Some catching up to do:

Dinner three weeks ago...

Roast chicken with Cajun seasoning on bed of chili

I usually don't cook or like chicken that much, but it was the only meat in the freezer. I pretty much googled "crispy roast chicken" and found out that the key to delicious crispy chicken is lots of SALT. All you do is rub it down with lots of salt and pepper underneath and on top of the skin. I remembered I had this shaker of Cajun seasoning that my friend brought me from her summer in New Orleans, so I basically emptied it on the whole tray of chicken. This made it EXTRA crispy. We had some extra vegetarian chili in the fridge, so I spooned it under each piece to bake. It tasted as good as it looks. Oh, almost forgot, the last step in crispy chicken is broiling it (highest temp on the oven) for the last 15 or so minutes of baking (I had it at 350 beforehand).

Five(?!) layer lentil casserole

(I ate this for a good week)

Season your lentils when you boil them! I boiled a ton of lentils with bay leaves, thyme, and vegetable broth base. You don't need to add any salt to this casserole if you boil the lentils with enough broth base. Then the layers..

1. Mashed lentils with minced olives
2. That leftover vegetarian chili (anything you want here), corn tortillas (enchilada style)
3. Sliced eggplant4. Whole lentils and salsa5. Corn tortillas again, then eggs (like a fritatta on top) with chopped sundried tomato, corn, spinach, green onion, parmesan cheese...

This was super hearty and tasty and there was no oil or added salt (other than in the egg). The point is, casseroles are EASY and make great leftovers. Improvise.

Sage and honey cornbread with roasted bell pepper garnish

THIS WAS REALLY GOOD, everyone should make it. The recipe can be found here at Epicurious. I didn't cook it in a skillet and I added a lot of corn kernels. I also drizzled bell peppers with sesame oil and roasted them a topping. When they came out of the oven, I lightly salted them and spread them on top - the salt with the sweetness of the roasted pepper and steaming sage cornbread underneath...just make it.

Some good ol' babaganoush

Andrew my cooking partner made this and it was great, very creamy. He found a recipe to go off of online and just added more of everything flavorful (like everyone should do with every recipe they have).

Last minute fruity salad

Any salad can be great; you just need a good dressing. Don't ever buy dressing - what a waste of money, and half of it is probably preservatives anyway. This is generally how I go about making my salad dressing:

- 1 part oil, you can go less, or even none (olive, sesame, etc, depends on what taste you're going for)
- 3 parts vinegar (try different kinds - apple cider, brown rice, balsamic, red wine - they all yield a different taste)
- something extra for body (my go-to here is dijon mustard, and lots of it, but if I am feeling something different, I'll squeeze a grapefruit in, or blend all ingredients with a fruit - kiwi, mango, etc - or vegetable - try blending everything with raw mushrooms, it'll become creamy)
- depending on the mixture you have, try adding spices/herbs like garlic, basil, cilantro, or HONEY (honey is not just for honey mustard dressing!)
- salt and pepper to taste

Happy eats!