A line from a song keeps running in my head - "Don't let this fading summer pass you by."

Hello, old friends, I'm back to blogging this month! There are so many recipes I've made that I haven't posted, and while I'm going to Iceland in just THREE (!) days, I still haven't even written about Vermont yet. But, I'm back. Back to a messy kitchen and a flour-covered camera. Back to cakes, back to breads. I'm trying my hand at savory more, as you've probably seen the last 3 recipes on here.

I needed the time away. Sometimes I get gripped by the inextricable need to be a quitter, a runaway. I don't think it's a fault of mine, but it makes it hard to stick around long enough to see something blossom into success. I get bored. I get discouraged. I burn out. This summer, my priorities shifted a bit since we're back in Pennsylvania at our own house now. I'm doing more with Nolan's family, like weddings, showers, and christenings. I'm busier with housework, farm work, and my full-time job. So I didn't document what I ate as much lately. I haven't really been active on instagram. I haven't let the fading summer pass me by just yet.

With so many weekends away and trips to plan, we've been making more meals that are thrown together, roasted or sauteed for flavor, and all in one pan. The below is no different. In fact, it's the best kind of cookery that I enjoy the most. Easy, comforting, quick to keep the kitchen cool when it's muggy outside. In just weeks it will be cool and I'll want to have the oven on all the time. But for now, with the windows open and a breeze rustling the hair the nape of Elsa's neck, nothing is better than a quick meal so I have more time for connecting with the home I built and love so much.

Quick (and adaptable!) Cannellini Dinner!

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon, roughly chopped
15-20 green beans
2 cups kale, chopped with stems removed
2 cans 16 oz cannellini beans, drained
1 clove garlic, diced
Salt and pepper to taste (about 1 teaspoon of each for me!)
1 or 2 hardboiled eggs
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions:

In a large skillet, add bacon and begin to cook
When browned and crisp around the edges, add your green beans and begin to cook down
As the green beans cook, they will crisp around the tips and turn a vibrant green, turn heat to medium-low
Next, add your kale and allow to wilt
Add cannellini beans and stir constantly to warm
Finally, add your garlic, salt and pepper
Transfer to a bowl, add your egg and a squeeze of lemon and enjoy!

Note: You can really use any vegetables or meat for this, just follow the basic recipe to mix it up however you want!

Kale was the first thing we bought in our new house. It was the first thing I made that was from instinct of taste rather than a recipe in a long time. The bag, split down the middle because I tore it too fast, rustled against my hand when I would reach for a yogurt, half and half for my coffee, or a stray piece of fruit that rolled away from me earlier. It was something I wanted to try. It was on sale that week. I wanted to impress Nolan when he came home, and so I started to cook.

I am no cook by trade, or even by accident. I did not come about cooking the way I did about baking. It was not by need or necessity or for pleasure. It was, and sometimes still is, a means to an end. I did not always enjoy the cleanup; and I very much less enjoy the lack of control and tactility involved versus when I make a cake. But I work from home and I have free time and so I cook for the boy I love.

I make simple dishes. Things I like. Nothing too complicated and a varietal of five rotating flavors that work in an interchanging meander on my otherwise underdeveloped savory palate. Starting out, I never want to get too complicated. The whole chickens are still in the freezer for another day. For now, I want declaratives and not interrogatives.

“This is good.”

“Make this again.”

“I’m getting seconds.”

Because dishes like the below are so simple, I need to make sure my utensils are the best I can have for starting out. American Kitchen Cookware is perfect for me. Made in West Bend, Wisconsin, each piece is durable, unforgiving in its exactness of preparation, and carefully constructed to last. A company that is over 100 years old must be doing something right, and I believe that using this pan was the reason this dish has come out so successfully the last few weeks.

American Kitchen Cookware is also part of my Instagram giveaway for this week! Head on over to Instagram for more details, where you and a friend could win either of the pans featured in this post (the 10-inch stainless steel casserole pan or the 10-inch stainless steel skillet) for you and a friend!

Kale and Eggs

Ingredients:

2 TB olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
6 cup kale
½ teaspoon flaked sea salt, or more if desired
½ teaspoon black pepper, or more if desired
4 eggs
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

In your casserole pan (I used the 10-inch stainless steel casserole pan) or covered skillet, heat your oil on medium-high
Add garlic and allow to cook for a minute or until it becomes fragrant
Add your kale, salt, and pepper. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat the leaves with oil and garlic
Allow to cook on medium-high until kale begins to get tender
Crack your eggs evenly on top of the kale and cover your dish
Turn heat to low and let cool for 6 minutes
Uncover and check your eggs. This dish is really dependent on the natural liquid from the kale escaping and making steam, so it is, in turn, dependent on your kale and the oven temperature. If eggs are have not set to your desire, replace lid and continue cooking for a minute or two
Remove from heat, sprinkle with red pepper flakes and serve immediately