Last month I shared my goal of cooking at least one recipe from Bon Appétit magazine each month throughout 2020- and so far I’ve kept the dream alive for two months!

I had my little sister and her boyfriend over for my February “Menu of the Month” dinner (do I need to come up with a better name for my endeavor?) and we had a ton of fun.

I made Chicken Braised in Lime and Peanut Sauce and paired it with Cabbage Slaw with Charred Scallions and Lime Dressing and some fluffy white rice. It was pretty delicious (if I do say so!) and perfect for having people over because I was able to prep everything and let it the chicken braise and the slaw sit in the fridge while we each had a Bees Knees (or two). It was also nice because we are officially at that point in Michigan were we start to believe that winter will eventually end (it won’t) and so some charred, slightly spicy flavors warmed everybody up and made us dream of spring. Sigh.

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For dessert I continued my exploration through my Sister Pie cookbook with a super fancy Honey Lemon Meringue Pie, for which I got to use my blowtorch- it was gorgeous, but we forgot to take a picture before diving in!

My guests also spent the night and we ate another Sister Pie treat for breakfast- I started these MASSIVE Lemon Poppy Buns on Friday (they were are able to be assembled ahead and sit in the fridge) and hopped (Ok…crawled. My sister and I share quite the affinity for Merlot) out of bed to proof and bake them Sunday morning and absolutely drown them in glaze. In all honesty, they didn’t rise quite like they should have- I think my kitchen was too cold, but I am inspired to try more yeasted pastries again if warm weather does eventually appear in Michigan. They were a little denser than I hoped for but boy were they pretty.

I am already planning March! It looks like I may be treating my little brother to something “Al Pastor”… stay tuned!