A cheesy peace offering of Crock Pot Quinoa Enchiladas

Guys, I'm awful. My last post was in January. I thought maybe May, but yikes. I'm going to blame making desert friends. There, that sounds nice.

I have actual desert friends, not just silos. But I do drive by these guys often.

Baked Caprese Quinoa

 
Yeah, the name could use a little work. But it doesn't really matter because this is a very delicious and very simple recipe. It's a lot like baked ziti, except that it uses quinoa instead of pasta. And jarred sauce. I never bought jarred sauce until recently, and man it saves you a ton of work!

Culture Shock

It's December now, and the leaves are just starting to turn in the trees, and there's a slight chill to the evening air... Wait wait wait. It's December, and I'm wearing a t-shirt and flip flops. The tree in our backyard is just starting to turn yellowy gold, and on some evenings/early mornings, one does need a light sweater, but aside from that, it is not beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Guys, I saw my first tumbleweed yesterday. It was in a CVS parking lot.
And it turns out they're huge!

Arizona: Land of Sunshine and Mountains

I've never moved before. Well, ok, I did move twenty minutes away from where I grew up, and that's where John and I lived for eight years. Good lord, eight years. We had only planned on two in that dumpy condo, but when the market crashed in 08, we were officially stuck.

And now here we are on the other side of the country, all the way from New England to Arizona. To say it's different is a gross understatement. When told where we were moving, most folks back east would ask if we were moving here on purpose. No, this was not an accidental move. Yes, we know it's hot in the summer. And yes, we know about the scorpions. We're more familiar with the scorpions than we'd like to be.

We live near this now!

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Every time October rolls around, we end up asking ourselves if a pumpkin recipe is going too far. Pumpkin pancakes? Great. Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies? I don't see a problem. Pumpkin tacos? That's where things get weird. And with that in mind, I present Pumpkin Mac and Cheese.

Polenta with Sausages and Mushrooms

Big changes coming. Like milk. Lactose-free milk, to be specific. And sometimes cheese! It's crazy.

So we're revisiting recipes I used to make and we used to love. I tried this one a few months back with coconut milk (vanilla coconut milk, actually) and it was not good. I blame the vanilla. And polenta without parm is a tad blasphemous.  

Black Bean Chili

John's coming home tonight! And in his honor, let there be chili!

That'd be pumpkin cider on the left. And baby food to the right...