I did it! I rounded out my 52 new recipes in 2019 with a bunch of desserts, which seems pretty on brand for this time of year. I’m going to wrap up this entire series with a summary of my favorites/meal staples because I love reading those kinds of things, so maybe someone else will too. My 2019 Christmas cookie post will also be up soon. Here are my reviews on the final 13. I’ve also started cooking on Instagram occasionally, so follow me there.
- Pumpkin dream cake (4/5): I enjoyed this but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I were an icing person (#TeamCake), as both the quantity and sweetness of the icing were just a little too much for me. The icing also stuck to the lid of the pan I baked this in which was highly annoying (that one can be chalked up to user error).
- Stuffed pepper soup (3/5): Meh. This was fine but I much prefer just making stuffed peppers. Don’t think I’ll be repeating this one.
- Korean BBQ chickpea bowls (4/5): This was a delicious light dinner that was easy to prep. However, I should have gone with my instincts on this one, which were “this sauce is way too thin, I don’t know how this will fare in the oven.” Next time I’ll probably just roast the chickpeas and brussels sprouts with a little bit of oil and salt and add the sauce at the end.
- Vegan sheet pan fajitas with chipotle queso (4.5/5): It’s taken me a long time to venture into the cashew cream/queso/sauce world because I’ve always been convinced it couldn’t possibly be good. I was wrong! It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten neon orange queso, but I couldn’t believe how much this reminded me of it. 👌👌 The whole recipe is so easy to prep.
- Crockpot spicy vegetarian tortilla soup with quinoa (4/5): I made this in the InstantPot and sautéed all the peppers/onion/garlic in a drizzle of olive oil first. I also chopped the peppers in a food processor to get them more finely diced. This was very easy and tasty. Often “spicy” recipes don’t have much of a kick to them but this one definitely did– warning if you don’t like spicy food! Tip: cut corn tortillas into strips with a pizza roller, spray with oil, and bake for approximately 10 mins at 350 degrees. Top soup with these plus avocado, cheese, sour cream, etc.
- Cinnamon nut mug swirl cake (4/5): Sometimes I’m in the mood for something sweet that isn’t chocolately and this satisfied that craving. As with all mug cakes, the texture isn’t going to be perfect, but this was pretty solid.
- Orange glazed cranberry bread (5/5): Yum! I appreciate that I did not have to chop cranberries as they roll all over my counter but could instead fold them into the batter whole. This was definitely my breakfast every day the week of Thanksgiving 💁♀️
- Cranberry crumble pie bars (5/5): Very similar flavor profile to the bread in #7 above and the icing is the same, but overall the orange flavor is a little less detectable than it is in the bread. I overworked the dough a little bit so it was very sticky and I had to add more flour to form it in the pan, but otherwise this was very easy and delicious. Might be a new holiday staple for me.
- Vegan ginger cookies (3.5/5): This recipe also has a GF option. After the stickiness of the pie bars (see #8), I highly appreciated how easy the dough was to handle.
- InstantPot coconut tandoori chicken (4/5): Really liked this a lot! Could not be simpler to put together. The only thing that took more than a second was measuring the spices, of which there are many (so many tbsps of things!). The final dish has a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor. Because the thighs are fairly small and there isn’t a ton of liquid in the pot, this came to pressure and cooked very quickly. It was so fast dinner was accidentally ready at 4:30pm 😆 I added some frozen peas (no need to thaw) and spinach at the end to add some veggies and served over jasmine rice. There are also freezer meal directions for this recipe to make assembly even easier.
- Golden coconut lentil soup (4/5): This is a super easy, cheap, vegan meal. I made it on a day that I ate a bunch of Chick-fil-a for lunch and it was a nice reset to my diet. 🤣However, it is also a very light meal, so having some sort of salad or bread on the side is a good idea, which lead me to make #12 below.
- 3-ingredient coconut oil biscuits (3.5/5): I like to think I am a pretty good cook but this recipe was a solid reminder that you do usually have to pay at least a little bit of attention when making something new! I distractedly added the milk before cutting in the coconut oil and also took some other shortcuts (e.g., did not use a biscuit cutter). So unsurprisingly, these didn’t rise much and didn’t have a flaky biscuit texture, but the taste was good and they are vegan which makes them good for a crowd. I’ll probably try these again the right way.
- Better for you Instant Pot chicken and spinach ramen (3/5): Not gonna lie, the smell of this was pretty unappealing after cooking, but fortunately it tasted better. This was fine but I honestly probably would have preferred a ramen seasoning packet.
- And one more I forgot about from earlier in the year: easy vegan burrito bowls (4/5). I was pleasantly surprised by the texture of the cauliflower walnut “meat.” Yum!