The week that was February 14th, 2022

This was a great week in the kitchen! A mix of old classics and some new recipes that were really outstanding. I'm in between wrapping up one job and starting a new one so it was nice to have some consistency during this time of mild upheaval. I made an easy recipe for Valentine’s Day (which yes, that was only a week ago but might as well be a month) and then pulled out a real showstopper for our random Wednesday night meal

Here are this weeks dinners!

Spanakopita and Grilled Lamb Chops

This looks fancy AF. But honestly it was not terribly difficult. It was sent to me on Instagram and I didn't think about it at first because I assumed it would be laborious and time consuming, wrong! The filling was easy to mix and the store-bought phyllo dough was tolerable. Mine dried out pretty quickly and most of the full sheets ripped but once you layer them it didn't seem to make a huge difference. The lamb chops were a bit of a splurge but due to the hallmark holiday on Monday they were not purchased at a premium, but they tasted like a million bucks.

Miguels Favorite Corn Cake Salad

This recipe from One Pan, Two Plates, one of the first cookbooks I used, quickly became a favorite in our house. The corn-cakes are simple enough made with the usual flour, corn starch, greek yogurt, and some diced jalapeño for a little kick. But the lemon vinaigrette and crispy prosciutto really round out this knockout that was the perfect Valentine’s Day meal.

Copycat Chick~fil~a Sandwich

These delightful little sandos came to me via our friends at the Roediger House. He's made them for us a few times and frankly I'm on board with anything marinated in pickle juice. I paired them with some waffle cut fries for authenticity and since it's been so long since I've been to Chick~fil~a I honestly couldn't tell a difference! Looks like we can enjoy a tasty vegetable free sandwich without compromising any of our core values. Yay!

White Balsamic Chicken and Lemon Basil Potatoes

Our pantry is chock full of vinegar. Every kind you could imagine, sherry, balsamic, champagne, rice, red wine, just to name a few. So when I stumbled on this recipe with white balsamic I immediately asked Siri if I could just substitute regular balsamic so I wouldn't have to add to the collection. The short answer was no but the long answer was also no as well as why haven't I used this before because it's amazing! Its a flavor I found hard to classify, sweet, tangy, light and so flavorful. The bone in chicken thighs were crisped and the potatoes were perfectly creamy, but the real star of the show was the white balsamic.

Skillet Chicken Adobo

It's hard to believe I've lived almost 37 years without having dismantled a whole pineapple. But this recipe and inflation gave me the perfect reason. Why buy a 6 dollar carton of pre-cut when I can buy a whole pineapple for 3 bucks? It looked intimidating but it was easy to portion out and days later were are still enjoying a mountain of sweet pineapple. This recipe was spicy and saucy and everything I dreamed. Just look at that shine, just perfection. I'll be making this one again.

I'm excited for this next week and all the great recipes in store!

Enjoy