One-dish dinner: Couscous and Veggies

This is my go-to meatless meal. I make it for myself a lot when Scott isn't here or for a side when he is here. The kids will eat it too. I posted a version years ago and I've probably shared it once or twice since but I'm going to put it into my recipe index for 2026...I shared awhile back that I want to share recipes this year that are mostly brainless, no weird ingredients, no fancy steps...just the dinners I'm already making a few times a month! You can find what I've posted so far here.

2 cups of dry pearl couscous

3 1/2 cups of chicken stock

1 small zucchini, chopped

1/2 onion, diced (or a shallot)

1-2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (not chopped)

1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped

One lemon --grate a teaspoon of zest + 1 tsp of lemon juice (you can use lime too, in a pinch)

Parmesan, about 3/4 cup --shredded from a bag or freshly grated (not the kind from the green can)

Olive oil, sea salt, pepper

In a large pan, heat olive oil to medium heat and saute the zucchini, onion, mushrooms, and garlic with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Once it's all golden brown, pull it off the heat and put on a plate to set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and, on medium heat, add the couscous and stir it around for a few minutes until it gets to be a golden-brown or toasted color. It'll burn quickly so keep an eye on it. 

Add the stock and stir to scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Turn heat to low and simmer until the couscous is cooked through and has absorbed most of the liquid, about 10 minutes. 

Stir the vegetables back in. Add the grated lemon zest and lemon juice. Add in the parmesan and stir to melt it. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy warm but leftovers are fantastic too, reheated with some extra cheese.

My Sourdough Method

I had a sourdough starter in 2024 and made it pretty regularly for a year and a half. I had okay luck for not knowing what I was doing. Then I stopped and started up again this past fall with a new starter. It immediately got moldy, which seemed kind of crazy because that's never happened to me before. I began again in November 2025 with a new starter I made myself and I've had luck so far! I actually use a mash-up of a couple of different recipes so I'm going to type out what I DO. I legitimately feel, 2 years in, that it's about what works for you and you have to be willing to experiment a little. It's more about feeling and how basic science works, not so much following an exact series of steps in a recipe or having the right equipment. I used to get really hung up on the equipment aspect. I'm linking the products I used but none are very expensive. The most "expensive" part of sourdough making is the time you invest. 

The only special equipment you need is a food scale and a way to warm your sourdough starter. 

I do prefer to bake in a regular loaf pan, and you probably already have one! I did buy the fancy Dutch oven to start two years ago but realized I preferred a loaf method better. 

1. Pull your starter out of the fridge and let it warm to room temperature for about 12 hours. I'll pull it out first thing in the morning or before bed. 

2. Discard half your starter --I keep a jar of discard in the fridge, or you can just throw it out. You can make just about anything with sourdough discard. Google it. 

3. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of water. Stir really well and place on a sourdough warmer. This is CRITICAL. You must keep it warm. I am lazy and also a little cheap so I made my own warmer. I'm not telling you to do this but it works amazingly well. 

I also never understand how people are putting open jars or jars without a lid or jars with a lid or whatever as a way to let their starter rise. Every website talks about ventilation and air but also covered but also loosely covered. It's all very contradictory. 

I use press-and-seal with a rubber band around it. The first person to give me a starter two years ago handed me a mason jar with press-and-seal on it so that's my method now. I do the same for my discard jar in the fridge because I lost the lids to my mason jars I bought specifically for this purpose. 

Just fed and starting to warm

...and a few hours later:

4. You want the starter to get bubbly and double in size. This can take 4 hours, it can take 10 hours. I used to think it was a hard and fast 12 hours from feeding the starter to mixing the dough, because that's what the tutorials give for their time ranges. It's not. It just depends on what the starter is doing. This key is: Has it doubled in size? Is it bubbly?

5. Then you're ready to make dough. 

After I measure out the starter, I also feed the starter again and put it back on the warmer. This is why it doesn't get moldy; as long as it is being fed or refrigerated between feedings, starters last forever. I try to discard and feed twice a day if I'm actively making a few loaves of bread a week. 

You will need a scale. There's no way around it. I've been using it for a couple of years. 

Put a big bowl on the scale and then "tare" it so it goes to 0 grams (you are measuring in grams).

Add 100 grams of your starter. 

Add 360 grams of room temp/slightly warm water. I usually take a big mug of water and microwave it for 20 seconds. Comes out to about 80 degrees. A thermometer is great for checking this--I also use a thermometer to check how warm my starter is when it's in the jar. 

Stir.

Add 500 grams of all-purpose flour. 

I used to use separate bowls but I realized I was just aiming for 960 grams on the scale when I was done and it saves some time and dishes. 

Stir into a dough.

