This is what happens when I’m on my own for dinner:

Or leftovers.

Heaving dinner together this semester has been tough.  I’m a firm believer in sitting down together regularly to meals, making that time quality time together.  However, between Andrew’s twice weekly post-work engineering classes, his new workout schedule (hard to complain about, but still) and basketball, as well as my bi-monthly Bible study and Thursday evening class, we basically only sit down together on Fridays and Mondays, if we’re lucky.  (I leave Sat and Sun out of the equation since our schedule is always up in the air but we’re generally together.)  It’s been so frustrating for me to plan recipes and then have Andrew change things up at the last minute–I feel like I can’t win!  I either plan and buy ingredients and then something comes up, or I don’t get anything and we’re stuck ordering pizza (JUST what I need) or going out to eat (which gets expensive).

You don’t know how much I’m looking forward to basketball, his professional classes and my night class to end!

Anyway, I made a brussels sprout salad the other night when the Layers were over for dinner.  Basically, it was brussels sprout leaves, dried cranberries and blueberries, smoked almonds and manchego cheese.  It was awesome, but separating the b.s. leaves was time-consuming–for leftovers, I steamed them like regular, then mixed them with the salad ingredients–yum!

I love sweet potatoes and am planning to make sweet potato fries with cranberry ketchup later this week, and when I found a bag of small organic ones at Wegmans, I knew I had to get it!  Sweet potatoes are the best!  It took 5 minutes to cook this one in the microwave and I sprinkled it with a mix of cumin, paprika and red pepper. It was just warm enough to wake up my taste buds.  I did use about half a tablespoon of butter, too.  Although olive oil would have worked in this flavor pairing, too.

These little orange babies are awesome; they’re perfect for lunches at home or at school.  Of course, I’ll have to resist using too much sugar on the ones I sprinkle with cinnamon…

And lastly, half a pear and one serving of Cabot’s sharp cheddar for protein.  Pears are fantastic right now!  Although, this is the second time I’ve gotten a bag and they all ripen at the same time!  We go from not eating them to eating them with every meal!