Spatchcock Chicken and Veggies

This recipe is something we do SO OFTEN. It's simple and all the kids love it. Not to mention, it gives you a ton left to save and make some chicken broth with. We have made this several different ways over time, but this is our favorite! You want a nice crispy skin with a juicy and tender chicken. Enjoy!

What you will need:

• 1 whole chicken
• 4 T olive oil (divided)
• Any seasonings you like
• Veggies if you like

Directions:

• Prepare your oven by placing the rack in the center and preheating the oven to 475*
• Prepare your pan by using a baking sheet that's been sprayed with cooking spray and drizzled with a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• Rinse your chicken and pat it dry on a towel covered cutting board
• Reach inside the neck and remove any giblets and bits there may be in there.
• Lay the chicken breast side down and find the backbone
• Cut alone both sides of the backbone with some kitchen scissors
• Flip the chicken back over and lay it breast side up on the prepared baking sheet
• Press down firmly on the middle of the chicken and the breastbone will break, allowing the chicken to lay more flat on the pan
• Rub with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings
• Cook chicken at 475* for 30 minutes
• Decrease temperature to 400*. If potatoes are part of your preferred veggies, add them to the pan at this point. Cook for another 25 minutes
• If you have any other veggies, at them to the pan at this point and cook for another ten minutes, or until center of the chicken breast has reached at least 160*

Rock Fish Taco & Not Gross Slaw

I guess one cool thing about having a recipe blog as my "job" is that I get to decide when I do it. So, here I am months and months after my last post (which wasn't even a recipe). We were blessed with our 4th child at the end of August and I decided to focus on that! Things have settled and I am good to go now. Wahoo!

My father in law took a fishing trip to Alaska and caught some amaaazing Rock fish. He had it filleted there and fresh frozen to bring back for us! Ooooh it was a beauty. Since it's more a mild fish, we were trying to think of what to do with it and how to season it. We decided we'd take the fish taco route. We were SHOCKED at the amazing flavor the fish had on its own! Somehow the seasonings were paired really well with it to where you could taste the seasoning and the fish both separately while having the flavors compliment each other as well.

Now, about the slaw. My husband and I are not slaw people. We can't even figure out how there are so many people who are. It makes zero sense to us. But, we couldn't just not have slaw with it. It's a fish taco. So this is a slaw that works without being the gross slaw ;). I actually just drizzled the dressing made for the slaw on my taco by itself without the slaw at all. My husband did both. We taste tested the dressing for the slaw and it was really good, but we were a little baffled that there was no garlic in it. "Should we add garlic? We never skip garlic. Should we? It's good without it....but we love garlic so much. Yes? No?" We didn't add any! Who are we?! It just had this magic flavor that seemed so right with a fish taco, we left it as is.

So, here's the deal. My husband knows a guy named George. He's our food guy. Everyone should have a food guy. He recommended Sazon Goya seasoning, claiming that, "if you don't want to spend the money on saffron, but want incredible taste, go with Sazon Goya." Yes, sir. Correct, sir.

(For the record, with the going price of a lb. of saffron being anywhere from $500-$5000, I don't buy saffron. I have tried it exactly one time at a brunch at The Grand America and I didn't like it. So I was nervous at his recommendation for this in place of saffron. Like I said, though, he was correct. Trust the process.)

What you will need:

Fish-

• Rock Fish fillets (I mean, if you don't have Rock Fish freshly caught in Alaska...cod will do ;) )
• 1 packet Sazon Goya seasoning
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 T oil 

Slaw-

• Green cabbage, julienne
• Red onion, sliced
• Cilantro, chopped
• jalapeno, diced

Dressing for the slaw-

• 1/2 C salsa verde
• 1/4 C mayo
• 1 T lime
• Hot sauce to taste
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Fish-

• Bring a large saute pan to medium-high heat and add the T of oil
• Rinse your fillets and pat dry
• Rub Sazon Goya and salt/pepper on each side of the fillets
• Lay each fillet in the pan and cook each side 2-3 minutes

Slaw-

• Slice, chop and dice ingredients and add to a bowl.
• I don't have any measurements, just go with "some of each" and see where it gets you. Live on the edge.

