Fall Round-Up!

1. egg over easy with poached leeks

2. farro with asparagus, spinach, onion, and honey roasted almonds

3. curried chickpeas with asparagus, spinach and onion
4. mushroom chili (ingredients and recipe provided by blue apron)
5. Braised, curried okra with onions
6. soft shell tacos with peppers, onions, black beans, and mozzarella cheese
7. sweet potato gnocchi in a sage butter sauce, with string beans (both from TJ's frozen)
8. parmesan crusted polenta over zucchini
9. edamame salad (prepared food market purchase) with sautéed zucchini and red onion (added by me)
10. talenti peppermint bark gelato with chocolate sauce and cookie garnish

What a semester! It's funny because I still occasionally tell people that I write a food blog, but then I log on to show them it or look at it myself and realize that I haven't posted since July. That was when I was still showing recipes from my study abroad travels!

Part of not blogging during the semester has to do with a lack of time, but part of it is also that this is post #134. Considering this is a blog about student cooking, it is kindof hard to come up with an infinite number of recipes since a large part of college cooking is having a few staple ingredients around that can be used in a lot of foods, so that both food shopping and cooking are easy and time-saving.

These 10 photos are the dishes I made this semester that felt the most original to me, so much that I felt inclined to snap an iPhone photo. Now that the semester's over, I finally got the chance to sit down and upload them all. What stands out to me most is that I used many dishes I've made before but in new ways. For example I love poached eggs, but had never cooked leeks before! I'd never made okra before either, but was craving it because that is something I ate a lot while abroad in India, so I decided to try a simple curry recipe. I keep simple grains like farro around my kitchen to cook up quickly and toss with fresh veggies. I have also taken advantage of the frozen selection of foods, since those are easy to keep around for awhile and can be pretty healthy.

While I didn't have much time to blog this semester, I did manage to keep up on other food blogs. I printed a few recipes throughout the fall and have them in a neat stack on my kitchen table, so a full cooking day this break will definitely be in order, and hopefully I'll be able to post my favorites. What I'm most excited about? A recipe for garlic soup with a poached egg from Lottie + Doof. Should be interesting!