Archives for October 2016

C’s picks – week of 10/30

October 30, 2016 / By Courtney / Leave a Comment

Yippee! Another fall week is here and this one includes the CUBS and Halloween. Let’s get some cozy fall food cooking in the kitchen, shall we? I so hope something sounds good for your own family, let’s do this!

Sunday night we are off to the CUBS GAME! I KNOW. That’s what I get for marrying a die hard fan. Logan will be with us as Auntie Carolyn, let’s bring home a win Cubbies!

And just like that, it’s Halloween. Going to be an insane day of recovering from the night before, and of course, all that candy and parades and school visits and so on and so forth. Dinner will get going early in the am with this unreal looking brisket recipe. Spinach salad on the side and that’s all I’ve got planned. Parents? Neighbors? What else.

Tuesday night let’s slow things down a bit with some serious health in this french lentil soup. Just what the doctor ordered post Halloween.

Keeping in mind with health, on Wednesday I’m so dying to try this cheesy chicken caprese casserole. Looks to good to be true!

Thursday night let’s get a pasta recipe going. This french onion soup pasta is SUCH an oldie but goodie. Forgot about this one, can’t wait to have again. Serve it up with an easy spinach salad and dinner is done.

And that brings us to Friday. My mom sent me a slow cooker zesty barbecue chicken recipe so I’m going to try that out all day. Hoping it’s one that we all can love.

That’s a wrap – tell me, anything sound good?
C

Everyday Moms: Meet Courtney

October 28, 2016 / By Courtney / 3 Comments

Alright friends, a little twist on the Everyday Mom series this week. With requests coming in for me to answer my own questions (tricky tricky!) along with partnering up with 365 Barrington I thought it would be a better way to introduce myself over there as a contributor and to any new readers here. So without further ado, here we go!

Meet Courtney!

Location: North Barrington, IL

Job: Author of A Life From Scratch & stay at home mom

Kids: Logan (10) and Beckett (4)

You’re in your closet – what do you reach for first? Stripes. I have a problem. I think stripes, especially navy and white, are just classic. I feel the most ‘me’ in them. This is how I justify owning like 25 striped shirts and dresses that are basically all the same thing. (Psst – did you know? Boden makes the absolute best stripes. Believe me, I’ve tried them all) .

Hands down the one beauty product you can’t live without. Only one! Oh my gosh I’m not a beauty junkie by any means but this is a hard one! I am completely addicted to chapstick and actually whole heartedly believe I would die without it so I’m going to have to go with that. So boring.

Your daily moisturizer. Are you happy with it? YES! Origins ‘A Perfect World‘ with SPF 25. I’ve been using it for years and feel it moisturizes great, I love the smell, and the protection from the SPF. Plus I feel it’s pretty ‘clean’ in terms of beauty products and it’s at a great price.

Your nightly moisturizer. Are you happy with it? YES – again! From time to time in terms of a nightly moisturizer I’m a ‘grass is greener’ type gal. We all want that one magic cream that will transform you while you sleep, right? So I have shopped around a bit and read many reviews and tried other creams but at the end of the day I always go back to it: Origins Night A Mins. Again, great results, smells great, and all for a very fair price.

Something in your shopping cart online right now that you want to buy – budget is no limit. Well, with fall and winter arriving it’s officially soup and chili season. My eye has been on this pot for quite some time, I have the smaller version but the big one is just screaming for homemade stocks which I would love to start doing.

How do you feel your beauty routine changed when you became a mom? Now that my boys are at the ages they are, I feel I’ve turned a huge corner in terms of actually being able to make myself presentable. For awhile there there were times I could barely fit a shower in – forget about drying my hair. Now we’ve reached a much better place in that I can shower and get ready without worrying the house will be completely destroyed or one of my boys will just….leave. Yep, that happened.

Biggest indulgence you allow yourself? My hair is WILD. Like, crazy wild. And I have a lot of it. I wouldn’t say I get weekly blowouts but I’m probably at around two to three times a month which I know is a huge treat. In my defense, the blow outs last FOREVER so when you break it down it’s actually quite cost effective in terms of my time and I’m just happier in general because my wild mane is tamed. Locals, Kelsey at Ten Friends rocks my world. (And Natasha and Mary!)

