Hi! How are you? Missed you.
Made This For Dinner has been dormant, waiting for me to get around to updating you all, since…the spring of 2021? Woof, sorry. I’m here today to present proof of life, both my own and the one I created. I had a baby!
When we last left off, it was May 2021. I was not pregnant then but I would be within short order. I had two blissful weeks before a trimester’s worth of debilitating nausea set in, and that’s how the rest of that year went. I spent what felt like the entirety of fall either A) sick at the mere thought of food or B) fused with the couch. I had no strength to make dinner, physically or mentally. I ate a lot of cereal and frozen waffles and soft pretzels that my husband lovingly prepared and/or procured.
Once I hit the halfway point, I got enough of my appetite and energy back to start making dinner again. But life was busy, you know? And then said baby arrived in the spring of this year.
(He’s perfect, take my word for it).
So while things look quite a bit different around here, I do still cook for us. Just not in the same tidy, structured manner I’d grown accustomed to over the course of….well, my entire adult life. Where does that leave us?
What I made for dinner
Dinner nowadays usually falls into one of two camps:
Something that can be thrown together when I have the time and then cooked/eaten at a later date, or
Something that comes together fast, preferably with minimal dishes
Cheesy curry chicken casserole: I stand by the assertion that Buffalo is culturally and spiritually midwestern. As such, I enjoy a good casserole like any good midwesterner should. This is a subscriber-only recipe from Olivia Mack McCool, who has one of like, two Substack newsletters I actually pay for. Olivia does not miss — I can name at least three other recipes she’s published that have become household staples — so it’s a price I am willing to pay. This has everything I want from a weeknight recipe: it’s one pot, it’s got cheese and there’s a vegetable (frozen broccoli) included that requires zero prep work. It’s a rare recipe that falls into both of my above categories — it freezes beautifully, or it can be pulled off night-of.
Mississippi roast (gifted article, recipe linked at bottom): I remember the pearl-clutching and fun-poking that came with this recipe’s publication a few years ago, which instinctively made me avoid it. I don’t care enough to have an opinion! I don’t want to get involved! If you worship at the altar of your slow cooker, that’s fine. If you insist upon making your own ranch dressing from scratch, that’s fine too. I have been both of those people. But at the current juncture of my life I am going to eat what I want, which is this roast (pregnancy and postpartum are full of so many beautiful things, like iron deficiency). I heavily adapted the recipe to make it as easy as possible. I ditched the homemade dressing Sifton calls for in favor of — gasp! — a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning, and I added a generous splash of the pepperoncini liquid as encouraged by a commenter. And while I don’t have a slow cooker, I do still work from home half of the week (shoutout to my union!), so after I popped this in the oven for four hours in a dutch oven at 250º. The result is, as suggested, great over egg noodles or by itself or on a roll.
What I made that wasn’t for dinner
Apple cider donut loaf cake: I slept on this recipe too, and for that I cannot forgive myself. I know we’re nearing the tail end of fall (at least in Buffalo — this weekend we’re headed head (ass?) first into winter), but I encourage you to make it before peppermint and gingerbread overtakes us. There’s a healthy pinch of salt in the crumb topping that takes things over the edge.
Reading corner
While I did manage to craft an entire felt pie garland this month, I have found little time or desire for most Thanksgiving content — it’s all been done. However, I did find room on my proverbial plate for these pieces:
Ina Garten’s Store-Bought Thanksgiving (Bonus: did you see the 60 Minutes interview with Ina from last week? An angel walks among us!)
In Defense of a Bland Thanksgiving: I am cooking for 12+ this year and a bland Thanksgiving is my raison d’être, for the most part. I’m making everything from scratch, but there will be no reinventing the wheel. Have you ever tried serving homemade spiced cranberry sauce to your extended family that lives in Tonawanda? It will not go well.
America’s Test Kitchen’s Instagram: ACTUALLY HELPFUL THANKSGIVING COVERAGE! I don’t need another new technique for cooking a turkey. I do need a friendly reminder that pie crust can be prepped in advance. Bravo to Kat + the rest of the team!
Other dinner-adjacent things from this week
The baby has started solids and with that, I have begun to hem and haw over how to include him in our menu plans every week. Most guides for starting solids have recipes that can be deconstructed for baby but served to the whole family and while the intention is there, the recipes are usually…not the most exciting. If you have suggestions, throw them my way! It’s worth nothing that his favorite food right now is a hunk of pizza crust, so he does have excellent taste.
Be back soon, I promise.
While I can’t deliver on a weekly newsletter anytime soon, I do intend to make this more than just a one-show reunion tour. Maybe monthly? Who knows. I’ll be back again before the new year, I promise you that. In the meantime you can find me over at @katiebrigham on Instagram. Talk to you then!
Welcome 🤗 back, Katie! I’ve been meaning to make that Apple 🍏 Cider 🍺 Donut 🍩 Loaf 🍞 Cake 🧁 for literal years now so you’ve given me the push I need to actually do it!