Dinner Illustrated x4

You guys have heard me talk about this cook’s illustrated cookbook PLENTY of times before. But here I am again, telling you about this week’s dinners and guess what!? They ALL involve Dinner Illustrated. America’s Test Kitchen is the gold standard for a reason.

First up, a radicchio and arugula salad with roasted butternut squash, hazelnuts, fuji apples (picked the day before!), and feta.

I toasted the hazelnuts a but more than intended (whoops!).

This was the first squash of the season and I was SO SO INTO IT.

It was also the biggest butternut I have ever laid eyes on and will probably last me another week’s worth of salads, so that’s more good news too.

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The kids didn’t love the radicchio, but that’s not a huge surprise. Kyle only barely tolerates it.

I saved half of the head for another recipe…

Which brings me to….these meatballs.

I doubled them and used half turkey and half lamb. Then I served them over couscous and sautéed radicchio (topped with mint and lemony yogurt sauce).

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The recipe calls for greek yogurt but I swapped in kite hill plain yogurt which is realllllly good stuff. I never buy it because (a) it’s expensive and (b) I try not to buy plastic single use items.

I also made extra couscous so I’d have some left over for the next night.

Which was salad with arugula, chickpeas, pear, toasted almonds and pancetta. [But I bulked it up with couscous too]

Last but not least I made this za’atar chicken with roasted Brussels sprouts and pomegranate.

Just like everything else it was a huge hit.

Kyle and the kids RAVED (and I mean really sang my praises) every night this week as they stuffed their mouths full of delicious food. It’s pretty great having kids who beg for more Brussels sprouts and za’atar chicken and roasted squash salad…and for the first time in a LONG while, I actually did my weekly meal plan/grocery trip before the week begun so I didn’t feel like a whirling dervish as we entered the week. As a result, I felt semi sane when it came to cooking dinners each day because things were set. Now that we are a month into the school year, I’m finally finding my stride in terms of balancing my life out. I said ‘yes’ to too many things lately, and now I’m in the process of closing out some of them to get myself back into a place where my priorities are where I want them. Teaching with fit4mom is so fun, but then there is coaching P in soccer and helping with cub scouts and volunteering in his class. Being on the board at V’s school is a low key commitment for 75% of the year, but this week it is a FULL ON STEAM TRAIN barreling through my life. Anyway, I am happy to be here blogging, if for no other reason than just to say hi (and also tell you that I love that cookbook).

Happy October.