Roasted acorn squash with spicy beans
I remember moving to Chicago at the end of college, facing the terrifying reality of adult life outside school for the first time. I didn’t have a lot of friends, especially after a rough breakup, and I underwent foot surgery…
Veggie Chili
Why spicy foods are hot The calendar says it’s April, but I don’t believe it. Except for a few cruelly teasing days of sun, Chicago has been stuck in a cold, dreary, windy, rainy end-of-winter slump that really needs to…
Navy bean soup
Umami, or, why soy sauce makes everything delicious Much as I’d love to be the person who can assemble a delicious meal before leaving for work and leave it to simmer in the slow-cooker all day, greeting me at the…
Mashed-potato-stuffed peppers
Beans, beans, the magical fruit We all know the song, but our dear friend Harold McGee puts it slightly more tactfully: “Several chemical constituents of beans are responsible for an uncomfortable, sometimes embarrassing consequence of eating legumes: the generation of…
Cornbread casserole
Feeling curdley? My sister’s in town, and we both love cornbread an absurd amount. Unfortunately, even we can’t convince ourselves that cornbread on its own is a balanced, full meal–but if you put a bunch of vegetables and beans underneath,…