Dressing for the slaw-

• Add each ingredient into a blender and blend until it's all mixed until smooth and saucy.
• Pour the dressing over the slaw and mix well
• Maybe reserve some on its own in case you just want to drizzle the goodness by itself. Like me. Be like me.

Kielbasa Corn

It sounds so simple. Turkey Kielbasa and corn. Now I'm trying to figure out how I lived my life before it. I seriously stared at my computer for a few minutes trying to figure out what to call this. So act like it's something that sounds really delicious and measures up to the unbelievable yumyumness this has. Oo! Yumyumcorn. Kielyumcorn. Yumcornkiel. Kielbasayum!

My husband and I have been putting it on our menu almost every week since the day we first tried it and we obsess over the leftovers. He of course likes it more with onions in it.

That's the beauty of this thing, you can add whatever you want and it'll be great! P
robably not "whatever" you want, but nearly. Heck, take these two ingredients camping and wrap it in some tin foil together to cook over the fire!

I actually like my kielbasa browned a lot more than this, like almost burnt coloring. But I wasn't paying attention while I was shopping because my son brought "moo-moo" (his cow) with us and was mooing at me and demanding I stare at him instead of shop.

So, I grabbed some kind of sausage type stuff that wasn't turkey kielbasa and I didn't love the way it browned or tasted but....we can pretend it's the good stuff here.

What you will need:

• 6-8 ears of corn
• 2 turkey kielbasa 
• Garlic Salt
• Black Pepper
• Onions, peppers, etc. (optional)

Directions:

• Shuck and boil your corn for 10-15 minutes depending on the texture you like
• While that's boiling, slice your kielbasa into coins
• When it's done boiling, set your corn on the side and drain the water from your pot
• Dump your kielbasa coins into that same pot and start to brown the sides (if you're planning on adding onions or other vegetables, go ahead and toss those in for a bit before adding the kielbasa in)
• While the kielbasa is browning, cut the corn off of the cob
• When the kielbasa is browned, add the corn into the pot with the kielbasa and mix together with seasonings

Creamy Ranch Pork Chops & Potatoes

Comfort food at its finest! Smooth and pillowy mashed potatoes, creamy, flavorful gravy and a deliciously tender pork chop all in one bite. The best part is you really only need 4 ingredients for the pork chops!

I'm a little crazy. I had scrolled past a picture of something like this on pinterest. It had a picture of the pork over the potatoes and a picture of a ranch packet. So I assumed I knew what I was doing without actually opening the link. I went shopping and grabbed the things I figured it asked for, went home and pulled up the link just to make sure and I was a little off! The recipe was way more complex than I'd thought and I just had a few basic things to use.

So I used them anyway. And you know what? It's fanFREAKINtastic! Holy crap. My daughter who hates potatoes (she's learning...) still gobbled this up and kept telling me how yummy and flavorful it was. So I'm kinda like hm, I don't know that I want to try the more complex recipe when I can just make this and have my kids eat it all with fewer ingredients/time put into it.

What you will need:

• Pork chops (as many as you'd like. I think I used 8 and there was plenty of gravy for them all)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 3 T ranch mix
• 1-2 T kosher salt (I tasted the gravy before serving and added more salt in and pinch more of the ranch mix but you decide!)

Directions:

• Mix together the soups, ranch mix and salt
• Place pork chops inside a crock pot
• Pour the gravy mix on top of the pork chops
• Cook on low for about 5 hours

Braised Potatoes

I didn't realize braised potatoes was a thing that was kind of frustrating to get "just right" until I watched an episode about them on Americas Test Kitchen. Turns out the trick is to boil them with the butter, so when the water evaporates, the butter that's left will sizzle and brown the bottoms. I thought heck, might as well give it a try!