6. Cover and let sit in a warm spot (I just put it on top of the stove but sometimes I check the air temp there with my thermometer) for about 30 minutes. This is a very important step because it lets the flour absorb the water. 

Add 10 grams of sea salt. I used Redmond's, and can only find it on Amazon. Do not use table salt. It's a different consistency for the measurement and your bread will be too salty.

Either mix in the salt with your hand or a wooden spoon. Form the dough into a loose ball but keep it in the bowl.

7. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Put some flour on a cutting board and scrape the dough onto the board. Do some stretch and folds, just for about 15 seconds, maybe 4 or 5 of them. Don't over-handle the dough.

There are a ton of quick tutorials out there on how to stretch and fold. It's not complicated at all but just watching someone explain how to do it is helpful. It's not a long task or process. 

Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold again.

Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold again.

Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Stretch and fold again.

Four times is usually the magic number for stretching and folding. You can do more but you don't want to over-handle the dough. 

8. Then you have the bulk rise. If you make up your dough in the morning, it's going to rise all day. If you make up your dough at night, it will rise overnight. Again, I used to think that it needed to rise for like 12 hours. It doesn't. The key is to just let it double in size, just like with the starter after you feed it. I used to get over-fermented dough because I let it go too long. For me, I normally mix up the dough around 8-10pm and then will bake it around 9am (because I'm lazy and get up late...you can do it earlier). Or I'll mix it up in the morning and bake it late afternoon or evening. Again, just let it double in size. 

9. Flour a cutting board, scrape out the dough, shape it into a loose rectangle and gently fold it up into a loaf shape. I tri-fold it and then tuck in the ends. 

10. Put it into a loaf pan. I use a regular metal one. Cover with press-and-seal and place in that warm spot again for about 30 minutes. Then I preheat the oven for the next 15 minutes or so. In all, it sits in the pan for about 45 minutes. 

11. I bake at 392 degrees F. The very first recipe I used gave that as the time so that's what I stuck with and it works. I've seen loaf pan recipes say to bake at 375 degrees or 400 degrees. I'm sure the difference between 392 and 400 is negligible at best, but I like what I like. 

Score the top. Nothing fancy here and I just use a paring knife. You just need a place for steam to escape. 

I usually bake for 40 minutes. I set the timer and check on it at that point. I do usually put a knife into the center but if the outside is golden brown and it's puffed-up, it's done. 

That's it. No fancy equipment. Just a few links to products I already use. No videos. No ads that slow your scrolling. This is my tried and true method. 

Let me know if you try it and I'd love for you to share your own recipe for sourdough!

(Easy) Homemade Tomato Soup (from your pantry)

Here's a story for you:

I'm trying to gather the proof that I completed graduate credits 15 years ago from random universities in Alaska. I mean, they're not random because they're reputable schools but my method of taking courses was random and, back then, most documentation was paper and there's no way I have paperwork from 15 years ago at the ready. I can't even remember what schools I used for the courses. University of Alaska- Fairbanks, yes. Alaska Pacific University, yes. University of Alaska Southeast, yes (completely different school than UAA-Fairbanks). I legitimately think there was one more. And I don't know what school I took a course about teaching writing through... 

That has nothing to do with tomato soup, but would I be posting a recipe unless I told you a random story that made no sense and had no connection before showing you an ingredient list? No, I wouldn't. 

Homemade Tomato Soup

2 T. olive oil

1/2 shallot (or 1/4 cup diced onion)

2 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced, not minced)

3 T. chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil

3 oz (half a small can) tomato paste

2 cans of crushed tomatoes (28 oz. each)

1 t. dried oregano (or 1 T. fresh)

1 t. dried basil (or chopped fresh basil to add at the end)

1 cup chicken stock/broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

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Add the oil, shallot, and garlic to a large pot. Cook on low until lightly browned.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, and dried herbs (or fresh oregano). 

Add the cans of crushed tomatoes and chicken stock or broth. 

Let simmer for 30 minutes or so. 

*If you want to blend it here to make it extra smooth, you can. I don't mind a textured soup. And since the garlic is thinly sliced, not chopped, it doesn't have a strong flavor.*

Stir in the heavy cream. You can add salt to taste but I found it didn't really need any. I did top with parmesan cheese.

I made this over the weekend because I, surprise surprise, couldn't find the recipe I've used in the past. So, this is a hybrid of all the different types of tomato soup I've made and it comes together quickly with what you probably already have in the pantry. It also freezes well to save leftovers for a busy night. 

The secret is the sun-dried tomatoes. Don't skip them!

Recipes lately...in a rut?

