Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.
Good Friday favorites morning friends! Did you have a good week? It was a busy but quiet week at home. I have said to several friends that I feel as if I am dragging my self into 2023. I don’t feel like doing anything or going anywhere. I know something is off when I do not even feel like baking! I am sure that I will snap out of it soon. In the meantime I am keeping myself busy reading, watching my favorite series on Youtube and working on plans for the house. Do you ever go down the Youtube rabbit hole of “restoring the chateau”, English country gardens, and things like that or is it just me?If you have a favorite Youtube series please share I love to see and learn new things.Enough of that I have lots to share this week, scrumptious sheet pan dinners, and make at home take-out, as well as chocolate dessert hummus and a chocolate cake that will have you licking the bowl. Lots of links, books and finds too so grab your coffee, chocolate or tea and lets get to it.
Friday Favorites No. 515
Food
Cold gloomy winter days call for comforting foods. Take-out is always an option but if you don’t feel like leaving home why not make your favorites at home? Add dessert and you are all set.
Chicken tiki Masala is my all time favorite take out and my husbands is fried rice, how fabulous that we can now combine the two and have Chicken Tikka Masala Fried Rice! I am making this for dinner tonight!
Sheet Pan Curry Butter Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Tahini with a side of naan bread makes a delicious and easy meal.
10 ingredient Vegan Bolognese with Mushrooms & Red Lentils makes a cosy, comforting winter meal.
Chocolate Snack Cake with Hershey’s Chocolate frosting is the answer to all of your chocolate cravings. I dare you not to lick the spoon!
Sweet, creamy Dark Chocolate Hummus is the perfect healthy dessert, snack or party appetizer.
Links
7 Things to Get Rid of In the Kitchen Right Now
Why Eggs Have Become So Expensive
Why We Need Mindless Activities
Foodies left ‘devastated’ that Ronzoni will discontinue its beloved star-shaped pastina
Have You Seen the All Female M&M’s?
‘The Menu’ fans think film is responsible for “world’s best restaurant” closing
Delta Airlines is Adding Free Wi-Fi Starting in February
Ozone Hole Is Shrinking, Could Be Fully Healed in 4 Decades
Wait Until You See HGTV 2023 Dream Home
Inside a 17th-century farmhouse inhabited by the seventh great-grandson of the man who built it
5 Real Estate Trends That Are Primed to Dominate in 2023
Books
My Kindle is overloaded with new and old favorites and my stack runneth over and yet I don’t feel like reading those books. Lately I have been re-reading old favorites and anything set in Paris.
Paris 1944. To save her people, she served the enemy.
In enemy-occupied Paris, as the locals go to bed starving and defeated by the war, music and laughter spills through the door of a little restaurant, crowded with German soldiers. The owner Marianne moves on weary feet between its packed tables, carrying plates of steaming, wholesome food for the enemy officers. Her smile is bright and sparkling, her welcome cordial. Nobody would guess the hatred she hides in her heart.
That night, the restaurant closes its doors for the final time. In the morning, the windows are scratched with the words ‘traitor and murderer’. And Marianne has disappeared without a trace…
Years later, Marianne’s granddaughter Sabine stands under the faded green awning, a heavy brass key in her hand, staring at the restaurant left to her by the grandmother she never met. Sabine has so many questions about herself. Perhaps here she can find answers, but she knows she isn’t welcome. Marianne was hated by the locals and when Sabine discovers they blamed her for the terrible tragedy that haunts the pretty restaurant, she is ready to abandon her dark legacy.
But when she finds a passport in a hidden compartment in the water-stained walls, with a picture of a woman who looks like her grandmother but has a different name, she knows there must be more to Marianne’s story. As she digs into the past, she starts to wonder: was her grandmother a heroine, not a traitor? What happened to her after the tragic night when she fled from her restaurant? And will the answer change her own life forever?
I read this book a few years ago and just re-read it this week, The Red Notebook
Bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street, and feels impelled to return it to its owner. The bag contains no money, phone or contact information. But a small red notebook with handwritten thoughts and jottings reveals a person that Laurent would very much like to meet. Without even a name to go on, and only a few of her possessions to help him, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?
I ordered this book and cannot wait to try out the 250 recipes. I am notorious for looking in the fridge and saying there is nothing to eat.
Make a meal out of almost anything.
Stop shopping and start cooking what you have. Your pantry’s possibilities are endless. Milk Street will help you transform whatever you already have into bright, bold meals from around the world.
Got a can of chickpeas? It can become anything from a quick hummus to a curry spiked with sweet carrots, from a garlicky chickpea soup to a bowl of crispy canned beans with lemon and scallions.
Or grab that can of tomatoes from the back of the cabinet. It can become spicy one-pot pasta all’arrabbiata, chilaquiles rojos, a rich shakshuka with poached eggs or a chicken and tortilla soup.
Turn to the refrigerator, where eggs and leftover vegetables are the start of cheesy migas, a Spanish tortilla with potato chips or a quick fried rice. Chicken breasts or thighs from the freezer become Hungarian chicken paprikash or hearty chicken salad with green tahini. Cooks in Amalfi, Italy, taught us to turn a wedge of Parmesan and lemons on the counter into a light yet flavorful pesto. And that’s just the start. Desserts, too, come together easily with ingredients everyone keeps on hand.
These 225 recipes begin with the most common ingredients in your kitchen, but they provide more than a lesson in practicality. They teach an improvisational, creative way to cook.
Finds
Boden is one of my favorite places to shop, I love this shirt, this white button down shirt, and this comfy sweater to name just a few pieces.
Make your favorite coffee shop drinks with this!
Cute scalloped rug for $35.00
Lululemon look without the price.
Love this dress from Gap, could be worn now with boots or in the spring with flats.
Love this cable knit sweater and the pop of color.
PIN ME FOR LATER
UNTIL TOMORROW
Have a great day friends, I hope you found something to read, make or enjoy on Friday Favorites. If you make one of the featured recipes come back and let us know how you liked it!
Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I always appreciate it. If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here.
I hope to see you back here tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet, our first post of 2023!
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Thank you so much for sharing my chocolate hummus recipe, friend. I really appreciate it! <3 Happy Friday!
Stacey, you are very welcome!
The cake looks good.
Thank you William! Have a great weekend.
Oh my, I’ve already got a stack of new books on the dresser next to my bed. And I just keep adding more. That chocolate frosting on the snack cake sure looks enticing!
Brenda
Brenda, I have so many stack and my stacks are starting to have stacks piled on top of them. As for the frosting on the snack cake, it is from the side of the Hershey’s cocoa can! I think it is the best frosting ever. Happy Weekend!