Tell us about your kid(s). I have two boys that are everything to me. They continue to shock me daily with their boy antics. I grew up in a pink world, so I don’t believe I will ever fully understand what goes on in their brains at times. For example Beckett the other day was inside on the couch and proceeded to go outside to pee. Walked right back in (leaving the door wide open of course) and went back on the couch. Dude, I can’t even. WE HAVE A BATHROOM.

That being said, the cuddles and love for their mama these two boys have is unreal. And for the most part they are just…..chill. Happy. Content. I don’t get much out of them at the end of their days but they generally seem thriving and, dare I say it, EASY! I look back at when they were very young and man, I’m a firm believer boys are waaaaaaaaaay harder in the beginning. Or maybe it was just mine, but I didn’t sit down for many many years. And they were huge, and fast, and wild. I was actually a tad afraid so it’s nice they’ve grown up a bit and I couldn’t be prouder of who they are growing into each day. As far as siblings go they are quite similar. Logan is more outwardly outgoing but they both have a deep love of friendships and school and sports, specifically baseball. Beckett is way more intense than Logan. He takes things in very deeply and needs the time to process it all but if you give him that he then will come out of his shell and join big brother in the chaos happily.

What is your biggest struggle as a mom day to day? My biggest struggle would be recognizing my work on A Life From Scratch as an actual real grown up job and balancing it with my role of staying at home, which I take very seriously. Because so much of it is so authentic to my day to day life, it can just feel like a little hobby or something that is just a part of me that I’m sharing but that ‘sharing’ requires countless hours of writing, cooking, photographing, editing, planning, SEO’ing, social media, working on partnerships – etc. It can be a lot, and I have zero admin support behind me. That being said, I’ve been tempted to put B in school longer just so I could have that time to actually accomplish all that I want to but I’ve realized not to wish these young years away. Every year gets easier as he goes a little more and next year he will be in school full time. So for now, we are still going to eat lunch together and have our afternoons together and my mornings are for chores and a bit of working out and laundry and errands and I will fit in all that I need to for ALFS when I can. I have many years ahead of me with both my kids in school full time. (Sob).

What is your biggest happiness as a mom day to day? I guess I just can’t believe that they are mine. It seems way too cliché but not a day goes by where I don’t look at them and think how incredibly fortunate I am. They are healthy and strong and thriving and I realize those are not little things. So I guess my daily happiness is pretty simple: I am so happy that they are healthy and that they are mine.

Snap your fingers – you could have a magic fairy help you with one thing around the home every day. What is it? I’m such a weirdo in the sense that I actually like laundry so, no help needed there. What I can’t stand is coming home from a large Target run or grocery shopping trip and unloading my car. I. hate. it. So, my fairy would be a super strong unloading fairy!

Because you are oh so pretty, tell us about your favorite feature! Ok, weird answering this one. I’m going to have to go with my height. Clothes generally look better, there was much more room to carry around my boys while pregnant (needed), and it’s fun to throw on heels and be one of the tallest in the room!

Whew, that’s a wrap – thanks so much for reading! And Go CUBS!
C

World Series Flatbread

October 25, 2016 / By Courtney / Leave a Comment

Alright Chicago.

This is IT! It finally happened and oh my goodness is the city celebrating. Rightfully so, as it has been forever. M’s dad summed it up perfectly with a text post win…..’I can die a happy man.’ It’s like Chicago finally exhaled a huge breath of relief, whew. We made it. We finally made it.

Of course the goal would be to win the World Series but man, it feels good to just get this far. Doesn’t it?

We are bracing for the game by living in Cubs gear, studying all the stats, and of course, getting some good game food going. I thought it would be fun to take the flavors of a popular ballpark item, philly cheese steaks, and turn it into a ooey gooey flatbread.

This one worked great for the game as it’s easy to eat around the TV and the flavors were unreal. UNREAL. We legitimately ate enough for eight people. And hey, minimal prep! You can even make all the toppings ahead of time (what I did) and come game time just assemble and slid into the oven. All the while cheering for the Chicago Cubs, of course.

Game one? We’ve so got this!!! No doubt in my mind.

