Cozy cooking, gift ideas, and a little Book 3 teaser
Happy almost December, friends, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Gift guides and best of the year lists are out there in earnest now, and I'm so thrilled that both The Wedding Date and The Proposal have been on some great lists, especially the NPR Book Concierge, Bustle's Best Fiction Books of the Year, and the fantastic gift guides from the women of Go Fug Yourself and Forever 35! I recommend many of the books on those book lists, and I covet many of the gifts on the gift lists, so go forth and shop for yourself and others!
Also, stay tuned...I'll have some more information for you soon about Book 3! (Hint: watch my Twitter/Instagram feeds next week).
As for gifts to buy other people (or yourself) here are two things I've bought for myself this year and am very grateful that I did. First, candles from Woodlot, which is a small company that makes great stuff. My favorite of their candles is Flora, but I've gotten others too and liked them a lot. I like the Flora so much that I ordered a new one literally the day my old one burned out. And as an aside, their customer service is so nice and friendly and makes me want to order from them even more. Second, because I was just recommending it to people this week, I have to talk about my Lo & Son's Catalina Deluxe Small Weekender, and I discovered it's on sale right now while looking up the link to give you guys! I bought this bag for all of my book related travel this spring and fall, and it was a godsend. It holds a ton, is comfortable to carry, even when it's packed full of stuff (ask me how I know), has enough structure and pockets to hold things well and to be able to find things inside it, and has a convenient slot on the side so you can slide it over a rolling bag handle instead of carrying it, AND the bottom of the slot zips up, so it can be just a normal side pocket for days you're using it alone. I managed two weeks on the East Coast this summer, and again a week on the East Coast this fall, with just it and a tiny rolling suitcase (and my trusty packing cubes that I've told you about before, also a fantastic gift for yourself or the traveler in your life!) (which are ALSO on sale right now, I just discovered!).
So as you all may have noticed, I didn't do much cooking this fall. Between working on Book 3, getting ready for the launch of THE PROPOSAL, and then doing the book launch and traveling for weeks, I didn't have the time or energy to do much more than get takeout or heat up something from the Trader Joe's frozen section. But now I'm home and it's prime cooking season and I'm so excited to have time to cook again! I have Julia Turshen's new cookbook, Now and Again, and it's such a well organized and useful cookbook -- get it for yourself or as a gift! There are a ton of great recipes, but my favorite thing about it is that at the end of each section, she has an "It's Me Again" part, where she talks about what to do with leftovers of all of the recipes to transform them into something else. I so appreciate that because I always have leftovers, but often don't want to eat the exact same thing for three days running, or I just have a small amount of leftovers, and I always wish I was industrious or creative enough to add stuff to them to make them something more, but never know quite what to do, but she tells you how to do it.
The below recipe, though, is not from that cookbook or any other, but is something that I made up this week, and know I will make a lot in the coming weeks. It was cold and rainy here this week, and I had a craving for a warm and spicy tomato sauce to eat over polenta, so I went straight from work to the grocery store and got a bunch of stuff to make it (in the process getting more polenta when I had an unopened bag of polenta in my pantry, but that's always the way), and I'm really happy with how this turned out. I used both Italian sausage and mushrooms in this, but if you are vegetarian you can leave out the sausage, and if you don't like mushrooms you can leave out the mushrooms, and it'll still be good. I wanted to throw in some arugula to add some greens to it, but the store was cleaned out of all of their lettuces because of the romaine scare, but I'll try that next time. All in all, it was easy to make, took about 45 minutes total, gave me the warm cozy feeling of chopping and stirring stuff with a glass of wine in my hand, which I love so much, and was a great meal on a rainy November night. (This made four servings for me, and can easily be increased or decreased as your group size or appetite calls for; it was great for leftovers the next day).
Spicy Tomato Sauce with Sausage and Mushrooms over Polenta
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
pinch red pepper flakes
3 spicy Italian sausages, sliced into rounds (you can also take the casings off and use chunks of sausage if you like that better)
10-15 mushrooms, washed, dried, and sliced
1/2 cup red wine
1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (you can use two of the same kind of tomatoes if you like, I liked the contrast with some chunky and some smooth)
Heat a dutch oven or heavy bottomed wide skillet to medium, and add plenty of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, carrot, and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables have softened (about five minutes). Add the sausage and turn the heat up a little; stir a few times so the sausage is browned a bit on all sides, then add the mushrooms, and cook until they've reduced some (probably about 5-10 minutes total). Toss in the red wine and stir to get up all of the crunchy bits from the bottom of the pan, and then add both cans of tomatoes and salt. Stir everything well until combined, and then reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer for 30 minutes or so while you make your polenta (or make your pasta, if you'd rather have this with pasta). Serve in bowls over polenta with Parmesan cheese on top.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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