Yes! It’s true! For the immediate future, there’s a new head chef in our kitchen (also known as my amazing husband). Why? Well, in an unfortunate battle of Michelle vs. an icy walkway, the walkway emerged victorious and I’m recovering from a broken foot. But the kitchen must go on, so I’ve been relegated to the role of sous chef. Not the easiest of roles, but here are some of the lessons I’ve been reminded of these last couple weeks and what’s been on the menu!

• For the NFL playoffs (plus some cold weather): chili
• Comfort classic to use up grilled chicken: chicken & rice casserole
• Throwback to the first dish my husband made: parmesan chicken
• Because I had bought all the ingredients before my spill: Utica greens

And as far as a couple lessons I’ve learned:

• Never underestimate a well-stocked pantry
  I don’t know about you, but there are things I just buy routinely at the grocery store because I know I will need them. Normally, that’s fine, but if someone else is doing the shopping it can be tricky. So if you have go-to recipes and you use up a staple ingredient, make sure it goes on the grocery list so it’s in the pantry.
• Know your recipes (and write them down)
  Honestly, one of the reasons I started writing this blog is to document things we like to eat so the recipes didn’t live exclusively in my head. I tend to cook on auto-pilot, but if you are explaining what has to go in to a dish, it is so much easier to have a reference.
• Open the Kitchen
  We all get in routines in our homes. I typically putter around in the kitchen cooking on my own because I love it. But I have to say, it’s really been fun hanging out together making dinner. Maybe when I’m out of the boot, we’ll make it a regular thing!
• Be ready for refinements
  I’ve made chili a million times. It wasn’t until hubs was at the stove that I realized that he wanted the spices kicked up way more than I had been doing. So hello Cayenne pepper, welcome to the pot.

Fear not, we came up with a few new dinners to share so stay tuned. In the meantime, eat well and be well my friends.