1. Pasta With Brown Butter Mushrooms
Jesse Szewczyk/BuzzFeed
This pasta recipe, from Alison Roman’s cook book, "Dining In," is super easy, super buttery, and loaded with savory mushrooms so it checks off all the boxes for a perfect dinner.
Cooking it is easy: You just boil some pasta and toss the noodles with mushrooms that have been cooked in brown butter until crisp. Garnish your bowl with some cheese and toasted buckwheat (not necessary but nice and crunchy), and finally top it all with an egg yolk. For those of you who are all like "EWW RAW EGGS" just leave it out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I ate this on the couch with my boyfriend, and we both agreed it was a recipe to keep around. — Jesse Szewczyk
Get the recipe here.
3. Vegan, Gluten-Free Protein Brownies
Paige On The Run / Via paigeontherun.com
My roommate is vegan and she also tries to cut gluten out of her diet. She loves to experiment with cooking and often asks me to try her new recipes. When she made me these vegan, gluten-free protein brownies a few months ago, I was skeptical if I would like them, but they tasted amazing!
This recipe calls for pumpkin purée, which I was skeptical of, but you could hardly taste it at all, thanks to the masking flavor of the cacao powder and almond butter.
IMO, the best part of this recipe is the avocado frosting. You sort of need to perfect it to get it to the right "frosting" consistency. I'd suggest using a thick nut-butter and just a bit of the liquid ingredients. The result is delicious though, and a bit lighter than sugar frosting.
Definitely let the brownies cool a bit before frosting and before eating — they tasted even better the next day! — Nichole Francois
Get the recipe here.
4. Vegan Corn and Cilantro Soup
Cates Holderness/BuzzFeed, Eat Healthy Eat Happy
A friend recently gave me four ears of corn and two perfectly ripe tomatoes, so I used them to make an incredible vegan corn and cilantro soup.
You can play around with the recipe depending on what you have on hand. I used a red bell pepper instead of a poblano pepper and soy milk instead of almond milk because that's what was in my kitchen. I also added a minced jalapeño for a little kick, used veggie broth instead of water, and skipped the agave/maple syrup because, honestly, I just forgot it.
The result was absolutely delicious — a little sweet, a little spicy, and possibly tasted even better the next day when I ate it chilled. It's a refreshing, healthy, low-cal, and gluten-free vegan recipe. It's also a wonderful way to get the most out of end-of-summer corn! — Cates Holderness
Get the recipe here.
6. Roasted Cauliflower Burrito Bowls
Pinch of Yum / Via pinchofyum.com
If you're looking for a healthier, cheaper alternative to Chipotle, this roasted cauliflower burrito bowl is the way to go. This bowl is actually vegan, but I don't miss the meat thanks to all of the flavors going on here.
The roasted cauliflower really stands out because you cook it with a generous amount of taco seasoning, and once it's roasted it gets nice and crispy on the outside. But my favorite part of this recipe is the fresh pico de gallo. It takes a while to chop up all the ingredients, so I always make twice as much as the recipe calls and save some for later.
These bowls are also very easy to customize, whether you're a vegetarian or you prefer meat. And it's also perfect for meal prepping. I usually get four bowls out of this recipe, so bringing some leftovers to work helps me cut down on my lunch expenses. — Ciera Velarde
Get the recipe here.
8. Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Bars
Kiano Moju / Via kianomoju.com
I know what you're thinking: Just a few days into fall and you're already experiencing pumpkin spice overload. But my love for the cooler weather and cheesecake keep me coming back to this recipe every year.
Made with sour cream, cream cheese, and butter, these bars are luscious and rich. By making the cheesecake into bars, it's such an easy make-ahead treat. Festive but not fussy, they're a perfect dessert for feeding a crowd during autumn get-togethers. — Kiano Moju
Get the recipe here.
9. Honey Lavender Sesame Toast
I Will Not Eat Oysters / Via iwillnoteatoysters.com
I came across this recipe in a coworker's round-up of fancy toasts and was immediately sold. I'm a big fan of culinary lavender, and I happened to have tahini on hand from a recent attempt at homemade hummus.
I love this recipe because it's so ridiculously easy (it's not that different from a PB, banana, and honey sandwich), but the slightly elevated ingredients make me feel like I actually tried. Also, the sweet and savory combo is extremely my sh*t. It works for any time of day. I've made it for both breakfast and for dinner and have loved it every time. — Rachel Wilkerson Miller
Get the recipe.
10. Linguine with Clam Sauce
Hannah Loewentheil/BuzzFeed
Every summer on Martha's Vineyard, my family has a tradition where we go clamming and then at night, we cook a big feast with whatever we catch. One of our go-to recipes is this linguine in clam sauce from Giada de Laurentiis (and don't worry, using store-bought clams still tastes absolutely delicious).
While linguine in clam sauce might seem fancy and difficult to make at home, it's actually very easy and comes together in about 40 minutes. You just simmer the clams in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, shallots, butter, and white wine until the shells open up. Make sure to get rid of any clams that don't open, because that means they're no good to eat. Then, add cooked pasta to the clams and broth and mix it all up.
Not only does this recipe always remind me of summertime, but it's an easy meal to make for a crowd, and it's always so delicious. — Hannah Loewentheil
Get the recipe.
11. Spicy Chocolate Chip–Hazelnut Cookies
@jesseszewczyk via Instagram / Via instagram.com
The first time I looked through Nik Sharma's new cookbook, Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, this recipe jumped out to me. As an avid cookie maker (AKA a chronic stress-baker who has a liking for quick, simple projects), I knew I had to try them.
The recipe itself is pretty wild. They're made with black pepper, crystalized ginger, hazelnut meal, and a whole bunch of other unusual ingredients. But the instructions are simple. Just mix everything together in a bowl — no creaming, whipping, or special mixing required — and let the dough chill for a while. As the cookies bake, they puff up and get that nice crackly top we all long for.
And most importantly, they taste great. I was nervous the cookies would be spicy or the ingredients overpowering, but they were absolutely delicious. Imagine a chewy chocolate chip cookie with little pops of ginger and a subtle heat that creeps in at the end. YUP, they're good.
Oh! Did I mention they're gluten-free? — Jesse Szewczyk
And here's the recipe:
Spicy Chocolate Chip–Hazelnut Cookies
Makes 12 cookies
INGREDIENTS
2 cups [165 g] hazelnut meal or flour
1 cup [200 g] packed jaggery or muscovado sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp hazelnut extract or vanilla extract
½ cup [75 g] chopped bittersweet chocolate [70% cacao]
¹/3 cup [55 g] chopped crystallized ginger
PREPARATION
In a large bowl, whisk together the hazelnut meal, jaggery, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper, and salt. Add the egg, melted butter, hazelnut extract, chocolate, and ginger and stir with a large wooden spoon until the dough comes together. Grease your hands with a little oil to prevent the dough from sticking. Divide the dough into twelve equal parts and shape them into balls. Flatten them into 2 in [5 cm] rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Wrap the entire baking sheet tightly in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, and preferably 2 hours.
To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and put half the rounds of dough on the second sheet. Spread out the rounds on both baking sheets and refrigerate one of them. Bake one batch of cookies at a time until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Reprinted from Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, by Nik Sharma with permission by Chronicle Books, 2018.
