The week that was January 10, 2022

Another week in the books. I'm sitting in my office on a Monday afternoon staring at a few inches of still pearly white snow, which for our area means everything is cancelled. So lets get baked... err I mean baking? Being stuck inside is the perfect excuse to eat your weight in carbs and binge watch your favorite TV show. 

It was a busy week in our house that warranted some good dinners to wind down with. Here's the recap of the week that was!

Chipotle Lime Shrimp Salad

Lettuce eat shrimp! I was excited to go off book for this beauty. We had some leftover romaine that needed using and I don't need much of a reason to ever enjoy a good salad. Seasoned black beans, salsa verde, and a cilantro lime vinaigrette made this one special weeknight treat.

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This recipe came from Gaby Dawkins awesome cookbook, Eat what you want

Fun fact, I like messy food. Tacos, chicken wings, you name it. The other half of our two person family, not so much. So I was really pushing the boundaries trying out this finger food recipe. I love our local take-out Thai lettuce wraps so I was excited to try a homemade version. Don't forget the lime like I did and even without that important ingredient it was a fun and tasty dinner.

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

We started our week with this cozy and easy soup from Natasha Bull of Salt & Lavender. I had some leftover broccoli on hand that I added to the original recipe and we absolutely ate it up. Miguel helped himself to seconds, which says a lot. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

I riffed off this awesome scone recipe from Nikki Sizemore to make myself a nice little treat for myself due to getting my covid booster shot. I'm glad I did because I did not get through this one without the side effects. I used lemon zest and lemon extract to get that intense punch of lemon flavor without adding too much moisture and then used the lemon juice to make a very tart glaze.

The Best Cinnamon Rolls You'll Ever Eat

Cue the music because I made cinnamon rolls! From scratch!! Like yeast and kneading and everything!

And they were seriously good.

I love cinnamon rolls and lazy mornings so when I discovered at 9:30am that these take about 2 1/2 hours I wasn't too upset. Most of the issues in my kitchen are largely due to user error. A little hungry (or Hangry) by 11:30am, but still very eager and excited to try these sweet delicacies. I added pecans because I had them, and maple butter to the frosting because frankly I'm pretty fancy.

Zuppa Toscana & Creamy Tortellini Soup

"When Two Become One" by The Spice Girls

Snow days means comfort food and my brain always goes to soup. So when a rather frazzled last minute trip to the grocery store had me wandering the isles without a list or a plan I ended up with some of the ingredients to two of my all time favorite soups. Subbing out potatoes for tortellini and a creamy base may have accidentally created my favorite soup ever. Working title is currently "The Impastable Italian Soup" but I'm open to suggestions.

Smashed Avocado Salmon Burgers

Another winner from Gaby Dawkins! These invitingly colorful little gems really packed a punch with fresh jalapeno and a zingy cilantro lime aioli. I baked up some oven fries with a harissa seasoning I picked up at Lowes Foods recently. I always have some pickled onions on hand and was exited to show them off here. This recipe was shockingly easy and made some tasty leftovers as well.

I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Enjoy