Looking for a delicious salad to go with your dinner? This is it! This is my favorite dinner salad - tons of fresh ingredients with a classic vinaigrette that tastes great with all types of meals - pasta, steak, or chicken. I know this recipe comes across perhaps a little too simple but I often get a lot of requests for this salad from friends. I like to serve a "heartier" salad when I have guests over - something that tastes great and is pretty. This is one of my favorite salad … [Read more...]
Roasted Broccolini
I love me some roasted broccolini. I love any type of roasted vegetable actually, but this one is my favorite. Broccolini is tossed with olive oil, garlic, red pepper, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and roasted until crispy and tender. It's SO good! I roast vegetables every night. It's usually whatever is on sale at the store, but I often roast broccoli or broccolini because we love it and so do my kiddos. I prefer broccolini...I like the flavor and the stems are not nearly as woodsy … [Read more...]
Green Bean Casserole
With Thanksgiving coming up, I'm thinking you may need some side dish ideas. Am I right? I know I know. It's not even Halloween yet but the holiday talk is already happening in our family. We go back to Iowa to visit my parents for Thanksgiving and now that we are older, we try to all help in the kitchen instead of leaving the daunting cooking task on just my mom. It only makes sense for me to help cook and bake, right? I love to cook in my parent's kitchen because it was the first … [Read more...]
Mexican Street Corn
Once you try Mexican Sweet Corn, you will never go back. Doesn't it just look appetizing? This recipe is to die for...it's nothing fancy, just the right flavor combos and CORN. Corn season has arrived which means grilled corn every.single.night. You agree? We make corn all the time in the Summer...my husband even brings it cold to work...the love for corn is so real around here. We grill corn, butter it and salt and pepper it. It's freaking amazing just like that, but I had to switch … [Read more...]
Chickpea Salad
A healthy mix of chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers all tossed in a lemon dill dressing then topped with, but of course, feta cheese! So I am now staying at home with Miss Raya Mae and often find myself snacking randomly throughout the day. You other mama's agree? Of course, we're busy, trying to get things done around the house while taking care of our kid(s) so we hardly ever have time to just sit and eat. It helped with the baby weight so I guess there's some good out of … [Read more...]
Roasted Butternut Squash with Candied Pecans and Ricotta
Talk about warm and cozy food! It's 60 degrees here! I'm freaking out. I am so ready for boots, but not ready for COLD weather. It went from 80 degrees to 60 degrees in like a day. A DAY. What about 74 degrees and sunny? Waaahh! Anyway...it's definitely time to starting making warm and cozy food. How else are we going to stay warm besides stuffing our faces with chili, soup, hot cheesy dip and everything butternut squash? hehe. Butternut Squash is IN SEASON like no other (duh) and … [Read more...]
Grilled Corn and Zucchini Salad
Summer is almost over, BUT it's not too late to make this salad! We love corn around our house, especially grilled corn. It's the perfect compliment to almost any meal and makes a great cold salad like this grilled corn and zucchini salad. Zucchini is also delicious during the Summer months. I'm sure you've seen all of the yummy zucchini recipes on Pinterest...especially the dessert ones...chocolate zucchini bread? umm yes! Grilled Corn and Zucchini Salad is incredibly easy to … [Read more...]
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
And the obsession with quinoa continues. I know quinoa is "trendy" right now, but it totally deserves to be popular. Just like clothes or hair styles, food goes in and out of trends. Have you noticed this? I absolutely love trendy food because it's usually pretty darn good and let's be honest, food never goes out of style. Some of my favorite trendy foods are boutique cupcakes, doughnuts (so trendy in Chicago, refer to my instagram to see what I mean), red velvet everything (not seeing … [Read more...]
Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad
There are a few food items that I don't particularly like. Just a few. And that's olives. They're just too bitter and salty for me. Unless, they're stuffed with blue cheese then I will eat like two of them. Or if they're mixed in a salad or on pizza, I will be happy to eat that salad and that pizza. But my taste buds just don't get excited when I eat a plan old olive, like just pop one in my mouth. Kinda yuck. Isn't that odd? Same goes for tomatoes. I can't take a bite out of tomato … [Read more...]
Corned Beef and Cabbage with the Fixins’
There's a first for everything. This is the first time that I made corned beef and cabbage! With all the fixins' of course. I absolutely love corned beef and cabbage but rarely do I enjoy it. Maybe once a year if Vin and I get over to his Grandma's St. Patrick's Day weekend. She makes a killer St. Patty's meal which inspired me to make it this year. I eat corned beef on reubens though...all the time. Because I'm a working girl and take care of this little blog here, I don't have … [Read more...]
Sherry Glazed Rosemary Mushrooms
This dish. Is absolutely beautiful. It's so earthy too. I couldn't wait to use that word, earthy. It's one of those words that has so much meaning, but no one can really explain what it means. You feel me? Sherry Glazed Rosemary Mushrooms are the epitome of earthiness. Maybe it's the colors...browns, hunter green (yes, not green. hunter green), and purple. Could it be the rosemary? Yes. Could it be the mushrooms themselves? Yes. Could it be the sherry, YES. This is one of those … [Read more...]
Mashed Potatoes
Another Thanksgiving recipe for you today! I couldn't leave you hanging this year - this is the first mashed potatoes recipe that I have posted on the blog. What have I been thinking? I'm sure you're wanting to make (or eat) a starchy side dish part of your menu...am I right? We typically make cheesy potatoes in our house. Like the kind with the frozen hash browns, heavy cream, and cheddar cheese. Oh Iowa, how I miss you. My mom makes those every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas … [Read more...]