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Serve As a Side Dish Or Turn Into a Warm Meal!

I have a special cooking philosophy; the faster and easier, the better. It has gotten me through all these years and I intend to follow it for as long as I shall live, haha!

Oh well, I do make more complicated meals occasionally but when you’re trying to serve home cooked meals for your husband and kids every single day (on top of working, five days a week) it is definitely a rare occasion. This recipe, however, is one of my favorites and it’s a massive hit, every time I make it.

What I love about this is that this makes a wonderful, cold pasta salad for your BBQ or just a really nice side dish on a weeknight. But if you want to, you can easily turn this into a warm meal! I actually call this the healthy mac and cheese when I do that.

If you choose whole grain pasta for this and add some of your favorite veggies (sometimes I do like to add red pepper), you could basically call this a diet meal! Well, maybe not, but it’s definitely delicious.

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Quick Tip: The salad will keep in the fridge for up to 48 hours.

Warm Yourself Up With A Soup Your Granny Used To Make!

It’s getting cold here up North! With a couple of pretty bad snow storms and below zero temperatures I have been thinking of moving my whole family to the Caribbean islands, or any place where flip flops are the only shoes you’ll ever need. But since it’s virtually impossible to make such a move at this point, I’ve had to settle for easier ways to keep warm.

And, you know, it’s not that bad to enjoy a bowl of hearty soup inside the house, by the fire, and watch the snowfall. Especially when you have a recipe as delicious as this one! It’s a potato soup with cheddar and bacon – very similar to the one my grandmother used to make, and I think it’s perfect for this time of year. Not that you couldn’t eat it in the middle of the summer, too!

Even if you already have a great potato soup recipe, I recommend giving this one a try. It is far better than any other soup I’ve had, and every time I make this my family gobbles it up faster than you could imagine.

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Quick Tip: Use turkey bacon for a leaner option.

The sniffles got nothin’ on this soup!

Cold nights are upon us folks, and I could not be less thrilled.  I detest the cold, and living in Miami, well, I get very little of that.  Tonight, though, it is freezing (for me!).  It is a whopping 65 degrees! I am bundled up in sweats, a hoodie, and a blanket over it all and right about now I am wishing for a pair of gloves to wear too.  You may say I’m exaggerating but my body is not cut out for this.  I need the warmth all day, every day!

Well, I have discovered the trick to keeping myself warm at all times: constantly eating soup! The amount of soup I have made in the past month is more than 3 times the amount I have made within the whole year.  I have tried so many recipes for a good, warm, filling and nutritious soup, but I always come back to this one: Chicken Bacon Rice Soup.

It is full of veggies and has loads of potato (which I love!) and also has plenty of chicken (which my husband loves). This is an all-around wonderful soup that I will likely make over and over again throughout this winter.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Plain Chicken.

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Quick Tip: Sprinkle a bit of hot sauce over it if you like some heat!

This Festive Meal Won’t Break The Bank But It Will Make You Feel Like A Million Dollars!

If there is a traditional recipe in your holiday menu; one you can’t live without, I would love to hear about it. I enjoy learning more about everyone’s Christmas traditions, just to see how much they differ from mine. And I guess, also, to see if I would get new ideas! Kind of like what happened with this slow-braised beef in wine, that I found on Tesco Real Food.

I wasn’t planning on making a completely new dish this year, but about a month ago I found this recipe and it looked so inviting that I had to give it a try. When my husband came home from work and smelled this stew cooking in the oven, he immediately asked what we were going to have for dinner.

The meal turned out even more flavorful than I had imagined, and we decided we were definitely going to serve this over the holidays, when my sister’s family is coming over for a special dinner.

Recipe and image courtesy of Tesco Real Food.

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Quick Tip: Don’t rush this meal! Cooking it slowly will give you the best results.

Spend Time With Your Family, Not By The Stove!

Are ya’ll getting ready for the holiday madness, or has it already begun where you live? I’m calling it madness but, of course, I love every minute of it. Shopping for presents, planning for the tree and the decorations, enjoying a mug of mulled wine by the fireplace… Ok, I admit it’s not always as serene as it sounds and I’ve had my moments of despair over the years!

The other day I realized most of these not-so-enjoyable moments have had to do with preparing meals for the extended family. I love having everyone over at my house for Christmas, but occasionally it does get a little overwhelming. Everyone always offers to help but, you know, I’m one of those people who don’t want guests to slave away in the kitchen.

So, this year it is my mission to choose super easy, quick and delicious recipes that can be whipped up in no time, even for a larger crowd. I would also like to keep the costs down so I’m keeping a close eye on the ingredients, too! This breakfast recipe from Everyday Family ticks all the boxes!

Recipe and image courtesy of Everyday Family.

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Quick Tip: Drizzle a little bit of hot sauce on top, before serving!

Mac And Cheese On Steroids

I have so many memories of making mac and cheese for the holiday gatherings alongside my mom and sisters. Oh my, year after year we tried new recipes until we found the perfect one. We would even try making different recipes days before Thanksgiving so we could find the one that was “it.” It was so much fun. This baked mac and cheese is so creamy and delicious. There are never any leftovers when I make this dish. SO YUMMY!!!

There were also many fails along the way. For one, there was the year that we burned it by putting it in the oven and then completely dried it out. Then there was the year my sister flipped it over thinking it was an empty tin pan (we had no Mac and Cheese that Thanksgiving… it was a sad year). And lastly, the mishap that happens most often: we dig into the corners before it’s time to serve. And then when my mom opens it to serve, there’s like half the casserole missing. Oh well, it was just a taste test!

Image credit: Whitney.

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Quick Tip: I throw it under the broiler for an extra four min. just because I love the top to be brown and a little crispy, but again that’s personal preference.

Last Christmas, my momma made some delicious rolls.

They were Hawaiian rolls that I had begged her to make for ages because I had tried the bagged kind and thought they were amazing.  I never wanted classic potato rolls again.  If I ever had bread rolls, I wanted it to be the Hawaiian kind with the sweet pineapple taste that gushes through.  I was sitting calmly enjoying my bread when my aunt walks in.  She brought rolls as well.

I could not believe that she would upstage my mom’s amazing rolls since she knew how long my mom spent making them from scratch.  But, as I crept closer to the counter where she had left hers, I began to smell something that I knew would be the best rolls I had ever tasted.  Her rolls had a layer of cheese right down the middle.

It was absolutely amazing.  By the end of the night, I had eaten the majority of my aunt’s rolls, and apologetically asked my mom never to make those Hawaiian rolls again… I wanted cheesy bread from now on.  Thankfully my mom understood exactly (I mean, she tried those cheesy ones as well!) and she was happy to oblige.  They are so worth it!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Pillsbury.

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Quick Tip: Add eggs and sausage to make these breakfast rolls.