Once upon a time there was... Lemon Pasta with Chicken and Pine Nuts

When Cal and I want a quick, weeknight meal, pasta is a good choice. Unfortunately a good recipe is hard to find. Most easy pasta recipes have one of the following problems:

1) they are boring (i.e. spaghetti with sauce from a jar)
2) they are fattening (i.e alfredo, amaretto cream sauce )
3) they require fresh ingredients on hand (i.e penne with fresh pesto, ricotta, and tomatoes)

This recipe is like a magic solution to all of those problems. Just try it. You'll see what we're talking about.

Baltic Cruise

Unlike our other posts this week, this post is not about cheese. It is also not a Blooper. It's not even about food at all! Now you are probably thinking what kind of a food blog is this??? We promise, there is a perfectly good explanation!

We left you all hanging without any new posts for a long time this summer. . . While you were all staring at your computer screens hoping and praying for your favorite food blogging animals to return, we were busy taking vacations. We shared some pictures here and here of our International Tour of America roadtrip, but we did not post pictures of our other summer adventure. So, while we were not sharing delicious recipes with you, here's what we were up to!

toured Copenhagen

standing on either side of the Berlin Wall

Once upon a time there was... Scalloped Potatoes

You might notice a little bit of a theme this week. CHEESE.

We highly recommend putting cheese on as many things as possible. Potatoes, of course, are one of the best pairings for cheese. Twice-baked potatoes, cheese fries, cheesy mashed potatoes... there are so many possibilities when it comes to mixing cheese and potatoes. Today, we will show you how to make just one of them: scalloped potatoes.

Once upon a time there was... Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cheddar-Mustard Sauce

This is one of our all-time favorite recipes. As you may be aware, we really enjoy smothering things in cheese. And it just so happens that this recipe makes a giant pot of cheese that can be used for smothering! Rachael Ray is behind this terrific idea - we've only slightly adapted her recipe.

Blooper Friday! Avocado Soup FAIL!

Even highly skilled cows and pigs fail at cooking sometimes. We thought avocado would make a cool, refreshing summer soup.  Maybe it does.  These avocados did not.  

Once upon a time there was... Watermelon Sherbet

Technically, it's still summer. We realize that school has started and leaves are starting to fall in some places, but it's still summer for another 2 weeks... That means you still have time to make this sherbet! You can still find juicy watermelons in the grocery store and the weather is warm enough to crave an ice cold treat - but only for a few more weeks!

Once upon a time there was... Mac and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Shallots

Alright Castle Farm Cookbook readers, today you are in for a delicious treat.  This macaroni and cheese recipe is pretty much the best thing ever.  Why top your noodles and cheese with dried out bits of stale bread when you could gloriously coat them with buttery caramelized shallots instead?  That's what we thought.

We were originally introduced to this recipe when a friend brought it to us as part of a potluck.  After stealing all of the leftovers for ourselves, we took her recipe, too.  (She found it at Epicurious.)