Mini Chocolate Chip-Toffee Cookies

Hello, holiday baking.
Hello, cute little cookies.
Hello, mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, all of you that fit into teensy teaspoon-sized balls of buttery dough.

And hello,  Evil Empire (what we call Walmart at my house). Maybe you do bring good things, like tree-shaped jars for gifting, along with your treacherous lines and "customer service."

Like all things cute and little, these took way longer to form into balls, flatten and bake in many, many batches.

But cuteness+sugar+butter in a jar to gift to coworkers, that was totally worth my Sunday afternoon.

Merry Christmas!

Enchiladas [with Scratch-Made Sauce]

Dear Saveur, Thank you for styling your enchiladas with onion rings so that my enchiladas could be purdy too. Dear Cooking Light, props on setting the precedent with a recipe for from-scratch enchilada sauce that was much simpler than Saveur's uber authentic one. Dear cream cheese and cheddar cheese, You make everything better. Queen of examples: extra proportions on casseroles.

Dear Teacher Friend C., Even though you were tired and recovering from lingering sickness, you came for Blonder Than She Pays to Be on Monday. You said you came "for the food" after I sent my menu email. That makes my (prideful) heart happy.
Dear Joy the Baker, Your Orange and Avocado Salad paired perfectly with my enchiladas for wintertime. Thanks for your recipe brilliance.

Dear creative inspiration, why do you come so late at night as I type this post? I want to be a better morning person! Dear Today's Letters, I love the honest intentionality with which you express yourself in the blogosphere and with which you seem to live your life. Hopefully you will be okay that I copycatted your style in this post.

Advent's arrival: Chocolate Cookies with (Christmas!) Mint M&Ms

It's like 70 degrees for some reason, but Santa music and commercialized holiday, to put it frankly, vomit invaded a while ago. Despite all that confusion and disgust, I have slowed my life in an attempt to reclaim the anticipation and hope of a Savior that our culture slandered somewhere along the way.

And the season got much sweeter (pardon the cheesy pun) when I walked into Publix on Advent Eve to find the holiday baking display highlight: red, green and white M&Ms. So naturally, they were in the cart and, upon arrival back home, studded in cookie dough filled with melted chocolate chips.

And then off they went to roommates, in baggies to share with family members I saw, to a plate to serve with dinner with my Monday night girls (who need a name), to the office (where I ate 5 in one afternoon-there is a reason for individual apportioned servings), back to roommates, to spread the cheer of chocolate and mint.

All that cheer paired perfectly with studying the sin in Christ's lineage in Matthew, singing hymns of Christmas, and hearing the whole story in 44 minutes courtesy of the artistry of Andrew Peterson... that and writing a heart-warming "community supports kid with cancer" story and touches of holiday at home, with cranberries on our table and words of hope (this week's Advent "word") to start our "Advent cabinet" tradition.

 Come, Lord Jesus.

Carrot Souffle

I am thankful to the Lord for sides dishes that are better than turkey.

I am thankful for friends who tried the funky orange dish — is it sweet potatoes? is it carrots? — at PreThanksgiving Thanksgiving and  got word of the discovery of its tastiness to me down the 28-person table. --> -->

I am thankful for friends down the street who open their home, and for the gloriousness of blue sky and autumn leaves and sunshine I got to joyously embrace as I walked to and from said home. 

I am thankful that crunchy, dense carrots can be cooked and then rid of their pungent carrot-i-ness and fluffed up into a dessert-like souffle.

I am thankful to have the gift of solitary time to think as I washed, peeled, chopped and boiled two pounds of carrots.

And on a slightly unrelated note, I am thankful for roommate humor in my kitchen.

Loaded Potato Salad+Tailgate

What I Learned about Tailgating this Weekend

What I get excited about:

Loaded  Potato Salad

(a cold version of sour cream+green onion+cheddar+bacon!bacon!bacon! goodness, with some roasted red potatoes hidden in there somewhere)

 recipe at bottom of post

 Football-Style Outrageous Brownies

Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies

What my mom gets excited about:

decor, team colors, team-colored jelly beans, orange "spa" water, tablecloths and flowers

All of the above is periphery to what my dad and his friends do when they tailgate sans females most of the season.

This is what the guys got excited about:

Meat! Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

Meat! 

Pork Tenderloin

(And more meat not pictured! Ahi tuna bites, burgers, ham sandwiches, deer sausage, brats.)

 Most eaten non-meat item: 

Grilled red onions, bell pepper and baby portabella mushrooms

 The plate for one of like 15 continous meals: 

Sliced Pork Tenderloin Sandwich with Barbecue Sauce and Grilled Onions/Peppers/Shrooms
(a combo to definitely be repeated)

Morale of the story: We all like to eat good food, so it works out well, especially on a gorgeously 70-degree sunny autumn day. Oh, and everyone else watched and talked about football.

Southwestern Chicken Mac and Cheese

Y'all, nothing says comfort like

cheese

cheese

cheese!

And cheese is only made better by

chicken, 

Mexicany things,

(like peppers and onions and cumin and chile powder)

and

pasta!

Here's the math I did to get this pot of gold*:

Southern Living King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese Idea

-Some butter

-Cream of Chicken Soup Yuck

-Velveeta Double Yuck

+Cooking Light Mac and Cheese No-White-Sauce Method

+Lighter Dairy

+More (Not Light) Cheese

______________________________________

Creamy Comfort with Flair and Just Enough Richness

Worth Making Once for Monday Night Girls with Leftovers for Roommates

And then again for Family with Twin Newborns

With Enough for Weeknight Surprise for My Parents

*I really think most Southern Living recipes need to be lighted up and rid of processed junk Cooking Light style and most Cooking Light recipes need to simplified and given a little more sinfuless Southern Living style so that you end up with beauties like this.

Arugula-Sweet Potato Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette

October for me meant stopping, a reprieve from travels or otherwise packing a weekend full of activity. It meant going into Saturday with no agenda, which for a planner is kind of scary for some odd reason, and discovering the riches of down time and spontaneity: going for an impromptu Saturday hike, listening to my roommate animate the characters of a children's novel as she read it aloud,  actually sitting down and watching a movie I have been meaning to see since I got it for Christmas last year, creating invitations for a neighbor potluck, reading (oh reading books!), returning to the simple pleasures of cooking for fun.

One particular weekend, this meal evolved with fall favorites sweet potatoes and pork tenderloin, with a lingering taste of summer (frozen blackberries) in a balsamic vinaigrette and bitter arugula, which I paired with my first experimentation with the fig (Sourdough Toasts with Goat Cheese, Figs and Honey --> —delightful).

Best of all, it was shared on the porch with a friend, and then continued as fancy food leftovers for yours truly later in the week.