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Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
Avenir Light is a clean and stylish font favored by designers. It's easy on the eyes and a great go to font for titles, paragraphs & more.
This page has two goals:
1) Introduce you to some of my favorite recipes.
2) Introduce you to some of my favorite places to find recipes on the internet.
For most of the recipes on this page, you will find a written recipe and a video of the recipe's creator preparing the dish. Learning how to follow a written recipe is a crucial skill for home cooks, but it can be very helpful to watch someone prepare the dish before you attempt to follow the written recipe. If you are fairly new to cooking, I recommend watching the video in its entirety before following the recipe and cooking the dish. If you encounter something you don't understand in the recipe, refer back to that part of the video.
In addition to trying out some of the recipes I've recommended, I highly encourage you to browse around the blogs and websites for additional recipes that sound tasty to you. You can usually search for recipes that include specific ingredients on cooking blogs, so don't hesitate to search for recipes that include the foods you love to eat, like "sweet potato", "avocado", "blueberry", or "cheese".
If you make any of these recipes and share photos on Instagram, be sure to tag @mynextthing so I can celebrate with you!
Breakfast
First things first. You're not going to get far with breakfast if you don't know how to make delicious eggs. I'm not just talking about scrambled eggs, but that is a good place to start. Buy a dozen this week, pick up a nice loaf of bread, and treat yourself to some egg toast while you practice preparing all of these delicious styles of eggs.
Scrambled eggs (3 styles)
Fried eggs (2 styles)
Soft-, medium-, and hard-boiled eggs
If you learn these egg techniques and you're willing to spend 5 - 10 minutes over the stove in the morning, your breakfasts can start to look like this. I love cereal, but Honey Bunches of Oats doesn't stack up to these breakfast options. Click the photo for each recipe.
There aren't many things I like more than spending 30 minutes on a weekend morning whipping up a BIG breakfast. Whether it's a potato hash or a stack of pancakes, there are some breakfast recipes that hit home every single time. If you're trying to impress someone, surprise them with one of these recipes on a Sunday morning.
Fair warning: Matty has a bit of a way with words (he swears a lot). This breakfast hash is so f***ing good (now he's got me doing it!). I've made this recipe the last 3 weekends for brunch. Here's the recipe.
Soup
I've ordered a cup of soup at restaurants before, but I've never made a cup of soup at home. That's because I make the soup recipes I've shared below and they're too tasty to consider portions smaller than a large bowl.
Curried Lentil, Tomato, & Coconut Soup
Here's the recipe. Life is too short to buy lite coconut milk. Grab the real stuff and let this soup recipe blow your mind. Oh, and make sure you wash your lentils.
Chili
I never used to like chili very much. Then I realized I had never really had good chili before. My favorite addition that you won't find in many recipes: sweet potato. Here's the recipe for truly delicious chili.
Elote Soup & Tomato Soup
Two soup recipes for the price of fun. Recipes here.
Pasta e Ceci
A perfect recipe for when pasta sounds good but soup kind of sounds good too. This dish is both.
Get the recipe.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
If you don’t have an emulsion (hand) blender, you can blend your soup in batches using a regular blender. Don’t blend if the soup is boiling hot though. Take it off the heat for 5-10 minutes before you blend.
Sandwiches
If you don't think making a sandwich counts as cooking, things are about to change for you my friend. Here are 5 sandwich recipes, ranked in order from easiest to most difficult.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich
If you can make a basic grilled cheese, why stop there? Try this pesto, artichoke, and havarti grilled cheese recipe or this one with gouda, roasted mushrooms, and onions.
Caprese Sandwich
Caprese sandwich recipe. You can certainly make pesto, but buying it saves time and money. If you have an Aldi near you, you will find all of these ingredients for much cheaper than anywhere else.
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
This is the kind of recipe that doesn't sound like anything special until you try it and then end up making it every day for a week. Grilled chicken sandwich recipe.
Bahn Mi Sandwich
Bahn mi recipe. Here is a great tofu substitution for a vegetarian bahn mi. A local bahn mi shop in my city serves these babies on croissants and it puts the sandwich on a different level. I'm not saying you have to do it, but I think you'll thank me for the suggestion.
