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Pasta with Lemony Chicken and Asparagus

 I made this recipe a lot sophomore year of college. It was easy to make on limited counter surfaces and provided plenty of leftovers to heat on the go. The pasta dish needed to take a two-year hiatus before I felt ready to eat it again. However, it’s just as delicious as I remember.

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Spiced Pumpkin Bread

 There’s been a can of pumpkin in my pantry taunting me. “Use me, Brenna! Usssssssssssse Meeeeeeeee.” You win, pumpkin can! I’ve eaten just about every pumpkin flavored food imaginable this fall, but I missed one of my absolute favorites: pumpkin quick bread. I spent a long time googling pumpkin bread recipes. I had to avoid recipes with cupfuls of oil seeing as this was a baked good in my house that I would inevitably consume the majority of. But, I still wanted pumpkin bread– not whole wheat, no sugar, super dry pumpkin cardboard. “This is freakin’ delicious!” said the first taster followed by positive affirmations from the second. “Really?” I…

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Slow-Cooker Beef Chili

 There’s nothing like coming home to a fresh cooked meal. Unfortunately robot maids have not hit the market yet (according to The Jetsons we’re only 51 years away from have a Rosie.) Alas, I turn to the slow cooker. Now that I’m logging more hours at work I’ve come to reevaluate the handy appliance. Throw on a slow cooker liner and you eliminate the clean-up too. I’m sold. I enjoy just about every kind of chili but if I had to choose an absolute favorite, it’s the thick, beefy kind full of beans and tomatoes. America’s Test Kitchen pulls through again with this easy chili recipe. Though the ingredient list…

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Mashed Sweet Potatoes

 There used to be a market near my house that sold pre-packaged foods. Whenever I was having a particularly difficult day, I would stop in and pick up a container of mashed sweet potatoes. When they closed, a void was left in my life and I’ve been craving the perfect recipe ever since. Well, I found it and they’re even better. I love that this recipe doesn’t have maple syrup, citrus, or onion– ingredients often found alongside sweet potatoes. Instead, a hint of sugar and a bit of fat create mashed sweet potatoes that don’t require a long bake time and highlight the natural sweetness of the potato. Unfortunately when…

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

 If there’s one new recipe you try this fall, I highly recommend whipping up this roasted butternut squash soup. I’d actually never purchased a butternut squash prior to gathering the ingredients for this soup. Last fall, I took the easy way out and bought a few bags of Trader Joe’s lazy people pre-cubed squash. During my Williams Sonoma days, I bought the jar of pureed squash. This year, I was determined to chop up the squash myself, hopefully retaining all limbs in the process. I find chopping a butternut squash is still easier than halving a spaghetti squash, in case you were wondering. This really is the ultimate butternut squash…

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Puff-Pastry Chicken Pot Pie

 Chicken pot pie is a daunting recipe. The idea of making dough from scratch is enough to deter me (not to mention the fact that dough and heavy cream aren’t exactly health-friendly.) Unfortunately, I find restaurant chicken pot pies chock-full of things I’d rather not find in my pie– I’m looking at you, mushrooms, peas, pearl onions, thyme. Thankfully, advances in modern food technology have left us with freezer sections full of dough and plenty of blogs to scour for the perfect recipe. Well, I found it over at Eat, Live, Run. I’ve made this recipe three times now and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. It…

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Oven-Barbecued Chicken

 I love barbecue sauce. Let me rephrase that, I love this barbecue sauce. It’s more than finger lickin’ good; it’s dump-the-bowl-into-your-mouth good. I also have zero skills when it comes to the grill, so oven-barbecued? I’m so there. Browning the chicken in the skillet and then finishing the breasts in the oven results in extremely juicy pieces of chicken with plenty of sweet and tangy sauce. I cannot recommend this barbecue chicken more. We doubled the recipe for my birthday dinner last night which was extremely easy to do, but I’ll write out the standard measurements below.

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