Soup or salad....super salad.

Plus, books!

Good morning! It’s a beautiful day to talk about food. Well, it’s a beautiful day to talk about fall and food, because I feel like the two go hand-in-hand. While it is still very much summer (we have to wait until September 22nd, I know I know), I went on a trip to Iceland last weekend with Icelandic Provisions, and somehow whenever I go on a trip up north, I come back and *BOOM* a new season is here. It happened in June when I was in Alaska, and happened again this trip. It’s like a time machine curse, but instead of going back to the past I just come back with weather. There could be worse things.

The beauty is that there is a slight crisp in the air now. Coffee tastes better, socks are a little thicker, lights are a little dimmer…I say this all after we’ve had one day in the 60s-70s …but let me live.

This also means Slop Season is upon us. After seeing this TikTok video, where this group continuously misses out on hosting a Slop-Themed Dinner Party, I have decided this fall will be a crash course in slop. The best fall food group. Hands down.

And slop can be beautiful! Enter scene: my butternut squash soup with a fennel salad on top (soup + salad = veggies!), it’s an unblended soup, because that’s less work for us, and also I love having chunks of soft, spiced butternut throughout my bowl. The salad has a creamy, bright dressing, which does the same thing that heavy cream does when you drizzle it on your soup. So don’t balk at the salad being on top, the combo works, I promise. And it’s slop heaven. To start soup season. Or Slop Season, as we will now call it.

So this week there’s a salad to ease us out of summer, and a soup to ease us into slop. And next week, maybe a Baked Salad, who knows?

The weekly round-up!

Fennel & Butternut Squash Soup - First, we slop. This soup is 10/10 beautiful, and you only need a pot to make it. You can pack it with autumnal spices, but I find the fennel salad does just enough work to make it interesting.

Shishito Pepper Salad with Sizzled Mint & Sesame - Sizzled dried mint is a very Persian technique, but wow, am I truly in love with it on this shishito pepper situation. It takes minutes, but the mint, coriander, and sesame come out all nutty and fragrant, and you just can’t find this kind of texture in any other bean salad. Plus, plant-based!

And my goodreads… is now open for friends

And I am feeling vulnerable about it! Also, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE GOODREADS. But you can friend me here: https://www.goodreads.com/snacks_stacks

And yes, we got the username Snacks’ Stacks.

After being welcomed into the ACOTAR family (hi! I love it here!) I also wanted be say like, guys, I do read other things, too! A few highlights of my year have been:

The Marriage Portrait - I can’t wait to read Hamnet next!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - I’m on a reread, it’s a very comfortable low fantasy.

Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger - Women in food, women who love food, this is a must-read.

Please share your favorite fall reads in the comments, because nothing says fall like SLOP and BOOKS and TEA. We’ve come full circle.

Ok, until next time, and I miss you already!

Xoxo,

Justine_Slop