May Recipe Re-Make Recap

It's June, you guys! JUNE! After that hideous winter we had it's been difficult for me to accept that warm weather is here to say (at least for the next few months), but now it's JUNE and there's no denying it. It's summer! Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief....Ahhhhh. 

May was definitely the busiest month we've had so far this year, and that's really saying a lot. Will finished up his soccer season with a total of four goals scored, and is already asking when fall season is going to start. Andrew is deep into his tee-ball season with Joe coaching. He's barely batting from the tee at all anymore, and is making great progress at hitting. He turned six (!!!!) on May 10th and graduated from kindergarten last Friday. It's hard for me to believe that I'm the mother of an almost-first-grader!

We've been working on a lot of outside projects -- putting up our pool (and filling it up -- ugh, I'm already fretting about that water bill!), planting our garden, and building a new and improved fire pit. I'm more excited about summer than I've ever been before, thinking about all the fun we're going to have and all the fresh food we're (hopefully!) going to eat.

Even as busy as we've been, I managed to cook quite a few meals. Many of our favorites made reappearances this month, including a few recipes I hadn't made for literally years. 

These grilled chicken Caesar flatbreads are definitely a favorite around here. The chicken is so flavorful and succulent, and I just can't think of much better than eating a portable Caesar salad. ALDI sells naan now for a great price, so I picked some up to use for the flatbreads. I will probably always use naan for these now.

Over the winter, when I was pining for warm weather and grilled foods, this grilled pesto chicken with tomato cream penne was the meal I was most looking forward to. It didn't disappoint. It never does.

Shrimp po boys are a favorite around here, with kids and adults alike. I should actually start doubling the amount of shrimp, since we're all guilty of snacking on them while I'm frying the batches. I think this is one of the best sandwiches there is.

I hadn't made this vegetable lasagna for a few years. When one of my co-workers and his wife had a baby recently, I knew this was the perfect thing to make for them. I made two: one for them, and one for us. It was just as hearty and delicious as I remembered. Unattractive photo aside, you really must try this. It's a delicious meatless entree, and loaded with good-for-you veggies.

I also made the new parents a batch of vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies, because what's more soul-soothing than a batch of cookies when you're dealing with new parenthood? (Or any type of parenthood, for that matter.) This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Lately, I've been adding 1 cup of dark chocolate chips to the batter, too.

I made a batch of creamy stovetop macaroni and cheese to go with steamed broccoli and homemade chicken nuggets, because sometimes it's just fun to eat like a kid. I love this recipe; it's so simple, and the macaroni is perfectly creamy and cheesy.

When life hands you rotten bananas, everyone knows you make banana bread. I modified my favorite recipe into muffins this time (they cooked for about 25 minutes). These were a delicious breakfast for us -- while they lasted!

This Crock pot pork roast with potatoes and carrots was a perfect meal for one of our especially busy nights this month. I got a new, larger Crock pot for Christmas, so I was delighted that I could fit even more potatoes and carrots in (that's my favorite part of this meal; I mash them with butter and salt, and they are amazing).

I reserved half of the pork roast to use for these pulled pork pita pizzas. This was a delicious 10-minute dinner, equally suited for another busy night!

This rosemary ranch chicken is hands-down my favorite grilled chicken recipe. The flavor is so amazing, and the marinade makes the chicken incredibly tender. Every time we make it, we're wowed all over again by how delicious it is.

Speaking of ranch chicken -- these ranch chicken tacos are another family favorite. I didn't even have them on our menu plan, but I got a sudden craving for them and had to make them. They're so simple and delicious; the only problem is, however much chicken I make, we never seem to have enough!

Here's another meal that I crave. Biscuits with sausage gravy is probably one of my favorite meals on the planet. This time we had cheesy hash browns on the side, and I may or may not have loaded those up with the gravy too...

 

This taco macaroni and cheese has become one of the most popular recipes on my site. I made it for us on a whim, since it had been a while since the last time we had it. I just had to confirm that all of the attention it's getting is well-deserved -- and I believe that it is!