Pumpkin and Spice

I don't know if I've suddenly become more popular, or if maybe summer's just a naturally busy time for everyone, but my calendar has been jam-packed lately. My birthday was June 1st, which was a Monday, so, of course, I got to celebrate the weekend before and the weekend after (which happens to be when my sister-in-law's birthday is, so we shared that weekend this year.) I've also  just started training at my new job, which means my schedule has been all over as I get trained for all possible positions. I'm going to be the "head" cake decorator, which is a nice 8:00-4:00 gig, but I need to know how to close and open as well, for when people are out on vacations, sick, &c. Nothing's terribly difficult, but I've had to train on the 5am shift, which (as I'm sure you're all aware by now) is not exactly in line with my natural sleep schedule, which tends to skew towards the night-owl side of things. Luckily, work is literally only a mile and a half away, so commute time is minimal and if I lay my clothes out and set the coffee maker up the night before, I can "sleep in" until 4:15am. That won't be my regular shift, but it's been kicking my butt in the meantime.

Anyway- Last weekend I had my birthday party. Now I love a good theme party, and I love the process of planning a party, so I kept myself pretty busy with the party preparations. I've been in a tropical mood lately, so I decided it would be a blast to have a Hawaiian Tiki Party! Our apartment complex has a cabana by the pool that's available to rent for parties, so we rented the cabana and decorated it with hibiscus flowers and colorful tropical decorations. The plan was for people to also be able to swim, but of course, it was raining and lightning, so that was nixed. The cabana was covered, though, so we didn't let the rain put a damper on our tiki spirit. (And honestly, after enough pina coladas, I don't think anyone cared about the weather!)

Chunks of chicken, savory veggies and a light gravy, nestled under a flaky, tender buttermilk biscuit crust... Sound good? Oh, trust me, it is! This is one of Kyle's favorite dishes that I make. He actually requests it, which is unusual, as generally, he's happy to eat whatever I whip up. It's a wonderful, soothing comfort dish. (I'm on a bit of a comfort food kick right now...)

Chicken in a Biscuit is kind of a cross between chicken pot pie and chicken and dumplings. It actually was born as a way to use up leftover cooked chicken and some buttermilk I had leftover from another recipe. Now, whenever we have a rotisserie chicken, I shred the leftovers and freeze them. Once I have enough saved, it's Chicken in a Biscuit night! (Although, sometimes, I cook chicken breasts just for this!) With Thanksgiving coming up, this would also be a great way to use up leftover turkey.

Everyone needs a little stash of "date night" recipes (regardless of whether one is a singleton or a smug married.) A good date night recipe is something a little more special than weeknight dinners,  a little bit impressive, and, ideally, not too time consuming. I mean, the point of date night is spending time with that special someone- and as much as I love to cook and bake, I do not consider my oven a "special someone".

Usually, Kyle and I go out on Saturday nights, but as we have a stack of borrowed DVDs that we've been meaning to watch, we decided to stay in this weekend. That put the duty of date night dinner on my shoulders. After rummaging through the fridge and a little brainstorming, I ran (not literally) to the store to grab a couple supplemental ingredients and threw together this- Italian Chicken Roulade with Fondue Sauce. "Roulade" is just fancy talk for something that's rolled up like a swiss roll. Mine is a chicken breast that's been butterflied, spread with a little sundried tomato pesto (I buy jarred pesto- basil's too pricey for me to buy enough to make pesto), topped with prosciutto, then rolled up. The top is brushed with a bit more pesto, then baked and sauced with a fondue made of delish Italian cheeses. Check out the cross section- pretty, isn't it?