Spice up your life with whole foods

Cooking for one can be so fun! You have just your palette to cater to, you can be spontaneous in what you want to make, and you get to enjoy all the food. Two of my favorite cooks to glean inspiration from lately are Alison Roman and Carolina Gelen. Roman brings all the fun into the kitchen; I recommend following along her NYT Cooking YouTube videos. She makes me feel bold and brave to cook with new ingredients and to trust the process. Gelen offers hearty and delicious girl dinners and lunches. Her ideas are so approachable and simple, albeit lengthy. Here are some of my recent meals in rotation:

The Caramelized Shallot Pasta was my first Alison Roman recipe I cooked. I was intrigued by the anchovies in this dish since I have never eaten anything with anchovies besides a ceasar salad. She promises the dish is not fishy, and it’s true! The dish has a lovely kick to it, the shallots are a beautiful superstar, and the topping of fresh chopped garlic and parsley is so refreshing and ingenious. Here are three different times I made the dish. On the first try, I did not wait for the paste to become a brick red, so the sauce wasn’t as saucy. On the second try, I remember I added the tomato paste too early, so it took longer to cook. On the third try, it was perfect! Amazing spice level, pasta was a nice al dente, and the sauce was saucing.

I wanted something fun and accessible for my lunch at work, and I was happy to enjoy Carolina Gelen's tuna burgers. The prep time and cook time took longer than the recipe predicts, but it was a unique experience. I was so impressed with how the tuna burgers turned out. They were flavorful, fresh, and filling. I assembled them with Martin's potato bread rolls, Boston lettuce, and banana pepper, smashing! Also, the yogurt dill spread has become a staple.




Many love my autumn butternut squash soup; it’s sweet, it’s creamy, and it’s vegan! I have tried different recipes for a savory butternut squash soup and sadly had to throw a couple away because they didn’t work – until I made Gelen's coconut butternut squash soup with cumin. I did omit the celery (I don’t think the soup needs it) and I did add firm tofu for some protein on my second try. Making this soup was such an experience: I toasted cumin seeds! Never done that before. I tried using full fat coconut milk then the light coconut milk, I did prefer the light coconut milk for its thinner texture.

Some other fun staples are salmon pesto orzo by @whatlolalikes, NYTimes Cooking beef bolognese, and Rana's butternut squash ravioli. Where do you like to get cooking inspo?