PERFECTION!

Who am I kidding, though. It's from America's Test Kitchen. As if they'd give me a recipe that wasn't tested a bajillion times with ensured quality. 

You must try these! They are extremely easy and actually cook up pretty fast. I especially like them in the summer time as opposed to roasted potatoes so I'm not turning on the oven. The bottoms of the potatoes can be a darker brown than this when they're done, but these were great for me! (There's also no chives in this picture so they don't look very pretty)

What you will need:

• 12" non stick skillet (I've used non stick, giant pot and everything in between and it's all worked out great)
• Baby red potatoes about 1-1/2" in size, halved
• 2 C water (or enough to fill the skillet up until just the tippy tops of the potatoes are peeking out)
• 3 T unsalted butter
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (made them without as well. Still great!)
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Arrange potato halves with cut side down around in the non stick skillet
• Add water and salt
• Add butter
• Add garlic cloves whole
• Bring to simmer over medium-high heat
• Once it's simmering, reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid
• Let it simmer some more until it's just tender (about 15 minutes)
• Remove lid and remove thyme and garlic to set aside
• Keeping the lid off, allow the potatoes to continue simmering back at medium high heat, swirling pan occasionally until the water has evaporated and you can hear a "sizzle" sound from the butter started to work its magic (this will take about another 10 minutes)
• When garlic has cooled, mince into a paste and mix with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp pepper and 2 T chives (or you can use whatever seasonings you have around that you want to try out!)
• Check the bottoms of the potatoes and when they're a deep golden brown color they're done! Toss them around with the garlic/lemon paste or whatever seasonings you've chosen

PMS Cookies

I spent a little while trying to figure out what to call these cookies. Double Chocolate Nutella....Nutella Chocolate....Chocolately Chocolate Chocolateness. Then I kind of just figured hey, I'll be honest. They're PMS cookies.

I spent a good 20 minutes scrolling through Pinterest trying to find a cookie recipe that I wanted to make after a day of raging irritation at every tiny noise and sight. After a day of feeling so tired and bloated and foggy. I just wanted chocolate. But I wanted nutella. But I wanted them both. But I didn't want any of the recipes I was seeing.

So I stood at my Kitchen-Aid and threw stuff in there. I know the basics of a cookie recipe so I just went for it and hoped it worked out. Oh gosh they freakin' hit the spot! I'm so glad they worked out. And I think my husband is too. Because I was nice again afterwards.

What you will need:

• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c nutella (I feel like I could have gone up to 3/4 c to make them a bit more gooey)
• 1/2 c cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375*
• Mix butter, sugars and egg until light and fluffy
• Add in the vanilla and nutella and mix in until well combined
• Add in the cocoa powder and baking soda until well combined
•  Add in the flour a little at a time until well combined
• Toss in the chocolate chips and mix until just combined
• Roll dough (it will be very thick) into balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet
• Bake for 9-11 minutes depending on your oven

German Chocolate Cake with German Chocolate Frosting

It's called a German Chocolate Cake, but zero German chocolate was used. So what does that make it? Really it's just a good ol' rich chocolate cake with that traditional coconut and pecan frosting. The frosting is CRAZY good. My 5 year old took a spoon to the pan and sat on a bucket in the kitchen scraping off the sides until there was absolutely no trace left.

So, legit German Cake or not, this recipe will be used and used again in our house! Hop over to A Dash of Sanity to check out the background on this amazing cake!

