Roasted shoulder of lamb with smashed veg and greens. I’ve made this before, and I love the simplicity of this dish for a holiday meal. It is really as easy as putting the lamb and herbs in a covered dish and sticking them in the oven. Instead of boiling the greens, I just sauteed the cabbage and finished them with a bit of red wine vinegar. I’m terrified of vibrant green mint jelly, and much more partial to a gravy like this with the bite of capers and vinegar accented with fresh mint.

Chicken piccata. This was the first meal I ever made for Will, and remains one of my favorite dishes. There are a few components, but putting the dish together is easy enough and you end up with divinely cooked, piquant chicken. I usually make it with rice alongside, but this time we had it with roasted potatoes that I tossed in olive oil and lemon juice.

Sweet potato burrito bowls with green sauce. Our vacation was sorely lacking in my favorite protein, beans, so our first night home burrito bowls came to the rescue. For veg I used roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.

Veggie bowl with red curry lime sauce. Are we sensing a post vacation theme? So many bowls of vegetables. This sauce is DOPE. It is rich from the bit of peanut butter and curry but with a great balance of sour and salt from the lime and soy. I used some sauteed collards and roasted broccoli instead of the asparagus and bok choy, but I’ve made the bowls with those veg before and they are just as great.

Cider horseradish pork chops (from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook). The glaze for these is delightfully simple, though next time I will seek out fresh horseradish or up the prepared amount because it was barely noticeable. Half a cup may seem like a lot of cider vinegar but it is mellowed by the cider (I used hard) for a perfectly balanced concentration of tart apple flavor.

Roasted potatoes with feta and dill (adapted from Vegetable Literacy). The recipe in the book calls for frying the potatoes…which I’ve done and can’t say is worth the effort. This time I sliced them thin with a mandoline (along with a portion of my thumb…always use the guard!), tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. They cooked for about 20 minutes at 400F and were crispy chewy perfection.

Carrot, avocado, and orange salad. I usually shy away from carrot dishes with orange because I don’t like the magnified sweetness, but the chili here makes that an non-issue. The carrots are pleasantly spicy, with a bit of sour from the lemon and creamy avocado. I used regular carrots that I cut into sticks instead of baby carrots and everything was just fine.