A little bit of a facelift

Sometimes everything needs a refresh, including newsletters.

❤️ Did you know that if you hit the heart or recycle symbol at the top or bottom of this post, it makes it easier for other people to find this newsletter?

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First things first: Join me next week for a LIVE tour of two kitchens!

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And everything old is new again

My husband likes to joke that if I have an extra 10 minutes in the day I start a new business. This is not quite true… but also totally true.

I have a tendency to create a LOT of new things, then find that I’m in a situation that’s completely unsustainable and must then find a way to scale it all back.

This, of course, is what gives me the extra 10 minutes. So, you see how this cycle works.

Sigh. We are who we are.

Anyhoo, you may or may not know that in addition to writing this newsletter every week (which generally includes stories from life on the road + several new recipes + a live class every week), I publish two recipe websites. You’ll find those here:

• Of Batter And Dough

• A Little and A Lot

For the past couple of months, my little team and I have been working on how to make this newsletter more streamlined and useful for you and my workload more manageable for me.

Earlier this year, we spent several weeks renovating our RV, and now this little newsletter is getting a facelift too.

Apparently, this is a year of regeneration.

Here’s what you’ll find in the Let’s Get Lost newsletter starting this week:

• Stories of life on the road. My husband and I are nomads who live and work in an RV and spend the year traveling about the country. Sometimes I write about real life (like how we recently renovated our home on wheels or how we’ve learned to just enjoy the ride), and sometimes I make up stories about people I observe out my window (Meet Edna).

• One menu with several new recipes. Instead of a random smattering of recipes, you’ll find a coordinated, thoughtful menu that includes at least three recipes. For example, this week you’ll find a delicious mango and avocado salad that pairs beautifully with Costa Rican beans and rice tacos with homemade corn tortillas and blueberry pie cookies for dessert.

• A VIP section for Lost Supper Club Members (paid subscribers)! We are busy creating a cozy little corner on rebeccablackwell.com just for paid subscribers. Is that you? Here’s where you’ll find it! In every issue of this newsletter, look for the section titled “What’s happening in the Lost Supper Club” to find out what’s new!

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What’s happening in the Lost Supper Club (paid subscribers)

• Check out the BRAND NEW recipe index! Here’s where you’ll find every single recipe published in the Let’s Get Lost Newsletter + Downloadable pdf recipe cards for every single recipe!

• Class replays: LIVE cooking classes are free for anyone to attend, but the replay library is a perk of being a paid subscriber. Click here to access all the class replays!

• Michigan meet up! Join us for the first Lost Supper Club meetup the weekend of July 12! Time and location TBD but please let me know if you are interested in attending! Leave a comment below, send me a direct message through Substack, or send an email to rebecca@rebeccablackwell.com.

• Upcoming LIVE Ask Us Anything just for Lost Supper Club Members: Join Steve and I for an hour of live Q&A about life as nomads. This video call will be held over Zoom and open for all paid subscribers. Join in and ask us anything you like about living and working full time in an RV and life on the road. —> Click here for the details.

• Exclusive recipe for paid subscribers —> How to make homemade corn tortillas with step-by-step photos and instructions.

• Exclusive recipe for paid subscribers —> How to build a Casado plate (a delicious, nutritious traditional Costa Rican lunch).

• 7 kitchen tools I can’t live without: Besides the basics like wooden spoons, spatulas, a can opener, and the like, these are the kitchen tools I rely on the most. And, I want to know… what are the things in your kitchen that you find essential???

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—> For a limited time, receive 20% off your first year’s membership in The Lost Supper Club

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This week’s menu

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Let me show you how to make two of the recipes in this week’s issue!

On Thursday, I taught a LIVE class about how to make homemade corn tortillas and Costa Rican Beans and Rice. If you missed it, the replay will be available for everyone for the next couple of days. After that, like all the other class replays, it will be available to Lost Supper Club members (paid subscribers).

Here’s where to watch:

How to Make Homemade Corn Tortillas + Costa Rican Beans and Rice

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*Lost Supper Club Members: Grab a downloadable pdf of this recipe here.

Mango avocado salad with dried cherries, crispy pangrattato, and sesame vinaigrette

*No recipe required: As with all no recipe required dishes, this is more of a formula than a recipe. Use more or less of anything and swap out the vegetables, kind of salsa and cheese, type of beans as you like.

Gather your ingredients:

• Two thick slices of good, sturdy bread

• Extra virgin olive oil

• A generous handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and pistachios. Add all three of these things or any combination of them. Or substitute in any kind of nut or seed combo that strikes your fancy.

