find a recipe!

A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes

/ By / 3 Comments

This whole blogging world can be so funny sometimes. Here, let me take a picture of a Sloppy Joe and try and make it look beautiful. But for real though, Sloppy Joes aren’t all that pretty. They are actually kind of…..EH. So this is the best I can do and I’m ok with that. Because they taste awesome and they are a great quick family friendly dinner.

And these particular sloppy Joes have a twist to them. Oh yes my friends, meet Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes. Full of flavors reminiscent of a Philly Cheesesteak (obvi) these are served up hot with green pepper, onion, mushrooms, worchestershire sauce, ketchup, and of course, provolone cheese.

Coming together in just about ten minutes or so, this the perfect answer to your 6:00 dinner rush. Bonus that most people in the home, hopefully, will enjoy. Don’t hold me to it though. If you’re family is weird like mine, you can make the mushrooms on the side which I did. Then I just piled up the mushrooms on my individual sandwich and no one had a temper tantrum. Score.

I served ours up on toasted whole wheat buns with the melted provolone. So good I had two! Try them out this week. I’d so love to hear what you think.

PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SLOPPY JOES
Recipe Adapted from Dinner Then Dessert

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
8 ounces brown mushrooms minced
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup beef stock
6 Provolone Cheese Slices
6 buns, I used whole wheat

DIRECTIONS:

Add the ground beef to a large cast iron skillet (this browns very well) and brown until a deep brown crust appears before breaking the beef apart. Then break apart and continue to cook until brown and just slightly crispy.

Remove the beef (you can leave the fat) and add the butter and the onions and bell peppers and mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes until softened and slightly browned. 

Add the beef back into the pan.

In a small cup mix the beef stock and cornstarch together.

Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, beef broth/cornstarch mixture into the pan.

Cook until the mixture mostly absorbs the liquid, roughly 3-5 minutes. Serve on toasted along with the provolone cheese.

Crispy thighs with peppers and cous cous

/ By / 3 Comments

Yippee we made it to Friday friends! Let’s celebrate with one of our new favorite dinners in rotation around our home. This crispy thighs with peppers and cous cous recipe is oh so lovely with fresh minimal ingredients and you get to use a SKILLET! I don’t know about you, but I just love skillet dinners. Especially when they involve bone in skin on chicken thighs, which I just have an overall obsession with.

First you get to sear up the lovely thighs to get the skin nice and crispy on the outside. Then in goes a bunch of peppers and onions and garlic. On the side is simmering some garlic cous cous and then everything comes together oh so perfectly in the oven. For the cous cous, I just used the boxed variety that comes together in like five minutes, couldn’t be easier.

To make it all even better, on the top goes a fresh caper salsa verde. I actually don’t really like capers, but in this dish mixed up with all the other herbs in completely works. You can make this salsa earlier in the day and it can hang out in the fridge if that helps with the dinner time madness. 

This is a great family meal that comes together fairly quickly yet is a little elevated for that something special feeling. Perfect to celebrate a Friday night after a long week.

Happy weekend to you and yours!

CRISPY CHICKEN THIGHS WITH PEPPERS AND SALSA VERDE
Adapted from Country Living

INGREDIENTS:

1 box roasted garlic-and-olive oil couscous
2 tsp. vegetable oil or olive oil
6 large skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
3/4 tsp. Freshly ground pepper
3 medium colorful bell peppers
1/2 medium Sweet onion, I used a red one
2 clove garlic

INGREDIENTS FOR SALSA VERDE:

1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped up
1/4 c. fresh basil, chopped up
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped up
1 green onion, chopped up
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. capers
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
salt
pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cook cous cous according to package directions.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place chicken in skillet, skin sides down, and cook 10 minutes or until skin is browned and crispy. Turn chicken over and cook 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate; discard drippings.

Sauté peppers and onions for a few minutes, until softened and slightly browned. Stir in the garlic. Arrange chicken on top of peppers, skin sides up. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes or until done.

Meanwhile, make salsa (or this can be done earlier in the day). Stir together parsley, basil, cilantro, green onion, olive oil, capers, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fluff couscous with a fork. Serve chicken and peppers on couscous, and top with desired amount of salsa verde.

What my boys will eat.

/ By / Leave a Comment

Chicken nuggets, french fries, grilled cheese, hot dogs, pizza, peanut butter and jelly. Oh wait, can’t forget the $37 filets when we go out to dinner.  

Shall I go on? 

I’m going to be extremely transparent on this post because I get this question asked almost daily and I want to be very clear and honest about something.

My boys are not eating what I cook every day.

And (GASP!) I am ok with it.

Look, I know dinner can be an extremely frustrating time for families for many reasons. Busy schedules and picking eating I’m sure are at the top of those reasons. And I know, it’s not fun to be a short order cook. Making multiple meals each night just seems to be enabling the picky eating problem, right?

Yet I don’t know. I sort of view it differently.

Maybe I’m navie, but I’m hopeful that if I keep cooking different flavors with different ingredients and my boys see that, smell that, and at times even taste, that alone is progress in of itself. I know many people grew up with their mom making only one dinner, myself included. Yet I think a lot of the way we eat has changed now. There was no Pinterest crazed moms back then, right? My mom is the most wonderful cook in the entire world but we grew up eating eating meals that leaned way more kid friendly than not.