If you're not in a cooking rut in July, please tell me your secrets. I've been in a cooking rut for years. I quite literally have no idea where my inspiration used to come from. It's a mystery, along with the other things of the mid-20s age range (your back doesn't hurt, you feel rested after sleeping, etc). If you've been around this blog for years, you know I used to do things like make homemade ice cream on school nights. Where that particular drive has gone, I do not know. 

I used to share Pinterest recipes I made and liked...here are a few recipes lately that I would recommend, even during the summer:

I made this Mexican Street Corn Salad, minus the hot sauce. I also subbed smoked paprika for the ancho chili powder. This is definitely my favorite way to prepare summer corn and I've made a few versions over the years. A lot of recipes say frozen corn is fine too. 

I did s'mores in the air fryer. They were fine. It's a good method and a fun party trick if you have guests or kids. I think that I just don't appreciate a s'more like I used to (another mystery of the mid-20s).

This was the idea for Wells' birthday cake two weeks ago. I made this vegan chocolate cake because it is the #1 go-to chocolate cake recipe for me. Not that I bake a lot of chocolate cakes, but it is completely foolproof. You can't even tell that it's vegan. I did my own non-vegan chocolate peanut butter icing. I prefer vanilla cake but I asked Wells what he wanted and he said chocolate. 

This honey-butter garlic chicken was good for a quick dinner. I needed more sauce though, so I'd double that part of the recipe. I added roasted broccoli and rice. 

This sheet pan cashew chicken was good...I'd 100% make it again, as soon as it's cool enough to comfortably use the oven. 

Then, I made two recipes out of a Gooseberry Patch cookbook that Scott's sister gave me a few years ago. We had picked a bunch of blackberries, so I made this cobbler recipe, but used blackberries:

And then I made this yellow cake as cupcakes with sprinkles, a la funfetti. Wells helped. Frosting is just a basic buttercream. 

If you're not making your cupcakes/cakes and frosting from scratch, you're doing it wrong. Not because it makes you less of a person, but because you're missing out. The payoff is worth the extra 20 minutes, I promise! Wells and I made boxed red velvet mini-cupcakes a few weeks ago and I thought they were awful. Everyone had a couple and then I threw them out after they sat in the fridge for a week. 

What's your go-to summer meal right now? (I know what you're going to say, but our tomatoes aren't ripe yet, though we do have 84759 zucchini to do something with.)

Recipe Recommendations! (with toddler reviews)

Scout sleeping on Scott's hunting sweatshirt last night...so Scott can't leave without him. 

This is his strategy and it works. 

These are all new-to-me recipes I've tried in the last few weeks. I'm trying to be innovative...we're all getting sick of cooking, I know. 

These are mostly from the same website because I went on a bookmarking spree a few weeks ago.

1. Peanut Noodles

This is the best version of peanut noodles I've made in years. I feel like they were a *little* salty, so next time I'll cut the soy sauce a bit and add more honey. I also use Thai Kitchen rice noodles instead of ramen because that's what I had on hand.

Wells ate a bunch of it, asking where the "meatballs" were, because he was eating noodles minus the meatballs. 

2. Puff Pastry Pizza.

This was interesting. I'm a sucker for any and all pizza. It does not matter. I'll eat it. 

I probably wouldn't make this again just because puff pastry doesn't have a lot of flavor and it was pretty messy (flaky). 

Wells ate two pieces. He eats pizza in a weird way, kind of going straight in for the toppings and then down, leaving a shell of crust.

3. Chicken Marsala.

Scott made this twice last week. That's how good it was. Buying the ingredients for it, you generally get enough for two meals anyway.

We had it over basmati rice. 

Wells wouldn't touch it but he did eat some that I fed to him from my plate (because apparently that's different food than on his plate). 

4. Street Corn Nachos.

I've made something similar to this before and that corn was a lot better. I'm sure if I used fresh corn on the cob, this would be spectacular but I didn't because it's November. 

I mean, nachos are like pizza: all are at least kind of good. 

Wells ate a few chips covered in corn. He definitely didn't dislike it. 

What's the best new recipe you've tried lately? 

5 Things I...

...made in the kitchen.

Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Pizza.

Lasagna Roll-Ups.

Beer Bread.

Peanut Butter Brownies.

-1 box brownie mix, prepared and poured into a greased 9x13 pan
-Peanut butter candy of your choice (I used Peanut Butter Meltaways because my mom sent them. Reeses' Cups work... or peanut butter chips or even swirls of slightly melted peanut butter, in a pinch)

Top the batter with the candy or peanut butter. Press it in gently.
Bake according to package instructions.

Serve warm with ice cream. Or, let cool and warm up just before serving.
You could also freeze these brownies and pull them out as needed.

Needless to say, we've been detoxing this week.