One pot dinners are priceless when it comes to weeknight dinners.  Magic happens when you can toss everything into one giant pot, throw it in the oven and watch an entire meal come out.  Calling for only a tiny amount of planning (soaking the beans overnight), this recipe needs to be added to your arsenal of one-pot dinners perfect for the chilly fall weather knocking on our door.

A warm bowl of creamy, lemony white beans topped with tender shredded chicken and a zesty dollop of pesto for added kick.  The kind of meal that warms you from the inside out, this is perfect for a family dinner or can be dressed up for a quick dinner party.  Easy, delicious and healthy … what else are you waiting for?

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People, I have a confession to make.  Being a responsible grown-up is way harder than it looks!  I know this is old news to you amazing folks that have been pulling it off flawlessly for years, but for a newbie to the Grown Up World, I’m still a bit in shock.  Between working a full-time, crazy stressful job, grocery shopping, planning and making relatively nutritious meals, exercising, laundry, ironing and keeping an apartment in semi-presentable shape, how do you find time to do anything else (ahem, keeping up with a blog)?  This specific blog post has been interrupted by at least three of the above mentioned items on five separate occasions.

And I don’t even have kids!  I don’t know how all you Mommies out there do it.  Consider me amazed.  Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not complaining … merely explaining my too-long-to-mention absence from your email inbox and feed readers.  Let me make it up to you, please?  Will these adorable summery cupcakes do?  These lemon bottomed cupcakes topped with creamy raspberry cheesecake are the summer version of the popular Black Bottom Cupcakes.  Tangy, light and with a perfectly moist crumb these pink and yellow lovelies are a party in your mouth.

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Anything that has the word curd in its name is fighting an uphill battle.  Just the word curd evokes images of rotten milk and bad cheese.  Tell someone you made them a jar of curd and they will probably widen their eyes and politely refuse the gift.  This will be before they taste the delicacy know by the worst name ever … Lemon Curd.

This spread is rich and lovely when spread atop a fresh scone or muffin.  It is fragrant beyond belief and you’d think you were eating the pure, sweet insides of a lemon from Candyland.  Tangy, sweet, aromatic, and nothing resembling a curd in sight.  Therefore, given the difficulties presented with the name, I am giving you permission to call this heavenly concoction a lemon spread, a lemon glaze, a lemon anything-other-than-curd.

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I don’t know about you, but my markets are still exploding with fresh, sweet blueberries.  Having recently discovered the power of a good blueberry-lemon combo, I was on the hunt for more ways to play with this flavor pair.  It seemed only natural to combine a classic lemon poppyseed muffin with some sweet blueberries.

When I was a kid, my family would buy the huge muffin variety packs from [insert the name of your favorite warehouse store that sells mayo by the gallon] and as soon as the double-chocolate muffins were gone (ok, lets be honest, these were really just an excuse to eat cake for breakfast) I’d head straight for the lemon poppyseed.  They were endlessly moist and not overpoweringly sweet.  Just perfect.  This recipe captures that lemon essence and adds a burst of blueberry goodness.

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I have a confession to make.  I eat a lot of hummus.  The term ‘a lot’ probably doesn’t accurately depict the level of addiction I have to hummus.  I’m embarrassed to admit that there have been weeks where I’ve eaten nothing but hummus for dinner.  And lunch.  I practically buy it in bulk . . . yes, this clearly garners a variety of questioning looks from the grocery store employees when I deplete their entire stock of Tribe garlic hummus.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is that I don’t see this hummus addiction as a problem!  Hummus is delicious, healthy, contains no weird chemicals or foreign substances and can stay in the fridge for weeks without going bad.  It is a perfect, no-effort required meal!

However, there are times when too much hummus is too much hummus.  My boyfriend’s mother recently asked me if I had ever made baba ganoush as an alternative to hummus.  I’ve eaten baba ganoush at various Middle Eastern restaurants but I had never ventured to make it myself.  Her suggestion inspired me to search around the internet for the easiest, tastiest, and most appealing baba ganoush recipe.  Success!

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