Roasted Vegetable Soup

This is absolutely perfect for Fall! My girls and I created our own holiday years ago. It's on October 1st and we make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, decorate the house for Halloween with Halloween music, go shopping for Halloween costumes, have soup for dinner and watch a Halloween movie with hot chocolate. Since we're in Idaho we get all 4 seasons and it is GORGEOUS here! We soak it up like you would not believe. The girls get more excited for this holiday than Christmas. It's absolutely hilarious.

Anyways, this soup just might be a strong possibility for soup of choice on our holiday! That's saying something, because they take it seriously and everything has to be perfect.

The original recipe doesn't call for tortellini pasta, but my kids have bottomless stomachs so I threw in a little more substance.

Recipe adapted from: Roasted Vegetable Soup- Pioneer Woman

What you will need:

• 1 large zucchini, sliced in half and then cut in half moons
• 1 yellow squash, sliced in half and then cut in half moons
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 red and yellow Bell pepper, cut in strips
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 c Olive oil
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 1/2 T salt
• 1/2 T pepper
• 4 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 14 oz can stewed tomatoes
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 c heavy cream

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 475*
• Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray
• Combine all veggies into a large bowl with olive oil and seasonings to toss to chat
• Arrange vegetables on baking sheet in an even layer and roast for 15 minutes
• Add vegetables into crock pot with stewed tomatoes, chicken stock, heavy cream and Bay leaf
• Cook on low for 3 hours
• Remove Bay leaf and blend soup until it's reached desired texture

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*

French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus

1. This was very cost effective
2. This was extremely easy
3. Every single person in my family ate and loved all of this

There really isn't much "gourmet" about this. It's kind of a dump recipe. Somehow it made incredible results with amazing flavor. With how easy and cheap it was (aside from the meat..heh heh..) and the fact that no one could stop eating it, it's going back on the menu often.

Definitely fill your sandwiches more than I filled this one :). 4 kids and 4 dogs running around ya know, I was not being incredibly attentive here haha!

What you will need:

• 2 cans french onion soup
• 1 can beef consmme (you can just use beef broth like me)
• 2-2 1/2 lbs. chuck roast
• Provolone cheese slices
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Sear the outsides of your meat (you can cut it into chunks to sear and cook it)
• Pour cans of soup and consomme (or broth) into crock pot.
• Add the meat into the crock pot
• Cook on high for 6 hours
• Shred the meat and set aside
• Slice your preferred sandwich bread in half and place on a cookie sheet.
• Spread softened butter on each of the slice
• Pre-toast the bread at 400* for about 4 minutes. You don't need it darkened, but when you touch it, it's rough and a bit crispy
• While your bread is pre-toasting, place a strainer over a bowl and pour the broth into the strainer. It will catch all the extras, allowing just the jus to pass through into the bowl

• Pull out your pre-toasted bread and add the shredded meat and provolone cheese to the bottom slices
• Put them back into the oven until the cheese is nice and melted
• Serve with the au jus !

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.

Easy Baked Chicken Taco's

I can't believe I don't already have these on here! This is seriously a family favorite, and considering that it's a sneaky way to make my kids eat tomatoes and onions, it's a big time personal favorite, too! It calls for a diced onion and a can of diced tomatoes. What I do is toss them in a blender until they make a sauce together and toss the shredded chicken with it. You can do it however you want, though!

What you will need:

• 1 pkg. taco seasoning of your choice
• 3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• Mexican shredded cheese blend
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Hard taco shells
• Topics of your choice

Directions:

• When your chicken is cooked and shredded, add the taco seasoning in and mix well
• Preheat oven to 350*
• Either add the diced tomatoes and onion to the chicken and mix, or blend them in a blender until it makes a sauce or chunky texture to mix in with the chicken
• Fill the taco shells with the chicken
• Top with the shredded cheese
• Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted
• Top with favorite taco topics

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Our family was so lucky to get to spend the holidays with all my family this year! It's pretty rare these days so I'm glad we got to make a lot of memories!

One of the things we did was doing a Chinese food potluck for New Years Eve. Best. Idea. EVER! I feel like it might have to be tradition now no matter who is around! Everyone made such delicious food, and lucky me I was able to find a crockpot teriyaki chicken recipe from the Flavorite. It made things so easy with how crazy my New Years Eve day was. I knew I wouldn't have the time to cook something later in the day or spend much time on it.

This was perfect, although my chicken got really tender and it kind of turned into shredded teriyaki chicken. Woops! This picture was taken a couple days later with leftovers so it's not as juicy looking. But you get the idea! I actually doubled the sauce recipe and I think it turned out great that way!


