A few years ago, I wrote about making homemade peanut butter. Unlike a few of my everything-from-scratch endeavors, such as oat milk (I just stopped drinking it!), I still buy ten pounds of peanuts at a time and make time for this messy task.

Peanut butter is just two ingredients, and the natural ones from the grocery store are just that, too. Making it at home is cheaper than buying it at the store, but I have to buy the peanuts online and meet a not-insignificant shipping minimum. Homemade peanut butter doesn’t have quite the same dramatic payoff as other from-scratch staples, like yogurt or bread, but when I was making a video on the subject, I realized it’s a from-scratch staple for me, for a few very good reasons.

Here’s why.

I don’t have to stir it

Natural peanut butter nuts know the pain of stirring a new jar. There is a “hack”: flip the peanut butter jar over the night before you want to open it, and gravity helps redistribute the oil. This helps a bit, but even with the hack, it still requires stirring.

Oil separation is totally normal and impossible to avoid, but it takes time. Since I make a quart of peanut butter at a time and go through it within weeks, it doesn’t have time to separate, and I never have to stir!

Darkly roasted peanut butter tastes better to me

When I was making the video, I bought a jar of grocery store peanut butter, and I was shocked by the color difference between the two products.

Raw peanuts are very vegetal, and roasting brings out their deep, nutty flavor. Roasting is necessary, and I’ve realized I prefer a darker roast than what my grocery store peanut butter offers. My version uses skin-on peanuts, which contribute to the darker color, but I was surprised by how different they taste, even though they are ostensibly the same ingredients.

I love peanut butter!

I think that with any and all homemade, from-scratch foods, you have to prioritize the foods you love and care about, because most of us don’t have the time to make everything from scratch. I rarely eat jam or jelly, so I don’t make it.

I eat peanut butter all the time, though, by the spoonful for a little protein kick, on toasted bread for an easy breakfast, and in the always-perfect snack of an apple and peanut butter. Along with bread, crackers, beans, and yogurt, peanut butter is a priority on my list right now in this season of life.

Bookmark the written instructions here. Or, watch the full video below to learn where I source peanuts, how to make crunchy peanut butter, and how I use peanut butter in meals.

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Instead, every week we get a box of fresh produce. From June to November, it comes via our CSA, 607CSA. We get one day’s notice of what’s in the box, but otherwise we get what we get, and we don’t throw a fit! For the rest of the year, we get a CSA-style produce box from Farm to People as part of our weekly-ish deliveries. I can preview what’s in the box and then add more fruits and vegetables to the order, but I rarely have a list of recipes or meals planned for this produce.

We can turn this produce into meals without a plan because I keep a diverse, well-stocked pantry.

In upcoming newsletters, I’ll share what we keep in our freezer and dry-goods pantry shelves, but today we’ll start with the fresh pantry—the perishable staples I always have so we can make simple, recipe-less meals any day of the week. For simplicity’s sake, I’m including perishables I store at room temperature (like onions and garlic) and items stored in the refrigerator. We’ll also talk condiments at a later juncture (there’s so much to cover!).

Note: I try to buy only in-season, organic, and local, so most of these staples are cured storage crops—garlic, onions, and potatoes—the sort of things that aren’t seasonal in the sense of being picked last week, but are locally grown and preserved by curing. I also throw in some imported staples like limes and lemons, though over time I’ve tried to buy them less off-season and instead rely on shelf-stable replacements like specialty vinegars. More on this below!

This is what I buy and why.

Onions

My go-to onion is a yellow onion—versatile and simple. I buy organic and local, mostly from Farm To People, Chicky’s, and the farmer’s market, and only from the grocery store in a real pinch. I store them stacked in a bowl on the countertop.

When available, I also throw in shallots and use them interchangeably with yellow onions. Occasionally, we’ll receive red onions, leeks, or scallions in a produce box, and I’ll use them in recipes that call for an onion.

Garlic

I buy organic garlic again from Farm to People or Precycle. If I spot it, I like to buy purple stripe garlic for its flavor and color. I keep garlic on the countertop in a beautiful handmade wooden bowl.

In June and July, we get a lot of garlic scapes in our CSA, and I use them (finely sliced) just like garlic cloves. This time of year, we also get fresh, uncured garlic heads, and I’ll store them in the fridge before using them. Such a treat!

