Is this thing on?
Getting back in the substack saddle.
Hey, friends. Since I last emailed you, I’ve been busy rebuilding my freelance business. I wrote a beginner’s guide to Pilates for Peloton, an explainer on how to tell the difference between IBD and IBS for Woman’s World, and a deep dive into continuous glucose monitors for weight loss for Levels Health.
For Everyday Health, I explored the world of coffee creamers. I interviewed Barilla about when exactly you’re supposed to add salt to pasta cooking water and tracked down a potato scientist to investigate a TikTok food storage hack for AllRecipes.
One of the things I’ve been missing lately is recipe development and writing about home cooking. I have done a few projects that have to wait a while before I can share them with you. I created the vegan pumkin-spice moster cookies you see above for a magazine that will publish in the fall.
Reflecting on the last few months, I remembered that I created this newsletter to share my recipes and plant-based cooking discoveries with you. It’s always been a little bit of an experiment for me, but I’ve been feeling the impulse to jump-start it this spring. I’m noodling on a vegan colcannon recipe I’d like to share with you next week. So I can’t say whether this newsletter will return to it’s weekly cadence or become more of a once-a-month thing. If you have suggests or feedback please send it my way.
I’ll leave you with two recipe recommendations. I’m making both of these for friends this weekend, but I’ve already made these countless times:
For once, I agree with an over-the-top recipe title! It is the best vegan chili I ever made or tried. The secret is mashed tofu mixed with soy sauce (though I use Bragg’s liquid aminos here) and nutritional yeast baked until it becomes chewy and meaty. I also use beans cooked from dried and their broth instead of water, which probably contributes a lot. I think it would still be very good with canned beans, though.
Every corner of my recipe development brain was telling me that these gluten-free, refined-sugar-free, and vegan brownies could not possibly work. It was thinking about baked oatmeal that gave me the confidence to try. Baked oatmeal does become sliceable and bar-like, so I reasoned that the oat flour here might hold everything together, and it does.
My tips:
Don’t skimp on the toppings. You may want to fold some into the brownie batter and add some on top. I love walnuts and chocolate chips.
Don’t make this the day you want to serve it. Make it a day ahead. After a night in the fridge, it becomes much more sliceable.
Do make these brownies for the freezer. When I want a little dessert, I take one out of my freezer stash while making dinner. They freeze perfectly—the freezer might even improve their texture.
Do sprinkle them with a few flakes of sea salt—if you like that kind of thing.
I really do want to try that tofu preparation from the chili recipe - I trust that it's as good as you say! Tempeh in chili never really works for me.