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My roommate is taking charge of the kitchen tonight, and is making black beans cooked in beer, braised collard greens, and something involving a cassava. Yum!

We have tons of CSA produce that needs to be used! Hence dinner tonight is a vegetable lasagna incorporating onions and red bell peppers, collard greens, and roasted butternut squash, with roasted pumpkin pureed into some ricotta, PLUS a bit of tomato sauce since Mr Food Issues always prefers his pasta dishes with tomato sauce. I made it up & it's in the oven now so I can only hope it will be tasty and not a disaster!

As for the weather affecting meal planning--some days in New England just beg for stews, soups and chilis. But for me, more importantly, I get the wickedest cravings and must have that particular thing or else.

Had company over, so I made a bunch of things from Ida Garten's Back to Basics cookbook:

the Herb-Marinated & Grilled Pork Loin
the Buttermilk Cheddar biscuits
Cape Cod salad

and homemade applesauce, butternut squash (mashed w/butter and maple syrup), & brownies.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti with meatballs. I'm not a big fan of meatballs, preferring the meat dispersed throughout.

rainy all day here. fresh ricotta-filled ravioli (bought from local maker) with fresh oregano, sundried tomatoes, zucchini. maybe a side salad?

Baghare Baingan...eggplants in a tangy, cashew coconut sauce. I often make things that are seasonaly inappropriate just because I feel like eating them - like I'll jack up the oven and roast veggies in the middle of the summer. But I cannot make chili in the dead of summer...that seems like a no no to me.

semi-homemade pizza, with red peppers and spinach atop. weather-changin' cheesy goodness.

Burgers, with fresh ground chuck. Some oven roasted potatoes on the side. Simple yet delicious

We had the most refreshing walk today in the country and again how lucky we were to live in the rolling hills of Chester Co. (west of Philadelphia). I think we were close to 70 degrees.

Again, I thought I would grill to get some deck time. Our meal was grilled asparagus with a roasted tomato and balsamic vinaigrette, grilled potatoes with old bay seasoning and some lovely delmonico steaks with a little spicy rub. We topped it off with gingerbread cake and freshly whipped cream.

Life is good!

After a long day of doing dishes, putzing around the house, and finally doing a little shopping in the afternoon while my bf recovered from a wicked but thankfully RARE hangover, I turned to what has become the most recycled meal in my kitchen: baked pasta. I did a mashup of the SE one-pot baked ziti recipe with a few notes from a "the kitchn" fast weeknight recipe contender, adding sausage to the dish and a little cinnamon to the sauce (so good!), and using whole grain rotini. It never turns out the same twice, but last night's go was especially good.