I’ve been keeping a busy social calendar lately. I’m dating, which means spontaneous drinks and coffees and sometimes meals, and the occasional hurried excuse and departure. I’ve been spending lots of time with friends and, in a couple cases, having folks over I wasn’t really planning on, which required me to make food I wasn’t intending on making.
These are a couple of the recipes that have emerged from my somewhat chaotic autumn social life, which can be made with things you probably have around and are frankly pretty delicious.
They include my homemade candied cherries for when the store puzzlingly has no cherries at all except fresh, and a vegan mushroom pate made for a memorable date with a now-friend who joined me for camping and snacks out on my acreage in Georgia.
The cherries are a simple way to make a pantry staple in a pinch. But the mushrooms! It’s become a favorite way to quickly use mushrooms when they go on sale, and is an ideal spread for sandwiches, whisked into stock for an easy soup, or just eaten like traditional pate all on its own on bread or a cracker.
Subscribe to continue reading
Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.