Photo by jinxmcc

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, tomato, corn & black bean salsa topped Breakfast Tacos and was served alongside Broiled Tilapia. This week, a grilled eggplant is paired with Pork Tenderloin and remade into a Eggplant Caprese Salad.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Turkey Sausage Subs w/ Basil Mayo

Orecchiete w/ Broccoli Rabe & Sausage

Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Seared Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant Caprese Salad

Pork, Rappini & Mozzarella Panini

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It's fair to say I've become obsessed with microwavable desserts in a mug. I've made some fudgey 60-Second Brownies, a gooey Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookie and a Crumb-Topped Mug Coffee Cake.

Now it's time for a muffin in a mug, or as I like to call it (because I'm super lame), a muggin. This blueberry muffin makes the perfect breakfast-for-one, easy mid-afternoon snack, or dessert (because who are we kidding, this is pretty much a glorified cake).

Here's how to make it:

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Photo by Christina Uticone

My current obsession: hot tomato and onion salad.

In the kitchen I vacillate between insanely ambitious and incredibly lazy, but "incredibly lazy" wins out most weeknights. I like recipes that require minimal prep, using just a few ingredients, to get dinner on the table in as short a time as possible (or at least with very little work on my part). While I can eat the same thing three nights in a row (seriously), my husband gets itchy if we eat the same thing twice in one week.

Flipping through my recipe book last week, I noticed I have an inordinate number of recipes with five or fewer ingredients. Here are a few of my go-to options, ones even my husband is happy to eat once a week. Warning: lots of tomatoes ahead!

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Photo by Andrea_Nguyen

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, chopped rib-eye filled a hot-giardiniera-topped Philly Cheese Steak and was remade into Creamy Steak Taquitos. This week, Buttermilk Fried Chicken is served hot one night, then served again "picnic style" alongside a lightened Creamy Coleslaw.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Corn on the Cob & Tomato Salad

Tilapia with Grilled Corn, Tomato & Black Bean Salsa

Picnic Drumsticks & Thighs with Lighter Creamy Coleslaw

Potato & Bacon Breakfast Tacos

Bacon, Swiss & Tomato Melts with Creamy Slaw

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Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Roast chicken and chickpeas.

"Who's going to teach me to roast a chicken?" I saw my best friend Tweet a few days ago. After a two month-long work trip to Norway, she had come back to the States more determined than ever to eat healthy. And what's healthier than a roasted chicken with a few vegetables tossed in? It's cost-efficient too: A whole roasted chicken can easily feed two people for three meals.

Especially the one that my friend brought over to my house a few days later, after I told her that I'd teach her how to roast a chicken if she supplied one. The massive bird came from Whole Foods, she told me, and was the largest one they had. It was barely $15. Add in the slight cost of the vegetables I was planning to serve as sides and it was a $20 meal that fed four of us that night (with a huge plate of leftovers for the boyfriend to boot).

Roasting a chicken for dinner is not only a cheap way to provide a filling meal, it's also incredibly easy. Set it and forget it. The only trick is that there are a few crucial steps along the way you simply can't skip -- but the good news is that the entire affair only takes 15 minutes at most.

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Photo by Brooke Viggiano

The "RVP" in all its glory

If you've never been to brunch at Max's Wine Dive and you enjoy lovely things like hot cakes, wings and fresh mimosas, I urge you to check it out (they even do brunch on Fridays). Until then, I'm sharing a copycat recipe for one my favorite MWD brunch dishes -- The "RVP." That's a stack of fluffy and decadent red velvet pancakes served with a dollop of sweet and tangy lemon cream cheese frosting -- simply genius.

I love the pancakes dearly...and I'm willing to bet your mama will love them too (that's not some sort of weird yo' mama joke -- I'm just thinking they'd make the perfect Mother's Day treat).

Here's how to recreate The "RVP" at home:

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oosp

Blackberry season is just around the corner.

Blackberry-picking season is right around the corner. In fact, in the next several weeks, blackberries will be ready for picking at several local farmers' markets. Don't be fooled by the early berries growing on the side of the road because those are dewberries, not blackberries.

Tommy Neal from Neal's Farm & Farmers Market explains that dewberries are ripe right now and blackberries will be three weeks from now.

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Photo by mrJasonWeaver

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be
difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, a Zucchini Ribbon Salad was served with Greek Chicken Burgers and used again in a creamy Skinny Fettucini Alfredo. This week, chopped rib-eye is the star of a hot-giardiniera-topped Philly Cheese Steak and baked Creamy Steak Taquitos.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Shrimp Tostadas with Garlic Guacamole

Chilled Shrimp Antipasto Salad

Cold Penne Pasta with Creamed Avocado & Lime

Wicked Philly Cheese Steaks

Creamy Steak Taquitos with Pico De Gallo

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Photo by jakeprzespo

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredient's I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal plan and grocery guide. This way, I can make the most of my ingredients and my leftovers.

Last week, a crispy Chicken Milanese was chopped up and thrown onto a Whole Wheat Chicken Parm Pizza. This week, a Zucchini Ribbon Salad is served with Greek Chicken Burgers and used again in a creamy Skinny Fettucini Alfredo.

Here's the rest of the plan:

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops over Sweet Potato Mash

Greek Chicken Burgers with Zucchini Ribbon Salad

Feta, Prosciutto & Dill Omelets

Skinny Fettucini Alfredo w/ Chicken Meatballs

Smoked Salmon & Dill Cream Cheese Pitas

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Photo by jeffreyw

If you've never tried hot giardiniera (pronounced jar-dih-NAIR-uh), I urge you to immediately. I first fell in love with the condiment -- made with pickled vegetables and spices -- when I tried it on Pappa Geno's ridiculously delicious Wicked Philly. It even prompted me to pick up a jar and make my own (slightly/barely lighter) version of the cheese steak at home. Well, that jar has since been demolished and because I'm a bit of a if-I-can-find-the-ingredients-I-can-just-make-it-myself type of asshole, I've decided to make an at-home version of the Italian-American relish.

Filled with pickled carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, garlic, spices and hot peppers, this easy-to-do hot giardiniera makes the perfect briny and zesty companion to sandwiches, salads, pizzas, pastas, chili, tacos, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, seafood and more. What I'm saying is, outside of dessert, this stuff is pretty much good on anything. Add it to your next meal...and I dare you not to like it.

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