beef with gravy, cream, and noodles

a three pound pot roast makes a lot of meat for two people. after eating leftovers for lunch a couple times, we were both getting bored with the same meal, and were struggling to think of good ways to use up the leftovers. until i thought about beef stroganoff and how good the leftover pot roast and gravy would be over egg noodles. add a healthy dash of cream and we had a great meal to use up the last of our roast and gravy. jason preferred this to the pot roast!

ina's company pot roast

in all the years i've daydreamed about being an adult, i never pictured myself making a pot roast. it seemed way too grown up for me. which is crazy. since there are few things better than beef that's been slow roasted in vegetables and wine for hours. this is what sunday meals should be made of.

gingerbread waffles of insane greatness

most weekend mornings start with a bowl of cereal or some fruit and yogurt. occasionally we'll have breakfast tacos or a pancake or two, but our waffle iron only comes out once or twice a year. maybe i should change that.

slow cooker chili

one of my unofficial new year's resolutions is to spend less time cooking. sound counter-intuitive? i'm all for spending hours in the kitchen, on occasion, to make great food, but during the week, i want good food, fast. a typical workday for us means we leave the house at 7:30 and get home by 6:30. and the days we stop at the gym after work, it's more like 7:30. the last thing i want to do is spend 45 minutes cooking on a monday night. which is why i'm on the lookout for shortcuts.

and a slow cooker is one of the best kept secrets (ok, maybe you already know how much of a time saver they are, and i'm finally jumping on the band wagon). i've heard it a million times from friends, family, and coworkers, but it's taken me a couple meals to really understand how great it is to spend 15 or less minutes preparing dinner. i love it. so much so, that i've added a slow cooker tag to my recipes so you can get to all of them even easier. even though there are only a few posted now, i hope to continue using mine about once a week.

have a great slow cooker recipe?? leave a link in the comments!

beer battered haddock

since announcing to our friends, family and coworkers in december that i'm pregnant, there's three questions that everyone asks. do you know if it's a boy or girl - are you going to find out? how are you feeling? and have you had any weird cravings?

no, we don't know if it's a boy or girl and aren't sure if we will find out. i've been feeling a lot like myself - just in different clothes and working on gaining weight this time of year while everyone else is focused on losing it. and i haven't really had any weird cravings. unless sour cream and onion potato chips and fried fish sandwiches count.

baked's sweet & salty cake [12in2012]

rich, sour cream chocolate cake. salted caramel. and salted caramel + chocolate ganache. i've had this cake bookmarked to celebrate my 30th birthday since before i made the cake to celebrate my 29th.

this is one of my worst cakes and best cakes in a long time. the cake is now my favorite chocolate cake, the caramel one of my favorite caramels, and the ganache is to die for. the problem: structural issues. one of my cake layers stuck to the bottom of the pan and i foolishly decided that should be the bottom layer of my cake. the result: a fault line almost exactly down the middle of the cake, so one half looks absolutely picture perfect and the other is falling off the plate. not so pretty, but delicious none the same. and don't let my structural issues sway you from making this cake. it was my own silly mistake - and next time, the not quite perfect cake layer will be the top, not the bottom.

grilled turkey, onion, and garlic panini

for the first year or so we were married, some version of this sandwich - sometimes with bacon, others without onions - made it onto our dinner plates about once a week. full of garlicky mayo, fresh basil, melty cheese, and sauteed onions, it's the definition of quick & easy weeknight dinner.

2011 meat-free january recap

last year i challenged myself and my mother to go one full month without eating any meat. i'm skipping the challenge this year, since now is not the time to be messing with my diet, but if you've decided to take on the challenge yourself, here's a summary of how last year's meat-free january went. looking for more meat free meals? check out 50+ meatless meals!

overall i ate some great vegetarian dinners, discovered some new foods, and learned some things - 

greek yogurt with pear & maple syrup

for the most part of the last five or so years, every monday through friday morning included a combination of fruit and yogurt for breakfast. for the first fourish years, it was light vanilla yogurt with frozen fruit and occasionally a handful of granola thrown in for kicks. until about a year ago, when tracy, the woman whose office is right next door to mine and usually eats the same breakfast, switched her light vanilla yogurt to vanilla greek yogurt. the rest of us soon followed suit.

light & quick for the new year

i don't know about you, but after all the cookies, other sweets, and heavy dishes i've eaten over the last week (ok, month), i could use some lighter fare. here are some of my favorites from the archives. bonus that most are ready in under 30 minutes.

pierogis and mushroom goulash, bean burritos, apple cider glazed chicken

 
light linguini alfredo with pancetta & peas, shaker chicken noodle soup

my favorites of 2011

yesterday i recapped the most popular posts of 2011. here are my favorites through the year.

january: portobello mushroom fajitas. a meatless meal with all the expected mexican flavors. you won't miss the meat!

february: risotto stuffed portobellos. two of my favorite things: stuff meaty portobellos with leftover risotto for an easy meal.