An Overnight Oat Update, A Recipe in The Works, Favorite Irish Soda Bread & 5 Salads for Dinner


Friends, hello.

I was hoping to have something more exciting to share with you this weekend, namely a recipe for a very simple soft sandwich bread, which I've been making in various ways — sometimes with honey, sometimes with olive oil, sometimes with more or less water and different flours, etc. — since this past summer. The recipe is almost there...

... and I will share it as soon as it is. I have a simple sourdough sandwich bread recipe on the blog, and I've long wanted to include a similar yeasted version there, too. Soon!

In the meantime, I have an overnight chia oat update to share. If you've made these oats, you know the recipe yields two portions, and it can easily be doubled or tripled to have more on hand for the days ahead.

Recently, I've been making individual portions: I line up 6 jars and fill each with:

  • 2 tablespoons of chia seeds
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup oat milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1.5 teaspoons maple syrup
  • pinch sea salt
  • dash cinnamon

I give the mixture a stir, cover the jars, and stash them in the fridge. It is so nice to have individual portions on hand ready to grab on the go or to send off with a child who has slept past her alarm or who has had his braces tightened and is surviving on liquids alone. The joys of adolescence!

I recently bought these 8-oz jars, which are a little tight for the quantities I use in them, but I love their compact size.

And they still allow enough room for a handful of berries or some sliced banana or grated apple:

PS: Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal


Review of the Week

Super Simple Irish Soda Bread

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Great simple recipe, I appreciate the DIY buttermilk option. Baked for 45 minutes in a 10-inch cast iron skillet and turned out perfect! Nice brown crust with a tender-moist crumb inside, just right — thank you for the delicious recipe!"

— Jen

PS: If you love Irish soda bread, you'll love this Simple Irish Brown Bread (another no-yeast quick bread):

And these lemony currant scones:

What I'm Craving: Salad for Dinner

I find this time of the year to be the least inspirational from a culinary perspective — I'm tired of roasting everything and craving freshness. In these bleak times, salad for dinner to the rescue!

Charred Broccoli Chopped Salad

Hetty McKinnon's Sushi Salad

Chopped Thai Satay Salad

Kale and Quinoa Salad

Cauliflower Couscous with Almonds and Herbs


In Case You Missed It:

Miraculously Delicious Turkey Burgers (So many of you are making and loving this one!)

Simple Baked Pasta

How to Save Recipes:


Tonda-Style Pizza (Preview)

In Friday's pizza newsletter, I wrote briefly about tonda-style pizza, a very thin Roman-style pizza that happens to be my favorite. Video and recipe to come next week 🍕🍕


Popular Right Now

You Are Loving These 3 Recipes...

PS: ALL the popular recipes right here → Popular Recipes


Thank You

Thank you to all who have ordered Pizza Night. If you haven't left a review yet, I would be so grateful if you did! 🙏🙏🍕🍕🥗🥗


5 Free Resources Available to You

PS: All previous editions of this newsletter can be found here.

Hi. I'm Ali.

Bread enthusiast. Vegetable lover. Omnivore. If the kitchen is your happy place, you're in good company. Let's hang.

Read more from Hi. I'm Ali.

Friends, hello! A week ago, I shared this sandwich bread recipe, and the most frequently asked question I've received since is: Could I make the loaf using whole wheat flour? I respond as I always do: Yes, you can, but keep in mind two things: 1.) the more whole wheat flour you use, the less lofty your loaf will be. 2.) Depending on the flour you are using, your bread might not necessarily be more nutritious. Why? It has to do with the milling. Most commercial flour on the market is made from...

Friends, hello. Last week I mentioned I had been working on a soft sandwich bread recipe and hoped to be able to share it soon... here it is! It's a no-knead, 6-ingredient recipe that takes about 5 minutes to stir together. Thanks especially to my oldest daughter, who brings a turkey sandwich to school for lunch nearly every day and who has no reservations sharing her opinions, the recipe has gone through many iterations these past few months. It started with the basic bread ingredients:...

Friends, hello, how are you? Tired of winter? Same. Tired of roasted vegetables? Same. Tired of being cold? Same. Alas. This time of the year has to arrive at some point, and it seems to be now. This week, after mistakenly buying blood oranges at the market, I made a vinaigrette, which immediately inspired me to make a favorite, classic salad — beets with goat cheese and walnuts — which takes so nicely to a citrusy dressing. I used golden beets, which looked better than the red ones on that...