake?
In most of the world, gingerbread can mean either cookies or cake, but sometimes it’s confusing, so people have started to refer to soft, cake-y gingerbread as ginger cake. This gingerbread loaf is ginger cake, baked in a loaf pan. Really, if you think about it, the name gingerbread is very fitting because it’s kinda sort of bread shaped? This recipe tastes very similar to Starbucks’ gingerbread loaf except there isn’t any crystallized ginger because I don’t really like things like fruit and nuts in my loaves.

This is the best kind of gingerbread out there: heavily spiced with a large amount of ginger and cinnamon, scented with sticky molasses, and made extra soft and moist with a touch of applesauce. It’s a classic old-fashioned gingerbread, the kind you want to come home too after an afternoon of playing in the snow. I like it glazed, which reminds me of a layer of freshly fallen snow, or dusted with powdered sugar, or with a dollop of softly whipped cream. I like it all ways and always

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fancy molasses
1 large egg yolk
royal icing*
Sift the first 8 ingredients into a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and molasses until fluffy and light. Beat in the egg yolk. Stir in the dry ingredients until mixed well. Divide the dough into two disks, wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour minimum.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the cookies, cut with a corgi cutter (or desired shape) and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on size. Let cool completely before icing.

To ice: outline the orange/brown parts of the corgi and fill in. Outline the white parts and let dry for 1 hour. Pipe on the eyes and noses. Let dry overnight.

Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.
Gingerbread loaf reminds me of snowy winter nights, oversized fluffy cardigans, and all that is right with the world.

The smell of gingerbread baking is so warm and cozy that I get an instant hit of serotonin when those signature ginger-cinnamon spices waft through the air.

If you asked me what I liked better: gingerbread loaf or gingerbread cookies, I would say gingerbread loaf for eating and gingerbread cookies for decorating. Cookies are cute and fun and delicious, but there’s just something about sinking a fork into a plush cake topped with thick snowy white glaze that gets me every time.

I LOVE loaves and quick breads because they’re quick, easy, and essentially cake! Who doesn’t love a slice of cake in the morning with coffee? Or mid-morning, after lunch, as afternoon tea, dessert, or a late night snack? Give me all the loaves masquerading as cake, but especially deep, dark, mysterious gingerbread.

If you are interested in making cutout cookies and decorating them, here are a couple of tips:

1. If the recipe you’re using has a chilling time, make sure you chill the dough, it helps prevent spreading when you bake.
2. In a similar vein, if I have the time, I’ll actually chill the cut out cookies in the fridge.
3. Let the cookies cool completely before icing otherwise the residual heat will cause the icing to melt.
4. It’s best to let the icing “cure” overnight. Sometimes it looks dry but it’ll dent.
5. Practice! I really does make perfect. Plus if your cookies don’t come out looking how you want them to, you always get to eat them.
I feel like they both have really good qualities and are kind of similar. They both have short legs and long bodies and are absurdly cute. Both breeds seem to have fun personalities too. To be honest, some of my favorite Instagram accounts are actually dogs. Dogs just too cute, like these cookies.
If you have a corgi lover in your life, or if you just love gingerbread, I hope you give these cookies a try. The gingerbread recipe is one that I’ve been making for over ten years, adapted from an old photocopy of a recipe that my sister-in-law gave me back in the day – to be honest I’m not sure where the recipe is from. I like it because unlike other recipes I’ve tried, it’s not too hard or crispy, even once it cools. I also upped the ground ginger in it to make it extra gingery.

We know the season of gingerbread is over, but I couldn’t resist making these little gingerbread corgis. I get that gingerbread is associated with Christmas, but I think it’s really a winter cookie; I love the warmth of the spices and fresh gingerbread out of the oven on a cold day can’t be beat.
Of course these guys aren’t right out of the oven – they’ve had a lot of time to cool off before being decorated. Decorating cookies with royal icing is something that I find deeply satisfying. I even had a short stint as a professional cookie decorator. Real talk: I just decorated cookies and sold them at a local bake sale, but it’s kind of sort of like being professional, right?
Anyway, these corgi cookies are so cute that after I finished decorating, I stared at them for a good five minutes. Mike walked into the kitchen and asked me what I was doing and I was so entranced that it took me a couple of seconds to reply. Corgis are one of my favorite dog breeds (dachshund are the other) and I’m forever trying to decide if I want a corgi dog or a wiener dog.

We loved this easy keto friendly low carb beef and broccoli stir fry, especially with cauliflower rice! Even Mike said it was good. It comes together super fast, especially if you buy stir-fry beef that’s pre-cut at the grocery store. Then, most of your prep time is just using a garlic crusher and grating ginger. I’ve been meal prepping whole cauliflowers as cauliflower rice and that’s been a game changer too because when it’s time to eat, it’s just a question of heating it up. Perfect for when I get too hangry to function.
It’ll still taste good, just not super authentic.
PS – Here are the macros for this guy (not including the cauliflower rice): 6 grams net carbs, 16 grams fat, 38 grams protein. I used my kitchen scale and Carb Manager to calculate and if you’re anything like me (super exacting), I suggest you enter your food weights yourself so you know exactly what you’re getting.

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine gave me an electric takoyaki maker for my birthday. Takoyaki literally translated means octopus fried, but takoyaki isn’t just fried octopus – it’s a tiny, piping hot ball of batter filled with green onions, ginger, crispy tempura bits and octopus. It’s crisp, it’s gooey, it’s delicious.

Takoyaki is one of Osaka’s quintessential street foods. Thankfully for us, you don’t have to travel to Osaka for takoyaki – they’re basically found everywhere in Japan and are quite popular in North America too. If you ever come across a takoyaki stand stay awhile and check out the takoyaki makers. They’re mesmerizing.

Professional takoyaki makers have rows and rows of cast iron pans with half spherical molds. A dashi flavoured batter is poured into the molds and then each ball gets a piece of octopus, some ginger, and green onions. When the bottom of the balls are cooked, they’re flipped with skewers so that the inside batter flows out to create the other side of the ball. It’s amazing to watch a real takoyaki maker. They’re fast, furious and churn out the little balls like there’s no tomorrow.

The healing properties of ginger allow you to relieve cough. Grate the fresh ginger and mix it with hot water and let it sit for ten minutes. Strain and drink like tea. Another method is to pour salt on a piece of ginger and chew it.
Lemon-Honey: Mix 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of honey and heat it on the stove. For a teaspoon every hour.

Vinegar-honey: Mix 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with 2 teaspoons of honey. Take small sips.

Black radish-honey: Black radish is a miracle material for the treatment of colds and coughs. Cut the top of the turbine like a cap. Cut the bottom a little too. Play the inside with a vegetable carver (use it in a salad of course) and place the radish in a glass. Fill it with 1 teaspoon of honey. Cover the top like a lid. Leave it outside for 1 night. As the radish waits, it will pour its water into the glass. Drink 2-3 spoons a day from the water collected in the glass.