Top 12 Recipes of 2024 + Cookbook Announcement
Let's Get Lost, Issue #32, Dec.14,2024
For many years I organized a book club which we affectionately called the food and wine club. We chose a new book every month but often only devoted a small portion of the evening to talking about it. Most of the time we talked about everything else that was happening in our lives
We laughed a lot. Sometimes we also cried. We celebrated and commiserated and sometimes disagreed. And also, as I’ve mentioned, there was always a lot of good food and plenty of wine.
Even though we called it a book club, it was really a supper club of book lovers.
2020 came with it’s cautions, restrictions, and heartache. Steve and I sold our home and moved into an RV and did what you do when your home has wheels - we took off.
And after 10 years of monthly meetings, our little group disbanded. Nothing lasts forever. But, those meetings were a tremendously important part of my life and I remain forever grateful for the friendship, support, and fun they added to those years.
These are the kind of experiences that I hope to have in The Lost Supper Club.
This morning I read this quote in The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, “It may not be possible to know who you are without somehow expressing it.”
How simple and true. We learn who we are in the company of others. I’ll turn 50 next year and I still have so much learning to do.
If you understand exactly what I’m talking about, I hope you’ll join us.
The Supper Club will launch in January. My intention is for it to inspire connection, community, and insight with friends old and new. And also, there will be good food. Obviously.
Find out more about The Lost Supper Club here. And please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or just to say hello by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post or sending an email: rebecca@rebeccablackwell.com
And hey there, fellow book lovers, one of my personal goals in 2025 is to read more. If you also share a love of reading, you should know that we will talk books in The Supper Club. Hopefully while brushing cookie crumbs from the keyboard.
Speaking of books…
Look what’s coming out in January!!!
I had no intention of writing a book this year and yet, here it is.
For me, this book is a concrete reminder that knowing the result is not important as just doing the thing. In fact, in my experience, being attached to the result is often an impediment. I’m certain this is a lesson I will need to learn again. But for now, I am giddy with excitement.
The book includes 143 recipes with full color photos spread throughout 325 pages and will be available in digital and print. Lost Supper Club members will receive 20% off both the digital and print versions.
I don’t have a release date yet, but friends, you will be the first to know when I do.
Here’s a short preview…
Top 12 recipes of 2024
On that note, the rest of this week’s issue is devoted to the top 10 recipes of 2024.
Since launching this newsletter in February of this year, I’ve published 123 new recipes here. You can view them all by scrolling through the recipe index.
The top 12 are a combination of my personal favorites and the ones I heard the most about from YOU. Ok, maybe not you personally, but other subscribers who wrote to tell me they made it and they loved it. ❤️
1). Creamy chicken and potato soup with chilies and cheese
My favorite time to make this soup is on a Friday night when we are both worn out from the week and want nothing more than to snuggle up on the couch with a movie and a bowl of something warm and delicious.
If you have some cooked chicken, the soup takes very little time to throw together. And, if you don’t have any pre-cooked chicken, you’ll find a super easy method for cooking chicken right below the recipe.
Recipe: Creamy chicken and potato soup
2). Chicken schnitzel
Thin slices of juicy chicken, generously breaded with crispy panko bread crumbs and fried until golden brown - what’s not to love about chicken schnitzel???
I only make it a couple times a year, but when eaten with forkfuls of cream cheese mashed potatoes, it’s one of our all-time favorite meals.
Recipe: Chicken schnitzel
3). Simple braised pork chops
Dry, flavorless pork chops need not apply because these babies are more juicy and flavorful then a pork chop has the right to be. This recipe is quick and easy and, like all no-recipe-required recipes, can be modified in whatever way you see fit.
I made these on Wednesday making enough so we could also have them on Thursday and they are just as good the second time around.
Recipe: Simple braised pork chops
4). Fettuccini with chicken and tomato cream sauce
This is one of those creamy, saucy, comforting, flavor-packed meals that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy.
Also, it’s relatively quick and easy (about 30 minutes). I’m into it and if you try it, I hope it leaves you bursting with warm and fuzzy vibes.
