Cold Weather Cookin’

Ever since the temperature has dropped below 70, I’ve been cooking and baking up a storm. During the summer, our meals were pretty boring – salads, sandwiches, lots of simple, minimal effort required dishes. Don’t get me wrong…I love a good massaged kale salad as much as the next person, but it doesn’t really get my cooking motor going like the more complex dishes I’ve been ogling while patiently waiting for fall and winter. No one wants to be stuck in a hot kitchen slaving over a hot stove/oven when it’s 90 degrees out, amiright?! Just in the past week alone, I’ve churned out:

- lots of fresh veggie juice…until our juicer broke on Friday (Omega is kindly sending us two replacement pieces for free, thank goodness!)

- pulled pork

- homemade cheddar “buttermilk” biscuits (recipe to come in a future post) to accompany…

- chicken, butternut squash, and quinoa soup

- homemade pizza one night when we had Ashley and Kenny over for dinner

- chocolate chip cookies that same night

- banana cinnamon swirl bread

- chicken tikka masala made with 0% Chobani

The last two items are what’s crackin’ in the kitchen this afternoon. The banana bread came about because I found 3 super mushy bananas in our fruit basket, and the chicken tikka masala came about from a major Indian food craving.

Maybe all this cooking has something to do with the fact that I’m really into my new apron that I got at Sur la Table last week. I mean, I sort of HAD to buy it because it was only $20, down from $45. And because it’s peacock pattern.

Great picture, Ashley! You really captured my inner beauty. Kman, what can I say…I’m a real catch!

I’m sort of not looking forward to this week because I’m busy every. single. night. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I’ve got work events, followed by a soccer game on Thursday night, and a friend’s birthday party on Friday. Needless to say, I’ll be doing a whole lot of nothing on Saturday and loving every minute of it!

I’m planning on morning workouts every morning this week just to keep my energy levels up throughout the day. And of course, now that the weather has rebounded from the brutal cold snap, I’ll be biking into work which does wonders for me mentally. I hate crowding into the subway in the morning with people sneezing and coughing due to fall colds, so getting some (relatively) fresh air, exercise, and some me-time always feels great.

Now, I’ll leave you all with a few pictures of goodies that I’ve whipped up this week, along with a picture of our new bedroom decor. Our living room is bustling with textures, colors, tchotchkes, and pictures, so I really wanted to go with a serene, plain look for the bedroom. Next up, curtains. Rome wasn’t built in a day, people!

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