Welcome! This is “Staying In,” a Sunday newsletter with recipe ideas for your week ahead. Every other Thursday I also publish a “Going Out” edition where I review a restaurant, bar, or activity here in Portland. Know someone who might like Riley’s Recs? Get your share link here and get rewarded! And don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations and follow RR on Instagram at @rileysrecs. Enjoy!
I’m going to San Francisco to visit friends (drop your restaurant recs in the comments please!) so I won’t be doing a ton of cooking this week.
Ahead of the trip I want to be “burning clean” as puts it. That means there are not one but TWO salads in this week’s recipe lineup.
Eating a salad for dinner is normally a recipe for disaster (pun intended?). I get super hungry by 8 pm and raid the snack drawer for anything resembling junk food. But the salads I picked this week have protein toppers and pair well with sides like creamy white beans in herb oil. So I’m feeling optimistic.
To further combat the nighttime hunger pangs, I’ll make a protein shake in the afternoon. My go-to protein powder is Biochem — the chocolate flavor is sugar free and is a nice addition to banana smoothies. I sometimes throw in leftover coffee from the day before, too.
Happy cooking! And give me your SF restaurant recs!
✨ Inspo ingredients: bananas and leftover salsa macha ✨
DINNERS
Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad | White Beans and Herbs | Baguette
Stewed Spinach | Shiro | Kicha
Charred Cabbage and Chicken Peanut Chop
Chorizo Tacos | Salsa Macha
BREAKFAST
Whole-Grain Banana Yogurt Muffins
DRINK
Banana Protein Smoothies
Notes:
Charlie Bird’s salad is having a moment right now. It’s one of my all-time favorite salads — find the recipe in the archives here. I bought 10-minute farro at TJ’s that will make this dish come together quickly.
White bean and herb recipe here.
The stewed spinach, shiro and kicha dishes are from In Bibi’s Kitchen, which I reviewed here a couple of months ago. It’s traditional to eat a banana alongside your meal.
Charred Cabbage and Chicken Peanut Chop
Caroline Chambers | What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
I picked this recipe because I love peanut dressings: On tofu. On chicken. And, yes, on salads.
This is more involved than I want it to be so I’m going to make a few changes:
I’m going to buy chicken from the deli instead of baking/grilling myself. But if you want to cook your own chicken, the recipe has a few suggestions.
I’m not going to grill the cabbage, either. I’ll just put in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes.
I’ll eat this as leftovers, too, so I’ll dress salad each time before serving.
Easy Chorizo Tacos
Kenji Lopez Alt | Serious Eats
I normally have Don Felipe chorizo in my freezer, but I’m fresh out so I’ll have to DIY my own. I refuse to buy New Season’s chorizo because it’s insanely spicy. I always think I can handle it, but I cannot. With Kenji’s recipe, I can play down the spice level by removing the seeds from the chipotle chile. This is also a great way to use leftover chiles from last week’s chile con carne. Plus last week’s salsa macha, if you made it.
Whole-Grain Banana Yogurt Muffins
Genevieve Ko | New York Times (Gifted Link)
I just made these muffins, and they turned out great. I don’t think they beat a classic blueberry or anything I can get at Tabor Bread, but I love a good “healthy” breakfast muffin because it lets me use all the random ingredients I have in my baking drawer. Today that meant ground flax seed, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, coconut flakes, and turbinado sugar. This is a highly modifiable recipe (I swapped Greek for whole-milk yogurt, for example) and takes 10 minutes top to make. The muffins are a tad sweet so if you want to cut the honey or reduce the brown sugar, you totally could.
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Ooh those muffins look great — healthy in disguise 🥸
Burning clean!