i am super bad at remembering the food i like to eat outside of special recipes so i'm starting a list of dinners! i get a meal service for two dinners a week, but the rest of the time i cook for myself - due to disability and/or laziness, usually about 3 nights a week. i absolutely can't stand eating the same thing more than two nights in a row, so i try to switch it up a lot, but i do have some staples on rotation. there will be no recipes or photos here, these are the dinners i whip up from ingredients i keep on hand. i am lucky to live at home with my parents on their grocery budget with access to a lot of specialty stores and farmers' markets, so the pantry and fridge are very well-stocked. i love food and finding new things for my casual cooking repetoire, i'm hoping listing these will be inspiring and help me brainstorm more! this page design is festival marketplace inspired.

please do not take anything on this page as nutrition advice or diet recommendations, i have struggled with disordered eating for as long as i can remember, and this is not a food diary for any tracking purposes. this most definitely isn't everything i eat. however, if some combo sounds good and you try it out and love it, let me know!

Three-Cheese Bacon Apple Melt

sourdough bread, gruyere, white cheddar, goat cheese, honeycrisp apple, applewood smoked bacon, fig butter, balsamic caramelized onions with a maple-dijon-acv dipping sauce

★★★★☆

i went out to lunch with my mom this weekend after we went to an art fair and we split a sandwich that was kinda close to this but worse. it was like Just not good enough that i felt inspired to remake it better when we got home. theirs was 2 cheeses and giant underdone onion slices and had tomato and no meat and i didn't enjoy it at all lol all i will give them is good cheese and crispy bread. this was also inspired by a sandwich i ate on a date once that was so good it was like a pear and gouda and mustard panini. banged. anyway this was great i liked this a lot. dressing was very necessary to cut the richness. i made it too full of ingredients so thats why i'm knocking a star off nothing wanted to stay in the bread while i was eating it. maybe it needs a panini machine

Lamb and Zucchini Salad

leftover lamb burger, sauteeed zucchini, whipped lemon feta spread, caramelized red onions + shallots, cucumber, pickled beets, kalamata olives, arugula, balsamic-red onion-honey-lemon vinaigrette

★★★★★

im the only person in the house who eats lamb so if i make a pack of these burgers i like, i gotta plan to eat the full pack! the lemon feta and the caramelized onions were burger toppings, now given new life in this delightful bowl with some zucchini i needed to cook before they went off. i love a fancy salad this was super good

Steak and Lemon Pasta in Cream Sauce

shio koji-marinated steak, lemon flavored pasta, garlic-shallot cream sauce, broccolini, green beans

★★★★★

we got a grill recently and im becoming the grillmaster. i love having a tasty rare steak whenever i want one. i learned about shio koji in cook's illustrated and it is my new favorite flavoring, it makes steak so buttery and cheesy and not need any other sauce. anyway my mom said im better than the local steakhouse (true) which made me want a steakhouse meal! cream pasta and crisp vegetables are my sides of choice

Eggplant Stir-fry

graffiti eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, firm tofu, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, honey, shaoxing wine, butter, udon noodles, crunchy onions, sesame seeds

★★★★☆

yummy... this one was pretty much based off a recent favorite nyt cooking recipe that i have made enough times to get crafty with, honey-glazed mushrooms with udon. i made it less soupy and added more stuff. the eggplant was too soft but i forgot to salt it beforehand so thats on me oops

Smashed Potatoes with Tzatziki

potatoes, butter, spices, homemade tzatziki, feta, chives, dill

★★★★★

i made this really banger tzatziki this week to sate a craving and their original accompaniment was a greek meatball recipe that i did! not! like! but luckily my parents ate the batch. potatoes to carry the sauce instead was great. i should've made a chicken breast or something but ig there is a ton of cheese and yogurt in here for protein lol

Tofu Stir-fry

store-bought baked tofu, zucchini, broccolini, mushroom, green onion, brown sauce, rice

★★★★★

this one was Good i got all my favorite vegetables and i made the brown sauce so so good with extra ginger and garlic and szechuan peppercorns

Tofu Bowl

pan fried store-bought baked tofu, cucumber, avocado, rice, crunchy onion, ginger-sesame-ACV vinaigrette, weird random sauce that i didn't end up liking

★☆☆☆☆

this was kinda ass and it's my own fault. i didn't really want it, my sauce was bad, my avocado was underripe. the cucumbers were good that's the only savior

Korean BBQ Seitan Bite Salad Bowl

store-bought k-bbq seitan wings, arugula, roasted zucchini, apple, avocado, peanuts, crispy onion, ginger-sesame-ACV vinaigrette

★★★★☆

this one was really good salad-wise but it gets four stars because i don't know if i actually like these seitan wings or not. they're fine but not great

Ravioli with Chicken and Peas

sauteed chicken breast, store-bought ravioli, frozen peas, pan sauce of shallots/butter/white wine/chicken fond/lemon

★★★★★

i forgot how damn good a sauteed chicken breast can be i usually bake them so i don't have to watch it. i did this with two different raviolis, the sauce kept well in the freezer

Pasta and Broccolini with Garlic Sauce

angel hair, leftover roasted broccolini, garlic butter pan sauce

★★★★☆

yummyyyy could've used a protein i guess but i barely felt like making a sauce

Mushroom Risotto with Broccolini

mushroom risotto in the instant pot, roasted broccolini

★★★★☆

this risotto was really good and i saved some in the freezer and then my mom ate all my freezer leftovers >:(