I love roasting vegetables on a sheet pan, and recently discovered how much better they cook on a Pampered Chef Stoneware bar pan. I simply dice some of my favorite vegetables, put them in a bowl, coat them with a little bit of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, minced garlic and a little bit of salt and pepper. Sometimes I'll add protein like chicken to the top, but I ...
Weeknight Dinners
Baked Pizza Ziti Recipe (weeknight meal for picky eaters)
I need easy go-to meals to survive the week. I love cooking, but sometimes you need to throw together noodles, sauce, and cheese and call it a meal. I used my homemade marinara recipe for this particular batch, because the pandemic has been keeping me away from Trader Joe's pizza sauce. I started with al dente ziti, then normally add in pizza sauce, browned hamburger with ...
How to meal plan for real moms and real life.
How to meal plan for real moms and real life. Meal planning is a sanity saver. It saves me from asking myself, "Crap, what's for dinner?" at 2 in the afternoon. It saves us money at the grocery store. It saves me from having a pantry full of dusty canned goods. It makes you feel like your life is a little more put together, even if it isn't. It helps you avoid pizza three ...
Venison Stew recipe
Living in Wisconsin venison is something that we grow up with, so we were thrilled this year when AJ got two deer on opening day. This was also the first year that Aliceana went on the journey out to the woods, the biggest take away is that she has a hard time staying quiet for that long, and she's not great at whispering. Anyway, venison is an incredibly lean meat, and we love ...
Slowcooker Ham and Cheese Pasta, the best ever comfort food.
This recipe is one that has been a family favorite for, well for as long as I can remember. It’s one of the very few things my mom could cook, this and the best ever Rice Krispie treats. I’m pretty sure anyone that can boil pasta can make this one, and that’s the beauty of it. Well that and the fact that it’s probably the best comfort food in the history of ever. It’s perfect ...
Better Than Take Out Sesame Chicken
Chinese take out is a weakness for our entire family, it’s the best. It gets so pricey though, we spend a small fortune every time we order take out. It could be because we can’t resist ordering extra egg rolls, then there’s the days you want crab rangoon, and the major splurge days when you need fried donuts. We’re foodies and it’s costly. I normally avoid making Asian style ...
Yellow Curry Chicken Tenders
Chicken tenders are great, they're kid friendly and great for picky eaters. Honestly I pair Trader Joe's frozen chicken tenders with mac and cheese and have it on the meal plan about every other week, because having a kid is the perfect excuse to eat like a kid. Sometimes it's nice to have grown up food though, which is why I came up with this ridiculously simple recipe for ...
Tex-Mex Enchiladas
The other day I shared my recipe for Tex-Mex Stuffed Bell Peppers, well today I'm using that same delicious filling (Italian sausage, chunky salsa, corn, and white rice) to make these Tex-Mex Enchiladas. This was my first ever attempt at making enchiladas, in fact this was my first time eating enchiladas. ...
Four Ingredient Mac and Cheese
When I'm just making dinner for Aliceana and myself, I like to keep it extremely simple. We don't need anything extravagant and by dinner time we're both exhausted. It's time to turn on a short cartoon and whip up something quick. One of my new favorites to make on our girls nights is this easy four ingredient mac and cheese. Everyone loves mac and cheese, and it's even better ...
Easy Cheesy Tex-Mex Skillet
Growing up I had to figure out my own plans for dinner for most of my High School years. I’ve eaten my fair share of processed food. I actually don’t want to know the percentage of my meals that were microwave ready or found in the freezer section. I never minded it, processed food can taste awesome. In fact I loved Hamburger Helpers, who doesn’t? They taste great and they're ...
Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Fries
AJ finally upgraded his grill this spring, and we've been grilling about twice a week since. As wonderful as it is to grill all weekend every weekend we're quickly running out of ideas for sides and have to get a little more creative. These garlic parmesan zucchini fries are probably one of the best things I've ever had as a side even though I'm not a fan of zucchini. One of ...