This newsletter contains affiliate links—meaning I may earn a small commission from items you buy, at no cost to you. All opinions are my own!

Sweet potatoes

We love sweet potatoes, and they stay good at room temperature forever.

This Carla Lalli recipe converted me to steamed sweet potatoes. For years, I made them in the microwave (prick all over with a fork, microwave for 5 to 8 minutes depending on the size, then wrap in aluminum foil for 10 minutes), but we bought a steamer basket (Crate & Barrel, Amazon) and now steam them on the stovetop. Steamed sweet potatoes are also easy to meal prep; bring them back to life by searing and caramelizing in a cast-iron skillet!

Cilantro

Cilantro is the only soft herb I buy year-round, and I opt for organic when I can find it. I store it, unwashed, in a couple of inches of water in a reused glass jar, covered with a reused plastic bag. This lasts about two weeks. I cut off the top and wash as I go!

Cilantro stems are perfectly edible (just slightly stringy/poky), so if I turn it into a sauce, I use the lightly trimmed stems.

If you’re in the NYC area and would like to try Farm to People, use my code KARA59 for $25 off your first order.

Lemons

Obviously we don’t have locally grown lemons and limes, but I try to buy ones imported from California. Again, organic.

If I had a deep freezer, I would probably buy a huge box of lemons during citrus season and freeze the juice and zest in bulk. One day.

In lieu of lemons, I swap with either preserved lemon paste OR a lighter vinegar like a champagne vinegar.

Limes

We eat a lot of Mexican food, and I love squeezing limes on tacos, white rice, and on dal. I buy organic from Precycle or Farm to People.

Milk

I buy whole, creamline, unhomogenized milk for making yogurt, and I use the top few creamy inches as half-and-half in my drip coffee. I won’t drink raw milk, but unhomogenized pasteurized milk is the safest, least-processed way to consume it.

This year I’m getting organic A2/A2 milk by Family Farmstead via the CSA, and I’m decidedly hooked on it! A2 milk comes from cows that produce a specific protein, and some people find it easier to digest. I come from a line of Dutch dairy farmers—I 100% have the lactose gene, but it could be worth trying if you have a tough time digesting dairy.

Yogurt

I always have homemade yogurt in the refrigerator, made with the milk above.

Eggs

This time of year, I get farm-fresh eggs from our CSA; they come from either Dragonfly Pond Farm or Lehrer Farms. The rest of the year, I get them from Farm to People or Precycle. I won’t buy eggs from the grocery store!

Cheddar cheese

This year I’ve been getting cheddar cheese from Family Farmstead (the same dairy as the milk). The rest of the year, I buy Tillamook, Cracker Barrel, or Cabot cheddar cheese, but only when it’s on sale at my local grocery store. When it is, I stock up since unopened cheese lasts a long time. I use it for grilled cheese or quesadillas.

(Every time I go to our local grocery store, I do a sweep to see if tofu, cheddar cheese, butter, and De Cecco pasta are on sale that week, and I only buy them if they are—I used to also check for coffee beans from any acceptable brand, but coffee hasn’t gone on sale for years, it seems like!)

Pecorino

I buy Pecorino instead of Parmesan or Parmigiano because it’s typically more cost-effective. I buy it from Farm to People.

Butter

I buy unsalted butter for baking at the grocery store, but only when it’s on sale. I usually opt for Breakstones or Cabot, and store backups in the freezer.

I’m still trying to find my go-to, soft salted butter that I store at room temperature. These are the fancier, European-style butters where quality really matters. So far I think my favorite is either Frentel or Vermont Creamery’s cultured butter.

Tortillas

I have egg tacos for breakfast about three days a week. The very best flour tortillas are from Caramelo, which I buy in bulk online. I keep them stored in the freezer, but I always have a thawed bag in the refrigerator.

Sauerkraut or kimchi

I typically have a half gallon of homemade kimchi in the refrigerator, and keep sauerkraut by Real Pickles and white kimchi from Kimchi Kooks in rotation as well.

