Tom and I went camping this past weekend, which meant that we weren’t feeling up to cooking Sunday night. Thus, Monday. We’ve finally decided to splurge on a food processor, dropping $200 for a 14-cup Cuisinart that can slice peppers like no ones business (and we’re REALLY excited for that). Stay tuned for an update next week on how that goes.

1. Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet, 3x (Budget Bytes). Perhaps my favorite thing that we’ve ever cooked. So many wonderul flavors here. We doubled up on the spices (beyond our standard tripling of the recipe), and we messed up by not crumbling the queso fresco over it (though thankfully, I had some cotija lying around). We also didn’t flatten or pound out the meat beforehand, despite clear warnings to not skip the step - it took much longer than anticipated to cook the chicken. Finally, we substituted out chicken breast for thighs (as we always do). Despite all of the missteps, this remains an all-time favorite.

2. Spinach and Artichoke Wonderpot, 2x (Budget Bytes). I bought a giant 8 quart stockpot this past week too, which came in handy for this dish. It’s super easy to make, which is great, but I ended up getting distracted and messing up the time on the stove. As a result, the pasta wasn’t nearly as al dente as it probably should have been. On the bright side, this is one of the few pastas that I’ve had that keeps quite well. Overall, however, merely an average recipe - I didn’t love the flavor. Not that it’s bad, it’s just middling. The wonderpot genre though is promising.

3. Sundried Tomato, Kale, and White Bean Skillet, 2x (Budget Bytes). There isn’t much to say here: quick and easy to make, decent flavor. The only thing not to love is that I couldn’t find private label cans of cannellini beans - a very rare misstep for HEB. I forgot to take the photo after I made this, so the photo below is of leftovers.