• 1 clove of garlic, minced

• About 1 tablespoon of lemon or orange zest

• A few mint leaves (I used 4 medium size leaves)

• 1 small shallot

• White wine vinegar

• About a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, and honey

• Salt and pepper

• About a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil

• Extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil (for the vinaigrette)

• Salad greens

• 1 ripe mango, diced

• A couple of fresh radishes, sliced into very thin pieces

• 1 ripe but still firm avocado

• A handful of dried cherries

• Pickled onions (optional)

• Grated manchego cheese

To make the pangrattato

Pangrattato is an Italian condiment made with crispy toasted breadcrumbs seasoned with garlic, herbs, and citrus. It’s a delicious way to add some crunch and flavor to pretty much anything, like a salad.

For this recipe, I also added a handful of pistachios, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. The result is a deliciously nutty, crispy, flavorful crunch in every single bite.

How to make it:

Tear a couple of slices of really good bread into bite-size pieces. What constitutes really good bread? Whatever tastes good to you.

Add the pieces to a skillet and drizzle in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, enough to coat but not soak the bread. Set the skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the bread is well toasted.

Let the toasted bread cool, then dump it into a food processor and add:

1. A generous handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and pistachios. Add all three of these things or any combination of them. Or substitute in any kind of nut or seed combo that strikes your fancy.

2. 1 clove of garlic, minced

3. About 1 tablespoon of lemon or orange zest

4. A few mint leaves (I used 4 medium size leaves)

Pulse until the mixture is ground into coarse crumbs. Taste and add some salt if you think it needs it.

Make the vinaigrette

Last month I was a guest on

Sharing Kitchens LIVE

with

Jenn Sharp

where I showed everyone how to make one of my favorite summer salads AND how to make this simple homemade vinaigrette. Watch the replay here: How to make City Club Cocktails, Cherry Chicken Salad, and Bananas Foster

This simple vinaigrette can be adapted in hundreds of ways to incorporate many different flavors.

1. Chop a small shallot into small pieces and add it to a bowl. Add enough white wine vinegar to cover the shallot. Let the shallot soak in the vinegar for at least 5 minutes and up to a couple of hours.

2. Add about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, and honey. Whisk to combine, then season with salt and pepper. Remember that the seasoning you add to the vinaigrette will season the whole salad, so be generous with the salt and pepper.

3. Whisk in about a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil, then whisk in as much avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil as you like. Traditional vinaigrette includes 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. I prefer more of a 50/50 ratio and tend to add equal parts vinegar and oil. Do as you like.

Assemble the salads

1. Pile plates with plenty of greens. Top with a diced mango and thinly sliced radishes.

2. Slice an avocado into thin slices and sprinkle with salt. Add the slices to the salads and sprinkle some dried cherries over everything.

3. Drizzle the salads with vinaigrette.

4. Sprinkle with a generous amount of pangrattato.

5. Top with a few Pickled onions if desired. I suggest making a batch of these super quick pickled onions for the tacos below. So, if you have them, use them.

6. Sprinkle some grated manchego cheese over the top of the salads and dig in. Pecorino Romano is also a good choice.

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Gallo pinto (Costa Rican beans and rice)

There is so much good food in Costa Rica. I think you’d have to really work at it to not eat exceptionally well while visiting there. Everywhere you turn there are many different kinds of restaurants, markets, and sodas - small, local Costa Rican restaurants that serve only traditional Costa Rican food, all of it delicious.

The heart of Costa Rican cuisine is beans and rice.

Beans and rice are as essential to traditional Costa Rican food as butter is to French cuisine. In many parts of the country, it is eaten at every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Gallo Pinto is a meal unto itself, but can also be the starting point for a hundred other dishes. So, this is where we begin. With a simple pot of beans and rice that is, in fact, delicious enough to eat every day.

You’ll find variations of beans and rice all across Costa Rica, but the basic idea is the same. In most cases, the rice is cooked separately and then added to a skillet of sautéed garlic and onions along with black beans. In this recipe, I’ve cooked everything in the same pot.

Get the recipe —> Gallo Pinto (Costa Rican Beans and Rice)

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Blueberry pie cookies

These soft blueberry and oatmeal cookies are chewy, crunchy, blueberry-filled bites of bliss. Think chewy oatmeal cookie meets blueberry crumb pie, with a granola crunch for good measure. If you’re into things like buttery cookie dough, jammy fruit centers, and a snack that doubles as breakfast (and c'mon, who isn't?), these might just become your new favorite cookie.

Friends, I have a lot of half-baked ideas. (Pun totally intended.) Some never leave my brain, others flop spectacularly. But sometimes, the idea turns out better than I even imagined. That was the case with these blueberry pie cookies. I wanted chewy cookies bursting with the flavor of blueberry pie and a bit of sweet granola crunch, and that's exactly what these are. 👏

Get the recipe —> Blueberry Pie Cookies

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—>For a limited time, receive 20% off your first year’s membership in The Lost Supper Club

That’s all for now friends. We’ve just arrived in Michigan for the summer, and I already have so much to share with you about our time here. But, that will have to wait until next week. Until then, have a delightful, delicious week.

xo

-Rebecca