Watch me make kimchi in this video:

Tofu

I’ll write about our favorite shelf-stable tofu in a future entry, but I typically buy tofu from Precycle (packaged plastic-free, by Ithaca Soy) or Fresh Tofu Inc from Farm to People.

I only buy grocery store tofu when it’s on sale. Our grocery store sells the organic for the same price as conventional when it’s on sale, so I always opt for it. I’ll buy either House Foods or Nasoya; I can’t really taste the difference. I’ll buy a mix of firm, extrafirm, and soft tofu and use them all slightly differently. If you’re a tofu virgin, I’d highly recommend my Tofu Rice Bowl recipe. I still make it once a week!

Every time I’m in Chinatown, I buy fresh tofu from Fong On. Fresh tofu, if you can get access to it, is life-changing. To store it, you’ll want to use it within one week, and swap the water out once a day. I find that it fits perfectly into a Weck 743 jar (Grove, Amazon).

Soy sauce

We use low-sodium soy sauce in our cooking all the time. I buy it from Precycle when in stock or the Wan Ja Shan brand from Farm to People.

Sort of seasonal

Arugula

This time of year, I am not buying any additional greens as we get so many in our CSA, but in the winter, I add a box of organic washed arugula, my favorite salad green, to every Farm to People order.

Avocado

I don’t buy avocados every week, but at least once a month I’ll add 5 or so to the Farm to People order as a little treat.

Apples

My husband is an apple fiend, and living in the Northeast, it’s the most accessible and available local fruit. With the exception of April to June, when last year’s stored apples start to soften, I add 4 or 5 to our weekly orders.

What do you keep in your fresh pantry? Anything in mine that’s surprising or missing?

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Out of New York

Skylar and I went to Northern Idaho mid-month to meet up with my sister, her family, and my parents. We stayed in the Sandpoint area, mostly to visit the Silverwood Theme Park with the kids. We rented a gorgeous house on a former yoga retreat property in Sagle and had a magical day at one of the many bays on t…

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I’ve mostly accepted our north-facing backyard and the hundred-year-old trees, fences, and 3-story brownstones that compete to shade out every vegetable I plant. Gardening for sustenance beyond a few fistfuls of herbs and Sungold tomatoes is just a pipe dream—one I’ve now merged with a fantasy of a second home in Montana…

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Sweet corn. Strawberries. Asparagus. Tomatoes, of course. They taste better, or best, I’d go as far as to say, fresh and in-season.

I received a big bunch of mint in my grocery order last week, and I could smell its fragrance as soon as I opened the returnable zippered bag. When was the last time you could smell the herbs from a grocery store clamshell?

Except for cilantro—how could I live without it—I have now relegated soft herbs, along with strawberries and tomatoes, to seasonal treats, consumed only in late spring and summer. I no longer bother with the sad wintertime clamshells from the grocery store. $3 or $4 for five stems of the mediocre simulacrum of an herb. In a big bunch, packaging-free, and ideally from the farmers’ market or backyard garden—this is how herbs should be eaten.

Below is a recipe for a herby vegetarian sandwich I’ve been obsessed with recently. Easy to eat, fast to prepare, and a big flavor payoff! Made substantial enough as a vegetarian sandwich with halloumi, the grilled cheese gives off a sweet bacon effect.

Recipe: Herby Halloumi Sandwich

I think this sandwich is best on a whole-wheat sandwich loaf; three slices of halloumi fit perfectly, and the wheatiness gives a hippie feel. I recipe-tested with slices from ACQ Bread Co. and Brooklyn Granary & Mill—loaves I would wholeheartedly recommend!

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We’re also doing The Artist’s Way! We started on Monday, and it’s not too late to join. More information here.

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Here’s what I’ve tried recently.

This newsletter contains affiliate links—meaning I may earn a small commission from items you buy, at no cost to you. All opinions are my own!

🟢 Row 7 Upstate Abundance potatoes

Row 7 is a very cool seed company that is now venturing into tinned and fresh produce. I’ve planted Row 7’s Centercut squash in my garden, and purchased Midnight Roma tomatoes from Farm To People, so it’s been fun to see their produce IRL at Whole Foods in the Northeast!

Though I couldn’t quite justify the cost of a small $$$ tin of beets, I was excited to try the Upstate Abundance potatoes. These are really wonderful little potatoes—buttery and light. I will definitely grab them anytime I’m in Whole Foods. And if you’re a gardener, it might be worth picking these up as seed potatoes!

