Here you'll find delicious recipes for any occasion. The perfect recipe is just minutes away!
When I was growing up one of my favorite meals that my mom made was baked chicken, cooked on top of rice mixed with cream of mushroom soup. But I don’t like to cook with cream soups, because they have so much fat and sodium. So this is a healthier version of that meal, using tomatoes instead of cream soup and adding more vegetables.
This is a nice chicken stew type recipe using tomatillos. Around here we only see tomatillos in the stores for a few weeks, so it is nice to make something using them when they are available. I got this recipe from my mom, although she usually makes it with pork and I like it with chicken. It is quick and easy, and can be make in about half an hour.
This is a quick pasta recipe with a little bit different taste. The tomatoes are roasted instead of sauted, which gives the dish a deeper flavor. I also like this recipe because it is easy to keep the sausage separate until the last minute, so I can keep it vegetarian for my daughter.
A few days ago I posted a recipe for Buitonis Chicken Marsala Ravioli, and today I have another Buitoni pasta recipe, this time using Roasted Butternut Squash Agnolotti. This recipe is even easier than the first one! When using these kinds of gourmet filled pasta I don’t like to make a sauce that is too complicated, because I want to be able to taste all the great flavors of the pasta.
The Roasted Butternut Squash Agnolotti is filled with butternut squash, impastata ricotta, aged parmesan, grana padano and is accented with amaretti cookie crumbs. I loved this pasta, I think because it had so much cheese, and in so many different varieties. The sauce I paired it with is a simple tomato and green onion sauce, and the key to making this is not to cook the tomatoes too much. You want the tomatoes to be warm, but not completely cooked. I used multicolored heirloom grape tomatoes for this, so it would be prettier, but it would be fine with all red ones.
Recently Buitoni sent me some of their new filled pasta to try out! They make all kinds of yummy refrigerated pasta that is available in many grocery stores. I like that their pasta is more exotic than standard boring pasta. Cheese ravioli is good, but there is nothing special about a dinner of cheese ravioli served with spaghetti sauce. Sometimes I want a pasta dish that is more exciting, and looks like I spent a lot of time making a special dinner.
I received this Chicken Marsala Ravioli, which was delicious. It is a filled pasta with white meat chicken, roasted portobello mushrooms, onions, ricotta, parmesan and asiago cheese accented with marsala wine. It almost seems like too many ingredients for one ravioli, and it certainly isn’t boring or ordinary.
I recently had the chance to take the WonderMill Grain Challenge, where I was challenged to make 5 different whole grain recipes in 2 months and post about on the Grain Mill Wagon blog. This was lots of fun, and to help me complete the challenge I received this WonderMill Grain Mill
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We have lots and lots of Cheerios in the house right now, so I wanted to make a Cheerio dessert. The Cheerios website has a whole section of recipes on it, and I modified the Banana Nut Snack Bars recipe to make these chocolate covered Cheerio Snack Bars.
My family always enjoys grilling food outside this time of year. We have a long winter around here, so once the snow is gone and we can break out the grill we can hardly wait! Kebobs are one of my favorite things to grill because they have both meat and vegetables, so it is an efficient way to cook. We had perfect grilling weather this weekend, and I made this beef kebob for dinner on Saturday.
I made this delicious bread pudding using the organic fruits and nuts that I received from Bella Viva Orchards. I love apricots and almonds, and I thought they would make a great combination for a bread pudding. I tried to make the recipe not too unhealthy, so the recipes has less eggs, sugar and butter than most bread pudding recipes. Even with that it was plenty sweet, since the dried apricots are so sweet they don’t need extra sugar.
This weekend we had blackened bluefish for dinner, which I really don’t like at all. So I made this quinoa salad to use as a side dish for everyone else and a main dish for me. It was very easy to put together, and it has a nice blend of flavors. Of course it would be easy to vary the vegetables based on what you have in the refrigerator, so it is pretty versatile.
I am always looking for ways to add more protein to my children’s diet. My fifteen year old recently decided she won’t eat beef or pork, so it is becoming even more challenging, since chicken and eggs get boring after a while! She loves orange juice, but that is mostly sugar and doesn’t provide any protein at all. So naturally I was interested in the new Silk Fruit&Protein drink.
This product is a like a fruit juice with added protein, and it is easy to find in the dairy section of the store, with all the milk. It comes in three flavors, Mango Peach, Mixed Berry and Strawberry Banana. I knew that the Strawberry Banana flavor would be most appealing to my children.
This post is sponsored by Country Crock. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Getting children to eat and enjoy vegetables is difficult for many families, including mine. My children have always been willing to eat fruit, but vegetables are more of a battle. For example, my husband I both enjoy broccoli, but none of the children like it at all. Any attempt on my part to serve it is met with groans and complaints, even when I drench it in cheese. Country Crock recently came out with the Clare Crespo Cookbook, which is full of fun ideas to make vegetables, like broccoli, more appealing to children, and they asked me to test out a recipe from the book.
Last week I got a kohlrabi and the grocery store, and had to figure out a recipe to use it in. It is used frequently in Indian cooking, so I decided to use it in a curry. I basically made a standard potato curry and added the kohlrabi, and it turned out pretty well. The kohlrabi had a nice taste too to it, and added some variety to the potatoes.
I enjoy cooking, my children’s schedule this year is making it harder for me to find the time to make complicated meals. Between dance and basketball it seems like there is usually something going on at dinner time that requires me to drive someone somewhere.
So quick simple meals are a necessity for me right now. This sausage and broccoli recipe took less than 30 minutes to make, and it was delicious. I was surprised at how good it tasted, but the combination of the broccoli with the spicy sausage really worked. I will be making it again, and if you are looking for something quick give it a try!
For more pasta dishes try this Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Pasta.
I love chili, especially this time of year. Chili is the perfect wintertime food, because it is warm and filling and spicy. Plus there are so many recipes and variations I rarely make it the same way twice. Sometimes I make Cincinnati Chili, sometimes I make Texas Chili, sometimes I make White Chicken Chili, and sometimes I make it vegetarian. The possibilities are endless. To help celebrate Chili season and its variations the Chili Appreciation Society International and Bruce Foods sent me some Mexene Chili Powder and Louisiana Hot Sauce to review.
I am always looking for fun activities to do with my kids. Yesterday we went ice skating, and one of the things I realized while we were there is that I haven’t been doing as many fun activities with my children as I used to when they were younger. It seems that I am always busy, but not always busy with the things that are most important! Of course an outing is not always possible, but there are many fun things to do around the house.
I am always looking for something new and different for breakfast. I am also trying to eat more fruit, and this is a delicious way to do that. I made this Apple Cherry Bake for breakfast, and it was sweet and tasty.
It is kind of like a fruit crisp, only without the topping. It does take a while to bake, but I think it would work well in a slow cooker, so I am going to try that next time and start it before bedtime. It is a perfect brunch dish, and would go well with muffins or eggs to make a complete and tasty meal.
