winter salad with clementine vinaigrette

i've mentioned before that i'm always on the lookout for new salads to try. i jumped on this one since a box of clementines always finds its way into my shopping cart and each week we always end up throwing a few away. i always have good intentions of eating them all. but just as soon as the weekend is over and monday comes, before i can blink it's already thursday. i breeze through the rest of the week and weekend and soon enough, i'm staring down the last three or four clementines that just didn't make it. while this salad isn't my favorite, it's still light and refreshing and a great way to use up those stragglers.

slow cooker creamy tomato artichoke parmesan soup with brie, ham, and apple panini

when i lived in downtown rochester, i ate a lot of lunches and dinners at magnolia's on park avenue. more often than not, my companion and i would share one of their thin crust pizzas and i would always order a bowl of their signature cream of tomato artichoke and cheese soup. i cannot tell you how many people i have turned onto this soup. it's killer.

so good in fact, when i am sick, it's what i crave. in the dead of winter, when it's freezing cold out and we're buried until feet of snow, it's what i crave. so much so there have been a few times since we moved into the burbs that jason has made the 13 mile drive for a bowl of this soup. it's that good.

pretzel chicken with mustard cheese sauce

it's been five and a half years since jason and i spent labor day weekend in chicago, and four and a half since we spent the same weekend in cleveland. while it feels like only yesterday we were in both cities it also feels like a lifetime ago. i can still remember - plain as yesterday - walking into the great lakes brewing company in cleveland and having a drink at the bar while we waited for a table. we sat outside and marveled at the fact that we could do whatever we wanted since no, we didn't have any kids in tow. i don't remember what i had for dinner, but jason still dreams of the pretzel chicken he had.

skillet glazed pork chops

monday is one of those days i've been dreading. one of those days that when you schedule it, it sounds crazy, but it's so far off in the future that by the time the day actually arrives, it can't possibly be as bad as you think it is. and the worst part: it's my own fault for scheduling it the way i did. so while everyone else is sitting at home, relaxing or sleeping off their monday in bed, i'll be giving a workshop and driving 4 hours home. and while i'm excited for the workshop - and am not completely dreading the four hour drive - i'm pretty bummed i'll miss tucking baby winn into bed. it's funny how much a baby changes every little thing.

lemon glazed blueberry scones

ugh. that's how i feel about the last month. first i was sick for a weekend. then, later that week, the baby got sick. which meant i soon got sick and so did jason. it was the sickest we've been in a very long time and spent the whole next week eating saltines for dinner. it was rough.

secret recipe club: pasta with blistered tomatoes & arugula and iced grapefruit cookies

last march, i made this whole wheat grapefruit cake for my secret recipe club selection and fell in love with grapefruit in baked goods. so this march, when i stumbled on these pink grapefruit cookies at life of a modern housewife for this month's secret recipe club, i knew they would be delicious. it just so happened i had absolutely nothing planned for dinner that same saturday night, so lucky for me while browsing her recipes, i also found this fettuccine with blistered tomatoes and arugula. it's one of my favorite kind of meals - meatless, pasta, and ready in less than 30 minutes. i will definitely be making it again.