5 August 2019
Alright, here I go – a simple and sweet post for your Monday! :)
This weekend we celebrated Shep’s first birthday as a family, and our treat of choice was a chocolate raspberry pavlova. This is one of our signature family dishes – I was introduced to it almost 14 years ago by John’s older sisters. At the time (high school), it seemed an incredibly intimidating and incredibly elegant recipe to try at home, especially compared to the box cake mixes that were more my family’s speed. (No shame in that game – I still contend there isn’t a homemade brownie out there that is better than Betty Crocker’s!)
June is incredibly into cooking and baking these days, always pulling up a chair next to me! :)
Having since made this pavlova dozens of times for special occasions big and small, I can confirm that it is, indeed, incredibly elegant (and delicious!), but hardly as intimidating as I once thought. In fact, it’s actually quite simple – the only tricks are being patient as you whip the egg whites, allowing enough time for the pavlova to cool in the oven, and adding the sugar just one tablespoonful at a time.
The chewy chocolate base, the pillowy cream, the tart raspberries – it is, as Nigella says, “a killer combination.” If you’re looking for a delicious treat to celebrate something special this summer, here you go!
I’d love to hear: what’s your favorite birthday treat? June has requested ice cream sundaes and vanilla cake with sprinkles the last two years, respectively, and has already put in a request for strawberry cake next January. John’s July birthday go-to has been an ice cream cake since forever. My favorite is a chocolate raspberry layer cake, and we always celebrated my Dad’s birthday (August 7th) on the Island with banana cream pie growing up!
12 November 2018
‘Tis the season for house guests, friends! We just waved goodbye to my Mom, John’s parents are here now, and my parents and sister’s family will be here before the end of the year! We’re no stranger to hosting visitors (living 10 hours away from your family will do that to you), but for years, our visits would often feel logistically scattered, despite what felt like extensive pre-planning on my part. I’d get frustrated and couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong… until I did! :)
Turns out I was focusing so intently on our dinner plans for each night that I was completely neglecting the other two meals of the day. It sounds simple, but when I started making an intentional (but loosely-held) plan for breakfast and lunch each day, things seemed to go so much more smoothly!
Just in case you find yourself in the same boat, I thought I’d share our go-to for both meals, courtesy of my sisters-in-law…
Sally’s Baking Addiction
For breakfast, our secret is frozen chocolate croissants from Trader Joe’s, introduced to us by Natalie earlier this year. They rise on the counter overnight, which makes them seem extra-legit, and they are so flaky and delicious! Pair with chopped fruit and/or scrambled eggs and you’ve got a great start to the day that feels special but couldn’t be easier.
For lunch, we’ll make gourmet grilled cheese (in our griddler – so easy!). Here, the game changer is using a rosemary loaf from Whole Foods, which takes the spread from ho-hum to unforgettable. Marget gets the gold star for bringing this combo to my attention, and for pairing the sandwiches with boxed soup for the perfect quick lunch!
I would love to hear: what do you usually serve guests for breakfast or lunch? A spread of bagels from our local favorite or big pot of soup, like this or this, is another go-to for us. Let’s get the ideas flowing and help each other out this holiday season! :)
P.S. More house guest tips.
13 August 2018
It seems kind of funny to follow up such a momentous post as sharing the meaning of our son’s name with dinner ideas, but that’s Em for Marvelous for you! :) If you think about it, a post about quick and easy meals actually makes perfect sense a few weeks after we welcomed a baby — quick and easy is the name of the game right now! With that, I wanted to share a few of our favorite meals in this genre to continue our mini “ten favorites” series…
From Pinch of Yum
1. Grilled chicken caesar salad wraps. We grill chicken breasts on the grill, then chop and mix them with pre-washed lettuce (or lettuce from our garden in-season!), croutons, and store-bought caesar dressing. Everything gets stuffed in a flatbread or tortilla, depending on what we have on hand.
2. Lemon roasted chicken and vegetables. The recipe calls for salmon but we sub in chicken. You basically just toss everything onto a sheet pan and call it a day! We’ll sometimes pair with rice.
3. Buffalo chicken pizza. Pizza dough from Publix, jarred pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, frozen buffalo chicken nuggets, a little chopped red onion, a drizzle of blue cheese dressing after it comes out of the oven… yum!
4. Grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, and a vegetable. The chicken goes on the grill with salt and pepper and we cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave and eat them plain. For a vegetable, we’ll most often saute broccoli or green beans with a squeeze of lemon or grill zucchini. This meal has the benefit of being quite healthy and cheap, too!
