top ten things i've cooked lately that i feel you need to know about

it's been a while since i've made any food-related posts, which might lead some of you to believe that i've given up on my secret dream to be a food blogger (because as we all know, THE WORLD NEEDS ANOTHER FOOD BLOG). but ha ha, the joke is on you, because i've been saving them up and now you're going to get them all at once in one big long post about MY CULINARY GENIUS and how SAD YOU MUST FEEL BECAUSE YOU CAN'T EAT THESE DELICIOUS THINGS THAT I MADE and HOW MUCH BETTER MY LIFE IS THAN YOURS. okay, that last one is a bit of an exaggeration. it's only a teensy bit better, and that's only because of the bacon.

1. squash penne with sage and bacon - so every once in a while i totally forget that cory doesn't like it when i use fresh herbs as garnish (he'll TELL you he doesn't like them at all: "what's this green stuff on top? cilantro? i HATE cilantro. but the rest of this dish, which clearly does NOT HAVE CILANTRO ALL THROUGH IT, is totally delicious.") so last night when i made this, i was all "la, la, la, chopping fresh sage for garnish" and then i served it and cory made a face. but it's cool, he had a sandwich and a little bowl of the non-garnished bits and i got to eat more delicious, delicious pasta. i sort of used nigella lawson's recipe but i roasted the squash first cause i hate peeling and chopping raw squash. oh, and parm for blue cheese and walnuts for pine nuts (does nigella not know how expensive pine nuts are?!) and i added bacon to it. obvs.
   
   
   the sage makes it pretty! GOD. 
2. orange ginger chicken - although i might not have remembered that cory hates herb garnishes, i did actually remember that he thinks he hates ginger. but i'm convinced it's the texture he hates, not the taste, so i made this chicken anyway and made sure i minced the ginger really finely so it dissolved in the sauce. and, well, he ate it, so score one for me! also, i made way, WAY too much sauce, so it's a good thing he liked it cause we're going to be eating orange ginger everything from now until eternity.
3. sun-dried tomatoes - so over most of the summer i was totally obsessed with buying cheap, almost-overripe plum tomatoes and making my own sun-dried tomatoes. and yes, okay, fine, you got me, i did not dry them in the sun, i dried them in the oven, but whatever you guys, they turned out exactly the same and delicious and cheap and now i have a giant jar of tomatoes in my fridge that will last me all winter and that's all that matters
4. bacon-wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese - a couple of weeks ago i was invited to a girls' night party thingie at a co-worker's house where we were all supposed to bring finger foods and get drunk. and so obviously my first thought was i had to bring these, because i had made them before and they were delicious and i didn't want to bring a dip because that's what everyone brings, you guys. and even though several disastrous things happened that evening like me spilling bacon grease all over cory's jeans and there being a big snowstorm and me having to drive home in said snowstorm etc etc, the jalapenos were delicious. and unlike the last time i made them, i did not rub my eyes and almost go blind.
5. roast chicken - here's a story. one day i was like, hey, chickens are on sale at a&p, i should roast a chicken! and so i bought a chicken. then i came home, read a thousand food blogs about how to roast a chicken, thought, "this is going to be hard because everyone says it's hard." then i roasted the chicken and it was not hard at all. in fact it was super easy and it tasted delicious and i got to stuff a bunch of things inside the chicken which was kind of fun.
6. chicken pot pie - here's another story. my boyfriend makes the best pies. THE. BEST. PIES.
   
   
   yeah, he made the pie crust, too!
   so a couple of weeks ago when we had early christmas, he made an apple pie and a pumpkin pie and had half a crust left over. so i thought i'd try it on a chicken pot pie (i usually use puff pastry, which i buy because i am lazy) because i had all that chicken leftover and also because cory loves it when i make chicken pot pie because he can put frank's red hot sauce on it (and anything i make that frank's can go on is THE BEST MEAL EVER). anyway, it turned out pretty good except i let it sit for a bit before i baked it and a lot of the milk evaporated or something cause it wasn't very creamy. then later in the week we brought the leftovers to feed to cory's dad while his mom was away. but don't worry, i brought the bottle of frank's along in my purse.
7. chicken stock - after i roasted the chicken and made the pot pie, i was all excited cause then i got to make chicken stock, which is my favourite thing to do to make me feel a) thrifty and b) healthy and c) all warm and fuzzy. then, weirdly, i didn't have anything to make with it after the pot pie, so i decided to freeze it in the ice cube tray and make little chicken stock ice cubes. which worked really well and also caused cory to freak out a little when he went looking for ice cubes. which is totally a bonus.
8. garlic bread pizza - full disclaimer: cory invented and perfected garlic bread pizza. i am just a student of his genius. i can't even take credit for the idea to saute the chicken with the pineapple juice and tabasco sauce. i didn't even know pineapple juice was delicious. i would never have thought to toast the garlic bread first, or put spinach in the sauce, or use three cheeses on top instead of one. i just don't have the pizza ingenuity that he does. but it still tasted good when i made it. especially the end pieces.
9. pork tenderloin - you guys, i'm totally terrified to make pork tenderloin again. because the last time i made it was the first time i ever made it, and it was SO FUCKING GOOD and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I DID and WHAT IF I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN? oh, the existential angst of the neurotic cook. holy shit, you guys, i think i just came up with a name for my secret food blog.
10. banana bread - i basically just bake banana bread these days out of spite. then i tweet about it and post pictures of it on facebook and write about it on this blog so that all you suckers know i am the banana bread queen. yes. suckers. you know who you are.