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!

December and January Re-Make Recap

I can't remember the last time I was this excited for February to be here. Usually, a winter month is a winter month to me, and I don't really distinguish too much between them. But this year? The fact that it's February means that it will be April in two months. And in April, I'm hoping that it will at last be NOT SNOWY. I'm really excited for it to be not snowy.

I'm combining December's and January's recaps in one post this time, since I posted my 2013 favorites at the end of last year and missed December's recap. I just couldn't skip highlighting December's recipes! So the recap this time is absolutely loaded with good stuff that you should rush out and make ASAP.

 

My family loves it when I make two-packet pork chops and ranch-roasted potatoes. This pork chop recipe has become my absolute favorite. I've been using mushroom gravy mix instead of onion soup mix and making a heavier breading to give them a golden crust, and they really do come out perfectly. They're flavorful and crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. And speaking of flavorful -- the ranch seasoning mix makes the roasted potatoes taste so awesome.

 

These foil-baked chicken parmesan sandwiches are a great make-ahead meal. I fried up the chicken cutlets and assembled the sandwiches the night before, then just popped them in the oven after I got home from work for a simple and delicious dinner. I skipped the basil this time, and I really missed it, so definitely add the basil if you have some on hand.

I made bacon cheeseburger meatloaf and ranch macaroni and cheese on a night that my father-in-law came over for dinner. It so happened that I wasn't aware he was coming for dinner until I got home from work (thanks, Joe), so I was happy that I had something so hearty planned to make. We all love this meatloaf and this mac and cheese. I think the ranch mac and cheese is the perfect, creamy compliment to the intense flavor of the meatloaf.

This smothered chicken recipe has really withstood the test of time in our house. I've been making it for years now, and it's something that Joe and I both still crave. Lately he's been eating it on a hoagie roll with a smear of mayonnaise, but I still like it straight-up: just a big pile of cheesy chicken and vegetables. Mmm.

I know I keep hitting you guys over the head with this sweet and spicy pork and asparagus stir fry, but that's because it's just so good. My whole family loves this, and it's the perfect weeknight meal since it's so quick-cooking.

I made these dark chocolate cupcakes with coffee buttercream in layer cake form for my mother-in-law's birthday at the end of December. This frosting is just as delicious as I remembered. My mother-in-law claimed this as "her cake" going forward, which I guess shows how much she loved it!

I made Joe's favorite meatloaf in December -- the bacon cheeseburger meatloaf -- so I had to make my favorite meatloaf in January. I mostly love this smoky meatloaf for the leftovers; on bread spread with mayonnaise and a slice of Swiss cheese, it makes the best meatloaf sandwiches in the world.

Bacon fried rice has become a staple in our home. Sometimes I make it with the honey-teriyaki chicken from the original post; sometimes I leave the chicken and scrambled eggs out and top each serving with over-easy eggs; and this time, I just chopped and sauteed some chicken breasts and mixed them up with the rice. I added corn and left out the bean sprouts this time. I love everything about this recipe: how simple it is, how adaptable it is, how freaking delicious it is.

This creamy butternut squash soup is one of my favorite soups -- if not my absolute favorite. I'm having a hard time finding butternut squash in the grocery store lately, so I used two boxes of frozen pureed winter squash to make the soup this time. I skipped the Crock pot and cooked it on the stove top. It was so quick, simple, and delicious. I found a habanero-jalapeno-chipotle Gouda cheese at Aldi the last time I was there, so I used that for the grilled cheese sandwiches we ate alongside the soup. The spicy grilled cheese was the perfect compliment to the sweet, creamy soup. If you haven't tried this soup, you simply must. For such a short ingredient list, you'll be amazed at how flavorful it is.

I made these chipotle pork tostadas with pine-apple salsa in soft taco form, and they were as delicious as I remembered (it had been far too long since I made them). The sweet salsa pairs so perfectly with the spicy pork. I prefer them as tostadas for the crunchy element, but Joe likes them as soft tacos because they're easier to eat. Either way, they're fabulous.

