A great friend got married near Ithaca, New York last weekend, and Scott and I had the pleasure of celebrating with her and her now-husband. It was gorgeous, with fall leaves everywhere and the general awesomeness of small towns and new places.
As per usual, I forgot to take pictures of the trip. I’m sorry! I did get to bring a piece of the wedding home, however. Maggie’s flowers were (and still are) stunning. They are a lot like her–artistic and unique, bright and full of life. See for yourself:
All of that beauty and the chill in the air made me want to bring some fall home to our warmer neck of the woods, so I went online recipe-hunting. These are the recipes that won:
- Monday: Savory Baked Apples (om nom nom!). I did use ground turkey instead of sausage, just because we already had some ground turkey in the freezer. When all was said and done, Scott and I decided that while this recipe was freaking awesome, we would simplify it a bit next time. Instead of the stuffed apples thing, we would chop up a few apples, include them in the stuffing when it says to add apples, and there you go. No time-consuming apple-coring and emptying. No pre-baking. No “Is this the right apple to stuffing ratio?” questions. It was genuinely delicious though.
- Tuesday: Beef and Butternut Chili (om again). This one was delicious exactly according to recipe. I mean, truly delicious. There was a ton of flavor, the beef was tender, and little birds sang into the window as rays of evening light shone into the kitchen. I even had time to clean up most of the dishes while the chili/stew/awesome simmered on the stove.
- Wednesday: Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Mustard Sauce. This one was a tiny bit heavier on the veggies than the other recipes, which was good. And I used boneless chicken thighs, which made the dish less expensive (bonus). It was really good, but after the incredible flavors from the first two recipes, this one wasn’t quite as perfect. Good. Really, really good, but not amazing. Oh, I also added some oven-roasted rosemary potatoes.
My stomach feels great about this week. Thanks, Cooking Light!
Small, but valuable. 
Loved having you as a part of our wedding! Thanks for the flower pics. Also, you’re like housewife extraordinaire cooking these fancy meals all week long. I am on day 1 of housewifedom and I’m already exhausted (with a messy house, lots of laundry left to do, and no dinner yet!).
I’m pretty sure that day 1 of housewifedom isn’t a representative sample. Just wait for next fall on a week that has you feeling antsy for colder weather. I expect good things on your behalf. (And there are a lot of cooking flops at our house, they just haven’t happened in the last 3 days.)