My top tens, and a non-recipe

Hello there!  You’re catching me in a rare free moment.  The move has gotten pretty intense.  See the thing is, this whole month has become one giant transition.  My lease in NY started on July 1, and my lease here ends on July 31.  Now, there’s a part of me that considers this a luxury.  I get to move out at my leisure, no rush, no panicked  night-before packing.  But on the other hand, this means that the move takes ALL MONTH.  There is a (very large) part of me that would greatly prefer to just get-er-done.  Yes, maybe it would be a crazy weekend, but at least it wouldn’t drag on.  I’m sure you’ve all had some crazy moving experiences, I’ve heard some great/terrible stories this month that, to tell the truth, have made me really appreciate how many potential moving disasters have NOT occurred (yet).

Anyway, with the kitchen all but packed up, it’s practically toruture to look through food blogs these days!  There are so many recipes that I can’t wait to try once I’m all unpacked and settled down in my new place.  Right now, I’m pretty restricted, but there is one recipe that has become quite the standby.  I’ll include it as number 1 on my top tens… it’s Smitten Kitchen’s Peanut Sesame Noodles.  If you like peanut butter at all, I highly suggest that you make this now.  The thing is, the dish is great as is.  It is easy and versitile.  It can be eaten hot or cold, it’s wonderful either way.  It requires very little heating of anything, all you have to do is boil some pasta, really.  But the best part is that the sesame-peanut sauce is just about the best thing ever in terms of multi-tasking.  Of course I tried it on soba noodles first, but then I had some sauce left over and I started experimenting.  It’s great for dipping veggies.  I cut up some cucumbers and carrots and dipped for a healthy and satisfying snack.  It’s also perfect mixed in with any other grain.  Last night I made some brown rice (with broth in place of water… that’s a valuable secret tip there!) and mixed in butternut squash and some sesame-peanut sauce.  Sounds a little weird, I know, but it was awesome!  It’s also perfect mixed in with greens:  collards, kale, it all works.  I feel like at this point I should note that Deb at Smitten Kitchen is not compensating me in any way to swoon so blatantly over her recipe 😉  Seriously, it’s just good, and it has really made this whole trying-to- eat-well-while-moving thing much more pleasant.

So, with that said, here are my top tens.  You can bet I’ll be tackling a lot of these recipes in August once my life calms down a bit.  If you try any of them first, let me know how it goes!

1. Peanut Sesame Noodles from Smitten Kitchen

2. Chickpea “Blondies” from Have Cake, Will Travel (by the way, I LOVE the design of that site!  So simple and pleasing.)

3. Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini from Orangette (although truthfully, almost all of her recipes are on my to-make list)

4. Thyme-Rosemary Bread from StephChows.  This is the perfect use for my overgrowing Thyme!!

5. Pad Karpow Moo from Chez Pim

6. Aglaia Kremezi’s Fried Potatoes with Yogurt Sauce from The Wednesday Chef

7. Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from Bake or Break (oh man, I don’t even know if I could handle this- so rich looking! but it makes me drool…)

8. Otsu from 101 Cookbooks (looks like the perfect fresh-n-easy summer recipe!)

9. Crispy Halibut wtih Wasabi Panzanella and Early Grey Potatoes from No Recipes (this one’s fancy but looks awesome!)

10. Noodles with Mushrooms and Lemon-Ginger Dressing from Simply Recipes

Well, there’s my list.  I can’t wait to start cooking for real again!  My non-recipe recipe is coming soon, I promise.  I’ll be back later this afternoon.