Without as much time to cook in the evenings, I've been trying to think up shortcut meals that don't involve a lot of work, but are still tasty and creative. Trader Joe's has become our best friend in doing so with all of their precooked meats and even their higher quality frozen products. I'm not sure where the idea for these enchiladas came...

If it wasn't for croque madames, pork chops, pork belly, and bacon I could be Kosher. But above all of those, the most irreplaceable unclean feast has to be ribs. For Bubbe, my Jewish grandmother, baby back ribs are one of those "oh I didn't realize that was pig -- well since I've already had it once..." And who could blame her? Digging into...

After busting out the Arborio rice to make dulce de leche rice pudding a few days ago, we decided to put the rest to savory use. We decided to use a basic risotto recipe as a base like Dustin used in his cook-off and then added some flavors we thought would go nicely together. We decided on asparagus, artichoke hearts, and pancetta topped with...

Passing by Uli's Famous Sausage in Pike's Place, I noticed some English Bangers, which sounded like a delicious and easy weeknight meal to me. But instead of plain mashed potatoes, I decided to fancy them up by roasting a head of garlic in the oven and browning some butter on the stove to toss into the potatoes. We also used half and half...

We made our first crispy-crusted pizza! Typically all of our homemade pizzas come out with thick, puffy crusts. This time we stretched the dough out super thin and cranked the temperature of our oven up. Previously, the hottest we'd ever cooked something in our oven at was 500°. This time we bumped it up to 525° and let the oven sit for about 30...

Dustin thinks I'm obseseed with butternut squash. I'm not sure obsessed is the right word, but I have definitely been incorportaing it into our menu quite a bit, including this butternut squash and chorizo lasagna adapted from How Sweet It Is. The sweet, nuttiness of the roasted butternut squash goes well with spicy chorizo. Best of all, I made...

Bread bowls make me think of San Francisco. Clam chowder in a bread bowl. I'm really looking forward to when Dustin and I can finally make it out to Northern California together. It's on the top of my list of new places to visit (all of Europe excluded). Until we make it to San Fran, I'll eat my soup from homemade bread bowls. Although they...

I saw a recipe in Bon Apetit magazine for cider braised pork that really caught my eye. Apple cider to cook my meat? Yes, please. However I wasn't in the mood to take on a long-term braise or go out in search of one of the more obscure ingredients required, ginger beer. A few weeks later I saw this recipe on Foodgawker for pork and pears...

I lied yesterday when I said no more hatch chiles, but now I promise this is truly the last one (for the time being). Hatch chile and pepperoni pizza! Match made in heaven! This pizza inspiration also comes from Foodie Bride, and once again, I feel a little stalkerish doing this, but these hatch chile recipes are too good not to post and are a...

It's definitely easy to incorporate cherries into desserts, but highlighting cherries in a savory dish is slightly more of a challenge. However, I think we did a pretty good job in making this sweet and smoky cherry barbecue sauce from Taste of Home (with the only change being the addition of some freshly squeezed orange juice for a little extra...