love and football
bacon jalapeño pimento cheese!! plus some thoughts on v-day
Hi and happy February to you all!
Early February is all about love and football, and love and football converging again thanks to Travis and Taylor. I’m not a sports girl, but I am certainly a snacks girl, so I’ve got *quite* the football-watching snack lineup for you today.
Keep reading for a round up of recipes from What to Cook the newsletter, What to Cook the book, my IG, others’ Substacks, etc. But first! If you plan to make only one thing for game day snacking this weekend, let it be this jalapeño bacon pimento cheese!!!
Every time I post a recipe video using a mayonnaise that is not Duke's, I literally get hundreds of messages that are concerned for my well being. "WHERE'S THE DUKE'S?" "ARE YOU NOT A DUKE'S GIRL!?" Etc. In case you aren't familiar, Duke's is the mascot of the South. It's a really, truly perfect mayonnaise, with the perfect amount of zip thanks to a little extra vinegar in their recipe. And it's the mayo of choice for making the dip of the South: pimento cheese. My version adds crispy bacon and jalapeño and is absolutely out of this world. The best part: you serve it room temperature, so you won't be competing for oven space or worrying about warming your dish up during the big game this Sunday.
Serves a lot!
Tools:
Chef’s knife and cutting board
Box grater
Ingredients:
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeds removed, diced
8 ounces white Cheddar cheese, grated on the largest hole of a box grater
8 ounces yellow Cheddar cheese, grated on the largest hole of a box grater
3/4 cup Duke's mayonnaise
1 (4-ounce) jar pimentos, drained
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
5 dashes Worcestershire
Big pinch of kosher salt
Cook 4 slices of chopped bacon in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until almost crispy. Add 1 diced jalapeño (seeds removed and discarded) and cook for 1 more minute. Use a paper towel to remove any excess bacon grease from the skillet. Let the skillet cool.
Grate 8 ounces white Cheddar cheese and 8 ounces yellow Cheddar cheese and add to the cool skillet along with 3/4 cup Duke's mayonnaise, 1 (4-ounce) jar pimentos (drain them first!), 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 5 dashes Worcestershire, and a big pinch of kosher salt. Stir to combine.
Enjoy immediately or keep refrigerated for up to 4 days.
link to printer version
If you’re hosting a big group or are planning to cook more than one app this weekend (a meal comprised of apps is one of my very favorite types of meals), here are some more ideas. Recipes with page numbers are from What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking the book, for those of you who have it!
SLIDERS & SANDWICHES
chicken parm sliders (p. 140)
ham, brie, & fig toasties (p. 139)
crunchy sheet pan sliders (p. 138)
giant ham & cheese croissant (p. 187)
DELICIOUS BITES
cookout chicken (you could do this, but with wings! Baking wings would take 35-45 minutes, flipping halfway through; grilling, about 10 minutes per side)
chicken flautas or chipotle black bean flautas cut into smaller pieces to make them more graze-able
pizza ensalata (p. 245) — cut it into squares instead of slices
- ’s soft pretzels and baked buffalo wings (spotted via )
- ‘s slow-cooker carnitas sheet-pan nachos
DIPS & SIDES
lentil bruschetta (p. 175) — stir in a block of crumbled feta and serve it as a dip with Fritos Scoops (just trust me)
al pastor enchilada *dip* (p. 135 — to turn it into a dip, make the filling, top it with cheese, and bake it at 400°F for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted)
rainbow chicken chop (your stomach will thank you)
FULL MEALS
any type of chili!
SOMETHING SWEET
salted brown butter toffee skillet cookie (p. 255)
We thought about pulling together some Valentine’s Day gift guides, but honestly? None of us actually buy big Valentine’s gifts for our spouses, selves, or kids! George’s ideal gift is for me to spend zero dollars and instead cook something using meat from the depths of our freezer and odds and ends lurking in our fridge and pantry. And Molly and Jillian typically cook their husbands a nice homemade meal too.
This Saturday’s recipe will be a special-occasion meal perfect for Valentine’s Day, should you, like us, celebrate the holiday with a fancy at-home dinner! If you’re not already a paid subscriber and want the recipe for a steakhouse dinner at home to land in your email and Substack app this Saturday, upgrade today!
We were all in agreement that products aren’t really our style for Valentine’s Day — neither gifting them nor asking for them.
