February Re-Make Re-Cap

I am just completely over winter. I'm done with it. I know that this is reflected in my attitude lately, as I find myself feeling irritable and just kind of blah. I tell you this because the truth is that I haven't had a lot of energy to cook lately, so a lot of the meals I'd planned for the month just didn't get made. I still cooked a fair amount, though -- some great new recipes I'll share in the coming weeks, and a few of our favorites. Here's what I re-made during February.

Joe requested fried pickle ranch burgers for dinner on Super Bowl Sunday. He also requested that I add bacon to them, which was a stroke of genius on his part. I loved the way the smoky flavor of the bacon worked with the briny pickles. I used refrigerated deli pickle slices this time, but I actually think I prefer the plain old dill variety for these burgers.

Joe also requested this spicy sausage dip for the Super Bowl. It definitely wasn't our healthiest night of eating, that's for sure. This is hands-down my favorite dip in the entire world. It's probably a good thing that I generally only make it for football-related sporting events and thus won't be enjoying it again until September. I'm sure my waistline will thank me.

This chicken with feta, roasted tomatoes, and garlic butter spinach spaghetti is one of the simplest meals I prepare, but it's probably one of my absolute favorites. I just love the way all of the flavors work together. And you know how I am with roasted tomatoes. I'll eat them on or with practically anything. I took my own advice this time and used half a pound of spaghetti noodles rather than just a quarter pound. I know my boys were happy about this, because they were slurping up the noodles like they were candy (green stuff included!!).

I never miss an excuse to use festive sprinkles, or to make these soft sugar cookie bars. This month that excuse was Valentine's Day. I made these for the boys' classes, and took the other half with me to work. It would just be dangerous to have these hanging around the house, because I simply can't resist them. Andrew calls these "sugar brownies," which I just love.

These Southwest sloppy joes with honey-lime coleslaw are our favorite version of sloppy joes. The creamy, sweet and tangy coleslaw pairs so perfectly with the spicy beef mixture. I love the texture that the corn and beans provide. When I made the sloppy joes this time, I also sprinkled them with some shredded queso quesadilla cheese.

My boys (and my husband, for that matter) get so excited whenever they hear we're having pizza panini for dinner. I always have all of these ingredients on hand, so this is a quick, easy, and family-pleasing meal for the nights when I just don't feel like making anything too complicated.

Biscuits with sausage gravy is one of my favorite comfort foods. Newer readers may have missed this recipe, since I posted it so long ago. I really, really encourage you to try this one. My version of sausage gravy is far from traditional, and uses maple sausage and cream cheese. Every time I make this, Joe reiterates that it's one of the best things I've ever made.

One of my coworkers celebrated her birthday this month, and lemon cake is her favorite dessert, so I made her a batch of these lovely lemon cupcakes. I frosted them with the same buttercream I use for the sugar cooke bars and gave them a good dose of sprinkles (of course). I really think these are just the best lemon cupcakes. They have such wonderful flavor and texture.

These BBQ chicken sandwiches with onion strings are so good, they're crave-worthy. I love everything about these sandwiches; all of the ingredients just work. We just had these for dinner last night, but now I totally want to have them again tonight.