Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy · Episode 249 · January 22, 2026 · 16 min

Cold-Weather Cooking with Beets and Greens — Our Best Bites of the Week!

Ever bring home beautiful winter vegetables from the market, and then completely blank on what to cook with them? In this bite-sized episode, we share delicious moments about the best things we ate this week to inspire each other — and you. By the end of this episode, you’ll want to make a deeply comforting, grandmother-approved borscht that celebrates winter vegetables, plus a one-pot, meatless main designed to use up every last leafy green, finished with a bold, garlicky, crispy topping that makes it irresistible. Tune in for a quick dose of home cooking inspiration, and turn your winter produce into meals you’ll genuinely look forward to cooking. *** Links: Sonya’s family borscht recipe from our free Substack Utica Greens from Chesterfield Restaurant in Utica, NY; adapted by Jim Shahin for NYT Cooking *** Got a cooking question? Leave us a message on our hotline at: 323-452-9084 For more recipes and cooking inspiration, sign up for our Substack here . Order Sonya's cookbook Braids for more Food Friends recipes! We love hearing from you — follow us on Instagram @ foodfriendspod , or drop us a line at [email protected]!