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Meatless Monday: Mushroom Stroganoff
I’ve really been on a roll with making meatless meals. I decided to take a stab at mushroom stroganoff and see what the boys thought. Even Matthew decided it was just as tasty as beef stroganoff. Stroganoff is typically made with large pasta, like egg noodles. I prefer pappardelle pasta. They are still egg noodles, but on steriods. It makes for more fun eating the meal. An added benefit with this meal is that it is cheap to create. Cutting out the beef causes the price per serving to be below $1.25. Using the beef consommé instead of beef stock also gives it the beefy flavor without the meat. Plus…
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Copy Cat: Pei Wei Chicken Wraps
I don’t eat at Pei Wei’s often, but when I do, I always have to have their chicken wraps. They are SO tasty, but since I don’t get to go to Pei Wei’s as much as I’d like, I decided I needed to figure out how to recreate them at home. I’ve also been on a kick lately of tricking my family into trying new things. I had some left over cremini mushrooms in the fridge and decided to add them into this recipe instead of only having ground chicken. If you are most decidedly not a fan of mushrooms, just exchange the mushrooms for another pound of ground chicken.…
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Meatless Meal: Veggie Lo Mein
I’ve been on a no meat meal kick as of late. While I know this is a rather unpopular statement, some might even say controversial…I LOVE MUSHROOMS. And…of course, I married a man who loathes them, or at least the texture of them. Mushrooms are very much a hated vegetable. Typically it is a texture thing because most mushrooms take on the flavor of whatever you add them to. So I have made it my mission to sneak mushrooms in as many meals as I can and see which of my boys’ notices. When I am adding mushrooms to something, I prefer cremini or the white button mushrooms as opposed…
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Loaded Mexican Cornbread
Cornbread wasn’t something I knew about until my teens. In the Midwest, or at least Nebraska, cornbread wasn’t typically consumed with chili. I know…Cornhuskers…cornbread…it should be a given. But I grew up consuming cinnamon rolls with chili. Now I know what you are thinking, cinnamon rolls with chili…GROSS! Don’t knock it til you try it, it is actually really tasty. That being said, I didn’t know the goodness of cornbread until my teenage years. Since then, I have tried cornbread in many different ways, and a whole host of variety of types and brands. Personally, I think cornbread should be on the sweeter side and have more of a cake-like…
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Beef Barley Stew
We had a few days last week that were chilly, for Vegas. Autumn is a finicky season in the Southwest. We will dip down into the 50s for a few days and then temperatures will rise back up to the high 70s and low 80s. On the sporadic days of lower temperatures, I embrace the cold and plan for a cozy meal. The cooler days seem slower and more at ease. It gives me time to prepare a meal that may take longer than 30 minutes, and beef barley stew is a perfect meal for those kind of days. Actual prep doesn’t take too much time at all, but there…
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15-Minute Meal: Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
Sometimes meals are planned and food is prepped…other times winging it is the key. I always have certain ingredients in my kitchen, at least one jar of roasted red peppers is definitely one of those ingredients. One of my favorite ways to use roasted red peppers is pureed in sauces. This particular recipe is a not only a family favorite, it takes 15 minutes to make…start to finish. The sauce is another one of my quick sauces made in the blender. I like to make it when the pasta is cooking. When the most time consuming step in a recipe is waiting for the water to boil and then cook…
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Maple Roasted Beets and Carrots
Contains affiliate links My dad loves beets. I mean he LOVES beets. We always dreaded the dinners where beets were a side dish. It didn’t matter if they were canned, boiled, baked…I always thought they tasted like dirt. After a while, my parents gave up forcing their children to like beets. I hadn’t consumed beets since then, but I always wanted to try my hand a roasting them. Visiting my parents this last week, I knew I would find several pounds of fresh beets sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be consumed. Remember when I said my dad LOVES beets? He eats them as a snack if they are available.…
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Baked Apple Pie Donuts
Contains affiliate links My autumn candles are lit, my sweaters are ready for wear, and I am cooking/baking up a storm of recipes filled with fresh ingredients of the season. Last autumn, I was obsessed with creating the perfect apple cider donut. I became frustrated that I couldn’t figure out how to accentuate the apple flavor. While the recipe I settled on was very tasty, I still was bothered by it. This season, I decided to up my game. I realized I wasn’t just searching for that apple flavor, but instead all of the taste of the apple pie, except in a donut. Well…this recipe has 3 types of apples…
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Instapot Artichokes
Contains affiliate links Artichokes are one vegetable that had intimidated me for years. I can easily add canned artichoke hearts to a recipe, but taking a full head of artichoke and cooking it properly, that’s where the intimidation lies. It wasn’t until I saw them prepared on the Food Network Channel when I realized I was over analyzing it. I knew I could easily cook them in my Instapot. From start to finish, it typically takes me 30 minutes or less. AND…if I was only cooking for myself, I would totally have this as my dinner. If cooking artichokes have scared you, or if you have failed time and time…
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Lemon Bar Blondies
Contains affiliate links I am all for a good brownie, but lately, blondies have had my heart. Honestly, anything with fresh lemon flavoring is where my taste buds have been leaning toward all summer. There is just something so refreshing about lemons in the midst of a massive heatwave. We’ve been above 100°F for most of July and all of August thus far. The worst part right now is we have the heat, and we’ve been increasing in humidity as well with monsoon season starting up. Between the humidity and the smoke traveling from California, I am DYING for a good downpour. Growing up in the Midwest, whenever the weather…