With the frigid weather we've been having lately, comfort food is pretty much a must, and these Swedish meatballs are a great comfort food. They have such fantastic flavor, and the gravy is to die for. I always serve them over egg noodles with butter and parsley. If I'm feeling ambitious, I make my own egg noodles. (I wasn't feeling ambitious this time.)

Heaven knows we've had enough snow this year to make snow ice cream! This is a once-a-year tradition for us, and something the boys look forward to every winter. It's more about the method than the flavor in this case; the boys love collecting the snow and mixing the ingredients. (We always add sprinkles, too.)

These ranch chicken tacos have become one of my family's favorite meals. They are so simple -- just 3 ingredients to make the filling! -- but they are so incredibly good. We always top ours with lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheddar, and ranch dressing. I could seriously eat these once a week...if not more often than that.

November Re-Make Recap

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family! Sorry for the lack of posts last week, but I took a little break so I could focus on the holiday. 

I'm one of those people who waits until after Thanksgiving to switch to Christmas mode, since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. However, as of today, we are in the Christmas state of mind. We put up and decorated our tree today, our Elf on the Shelf arrives tomorrow morning, and the boys are busy coming up with a variety of random things for their Christmas lists (right now, Andrew's list consists of a snow globe, a magic wand that does real magic, and a hamster. Good luck, Santa!). Someone posted on Facebook last night that there are only three weekends left until Christmas, which gave me heart palpitations. I feel like that's very not much time at all to squeeze in all of the my favorite Christmastime activities, but I'm sure we'll manage.

The recap this month is a bit light, since I found myself turning to really simple dinners (spaghetti, pancakes, sausage and potato hash, and yes, frozen pizza) quite a bit. My-kids-are-guaranteed-to-eat-it sorts of dinners. And frankly, those are some of my favorites too.

These shredded pork po' boys are one of my absolute favorite sandwiches. The pork is so flavorful and succulent, and the sauce is so creamy and spicy. Those two elements come together to make one messy, delicious sandwich. I can't wait to show you what I did with the pork leftovers this time around.

 

Every year, the facility where Will has preschool and Andrew has before- and after-kindergarten enrichment hosts a Thanksgiving feast for all of the kids 3 and up. This was Will's first year participating, and since I had to supply something for two kids' classes, I wanted to make the same thing for both boys to take. I immediately thought of these pumpkin cinnamon chip drop cookies, since the recipe makes a ton of cookies. I used white chocolate chips instead of cinnamon chips, since I can only find cinnamon chips at one store around here (ridiculously...) and I didn't want to make a special trip. They were good with the white chocolate chips, but a bit too sweet for my tastes. I definitely prefer them with the cinnamon chips.

I made this spicy sausage dip twice this month, which is about average. We just love this stuff. One night, when my mother-in-law had the boys, we ate this for dinner (because we go a little wild when we're kid-free). I also made it earlier today for the OSU/Michigan game, and ate a ton of it. And then I ended up regretting that, because I felt a little queasy throughout that entire game because the score was so close. The dip was delicious though, and so was the (very narrow) victory for the Buckeyes!

 

My family can't get enough of this chicken parmesan pasta and honestly, I really can't either. I love that this tastes exactly like chicken parm, but takes a fraction of the time to prepare. This is always a favorite in our house.

Speaking of favorites, it had been way too long since I'd made one of my childhood favorites: my mom's shredded chicken sandwiches. In fact, it had been so long since I'd made them, that I don't think either of the boys had ever tried them. We at these sandwiches two nights in a row (at their request!) because they loved them so much. These sandwiches are comfort food at its finest, plain and simple.

 

I turned this classic fried rice into a meal by upping the amount of eggs and adding about half a pound of chicken that I chopped, sauteed, and let finish cooking in soy sauce and honey. What I love the most about this recipe is that it uses up odds and ends I always have lying around: a little bit of rice, a couple of eggs, a handful of peas, a carrot, etc. 

I don't host Thanksgiving, so it's always a very relaxing holiday for me. Now that I think about it, that may partly be why it's my favorite holiday! I always make a couple of contributions to the meal, and they really never change: Mom's sweet potato casserole and the ever-popular broccoli salad. I think the sweet potato casserole just gets better and better every year, and I know you've heard me rave enough about the broccoli salad. I added honey-roasted almonds and dried cranberries to it this time to make it a little bit more festive (I just bought one of those salad packets in the produce section), and those were both delicious additions. 

