What's for Dinner {March 2022}

 I have a serious case of the Wednesdays. It's that mid week hump that gets me. . .every single week!  Thank goodness for coffee or else I am uncertain I would get anything done today!  Who's with me?!?!?  Anyways, we are currently in the midst of a kitchen update and trying to avoid eating out as much as possible (no sink, no stove, no problem, right?).  But, the mess has left me so unmotivated and feeling uncreative.  It's a wonder I'm even sitting down to type. . . ha ha.  So, if I sound a bit discombobulated, that's probably why.   Also, there is so much going on in the world right now that it's just hard not to keep checking to see what's happening now.  

Anyways, I spent a good chunk of my day hiding from the world and watching a few Sweet Magnolias episodes in between laundry loads and remembering to get the chicken out for dinner. . . cause despite everything that is going on, we still need to eat food.  

Making dinner every night can be incredibly overwhelming.  No matter how hard we work, there are still mouths to feed, including our own.  Every few months, I like to sit down and share some of my favorite new recipe finds.  It's my hope to inspire you to take the time to find and try out new recipes that get you and your family excited to come home for dinner and maybe even gather around the table together.

Here are some things we've found:

1.  Brown Butter Sage Chicken Pot Pie

This is a favorite of ours and probably Weston's most requested dish (and he's our picky eater!).  It's super easy and tastes absolutely amazing.  I usually double it because we hope there are leftovers! It's super easy to adapt to dairy allergies. . . and we just sort of deal with the puff pastry, but it hasn't caused issues yet, so we aren't going to get rid of that. . . I mean puff pastry (if I could, I would add the emoji with the heart eyes because that's how we feel about pastry anything over here!).  This one is in her cookbook, but you can find the recipe here, thanks to Random House Publishing! 

 

 

2.  Ground Orange Chicken

We are HUGE Orange chicken eaters over here.  I'm not going to sugar coat this at all, but we are frequent buyers or trader Joe's Orange Chicken and I absolutely love this homemade version by Damn Delicious.  However, sometimes we just need to make something quick and we don't have the Trader Joe's crack in the freezer and this one is always a hit.  Plus, I can sub out the soy so Weston can eat it, too!  It's super easy and comes together so easily!  This is another one I like to double so I can have some for lunches during the week. You can find this deliciousness here. 

3.  Thai Peanut Ramen

This is absolutely one of my favorite dishes. . . and also one that I am missing not having a stove at the present moment (hopefully soon, though!).  This is definitely one of the first things I will be making once it's installed.  I've made this several times and each time it didn't disapoint (well, maybe one time, but that was 100 percent user error. . . don't stick the ramen in until right before you want to sit down. . . it soaks up all the goodness and makes a great tasting sludge. .  . please, learn from my mistake!).  It's also by Half Baked Harvest and if you haven't figured it out, I love her recipes!  

You can find the recipe here

Also, I love these ramen noodles. 

For your Sweet Tooth: Afterschool Cookies, by Joy the Baker

In my stress of prepping for our kitchen demo, I quickly made dough balls of a few different cookies. . . this particular recipe by Joy the Baker.  These are so good! I can't wait for the next excuse to bake up some.  Also, do yourself a favor. . . make some cookie dough and scoop out all the balls and flash freeze them on your cookie sheet.  Tomorrow, throw them all in a ziplock freezer bag and then you have cookies for your next movie night (there's some great family friendly ones coming out next week!) 

You can find this recipe here

Cookbook Spotlight: Snacking Cakes

I saw someone else post about this cookbook over on the gram and was intrigued.  I love a good snacking cake. . . they're small and simple and the perfect solution for a last minute dinner party or when you need to bring something to the work potluck.  I checked mine out at the local library and recently had to return it (so sad!), but it's definitely hanging out in my amazon cart.  I've tried the lemon olive oil cake and the peanut butter chocolate cake and they were all hits!  This is cookbook deserves a space on the shelf! 

You can find it here. 

 Well, that's all I have for you for now and I it's getting time for me to start making dinner.  Right now, I am so thankful for my husbands grill because it is saving us big time!  Expect a post on how we cooked without a working kitchen coming eventually! 

Happy cooking!