What you will need:

• 2 lbs. boneless chicken
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1/2 C soy sauce
• 2 T cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp water
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• Sesame seeds

Directions:

• Mix the brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a bowl
• Pour the sauce over the chicken in a slow cooker
• Cook on low for 4-6 hours
• Remove chicken from slow cooker
• Pour sauce into a pan and bring to a boil
• Mix cornstarch and water together in a small bowl
• Slowly pour cornstarch mix into the sauce and mix together
• Turn heat to medium and stir until sauce thickens (about 2-3 minutes)
• Add sesame seeds if desired
• Cut up chicken and place back into slow cooker with sauce until ready to serve

Pretzel Bites

Okay these pretzels from The Slow Roasted Italian are the BOMB! They were unbelievably easy to make but have the quality of "mall pretzel bites.......but BETTER!" (as said by my kids) They don't feel or taste like you just cut up some dough and put them in the oven. They are amazing! My only regret is that I only made one batch. It was enough for our family of 4 ( and a half if you count the little guy who hate maybe 3 and then focused on his chips), but we all were kind of sad that they were gone so I would have loved to have some leftovers! Oh, the best part? You don't need to wait for the dough to rise.

I read a few recipes for pretzel bites and read through comments. I saw a lot of people complaining of their second or third batches coming out with a really bitter taste to them. Everyone seemed to conclude that it must have been because they put their pretzel bites into the baking soda bath, baked them in the oven, and then put the next round of pretzel bites into the baking soda bath (rather than having all of the bites in the baking soda bath without long waiting times between more being added into the bath).

So, in my directions I have you getting all of your pretzel bites in and out of the baking soda bath before you bake any of the them. They all turned out great, so who knows if waiting to put in other batches later on causes a bitter taste.

What you will need:

• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 C warm milk (110*-120*)
• 2 T honey or sugar
• 3 1/4 C flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C baking soda
• 8 quart pot of water
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 tsp. cold water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450*
• Warm your milk up and pour into the bowl of a stand mixer
• Sprinkle the yeast into the milk
• Add the sugar to feed the yeast
• Let the yeast get nice and foamy, about ten minutes
• Once the yeast is ready, add in the salt and mix together with the paddle attachment
• Add in the flour, one cup at a time. You want the dough to be tacky but not sticky. (I ended up with 3 cups and 3 tablespoons)
• Once your dough is ready, replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook and knead for about 3 minutes
• While that's kneading, spray your counter top lightly with some non stick spray. Using flour will make the dough too difficult to work with
• Turn your dough out onto the counter and divide (I just used a pizza cutter) into quarters. 
• Start boiling your 8 quart pot of water
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with non stick spray, set aside.
• Beat one egg with 2 tsp cold water, set aside
• Grab one of the dough quarters and divide that piece into 4 more pieces
• Roll out each of those 4 pieces gently until you can cut at least 4 pretzel bite size pieces from it
• Continue on with the rest of the dough, you should end up with at least 64 pretzel bites
• Carefully add the baking soda into the boiling water
• Dump a bunch of the pretzel bites into the boiling water and let it sit for about 20 seconds
• Remove with a spatula or slotted spoon of some kind and place onto the baking sheet
• Do this with all of the pretzel bites until they have all been in the baking soda bath 
• Brush pretzel bites with egg wash and add kosher salt
• Bake for about 15 minutes (mine were done after 10)

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

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!

Baked Salmon

I am SO excited to be posting about this! Right now I haven almost 11 month old son. This son is seemingly always in an extreme Mama's Boy stage. Cooking dinner is almost always a challenge with him around (or really, looking in any direction but towards him is a challenge these days). I really really really wanted to make some salmon, but babysitting it with oil splattering around while my boy screamed "MAMAMAMAMAMAMAAAAA" in tears and pulling my pants down didn't seem worth it.

Thankfully I remembered seeing this idea somewhere on the interpin (my mash up of interweb and pinterest) and went on the hunt!

Wouldn't ya know it? Pioneer Woman. Duh. She basically just tosses the sucker in the oven. I figured I could do that just fine with a mini me-monster in the house. But then....what to season the salmon with?

Well don't you worry. After many many many many'o tests, I think I've found "it." THE flavor for salmon, if you will. 

 Click right here for my Garlic Bread recipe for the Garlic butter instructions (the BEST garlic butter ever...ever ever), because you'll be using that here, but adding some lemon juice into it.

Between that deliciousness, some kosher salt, pepper and a Garlic/Rosemary spice blend it was absolute perfection, especially with this cooking technique. Completely flawless!

You will need:

• Boneless, skinless salmon filets
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• Garlic and Rosemary seasoning blend (I found mine at Sam's Club)
• Garlic butter
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

• Line a baking sheet with foil
• Place salmon filets onto the baking sheet
• Sprinkle with salt & pepper
• Add Garlic and Rosemary seasoning blend and lemon juice to the garlic butter
• Coat the salmon filets with the butter
• Put in a cold oven
• Turn oven on to 400*
• Set the timer for 25 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

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

Roasted Vegetables

So I tried out a few different ways to roast vegetables since I'm pretty picky about the whole thing :). I eventually came up with this and to me it is PERFECT! I'm just now getting around to posting about it because every time I make it I end up eating all of it before I can snap a pic.