So I think there is a gap here. A gap in which some of our kids need time to let their taste buds grow into the way we cook now. And, rather than get frustrated by it all, I just accept it. There is something freeing in that. Just don’t expect them to try or eat the salmon power bowl. Everyone is happier, I promise. And hey, if you have littles that gobble that type of stuff up more power to you! 

But how do I handle feeding my boys? Making multiple meals each night? 

So I’m on the clock from pick up (2:40) on. I view feeding them just apart of the job. They are starving after school so I generally make a heartier snack then. Most of the times they are at an activity around actual dinner time so I am cooking for them before they go. If it’s a meal I’ve made for the whole family that they will enjoy (everyone loves this) I will serve that. If not, I just keep things on hand that I know they will always eat and love. Sliders are a go to fav. Italian sausage. Rotisserie chicken. Tacos. None of this is hard to heat up and/or cook. It takes all of ten minutes, tops. They are happy and well fed before sports and I can eat a dinner that I want to eat.

Like this coconut chick pea curry.

YOU GUYS.

I promise you it’s worth heating up sliders for your kids over, or heck even driving through Culvers. We do not judge here.

Make this if only for yourself as it is completely worth it and SO EASY that it’s not annoying at all that your kids probably may not touch it.

SLOW COOKER COCONUT CURRY CHICK PEAS
Recipe adapted from Kardea Brown

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped leeks, white and light green parts
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup sliced carrots (1/4 inch thick)
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped lemongrass or 1/4 cup lemon juice (I used a lemongrass paste which worked great!)
One 14-ounce can vegetable stock
3 cups canned garbanzo beans will work, drained and rinsed
One 13.5-ounce can full-fat coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
Steamed basmati rice, for serving (I used Trader Joes frozen)
Cilantro, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks, onions, carrots; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add the curry powder, sugar, ginger, garlic and lemongrass; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place the onion mixture in a slow cooker. Pour in the vegetable broth. Stir in the chickpeas and coconut milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Serve with rice and plenty of chopped up fresh cilantro

Easy tomato soup

/ By / Leave a Comment

Sundays for our family lately have just been fantastic. Since we are currently in ‘off’ season for baseball (although somehow I’m still driving them to baseball related stuff three to four times during the week, ha) we do not have any games which means wide open Sundays. And I am savoring every single moment. Part of me still thinks I am in recovering mode from last season. Ha. Ok, that’s probably leaning a tad dramatic. But OH MY GOSH when you have roughly 60+ games between two boys, well, the effect lingers…..

But now, we rest.

And it’s been glorious! 

I’ve read books. I’ve been in pajamas ALL DAY. We’ve watched movies. And played with friends. And of course, made batches of soup for Soup Sunday.

What goes better with lazy Sundays than homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons? 

I truly can’t think of anything at all.

Talk about comfort in a bowl. This tomato soup is so delicious and yet simple enough to whip up for a lunch which is exactly what we did one Sunday. The grilled cheese croutons are simply a grilled cheese cut into six small squares. Easy enough.

This goes best on the couch curled up in a big blanket with a good movie and fire going.

Winter? You’re not all bad. Thanks for reminding (ok, forcing us at times) to slow down. Hope you can have some pajama soup time yourselves this weekend! 

EASY TOMATO SOUP WITH GRILLED CHEESE CROUTONS
Recipe from Ina Garten

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons good olive oil
3 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
Large pinch of saffron threads
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup orzo
1/2 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot or Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, until fragrant. Stir in the chicken stock, tomatoes, saffron, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, fill a medium pot with water, add 2 teaspoons salt and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and cook for 7 minutes. (It will finish cooking in the soup.) Drain the orzo and add it to the soup. Stir in the cream, return the soup to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve hot with a classic grilled cheese cut into fourths or sixths on top.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos

/ By / 4 Comments

You guuuuuuuys.

Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday and if you’re following along to my weekly meal plan (sign up right here) you know that last Taco Tuesday I made these crispy black bean tacos and they made all my dreams come true.

First of all, it’s a taco. Let’s just begin there.

Secondly, it’s a heartier vegetarian dish which always just feels good for some reason.

Third, you get to make this cool coleslaw topping with fresh lime juice and olive oil and chunked up avocado and tomato and feta cheese. I know, I know. All good things.

Fourth, they come together in literally minutes. Minutes. If you’re looking for a quick ten minute week night dinner these crispy black bean tacos are your answer. 

Shall we go on? Fifth, the health factor is pretty good on these. Aside from frying the tortillas (it’s fine) you’re eating nothing but good for you ingredients. And even the tortillas are getting all golden in olive oil. Heart healthy my friends.

So what are you waiting for? Taco Tuesday is right around the corner. (Like as in tomorrow). Give them a try! 

CRISPY BLACK BEAN TACOS
Recipe adapted from Oh Sweet Basil

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix
1 Avocado, Chopped up
1 Tomato, chopped up
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 white or yellow corn tortillas (I used yellow corn)
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Bottled chipotle hot sauce or other hot sauce for topping, optional

Directions:

Place beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash up together.

Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, avocado, tomato, feta, and cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer.

Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side.

Fill tacos with slaw, sprinkle on some hot sauce if you’d like, and enjoy!

Top