Sunday Menu 🥑🥞🌮 no. 21
food as comfort and 12 cookbooks to put on your radar
The Sunday Menu is a look at what I’m cookin’ up, kitchen sounds, fave ingredients, and other reflections on all things delicious. Grab a snack and let’s hang out in the kitchen…
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Happy Sunday. The days are getting shorter, the temperatures are dropping, and my existential dread remains. Food has always been a source of comfort for me. I love good food—umami-rich soups, savory tacos, crusty breads, herby dips and spreads, buttery cookies, saucy tofu stir frys, sweet cinnamon rolls, fluffy focaccia with briny olives, and generous drizzles of quality olive oil on everything from ice cream to stew. Good food feels like a hug; it brightens each day.
Food has also become a form of resistance for me. It’s a way to vote with my dollar for compassion for all creatures and the planet. The fact that food can serve as both comfort and a way to live out my values is, to me, its greatest power.
I don’t expect this newsletter to turn everyone vegan. My hope is that it will inspire you to incorporate a few more animal-free meals into your week. With three meals a day, that’s 21 meals a week—what if a third of those meals were made without ingredients from animal agriculture, one of the leading contributors to climate change? While we need policy changes and leadership to take action, we don’t have to wait to make a difference. We can start right now with what we put on our plates. Read on for a comforting menu and 12 cookbooks— 6 I reach for regularly and 6 new(ish) cookbooks I’m already loving.
If one of my children is helping me in the kitchen I’ve enjoyed having a nice jazz playlist on in the background but when I’m solo my current audiobook has been Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola. It’s a witty, fresh, and very fun rom-com.
With a keen emphasis on comfort, here’s what has been, or will be, nourishing my family in the coming weeks.
🥞 breakfast:
stovetop oatmeal— topped with frozen berries or raisins and peanut butter
yogurt and homemade granola— I love the vanilla super-seed granola in the Oh She Glows Everyday cookbook with my favorite coconut yogurt (now at Costco!!) and my kids love Forager’s vanilla cashew yogurt.