October Re-Make Recap

Happy Halloween! Our costumes are purchased, our jack o'lanterns are carved, our candy bags are waiting, and our trick-or-treating etiquette has been reviewed time and again. I think we're ready for tonight! Now the rain just needs to hold off until trick-or-treating is over...

I have now officially been doing these re-make recap posts for a whole year, and this has become one of my favorite posts to write every month. As a food blogger, I think there is always a certain pressure to post something new and different, and while that is all well and good, it's also fun to re-make some old favorites. These recap posts have given me the opportunity to do that. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. (And eating all the yummy food, too, of course...)

Remember that phenomenal homemade chicken noodle soup I made earlier this month? I used the remaining poached chicken for a batch of my mom's creamed chicken over biscuits. This is by far my favorite comfort food, and it's perfect for chilly fall nights.

It was definitely a comfort food kind of month around here, and these pork chops with creamy mushroom gravy are a great comfort food. For only containing a handful of ingredients, these pork chops are incredibly flavorful, and the gravy is phenomenal on mashed potatoes. I couldn't find the cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic, so I sauteed a few garlic cloves in some butter and added that to the soup/sour cream mixture. It was a fine substitution.

It had been too long since I'd made rigatoni with chicken, bacon, and mushrooms, so I decided to remedy that. I love this combination of flavors, and, although the addition of the apple juice sounds a little strange, it adds a mild sweetness that really is fantastic. If you make this pasta (and you really, really should), definitely don't skimp on the basil. It makes the whole dish.

This roast beef with creamy mushroom gravy is my favorite pot roast recipe. (Are you sensing a gravy-ish, mushroom-y theme for October?) I bought a huge roast this time, so I had enough leftovers to use the pot roast in two other dishes. In case you hadn't noticed, I've been trying to cook more like that lately. :) I can't wait to share the other recipes I made using this pot roast; they both became instant family favorites.

We love, love, love this recipe for cheesy broccoli and rice. It's so creamy, cheesy, and flavorful. It's also a very quick side dish. If you're like me and you struggle to find interesting side dish recipes, I think you're going to love having this one in your back pocket.

 

I hadn't made this creamy baked spaghetti since the first time I made it nearly two years ago, and as soon as I took my first bite, I regretted waiting so long to make it again. I also regretted not doubling the recipe. I could have happily eaten the leftovers of this for at least a week. I think it would be just as good, if not better, with Italian sausage (either spicy or sweet).

This is a not-great cell phone picture, but I just had to show you the decorating job the boys did on their neena's (grandma's) birthday cake. They were so proud of themselves, and I think they did a fantastic job. The cake, of course, is perfectly chocolate chocolate cake -- the only chocolate cake recipe I (or you!) will ever need. If you haven't tried that, find an excuse to make it soon. I mean, do you really even need an excuse to make chocolate cake? I don't think so!

 

 

Every time I make these chipotle chicken cheesesteaks, I am surprised all over again how one little change (adding chipotle in adobo) can take a sandwich from good to great. And not only do they taste delicious, they're ready in just about 20 minutes. You can't ask for a better weeknight dinner than that!

Here's another meal my family just loves; these bacon and cheddar cornbread cakes with fried eggs grace our dinner table frequently. And with good reason: They're easy to prepare and come out perfectly every single time I make them. Not to mention how delicious they are! Bacon, cheddar, corn, savory stuffing, and velvety over-easy eggs...The flavors just work.

This creamy tomato tortellini with chicken and broccoli was a last-minute addition to our meal plan this week. I made dinner for my mother- and sister-in-law as a thank you for watching the boys while Joe and I went to our first ever parent-teacher conference. It's hard to think of anything that has made me feel more like a parent than that! The conference went great (my A-man is doing awesome in kindergarten), and dinner was great too. I doubled the tortellini but kept the rest of the amounts the same, and I still had plenty of sauce -- and plenty of leftovers, too. But that's okay. They'll definitely get eaten.