When we each asked our husband what they’d want for Valentine’s Day, it was unanimous: sex and a great steak dinner. I broke George’s “don't spend any money” rule this year and ordered some gorgeous Wagyu steaks from Snake River Farm, my go-to when I want really special meat. Not sponsored, but when I was grabbing that link I saw they have a 35% off sale running. Might I suggest ordering some filets for this Saturday’s Steakhouse At Home recipe?!
Our ideal Valentine’s Day gifts?
Caro: I find it very swoony when George takes the time to take good photos of me with the kids. Even if it’s just them climbing all over me on the couch. Moms are so rarely in front of the camera — we’re the ones taking the pics, and it's really nice to have those moments captured. So I'd love a framed candid with me and the kids! It’s so easy through Framebridge — I’m into the beaded gold frame.
Molly: If we’re talking ideal here… a night alone at a boutique hotel (preferably Zero George or The Dewberry) to get 9-12 hours of uninterrupted sleep!!
Jillian: A little solo spa time to read, recharge, and pretend I’m a lady of leisure. Bonus: A less frazzled me is truly the gift that keeps on giving for the whole family! From Molly and Caro: PREACH!
And for our children, we typically keep things simple.
Molly: I always buy my boys a big balloon and one of those cards that sings and write all the things I love about them inside. They love it!
Caro: I have historically been terrible at minor holidays, but one of my 2025 intentions is to celebrate the little things to break up what can become a daily grind of working and parenting. I’m copying Molly!! Just bought my singing cards!!
Jillian: For our kids, we keep it festive but not over the top — like a mini Easter basket, Valentine’s edition! Books, fun pencils, stickers, and a little chocolate treat — all things that are practical and bring that morning magic when they wake up!
And if you’re the parent of a pre-K or grade-school kid, there’s likely a more pressing consideration on your mind this week… school Valentines!!
This is the first year my kids (actually, just my six-year-old) have been at a school where exchanging Valentines is allowed and I’m currently brainstorming what to send with them. Do I just do candy? Chocolate chip cookies if we feel like baking (my kids always feel like baking)? What do your kids typically do for school Valentines?
We’re back with another box-of-gifted-product giveaway! As a reminder, on the first Wednesday of each month, we randomly select a paid What to Cook subscriber to send a box of cool stuff I’ve been sent by brands. Laurie H. — you’re the winner! (Check your email from a note from Molly.) I hope you use the Guittard goods to make the skillet cookie from my book — I’m gonna make it with the butterscotch chips instead of toffee!
And congrats to Alexandria C. and Kirsten, who are the winners of last week’s fun giveaway (a copy of Comedic Timing and some 831 stories merch). Check your Substack DMs for a note from Molly!
What to Cook launched in December 2020, which means there are more than 200 recipes in the archives. To help you cook through them, let’s revisit what we cooked this week over the last few years.
1. (almost) one-pan garlic butter roasted chicken and crispy potatoes, 2024
Last year
‘s and I teamed up to bring you this delightful sheet-pan dinner. The potatoes and chicken roast together then are served with a homemade romesco sauce (with a hack to make it easy, of course).2. thai chicken chop, 2023
I dream about this cashew curry dressing. If you made and loved the rainbow chicken chop this week, make this one next! Swap the romaine out for cabbage to make it into a good-all-week salad.
3. 30-minute shawarma lettuce wraps, 2022
This is such a delicious, quick, and flavorful weeknight meal. We use cauliflower rice to bulk up the shawarma-inspired beef filling, which you can serve as lettuce wraps or over rice. And I’ve been obsessing over this cucumber, pepper, and avocado salad so much that I forgot about this recipe’s addictive cucumber and avocado version!
4. greek turkey meatballs with couscous and dill yogurt sauce, 2021
I love rereading the oldest WTC posts to see what we were up to during lockdown. And this one celebrated a fun milestone for this newsletter! But more importantly, the recipe rocks. If you’re craving notes of spring, this one is for you.
omg can we please all agree to just buy the dumb little classroom exchange cards (with a small candy or temporary tattoo or whatever) that we all exchanged as kids?? i cannot take another high-expectations project, and the curated, personalized goody bags that some kids brought to our three-year-old(!)'s daycare class last year were so wild
last year my son took individually wrapped hot dogs to his whole class for valentines "it's too much sweet stuff, we need something to mix it up"