Sunday Night Dinner - Chicken, Mushroom and Artichoke Heart Pasta

Brent came home from a grocery run with a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts, and I really only needed a small jar for appies I'm prepping for our annual Christmas party. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with the extras, and then realized I had chicken and mushrooms in the fridge. Thrown together with a hard, yet creamy, cheese a friend had brought over last weekend - I really wish I remembered what it was called - and a box of pasta, and we had a fantastic Sunday night dinner.

Quick Weekday Lunch - Noodle Jars

So I was feeling pretty beat tonight - two accounting exams in one day, and just not in the mood for prepping lunches for tomorrow. However, I know once I'm at work I'll be wishing I had packed something. So I sent Brent off to the grocery store to grab a few things, and put together these really quick, great noodle jars. This is a recipe of Michael Smith's, from his new cookbook Family Meals. So far I've loved all the recipes from this book and would definitely recommend it. All you need to do is put these jars together, bring to work / school, and when it's time to eat, add 2 cups boiling water, screw the lids back on tightly and gently mix. Let stand for about 10 minutes for the flavours to really mix, and enjoy!

Braised Short Rib Macaroni and Cheese

I've said it before and I'll say it again - mac and cheese is by far one of my all time favourite meals. It's easy to throw together, and you can make so many different variations. I was feeling pretty exhausted tonight and almost just made a box of KD for dinner. However, I am also in supreme procrastination mode, so decided to whip up a new variation. I have to say I think this might be the best macaroni and cheese I have ever made! I think it was the combination of the different cheeses and the braised short ribs. You can really use whatever cheese you want, you just need about 2 3/4 cups of it. Whatever it was - loved it!

Sunday Night Dinner - Three Bean and Beef Chili

Chili is such a versatile dish. After making it a few times you can start to play with what you include. It's also a great dish to make using what's left in the fridge from the week. Tonight after a very long day working on an accounting assignment I was really tempted to forego making dinner and order a pizza, but decided to throw together a quick chili. Very glad I did because now we also have lunch for tomorrow!

After Halloween Cookies

It's no secret to my friends and family that I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to sweets and treats. If it's around, I will eat it, and will continue past the point of feeling ill. This year pre-Halloween Brent had to hide the candy twice, and then he gave up and left it out. I'm pretty sure I downed half of it before Halloween. Then, we only got 1 trick or treater. That's right, a single trick or treater, for whom we had purchased a 144 pack of mini chocolate bars. So of course I continued to eat them, and continued until I just couldn't stand it. So I made cookies. I figure it's a bit better than just right out eating the candy, plus I'll bring some to my study group tomorrow night - if I don't eat them all before then. I ended up using about a cup of Smarties (cause really, who eats the Smarties?), and a cup of chopped mini Aero bars.

Sunday Night Dinner - Creamy Vegetable Curry

I recently purchased the Oh She Glows cookbook on a recommendation of a friend. It's a vegan cookbook, and I've tried a few recipes and so far they have all been great. I'll admit I'm a little intimidated by some of the recipes, especially with any new ingredients or elements I haven't done before. One of the things many recipes call for is this 'cashew cream', and I finally decided to try it out. When using raw cashews in this way, you need to make sure to soak them overnight or at least 3-4 hours, so you do have to plan ahead a little. This recipe also had quite a bit of chopping so it was a great Sunday night meal. I used hot curry powder, but mild would work if you didn't want it as hot. I will definitely make this again.

Greek Quinoa Salad

This is another recipe from the new Michael Smith cookbook I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I originally made it to go with a roast chicken, but it was robust enough that you could have it on it's own for lunch or a light dinner. It was also super easy to put together, which is always a bonus in my eyes. If you wanted to make this vegan, just omit the feta cheese and replace the honey in the dressing with brown rice syrup or maple syrup. I made a few minor modifications based on my preferences as well.