And last but not least: It just wouldn't be October in our house without a batch of pumpkin pie-spiced pumpkin seeds. The boys and I are whipping up a batch of these this morning. I'll probably use brown sugar instead of white this time, and we got a ton of seeds from our pumpkins this year, so I'm sure I'll have more than a cup of them. That's great news, because everyone gobbles these up. They're really addictive, and they're a great pre-trick-or-treating snack!

September Re-Make Recap

I feel like every time I write one of these recaps I begin with a statement like, "Wow, another month is gone! Where did the time go?!" So even though that's all still true, I think we can skip it, right? And just get to the food? Let's do it.

(But yes, the time is still going way too fast. Christmas is in three months, people!)

I made broccoli salad for a little Labor Day cookout we had at my stepmom's house, and it was a huge hit as usual. Everyone loves this stuff.

Also on the menu for Labor Day: a batch of these fruit pizza cookies, made with strawberries, blueberries, and white peaches. I used lime juice and zest instead of lemon in the glaze this time, and I liked that flavor a lot.

It had been a while since I'd made two-packet pork chops with ranch-roasted potatoes, so I thought it was high time I put this meal on our menu. Instead of using the onion soup mix this time, I used mushroom gravy mix because I had it on hand. I also used more of a traditional bread-and-fry method for the pork chops, by mixing the ranch seasoning and mushroom gravy mix into the flour, then dipping the pork chops in eggs before dredging them in the flour mixture. If this meal was good before, well, that small change just took it to a completely new level of deliciousness.

This recipe for bacon fried rice is a favorite in our house, and I've made it a few different ways. This time, I did away with the chicken and topped each serving of rice with an egg fried over-easy and a drizzle of sriracha. SO GOOD.

I made a riff on these BBQ chicken taquitos this month using some leftover pulled BBQ chicken I had on hand (look for a great new sandwich recipe here later this week). Since I already had the seasoned BBQ chicken, I didn't need to worry about adding the spices; I just added the cream cheese and cheddar cheese to the chicken, along with some diced green chilies and some bacon I'd reserved from the bacon fried rice for just that purpose. Let me tell you, what a delicious way to use leftovers. I'm already planning to make pulled BBQ chicken again soon, just so I can make these taquitos the next night.

This recipe for chicken and vegetable pasta with roasted garlic cream sauce is my favorite pasta to bridge the seasons. You can still use summer vegetables in it, but it has that warm, heavy, comforting quality that makes you think of fall. I added some fresh broccoli this time as well, which worked great with the rest of the vegetables.

Speaking of pasta, I couldn't wait any longer to make this cheesy sausage penne, which is definitely a favorite in my house. I've made this recipe so often, I could probably make it in my sleep. It is just SO GOOD.

Can you tell I'm in fall mode? I put this best ever roasted tomato soup on our menu on a day that it happened to be about 85 degrees. Why can't the weather agree with my cravings? This soup is so delicious, though, it was well worth heating up the kitchen for.

I have a coworker with a September birthday, and when I asked him what kind of cupcakes he wanted, he didn't even hesitate before he asked for these Oreo overload cheesecake cupcakes. They're the same cupcakes I made for him last year, incidentally, and he said he's been thinking about them ever since. Upon tasting them again, I have to say that I think these are the best cupcakes I've ever made. They're just absolutely perfect.

I made biscuits with sausage gravy on a night that I got home late (which, for me, is like 5:00), and I still managed to have dinner on the table by 5:30. This stuff only takes about 20 minutes to prepare, and it is so simple and delicious that I honestly don't know why I don't make it every single weeknight.

It wouldn't be a fall recipe recap without spicy sausage dip! I typically make this a few times a month during football season, since it's our favorite football snack. I made it last weekend for Joe and me while we watched the Buckeyes beat Wisconsin. Go Bucks!

 

It's time for chili. I just couldn't wait any longer. I've improvised a lot on my chili recipe since I posted it (every time I make it it's an improvisation), but here are some things I did differently in the batch I made last weekend: I added a bay leaf, replaced the petite diced tomatoes with a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, used an entire box of beef stock, and replaced the spicy sausage with chorizo. I think this may have been my best batch yet, and I'm eager to confirm that theory tonight, when we're using the leftovers for chili dogs. Yum!