brothas baked penne

The good news is... I am no longer unemployed!


The bad news is... I haven't posted lately!


Well, that's something I can fix pretty easily. I'm here to share an extremely easy, economical and enticing dinner idea... all qualities that fit perfectly in my new [much busier] schedule! 4 ingredients and 40 minutes - tops - and enough to serve a hearty dinner for three with plenty leftover for lunch the next day.

awwww yeah

i hate fluffy dumplings.

this is what chicken & dumplings should look like!!

I'll never forget the first time I tried to make homemade chicken and dumplings. I was maybe 12 years old, just starting to peruse cookbooks on my own and imagining myself the budding chef de cuisine of our household. Looking back on those days, I'm sure I was a disaster and a half in the kitchen, but I had an awesome mom who was willing to take a step back and let me exercise my independent nature, and even compliment my efforts - which were surely dubious sometimes. (Thanks, Mom!)


Anyway, I decided one day that I wanted chicken and dumplings. It was my favourite thing to get at Cracker Barrel whenever we were on a road trip. Alas, there were no Cracker Barrels anywhere near Waterloo, so I hit the books in search of a recipe. I think I picked the first one I came to, in a church cookbook from Frederika or Sumner, and carefully followed every step. Though slightly confused as to why one would spoon the dumpling mixture into the boiling broth almost like drop biscuits, I faithfully adhered to the directions and covered the simmering pot.

pain perdu

french toast, bacon, and cabbage...
a rather international breakfast

I'm writing this about a week later than intended thanks to a complete failure of internet at the new apartment. Ah, well... several hours spent on the phone with the internet people and one new modem later, we're back in business! 

Last Monday, after a long weekend of moving and unpacking, breakfast for dinner was in order. Because let's be honest - breakfast, in the proper sense of the word (i.e. bacon must be included) doesn't happen all that often during, well, breakfast hours. But who doesn't love bacon and french toast? 

Funny story about this dinner, too...

shrimp and spice and jasmine rice

(...that's what a lovely dinner is made of.)

pepper duo

Well, it was definitely a cold that had me feeling under the weather on Monday. A really nasty bug that had me feverish, achy, congested and otherwise miserable for a good three days. I tried to maintain a somewhat normal schedule and at least put dinner on the table, but I was too wiped out for anything too fancy. So I turned to an old standby - easy étouffée. Thanks to canned soup, frozen shrimp and my ever-handy rice cooker, this dinner was something even a sniffling, shivering me could muster.

comfort food, southwest style

I like cooking. I really do. But sometimes I just run out of fresh ideas, or feel too wiped out to try anything new and complicated. Thankfully, my guy is good at coming to dinner's rescue. He suggested enchilada casserole the other night - something I'd never made, but he assured me it was quick, easy and inexpensive... not to mention it would be an ample amount of food for all the boys. Perfect!

soup and salad, virginian tavern style

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child? - Lin Yutang

please focus on beautiful Mount Vernon, and not my hideous coat...

After writing yesterday about peanut butter and Christmas and childhood, I started thinking about peanut soup.  I can remember very distinctly one lovely December day 15 years ago (almost exactly to the day) spent at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, concluding with a candlelit dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant. On the menu was Virginia peanut & chestnut soup. We ordered some at the recommendation of the waiter (and out of our curiosity - it runs in the family) and instantly fell in love.