good eats

i tried to actually make dinner every night last week instead of warming pre-made food up or mixing left-overs together to make something...interesting.  dont get me wrong, im all about what is easy and convenient most of the time, but i have felt inspired to be creative in the kitchen lately.  usually eden is on the floor on her play yard cooing happily as i cook away. i did not get photos of all of these because honestly, most nights by the time i finished cooking we were so ready to eat that any thoughts of photo documentation went out the window.   

on monday i made this sweet potato and black bean chili for our community group.  it was really tasty and robert told me it was one of his new favorites.  this is significant because he usually does not consider soup to be a meal.  ill definitely be making this again soon.  

on tuesday i made this recipe that christine sent me.  these meatballs were AWESOME.  i kept saying how good they were.  i may or may not have used a bit more parmesan than called for...i used whole wheat pasta and i don't think robert noticed...

on wednesday i made this recipe for black bean and sweet potato hash, which has been a hit every time ive made it.  i cook the kale for a very short time so that its still a bit crisp when you eat it!  oh and i topped it with fried eggs cooked so the yoke would spread all over the vegetabley goodness.  

thursday was spaghetti squash, which i recently came to love.  i LOVED this creative combination and robert and i ate all of it out of the same bowl with two forks.  yum.  if only those suckers were not so hard to cut open...

friday might have been the best night because i did not cook :)  robert took me out on our first date since we became parents.  we had amazing she-crab soup and i had delicious beer battered fish and truffle oil french fries.  we left eden with the beautiful and responsible hallie and went a whopping 1 mile from home to eat. 

 i swear we trust you hallie, but it was the first time. 

then saturday i adapted this really simple idea for chicken and made roasted potatoes and brussles sprouts.  it was easy and oh so delicious.   i skipped the mayo and used light sour cream instead with parmesan romano cheese.  i also used panko bread crumbs.  i paired it with a household favorite wine, Apothic (we went with the white but the red is also wonderful), to make it a bit fancy for an out of town friend.  

trying to keep interesting things on the table that both taste good and ARE good for us...