Good to be home

We spent time today hanging out in Ann Arbor, lunching at Casey's, shopping at Treasure Mart, Fustini's, Spice Merchants.  It was...lovely!

We found goodies at each place.  K bought some cool vintage wood figurines at Treasure Mart for the striped room (pic to come).  I bought smoked black pepper (a staple in my pantry) and a variety of other spices at the Spice Merchant. We also picked up some pretty inspiring Honey Serrano Balsamic vinegar at Fustini's.  Triple win.

It was the best feeling to come home and make dinner in my own kitchen.  I made chicken topped with roasted tomato and garlic with a side of cauliflower mash.

I thought I would share the recipes that I used.

This recipe really does yield the perfect boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I make this and use it in everything - pasta, salad, sandwiches, and sauces (like this roasted tomato sauce).  The cauliflower mash is super easy, healthy and pretty darn satisfying.  If you haven't made cauliflower mash, then make a plan to do so.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

There isn't much that I changed in these recipes (believe it or not).  I added Penzey's Italian Herb Mix to the flour in the chicken breasts.  For the tomatoes I quartered them and sliced two cloves of garlic and tossed that on top.  About 10 minutes in I stirred it up and broke up the pieces.  I'd say the tomatoes took about 30 minutes in total and stirred them 3-4 times.

For dessert I think we'll indulge in some thin slices of apple dunked in Trader Joe's Fleur de sel Caramel Sauce.  If you don't have some of that in your fridge this fall to have with apples, you're going to need it.  Trust me.