FIGHT THE COLD WITH COOKIES!



Winter Pro Tip: Ovens make for the best space heaters. They warm up the home while making something tasty for the tummy. I can't think of a better win-win situation at this moment.

The Siberian cold front is upon Chicago in full force. Today's weather is a eyeball-freezing high of "too cold for any thermostat to be effective" - brought to you by Google, my open living room window, and my failing radiator heaters.

As I was huddling with the kitties for warmth, I decided to fire up the oven to make a comforting cookie treat. After posting a quick picture of the delicious results, I received a bunch of requests for the recipe...so by popular demand, here is the tasty secret I used to warm up the home.

WARNING: This post contains copious amounts of cursing in the name of healthy food. If this isn't your thing, here's a less offensive post for you.

For all others, let's f*cking do this!


I received the most wonderful, in-your-face cookbook from a good friend this week. This video explains the book quite beautifully:

I about died laughing at this video. You're welcome.

In all seriousness, this book is a pretty great, approachable way to start cooking dishes that taste good and are healthy for you. It gives a lot of starter tips on the tools needed in the kitchen, basics on how to cook some staple foods such as rice and beans, and general advice on cooking. Some great examples:

• On reading recipes completely before starting to cook: "READ THE GODDAMN RECIPE...Nothing is worse than getting to a crucial point in a recipe and realizing that the next thing you need is dirty in the sink...Don't just glance at a recipe and assume you've got that shit."
• On substituting ingredients in a recipe: "We offer ideas for substitutions in can't you can't find one of the ingredients or don't want to all the way to the store for just one fucking item...Feel free to try and mix shit up on your own, but use some goddamn sense. Out of tomato sauce? Not  problem, just...PUT THE FUCKING KETCHUP BACK. NO. NOT THE SAME THING...Like we were saying, just throw some diced tomatoes in a blender."
• On basic tools to have in the kitchen: "Who needs an avocado slicer? A person without any goddamn sense, that's who. Stick to this basic list [on the page in the book] and you'll be set for almost anything"

All the recipes in the book are plant-based - no meat or animal products! The average American eats more than double the pounds of meat that is recommended for a healthy diet, according to the book. "So come the fuck on, the last thing anybody needs is another book coming out telling you how to cook meat. Clearly you that shit on lock."

I've only had time to test out a couple recipes, but so far so delicious! I the best part is I don't feel bad eating any of it because it's all healthy. They have awesome recipes for breakfast, salads, sandwiches, soups, mini-meals, snacks, dinners, and dessert - they cover all the eating occasion bases.

If you're still on the fence about this book, Thug Kitchen's website has a recipe section, where you can make some of their tasty creations. The book has way more than what the website offers, though, with lots of nifty and helpful kitchen tips and tricks.

It's so much fun to take what you already know and put a fun twist on it - like cookies. [Storytime!] There was a huge sale on butter today, and as I was carry armfuls of butter back to my cart, an idea popped in my head to make shortbread. Crisp, buttery cookies that pair perfectly with tea on a cold day, and the days are getting cooooold. 

By the time I returned home, the original idea of simple, rectangular shortbread cookies morphed into little green ninja cookies laced with matcha green tea, ginger, and coconut. If you ask my husband, he can promise you that my brain is "special" (aka weird) and that this food idea morphing thing happens all the time. 

Well, I pranced (true story) into my kitchen to whip up an army of green ninja shortbread men, and the results were lightly crisp, buttery cookies with delicate flavors of green tea and ginger.  They taste AH-mazing, and I may or may not share them. After you eat one of these cookies, you might not either. 

Cool idea side note: Since these cookies are nice and green, you can use holiday cookie cutters to make Christmas wreathes or trees.

My delicious, culinary journey started at the tender age of 5. The beginning didn't involve making classic chocolate chip cookies, but a Jewish cookie that's a lot like biscotti - Mandel Bread. Oh yes, the memories of creating a a song from the recipe's ingredients and learning all the mixing and baking techniques from my grandparents are very fond to me. This cookie recipe was so ingrained in my brain that I once made the the dough by myself while my mother napped. She woke up to me tugging on her sleeve because my six-year old self couldn't reach the oven to start preheating it (plus she'd probably would have killed me for trying to operate it at such a young age).

Because many people don't know what the heck mandel bread is, I've always told people this cookie is biscotti's brother. This cookie has always been an enormous crowd pleaser with the coffee, tea, and milk drinkers, which is mostly everyone. It's lighter in texture than biscotti, and I used to dunk these cookies in milk because it made my milk taste like cinnamon toast crunch cereal. My family always makes these cookies as gift for the holidays, and this year I baked with the Mandel Bread Queen (aka my Grandma) to relive some of the best times of my childhood.