Joy Wilson's Blog, page 117

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

I’ve never been one to fall into a fancy food category, whether by desire or dietary need.  I think there was a brief period in the early 00s when I was a vegetarian until I forgot due to chili cheese fries (really… that could happen to anyone).  I’m gluten-free only so far as the hard pretzels are concerned (because they’re definitely better than gluten-full pretzels).  I’m vegetarian until I want to put bacon in something, and vegan until I reach for the butter.

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Let It Be Sunday!

Hello, friends!  I’m pretty sure a flurry of things happened between last Monday and last Friday, but I couldn’t tell you exactly what.  It was a flurry of this and that, over here and over there.  All I know is, I’ve been craving a cheeseburger for the past 6 days and at some point I’m going to have to take that a reality.  That’s not all I know… I know a few more things.

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Classic Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk and Ginger Cookies

I’m trying to step outside of my kitchen box.  On my cooking to-do list I have things like faux ‘meat’balls made with lentils and ricotta (bear with me), an easy cassoulet (is that possible?), pad thai (at home, from scratch, not in a takeout container), and fresh spring rolls (can we put bacon in them, too?).

These cookies, with old-fashioned oats and loads of brown sugar are decidedly inside my kitchen box.

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Turmeric Tonic

There’s a tonic for every sort of body ache and brain-space.  Coffee is my tonic to activate my work-brain.  Pancakes are my tonic to honor a carb-heavy nap-ready morning.  Yoga is my tonic for breathing and clear-mindedness (or moments of it).  A cup of tea and a text to Tracy Shutterbean is my tonic for occasional anxiety.  Turmeric tea, when served in my favorite mug, is my tonic for inflammation and occasional body aches… the mug is important.

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The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner

Sometimes making dinner is an exercise in You’re Not Going To Beat Me, Monday.  Let’s acknowledge that it takes grit and fortitude to stand in the kitchen and hustle ingredients together at the end of a day.  Sure, we can easily categorize dinner as a nighttime necessity, but I prefer to think of it as radical self-care… because anything that isn’t popcorn or scrambled eggs is me really taking care of myself. 

This dinner is thoughtful in its ease and economy, making us very good at adults, if only for today.

Continue reading The Best Weeknight Chicken Dinner at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday!

Can I tell you something?  Two weeks ago, during a typically rainy New Orleans rainstorm, I was driving my car from not home to home, going down a pothole-y street because they’re all pothole-y streets here in New Orleans.  I drove through puddle that seems like a normal-sized puddle and not 6-foot deep middle-of-the-street-swimming-hole, and as my tire splashed through the giant puddle I totally splashed a wall of mud water onto the unsuspecting girl walking along the sidewalk.

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Our Winter Reading List

Hello, friends!  

Let’s talk about books.  

Winter reading is different from warm-weather Summertime reading.  Winter reading involves slippers, a hoodie jacket pulled well over our heads, and hopefully a hot toddy.  Winter words don’t flit about on beaches during Summer vacation.  I like a little more weight to the books I read in the cold weather, sometime that will match the heavy wool blanket I keep on my bed; the one that’s comforting despite how dang itchy it is.

Continue reading Our Winter Reading List at Joy the Baker.

Everybody’s Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to you, and you, and you over there, and your brother, and your brother’s son, and your sister’s cousin.  And your neighbor that just turned 30.  And your favorite blogger who turns 35 (huh!?) this year (that’s me).  And your fiancé, Happy Birthday to that human, too.  

I made us a go-to, vanilla buttermilk cake with the very best chocolate buttercream frosting.  (Proof that it’s the best chocolate buttercream provided here).

Continue reading Everybody’s Birthday Cake at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday!

Happy New Year, my friends! Are you feeling rested and fresh? Ready to dive into this next year with both feet?  I vote we go in cannonball style this year.   I have more I want to share with you...

Joy the Baker’s New Orleans Favorites

When people ask me how I like living in New Orleans I ask a question in return.  Have you ever been to New Orleans?  If you’ve been here, you have an idea of the strange, joyous, beautiful, gnarly magic.  In...