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It's been Engagement Mania around here! Thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of love and support as we enter this exciting new time in our life. I'll be the first to admit I am having trouble concentrating on anything other than wedding stuff; thank goodness for female editors who are willing to tolerate my flaky behavior. While my social calendar has been filling up with parties and such, my professional calendar has been booking up, too.  I have lots of fun cooking and writing projects on my plate right now, so while it may seem quiet on Dixie Caviar, it has definitely not been quiet in my kitchen. Who needs a wedding diet, anyway?

In case you're jonesing for some new recipes, here's what I've been up to.

These peanut butter blossoms with espresso chocolate truffles are my spin on the classic. In fact, they may be my favorite recipe to date!

I've been craving a healthy go-to casserole recipe, and this chicken and swiss chard pasta bake definitely fits the bill. (My dirty little secret? I ate the ENTIRE pan by myself! Over a couple of days, of course.)

I pulled out one of my culinary school recipes on a particularly cold January day. This tarragon chicken fricassee is classic French comfort food.

Recipe: Engagement Roast Chicken

I've been keeping this recipe in my back pocket for a long time (two years, in fact). I knew I'd get to share it with you eventually, I just wasn't sure when.

A few years ago Walt's mother prepared us the juiciest, tastiest roast chicken I'd ever put into my mouth. As I dunked every last morsel into the rich, fatty juices in the bottom of the pan, I said, "Tina, I need this recipe now." She leaned over and whispered in my ear, "It's Engagement Chicken. Girlfriend, you know I've got your back!"

She slipped me the recipe as we headed out the door. I tucked it in my trusty recipe binder and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. But I'm proud to announce that all the waiting is over. 3 years and 364 days later Walt finally made it official, and in true movie-maker fashion I might add. But you want the juicy details, don't you? Okay, fine, if you insist.

Last Tuesday, I padded around the house in my pajamas and unkempt hair per usual. Around 2:30 pm I got a call from work saying we were slow so no need to come in. This is typical for a Tuesday shift, so no cause for suspicion. (I only found out later she was in on it.) Walt headed out for errands but on the way out the door casually slipped, "So are you going to look beautiful by the time I get home, or what?" Walt lovingly teases me about my lazy work-from-home ways often, so I just shrugged it off. At a certain point, I finally realized I should shower or I would never hear the end of it. Thank God I did.

Bathed and brushed, I threw together a weeknight dinner (penne alla vodka with homemade noodles, in case you were wondering). Feeling bold, I decided to whip up some from-scratch chocolate pudding for dessert—and yes, this is perfectly normal for a Tuesday if you date an aspiring cookbook author. As I sipped a glass of red wine and whisked my dessert, Walt asked if I would like to read my anniversary poem. Even though our four year anniversary was the next day, it's typical that we give each other presents early because we can't contain ourselves. I dusted off my apron as he pointed in the direction of the television. A DVD sat on top of the player; he instructed me to put it in and press play.

It only took seconds to realize this was no anniversary poem. As he reached for my hands and pulled me close, I could feel the loud thumping of his heart. A Lego man donning shaggy blond hair and denim overalls waddled across the screen. It just so happened that Walt was rocking overalls the day we first met. I looked at him and looked back at the screen. A cute brunette decked out in orange and blue (Auburn colors!) strutted by. I was speechless. Lego Walt paused a moment, contemplating life as a bachelor or life with me. You can probably guess by now which he chose...

The movie continues, documenting our ever-changing world together: I attended culinary school and discovered my passion for cooking. Walt fell in love with the camera lens and has been following me around ever since. A montage of various Lego foods slid by (each with an inside joke attached, all the way down to the buttermilk), so when a ring zipped across the conveyor belt I almost fainted. The final act reveals a beautiful Lego bride, and the wedding commences with all of our best Lego friends in tow. I mean, what's a wedding anyways without Indiana Jones and Godzilla. As for the *beaming* groom holding the shiny gold bling? His head actually came from a very enthusiastic Lego graduate, complete with cap, gown, and plastic diploma.

The next minute Walt dropped to one knee as "will you marry me" flashed across the screen. He opened the box to reveal the same Lego bride and groom; the groom holding the ring, of course. It was quite the proposal, as you might agree. It was just so Walt. And so us. If you know anything about stop motion video you know it was truly a labor of love. Needless to say, I said yes!

It has been a blur of tears and happiness ever since, and we are so excited to start the next phase of our life together. And if the wedding is anything like the proposal video than you can guess it's going to be one hell of a throwdown. (Dad, don't say I didn't warn you!) The only real question now is how to get Hans Solo unfrozen out of carbonite so he can officiate the nuptials.

Here's the actual proposal video for all you romantics out there.

ENGAGEMENT CHICKEN
Serves 2, with leftovers

This recipe is inspired by a famous recipe from Glamour Magazine, although the cooking method and times have been greatly modified to meet my personal taste. The brine and cooking method are adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. Want to land your man? Make this now.

