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Tomato Pie
Guys. 
I love dubbing things MY NEW FAVORITE RECIPE because everything that I love goes through a pretty good phase of “let’s have this once a week,” but this is reeeeeally my new favorite recipe. It is also incredibly high maintenance and full of fat and carbs, two things that are very near and dear to my heart.
But, before you x-out, trust me when I say that even though there are a lot of steps to this recipe they are all super simple and the results are a thousand percent worth it. I found this recipe while on vacation with Jay’s family back in June, when we were tag-teaming who was going to stay inside during naps on a boat day. I was making dinner that night and had a little extra time, so when I found this recipe I was all HECK YES LET ME AT HER. The recipe comes from Saveur and I have made it a few times with a tiny tweak here and there, but mostly I follow the recipe exactly as it’s written.
The beauty of the recipe is that it includes a whole onion, caramelized for over an hour, roasted AND fresh tomatoes, and a great balance of salt + sugar to bring out the most delicious tomato flavors. There is mayo in the dish, but just enough to hold the cheese mixture together, so if you hate mayo don’t worry – it serves a purpose but doesn’t add any flavor. The Saveur recipe includes instructions on making pie crust which I firmly ignored in favor of a local all-butter crust made at my favorite grocery store IN A TIN FOIL PAN. I do not care that this doesn’t make for the best presentation, it is delicious and saves on dishes so we’re going for it. …
Quick 1-Skillet Lemon Pepper Spaghetti
Quick like….20 minutes tops, no chopping of any kind unless you count zesting a lemon, which you could fully skip if you’d like. 
Because we need this. I have been so overwhelmed recently, not to mention that pregnancy just makes me need more carbs than usual. Not want. A salad could be covered with fried chicken and croutons and I’m all…need a hunk of buttered bread to go with that, please. We have a ton going on right now, and some of it is good, some bad, and mostly it’s just a lot. Beck is starting school in a few weeks which is involving an inordinate number of activities including the blasted home visit, and I just want to have a vacation from life but obviously that isn’t a thing and no this is not a cry for help. 
It’s a cry for pasta that is done in 20 minutes and only messes up one skillet. I made my own coping skill!
It’s the skillet method that has been floating around the internet for awhile, and honestly I don’t always love it for spaghetti because I like simmering sauce for a LONG time and the taste of freshly boiled pasta. This, though, simmers the noodles in stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarian), which creates a thick almost creamy sauce without any cream. Then we add lemon juice, zest, salt, pepper, butter, and parmesan. Easy on the parm for me because I wanted mine to be super lemony, but you can go nuts with toppings or other additions. Plain, though, this is so cozy and comforting.
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