this chilly weather has got me in a nesting, cooking, cozy mood and i'm loving it. for a while ben and i were stuck in a bad habit of going out to eat or ordering take out which is great when you've had a long day and don't feel like cooking but terrible in so many ways. first of all, it gets super expensive. second of all, we always eat way more than we should. and third of all, going out wasn't special anymore because we did it all the time. thank goodness we finally broke that habit! let me tell you how..
to start, as i said before, this fall weather always puts me in a cooking mood which has been very helpful. but mostly what has helped is that i started planning simple and delicious meals to make.. you know, the kind you actually want to eat.. not plain chicken and broccoli.. and, to be honest, we've made some meals lately that have been so much tastier than anything we'd get in a restaurant.. so it makes dinner quite appealing. planning also eliminates me attempting to be creative every day and come up with something to cook.. now, i only need to do this once a week.
so i sit down once a week and plan out what to cook each night (usually with plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day), write out a grocery list and it is unbelievably satisfying when our refrigerator is nearly empty at the end of the week.. there is nothing worse than buying a bunch of random food and letting most of it go to waste.. which is exactly what i'd been doing for quite some time. by planning our meals, i only buy exactly what i will need - so much cheaper and nearly no wasted food!
i love being able to show my love to ben by cooking a yummy, warm meal each night. and it's even better when we do the cooking together.. i may get a little frustrated once in a while because i tend to move around the kitchen at 3794 miles per hour and ben is not quite so speedy but i'm working on this because i really do enjoy making dinners together. and then, when we do get to go out for date night, it's so special and i really look forward to it (like tomorrow night)!
i'm thinking of dedicating one day a week to a food related post.. a recipe i found that i loved, a new recipe i create (which will be rare!), what i ate in a day, our dinners for a week, etc. and since mondays are usually a drag, i'll post then (except this week since it was my brother's birthday)! i hope this is something you can look forward to each week to brighten your monday blues and you all enjoy!
for this week, i'm sharing three one-skillet, relatively healthy and easy to make recipes from a blog i found called half baked harvest (find all the recipes there). her website and food photography are amazing and most of the recipes i've tried from her site have been so delicious. plus, only dirtying one pan to cook dinner is amazing!
thyme roasted chicken with grapes and burrata
this first recipe was, by far, my favorite.. bacon gave the chicken the most amazing flavor and it was so tender. the warm grapes were a pleasant burst of sweetness and the creamy burrata was obviously my favorite part. i served this with rice.
skillet roasted moroccan chicken and olive tagine
this recipe called for bone-in chicken breasts which kept the meat so moist.. seasoned with lots of smokiness, saltiness from the olives and roasted acorn squash, this was a perfect fall dinner.. healthy comfort food! i served this with mashed potatoes.
one pan autumn chicken and wild rice casserole
another hearty comfort food kind of meal.. filled with wild rice, chicken, spinach and gruyere cheese.. so good for dinner and even better as leftovers!
bon appétit.
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