Sunday Night Dinner brought to you by Bloggers everywhere

Yes - I've been MIA lately.  I got a new job.  This is a pretty big deal for me since I was at my last gig for almost 7 years, and for a good chunk of those years, it's where I thought I would stay.  But alas, things change, opportunities arise and I moved on.  It's taken a lot of brain power to

a) wrap my head around the change
b) stay focused on the things I needed to do to wrap up at the last company
c) stay focused on the things I would need to carry forward to my new job
d) begin new job and have week 1 under my belt

Tomorrow I start week 2.  It's all good though, and in the middle of all of that change and focus, we've had birthdays, summer school start and end for the big kid, the medium kid with us and lots of other life details big and small.

This weekend has really been the first weekend where I've felt free to relax.  I don't have a bunch of if/then's or how or but's bouncing around in my brain.  The change is done.  Now I just have to settle into it.  I have to remind myself that might take a little time even though I wanted to feel settled on my first day.  But like I said, it is all good.

Like I was also saying, this weekend was the first one in quite sometime, where I felt a bit more relaxed and visited some of my favorite food blogs that I haven't seen much of over the past couple of months. I had lots of fun catching up on some great recipes and my hour's worth of browsing actually inspired over half of our dinner menus for the week, including tonight's which was so yummy.

For the main course we had:

Photo respectfully borrowed from Annies-Eats.com

Barbeque Chicken Burgers via Annes-eats.com
Oh. My. Goodness.  These were so tasty.  You can find the recipe in the two links above.  I modified ours a bit.  First of all, I used a sourdough hamburger bun (toasted).  I followed her burger recipe with the exception of cornmeal and scallions.  We didn't have any, so I used breadcrumbs and a shallot instead.  I also totally cheated and used bottle BBQ sauce since we had some on hand.  Oh - and we didn't grill.  I just cooked these on the stove, because it was on the verge of raining, but even with my modifications - these were fantastic.  Oh, and I had lemonade with mine instead of beer.  :)

Photo respectfully borrowed from HomesickTexan.com

Mexican Corn on the Cob via HomesickTexan.com
I decided to pair them with a tried and true favorite from one of Heather's favorite bloggers - Homesick Texan.  We no longer have corn on the cob any other way than this.  It is the bomb.  Seriously.  Unfortunately for us, we didn't have parmesan cheese (a good substitute for the cojita cheese) on hand, so we went without, but honestly the corn is still great.  I love the hint of spice that the chipotle gives it.

Photo respectfully borrowed from browneyedbaker.com

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies via The Brown Eyed Baker
And to top dinner off, we had these.  I met these cookies earlier this year when I made them for the night of the Oscar's.  It was love at first bite.  These have 3 of my favorite cookie ingredients all in one - chocolate chips, peanut butter and oatmeal.  So good.  I've made these many times since the Oscars.  I do three things differently than the recipe.  First, I just measure.  Second, I make the cookies smaller than what the recipe calls for.  Third - I don't make them into balls and twist - I find that just using a spoon to make a rough ball shape is all the action required to give them a "crinkly top"  I also think I prefer using mini chocolate chips vs. the big ones.  But, seriously - the cookie dough - addictive.  So, so good.  Go try them today.  You won't regret it.