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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

A sidekick for grilled meat.

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If your weather has been like our weather (literally high 80’s) then I hope your grill is fired up. We have been grilling veggies, chicken, burgers, and sausages non stop. I forgot how much I love food fresh off the grill and how easy suddenly meal time becomes.

We entertained some great friends Sunday night. Going along with the theme of the weather almost everything was made on the grill (including cheese…stay tuned!) aside from this one side dish. It’s served cool though, so it’s the perfect sidekick to sit along your hot from the grill meat. I like to make it early in the day so it has a looooong time to hang out and chill in the fridge.

This recipe came from one of my mother in laws (yes, I am blessed to have 2 – and if you’re counting yes, that is 3 moms total). I tweaked it a little bit for the mayo hater that lives in my home so when you omit that and check out everything left you are looking at not only one satisfying dish that’ll cool you off – but, it’s also pretty healthy!

Rice Salad
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Ingredients
  1. 1 package of chicken rice-a-roni
  2. 2 green onions, thinly sliced
  3. 2 jars marinated artichokes, drained and saved the marinade
  4. 1 can sliced black olives
  5. 1/2 green pepper, chopped
  6. use your discretion here. Recipe calls for 1/3 cup of mayo. I believe the marinade from the artichokes is enough flavor for the dish. If you want a creamier texture (who doesn't) Fresh Market sells this amazing all natural product called 'Lemonaise.' New York Times rated it #1 in taste. It's creamy. It's lemony. It's zingy. It works.
Instructions
  1. Cook rice according to package directions and bring to room temp. Mix everything together using some of the marinade and mayo/lemonaise if you prefer.
  2. Chill and serve!
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

I ate this with 5 meals in 3 days.
Courtney

Well, hello there summer.

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Is this not insane weather? I don’t know how else to explain it other than it’s crazy. And much appreciated, of course. Seeing my car temperature read 84 degrees, flowers bloom, and L run through the sprinkler mid March? Not something I was expecting but hey – I will take it with open arms!

I hope dishes like this have been popping up at your dinner table…

If not, and you need a super quick and easy marinade for your fired up grill go with this one. It’s got minimal ingredients, doesn’t require a long (or any) marinading time, and tastes like summer.

Honey BBQ Chicken
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Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup ketchup
  2. 2 TBS honey
  3. 1 TBS worchestershire sauce
  4. your chicken, however you like it - cutlets, tenders, breasts
Instructions
  1. Mix the ingredients together and slather on the chicken. Marinade if you have the time, throw it on the grill if you don't. Cook until chicken is done.
Adapted from Real Simple
Adapted from Real Simple
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

It will be oh so cruel if this weather goes away…
Courtney

You can do this in your sleep.

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Ahem, lately I have had a hard time making it past 9PM. Not sure if it was all the travel (stay tuned) or what, but the other night I conked out at 8:25PM. Wow.

I proceeded to wake up 10 hours later, make my breakfast, and make dinner. Yep, it was another crock pot meal and while I was completely refreshed from my obscenely long nights sleep, this is a meal you can do with very little to no sleep. No problem.

M grew up eating these, and I grew up eating this. What is it? Chicken in a crock pot. That’s all my mom had to say and I knew I’d be gobbling up a plate of gooey falling apart chicken, rice, and some type of green vegetable that night. All perfectly balanced of course. We probably ate this at least twice a month – maybe more, which makes perfect sense. 5 minute prep for dinner? My mother is smart woman.

Chicken in a Crock Pot
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Ingredients
  1. boneless chicken breasts, as many as you need. Recipe calls for 5, I typically use 3
  2. salt&pepper
  3. paprika
  4. 1/2 cup dry white wine
  5. 1 cup freshly sliced mushrooms
  6. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  7. 1 cup sour cream
  8. 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
  1. Season your chicken with salt, pepper, and sprinkle paprika on top. Put in your crock pot and top with the wine, mushrooms, and soup.
  2. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5.
  3. The last half hour of cooking, stir together the sour cream and flour and add to the crock pot.
  4. You must serve this with a green vegetable, try these, and rice (use brown to up the health factor).
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

And yes…those are cookies cooling on the counter in the background…

Courtney

Cure for a bad day.

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It was at exactly 1:31AM that I heard the three dreaded words uttered, ‘my ear hurts.’ I bolted up to see L in obvious pain, tugging on his left ear. Ugh, I know how painful those things can be. They are nothing to be messed with.

After some Motrin to take the edge off, the next two and half hours were spent doing what I like to call the ‘night shuffling.’ First L and I started off up in his bed. We weren’t sleeping. Then we went downstairs, kicked M out, and tried sleeping together in my bed. Nope, not working. Then I went upstairs to tell M to go and try and sleep with L and that wasn’t the magic combo either. Finally around 4AM we gave up and resorted to movie watching on the couch.

Throughout the whole night shuffling, I had two things on my mind. 1. Poor L and 2. Work. If you’re a working mom or have been, you’ll get it. You have to have a plan decided around 8AM as to what will occur for your day as you need to check in with your boss and your childcare situation. Your mind spins with your different options until you decide on a plan. I kept telling myself, yes it hasn’t been the best night sleep but I will be the first appointment at the DR’s walk in, get the prescription, pick up the medicine, drop L at my mom’s, and be in by 9. Yes, that was the plan.

