celebrate national ice cream for breakfast day!

tomorrow is national ice cream for breakfast day! even though it's the dead of winter, i rarely need more than a suggestion to convince me to have a bowl. and while some of my favorites aren't exactly ice cream, i'm calling sorbet and gelato close enough to celebrate! here are a few of my favs -

chicken & broccoli stir-fry

when winn first started solids, i made most of his vegetable and fruit baby food by cooking up fresh or frozen produce, whizzing it up in the food processor, and freezing it in silicone ice cube trays. the one thing i couldn't get over was his love of broccoli. like most people, i've never been a huge fan - as a child i remember the only way i would eat it was hiding under a thick layer of homemade cheese sauce - so i was shocked when my 8 month old seemed to not have a broccoli limit. now that he's older and eating the same food as us, i've made it a point to include some of the foods he loves. not only does winn get his broccoli, but because it's clothed in a salty, sweet, asian sauce, i devoured mine too.

peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal scones

yes, scones, again. for the second time in just as many weeks, we're baking up a pan of scones. mostly because winn keeps asking for them. mostly because nothing goes better with a hot cup of coffee than a freshly baked scone. and mostly because homemade scones are the best kind.

polenta with roasted mushrooms

when we were in las vegas a year and a half ago, jason and i had a killer dinner at scarpetta in the cosmopolitan. we started with the famous spaghetti with tomato and basil, and while it was good, it was the creamy polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms that we both dreamed about after the meal was over. the polenta was so rich and creamy, the mushrooms perfectly garlicky, it's a delicious combination. ever since that trip i've been on the lookout for a reasonable substitute. and while this isn't as ethereal as our scarpetta version, it's delicious none the less.

egg & brie sandwich

my favorite kind of meals are those that are good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner; can be made with about five ingredients, and can be on the table in less than 30 minutes. for me, it was a delicious sunday brunch, when i just happened to have leftover bread, lettuce and tomatoes from a salad earlier in the week, and a small hunk of brie. delicious.

coconut lover's cake

i've had coconut layer cake on the short list of birthday cakes for a couple years now. when i was pregnant with baby winn - whose really a toddler now, so we'll just call him winn - the coconut craving hit me hard, and it's really never left. so why have i waited so long to make this cake? jason hates coconut. loathes it.

carrot cake scones with honey pecan butter

for the four mornings after i made these scones, the first words out of my 18 month old son's mouth in the morning were "eat scone". not "morning" or "mama" or even "hi". eat scone. needless to say he was not happy on the fifth morning when i told them they were gone and he'd have to have eggs instead.

slow cooker chipotle chicken & rice

the first time i made this for dinner, i followed the recipe exactly and found out that cooking bone-in skin on chicken breasts on the stove takes literally forever - or at least much longer than i want to wait on a weeknight. when we finally sat down to eat, the three of us gobbled up our plates. between forkfuls, jason had the best idea: throw everything into the slow cooker and let it work it's magic.

peanut butter pretzel truffles

this year, like most, i made way too many sweet treats in the month of december. there were these classic sugar and gingerbread cutouts, my favorite hot chocolate cookies, new york times chocolate chip cookies, my dad's favorite shortbread, an almond joy biscotti (more on that later), and a new favorite chocolate pistachio cranberry thumbprints (more on those later, too). hopefully i didn't miss anything. with all those sweets, i should have been sugared out by new years. but no, here i was, december 30, mixing peanut butter, pretzels, and sugar, and giving them a good dunk in dark chocolate.

pasta with roasted tomatoes and fried eggs

last weekend i had a handful of roasted tomatoes, baby spinach, and a small piece of brie leftover from sandwiches i made for new years eve. i cooked up the remnants of a box of fusilli, tossed the hot pasta with the brie, spinach, and tomatoes, and topped the whole mess with two runny fried eggs. it was the best lunch i've had in a long time.

your favs of 2013