Let’s Bring Back Summer!

In my efforts to “bring back summer” especially for all you northern folk, I whipped up some homemade potato salad while the husband smoked a brisket on the Big Green Egg.

Looking back, I should have stayed in last night instead of drinking wine with neighborhood ladies because prepping for potato salad is a pain in the neck! Even more so when all three kiddos are awake. But I had a blast last night so I’m going to take Elsa’s words to heart and “let it go” because “the past is in the past.”

Anyway back to the potato salad…it’s from Better Homes & Gardens – Classic Potato Salad – a recipe that I fell in love with about 20 years ago. When I’m craving delicious potato salad, this is what I want and nothing else will do.

The potato salad has eggs, mustard, onion, sweet gherkin pickles, celery and of course potatoes and mayo. All of my favorite things!

Happy Cooking!

Katie 🙂

P.S. I apologize for all the Frozen quotes but you do remember that I live with two frozen obsessed daughters. A day does not go by that we don’t sing, watch or talk about Elsa, Anna and Olaf. But let’s save that for another post 😉

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

I think I’ve found yet another site for the most delicious recipes ever! I’ve already tried two of them so far and both have been fantastic! Like restaurant quality fantastic. Like holy hat, I could eat the whole dish before the husband gets home and he would never know I cooked anything. “Sorry, honey, I ran out of time to cook. Frozen pizza ok??” Ha. He’s no dummy. He would definitely call my bluff.

If you are looking for a great and relatively easy dinner to make tonight or this weekend, go check out Julia’s Album. I promise you will find a dish that you LOVE! And make sure to tell her I sent you by 🙂

Last night I made Chicken Mozzarella Pasta w Sun Dried Tomatoes and truth be told…there isn’t any left. Seriously. No joke. And it was only my husband and I who ate it. It was THAT good.

In all of my 20+ years of cooking, I have never sautéed my chicken in the oil from the sun dried tomatoes. I almost skipped that step and used regular olive oil. I am so thankful I didn’t!! It made a huge difference in taste and adding a little paprika gave the chicken a beautiful color. Of course, I had to take a picture of the chicken because it just looked so pretty!!

I love how Julia’s Album incorporates a variety of flavors all in one dish. The mix of fresh basil with sun dried tomatoes and melted mozzarella is mouth watering delish. My favorite part was sprinkling red pepper flakes on top to give the dish a nice kick!

Another step that I was tempted to skip was reserving 1/2-1 cup of the pasta water. Once again, I’m thankful that I didn’t. The cheese sauce definitely gets very thick and you do need to add the water to make it a creamier, thinner sauce so it can cover all the pasta. And who doesn’t like extra sauce for dippin’?!

Happy cooking!

Katie xoxo

P.S. Check out your local Fresh Market for a great deal on chicken breasts. I promise you won’t be sorry! On Tuesdays, it’s $2.99/lb. Great savings and great tasting chicken!

Lasagna Soup? What?!

A few weeks ago, my sister told me that she made Lasagna Soup. I was like, lasagna soup?? What?!? How in the world can lasagna be made into soup?! She went on and on about how much the WHOLE family loved it…even the kids. Well, once she said the kids loved it I knew I had to give it a try.

Skinnytaste‘s recipes are absolutely, without a doubt, DELICIOUS! So much so, that I even bought her cookbook last year! I should have bought some kind of protector for it to keep it clean from all my cooking though…

I’m not usually looking to reduce calories so I always find myself making the dishes “un-skinny”. With this one, I used regular sausage and most definitely added more cheese.

The girls didn’t try it because I ended up feeding them before it was done. I had a MNO to go to and I wasn’t feeling up to having them try something new. That takes a whole lot of energy…and time. Both of which I was lacking that night.

Next time, I will have them help me prepare and eat this meal. I just know they will LOVE breaking the lasagna noodles as much as I did. It was a great stress reliever!

Happy Cooking!!

Katie 🙂

Cook Once, Eat Twice

The husband and I both love freshly cooked meals. Well honestly, who doesn’t?! But let’s face it, with three kids 4 and under that’s just not going to happen very often. Unless…he hires me a live-in chef. And I’m pretty sure that will NEVER happen! Ha!

If you are new to meal planning or freezing meals, you MUST try out this recipe. It’s super easy to prepare and if you are making one, why not make a second and freeze it for another week.

Crock Pot Mongolian Beef from Once A Month Meals.

I’ve tested this one on the hubby before and he had NO CLUE that it was previously frozen. After he was done, I asked him how it was and he said it was delicious!! I chuckled and said…that’s great because I made it last month. From that little “experiment,” he now loves freezer meals too! Thank goodness!

Today, I used a 10oz bag of already shredded carrots (a HUGE time saver!) and ginger paste instead of fresh ginger. This is my first time using the ginger paste so I used the same measurement as the recipe. I’ll find out tonight if I need to increase it next time or not. Promise to keep ya posted!

Happy Tuesday!

Katie 🙂