Silky Acorn Squash Soup with Halloumi Croutons

Silky Acorn Squash Soup with Halloumi Croutons and Crispy Sage
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Holiday meals are so epic that individual dishes tend to get lost. It’s an endless parade of decadence. No matter how special they may be, it will always be hard for soups, sprouts, and sides to steal the show. But despite all this indulgent noise, we still have to put effort into each dish. That’s because a low note in a sea of high notes is bound to be the most memorable. Sad but true. So while it may be tempting to phone it in on the soup course (if you’re even bothering with a soup course) I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it. But I get it, when you’re elbow-deep in a turkey, soup may seem like a low priority. The solution? This Silky Acorn Squash Soup! It’s tasty, festive, and nearly effortless to put together.

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Dill Caesar Wedge Salad with Potato Chip Croutons

Dill Caesar Wedge Salad with Potato Chip Croutons
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Once upon a time, the wedge salad was considered a relic—a cringeworthy nod to the much-maligned mid-century American dining scene. But as with most things old and outdated, the wedge salad found new life during the vintage-loving aughts. It was resurrected alongside a slew of hip steak houses, dusted off for Mad-Men-themed parties, and now it has finally settled down as a menu mainstay. And for good reason, a wedge of iceberg is truly a blank slate. Chefs and cooks can’t seem to resist the endless possibility of this admittedly angular base. And I am no exception. Today’s Dill Caesar Wedge Salad is my own little riff. It’s part caesar, part wedge, and part small child let loose on a salad bar. And you know what? That is precisely the kind of energy I want to see in the world. So let’s make this potato chip spackled beast!

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Poached Shrimp with Peach Habanero Hot Sauce

Poached Shrimp with Peach Habanero Hot Sauce
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The summer may be winding down but patio weather lingers. Sure, school is back in session but we still have acres of good weather ahead of us. So before we dig out our casserole dishes and launch into soup mode, let’s keep those effortless summer recipes going a little longer. Today’s Poached Shrimp with Peach Habanero Hot Sauce fits that particular brief perfectly. It can be made in advance, it pairs well with a beer or a crisp glass of white, and its cook-time is minimal. Sounds pretty summery to me!

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Bloody Mary Spritz

Bloody Mary Spritz
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Lately, I’ve been researching savory cocktails. It’s not that I have anything against sweet\fruity drinks. I just don’t find them particularly compelling. And overly sweet beverages? I cannot stress enough how much I dislike them. A drink should have a lot more going on than just sweetness. You’re not popping a straw into a Capri-Sun after all. I do like the taste of alcohol, I don’t need it to be masked. But savory cocktails take things even further. They don’t just balance the sweet with the alcohol burn. They put the sweet in the back seat in favor of notes of feta brine, pickle brine, tomatoes, celery, and/or fish sauce. And if this all sounds gross to you, I promise it is not. Plus, they double as an appetizer, which is just economical. Today’s Bloody Mary Spritz definitely fits the cocktail/appetizer description. 

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