World Series Flatbread

2016-10-24 16:32:47

A crispy and gooey flatbread filled with Philly Cheesesteak flavors!

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

10 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

10 min

Ingredients

1 lbs flank steak
grill seasoning
salt & pepper
olive oil
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
few TBS cream cheese
few good handfuls of shredded mozzarella or combo of any italian cheeses
pizza crust, flatbread, naan bread - any will work

Instructions

Preheat your grill to medium heat and cook the seasoned flank steak, roughly 5-6 minutes per side. Set aside to rest and then eventually slice thin.
In a large saute pan, heat some olive oil over medium high heat. Saute the veggies until crisp tender, roughly 5 minutes or so.
On your crust, spread a small layer of cream cheese. Top with a handful of mozzarella, the thinly sliced steak, peppers, and onions. Add another layer of mozzarella on top.
Into your oven it goes, temp and directions will vary according to what crust you are using. Most will be around 425 or so for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

By ALFS

A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Bacon roasted brussels sprouts

October 24, 2016 / By Courtney / 1 Comment

Oh my heart.

Have you seen these beauties popping up in stores lately? They are all over and totally a precursor to the approaching holiday season. If you ask me, brussels are totally the star of November. I’m in love, and they are the perfect go to side dish for any roasted meat you have tenderizing in your oven…it doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving Day.

There are probably a million and one ways to prepare these but hands down, this is the best I’ve had. I had a similar feel to them all out in California. Almost charred, soft yet crispy, and surrounded in….well….yes, bacon fat. IT’S FINE. I knew I had to get home and recreate as best I can.

The secret? Bake the bacon on a large tray and remove then toss the brussels in the bacon fat. Don’t judge me. Who needs olive oil. After that you simple season with salt, pepper, and get this…..freshly squeezed orange juice.

I then added some whole slices of peel for a bit of extra flavor and color and my goodness….unreal. The orange juice cooks down with the bacon grease to create that perfect sweet and salty vibe. These would go great with a roasted pork tenderloin or of course turkey or hey….even on their own. I probably ate half this try and it was all I needed. If you are a brussels sprouts gal you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Happy roasting!

Bacon and orange roasted brussels

2016-10-18 20:58:35

The perfect salt and sweet roasted brussles sprouts!

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

35 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

35 min

Ingredients

4 slices bacon
4 to 5 large handfuls of brussels sprouts, halved
1 large orange
salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Place the bacon on a large baking sheet and bake until crisp, roughly 10 minutes.
Remove the bacon slices, leaving the fat. Crank up your oven to 425. Toss the brussels in the fat, adding a bit more olive oil if they look dry. (I didn't need but depends on the fattiness of your bacon).
Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze the juice from the orange and toss around, using some peel if you'd like as well.
Roast the brussels sprouts until slightly charred, roughly 20 minutes or so (keep an eye on them). Chop up the bacon and sprinkle over the top - enjoy!

By ALFS

A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

C’s picks – week of October 23rd

October 23, 2016 / By Courtney / Leave a Comment

I am so loving these fall days of cooking. There is definitely a chill in the air, but it’s not painful like what is to come. Perfect for some comfort food. Trying to balance out the hearty with healthy – always key, right? Let’s do this!

Sunday we have, potentially, L’s last tackle game in the morning and then B’s last baseball game later afternoon. That equals the perfect day to bust out the slow cooker. B loves these noodles….so I’m making my homemade slower cooker marinara and tortellinis.

I didn’t get to test out the Canyon Creek chicken recipe last week so it’s a must for this week! I will keep you posted.

Tuesday let’s get something nice and light and healthy bubbling away. French lentil soup? Oh yeah. Just the thing.

I eyed this beef and beer potpie recipe in the latest of Real Simple and I knew I had a winner with the boys. Well, hopefully. Testing it out Wednesday night!

Something healthy needs to be on the agenda for Thursday. We loooooove this healthy chicken taco casserole. Shhh, don’t tell M the ingredients!

And that brings us to Friday. We haven’t had our go to in a few week so let’s get it going. Wingless buffalo chicken pizza….always brings me back, mostly, to Shady Lane!

That’s a wrap! Anything sound good? I hope so.
C