2025, let's get cozy

Welcome back! I hope you had a restful and joyful holiday. For the first time in many years, we spent most of the holiday break, at home, doing absolutely nothing. And it was so wonderful.

We quickly developed a new daily routine—wakeup with the late winter sun, family breakfast, hours of playtime with Poppy, prioritizing movement, and cooking. I did so. much. cooking! Macaroni and cheese, veg chili, fennel and pear strata, burnt broccoli farro bowls, Indian-ish nachos, and many other recipes I’m looking forward to sharing in the weeks ahead.

We even made time to cozy up each evening and watch the entirety of a show, something that Sam and I haven’t done in years. Our pick? Lessons in Chemistry, a fabulous show about a chemist in the 60s who becomes a cooking show host. Watch it!

Here’s to hoping that the simplicity of life these past two weeks, good food, and cozy vibes are positive signs for the year ahead. Cheers!

Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut & Turmeric

The 411: Another

Alison Roman

cozy stew masterpiece. In this recipe, chickpeas are spiced with onion, garlic, ginger and turmeric, then simmered in a coconut milk broth. The stew gets bursts of green from wilted spinach and a mint garnish.

Zoe’s Tips: Save yourself a measuring cup and fill one of your empty coconut milk cans three-quarters of the way to the top with broth (my recommendation: water + ~1 tbs bouillon). And despite having made this recipe many times myself, I’ve never achieved much success in getting crispy chickpeas in step 2. Pay close attention to the cue of the chickpeas breaking down, and know that the final product will still be delicious even if they don’t crisp up.

Taste-to-Time Ratio¹: 8:8

Penne Alla Vodka

The 411: There are few things in life that I think are more beautiful and wonderful than snow, so imagine how I excited I was this week when we got several inches. Very important to the ~snow day vibes~ for me is, of course, the food. Ina Garten’s recipe for vodka sauce has become my go-to snow day dinner since it’s very hands-off, makes your house smell amazing, and is just a very cozy meal. Onions are sauteed with garlic and oregano, the vodka is added and reduced, and then two cans of quality tomatoes are added to bake for 90 minutes. Once the tomatoes become jammy and abundant with flavor, they’re pureed and cream is added.

Zoe’s Tips: Save yourself a few minutes of chopping onions and put your food processor to work by pulsing large chunks of onion until they’re roughly chopped.

Taste-to-Time Ratio: 9:7 (but know that this is a very hands-off recipe)

1. The Taste-to-Time Ratio is a ratio that evaluates flavor on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) with time on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the fastest). For example, our family favorite mac and cheese that requires 2 types of cheese, toasted baguette breadcrumbs, approximately all your kitchen pans, and 2 hours of baking is a 10:3 - insanely delicious, but not a quick weeknight meal.