Last night's dinner

Last night, I made a wonderful dinner, (if I do say so myself) of pretzel chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, and caramelized brussel sprouts. It took me one hour to make...and probably 10 minutes to eat. We each had 2 glasses of Concord Wine from our trip to Clover Hill Winery this past weekend. Chris enjoyed it, too...though he didn't try the brussel sprouts (sigh).

Pretzel chicken from Food and Wine

• I have wanted to make Pretzel Chicken for well over a year now and had this receipt tucked away for months. I finally decided that enough was enough. It was a big success, though I think I'll crush the pretzels finer next time, and maybe try it with chicken cutlets for optimal crunch. Either way, I'm making this again.

Carmelized Brussel Sprouts from The Culinary Couple

• This is the second time I've made this dish this week. I'm the only one who eats it but it's super fast, and super delicious. I used half the brown sugar and half the craisins in my version to make it a "little" healthier.

Macaroni and Cheese from White on Rice Couple

• This is also the second time I've made this, the first time being last winter. I think this is an amazing alternative to Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, which really...is hard to beat. It cooks really fast (mine cooked in about 5 minutes last night instead of the 15-20 it says in the recipe..maybe I had my heat too high?) But it came out fine regardless. Chris approves of this mac and cheese...which is good in my book because he LOVES his kraft.

I find that at this time of year, all I want to do is be in the kitchen and try out new recipes. We've been super busy lately, but as our schedule winds down in the next few weeks, I am preparing my arsenal of "recipes to try" and can't wait to get my hands dirty!