🟢 Upton’s Naturals chorizo seitan

I don’t buy many plant-based convenience foods—mostly because of the plastic waste and ultra-processed ingredients—but I’m full in on Upton’s Naturals chorizo seitan ($7). It cooks on the stove in 5 minutes, comes pre-seasoned, and uses great, whole-food ingredients. I’ve been eating it on tacos and rice bowls.

They are a Chicago-based company and seem to be in grocery stores across the country. I’ve found the chorizo seitan at Farm to People and Whole Foods.

If you’re in the NYC area and would like to try Farm to People, use my code KARA59 for $25 off your first order.

🔴 Zoup no-chicken vegan broth concentrate

I found this at the grocery store while I was looking for Better Than Bouillon’s vegan no-chicken base ($7).

I was wary of the pea protein, but it’s not like BTB isn’t an ultra-processed food either. The soup base was disappointing and bland, and I wished I had just used BTB veggie broth base! I have a jar of this in my fridge, though, so I’ll have to put it to use in a Project Pantry. Freezer soup?

🟢 Umami Insider wasabi roasted sesame seeds

I stumbled upon this online boutique, Little King, one night, and was so impressed by the curation, which included many brands I hadn’t seen before. I tried a variety of products, like Medicube eye cream ($26) and this beautiful hand-carved spoon ($32). (You can visit Little King’s brick-and-mortar store in Beacon, NY!)

I also grabbed these wasabi roasted sesame seeds ($9). They are amazing over rice or noodles! I don’t love the additives in them, but as an occasional treat, they are great.

🟢 Ghia blood orange spritz

Ghia sent me their blood orange spritzes to try last Christmas. Jane from Silky Crunch and I did a taste test of a bunch of canned NA cocktails (we need to finish our post!), and I think this blood orange Ghia was my favorite.

I drink alcohol, but much to my chagrin, Aperol Spritzes make me feel sick (the combo of sugar and champagne, I think), so I will be relying on the blood orange Ghia ($60 for 12) as a way to get my spritzy fix this summer.

🟢 Brooklyn Delhi tomato achaar

I found this at Precycle, I think. I’ve been putting this fabulous tomato-chili sauce ($12) on breakfast sandwiches, grilled cheese, and rice bowls, but let me know if you have any other ideas on what it’d be great on!

Use code KARAHAUPT for 10% off your order at Precycle.

Any foods you’ve been seeing around that you’d like me to try? Leave it in the comments.

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Paid subscribers: Find a coupon code for $25 off in the header of this email.

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One of my favorite things to hear is that Home Food has inspired someone to change how they eat. I love learning that people eat less meat or have started composting, and I’m especially charmed when someone tells me they’ve joined a CSA.

CSA stands for community-supported agriculture, and it’s a model in which a farm or a group of farms sells seasonal shares of produce. Typically, you pay for your shares in advance, which allows farmers to invest in the infrastructure needed for the season. Most CSA models are now more flexible than the CSA shares of yore—some offer half-shares, pay-as-you-go options, and even front-door delivery!

I’m in 607 CSA, and we get weekly produce boxes from June to November. I supplement with other produce from the farmers’ market and farmstand, but for the most part, I put my Farm to People orders to bed for the season, and get really serious about eating through our CSA box each week. In addition to the produce, we add farm-fresh eggs, cheese, and creamline milk (for making yogurt).

This is the first in a series on my sustainable pantry—how I decide what to eat, and how I shop for groceries. A big part of my yearly pantry calculation is the CSA. And with this era’s economic volatility and the ever-burgeoning climate crisis, this might be the year to join a CSA.

Here’s why.

It is one way to create food security

As Trump and Israel’s war in Iran rages, oil prices will continue to surge globally. The price of fuel, of course, affects the “last-mile” that makes the U.S.’s import-reliant food get from its point of origin to your local grocery store, but beyond transport, it will have long-term effects at the grocery store.

Conventional agriculture (i.e., modern, non-organic farming) is heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers, most of which are derived from fossil fuels (!).

