Can you believe Christmas is a week from Friday?!? What?? I swear the older I get the faster time is going by and I can’t tell you how much I want it to slow down because my sweet darling baby Gabriela is growing up way too fast! I know, clichèd, but it’s true. And damn Timehop doesn’t help when I see how itty bitty she was a year ago…

sweet girl was 3 days old. (July 13, 2014)

future soccer star in the making (taken Dec. 13, 2015)

So what’s cooking this week? If you remember my previous post (from LAST WEEK – eeeck – I’m trying to get better, I promise), I’m going to be doing recipes from Lucinda Scala Quinn’s _Mad Hungry: feeding men and boys. So yesterday (actually Sunday, being it’s Tuesday at 3.30am right now) I sat down and went through her whole cookbook, page by page. And I just gotta say: I really love going through a cookbook like that and I don’t really do it very often. Sure when I just get a new one I’ll flip through it quickly but normally I use them as a quick reference for a recipe. To really take the time to read the ingredients list, check out out the prep, and gaze upon the wonderfully styled photos is pretty darn enjoyable…. Or maybe it’s just me??

Here is what will be cooking this week. (Note: there’s one more but I can’t think of it for the life of me while laying in bed so check back later this morning when I can get to my list and update. Thanks!) 

Spatchcocked chicken

Pork chops with apples and onions

Lentil soup

Shrimp scampi

* what I forgot….beef short ribs….yum!

I’m really really hoping to stick to this plan but life with baby, sleepless nights (on my end), and the husband working nights, life may just hand us a pizza for dinner. I’m going to try to track down the recipes I use online but that can be hit or miss. If there’s a dish you’d like to try but I can’t post the recipe shoot me a message and I’ll do my best to get it to you. 

So far we’ve done her spatchcocked chicken, which I grilled yesterday. In the rain. And Monday we had pork chops with onions and apples. I’ll talk more of these later this week. Oh! And Hasselback potatoes—- have you ever had/made them? I first attempted it Sunday with the chicken but they came out a bit undercook. Tried again with the pork and turned out much better but a bit too crispy for me (but my father loved them). I’m trying to find that happy medium. Any suggestions??

Hopefully now I can drift off to sleep. Thankfully Gabriela loves to sleep in (8am wake-ups lately. Score!) so I’ve got a few hours for some zzzzzzz’s. 

*update #2- I jinxed myself…she was wide ass awake at 6am. Ugh. 😉

freezer stash of _Mad Hungry_ beef empanadas i made the other weekend. goes straight from the freezer to the oven.