Beer brats with beer mustard (leftover from our Oktoberfest party) and sauteed red cabbage. This dinner felt like a cop out, even though I technically did cook it. Great sausage made things ridiculously easy. I’ve made this cabbage recipe a few times before. If you love the flavor of kraut and pickles, this dish is a delicious shortcut to those flavors.

Saag paneer with sauteed beets (from Vegetarian India) and brown rice. This was not technically saag paneer, because instead of spinach I used a mix of collards, beet greens, and tatsoi. I’ve made this recipe many times with all different varieties of greens, and it is always delicious. The beets had chili powder and tomatoes. I didn’t get quite enough beets from the garden to make a full recipe, but it was the perfect amount to be a little side dish. Next time I would use a little more chili to cut the sweetness of the beets, but I would still make it again.

Summer squash pizza and kale salad with feta and dried cranberries (adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook) This didn’t feel like pizza. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, and used parmesan instead of the gruyere and no bread crumbs. It was pretty good, and certainly an efficient way to use a lot of summer squash at once. But if I was going to make another summer squash pizza soon, I would go for this goat cheese version instead.

Hash browns with collards and an egg. Yet another iteration of my breakfast favorite.

Potato and bacon fritatta (from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook). There were a few steps involved, so I would reserve this for dinner or weekends, but it was a delicious all-breakfast-items-together dish. Along with a salad it would make for a perfect fancy brunch.