What to make in September
+ Playa del Carmen, a very unwelcome visitor, hats and tea towels, recommended reading, and Tuscan meatballs
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Rebecca, a cookbook author, recipe developer, and food photographer. You might know me from my recipe websites, Of Batter and Dough and A Little and A Lot.
My husband and I are nomads who divide our time between an RV and a sailboat (the boat is a new addition!), so I write about life on the road and on the water, the incredible places we visit, and the inspiring people we meet along the way.
Happy almost September!
This issue is short and sweet as Covid has been our companion on the boat this week and holyshit that stuff can take you out.
Last week I went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico with a dear friend. We ate tacos and ceviche, drank tequila, visited mayan ruins, swam in caves with bats, laid on the beach and swam in the pool. It was delightful and also, as we reminded one another constantly like it was new information, hot as balls.
So, after a canceled flight that resulted in my return a day later than expected, it felt positively wonderful to come back to Michigan where the days this week are a pleasant 70. When I left for Mexico, Michigan was also hot as balls (the phrase grosses me out a little bit, I don’t know why I keep saying it. I’ll stop now.)
What a difference a week makes! Suddenly the air is crisp and clean and smells like fall. How does one describe that smell? I don’t know but I am confident that when I say, it smells like fall, you will know exactly what I’m talking about.
After 24 hours of basking in the bliss of cooler weather, I discovered I had brought an unwelcome visitor home with me. Covid. Are we not all just sick of hearing that word?
Anyhoo, it’s possible my husband and I had Covid right before anyone knew what Covid was but other than that we’ve escaped it. Until this week.
Here’s a confession: When I’ve heard people speak of having Covid and how they couldn’t get out of bed or couldn’t lift their head from the couch, I’ll be honest with you friends, I thought some of them were maybe being just a teensy bit overdramatic.
So, we can confidently say that karma is to blame for the fact that I found myself in that exact state earlier this week. What goes around, comes around and I got mine.
Steve succumbed a few days later so an accurate description of sailboat life this week is: we are a hot mess.
Still, I am on the mend. I’ve graduated from debilitating exhaustion to feeling like I have a cold. Isn’t it so interesting how we can be grateful for an unpleasant thing when it follows a more unpleasant thing?
We haven’t sailed in nearly two weeks and are keenly aware of how few sailing days we have before us. This year, at least. Fingers crossed that we both feel well enough in a couple of days to emerge from the cabin and sail this thing.
A few photos from Mexico…
New hats and tea towels in the Let’s Get Lost Studio!
Due to popular demand, we’ve added hats and tea towels to the Let’s Get Lost Studio product line!
AND, from now until October 1, you’ll receive free or discounted shipping on every single item in the store.
Recommended reading list
While in Mexico, I read You Can Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith. The title of the book comes from the last line in one of the author’s most famous poems, Good Bones. If you haven’t read the poem, it’s famous for a reason and becoming more relevant by the day. You can read it here.
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Join me on Thursday for a LIVE Meatball making class with Christine from My Tuscany Roots
Didn’t we all just LOVE last week’s guest post from
??? If you missed it, here’s where you’ll find it…A Journey Through Tradition, Flavor & Adventure
In this piece, Christine takes us all on a journey, from her Tuscan roots to her current adventure - a grand roadtrip across Europe in a camper to a cozy Irish cottage.
Next Thursday, Christine will teach us how to make Tuscan meatballs. These flavor packed morsels covered in tomato sauce are simple enough to be made in a camper van or in a sailboat galley, so join us whatever the size of your kitchen!
Tuscan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce: A Family Treasure
Meatballs are truly one of my favorite things in the world. As we are with things we love, I am quite picky about them. They must be juicy and flavorful, not tough or chewy, and in most cases, blanketed in a really good sauce. These Tuscan Meatballs check all the boxes.
What to make in September
Chicken and Apples with Mushrooms in Cider Cream Sauce: Tender pieces of chicken swimming in a sweet and savory apple cider cream sauce with caramelized mushrooms and golden, buttery apples. This dish will blanket your whole home with the warm, rich smells and flavors of fall.
Green Chili with Pork Ribs and Hatch Chilies: This Green Chili Recipe is the result of years of tweaking and testing (and eating!), until it was packed with as much rich, meaty green chili flavor as I could cram in there.
Three Cheese Ricotta Stuffed Shells: Pasta shells are messily stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese then covered in my all-time favorite homemade marinara sauce. Top the whole thing with even more cheese and bake until the whole house smells of bubbling marinara and melted cheese.
Meatloaf with Italian Sausage: The secret to a great meatloaf is to use a mix of ground beef and Italian sausage, plus plenty of finely chopped herbs and vegetables to keep every bite moist and flavorful.
Navy Bean Soup: Oh, but this creamy navy bean soup is so, so good. It's hearty, meaty, and more flavorful than bean soup has any business being.
Cinnamon Swirl Loaf Cake: This cake is moist and tender with thick gooey ribbons of cinnamon and sugar swirled into every delicious slice.
Cherry Cream Cheese Turnovers: These delicious puff pastry cherry turnovers are filled with sweet cherries and cream cheese, then topped with roasted almonds and vanilla glaze.
Anything Cookies: Use this basic cookie dough recipe to make pretty much whatever kind of cookie you're craving right now. The dough mixes up in about 5 minutes. After that, toss in anything that strikes your fancy.
French Apple Crumb Cake: The texture of this cake is a delicious cross between apple pie and tart tatin. And the crumb topping is soft, buttery, and as thick as the cake itself.
What’s happening in the Lost Supper Club
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The Weekly Recommendation List
If you were sitting around my dinner table this week one of the topics that would inevitably be sprinkled throughout the evening’s conversation is recommendations. For books, food, restaurants, clothing, places to visit, things to see, things to do, things we love. This week's recommendations are show heavy because what's one to do when stuck on the couch except find something entertaining to watch.
Classes!
Here you'll find information about upcoming classes and the replay links for past classes. LIVE classes are open to everyone who would like to drop in. Replays are available to everyone for a couple of days then available to paid subscribers (Lost Supper Club members)
Recipe Index: Get Every Single Recipe
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The No Recipe Required Cookbook
No Recipe Required dishes are more of a formula than a recipe. They are designed to be thrown together with whatever ingredients you like with one thing swapped out for something else, increased, or reduced as you like.
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Gosh, Covid SUCKS, I thought people were exaggerating too 😂 - I was so sick, I had a new baby and had lost my mom a couple months before it struck our whole family, me baby, son and my husband - we are so weirdly joined by our shared Covid experiences, it makes me think of a Latin phrase “sunt lacrimae rerun” and it very roughly translates to “the sadness of things” and the character who says it in the Aeneid is talking about how as humans when someone has a bad time we all know what it’s like - anyways - glad conditions are slowly improving - keep resting, longer than you want to, you can do it 💚
Glad your graduating my friend to “miserable” from “decimated”. 🥰. Hope you and Steve both are up and about soon. I see you mentioned Rachel, she’s doing the next LIVE with me September 12.😉. I’m making the stuffed shells. Good lord,😍