What you will need:

Cake

• 2 C white sugar
• 2 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 c cocoa
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 C milk
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C boiling water

Frosting

• 1 C evaporated milk
• 1 C white sugar
• 3 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp water
• 1/2 C butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 C chopped pecans
• 1 C coconut
• 1 T cornstarch

Directions:

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Grease 2 9x9 round cake pans, 3 8x8 round cake pans, or 1 13x9 cake pan (I just made 2 9x9 cakes)
• Add all dry cake ingredients into a mixing bowl or Kitchen-Aid and blend well
• Add all wet ingredients except for boiling water one by one and blend well
• Add in boiling water little by little until mixed in
• Blend for about 1 minute after water has been mixed in
• Pour even amount of cake batter into each cake pan
• Bake about 30-35 minutes
• Allow to cool completely

Frosting

• In a sauce pan, mix evaporated milk and sugar together
• Add in cornstarch, mix well
• Add sugar and eggs, blend well
• Bring to a slow boil
• Start stirring constantly for 12 minutes while it thickens
• Add in vanilla and mix in
• Remove from heat and stir in pecans and coconut
• Let it cool before frosting

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wow, a title doesn't get any more simple than that, does it? Chocolate chip cookies. What a wonderful name.

About 4 years ago or so I created my own "perfect" chocolate chip cookie recipe. It was fit for me. It had everything I wanted. Chewy, soft, spread out just right, not too dry, not too fluffy, gooey and buttery golden flavor (yes, "golden" is a flavor).

I hid it in my computer labeled "secret cookie recipe."

And then my computer crashed. We recovered some pictures, but no cookie recipe came along with it. I'd had it memorized for a while and slowly, I started forgetting exactly what it was. I settled for making the recipe on the back of Nestlea Tollhouse packages. They were satisfying enough. But I still longed for my cookie.

Fast forward to today, scrolling through Pinterest and I see a picture of a cookie that looked exactly like mine! I had to try. And boy, I tell you what. These are BETTER than mine! I did add 1tsp of water to the batter and it was just heavenly!

I will not use any other recipe other than this from now on. This is it, you guys! This is perfection! I stared at my nestlea chocolate chips and my guittard chocolate chips trying to decide what to use the first time around. I went with guittard. They're huge. And I wanted chocolate. So these were very, VERY chocolatey. I can't wait to make them again with the regular sized chips now.

The fact that I have no clue where this woman lives and having this recipe work brilliantly in my high altitude desert of a city says a lot to me. It's gotta be fool proof!

Here's my picture. But I promise you, the pictures of the cookies on her post is what makes it and does them justice. RUN to her page at Gimme Some Oven so you can see what you can really expect with these! Maybe I'll update my photo once I don't have these huge honkin' chocolate chips all over. Maybe.

What you will need:

• 1/2 C butter, softened
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/3 C white sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 C chocolate chips (+ some to stick on the tops right before they go in the oven)
• Parchment paper (optional, but it does make a difference!)

Directions:

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Add in the vanilla and egg and mix until well blended
• Slowly add in the flour, corn starch and baking soda until well combined
• Toss in the chocolate chips and mix it all up
• Refrigerate the dough about 20 minutes (I didn't........so I guess you can see the difference!)
• Preheat the oven to 350*
• Lay some parchment paper over a baking sheet
• Roll the dough into balls, or scoop them using a cookie scoop (I scooped with a cookie scoop and then rolled them into a ball)
• Place each ball onto the baking sheet and stick a few extra chocolate chips on the tops of 'em
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Pull them out and let them finish cooking a bit on the sheet
• EAT. RIGHT AWAY.

Crock Pot Taco Soup

My kids and I made a tradition last year that on the first snow fall of the season we make sugar cookies and have hot chocolate. It's flurried here and there but nothing I would call "the first snow."

Today has been kind of a nail biter! Is it the first snow fall? Really? Is it going to melt in an hour? Can I for sure give it the first snow label? I can't decide, and the clock is ticking!

In the meantime, taco soup. Need I say more? Warm up with this gem. I served it with the Olive Garden Bread Sticks and it was a big hit! Which is extremely rewarding since it was a typical "threw it together" meal. Whew!

What you will need:

• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 3 cans beef broth
• 1 1/2 pkg. taco seasoning
• 1 1/2 pkg. ranch mix 
• 1 lb. ground beef

Directions

• Dump all the canned ingredients into the crock pot 
• Mix in the taco seasoning and ranch mix
• Brown the ground beef and add it into the crock pot to mix in
• Cook on low 4-6 hours
• Top with grated cheese and a healthy dollop of sour cream if desired!

