For producers, makers, and lovers of food alike!

Plus your February menu / 10-days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Hello my friends,

Though we haven’t really announced it publicly quite yet, Stuart and I will be…

… did you think I was going to say welcoming a new baby? Ha. No.

But we will be launching a new podcast into the world in just a few weeks, featuring a guest and the two of us! Everyone always wants more Stuart, which makes me happy.

Our new podcast is entirely based around food - go figure - whether that includes producers of food (I'm looking at you homesteaders!), makers of food, or even just lovers of food. With plenty of homesteading, from-scratch, and Italian flare. Our guests come from all sorts of backgrounds and professions, but what you’ll find unites us each episode (what always unites us) is time at the table.

In our modern culture, I don’t think the value of time at the table can be overstated.

Perhaps now, more than ever, we need to break bread with people. It is the ultimate unifier and bringing of peace.

We need time with our family, uninterrupted, to look into their eyes and say I love you with our time and attention. We need time with our friends, with strangers, with new folks we’d like to meet. So we disagree. You make me warmed olives and I make you flatbreads. This is kindness. This is love!

Forgive the preachy-ness, but dang-it anyway. We need to invest in the most valuable asset we have. Y’all. It’s each other.

And I can’t think of a better way to do that than to pour into the wonderful and diverse souls that cross our path. No one is angry over a freshly made bowl of pappardelle pasta with bolognese. No one.

While you’re focusing on who to invite over, allow me to take on the work for you of planning what’s for dinner (and breakfast… and lunch…). Even if all the meals planned on my menu aren’t a perfect fit for you, there’s 30 to choose from in each menu, so pick and use what works for you in real life.

Each printable menu will cover 10-days worth of seasonal meals and will include notes on when to mix sourdough, soak beans, etc. Many of the recipes are linked to newsletters, blog posts, or YouTube videos, as applicable.

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Also, if you’re not sure what to make, here’s my favorite dish to make for guests:

Shaye’s Bolognese

4 tablespoons butter

2 carrots, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 bottle white wine

4 cups whole milk

2 (18-ounce) jars crushed tomatoes

½ cup heavy cream

1. Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat.

2. Add in the carrots and onion and saute for five minutes, until just soft.

3. Add the beef and pork to the skillet and allow the meat to just gently cook, not brown, stirring every so often and breaking up any large pieces with your mixing spoon.

4. Pour in the wine. Allow the mixture to simmer for twenty minutes while some of the wine evaporates.

5. Pour in the milk. Once again, allow the mixture to simmer for another twenty minutes.

6. Add in the tomatoes, stir, and allow the mixture to simmer for another hour until it is thick.

7. Turn off the heat, add in the heavy cream, and stir. Lastly, season to taste with salt and pepper.

This best bolognese is perfect served over homemade pasta and with a generous glass of red wine (see the wine I choose here). Enjoy.

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Also worth noting, every Cooking Community member also gets access to our menus over on our app. Over in our Cooking Community, we offer 5 new recipes each month, along with instructional cooking videos for each one and an exclusive, private online social community of home-cooks.

This month, we’re focusing on work-able weeknight meat dishes! Look good? Join in!

For clickable links, download the PDF directly below: