TGIF! I am coming at you with all sorts of delicious dinners today. These longer summer days have given me the cooking bug and I’ve really enjoyed spending time in the kitchen lately. I’ve definitely been doing more intentional cooking than assembling – and it’s been great.

DINNER

I tried the internet-famous “Marry Me Chicken.” As a fan of sun-dried tomatoes, I thought it was delicious. It’s a rich recipe with plenty of butter and heavy cream but the sun-dried tomato cream sauce is to die for! I served it over pasta with fresh basil and parmesan with roasted broccoli on the side.

Sheet pan dinner with chicken sausage, yellow potatoes, sweet onions and broccoli. I added fish sticks and veggie tots at the end for Finn. 🙂

Baked salmon with a maple mustard glaze (melted butter, maple syrup, dijon, soy sauce) with mashed sweet potatoes ands sautéed rainbow chard.

Chicken parmesan with a side salad. Here’s my go-to chicken parmesan recipe!

Lemon herb baked chicken thighs with roasted cauliflower and potatoes. I used pre-marinated chicken thighs from Whole Foods and they were good. I would buy them again.

Leftover chicken thighs in bowl form with couscous and artichoke tapenade.

Baked potato with butter, cottage cheese, shredded cheddar and sautéed chicken sausage.

Crispy chicken salad with chicken tenders, hot sauce, fresh mozzarella, carrots, tomatoes, avocado and ranch. The fresh mozzarella balls were so good with this combo of flavors!

This was a Kevin’s sous vide coconut curry chicken that I served with sautéed bok choy and shiitake mushrooms over rice with sriracha.

Baked chicken thighs with barbecue sauce. Mashed sweet potatoes and roasted brussels and mushrooms on the side.

Sometimes eggs for dinner hits the spot! Cottage cheese scrambled eggs with sauerkraut, smoked salmon and whole wheat sourdough with butter and cream cheese.

Lemon herb parmesan salmon with a baked potato and steamed broccoli. This salmon was so good and I need to write a separate post with the recipe. Loved this dinner!

Leftover salmon bowl with couscous, roasted red pepper hummus and broccoli.

I prepped this kale salad and then ate it warm for a few lunches and dinners.

• massaged lacinto kale (olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt)
• farro (used the quick cooking 10 minute farro from Trader Joe’s)
• sun-dried tomatoes
• artichoke hearts
• cucumbers
• fresh mozzarella
• added avocado, shredded rotisserie chicken and hummus to it before serving)

Salmon baked with a seasoning rub and lemon slices and served over the Whole Foods Pacific Protein blend with hummus, tzatziki and roasted Japanese sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were a random add but I had a couple that needed to be used.

Baked tofu over couscous with roasted cauliflower and hummus.

Pulled pork with barbecue sauce, baked potato and sautéed squash and sweet onions. I grabbed a small boston butt from Colfax Creek Farm at the farmers market a couple of weeks ago and prepared it in the slow cooker. It was so easy – just drop it in with salt and pepper and cook on low for eight hours. It renders all of its own cooking liquid.

DESSERT + SWEET STUFF 

Give me all the fresh fruit right now.

Summer means the fridge is always FULLY stocked with ice cream! 🙂 I always love ice cream but I’ve been on an especially big kick lately. This was after a BOGO sale on Ben + Jerry’s at Harris Teeter. In all of my summer ice cream eating, I have come to learn that I can only do these crazy Ben + Jerry’s flavors in small doses. They are so insanely sweet.

I really like to mix and match two ice cream flavors. This combo was 10/10 excellent! Golden Cow Creamery is a local ice cream spot and their salted Oreo is insanely good.

This week I baked a lemon blueberry loaf that was very tasty! Definitely recommend if you’re looking for a summer baked good that uses fresh blueberries. Note on this loaf…it was absolutely wonderful the day I baked it while it still had those crispy edges and was a little warm but got a little dry once stored. I recommend the recipe but would serve it the day you bake it or warm up the leftover slices a bit.

A box of treats from the Batch House on my birthday! The oatmeal cream pie was huge – the size of my hand – and the best I’ve ever had.

Have you worked up an appetite by reading this post!?

QUESTIONS 

Best dinner you’ve cooked recently? 

What’s your favorite summer fruit? I was having a moment with watermelon but I think cherries are taking the top spot.

Favorite ice cream brand?