Bite Me: Catching up…..

After a week of hellish jet lag in combination with the typical cold I always get after being on an airplane, I'm finally starting to feel human again, so I thought I do a summer wrap up post about all that went on around here during August and September and we can head into November with a clean slate!! Or something like that.

Let's start with some of the food success stories…..

I made this Pepperoni Pizza Pull Apart Bread one football Saturday and it was a huge hit

I transported this Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna to the beach for a tennis weekend with fifteen fabulous ladies. It was delicious! Perfect fall dish.

Since hubs loves Chai Tea (everything else he does is uber manly…..I promise!) I mixed up a batch of this Almost Instant Chai. It requires grinding some whole spices but if you have a spare coffee grinder sitting around, you're all set. This makes a great tea, but I've also used it to make Chai Oatmeal and am going to try integrating it into my brown butter snickerdoodles soon.

I made the mistake of making these Alton Brown Yeast Doughnuts in my outdoors deep fryer. I say "mistake" only because hubs has asked me no less than a dozen times when I'll be making them again. They're easy and smack-your-grandma amazing!

This Maple Bourbon Banana Pudding Cake is fabulous and so easy…totally assembled in the baking dish itself. Plus it makes it's own sauce in the bottom of the dish. Serve this while it's still warm with ice cream. YUM!

I've made this Apple and Pear Crisp countless times but it never fails to make everyone happy. My favorite way to serve it is in the cast iron skillet still warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream piled right in the center and just pass out forks and let everyone dig in.

And finally, this Panzanella with Chicken, Crisp Chicken Skin and Capers is my new favorite thing. I'll be making it over and over just to have crispy chicken skin over and over. In fact, I'm probably putting crispy chicken skin in everything possible for the rest of my life. Make. This.

Some things that are on the to-do list…..

I'm thinking about serving this Apple Cider Sangria as a pre-Thanksgiving dinner cocktail.

These Jalapeño Popper Wontons look like a perfect football Saturday appetizer.

My mom used to make the best stuffed peppers growing up (and I'd love that recipe when you get a minute, Charlotte) but until she hands it over, I'm going to try out a few of these.

Spaghetti squash a myriad of ways!

The short ribs are made and in the fridge for these Chipotle Beef Short Rib Tacos. All I have to do is make the slaw and these babies are dinner tonight!

Vacation Reads…….

Read The Husband's Secret (****) and The Never List (***)

Currently reading The Cartwheel (*** think Amanda Knox) and on deck is Grisham's The Racketeer.

Favorite Summer Photos….