Well, it turned out that I did not, as usual, have any coconut milk in the pantry, so I had to scrap the idea of Melissa Clark's pilaf. Y'all should still try it sometime though as it's delish. Anyway, I was already grooving on the chicken-barley thing so worked off a recipe I found on food52 and ended up with a barley, chicken, mixed mushroom, herby concoction that I liked quite a bit but T found a tad "vegan" despite my addition of chicken. 
The broccoli recipe is a great one that I will definitely make again. Three cheers for the smoky paprika-garlic oil-vinaigrette atop roasted broc and Marcona almonds. Bene, bene!
And lastly, this pretty corn pudding. It was quite good, and though I am not a pork-lovin' gal, I could definitely see that the addition of bacon here would be a good one; just if you want to up the ante a bit. T cottoned to this, as well as the broccoli which just goes to prove my point that he likes veggies a lot more than he thinks. They just have to be cooked correctly folks. Gray, mush, WASP-y style=bad!
I'm full as a tick! Now that I write that, I do want to send out a PSA- I know three women who've gotten Lyme disease this summer. Please be on the lookout for ticks and/or tickbites and if you suspect one, head to your doctor early and get on some meds!