Olive Garden Bread Sticks Copycat

My family is no stranger to the Olive Garden. My husband worked there off and on for 8 years, including working as the culinary assistant. So he gave me a few pointers on these bread sticks, but part of it just wasn't going to happen (drenching them in "well it's not really butter....I think it's worse than margarine. It melts at room temperature so they just paint it on until it's completely saturated"), and some wasn't possible (being shipped to my doorstep so I can just pop them in the oven).

I feel like the flavor of these were super spot on and extremely delicious. They were all eaten in a few minutes! The texture was mostly there, but I think I kneaded my dough too long by accident so they weren't as soft! I also didn't portion out  or "roll" the dough at all. I chose a much easier way, which turned out to work perfect! So I'll write the recipe the way it originally is from Cooking Classy , but I'll include my notes at the bottom, too :).

PS- most of my pictures for the next few months will be sad to look at. I don't have any special lighting so once it's dark so early, I'm working with dark natural light and bright awkward artificial light. So it is what it is!

What you will need:

• 1 C + 2 T warm water
• 1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 T sugar, divided
• 3-3 1/4 C flour*
• 1 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3 T vegetable oil
• salt*
• 2 T butter
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder*

Directions:

•  Using the whisk attachment (or just a whisk yourself), whisk together the warm water and yeast with 1/2 tsp sugar until the years is dissolved
• Let that sit for a good 10 minutes until it's nice and frothy
• Add in the reamining sugar (1 T+ 2 1/2 tsp)
• Add in the salt
• Add in the vegetable oil and, using the paddle attachment, blend until just combined
• Add in 1 1/2 C of the flour and blend until just combined
• Switch to the dough hook and add the last 1 1/2 C of flour while the dough hook kneads the dough until the dough is pulling away from the sides, smooth and elastic (still slightly sticky), adding in up to another 1/4 c of flour if needed*
• Place ball of dough into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap to raise in a warm setting for about 1 1/2 hours
• Pinch down risen dough
• Divide dough into 12 equal pieces (2 oz. each by weight)*
• Roll each piece into a 9" rope*
• Place each rope onto a buttered baking sheet
• Cover and let them raise again for another hour
• Preheat oven to 425*
• Bake for 11-13 minutes*
• Run the end of a stick of butter over the top of the bread sticks straight out of the oven
• Sprinkle on the salt and garlic powder

My notes-
*It says you can add up to 1/4 C more of flour, but I found that after the initial 3 C it was plenty
*I would reccomend not using regular table salt. Something a big bigger or more crunchy is nice. I just used some Kosher salt with a tad bigger
*I didn't measure out the salt or the garlic powder, I just sprinkled them on until it looked right
*Instead of portioning everything out, I rolled out the dough into a large square. Using a pizza cutter, I trimmed off the edges so I had a nice straight sided square. After that I cut strips into the dough with the pizza cutter horizontally, and then one slice down the middle vertically, so I had strips of dough.
I put them on the baking sheet and kind of sculpted the ends just a little so they were a bit more "round" but it's not necessary. They'll still come out round once they've baked!
*Since my bread sticks were a little shorter, they were done after 8 minutes and I turned the broiler on the for the last few seconds to get the golden brown look

Garlic Bread (Garlic Butter)

A while back I wanted garlic bread but didn't want to go to the store to get some of that pre-made stuff you stick in the oven to warm up. But rubbing some raw garlic all over a piece of toast didn't sound great either (yeah, that's literally what I heard one time....on the FOOD NETWORK. WHAT?). I told myself to just suck it up and figure something out.

I took a pretty simple approach to the whole thing but really wanted the flavors to stand out. What I came up with is extremely fool proof and I have been using it on EVERYTHING. Including the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks. I used it for my Baked Salmon and added in some other seasonings with some lemon juice. It's just so nice to have this recipe on hand!

