Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatoes

You may have noticed that the number of vegetable sides are somewhat lacking on this site. I don’t know why, honestly. I like veggies. Really, I do. But it seems like when I’m browsing through Pinterest, most of the veggie sides I see are either a) complicated and time consuming, b) really unhealthy, or c) terrible sounding. A lot of the time when I’m making a meal, I focus on either the main dish or the dessert, and saute up some kale or brussels sprouts and call it a day. Or I’ll make a dish like pasta where the veggies are all rolled into the main dish and not even bother with sides.

Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatoes

What you may especially notice if you browse through my Veggies and Sides section is that there are almost no potato dishes. Two in the past year and a half, to be exact. It’s not my go-to vegetable on account of all the starchiness and carb-iness with fewer of the health benefits that my green veggie friends have. My family loves potatoes and I grew up having them with many meals, but I just don’t typically gravitate there.

Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatoes finished

I do love potatoes, though, when they’re done well. And these are. They’re also super easy. One of the things I dislike about a lot of potato dishes is the multiple steps they require—chopping, boiling, frying, mashing. As we’ve already established, I’m lazy. But the steps were pretty quick for this recipe, and I was able to throw together a fast, delicious side to go with some awesome grilled salmon.

Parmesan Garlic Roasted Potatoes finished2

The original recipe actually calls for fresh parsley, which I didn’t have on-hand. I swapped in fresh rosemary instead, which was perfect with the potatoes. The parmesan made such a tasty, golden crust on them that I can see making these over and over. They were even good as leftovers a few days later! [Read more…]

Rosemary Chicken Lasagna

When my mom was here a couple months ago, we got quite ambitious with dinner one night. We started with this rosemary chicken lasagna, which I’d been wanting to make for forever, and finished with white chocolate lemon lava cakes. And despite the work, we weren’t sorry—we WERE stuffed!

rosemary chicken lasagna finished

The flavor on this lasagna was so interesting! The rosemary added a nice depth to the bechamel, the chicken and mushrooms provide good protein, and the lemon zest was such a lovely counterpoint to the richness of the cheese and sauce.

rosemary chicken lasagna finished closeup

It was nice to have the second set of hands when assembling everything and making the bechamel, but it’s a fairly easy recipe—just make sure to give yourself enough time so you’re not frantic trying to put it together. For me, being frantic takes the fun out of cooking.

rosemary chicken lasagna finished3

This is definitely the most interesting chicken lasagna recipe I’ve seen, and I will definitely be making it again!

[Read more…]