Maple-Orange Chicken

Chicken, as we all probably know by now, is our go-to weeknight food. Generally, I'm tired, lazy, and unmotivated by dinner time, so the faster the recipe -- and the fewer the ingredients -- the more likely I am to make the dish. So, it should be no surprise that maple-orange chicken was destined for our table sooner or later.

Asparagus with Mustard

One of the first vegetables I ever learned to cook was asparagus. My parents would always make asparagus in a quick mustard-sugar dressing, and I couldn't get over how deliciously savory-sweet it was. This recipe therefore became one of the few I actually made during college, given my limited access to a kitchen and ingredients at the time.

Amazing Pumpkin Biscuits

After including pumpkin in a number of dinners and sides, it occurred to me that I might want to branch out into a pumpkin recipe could be consumed for breakfast. As a simple experiment that would last the week, I opted to try my hand at making spiced pumpkin biscuits.

Pumpkin-sage Polenta

So, as some readers already know, the boy and I reasonably recently got engaged. While it's exciting, apparently this whole planning a wedding thing is super hard work. Who knew! I mean, besides everyone who's ever gotten married, ever . . . Anyway, that whole engagement thing threw me off my healthy game for awhile, but I'm -- as always -- hoping to get back on track.
Beyond that fabulousness, we're still trying to keep up with our pumpkin consumption, and I've recently become particularly enamored of this pumpkin-sage polenta (and variants thereof).

Gingerbread french toast

When the boy took his LSATs (the first time -- second coming up in December!), I got up extra early to make him a ginormous breakfast that would keep him full through the long test. In addition to delicious sausage, I made him gingerbread french toast. This recipe--especially the orange fake-butter--was inspired by this recipe from And All the Trimmings, a cooking blog I have begun following.

What Even Is This

So I usually have recipes and photos on hold for weeks or even months before I take the time to write them up. I know this is a terrible policy, but I just struggle with finding the time to convey how truly delicious these dishes were. Today, I could not wait. Today, I am sharing a very "fresh" recipe with you: tonight's dinner. Why am I totally abandoning my general policy on this one? Because it isn't even finished yet (still cooking on the stove), and I already deeply, deeply regret making this dinner.

To begin with, it's important to know that I strongly dislike seafood. More accurately, I dislike eating anything that looks like it did when it was alive. It makes me feel oh, so guilty. Unfortunately, seafood tends to do this more than other meats. However, I've been reading a lot about how seafood is super good for you and how you should have 2 meals a week that incorporate it. As I believe I've written before, we aim for 2 meals every other week. Well, this week, I attempted to make dill-salmon croquettes with horseradish sauce. I figured, hey, I love dill and also horseradish, so how bad can it be? Little did I know, horror lurked secretly in the primary ingrediant.

Breakfast Burrito

It has been a busy week, but I'm catching a break and using the time to update. So, we visited my sister in Philadelphia a few weeks ago. Like any good member of my family, she has loads of great cheese, eggs, and vegetables in her refrigerator -- all of the necessary ingredients for a breakfast tortilla (well, minus the wrap, which fortunately she had as well)! So, one of the mornings, the boy and I split a delicious breakfast tortilla.

Herbed Stuffed Chicken Breasts

For an easy weeknight meal that is fairly hands-off, I usually turn to my favorite meat: Chicken. Stuffed chicken breasts are a particularly nice way to have an easy, delicious meal that seems way fancier than it actually is. I tend to use this recipe for herbed stuffed chicken breasts as a base for these dishes.

Chain and Scale Maille

I thought I'd feature a creation I did not do today. The boy does a lot of crafting, including leatherwork, chain mail, and scale mail. He created a black-and-blue outfit for me out of chain maile and scale mail, including a corset, skirt, arm pieces, necklace, earrings, and headdress. Here it is in all of its glory!

Butternut Squash Wontons with Cheese Sauce

Today, I'm trying something completely new: play-by-play cooking! This could be awesome, or it could be a complete disaster. If I were a betting type, I'd definitely put my money on the latter.

So what's on the menu today? As it turns out, the boy found some roasted butternut squash at the grocery store and thought I'd love to play with it -- how right he was! While I sat staring at my delicious, pre-roasted squash, I noticed some left-over wonton skins sitting sadly on the bottom of the fridge and inspiration struck. So, I've cobbled together a franken-recipe from bits of the recently-featured pumpkin ravioli, parts of a butternut squash wonton recipe, courtesy of our good friends at cooking light, and the squash-loving madness that lies within my brain. Let's see how this goes.