What you will need:

• 1/2 tsp. butter
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• Any seasonings you'd like. A safe bet would be some thyme or rosemary

Directions:

• Grate the garlic into the 1/2 tsp of butter while it's warming up in a pan
• When the butter is melted and the garlic has swam around for a tiny minute, pour (and scrape every last bit of the butter/garlic along with it) into a small bowl with the softened 1/2 stick of butter
• Mix in any seasonings you like
• Spread over bread slices
• Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes

Shepherd's Pie Empanada's

Quite a while back I wanted to make some of those little April Fool's Day "cupcakes" with meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I wanted it to taste good, though. I decided to incorporate a pepperoncini gravy into the whole thing and it was crazy good!

Fast forward to now when I have a thing of Puff Pastry sitting in the freezer and I needed something to do with it. I figured why not try out those cupcakes in empanada form? Honestly, there's nothing too outside the box with this recipe aside from the gravy, which I expanded on after doing a roast with pepperoncini's in the crock pot. It just adds that *thing.*

What you will need:

• 1 box Puff Pastry
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• heavy cream
• 2 T butter
• 2 packets McCormick's brown gravy mix
• 2 T pepperoncini juice
• 1 tsp salt 
• egg wash

Directions:

• Thaw your puff pastry according to package directions 
•  Preheat oven to 400*
• Peel and cube your potatoes and boil them until you can stab one with a fork and it just slides right off when you pull it out of the water
• Brown your meat with some onion
• Mash potatoes with heavy cream and butter
• Prepare gravy mix with pepperoncini juice and salt
• Pour half the gravy mix into the ground beef pan and mix together
• Use a pizza cutter to slice puff pastry into even squares
• Brush the edges of each square with egg wash
• Fill with the mashed potatoes and ground beef
• Add an extra drizzle of gravy over the filling
• Bring one corner over to the other corner and press down
• Use the end of a fork to seal empanada
• Cook for 15 minutes

Caramelized Almond French Toast

I had French toast on the dinner menu tonight, but I wasn't feeling very thrilled about it by the time dinner time rolled around. I remembered this caramel sauce I use with my cinnamon rolls and thought it might be yummy to incorporate into the french toast somehow!

I wasn't positive how it was going to turn out with the almond flavoring and the caramel but OOOOO it turned out GOOD! No syrup necessary! It has such an amazing deep flavor. Aah.

What you will need:

French Toast

• 8 slices bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 2 tsp Almond extract

Caramel sauce 

• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 5 T butter
• 1 tsp water

Directions:

French toast

• Whisk together eggs, milk and almond extract in a baking dish
• On medium high heat, butter a pan or griddle 
• Dip each side of each slice of bread into the egg mixture
• Cook each side until golden brown and cooked through

Caramel Sauce

• Stir all ingredients together and heat until creamy and smooth
• Dip one side of each bread piece into the caramel sauce
• Place that same side back onto the pan/griddle and cook for about one minute

Sausage and Tortellini Tomato Soup

I'm not exactly sure how to word the name of this soup. Tortellini and sausage? Basil Tortellini.....Sausage, basil and Tortellini soup..I don't know. Also I didn't really know what I was doing when I made this. I had about 3 different recipes swirling around in my head so I combined them all and winged the whole thing.

My whole family scarfed the whole thing up. My daughter who haaaates tomatoes had SECONDS. It has so much flavor! It doesn't just take like a can of tomatoes. Not even close. I was shocked. I served it with some Crack Bread in case you need an idea.

I was extremely surprised at how fast this came together, especially since I started it without really knowing what direction I was going with it!

