This week has been unseasonable warm, even for Colorado! But this weekend we are headed back to our regular February temps of 40s and 30s (I know, I know…still very mild compared to some wintery places!) So I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favorite winter recipes!

My husband was away for work earlier this month and being alone combined with post-holiday fatigue meant that I wasn’t really doing a great job of cooking for myself. I was relying heavily on prepared food and frozen meals I could just heat up quickly. But the past week I’ve gotten myself out of that rut and am excited to be cooking more!

• Spaghetti Carbonara – This is one of Tyler’s favorites! I think it’s actually a perfect date night menu item (you know, since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner) because it feels fancy, but it’s actually pretty easy if you follow the instructions closely. My suggestion…if you haven’t made it before read through the whole recipe before you start. There are certain things that need to be done pretty quickly and you don’t want to be caught trying to get your egg mixture ready while your pasta is either overcooking or cooling because you already drained it! Not saying that from experience or anything… Also, traditional carbonara does not have any vegetables in it but sometimes I add peas. I am not a stickler for traditionalism!
• Chicken Parmesan Gnocchi Bake – I love chicken parm! But I hate cooking it myself. In my world, it’s one of those perfect dishes to order at a restaurant! So when I saw this recipe in my inbox I knew I needed to give it a try. It has the flavor profile of chicken parm, but it’s a lot less work. It uses ground chicken, so there’s none of the breading and frying involved. Is it a lot like the original? Umm…no, it’s not really. But it’s really yummy in it’s own right! The last time I made it our store didn’t have burrata so I just added it a little extra mozzarella on top to match the cheesiness. I also stirred in a block of frozen chopped spinach that I just thawed in the microwave to boost the veggie factor.
• Zuppa Toscana – Copycat of the Olive Garden recipe. This is one of my absolute favorite soups. The recipe linked is for an Instant Pot, but you can just google this recipe and find a million different versions. It’s hearty and creamy and comforting…everything you want in a winter soup. I recommend serving it with some yummy bread, either from the store or homemade.
• No-Knead Bread – Speaking of homemade bread…last winter I was in the habit of making this about once a week. Need to get back into that routine because it’s so so easy and so so good. Again, this is one of those recipes that you can look up and find a lot of variations. They are all basically the same thing…flour, water, yeast, and salt. Mix it all together. Let it rise overnight. Form into a ball and bake in a Dutch oven!
• Crispy Tofu Bowls with Peanut Sauce – I don’t have a complete recipe I follow for this so I just linked the one I use for crispy tofu and another for the peanut sauce only. Lately I’ve been using these Vegetable Yakisoba frozen noodles I found at Costco and just adding the tofu and peanut sauce on top, but I don’t recommend if you are trying to cut down on sodium. You can really use anything. A super easy version would be to buy a bag of frozen stir fry veggies, cook up some rice, and then add the tofu and sauce. It’s a nice change of pace from my otherwise steady diet of heavy Italian food.
• Chicken Pot Pie Soup – I love a good chicken pot pie, but just like chicken parm, I rarely want to go through the full hassle to make it. Enter the chicken pot pie soup! This one is definitely more like it’s namesake. I made this not too long ago when my parents came over for dinner. I served it with Pillsbury crescent rolls and it was perfect! The recipe makes a lot. It says 6 servings but I think we had it with the four of us the first night, then Tyler and I had leftovers the next night, and I think there was still a little leftover.
• Sweet Potato, Kale, and Black Bean Enchiladas – I love a good enchilada recipe, especially when I can pack it full of good veggies. This is a really delicious recipe with an unexpected combo of flavors! One thing to note is that this recipe includes mashed sweet potatoes in the ingredient list…which means the cooking and mashing of the sweet potatoes is not included in the steps or time estimate. So either build that into your timetable for cooking or prep the mashed sweet potatoes ahead of time.

Writing all these out and looking up the links got me very excited about cooking these over the next several weeks! I hope there’s something listed above that looks good to you and inspires you to get into the kitchen.