Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more on Fridays — right now I’m doing a 30-minute budget meal series! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

I wish I had more to write about this week, but I feel like I’ve just been holed up in my house doing work, taking it easy, and trying to avoid doomscrolling. Even when I went to go write my favorite things section this week, I was thinking about how I haven’t made new purchases in quite some time, which I guess is a good thing! I’m in routine mode after the first weeks of the month were a bit chaotic.

One thing I’ve really been focusing on is finding my calm. I am very sensitive to the things I read and see online — news, social media posts, comments, etc. — and I’m trying to really take a step back and not get caught up in whatever I’m reading or seeing. Easier said than done of course, but I just don’t want to drown in hopelessness. I do think I’m getting better at just detaching from weird online discourse or scary headlines and reminding myself of my optimism, but it’s a constant work in progress.

I have a bit more going on next month, so hopefully I’ll have more exciting things to talk about then!

I always like to turn to my cookbooks when I’m feeling meh about cooking. This week, I was flipping through my Gjelina cookbook, and I was reminded how good their recipes are. Even though it was published 10 years ago, the recipes still hold strong — they wow me with their flavor combinations, and I bookmarked so many recipes. The Beef Bone Broth with Greens and Poached Eggs sounded especially soothing right now.

I love dipping chips into cottage cheese as a snack, especially when the chips have a strong flavor. Fly By Jing sent me their Chili Crisp Potato Chips, and I can confirm they are the PERFECT pairing to eat with cottage cheese — the spiciness and creaminess together are a 10/10.

I’m not one to usually own a raincoat (I live in SoCal, after all), but when I went to Alaska last summer, I realized it was time to buy one. Thank goodness I did, because I went to London just a few months after that! I loved this Patagonia Everyday Rain Jacket in navy, and it happens to be on sale right now too! It rained this week in LA, so I whipped this baby out, and I was kept nice and warm while feeling like the jacket still matched my style.

One of my favorite tricks for making mayo-less egg salad is using eggs that are more soft-boiled than hard-boiled. You let the yolk ooze out just a smidge, and then you can mix in some lemon for some moisture. Bonus points if you add in avocados, which are inherently creamy.

This egg salad contains all of these things plus some herbs and scallions for a bright and fresh egg salad that’s served over toast with goat cheese. It’s a simple dish that can be made for breakfast or lunch, and you’ll feel good about getting so many greens in one meal.

I used basil and dill here for my herbs, but feel free to use whatever you have at home! Parsley and cilantro also work well, or any combination you see fit.

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 small avocado, diced

• 1/2 small jalapeño, finely chopped

• 1 scallion stalk, thinly sliced

• 4-5 basil leaves, thinly sliced

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped dill

• Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

• Pinch of salt & pepper

• Pinch of aleppo pepper or crushed red pepper

• 1 slice of sourdough toast

• Goat cheese spread

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, and carefully add the eggs. Boil eggs for 7 minutes, and then immediately submerge into a bowl of ice water to cool for at least 5 minutes before peeling.

2. Add peeled eggs to a small bowl, and mash with a fork until chunky. Add the avocado, jalapeño, scallions, basil, dill, lemon zest and juice, and a pinch of salt, pepper, and aleppo pepper. Mix together until evenly combined.

3. Toast your sourdough, and then spread on a layer of goat cheese. Top with the egg salad, and eat and enjoy!

We’re really going strong with the 30-minute budget meals this year! Last week, paid subscribers received a recipe for One-Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with Za’atar Lemon Broccoli Rice!

Just a reminder that anytime you become a paid subscriber, you get access to ALL of the past recipes in the archive. You can always do a free 7-day trial as well!