What you will need:

• 1 lb. ground Italian sausage
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 cans petite diced tomatoes
• 1 32 oz. box chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 c basil, chopped
• 1 pkg. frozen tortellini
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Crushed red pepper
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 1/2 C grated Parmesan

Directions:

• Brown the Italian sausage
• While that's browning, mince up your onions and peel your garlic
•  Heat up the olive oil in a large pot 
• Add the onions and saute' for a few minutes
• Add in the garlic and saute' for another minute or so
• While the onions and garlic are being sauted, dump the two cans of tomatoes into a blender
• Add in the onions and garlic to the blender and blend well
• Pour the puree back into the pot and add the box of chicken broth
• Stir to combine and drop the two bay leaves in
• Chop up your basil and add into the soup
• Add in your seasonings
• Add in the heavy cream, stir in
• Add in the sausage, stir in
• Add in the tortellini, stir in
• Add in the parmesan, stir in
• Let simmer for about 10 minutes (this is where I prepped my crack bread and got it into the oven and set the table)

Creamy Chicken Dumplings

They're technically called "Crescent Chicken" but I didn't feel like that had enough umph to it.

It all started when I had some chicken in the fridge ready to be used for Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Broccoli. I went to get it in the crock pot and realized I had forgotten to get one of the ingredients at the store. No big deal except....

Except it was Sunday. 

I don't shop on Sundays. 

So here's my random thrown together dinner.

It was just me and my two daughters eating and we ate all of them between the three of us. So comfortee and delicious. Mmm! I wish I had more now that I'm writing about them! 

What you will need:

• Jumbo Crescent Rolls
• Chicken, chopped (I had about 6 small tenderloins but a couple breasts will be great!)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 empty can of cream of chicken soup filled with milk
• Grated cheese
• *Optional* Seasonings of your choice (I used salt, pepper and onion powder on my chicken and then added a bunch of pepper to the cream)

Directions:

• Season and bake your chicken and chop it up
• Turn oven to 350*
• Combing and heat up soup and milk until it's thickened a bit (season if you'd like)
• Fill your crescent rolls with the chicken and cheese and roll them up accordingly
• Place the dumplings into a baking dish (I used an 8x8 since I had the smaller sized crescent rolls)
• Pour the cream over the dumplings
• Bake for about 30 minutes

Mashed Potatoes

This is actually my husbands recipe! It is so important to have a great way to make your mashed potatoes. Everyone is different in how they like theirs, and the second we tasted these, we knew this was it. This was our favorite. Everyone that has had them has raved about them! I'm not sure why.....it's so simple. I don't know why this tiny combination makes them so much better. But it does! I get a little annoyed by mashed potato recipes that get a little over the top, so it's nice to have a simple way that makes a great difference!

What you will need:

• 6 large potatoes, peeled, rinsed and cubed (if you want to get particular, half Russet potatoes and half Yukon Gold is perfection)
• Heavy Cream
• 2 T butter

 Directions:

• Boil your cubed potatoes until fork tender (about 20-30 minutes depending on how large your cubes are)
• Drain the potatoes and dump them into a large bowl
• Mashed the potatoes up a bit
• Pour in some heavy cream a little at a time until it reaches the consistency you want
• Add in the butter and mash 
• Add salt & pepper to taste

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs

Another Pioneer Woman Recipe. Can you blame me?! I'll be honest, though. This recipe was pretty delicious, however, all of the flavorings were on the skin on the outside and never really sunk into the chicken itself. So I'd adjust my tactics next time to fix that! My kids devoured these, though, so I guess it didn't really matter to them!

 

What you will need:

• 24 whole chicken legs (I think I used 18)
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 T of your favorite seasonings (I don't remember what I used, but I know I threw some garlic in there somewhere)
• 1/2 C lemon juice

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400*
• Melt butter in sauce pan
• Add lemon juice and seasonings to melted butter
• Rinse and pat chicken legs dry
• Using tongs, grab each leg and dunk it into the melted butter
• Place chicken legs on foil lined baking sheet
• Brush the chicken legs with more butter mixture
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, basting once more half way through
• Turn on the broiler for the last minute to get them nice and golden

Spaghetti Sauce

So this sauce was looking a little elaborate for my taste, but only because Pioneer Woman's recipe makes a TON so you can freeze some! Her post about it was so funny to read because she adds a jar of store bought marinara sauce and she was totally mortified by the whole thing but swears by it! I tried it all out and good heavens...can this lady do anything wrong?!