Most CSAs, though, follow organic farming practices and don’t need these costly (and soil, air, and water-polluting) inputs. Because their products are produced locally, the cost of getting the food from the farm to you is reduced, too. And since the model is structured as a one-time investment, you can “lock in” months of affordable, high-quality groceries at a set price.

It is the best way to get affordable and high-quality organic food without a garden

from The Dinner Plan asked me and a few others how we are saving money on food.

Mine was, of course, about joining a CSA!

“I personally prioritize organic whole foods and local produce, and I think some people assume you have to rely on expensive grocers or farmers’ markets to eat this way. However, farm share CSAs are surprisingly affordable for the quality of food they provide. My spouse and I are members of The 607 CSA here in NYC—we pay $38 per week for 7 to 10 vegetables from May to November. It has changed how I cook and eat. Since I budget for the CSA’s upfront cost at the beginning of the year, it takes the monthly pressure off some groceries for half the year. I appreciate, too, that my money goes directly to farmers and that I am supporting regenerative agriculture practices in my region.”

607 CSA offers a sliding scale payment structure, and some CSAs even accept EBT.

It will transform how you cook and eat throughout the whole year

The CSA has introduced me to vegetables I would never find at a grocery store. Have you ever had garlic scapes? Or mustard greens? Or fresh nettles? I used to be intimidated by things like garlic scapes or fennel, and now it’s a thrill to get some in our box.

Every summer, too, I’m confronted with fruits and vegetables I would probably not choose for myself. Learning to cook with these less-favored (to me!) veggies—like beets and kale—has made me a better, more creative cook and diversified my diet.

Beyond CSA season, I now eat seasonally year-round, informed by newfound knowledge of how vegetables should taste. November strawberries and tomatoes simply won’t do.

It can reduce decision fatigue

When we started getting the CSA, I stopped meal planning. I hadn’t realized how relieving this would be for me, and it also reduced the decisions I would have to make while grocery shopping every week. What we get in the box is what we get, and I don’t have to think or plan beyond picking it up.

The thing, too, with high-quality, fresh vegetables… You don’t really have to do much to make them taste great. Simple preparation is all they need—no need for complex, planned-out recipes.

Where to find a local CSA?

The directory site Local Harvest is excellent for this—you can filter by CSAs. I would also recommend searching for “CSA” or “CSA pickup” on Google Maps and asking around in neighborhood/town Facebook groups!

Do you have a local CSA? Leave your general location and CSA in the comments.

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One last thing

I loved this PBS documentary on Choy Division, a CSA in upstate New York that grows and distributes East Asian vegetables.

There are two sessions available, one on Thursday, April 23, at 11 AM ET, and one on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at 6:30 PM ET. Both online sessions will be live and hosted on Google Meet.

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I’ll save the details for an upcoming Saltine post, but I’ve been working to understand this newsletter and its paid offering since I left my job and started offering paid subscriptions.

Namely: What’s Home Food’s value proposition? What do readers want in 2026? How do I make the effort I put into it worthwhile for myself and for subscribers?

To better answer these questions, I am going to experiment with a different publishing structure for both of my newsletters.

Between Home Food and Saltine, I will now publish once a week.

This will return Home Food to an every-other-week publishing schedule, which is what I did before the newsletter went paid, and readers seemed to like. This will allow me to publish the in-depth research and writing I want to do, continue publishing the show on YouTube, and give Saltine, my other newsletter, the attention it also deserves.

Another big change is that posts older than one month will be paywalled, so if you want access to the full archive, please subscribe!

I am also changing yearly subscriptions to $35/year. That’s now less than $3/month! Yearly subscribers get full access to both Home Food and Saltine.

Subscribe now

Current paid subscribers:

• I am extending yearly subscriptions automatically to make up for the reduced publishing volume.

  • Older subscribers will get 6 months free.

  • Newer subscribers will get 9 months free.

• For monthly subscribers, I have automatically added one complimentary month.

Thank you so much for being here! I have a lot of fresh ideas and plans for the newsletter. If you have any opinions on Home Food, or just really like taking surveys, I’d love your input:

Home Food Survey

Did you notice the new Home Food banner by Seb Agresti?

I first worked with Seb when I was an art director at The New Yorker (nearly 10 years ago now!), and no one was a better fit to execute on the look and feel of Home Food.

