• Food

    Baked Ziti

    Throughout the years, I have both provided many meals for families and friends and received many meals from family and friends in times of need. While it is always nice to help another, if you are anything like me you tell someone you are going to bring them dinner and then forget until the day of, you suddenly remember and your kitchen doesn’t have anything that when combined would even be remotely edible. This is where baked ziti comes in. I almost always have the ingredients for baked ziti. Not only is it the perfect dish to provide a family a meal for, but it is one of my kids’…

  • Food

    Oven Baked Nachos

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it is so nice to have a handful of recipes that are quick, easy, and a crowd pleaser. I meal plan weekly, but life happens and sometimes the meal I originally planned…just doesn’t happen. BUT…oven baked nachos is a recipe I almost ALWAYS have the ingredients for. I’ve made oven baked nachos with chicken, steak, vegetarian style, and ground beef. The best part of oven baked nachos is you use pretty much whatever ingredients you have in your kitchen. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, cheese, queso, grilled corn, salsa, beans…whatever you love on your nachos will work on these oven baked nachos. This…

  • Food

    Mexican Street Corn Dip

    If you’ve never had Mexican street corn, you have not lived! It is SO heavenly, but since corn on the cob can be difficult to find at times, I decided to fill my need for Mexican street corn by creating a dip that is nearly as good. The best part about this dip is that it is extremely easy to double or triple this recipe to make for a crowd. This dip is all of the flavors of Mexican street corn, but totally gringo friendly in the kitchen. I like to make this with frozen corn, but it can easily be made with canned corn as well. Have you ever…

  • Food

    Turkey & Cheese Crescent Rolls

    Sometimes I just have to see what is in my fridge, throw random ingredients together and pray it turns out. These turkey and cheese crescent rolls were one such endeavor. Thankfully, my husband talked me down when I said I wanted to add asparagus to the center. Although, I still think that could have been rather tasty. I’ve made stuffed crescent rolls before, like pigs in a blanket. But on this particular night, we had lunch meat, sliced cheese, and no bread…and my boys said they wanted sandwiches. So this was the product. I’m sure there are endless possibilities to stuffed crescent rolls, like right now I’m thinking Thanksgiving crescent…

  • Food

    Easy Instapot Scalloped Potatoes

    I spent my high school years living in Western Idaho. While Idaho is the land of potatoes, I did not see my first potato field until my freshman year of college. A majority of the potato fields are in Southeastern Idaho. Still, my love of potatoes (in all forms) began LONG before I lived in the potato state…and to this day, French Fries are still at the top of my potato loving list. When potatoes and cheese are combined, though…that is a match made in heaven. So when I made scalloped potatoes a few weekends ago, my boys couldn’t get enough or stop thanking me for making them. While this…

  • Food

    Copy Cat Noodles & Co. Wisconsin Mac’n’Cheese

    The first time I tried Noodles & Co.’s Wisconsin Mac’n’Cheese, I was living in Colorado Springs. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Unfortunately, Noodles & Co. is not yet a restaurant that is found nationwide. So, like many other foods I have fallen in love with and then moving away from, I had to figure out how to make this. AND…since my children have inherited the love of cheese and noodles, of course, I had to recreate this recipe for myself. ALSO…did you know that I have family from Wisconsin? And my Great Uncle had a cattle farm in northern Illinois that would occasionally send milk and…

  • Food

    Instapot Cajun Sausage and Cheesy Rice

    After living in Mississippi a decade and a half ago, all things Cajun quickly crept into my flavor palate. Just like most of the other recipes I have in my top favorites, anything Cajun is PACKED full of flavor with each bite. Jambalaya is definitely my favorite Cajun meal, but when your family isn’t a huge fan of seafood or spice…a girl creates another Cajun flavored meal. Plus who can turn down any super cheesy meal? If you use brown Jasmin rice, be sure to adjust the cooking time. Brown rice tends to take longer to cook. Another tasty substitute would be quinoa or couscous. Hope y’all are having an…

  • Food

    Instapot Cheesy Sausage & Tot Casserole

    Sometimes I create my own recipes, and other times I steal someone else’s and tweak it. Why do the heavy lifting if someone has already perfected the heavy lifting for you? This recipe is one such case. One typical Saturday night, a Saturday night that wasn’t a date night, I was perusing Pinterest…or as Matthew so endearingly calls it, internet hoarding…when I came across this recipe. As I spent some of my formative years (high school) in potato country, any recipe that is full of cheese and potatoes instantly calls to me. I know, I know…I’m a nutritionist who is working toward her dietetic degree…but a heart wants what a…

  • Food

    Cheesy Manicotti

    A few weeks ago I decided I would involve the amigos more in meal planning and cooking dinner. I told each of them to decide on a dinner they wanted to help me prepare. Bean chose the easy way and wanted to do precooked tortellini with marinara sauce. His reasoning was if he aimed low in the beginning his only option was to move up. Then Keegs decided he wanted his absolute favorite dinner, which I refuse to make most of the time, Hawaiian Haystacks…if you don’t know what these are, then you most likely aren’t Mormon. You see…Mormons have this urge to create some of the yummiest, yet most…