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A galette is just a pie with authority issues; unruly and endlessly adaptable, it’s the rapscallion of the baking world. I even flatter myself to think we have a peculiar sort of kinship—if I were to reincarnate in edible form, I like to think I’d retain my rough edges and eschew the conventionality of a pie dish.

Homemade jello (jelly?) seems deeply unnecessary until you try it, realize how fun it is, and finally achieve the merging of adult and inner child you’ve been chasing in therapy for thousands of dollars. I exaggerate, but only slightly—this is jello like my eight year old self never knew, free of offputting dyes and tasting like the very essence of rhubarb dialed up to the nth degree. I thought I had grown out of the wobbly, shiny stuff: this recipe brought me back around, and it’s only slightly more cumbersome than the packaged version.

Here is an uncompromising cookie that started as a compromise between me and my partner. I need a chew/crunch balance to really enjoy a cookie, and think brown butter improves most situations (not just recipes—I mean general situations). My partner, meanwhile, refuses cookies without oats. Okay, refuses is a little strong: he will eat them with a raised eyebrow that suggests he’s not totally convinced, and when you ask him what’s wrong, he’ll say “this would be better with oats.” A quintessential champagne problem, perhaps, but he’s a really good dude otherwise. I love him but also myself, so here we are.

I went back and forth on garnishing this with parsley for the sake of a prettier photo, but look, it doesn’t need parsley and we’re here to cook, not play dressup (dressup is after dinner). Notwithstanding its Instagram-unfriendly brown and beige, this sausage stew—with big chunks of apple and onion, and a silky broth thick with all the sweetness and meatiness of its core ingredients—is an indispensible staple in my winter rotation. It demands little attention, comes together in one pot, and doesn’t even need bread to feel like a complete meal (but if you had some, that wouldn’t hurt anybody). 

My favourite tomato soup has five pantry ingredients (including olive oil), is easily made vegan, and piggybacks on its companion garlic bread recipe for a (technically optional) drizzle of garlic-infused oil. And since the garlic bread recipe makes more of said oil than you’ll need, the rest of your week can piggyback on that too—so every fried egg on toast, piece of chicken or salmon or steak, or emergency bowl of rice is that much more delicious with zero extra effort. Because people, it’s late February, which is when I finally let myself get excited for the produce we’re a month out from—while also being weirdly pre-nostalgic about the slow season.