At last we come to the end of our menu catch-up sessions, to the week that encompassed both Halloween and our 3rd wedding anniversary.
Between Duncan’s protectiveness vibe and general work exhaustion (one of these days I’ll have to get into that), not only did we skip hosting our annual Halloween party, we didn’t even get around to putting up any decorations. Sad state of affairs when we don’t even have the energy to decorate for our favorite holiday!
We couldn’t let the day go completely unmarked, however, so for supper that night I made our fall-favorite Pumpkin Sloppy Joes and served it with a simple salad. After supper we turned on the porch light and I sat out there with the candy while Todd tried to keep Duncan occupied and distracted from any little ones walking up our sidewalk. It mostly worked, but due to the Monday holiday and our late start (and I’m sure the lack of decorations hurt us, too), we hardly had any trick-or-treaters and have had to work through the enormous vat of candy on our own.
Aw. Shucks.
On Tuesday I made a recipe I’d pinned a while back, but since I wasn’t together enough to set up the slow cooker, I simply scaled back the liquid called for in the recipe and made the Sweet Chili Chicken in the oven. It took about as long as the brown rice to do its thing in the rice cooker, and this way there was no chance of the chicken getting mealy, the way it can sometimes do over a full-day’s crock. This was a simple enough recipe and I could see making up a large batch one weekend and dividing it up for later use.
Wednesday was our anniversary and while I’d considered staying in and cooking, I decided to save us both the trouble and we went to one of the local Mexican restaurants here in Thomasville (that I still need to write-up!) and had one of the most amazing margaritas of my life. Seriously. The food was good, too, and I took not a single picture of my Shrimp Veracruz or Todd’s Chimichanga. I also did not take pictures of the cupcakes I picked up from Smallcakes. Bad blogger, indeed.
Thursday I’d planned to cook, but the day ended so weirdly at work that I opted for a leftover night. I may or may not have had a leftover cupcake for supper, followed by Halloween candy. I think I also made myself a sandwich at some point. It is what it is…
Friday night I got back into the kitchen and attempted a pork chop version of a pork loin recipe, but without following the actual recipe (marinating and such). Yeah, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been if I’d remembered to marinate the chops the night before. I didn’t quite care, though, as I could have just as happily eaten the roasted potatoes and nothing else and been fine. Still, I left the Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin recipe on my To Be Tried board because I think it has potential.
On Saturday I took a break from my frantic last-minute knitting frenzy to make a recipe I spotted on a Facebook video but which hails from Food Network. The Sausage Gravy Breakfast Lasagna gave me the opportunity to try out the Tinkyada lasagna noodles (they worked perfectly, btw) and fill our usual breakfast-for-dinner slot. Which the lasagna was tasty enough, I think the sausage gravy part of the recipe could have stood just as well on its own without the rest of the ingredients. I suppose you could add biscuits. If you really needed to.
To round out the week I made Spaghetti Squash with Bacon, Spinach, and Goat Cheese and it was phenomenal! First, the tip to roast the squash in slices to avoid the squash steaming and becoming mushy was spot-on! (Though I’d probably still microwave the whole squash for a few minutes to make it easier to slice–that part’s a bit of a beast to do completely raw.) Second, anything with bacon and goat cheese will make me happy. I actually had the thought that so many cream cheese-containing recipes that are big on Pinterest could be elevated by swapping the cream cheese for goat cheese. In fact, the only complaint about this dish is that even with a larger than average spaghetti squash it barely made three portions. So, you know, double the squash if you’re wanting sufficient leftovers to share.
On that tasty note, we’re all caught up. I really do hope this glimpse of our supper plans over the last month encourage you to try something new or maybe revisit an old favorite sometime soon.
And, hey, if you have a cupcake for dinner one night? No judgement here!