January 2026

/
Ida Lewis Yacht Club in the wintertime with a snowy landscape and a lone bench looking off to the Newport Bridge.

Hello Newport Sea Salt friends!

I hope you are all doing well and staying warm. Matt and I thank you for following along on our sea to salty journey. If you are new here - hello - and if you have been with us for a bit, thank you for continuing to stay salty with us!

Our boys were home with us over the holidays and it was so good to be all together again. Matt and I did a lot of cooking (extra comforting and extra delicious food for our boys!) and I pumped out trays of cookies and other baked goods - I am real big fan of ‘The Most Adaptable One-Bowl Cornmeal Poundcake’ by NYT’s Melissa Clark. Have you made this?? If not, I highly recommend baking it - I use olive oil and orange zest. Once it is out of the oven, our family loves to slice the poundcake and toast the slices, slather on some unsalted butter and sprinkle it with our pure sea salt. SOOOOOO Good! However, I have had a few too many of my own slices and now we are focusing on salads and soups this month. ;)

Here are a few recipes that we enjoyed this month so far. I am going to try and commit to writing about our recipes and sharing them with you right here on our website. Now if only I received little motivational pop-ins like I receive from DuoLingo! (I am practicing my French, Italian and throwing in some Spanish.) So without further ado, Allez-y, Andiamo, and Vamos!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Rosemary Olive Oil

It looks like porridge, but it’s so good!

Last winter I made this Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Rosemary Olive Oil from NYT’s Lidey Heuck and looked forward to having it to warm up these cold January 2026 days. I love to first roast the cauliflower pieces that I have sprinkled with olive oil and our Rosemary Thyme sea salt in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Visit the recipe link above. Note: I also added a drained and rinsed can of cannellini beans for added creaminess and extra protein.

Once I have made the rosemary olive oil for the soup recipe, I like to take a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas (dry them well with a clean kitchen towel) then proceed to fry them in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of the rosemary olive oil until nice and crispy. These chickpeas are delicious as a snack as well as a topper for a salad. I love this warm LEMON CHICKPEA ARUGULA SALAD…I like to add sliced radish and avocado. For the dressing, combine lemon juice, olive oil, Rosemary Thyme sea salt, and pepper into a container. Either whisk until emulsified or put a tight fitting lid on your container and shake until emulsified.

Okay, so I will admit that not all weeks were full of salads and soups especially during the snowstorm. Matt and I made a Garlic Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine dish (another fantastic recipe from New York Times). I paired this with my go-to creamy parmesan and polenta with our Rosemary Thyme blend. I am a big fan of our RT and use this the most. Are you interested in this recipe? Maybe next post will be all about polenta and of course that pound cake! I think I need to get baking again…and off to the gym!;)

Stay salty, stay warm, and stay hopeful!

PS: Here are some winter collection photos. It’s been a really cold January where we thought that we were not going to collect this past week, however, Matt found his way through the snow. I was supposed to help, but arrived just when he was done to just get a few photos!