Recipe: Fettuccini with chicken and tomato cream sauce
5). Poached salmon salad with honey lime dressing
Like a lot of the recipes I publish here, this salad is easy to scale up or down for as many or a few people as you’re cooking for. Plan on about a half of a pound of salmon per person. Start to finish, this salad will be on the table and ready to eat in 30 minutes or less.
And, by the way, the honey lime dressing here is just a variation of this basic vinaigrette recipe, which is endlessly customizable for any kind of salad.
Recipe: Poached salmon salad
6). Quick and easy stuffed flatbread
Warm and cheesy bread stuffed with anything you like and dripping with garlic butter. Can you imagine anything better????
This is for all of you throw-it-together people with plenty of options to use whatever you have or whatever you like.
While you do need to follow the recipe to make the flatbread dough, it's not important to be super exact in your measurements and you can fill these pockets of deliciousness with anything your heart desires.
Recipe: Stuffed flatbread
7). Apple cheddar salad
I published the recipe for this salad in February, mentioning that Steve and I ate it at least once or twice a week. Well, it’s December and we are STILL eating it once or twice a week and not even close to being tired of it. There's not really ever a day when it doesn't sound good to me.
Recipe: Apple cheddar salad
8). Apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies
These are soft oatmeal cookies flavored with both apple sauce and chunks of apples, and iced with maple miso frosting. They are one of the few cookies I prefer to eat after they cool because I think their flavor and texture improves at room temperature.
Recipe: Apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies
9). Denver chocolate cake
This cake originates from a Junior League cookbook published in the 1950’s. My Grandma made it often and her version differs slightly from the versions I found online. I’ve made a few minor modifications of my own. Regardless, this is a great cake to feed a crowd. It will serve 12 - 15 people and everyone will go crazy for it.
Recipe: Denver chocolate cake
10). Peaches and cream puff pastry danishes
These little pastry cream and peach filled pastries are sooooo delicious. Even better, they use prepared frozen puff pastry, so they are relatively easy to make. The day I first tested the recipe, Steve and I ate all 8 of them all by ourselves so now I only make them when there are other people around to help us eat them because, clearly, we cannot be trusted to exercise restraint.
Recipe: Peaches and cream puff pastry danishes
11). Amaretto soaked cardamom pound cake
This is a true pound cake, which means there are roughly equal amounts (by weight) of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Also, there are no chemical leaveners (baking powder and baking soda) in this recipe. Rather, the cake relies entirely on air that gets trapped in the batter during the mixing process and eggs to rise.
Traditional pound cakes are dense and rich, with a very tight crumb. That’s exactly what you’ll get with this cake, BUT this cake soaked in amaretto syrup after baking. The result is a beautifully light and moist cake that is packed with the flavors of almond, cardamom, and just a hint of orange.
Recipe: Amaretto soaked cardamom pound cake
12). Kate’s chocolate cobbler
The top of this cobbler is a cross between brownies and chocolate cake. But when you cut into it, you’ll find a saucy, chocolate pudding-like layer underneath.
There’s a great story about how this cobbler came to be and if you do nothing else, head straight to the recipe to read it.
Recipe: Kate’s chocolate cobbler
Honorable mentions…
Poblano corn chowder (for paid subscribers)
Citrus drizzle cake (for paid subscribers)
Cabernet braised short ribs with garlicky greens (for paid subscribers)
Iced lemon poppy seed scones (for paid subscribers)
Quick links
Lost Supper club members will receive 20% off the digital and print version of the Let’s Get Lost cookbook coming out in January!
You can read this and every issue by going directly to rebeccablackwell.com
Scroll through the recipe index where every recipe published in Let’s Get Lost is listed
Check out my notes, where I share thoughts and ideas throughout the week including things from other people that I find interesting and think you might too
If you’re new here and you want to read more about me, check out the About page
That’s all for now, friends. I hope you have a delightful week and, if you are enjoying this newsletter, please tell your friends.
If you make something from this issue, have questions or anything you’d like to share, add a comment below. I ❤️ to hear from you.
Counting days till I can get that cookbook in my kitchen!
Congratulations on your book!! That is very exciting news. 👏🏻👏🏻