For the Chicken:
1 whole roasting chicken, about 4 – 5 pounds
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 whole lemons
3 pounds roasting potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 sweet onions, peeled and thickly sliced
Good-quality olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the brine:
1 gallon (16 cups) water, divided
1 cup kosher salt
3 lemons, halved
5 bay leaves
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons black peppercorns

For the brine: In a large stock pot, cover the chicken with about 12 cups of cold water. In a microwave-proof bowl, heat 4 cups of water until almost boiling. Add the salt and stir until completely dissolved. Add the salted water to the stock pot. Add the lemons (squeezing some of the juice into the water), bay leaves, honey, and black peppercorns. Cover and refrigerate the chicken overnight, but no more than 12 hours.

For the chicken: Remove the chicken from the brine, rinse in cold water, and pat dry. Bring to room temperature for at least one hour and thirty minutes.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Set the chicken in a large bowl. Pour the lemon juice in and over the chicken (recycling back and forth between the bowl and measuring cup a few times to continue covering). Cut the 2 lemons in half and stuff inside the inner cavity of the bird. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.

Toss the potatoes and onions with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of the leftover lemon juice (discard the rest). Season the vegetables generously with salt and pepper and arrange in the bottom of a large cast iron skillet. Nestle the chicken over the bed of vegetables. Roast for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven, lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees, and toss the vegetables again. Add the chicken back to the pan and cook for an additional 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 160 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the oven. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving, to let the juices settle back into the meat. Toss the vegetables in the pan juices and season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Pour any remaining pan juices over the chicken when serving

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And Now Back to Regular Scheduling

After a month-long hiatus from food blogging (but not cooking or eating!), I'll be back tomorrow with a much-anticipated recipe and an announcement. Trust me, it's a good one... Until then, check out my Blackened Catfish Fajitas over at The Kitchn.

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The Holiday Season is upon us, and I'm feeling busier than ever. I'm trying to take a few moments each day to breathe it all in, because it will be gone before I know it. Where in the heck did this year go?! I'm tackling some fun, festive recipes in the next couple of weeks (buche de noel and homemade dog treats to name a few) that I can't wait to share with you. I'll also be posting some gift ideas -- both for the foodie and beyond -- so keep a lookout.

In the meantime, here's some of my tasty fall recipes from around the web.

At Cooking Channel

These Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies were my contribution to the Cooking Channel Holiday Cookie Exchange. I had to taste test thousands of these to get the flavors "just right." You can thank me later.

Here's the Beef and Andouille Chili recipe I promised last week. I slow-braised bites of beef sirloin until tender, and then married it with spicy sausage for a bit of kick. So good!

At The Kitchn

Regarding this Pork Ragu with Semolina Gnocchi, I'm just going to leave you with this comment from @Heatherbelle, a Kitchn reader:

"So I basically left work early to get to the butcher shop to buy pork shoulder. Last night when I took it out of the oven and tasted it I wanted to die. Today when I took it out of the fridge to warm up and ate it cold I actually died. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when my guests arrive to eat it tonight. Because I'll be dead. From mouth happiness death."

Throw those canned biscuits into the trash, because there's a new Monkey Bread in town. The Bourbon Creme Anglaise dipping sauce really takes it over the top.

I always seem to have an abundance of sweet potatoes lying around. This Sweet Potato & Goat Cheese Bruschetta is a new and exciting way to use them up!

Recipe: Maple Cornbread (an Abomination!)

I know, I know. This is a Southern food blog and the title of this post reads "Maple Cornbread." It's usually considered a soul food sin to put sugar in the cornbread; down here we're supposed to like it dry and bland. I just can't help it, though. I've always preferred mine a little bit sweet. To be honest, the recipe already posted on Dixie Caviar just doesn't do it for me. It's perfectly fine and good for making dressing, but it's not what I want to pour my chili over. (And I mean no offense to Mama Dip; she does know what she's talking about.)

Speaking of chili, it's that time of year. I just put the finishing touches on a super-savory Braised Beef and Andouille recipe (link coming soon!) and I needed the perfect accompaniment. Of all the recipes in all my cookbooks, this Maple Cornbread just stood out from the rest. I whipped it up in the blink of the eye; it's a pantry recipe in every sense. Might I just say: oh. my. lawdy. You know cornbread is good when you can't stop eating it straight from the skillet, and that's before I even added butter. Seriously, I couldn't resist this stuff. Half the pan was gone before I could even catch my breath!

So I'm sorry to all you cornbread purist out there, but this time the Yankees seem to have gotten one right...

MAPLE CORNBREAD

I've since enjoyed this recipe (3 times in 2 weeks) with both Steen's Cane Syrup and sorghum syrup. It was my way of trying to redneck-ify it. This slightly-sweet cornbread is good any way you go about it. Let's just wave the white flag here, people!

Source: King Arthur Flour Yields 8 - 10 slices

1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup milk 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or sorghum or cane syrup) 1/4 cup melted butter 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.. Lightly grease an 8-inch cast iron skillet.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, melted butter, and eggs. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into the skillet and bake for 21 to 23 minutes (being careful not to over bake; it will cook a bit more in the skillet), until it's light golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center barely comes out clean. Remove it from the oven, and serve warm with butter.