stress cooking had been on the decline and then yesterday happened, and who the fuck even knows anymore. *cries forever*

broccoli & cheese spaghetti squash casserole from the kitchn
Trying to incorporate more vegetarian recipes into my life, and this was a hit! I was a bit skeptical while making it, as it didn't seem like it was coming together in an appetizing way, but I really enjoyed this one and found it both filling and satisfying.

brie, bacon, & basil pasta from what's gaby cooking
Had an extra round of brie in the fridge and wanted to make something other than baked brie, and I found this old recipe I bookmarked years ago! Added in some roasted broccoli for some greenery, and I'd say it was a hit! I'd never thought to use brie to make a sauce before but it worked quite well, rind and all.

garlic butter steak bites from the kitchn
I had a New York Steak in my freezer and wanted something quick and delicious, and this delivered! I had all of the ingredients on hand and I just quartered the recipe since I was only making a single steak.

pumpkin bread from smitten kitchen
You might see a theme here of me trying to work my way through items in my fridge/pantry! In this case, I had a can of pumpkin and had been eyeing this pumpkin bread recipe for ages, so I figured I'd go for it! This is pretty much exactly what I want from a pumpkin bread and will def be my go-to moving forward!

chocolate peppermint macarons from fine cooking
First attempt at macarons and it was... not a wild success. The batter wasn't the right texture, and I have a feeling it was because there weren't enough egg whites--I forgot to weigh and I'm guessing I was short. Still tasted good, but the texture and appearance were less than stellar, lol

The Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie from alton brown
Had an stray egg yolk from the egg white in the previous recipe and I've long had this recipe bookmarked for an elevated/even-better version of the classic tollhouse CC cookie. I was worried that the bread flour would make these more cakey than chewy, and I was right. Still good, but I tend to like an ooey, gooey CC cookie and these are light and cakey, not chewy as the name specifies. Though I did bake a couple from frozen last night and underbaked them a bit, and they were MUCH more to my liking...

homemade small batch eggnog from smitten kitchen
A rare smitten kitchen meh! And, to be fair, this was perfectly fine, and I don't think I whipped the egg whites enough, which is on me. I also just think I'm too used to store-bought nog, and this didn't have quite the same amount of sweetness and spice I like in my nog. I think next year I'll try making a cooked version and see how that goes!