The inspiration was antique table-setting diagrams and the traditional, from-scratch foods that make up my kitchen. What do you think?

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ICYMI

On YouTube, I did another Project Pantry. I made black chickpeas (ceci niri) in the Instant Pot, amaranth on the stovetop, pomegranate molasses tofu from Big Vegan Flavor, sourdough discard crackers, and easy stovetop popcorn.

And then when I came back from Palm Springs, I did a pantry reset. I made tortillas, picked up bread from my favorite bakery in NYC, removed adhesive from recycled jars, processed four pounds of dates I bought in California, and oiled my cutting board!

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The main reason is that it’s owned by Cargill, an industrial food mega-corp.

I cook now with Trapani Sale di Gucciardo Vincenzo, a $5 bag of salt that I pick up from local-to-me Italian bakery, Saraghina.

I like cooking with this salt for a few reasons.

It’s relatively fine and easy to distribute evenly over food. Its high moisture content, too, causes it to sort of clump together—making it easy to pinch and sprinkle.

The other reason, the main one, is a little woo-woo, but cooking with this salt makes me think of the sea.

The sea salt is farmed on a saltwork in Trapani, Sicily. I haven’t been to the saltwork, which dates to 1540, though I would love to. I’ve been near there, though, and when I pinch it, I remember the drive into Palermo from the airport, where our hired driver first stood with a dry-erase board, labeled with a charming typo of my last name. It seemed rude to snap a photo, so the memory of it suits me just as well: Haput.

I was instructed to sit in the front seat—he was determined to have a conversation, and we stumbled through enough Italian together to agree that the mountains lining the drive were, indeed, very beautiful.

I’ve been trying to package what defines my ethos around food sourcing and home cooking, and though I still struggle to pin it down, it always goes back to the ingredient and its place.

While some of my market and pantry choices are defined by who owns what and what isn’t in the food, what made me nix the agribusiness salt wasn’t just that.

I eat oysters, I taste the sea. I pick up my CSA, and with one dinner, I am connected to the ancient fertile valleys of New York’s Catskills. I pinch this salt, and I think about those Sicilian days—the funny conversations, the sea breeze, the new-to-me flavors.

Cooking this way, eating this way, it can be a lot of effort, but when I frame it in this way, I don’t think about any of that. I think about other people, and I think about the sea. Agriculture.

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This newsletter contains affiliate links—meaning I may earn a small commission from items you buy, at no cost to you. All opinions are my own!

I buy my Sicilian salt from Saraghina Bakery. It’s also available in the U.S. from online Italian grocer, Gustiamo.

I still have a jar of Diamond Crystal in my kitchen. I keep it for baking or fermentation recipes that call for it specifically—recipes where I can’t taste as I go. I hope to go many years without needing to replace it.

For most of my baking, I use Redmond Real, a sea salt mined from an ancient seabed in Utah. It’s super fine and great for even distribution. It’s becoming more mainstream and easier to find at major grocery stores, like Whole Foods or Thrive Market.

🍷 New York City, baby

My friends Eric and Chelsea came over on a Friday night to watch the Olympics.

We ordered Ler Lers in, and I got the Massaman curry. So good. Eric came bearing gifts. He picked up this amazing dried mango from the Brooklyn Museum’s gift shop. I didn’t know dried mango could tast…

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I don’t have the sweetest of sweet tooths. I’m sensitive to sugary confections and have been known to scrape frosting off cake. The sugar high makes me feel immediately blah, and I want to brush the sugary fuzz from my teeth as quickly as possible.

In moderation, though, I love sweetness. I like to play it up with sugary vegetables, like maple syrup on a…

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I’ve written before about why and how I don’t meal prep, but this isn’t traditional meal prepping. I don’t love two+ day leftovers, nor do I like eating the same thing for more than two meals. I try to cook enough for dinner for the next day, and I still do Grain Sunday™.

But somewhere in between daily from-scratch cooking and full-on portioned meals in Tupperware, I’ve come around to a middle-of-the-road ingredient prep, like the one I did on this day. It gives me enough prepared meal components and cleaned produce to make healthy, whole-food meals for about five days, without the dread of three-day-old leftovers.

