What's for dinner?

We made some serious progress this past week with my "dedicated to dinner" resolution. Hooray! All photos posted below are taken from the internet as we have no windows in our kitchen and truly horrible lighting, to boot. I dream of having a bright and airy kitchen one day.

First up? Pasta Fagioli Soup from the blog Tina's Chic Corner. As a perfect example of comfort food at its finest, I seriously fell in love with this soup. Vegetarian friends, I think it would be just as delicious without the ground beef -- and swap beef broth for veggie.

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My mom bought me a copy of America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution for Christmas and we recently used some of the cash back bonus from our credit card to buy a new crock pot. Our old one was 12 years old, very small, and somewhat unreliable. Do you have any favorite crock pot recipes? Please share! We used ours twice this past week and I love how it simplified our evenings, especially on nights when I was teaching late.

First, we made Beer Braised Chicken from the blog Half Baked Harvest. America's Test Kitchen said you should always cook chicken slow -- on low -- and following that advice, this braised chicken stayed tender and moist. We enjoyed the meal but I'm not sure it merits a recipe card in the "keeper" file.

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I paired the chicken with these Beer Biscuits with Spicy Meyer Lemon Butter from the blog How Sweet It Is. The biscuits weren't quite as drool-worthy as I expected them to be, but I'm intrigued by the idea of beer bread/biscuits. I'm going to keep searching for the perfect recipe. Trader Joe's happened to have meyer lemons in stock this week so we whipped up some of the butter, too. It was good but I prefer simple butter and honey.

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The other crock pot recipe we tried came from the Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook: Garden Vegetable Sauce with Chickpeas. (I couldn't find a link to this recipe.) I really liked the more toothsome texture of the dried chickpeas and would like to use the crock pot to cook beans more often, but overall I don't think this recipe is one we're rushing to make again anytime soon.

Finally, we made Broccoli Quinoa Casserole from the blog Damn Delicious. This recipe is pretty much the broccoli/rice/cheese casserole we all know and love, with a few modern tweaks. Unfortunately, Abby was not a fan of the texture of the quinoa.

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What have you been making in your kitchen recently? Any drool-worthy recipes to share?

weekend festivities: the pier & our pan-Asian potluck

Dare I say there is a hint of Fall in the air? It still reaches 90 degrees most days, but the mornings and evenings are finally starting to feel a bit less swampy. 

After Robert got home from work on Friday we took Abby to Ballast Point Park for a little fresh air. The park has a fun water splash pad for kids that I'm sure Abby will love checking out someday soon; however, this was a quick trip and we spent most of our time looking at the Tampa skyline and listening to the seagulls. 

Clomping her way down the dock...

...and having fun chasing her shadow.

On Sunday, Robert invited a group of his co-workers over for a potluck dinner. The dinner unintentionally ended up having a pan-Asian theme: one friend made Korean ribs, another made pork adobo, and a third brought over some amazing fried rice. In need of another side dish, Robert and I stumbled across a recipe for sweet and spicy peanut noodles that ended up being a big hit. (We recommend adding matchstick carrots and julienned red pepper for some added crunch -- yum!)

How did Abby prep for the party? By taking a nice, long afternoon nap: 

I know, I know...her legs! We used to have a crib bumper on that side of the crib, too, but she would push it down and get her legs even more tangled. 

Speaking of our little munchkin, I decided to use this gathering as a test opportunity for the birthday cake I'll be making in 3 weeks. Robert and I saw a Strawberry Dream Cake on a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen that had Abby's name written all over it. Strawberry cakes were always my favorite as a little girl and it doesn't hurt that it's a lovely shade of pink. 

Oh yes, that's a whopping 22 tablespoons of butter! 12 for the cake and 10 for the frosting. I bought cake flour, too. So fancy!

No food dyes or fake strawberry flavor here. The recipe calls for both fresh and frozen strawberries. 

That last photo wasn't particularly appetizing, was it?! I forgot to document the rest but here's the final result. It's A-MAZ-ING. And so pretty, no? 

I love how food brings everyone together!