5. Chicken fajitas. Do you see a theme with grilled chicken? :) The grilled chicken gets chopped into strips, then everyone assembles their own fajitas with tortillas, shredded cheese, sauteed onions and green bell peppers, salsa, and Greek yogurt.
6. Bratwursts and cucumber tomato salad. The salad is an invention of John’s – it includes halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumber, balsamic or red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, oregano, thyme, and a little bit of salt!
7. Cobb salad. Our version includes pre-washed lettuce, bacon, hardboiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and our favorite dressing – olive oil, red wine vinegar, and Dijon mustard.
8. Dumplings and a vegetable. This is as simple as it sounds – frozen dumplings from an Asian grocery store (we love H Mart, if you have one near you!) and a vegetable like broccoli, green beans, carrots, or zucchini. We’ll also make a dipping sauce of rice vinegar, soy sauce, a little bit of sesame oil, and sambal oelek.
9. Whole Foods chicken pot pie. I am a fiend for chicken pot pie, and though I’ll sometimes make it from scratch, honestly, the WF refrigerated version is at least as good as a homemade version and less expensive in the end. This actually does take awhile to heat (about 35-45 minutes), but there’s zero prep, so it still counts as a quick meal in my book :)
10. Chicken tinga tacos. If you pick the rotisserie chicken in advance, this recipe comes together in a snap. The avocado-lime-garlic powder mash is a must-do! Bonus: it makes a lot of leftovers.
I would love to hear: what are some of your favorite quick meals? Y’all had so many good suggestions on the first post!
17 May 2018
As we build our menu each week, there are four basic factors we keep in mind: we want a mix of meals that are inexpensive, quick and simple to prepare, meatless, and that make leftovers. Of course, we also want meals that are healthy and delicious! Not every meal falls into every one of those categories, so we do our best to piece together a menu of seven dinners that feels balanced.
I thought I’d do a mini series covering each of those four attributes, so you can pick and choose which ones matter most to you! Today, I’m starting with ten of our favorite cheap meals!
From Cookie + Kate
1. Spaghetti and meatballs. Nothing fancy here, friends! Pasta from a box, frozen meatballs, sauce from a jar, and some sort of vegetable on the side. I LOVE this sauce which is super easy to make, but it does take a bit longer.
2. Taco soup. Mostly canned ingredients keep the cost low on this one. Adding a pan of cornbread doesn’t add much to the price but is delicious :)
3. Baked risotto with sausage and peas. If you think risotto is hard to make, you have to try this recipe! It’s one of our favorites from The Newlywed Cookbook. The roasted vegetables variation is yummy, but we more often make it with crumbled Italian sausage and frozen peas.
4. Chana masala. There is an upfront cost if you don’t already have the spices this recipe calls for, but once you’ve purchased them, you can make this delicious dish many times over! Chick peas as the protein keeps the cost low. I like to top mine with a little plain yogurt, and we do naan on the side.
5. Burrito bowls. Royal blend rice, black beans and pinto beans simmered with canned green chiles, frozen corn, salsa, shredded cheese, and a little plain yogurt – yum! The guac is extra :)
6. Bratwursts and pasta salad. A classic summer meal! I usually make this pasta salad recipe but halve the amount of dressing used. In-season corn on the cob only adds a few dollars to the total.
7. Black bean soup. Again, canned beans are the heroes here! This thick soup is a favorite in the fall and winter. (And totally justifies our possession of an immersion blender!)
8. Beans and toast. This is a recipe from Time for Dinner that I can’t find on the internet (probably because it’s so simple it’s hardly a recipe). This Fun Time Toast is similar, though we don’t usually add eggs. I feel a little bit like I’m in the Depression when I eat this, but that seems appropriate for a favorite cheap meal :)
9. Three pepper pizza. Pizza dough from Publix, jarred pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, chopped poblano, red bell pepper, red onion, and pepperonicis. This happens at least every other week at our house.
10. Grilled quesadillas. If you haven’t tried them yet, know that quesadillas on the grill are about one million times better than pan-made quesadillas. Truly next level. We fill ours with veggies, pinto beans, and black beans, and spread salsa and a little bit of plain yogurt on the top.
I would love to hear: what are your favorite cheap dinners? And which trait matters most to you when menu planning: price, ease, meatless, leftover-maker, or something else?
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