On this day, I:

• Juiced a grapefruit for seltzer

• Chopped and parboiled potatoes

• Cleaned and sliced scallions

• Cleaned and chopped raw beets

• Cleaned and cut up half of a large Napa cabbage head

• Made a cabbage salad (Yamitsuki) with the other half

• Roasted and seasoned pieces of a Carnival squash

• On the same sheet pan, roasted a butternut squash, which I pureed and froze

• While the oven was on, I made Hammered Mushrooms

• Made a spinach basil pesto in the food processor

• Sliced and froze pita from a bakery

Here’s how I turned that into about 5 days of meals.

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Friday dinner:

I left one pita out and used it to make a pita pocket sandwich with the spinach pesto, Hammered Mushrooms, and roasted and seasoned Carnival squash. I want to make my own pita soon! This was such a convenient way to eat a “sandwich” with small components. Do you have a favorite pita recipe?

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This newsletter contains affiliate links—meaning I may earn a small commission from items you buy, at no cost to you. All opinions are my own!

Saturday breakfast:

I tossed the pre-cooked potatoes in olive oil, salt, and Berbere ($10), and crisped them up in the cast iron on the stove. I pulled the potatoes to the side and fried an egg in there, and then ate some of the Yamitsuki cabbage salad on the side.

This morning, I went to Rita & Maria for a bit, and then popped into Saraghina Bakery. I got their sunflower-and-sesame seed loaf, which I sliced and stored in the fridge.

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I made a list of the meals I keep returning to, organized by the main groups in my whole-food and vegetarian diet, such as tofu, beans, vegetables, and pasta. This list emphasizes pantry items, mostly shelf-stable, including hardy or cured vegetables—the squashes, cabbages, and root vegetables that comprise most of my locally-sourced diet here in the Northeast U.S.

I’ve made my list available as a handy printable download, complete with a QR code linking directly here to the recipes. I left blank spaces throughout the design for you to write in.

You can download that here:

Home Food Pantry Dinner Ideas

37.5KB ∙ PDF file

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My next newsletter will be a deep dive into my pantry—where and how I source every pantry ingredient in my kitchen. You don’t want to miss it!

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Beans

Potato, leek, and white bean soup
Cauliflower oven nachos can be substituted with frozen cauliflower rice and home-cooked beans
Baked rajma can be substituted with brown rice and white or other red beans
Italian baked beans with red sauce follow the rajma recipe, but use white beans and Italian herbs and spices
Bulgur tomato soup can be substituted with quinoa, add white beans for additional protein
Bean burgers with homemade buns can be substituted with sourdough and/or hemp seeds for breadcrumbs
Pizza with white beans
Chickpea feta salad

Lentils

Dal tadka with white rice or homemade naan, can be substituted with red lentils
Red lentil and squash soup with za’atar croutons or white rice
Lentil and zucchini soup with white rice

Tofu

Tofu rice bowl can be substituted with brown rice
Soft chili oil tofu with white rice and steamed or sauteed Asian greens
Pickle brine tofu with roasted vegetables or mashed potatoes
Thai braised tofu with braised cabbage and white rice
Baked tofu with roasted vegetables, farro, or risotto

Tempeh

Tempeh tacos on good tortillas, with homemade refried beans and roasted vegetables
Marinated tempeh sandwiches on a baguette or sourdough, with mayo, cheese, and lettuce

Vegetables

Roasted beet tacos on good tortillas, can also be served on rice bowls
Winter white salad with herby farro
Instant Pot carrot risotto serve with oven-roasted tofu

Pasta and noodles

Ginger scallion ramen with crumbled tofu or roasted cashews
Spicy rigatoni with a green salad
Cauliflower sauce spaghetti can be substituted with frozen cauliflower rice
Miso pasta with a green salad, parmesan can be substituted with nutritional yeast
Sheet pan broccoli pasta much improved with sourdough bread crumbs
Gnocchi with Brussels sprouts

Low or no effort

Grilled cheese with sauerkraut or kimchi
Bean and cheese quesadillas on good tortillas, with cabbage salad
Egg tacos on good tortillas, with avocado and/or beans on the side
Fried egg on tortilla chips with cabbage salad
Egg salad sandwiches on sourdough
Protein powder smoothie with peanut butter toast

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There are a hundred correct ways to cook beans. To soak, or not to soak… To sauté, or not to sauté the aromatics. When to add salt, whether to use baking soda in soaking water, and whether seaweed makes them bitter? There are the Instant Pot, oven methods, special clay pots, and even at-home pressure canning. Factors like hard water and high altitude can complicate the most traditional of advice. In the end, IMO, it all pretty much works.

