Staying In No. 18
Why are we paying $4 for a granola bar?
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. What should I write about next? Feel free to leave a comment on this post or submit your idea here. And don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations and follow RR on Instagram at @rileysrecs. Enjoy!
I love raiding people’s houses for snacks. It was hands down the best part of babysitting. After the kids would go to bed, I would open every cabinet until I found what I was looking for: boxes of Gushers, Pop Tarts, Cheez-Its, and Annie’s Graham Cracker Bunnies. All for me. I would snuggle up on the couch with my bounty and snack to my heart’s delight while I watched the Suite Life of Zack and Cody on the Disney Channel until the parents came home from their date night. Bliss!
A few weeks ago I dog-sat for my friend and her husband. I was hungry and decided to look for a snack in the pantry. Because we’re adults now, there weren’t any Fruit by the Foot or chips. Just lots of GoMacro bars. So I tried one. And it was delicious. It’s my new favorite granola bar.
The thing is: each GoMacro bar costs $4. You can definitely buy them for cheaper in a pack, but technically they start at $3.99 a unit at New Seasons. There’s an open argument in my head: do I pay for convenience or do I make things from scratch myself?
There’s no re-creating a GoMacro. But I can definitely make a homemade granola bar. In my dream life, this is something I do every Sunday. In my real life, this rarely happens. But today that changes. I won’t let dreams be dreams!
There are a few recipes this week where you can choose convenience or cost. For example, the zhug sauce can either be made from scratch or purchased bottled at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. And if you don’t want to use whole spices in the recipes, choose ground.
Whatever floats your boat!
✨ Inspo ingredients for the week: cardamom, zhug, and arugula ✨
DINNERS
Seared Steak with Herby Zhug Marinaded Tomatoes
Spiced Chicken and Rice with Cardamom and Cinnamon
Black Pepper Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry
Lemon Fusilli Pasta with Arugula
LUNCH
Baked Potato | Zhug sauce | Arugula Salad
BREAKFAST
Chewy Apple-Almond Granola Bars
Notes:
The rice dish + marinated tomatoes both call for cardamom pods. This is a great use of any leftover cardamom you have from the Irish oatmeal recipe last week! Although both recipes call for pods, you can definitely just use ground cardamom.
If you have leftover cabbage from last week, the black pepper beef recipe is a great way to use that.
The lemon fusilli pasta calls for arugula, which I’ll also pair with a baked potato for lunches throughout the week. I’ll top the potato with leftover zhug sauce that I’ll make on Monday for the steak and tomato dish.
Seared Steak with Herby Zhug Marinaded Tomatoes
Caroline Chambers | What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
Making a quick sauce out of chopped herbs and oil is an easy trick for elevating weeknight meals. For this recipe, you can either make the zhug (a Mediterranean spicy cilantro sauce) from scratch using a food processor/blender or just buy it at Trader Joe’s. I love seeing what zany pumpkin spice foods TJs has invented every year, so I’ll probably just go there and do that. Cheers to convenience.
The zhug here will be used as both a steak sauce and a marinade for sliced tomatoes.
Spiced Chicken and Rice with Cardamom and Cinnamon
Kay Chun | New York Times (Gifted Link)
Double the spices! Double the spices! That’s what every reader says to do with this one-pot chicken and rice recipe. So I’ll listen to reader feedback and do just that. Otherwise, the directions are straight-forward and call for cooking the chicken and rice at the same time, in the same pot. It’s possible that for some reason the rice won’t cook through, which is always a risk when cooking rice on the stovetop, but I’m going to try anyways. I’ll report back with the results on Instagram on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Black Pepper Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry
Sue Li | The New York Times (Gifted Link)
I’ve had approximately 1.5 million people recommend this dish to me. So it’s time I finally make it. In theory, other than the rice, this is a simple one-pan meal. You basically toss the sliced steak in corn starch and black pepper, cook on medium-high heat in a cast iron pan or wok before removing and adding in cabbage and then cooking until crisp and tender. You’ll add a little sherry vinegar, too, which adds a nice acidity to the dish. Combine and serve everything over rice.
Lemon Fusilli Pasta with Arugula
Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa At Home
A few weeks ago, I recommended the New Yorker article about Ina Garten. Ever since, I’ve had her lemon fusilli pasta on my mind. So this week, I’m finally going to make it. Not only was this a formative dish for me (who knew pasta could be anything but spaghetti and penne at age 15?), but it also reminds me of one of my favorite restaurant meals growing up: fusilli a la roma from Pastini’s. Oh, what a treat.
Chewy Apple-Almond Granola Bars
Justin Burke | The New Family Table
"These chewy apple-almond granola bars bring a hint of fall with warm spices and apples that appeal to all ages. Toasting the oats first adds a deep, nutty flavor that perfectly balances the honey and spices. The natural sweetness of the almond butter blends well with the applesauce, apple chips, and dried cranberries, creating a bar that's earthy, subtly sweet, and a little tart."
Like I said in the intro, this is an attempt at living out my meal prep dreams. Thankfully, this recipe only calls for a few cooking vessels: a skillet for heating the oats and butter, a bowl for microwaving the nut butter and honey, and a mixing bowl for throwing everything together before baking. Although no serving size is included in the recipe, it looks like this should make about 12 bars. If I like how it turns out, I’ll double this recipe for the future so that I can freeze and eat throughout the month.
I’m a big breakfast person so I’ll probably pair this with yogurt in the morning. There’s no world in which one granola bar sustains me until lunchtime. Especially when I work from home within 10 feet of the kitchen.
Be sure to read the full recipe post for tips on how to involve kids in this baking process and for ingredient substitutions!
