Alex Masica

A few months ago, I switched from shopping at Cub Foods to Trader Joe’s.

Even though shopping at Cub was convenient (being less than two miles from my house), I became frustrated with how expensive fruits and vegetables were, and their lack of quality. I’d buy grapes at $4 per pound, only to have them turn black within two days of getting home. The same thing went for fresh herbs.

The only other times I had shopped at TJ’s were when I lived in Chicago and New York City. I was surprised by how much cheaper my staple items were at TJ’s, and how much longer they stayed fresh. After one shopping experience there, I was hooked and have never looked back. Cub has become my “emergency-only” location for when I don’t have time to run to TJ’s.

A few weeks ago, these fresh blueberries were just STARING me down. So I bought them. When I got home, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but ended up making lemon-blueberry bread.

This bread isn’t your loaf of white bread—it’s soft, moist, sweet, and crumbly. The blueberries alone would make it knee-weakening, but the lemon really acts as a nice flavor booster. I made this with and without glaze, trying to decide if it needed any or not. I decided it didn’t, since the lemon and blueberries add enough sweetness to it.

This kept good for the entire week on my countertop inside a Zip-Loc bag. Fall is a great time for making bread (well, actually, any time is really a good time for bread), and this lemon-blueberry bread is a great addition to a meal, or a standalone snack. I had a piece before I made a salad for dinner last week.

Enjoy!

Lemon-Blueberry Bread

In LOVE with these parmesan almond green beans.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite vegetables to eat was green beans, but only the French-cut ones. Man, I could’ve eaten can after can of those bad boys. I can’t quite figure out why I liked them so much, but I think it had to do with the fact that they were fun to play with on the dinner plate.

Now, green beans have almost had an inverse effect on me—I can only eat them when they’re in season and prepared with more than just salt and butter.

I ate a ton of green beans over the summer in tossed salads, and they didn’t wow me. They were usually fresh from a farmers market, too. I don’t know what it was. Call me crazy…

Bound to get over my green bean slump, I set out to test out an array of ways to make green beans. Some were hot, some were cold, some were spicy, some were sweet. In the end, this recipe morphed into parmesan almond green beans.

The texture, first of all, is amazing. It’s a mashup of crispiness from the green beans and crunchiness of the shaved almonds to a smoothness of the cheese. It’s fun. And the taste is, well, amazing (if I do say so myself). Garlic is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, so you know it made an appearance in this recipe. The lemon also brings in a great sweetness that wasn’t present in a lot of the other green bean recipes I tried.

Looking to make it a meal? Try the green beans paired with lemon chicken and garlic roasted potatoes, and perhaps apple crisp for dessert. It’s all quick to throw together and picky eaters (like myself when it comes to the green beans) will love it.

Parmesan Almond Green Beans

I’m still drooling over these garlic and onion roasted potatoes.

Blame it on fall or whatever you want, but I have been craving potatoes lately like you wouldn’t believe. I put sweet potatoes in chili for the first time a few weeks ago and literally just about died from the deliciousness.

When I was a kid, I hated mini red potatoes, especially when they were cooked on the grill (sorry, Dad!). They had to be smothered in ketchup before I would even consider eating them.

Now, I love them. Although this time around, I set out with a goal in mind: make them so good they don’t need ketchup, or any condiment for that matter. I think I pulled it off.

The perfect blend of salt, pepper, and garlic really makes this recipe shine. I threw in an onion at the last minute to add another level of flavor from the roasting, and it’s awesome in this. I’m all for trying crazy new sauces that are infused with weird things like peanut butter or a lesser-known vegetable, but sometimes you have to appreciate the simpler things and go back to the basics. Salt + pepper + garlic = my perfect seasoning. Done.

Here’s a tip: don’t over do it on the olive oil. The potatoes shouldn’t come out of the oven greasy or sparkling in the light. You want that wholesome, fluffy texture from the potato, not something that’s more watery or slimy. The 1/4 cup of olive oil in the recipe is the maximum I’d use. If you want to be adventurous, ease up on the oil and add in a little more garlic. Or, for an even better experiment, replace the olive oil with balsamic vinegar.

Garlic and Onion Roasted Potatoes

This baked lemon chicken could not be easier to make.

The weather in Minnesota has quickly been getting colder and colder, and I was in need of something a little more hot and hearty than I’d been having the past few months for dinner—salads or veggies with dip.

Lemon is one of those foods that tastes good year round, along with chocolate and bread (whoops). When I was a kid, I can remember not liking lemons very much. Now I often cook and bake with them. What I love about them is their mixture of acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. It’s really easy to substitute lemon for  different sweetener, like sugar, in a lot of cooking.

And of course, it wouldn’t be cooking in my kitchen if garlic weren’t involved. I go through a giant jar (like the 24 oz jar) in a month or two very easily. #thisiswhyimsingle

I tested this recipe a couple of ways when it came to the chicken. Ultimately, I decided it tasted better when cooked with skin-on chicken, even though I removed the skin before eating. The skin adds a really nice tenderness to the chicken and packs in a lot of flavor (even when removed). I’m not one to eat the skin on chicken very often (thanks for conditioning me on that one, Mom). But I couldn’t deny the intensity of the flavor versus the skinless chicken route.

This recipe will easily feed 6–8 people, so feel free to cut the ingredients in half if you’re serving a smaller crowd.

Baked Lemon Chicken