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There are a hundred correct ways to cook beans. Here is mine.

Home Food Bean Printable

87.2KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

I soak beans in room-temperature water with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar for anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. I don’t discriminate—I soak store-bought beans of unknown harvest date and heirloom Rancho Gordo beans harvested just a few months ago. Soaking dried beans isn’t strictly necessary, but I notice a clear difference in the digestive effects of beans I cook this way and those of unsoaked beans. Sure, some digestive effects could be due to not eating much fiber and then suddenly introducing high-fiber beans. That might be true, but as someone who eats a whole-food, high-fiber diet, I’ve still felt the digestive effects of unsoaked beans. Soaking also reduces cooking time, which is practical if you have a gas stove or are trying to save on utility bills. But you don’t have to soak beans. Maybe you’re more resilient to phytic acid, or have a different stomach. You do you.

I soak a pound of beans, rinse them, and cook them on the stovetop in a 5-quart Dutch oven with fresh water. I add my aromatics directly to the water, but some people like to sauté the garlic and onion first, and then add the beans and water. I should probably do this, but I don’t. It’s fine.

I add a head of organic garlic that I’ve peeled several layers from and fully trimmed the dirty roots off. I do the same with an onion. Sometimes I use a whole onion, sometimes half. I’ve used shallots, leeks, and even red onions. I always include a bay leaf and a dried pepper, like a Thai chili or a Mexican chile, when I’m cooking Mexican beans. You can add whole peppercorns, fresh or dried herbs such as thyme or parsley.

I bring the pot to a hard boil for 10 to 15 minutes. If a bean is described as thin-skinned, I go closer to 10, but most beans can handle 15 minutes. Once the hard boil is over, I turn the stovetop to the lowest setting and let it simmer until the beans are cooked through. I keep the lid off my beans because my stovetop runs hot. Your mileage may vary, and an offset lid might keep your simmer just right. I like to cook them at the gentlest of simmers. Low and slow, baby.

During the boil, some dirty-looking foam might rise to the top. I skim this off with a spoon. After I do that, I add salt and olive oil. Oftentimes, the cooking water will evaporate, in which case you add hot water from a tea kettle. The beans need to be entirely underwater while they cook.

How long will it take? It depends on the bean. Chickpeas will take forever, while others might take a surprising one hour, but two to three hours is usually consistent. Beans always take longer than I think they should—except when they don’t, and I end up overcooking them. But better an overcooked bean than an undercooked bean.

To determine the bean’s doneness, cut or bite a bean open. If there is white in the bean, they need longer. Sometimes all the white is gone, and this is when you taste them. Are they soft and delicious? Great, they are done. Are they soft but still a little chalky tasting? They need longer. Don’t swallow an uncooked bean, btw. Before you call them done, try a few to make sure they are consistently cooked through.

To store the beans, I transfer the beans and their cooking liquid to glass containers. YouTube viewers will know I’m obsessed with the Weck 743 jars. I freeze half the beans and store the rest in the refrigerator. If you freeze in glass, you must freeze in containers without shoulders and leave an inch of headspace at the top of the jar. Cool the beans in the fridge first, then move them to the freezer the next day. I label and date them with a piece of colorful tape and a Sharpie.

Beans stay good for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Anything beyond that is not advisable, and you’ll notice a stench.

I designed a cute little printable, with a truncated version of my method for cooking beans, which you can download for free here!

Home Food Bean Printable

87.2KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

If you need a last-minute Christmas gift, might I suggest the bean printable, with a bag of beans, an aromatic bundle, and a beautiful East Fork bowl?

See more in my latest YouTube video.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I’ll see you in the new year.

This newsletter contains affiliate links—meaning I may earn a small commission from items you buy, at no cost to you. All opinions are my own!

Leave a comment

ICYMI