Finally it was a somewhat acceptable hour to consume breakfast so I got the red Keurig flowing and sat down to my yummy plate and began to surf my favorite morning blogs like always. Except my finicky Ipad wouldn’t connect. REALLY? This made me oddly irritated. Although I did sleep for about 2.5 hours total so I suppose that isn’t all that shocking.

Ok, moving on. Time to wash some dishes – wait, why are my feet soaking wet? That’s not normal. Well, that would be because the sink plumbing is leaking and pouring water everywhere. LOVELY! The next hour proceeded to be cleaning up that mess, while comforting L, all along thinking ‘yes, I can still make it to work. I’ve got this.’

7:56AM rolls around and we are walking hand in hand into the DR. We are the first ones, as always. I am always baffled by this – how can we have been the only ones that have been up all night? Anyways, first ones in means first ones out, perfect. Prescription in hand we walk towards the car right on schedule (with the promise of making L these cookies later) only to have L stop to throw up from the pain. Poor little guy! We finally make it to the car and then just for good measures sake, throw up one more time in there.

At that point L turned to me with glassy eyes and says ‘momma, I just want to be home today.’ I couldn’t agree more L. I couldn’t agree more.

And that is when I gave up. The working mom guilt sets in. You know what is right, there is no question. Staying at home to take care of L is the right thing to do. No deadline or feeling of dedication at the office can supersede the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice. He needs you and frankly you need to be with him.

So that is what I did. I’m not even exactly sure why I wrote all this. I think, if you are a mom, that you can relate in someway to what I am talking about. At least, I hope I’m not alone in feeling this way. I don’t think I am.

To get back to food a bit here (sorry!), throughout the leaky faucet and prescription pick up and work emails I happened to have just one more thing on my mind. I watched the Pioneer Woman ladle thick and cheesey corn chowder into warm bread bowls on the Food Network the night before and the image was permanently branded into the forefront of my brain. I couldn’t think of a better time to try such an indulgent recipe than on a day like today.

Bowls of this by the fire while watching the snow fall and bedtime by 8. Exactly what the DR ordered.

Cheesy Corn Chowder
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 4 TBS butter
  2. 1 large onion, diced
  3. 3 slices of bacon, diced
  4. 1 red, 1 orange, and 1 yellow peppers, small dice
  5. 5 cups corn, from the cob or frozen
  6. 1/4 cup flour
  7. 3 cups chicken stock
  8. 2 cups half & half
  9. 2 cups grated cheese, I used sharp cheddar and pepper jack
  10. 1/3 cup chopped green onion
  11. salt & pepper, to taste
  12. 8 bread bowls, M picked ours up from Panera, hold the soup
Instructions
  1. Preheat a large Dutch oven to medium/medium high heat. Melt your butter.
  2. Saute the onion for a few minutes, and add the bacon. Saute until cooked through and the onions are translucent.
  3. Add in your peppers and saute a few minutes, then add your corn and cook another minute.
  4. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the top and stir well to combine. Add in your chicken stock and stir here and there for a few minutes to help thicken. Reduce the heat to low and stir in your half&half. Cover for 15 minutes to thicken even more.
  5. Uncover, stir in your cheeses and green onions. Taste to add salt &/pepper.
  6. Cut off the top of your bread bowls, remove the bread 'innards' and ladle the cheesy goodness into your bowls. Cover with the tops for extra dipping.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

If that doesn’t put you to sleep, I don’t know what will…
Courtney

‘Ropa Vieja.’

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We had a really great meal last night. It was a sloooow cooked Cuban braised beef and pepper stew. The recipe was a twist on the classic Cuban dish called ‘Ropa Vieja.’ In Spanish (as long as we are trying to practice that in our home) it means “old clothes.” The slow cooking process of the meat and colored vegetables literally makes them fall apart, thus resembling a jumble of rags.

And what a tasty jumble of rags indeed! I think this is my first slow-cooker meal I have posted on this site. While I do tend to use mine from time to time I really do prefer cooking as the best way to unwind at the end of the day. This meal reminded me though how wonderful it can be to throw everything in a pot, leave for the day, and come home to not only a delicious smelling home but an absolutely delicious meal.

This recipe calls to be served over white rice. I upped the health factor a bit by using brown. When it was all together and assembled it was kind of like making your own burrito bowl at home. Dig in and enjoy – Andale!

Slow-Cooker Cuban Braised Beef & Peppers
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
  2. 2 red bell peppers, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
  3. 1 onion, cut into 8 large wedges
  4. 2 tsp dried oregano
  5. 2 tsp ground cumin
  6. 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  7. 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  8. 1 1/2 lbs flank steak, cut crosswise into 3 pieces
  9. 1 cup long grain rice, white or brown
  10. 1 avocado, sliced
  11. freshly chopped cilantro
Instructions
  1. In a slow cooker, combine all the ingredients up until the meat.
  2. Nestle the flank steak in the vegetables and cook, covered, until it is tender and pulls apart easily. (High for 4-5 hours, low for 7-8 hours).
  3. Cook your rice according to the package directions.
  4. Using two forks, shred the beef and fold it gently into the cooking liquid. Serve upon the rice and top with the avocado and cilantro.
Adapted from Real Simple
Adapted from Real Simple
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Chiptole, at home!
Courtney

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