November Recap 2025

November is always packed with work and we had a few dog visitors. There were some highs – we had a fun trip downtown on a day off and also some stressful and worrisome moments too.

I made this restaurant recreation for a very Autumn Chicken Salad with flavors of apples, honey mustard, sharp cheddar, and arugula.

Tortellini & Sausage soup was a great way to welcome winter with big flavors and a little spice.

My blog’s 15th blogaversary came up as a time for reflection and a look forward.

The Big Kid: He absolutely loved the golden retriever visiting. He convinced us he had to try the never-ending pasta bowl at Olive Garden and he was into it! We enjoy seeing him meet up with the boys in the neighborhood to ride bikes until it is too dark. He’s still into ramen.

The Littler Kid: She started back to ballet and tap and has been enjoying it. Her Christmas list is lengthy and detailed. Her lunch of choice has been a tuna sandwich…on repeat.

Goals for the year: 
Year of new pizzas – we had a white one with honey garlic sauce, cheese, potato slices
Side dish emphasis  – I was on mashed potato duty for Thanksgiving!
Soups & salad – Yes! The tortellini & spicy sausage one was great
More drinks – not yet
What I’m reading – the end of the year is approaching and I’m at 46 books

Tortellini & Sausage Soup

I went a little spicy with this but this has room to make it as you wish! The broth has tons of flavor from tomatoes, wine and broth while tortellini, spinach, sausage add the texture. It is exactly what to eat when everyone is turkey-ed out.

Tortellini & Sausage Soup
Ingredients (serves ~4)

~12 oz sausage about 2/3 of a 16 oz package (~4 sausage links, casing removed) hot or sweet Italian
1 carrot, chopped
2 gloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup white wine
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups tortellini
1 bag of baby spinach

Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pan, saute the sausage over medium until cooked through and crisp. Remove from the pan and add the chopped carrot into the drippings to saute. Cook for about 2 minutes.
Add in the garlic and tomato paste giving it a stir, and stir well cooking for another 2 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour in and again, stir and cook through.
Add in the wine and stir well scraping the bits off the bottom.

Add in the tomatoes, chicken broth, and sausage to the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
Lastly, pour in the tortellini and spinach. Stir well and cook for 10 minutes.

Stir well and cook for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with parmesan to serve. Enjoy!

I loved the little bit of heat. The broth is perfect – it is tomato-y but the wine and chicken broth make it soup, not marinara sauce. This would be a good one to make in advance and just add the tortellini it when ready to serve it.

15th Blogaversary!

15 years strong! This was a year of a lot of pizzas that are not blogged, many burrito-ish wraps, and a bunch of refreshed posts from back in the day. >10 years definitely comes across as back in the day in terms of photos/light/and more wordy posts. Now, for my self-proclaimed superlatives:

Most photogenic: this Passionfruit Bubbly Cocktail

Most likely to be repeated: I made this Chicken Parmesan Dip that is delightful as a dip or as a whole meal

Best hand-held: hands down (haha) this Chopped Chicken Caesar Salad Sub was better than the restaurant. Theirs was an explosion and was not at all hand held. I like mine better!

Most surprising:
Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Chili was a hit yet also being a gamble with everything in one dish!

What’s next: January starts a new role in my same department, on another team so I’m looking forward to that. Dinner times aren’t as much as a frenzy as the kids get bigger but while we still can manage schedules. We’re enjoying the kids discovering foods and bringing that to the menu – empanadas were a recent new one. They’re not scared of new things and when we can get away from talking too much about it, they often go for it and it’s fine, even if it isn’t a favorite – butternut squash sauce on tortellini went from a few mentions of “I wish these were with butter” to everyone eating all of theirs. They’re so good at eating out at restaurants which is so so fun.

Goals for from this past year:
Year of replacements/upgrades! I was glad I did it, though I skipped a few.
Restaurant Recreations – These were so fun. I might just keep it in mind as a tool for meal ideas.
Special ingredient focus – this might have required more brainpower and inspiration than I have.
More fish – this did not happen that often. I want it to, but then forget.
What I’m reading – I’ve read 44 books and will likely end the calendar year ~50. I have a handful of 5 start favs this year and to pick just one: All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher or The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters are two of my stand-outs.

Goals for next year: I usually start with a bunch and see what sticks!
Year of new pizzas! I think I want to push for more variety in where we get it, or taking the whole family out for it. Maybe some will be homemade though we already make pizza at least once a month – maybe it’s time to tap into my very long list of topping ideas.
Side dish emphasis  – These are not my strength and sometimes become an after thought.
Soups & salad – I would be happy focusing on some more of these.
More drinks – cocktails, smoothies, fancy coffee
What I’m reading – I will probably estimate reading ~50 books next year too


Autumn Chicken Salad Restaurant Recreation

Finally a restaurant recreation! A local produce market/deli counter shares interesting or unusual orders on their Instagram stories that they have the manager try. I saw a chicken salad one that had so much going on, which is precisely my sandwich style. It was chicken salad, with cranberries, cheddar, bacon, apples, and honey mustard on an onion roll. I made a few tweaks but loved it nonetheless.

This is incredible and I don’t know why I haven’t put sharp cheddar on a chicken salad sandwich…plus the apples and cranberries are so fall. I couldn’t find the video to refresh my memory (of course) for a few details! I did skip the bacon as I felt it already had plenty happening here and it might get lost.

Autumn Chicken Salad Loaded Sandwich
Ingredients: (serves ~3)

1 chicken breast, fully cooked
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup cranberries
onion rolls
1-2 cups arugula
1 small apple
~3 slices of sharp white cheddar
2-3 tablespoons honey mustard

Directions:
Mix up the chicken salad with shredded chicken, mayo, salt/pepper, and cranberries.
Assemble your sandwiches on the onion rolls with a smear of mayo if desired, a bed of arugula, apple slices, chicken salad, and cheese.

Drizzle on the honey mustard.
Enjoy!

This is incredible. I love the chew of the dried cranberries and some sweet and tang from the honey mustard. The apples are great as slices or chopped into the chicken salad. The cheese might be a star here. We had garlic and herb cheddar and that was delightful.

October 2025 Recap

October is one of my favs to finally feel fall in the air and so many fun things. We picked apples and the kids dressed up for Halloween several times already before the actual holiday.

I made a Street Corn Burrito with brown rice, white beans, Mexican corn, greens, and corn chips!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls got a refresh from 2016 and the TikTok way of baking them in cream cannot be beat.

We devoured this Caramel Apple Chex Mix with peanuts, dried apples, and caramel chips!

November’s darkness means we need to hunker down with some comfort food and maybe add some some soup to the menu. We’re dog sitting and have a few more lined up.

The Big Kid:
5th grade homework is no joke. It doesn’t take him long at all, but it is definitely more substantial. He is having fun in hockey and lacrosse clinics. He decided it’s hockey, not basketball for him. We love seeing him bike around and meet up with the neighborhood.

The Littler One:
She’s an all-star speller, which she did not get from me. She looooves field hockey and wished it wasn’t ending but with that end brings her back to dance class.

Goals for this upcoming year:
Year of replacements/upgrades! I kind of skipped this month.
Restaurant Recreations –
Special ingredient focus – T saw Frito Chili Pie on the back of the package and wanted to have it – he loved it!
More fish – we did our tried and true, fish tacos.
What I’m reading – I read The Last Ferry Out which was entertaining enough, and then I was blown away by All You Have to Do is Call which was one of my top books of the year, for bookclub we read The Cliffs and I can’t wait to talk about it.