Good sleep, good books, and good food make an excellent January
Happy Friday, all, and I hope you're all having a good beginning to 2019! Here are a few things that have already made my year better.
I didn't used to be an eye mask person, but turning into one has improved my sleep a lot, and especially on airplanes. I had two very long flights home from Paris on New Years Day, and on both of them I immediately put my headphones on and turned on soothing ocean sounds, snapped my eye mask on my face, and slept for the bulk of both flights. I've tried a few, but the Bucky is my favorite one so far; it's inexpensive, sits over your eyes in a way that's comfortable for me, and comes in a bunch of colors, which I enjoy (and makes it easier to find than a black one). (And also it makes it easy to do one of these great under eye masks if you want to -- just put them on right before you put your eye mask on and it fits right over them).
The first book I read this year doesn't come out for a few months, but it's so fun I'm going to tell you all about it anyway so you can preorder it. It's called The Key to Happily Ever After, by Tif Marcelo, and it's so fun. It's about three sisters who run a wedding planning business together. I cannot tell you how much I love books about a) sisters, and b) wedding planning, and this book did both of those things so well. The conflicts between the sisters are so well done, and their romances are both lovely. Preorder this now, and give yourself a gift for April!
Last weekend I went away with some delightful friends, and I made this vegetable heavy stew for all of us, and it was such a warm and cozy thing to eat on a rainy night. The truth is, I only made it because I wanted to make them the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat focaccia, and wanted to think of something easy to make that would go along with it, and this was great. The only real hard part is chopping all of the squash, but once that's done, it's a breeze to put together. There are a bunch of different spices you could add to jazz this up (I tossed in some smoked paprika too, but there are so many things that would work) so have fun with it!
Butternut squash, white bean, and kale stew
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 4 or so cups)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
Salt
Red pepper flakes to taste
5-6 cloves garlic
2 15 ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed
3-4 cups vegetable broth (depending on how thick you want the stew)
3-4 cups chopped (or baby) kale
Parmesan or goat cheese (optional)
In a large pot, heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes, and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the butternut squash to the pot and stir until coated. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the beans and stir well, and then add the vegetable broth, along with more salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes, until the squash is cooked through. Either use an immersion blender to blend some of the stew together, remove a few cups to a blender and blend and add back in, or use a masher or whisk to mash some of the squash and beans for a while to make this creamier (I did the latter this time because I wanted a thicker stew and it worked great). Add the kale and stir until incorporated, and let simmer for a few more minutes to wilt it. Top with parmesan or goat cheese to taste.
Enjoy, and have a good weekend!
Jasmine
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