Back again, back again!

Plus, why you'll never pay for this newsletter, and a sneak peek (ahem...peach!) recipe

Hello and happy weekend! I’m BACK. Well, I never went anywhere. But the newsletter is back!

After turning in the first draft of my book manuscript on August 1st, I took a lovely 3-week hiatus to give myself some weekends off, and it was amazing. To be fair, all time off is amazing, so you don’t need me lecturing you to make the most of these last few weeks of summer (plus, not all of us have the luxury). But I have noticed that I crave ebbs and flows in my pace of life, needing some stretches of downtime and some stretches of so-fast-I-can’t-think time, and I cannot wait to get back into a more steady rhythm of work. Even if a steady rhythm means planning a lot of soup recipes. And trust me, I am planning a lot of soup recipes.

But during this summer, I made a “wish list” of all these summer vegetable recipes I wanted to publish, and luckily in these last few weeks, I was able to develop and film a lot of what was on this list. This week won’t be a weekly round-up per say, but just some of my favorites from the past month. AKA, lots of vegetables!

A round-up of my favorites!

Tomato Fish Curry - a recipe finished in minutes, and made all the more delicious by a generous helping of coconut milk and lime. The fish steams over the tomatoes, and when served with white rice, it’s one of my ultimate comfort dishes.

Sungold Tomato & Zucchini Pasta - A meal designed for a white wine that’s cheap enough to cook with but good enough to drink. In minutes you get a creamy, bright pasta that is easily made plant-based with just one tweak.

Calabrian Chili Butter Eggplant with Crispy Chickpeas - Eggplant and crispy chickpeas are such a texture match made in heaven. Add a spicy-sweet Calabrian chili butter sauce and it’s an automatic winner of a side dish.

Chickpea & Farro Peperonata - Of all the Italian dishes I’ve learned about these past years, peperonata just has my heart. It’s zippy, flavorful, and is a great way to use up pounds of vegetables without feeling like you’re eating pounds of vegetables.

A bonus recipe! Layered Peach Coffee Muffins

I have been on a bit of a muffin kick lately - but I’m building up my repertoire! After exhausting my blueberry, zucchini, and banana options, I wanted to add peach to the list. This recipe gives you layers of jammy, juicy peaches that are balanced with a hint of coffee bean flavor. Each muffin is buttery and soft, with the peaches melting into an almost jammy filling that is supremely satisfying to pull apart into bite-sized pieces. The full recipe plus a printable version is below. It’ll be on social feeds tomorrow, but you all get it first!

Makes: 6 jumbo muffins, 12 standard muffins

Total time: 50 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large eggs

• 113 grams / 1/2 cup salted butter, melted

• 110 grams / 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 110 grams / 1/2 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar

• 105 grams / 1/2 cup skyr or greek yogurt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon coffee grounds

• 280 grams / 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 80 grams / 1/3 cup milk of choice, I use almond milk typically

For the peach layers

• 1 large peach, thinly sliced

• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 25 grams / 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the crumble topping

• 52 grams / 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 30 grams / 3 tablespoons unpacked dark brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon coffee grounds

• 45 grams / 3 tablespoons salted butter, chilled and cubed

INSTRUCTIONS

• Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F.

• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, sugars, yogurt, vanilla and coffee grounds until smooth.

• Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix, adding in splashes of milk a few tablespoons at a time to help ease it into a smooth batter. Set aside.

• Add the sliced peaches to a separate small bowl. Drizzle in the lemon juice, and sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Toss to coat and set aside.

• In another small bowl, add the flour, brown sugar and coffee for the crumble topping. Add in the chilled cubed butter. Toss to coat the butter in flour, then work the butter into pieces with your hands, consistently tossing to coat in the flour and sugar. You're looking to make a crumble-like texture, with pieces no bigger than the tip of a pencil eraser. Set this in the fridge while you assemble the muffins.

• Line or grease a jumbo muffin tin and spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into each. Layer with 1-2 peach slices, then spoon another heaping tablespoon of batter on top. Repeat this layering of peach slices and batter until each muffin has 4-5 layers. Keep the layers thin so that the peaches don't prevent the batter from baking. This will make six jumbo muffins or twelve standard-sized muffins (see notes).

• Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a generous amount of the crumble.

• Bake for 32-36 minutes or until the tops are domed and golden and you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

• Let cool until the muffins are easy to touch, then serve!

NOTES

If using a standard-size 12-count muffin tin, reduce the baking time to 20-25 minutes. Layer only three layers of the peach/batter mixture. 

You can find a downloadable PDF of the recipe here!

4.86MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

And lastly, why you won’t be paying for this newsletter any time soon

I’ve been seeing a lot of people pledging money to subscribe to this (meaning, they say they are willing to pay a certain amount of $$$ should I ever turn on my paid tier, which would automatically be put on their card as soon as I activate). And while it is so kind and SO appreciated that you support my work in this way, I want to let you all know that I don’t want to activate crowd-supported funding for my accounts. At least not yet. And there are multiple reasons why.

First, I monetize my food blog. This means you see ads on my wonderful, beautiful site (*cough, cough* JustineSnacks.com) and in return, I get paid about $30 for every 1,000 people who visit my page. My end goal in life is for this to be the biggest chunk of my income, something my new assistant (hi, Emma!) and I are working really hard on behind the scenes. So anytime you visit my site or direct someone there, know that you are directly supporting me, and thank you a million times over.

Second, at this point in my career, I am so lucky to have support from so many brands and companies that I endorse. If you can pay me with your time, engagement, and attention, and they can pay me in return to showcase their products, then I don’t see any reason to translate another cost over to you. I see it as the way I can keep my work open to everyone, and there’s no barrier to entry.

And lastly, if I ever were to paywall something, I would want it to be project-focused. Along the lines of a podcast, YouTube, or something that needs crowd-funded support. So maybe one day when I start publishing my violin covers of Noah Kahan singles on here, then I’ll start asking you to shell out the big bucks. Until then, Snacks will remain free, yours, and available to share. (PS, if you like it - I always am grateful when you share it!)

Until next week, happy cooking!

Xoxo,

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