#Lunch

Thai Tofu Rice Bowl

dressing adapted from Everyday Maven

Dressing:

1/2 cup water

1/8 cup fish sauce

1/8 cup rice vinegar

Juice from 1/2 a lime

3 tablespoons sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes

Quick Pickled Carrots:

Shredded carrots

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Enough rice wine vinegar and water to cover in equal amounts

Rice Bowl:

Brown rice

Baked tofu

Cilantro, torn

Basil, torn

I think every fall I adopt a favorite soup recipe and make it over and over until it’s perfect and everyone else is tired of it. I’ve been making this soup practically weekly since it started getting cold and I’m certainly not bored yet. It’s a crowd pleaser, what my inlaws call “friendly food” – warming and hearty. It’s so loaded with vegetables that it’s also very healthy without sacrificing any flavor. A pot of this soup is enough to feed me lunch all week.

Thai basil turkey meatball spring rolls

Do you ever try a recipe that sounds delicious and end up totally disappointed? Not that the finished product is bad, it’s just … underwhelming. This is doubly unfortunate if you are testing said new recipe on a dinner guest (I almost always use my dinner guests as guinea pigs. As of the publishing of this article, none have ever complained about this practice). Last night I had a friend over for dinner and had just that experience. I made Thai basil turkey meatballs with a spicy garlic dipping sauce and … we were less than impressed. They were edible, and we weren’t hungry anymore afterwards, but I wasn’t really looking forward to finishing them up.

This week was Persian New Year - Salleh no mobarak! (which is “Happy new year” in Farsi!) I’m celebrating this weekend with the family - I’ll post pictures of the food and decorations next week. It’s a big party not to be missed!

I grew up in a mixed household – half Iranian, and half American. I’m a true mutt. As a result, my idea of comfort food sometimes differs from my peers. Though I’ll go to town on mac and cheese with the best of them, I also regularly crave feta with walnuts for breakfast and complicated layered rice dishes for dinner. I generally only get to indulge when I visit my family. Most Persian recipes have imported ingredients I have to go out of my way for. This lazy home cook hates making extra grocery trips, so I just…wait for my mom to cook for me. Usually.