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!

This month feels so BIZARRE. The energy is strange. I’m still recovering emotionally from the LA fires, and then this eerie TikTok ban (and return) is giving me whiplash. Throw a dicy inauguration into the mix (I saw that Nazi salute), and January has just been crazy.

I’ve been finding a lot of comfort in routine — snuggling Willow every morning when I wake up, making an avocado goat cheese egg scramble toast, watching Friends to fall asleep with Grant in the evening.

Over the weekend, my friend Natalie and I spent the day in Ojai, and it was nice to get some fresh air, eat delicious food, and spend time under the olive trees and amongst the orange groves.

One of my favorite thing about living in Los Angeles is the access to so many amazing places. You can get to so many diverse areas within just a couple hours: the desert, the coast, the mountains. We have some small trips planned for the next few months, and that always invigorates me.

I also think it’s important to disconnect from the online world a little right now. I know it’s ironic for me to say that, as existing online is quite literally my livelihood, but I think we should definitely make an effort to stay informed, but with boundaries. It doesn’t help anyone to be glued to your phone doomscrolling. Log on to check the pulse, and then log off and for your sanity. Curate your feeds to be a mix of information and entertainment. There is so much good in social media, but we also have to be mindful we don’t get caught up in it.

Simple Mills does not miss with their products, and my latest obsession are their Pop Mmms Cheddar Snacks. Think Goldfish vibes or Cheez-Its but with healthier ingredients like butternut squash and red beans. Good for any gluten-free folks as well!

This Quince 100% Cotton Sweater is making its second return to this section. 1. Because I haven’t purchased new clothes in awhile 2. Because I wear it all the time, and since I last talked about it, I’ve gotten it in a second color. I have it in both Navy and Ivory and am really tempted to buy more colors, as I wear both basically every week. I love the material and the fit (I sized up one size for a slightly more oversized look), and at just $50, it’s such a good deal — no polyester here!

Sumo Citrus season is my favorite season! I eat one a day whenever I can find them in the stores. What makes sumos so special? They’re seedless, easy to peel, and so refreshing and sweet. This sounds like I’m a representative of their board, but I swear I’m just an obsessed fan. Grant and I started eating them in 2020, and we’ve been in love ever since.

Making spaghetti squash always reminds me of the early days of my cooking journey, when I was in college and just learning about things like spaghetti squash, kale, and quinoa. It was the 2010s, and Instagram had just barely hit the scene. I would scour online blogs to find new recipes, and the world was my oyster.

My love for spaghetti squash has not waned, but I have a tendency to forget about it. In my head, it’s a giant task to cut it open and scoop out the pulp, but it’s actually not that difficult if you cut it crosswise instead of lengthwise. This also helps the noodles stay in tact when you pull them out with a fork.

I love this particular recipe because it’s a full meal and not just a pasta replacement. The white beans provide protein (along with the feta), and you get a hearty dose of vegetables, between the squash itself, the tomatoes, the bell peppers, the onions, and the arugula.

And, if you’ve ever made the viral baked feta pasta, you know how tasty it is to mix in the melty feta with all those roasted tomatoes.

• 1 medium spaghetti squash

• 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes

• 2 bell peppers (I used 1 orange and 1 yellow), chopped

• 1/2 large red onion, sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, chopped

• 6 oz feta

• 1 15 oz can white beans, rinsed and drained

• 2 loosely packed cups arugula

• 2 tbsp parsley roughly chopped parsley

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped dill

• Olive oil

• Oregano

• Crushed red pepper

• Salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut spaghetti squash in half crosswise, and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Place face down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

2. In a separate large baking dish, add tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion, and garlic. Drizzle on some olive oil, add a sprinkle of oregano and crushed red pepper, and season with salt and pepper. Mix together, and then make some space for your feta and nestle it between the tomato mixture.

3. Transfer both the spaghetti squash and the tomato and feta mixture to the oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and have begun to burst and spaghetti squash is soft and flesh is easily pulled out with a fork.

4. Let your spaghetti squash cool slightly before flipping it over and scooping out the squash noodles. Mix the feta into the tomatoes to form a creamy sauce. Remove the flesh of the squash (aka the noodles), and add them to the baking dish with the tomato feta sauce.

5. Add the white beans, arugula, parsley, and dill and mix together until squash is evenly coated. Serve warm, and top with more feta sprinkles, if desired

Last week, paid subscribers received another 30-minute budget meal recipe. This one’s a tasty, 3-bean chili that uses lots of scallions instead of yellow onion and has my favorite secret ingredient: cocoa powder!

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!