Here’s what our editors and writers are making in their own kitchens.
Zoë Burnett / BuzzFeed
Lentil and Sausage Soup With Kale
When it gets cold outside, I want exactly one thing: hearty, filling soup. With lots of protein, so I don't just feel hungry again two hours after eating. And with plenty of veggies, because if I'm making a big pot of soup, I'm not about to make so much as a side salad. Oh, and I don't want to spend more than an hour in front of the stove. This soup delivers on all counts.
I made one modification, right off the bat, because I'm just not a big chicken sausage fan: I substituted a pound of Italian sausage, half sweet, half spicy. I got that nice and brown in the pot first, then set aside on my cutting board. That made it easy to skip the bacon grease in favor of the sausage grease already in the pot; I just added a bit of olive oil to cook the aromatics. I followed the rest of the recipe as is, but that's really just dumping a few things into the pot. I added the sausage back to the soup about halfway through the 15-minute simmer, so its flavor could ~infuse~ the rest of the soup.
Just a single dirty pot and cutting board later, I dug in to my lentil-and-sausage-packed masterpiece, and had leftovers to spare for part of the week — plus a couple bowls worth to pop in the freezer for later. Not bad for 45 minutes of work. —Natalie Brown
Get the recipe here.
James Ransom / food52.com
Scrambled Eggs
Eggs are a tricky thing. Everyone cooks them but few people cook them really well. In an effort to truly become a master at cooking eggs, I've recently been experimenting with different egg recipes. When it came to scrambled eggs, I decided to try Gordon Ramsay's much-loved method. It's the subject of a viral video on YouTube and has even been selected as the best scrambled eggs recipe by my coworker Jesse.
I wanted to see 1) if they were really that great and 2) if a laywoman like me could easily make them. The answer to both questions is a resounding YES. The method, which involves taking your eggs on and off the stovetop every 30 seconds while constantly stirring, sounds tedious, but it really isn't once you're in the thick of it. And the crème fraîche addition at the end is the perfect way to get the creamiest eggs of your life. (If you don't have/can't find crème fraîche, heavy cream will work just fine.) —Marie Telling
Get the recipe here.
Marie Telling / BuzzFeed
Grilled Eggplant Parmesan Stacks
I LOVE eggplant and I'm always looking for new ways to make it. And while eggplant parmesan is one of my favorite meals to order at a restaurant, it always feels a little bit too intensive to make at home.
So, since I've discovered these healthy baked eggplant stacks on a blog called Flavor the Moments, I've been hooked. I like to add roasted tomatoes and zucchini to the eggplant stacks to give them a little more substance. Once you assemble the eggplant, tomato, and mozzarella stacks, you can make them a bit more like eggplant parm by covering them in a layer of marinara sauce and a sprinkle of breadcrumbs, and then letting them bake for an extra few minutes. It's one of my favorite lightened-up comfort food recipes around. —Hannah Loewentheil
Get the recipe here.
Hannah Loewentheil / BuzzFeed
Rainbow Thai Chicken Salad
I found this Thai chicken salad with peanut sauce on one of my favorite cooking blogs, Gimme Some Oven. After Thanksgiving, I was craving a healthyish salad recipe that still feels sort of indulgent...and this definitely hit the spot.
The recipe is SO easy to make. It comes together in 15 minutes, and if you have precooked chicken or a rotisserie chicken, it doesn't require any cooking at all. The recipe calls for cabbage and a bunch of julienned veggies as the base, but you can really use whatever you have on hand like carrots, peppers, broccoli slaw, etc... And the sweet and savory peanut dressing tasted like what you'd order at a Thai restaurant. The final salad was SO good and had SO much flavor. It was creamy, crunchy, savory, and a tiny bit sweet. —Hannah Loewentheil
Get the recipe here.
Hannah Loewentheil / BuzzFeed
Brûléed Bourbon-Maple Pumpkin Pie
This year, I was invited to spend Thanksgiving in my American husband's family (I'm French) and was asked to make a dessert. I decided to make a pumpkin pie, which I discovered in the US and really love. When I found this recipe, I was very excited for the opportunity to make a typical American fall pie with a French touch (the brûlée top) and celebrate our French-American family.
The dough for the crust seemed a little time-consuming, so I cheated and used a store-bought crust instead (I'm not a big fan of chocolate crusts anyway).
The rest of the recipe was quick and easy and the filling was really good. I loved that it called for maple syrup in the filling instead of sugar as there's already plenty of sugar in the brûlée top — the recipe calls for only two tablespoons of sugar but I used at least four to get a thicker caramelized surface. And although it took much longer than I thought to torch the top, I really enjoyed the whole process. —Gwenaelle LeCochennec
Get the recipe here.
Chris Court / bonappetit.com
via BuzzFeed/Food