Croque-Madame Sandwich
This is the ultimate brunch-from-home-instagram-flex. Get the recipe.
recipes from italy
There's more than pizza and pasta to try here, but you don't want to miss out on those recipes either. Just make it all and call it a week. I listed these recipes in order of difficulty, easiest to hardest.
Aglio e Olio
If you haven't seen the movie Chef, watch it and then make this. Boom. Date night planned. You're welcome. Get the recipe here.
Easy, Giant, Cheap Pizza
If you learn how to make this giant pizza, you'll accidentally learn how to make focaccia in the process. That's not a bad 2-for-1 deal.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
The creamiest pasta that uses no cream. You'll have to make it to learn the secret ingredient. (It's egg yolks. I'm terrible at keeping secrets). Here's the recipe.
New York Style Pizza
Ask for a pizza stone for your birthday this year and you will not regret it.
Gnocchi
Once I made potato and sweet potato gnocchi for a dinner party and it took 3 hours. But that's because I was terrible at it. I also made about 200 individual gnocchi. It was delicious though! Don't let my failure scare you, but this is a labor-intensive dish. Here's the recipe.
recipes from Latin America
There are so many distinct cuisines to explore in Latin America. I've featured recipes from Mexico, El Salvador, and Ecuador here. Recipes listed in order of difficulty.
Guacamole
Guacamole is best consumed within 2-3 days. Not that that's going to be a problem, right? Recipe here.
Pork Carnitas
Listen to me on this. Don't go to all of the work of making carnitas without spreading them out on a sheet pan and BROILING THEM after taking them out of the croc pot. That's the secret. Recipe here.
Chicken Enchiladas Verde
She has a great tip in this recipe. Go grab a rotisserie chicken at Costco, shred it, and throw it in. EASY. Here's the recipe.
Arroz con Pollo
I love a recipe that calls for wine. After using it in your dish, it would be irresponsible not to have a glass while you're cooking. Recipe here.
Pupusas
These are just little pockets of happiness.
recipes from the usa
You probably ate all of this food as a kid. It's time to learn how to cook the grown-up homemade versions.
Baked Chicken Breast
I used to think chicken breast always turned out dry. It turns out my chicken breast was turning out dry because I wasn't baking it the right way. This is the right way. Recipe here.
Mac & Cheese
Look at that video thumbnail. You know you're going to make this. Here's the recipe.
Smashburger
This may be an unpopular opinion, but the smashburger is the best burger style. This is the recipe you need to make a Shake Shack burger at home.
Steak
I'm willing to bet that you have had this video pop up in your YouTube recommendations before. The intenet loves Gordon Ramsay. Here's the recipe.
Fried Chicken
Get out your handy-dandy meat thermometer to make sure you don't have crispy chicken on the outside and raw chicken on the inside. But if you follow this recipe you should be good to go.
If you can make fluffy and delicious pancakes from scratch, say hello to your new weekend routine. Pancake recipe (click here)
salad
As you'll see, I have a broad definition of the word salad. Here are 5 salad recipes, ranked in order of difficulty.
Caprese Quinoa Salad
Make a ton of this stuff because this recipe tastes better after each day that you let the flavors come together while it sits in the fridge. Recipe here.
Frito Corn Salad
If you didn’t know I was from the Midwest United States before, you do now. I don’t know where this recipe came from but my mom has made it every fourth of July for as long as I can remember. Don’t judge me until you try it. Recipe here.
White Bean Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing
Here's the recipe, and here are 18 more salads that eat like a meal.
Cucumber Feta Salad
This recipe is so delicious. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be picking up these ingredients on Sunday when I’m at the grocery store. If you’re like me and you don’t prefer vinegar, swap it out for fresh lemon juice. Here's the recipe.
Kale Pecan Pesto Salad
Kale is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, but you can easily swap out kale for your green leaf of choice. Get the recipe here.
Side Dishes
I'll be honest, I don't make a lot of side dishes when I'm cooking at home. But when hosting dinner parties or bringing food over to a friend's place, having a few tasty side dish recipes in your back pocket can't hurt. These 5 recipes are listed in order of difficulty.
Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples & Pecans
Seems like a Thanksgiving recipe, but catch me sweating in my apartment while I'm making these roasted brussels sprouts in July. Recipe here.
Cheese & Garlic Pull Apart Bread
Coming from a place of experience, if you pull this out of your oven for dinner guests they will demolish it in minutes. Recipe here.
Elote Corn on the Cob
Squeeze some fresh lime juice on this corn at the end to add some brightness and acidity.
Chinese Garlic Green Beans
You'll never want "plain old" green beans again. Here's the recipe.
Mashed Potatoes
You've gotta know how to make creamy mashed potatoes. And now you do. Here's the recipe.
recipes from korea
I recently lived in Korea, and a highlight of my time there was learning how to cook with Korean ingredients. You'll be able to find a lot of the ingredients for these recipes at your local Asian grocery store. Recipes listed in order of difficulty.
Bibimbap (비빔밥)
Bibimbap is a great way to clean out your produce drawer because you can throw any veggies in the bowl, top it with some gochujang and an egg, and you have a delicious and healthy bowl. Recipe here.
Pajeon (파전)
Koreans make pajeon on rainy days and pair it with a fermented rice drink called mackgeolli. Recipe here.
Kimchi Fried Rice (김치볶음밥)
This is a great introduction to kimchi. It cooks out a lot of the funky, fermented flavor and leaves behind the rich, spicy, chili flavor. Try some on the side while you're at it. You might just like it. Get the recipe.
Korean Corn Dog (감자 핫도그)
The first time I saw one of these in Korea I thought, "why aren't we putting fried potatoes on the outside of our corn dogs in the U.S.?" Recipe here.
Dumplings (만두)
I ate approximately 1,000 dumplings when I lived in Korea, and now I cook them all the time after moving back to the U.S. You can buy a dumpling steamer basket at Target. Just saying. Recipe here.
recipes from India
I used to be intimidated to make Indian food until a friend told me her mom makes her curries with pre-mixed spice packets just like every other Indian mom. Then I learned that you can buy those spice packs at Indian grocery stores for $2 and the rest is history. I cook Indian food monthly. These recipes are listed in order of difficulty.
Garam Masala Hummus
If you make homemade hummus, you might as well make homemade naan to go with it. Or cheat (like me) and buy naan at Aldi. Recipe here.
Naan
Making your own naan is a great if you have the time for it (like on a weekend). Otherwise you can always buy it at the grocery store and focus on preparing some of the other dishes to eat it with. Recipe here.
Jeera Aloo
I fell in love with this stuff at an Indian restaurant in Korea. Remember what I said above about being intimidated by all of the spices in Indian cooking? Just visit your local Indian grocery store and buy a spice mix for this recipe. Here's the recipe.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Once you learn how to make chicken tikka masala, it's going to be in your rotation for a long time. Visit your local Indian grocery and pick up a tikka masala spice packet and you're good to go. Also, marinating your chicken overnight is worth the preparation in advance. Here's the recipe.
Chettinad Vegetable Biryani
The depth of flavor achieved in this "simple" rice dish is pretty unbelievable. Here's the recipe.
My top 5 recipes
I make each of these recipes so often that I don't need to look at a recipe anymore. These are all Nick tested, friend approved.
Turkish Eggs
Top with any combination of greek yogurt, sour cream, hummus, or hot sauce. Serve with crispy bread. Here's the recipe.
Sweet Potato Toast
Once you get the vision behind this quick and easy dish, you hardly need the recipe. Here it is anyway.
Carnitas
Listen to me on this. Don't go to all of the work of making carnitas without spreading them out on a sheet pan and BROILING THEM after taking them out of the croc pot. That's the secret. Recipe here.
Korean Dumplings
I prefer steamed dumplings to fried dumplings. You can buy a dumpling steamer basket at your local Asian grocery store or Target. Recipe here.
Chicken Tikka Masala
This has been a go-to meal prep lunch of mine for a couple of years now and I don't see that changing any time soon. Here's the recipe.
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