But this time, I was making a huge amount so I could have it for the week along with some chicken for lunches (chicken at the bottom of the post).

I have been completely forgetting to each lunch lately (perks of having 3 kids and one of them just 4 months old right?) so I figured it was time to do some make-ahead stuff! This is my favorite way for the veggies!

What you will need:

• Red potatoes, quartered
• Asparagus
• Broccoli, chopped
• Green beans
• Or whatever vegetables you like

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 400*
• Drizzle baking sheet with olive oil
• Lay the potatoes on the baking sheet and roll around in the oil
• Add whatever seasonings you like to the potatoes
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Add the rest of the vegetables onto the baking sheet
• Season again and add a little more oil for the extra vegetables
• Bake for another 25 minutes

Here's my chicken! I just get a package of the chicken tenderloins (they come with about 20) and lay them out on a baking sheet. Add seasonings (I did different seasonings for each row) and bake at 375* for 25 minutes.

Chicken Strips

Have you ever been to Texas Roadhouse and wondered how they get their chicken strips to be all bumpy (or anywhere with bumpy chicken strips for that matter)? Cause I have. I love them! I've finally found a way using my trusty Pioneer Woman!

What you will need:

• Chicken tenderloins (I think I made around 20 and the flour/buttermilk called for was still plenty for that amount)
• Buttermilk ( 1 1/2 C to soak the tenders and another 1/2 C or so for later)
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 T spices of your choice (original calls for 2-3 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt. We're a little freaky about flavor so we dumped in Lawry's, a Butt Rub and some Creole)
• Enough oil to fill about an inch in a large cast Iron skillet or fryer of your choice

Directions:

• In a large bowl, soak the tenders in 1 1/2 C buttermilk for 20-25 minutes. It breaks down the chicken and makes 'em all nice and tendery
• Meanwhile, in a 9x13" baking dish, dump 1 1/2 C flour and slowly drizzle in 1/2 C of buttermilk all around the flour while you do whisking motions with a fork. It will make some of the flour clumpy. You want it to be so that there's an even amount of dry flour and clumpy flour throughout the baking dish (IMPORTANT: You really want to use the 9x13" baking dish for this. I tried to use a bowl and it was much much harder!)
• When the chicken tenders have soaked, start heating up your oil (you want it to around 375*)
• Plop a few chicken tenders into the flour mixture and coat them. They will have clumps on them. You want this!
• Place the chicken to the side like on a baking sheet or somewhere for them to sit while you're frying them up
• Place a few at a time into the oil to fry each side (about 1 1/2 minutes per side)
• Done!

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

Pizza Dough

So once upon a time I swore off baking anything with yeast for 3 1/2 years. Not because of some superior knowledge of how deadly it is (because literally every food in existence is apparently trying to kill us according to the internet), but because I couldn't figure out how to bake with it in Portland. :(

To be fair, I only tried maybe 5 or 6 times before giving up. No matter what I did it was always really dense and awkward. I hated it. So I avoided it.

Back in Idaho and I'm celebrating by baking everything I can think of with yeast. Pizza dough included.

What better recipe to try than....*gasp*...Pioneer Woman? So unlike me....;)

This was beyond easy to make. I'm angry at how easy it was to be honest. It was easier than driving to the store to buy premade, or waiting at home for delivery. Plus my girls loved every second of it. They're on a dough kick like me. It's basically like Christmas around here when they find out I'm making more dough for them to play with.

Anyways. Fun, delicious, easy.  

This recipe also makes two crusts.

So don't go using all the dough for one pizza and then yelling at me for it coming out skiwompus.
Refrigerate the other half if you plan on using it in the next few days. Or freeze it!

Enjoy!

What you will need:

• 1 tsp. active dry or instant yeast
• 1 1/2 C warm water (I stick with 110*)
• 4 C all purpose flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 C extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

• In the bowl you plan on mixing in, combine the flour and the salt
• In a separate bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it get all foamy
• Slowly add in the olive oil to the flour in your mixing bowl and combine
• Add your foamy yeasty water to the flour mixture and combine
• Grab another mixing bowl and spray some non stick spray in there
• Form your dough into a ball and roll it around a bit in the non stick spray bowl
• Cover the dough with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge until you're ready to use it (I made mine the night before and pulled it out the next evening. Made things go really fast and easy! I also plopped my dough into a large ziploc....it seemed to be just fine that way!) 
• When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 500*
• Use your hands and fingers to press the dough out to the shape you want
• Add your toppings
• Bake for 12-15 minutes!