This served my family plenty of sauce for spaghetti (I served it with Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks), plus 2 large ziploc bags full of leftovers to freeze. She recommends lasagna and sloppy joes! At first I thought the sloppy joes idea was kind of weird until I could smell and taste the sauce and it totally fits. This recipe can be halved for a regular amount of sauce (it will still leave you leftovers but you'll want them anyway!)

What you will need:

• 5 lbs. ground beef
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 C white wine (or low sodium beef broth....or neither...since I spaced this step. Heehee)
• 1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste (or none since I didn't have any. Whoops)
• 1 jar marinara sauce (I ended up just using prego traditional pasta sauce)
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 2 T sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1/4 C minced parsley
• 1/2 C grated parmesan
• Rind from Parmesan wedge (optional)

Directions:

• Brown the beef in a large pot
• Remove beef from pot, and drain the grease
• In the same large pot, add olive oil and let it heat up a bit
• Add minced onions and green peppers to the oil
• Saute' for a couple of minutes
• Add the minced garlic
• Pour the white win over the vegetables and let it cook for a minute
• Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and marinara sauce
• Add the seasonings 
• Let it simmer for about an hour
• Add in the parsley
• Add in the parmesan and wedge if you so desire
• Let is simmer for another 30 minutes
• Serve with fresh parsley and parmesan

Crushed Taters

Two things to say about this recipe.

1. My husband kind of just thinks potatoes are "eh." That doesn't make sense to me. I'm an Idaho girl. He's an Idaho boy. He must love potatoes as much as I do. He doesn't. If I didn't love him so much I might pick legit fights about it when I'm feeling grumpy but lucky for him, I love him a lot. So when I'm grumpy I pick fights about other stupid things instead. Win/win, right?

Where was I? He thinks potatoes are "eh." Except for these. He says these are his favorite and actually gets excited when I make them.

2. I found the recipe from Pioneer Woman, however she calls them Crash Hot Potatoes (I can't help but call them crushed taters) and makes them according to how normal potato lovers would make them. I, however, am dealing with Mr. Fancy Pants that has a crazy refined palate and knew right away I'd be in need of a potato a little more jazzed up with something other than just salt and peppa. So our recipe's are the same, but quite different. I hope at least a little of this makes any sense.

What you will need:

• Red potatoes (however many you think you want. I usually eat two and my kids eat one. I think my husband eats two or three, depending)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 4 cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• Seasonings of choice (I have just been using some mixed blends in a thing I got at some gourmet kitchen store. I tend to go for the ones with some thyme, rosemary, garlic-ee blends)
• Salt & pepper (I like the kosher salt that's big and crunchy. Mmm)

Directions:

• Boil your potatoes until they are fork tender (about 20-25 minutes)
• Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil
• When potatoes are done, place them on the baking sheet 
• Preheat oven to 450*
• Use a potato masher and press down to crush the potatoes (don't go all the way down when you press. Just a little smoosh is fine)
• Slowly lift the masher back up and push any potato still on the masher back down onto the potato
• Melt your butter in a small saucepan
• Grate the 4 cloves garlic into it
• Spoon a little garlic butter over each potato
• Season your potatoes
• Drizzle the tops of the potatoes with a little olive oil
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

Eggs in a Hash Brown Nest

Goooooood MORNING! Would you like eggs with that?

I made these for Easter morning. Cause eggs in a nest is Eastery and comfortee. 

I'd love to write out the directions and everything for you, but once again this is a Pioneer Woman specialty and she explains it far better than I ever could. 

Just know that it's easier than you think! I was worried I'd have a mess on my hands making those nests. But I just baked the potatoes the night before and they were a great texture to grate and "mold" in the morning. 

Recipe here!