Category: Food

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Easy Creamy Italian Sausage and Gnocchi Dinner

Hi Everyone!
I am so excited to share this easy recipe I put together using kale, Italian sausage, and gnocchi. I don’t know about all of you, but one of my favorite favorite dishes from Olive Garden was always their potato gnocchi soup. No, this isn’t a copycat recipe for the soup, but that soup introduced me to gnocchi. It wasn’t an ingredient that my parents cooked with growing up, but it’s something that I now try to create my own recipes with. This is a recipe I just threw a bunch of stuff I had in the fridge together to see if it would work… and it did! It’s now a hit in our house and heavily requested.

Servings
4-5

Cost
Total: $20.85
Per Serving: $4.17

Time
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Italian Sausage
16 oz. of Gnocchi
1 White Onion
1 Bunch of Kale
1 Cup of Vegetable Broth
1 Cup of Pinot Grigio
1 Cup of Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream

Seasonings
4 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic
1.5 Tbsp. of Flour
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Step 1: Clean, dice, and prepare all of the ingredients needed. Dice the onion into small pieces first. I don’t use kale often and I know that I am not the only one. Pulling the leaves from the stem and then cutting into 2-inch pieces is the most efficient way to prepare the kale for this dish.

Step 2: Cook one pound of Italian sausage in a pot. (This is the pot that I use the most for dishes like this.) Once fully cooked, set the sausage to the side and leave some of the grease in the pot.

Step 3: Grab a different pot and add water and salt to it. You’ll be adding your gnocchi once the water is boiling.

Step 4: Add the onions, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and 2 cloves of fresh garlic into the same pot the sausage was cooked. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the onions are soft, add a tablespoon of flour and mix together.

Step 5: Add the 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 cup of pinot grigio to the onion and flour mixture. Stir all together. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 6: Next, take your kale pieces and add half to the pot. Stir this around for a few minutes and add the other half.

Step six in the kale, gnocchi, and Italian sausage dinner recipe

Step 7: Place the potato gnocchi in the boiling water and cook for about 3-5 minutes. A trick for knowing when gnocchi is finished cooking is that they will start to float to the top of the water.

Step 8: Add the ground Italian sausage and cooked gnocchi back to the pot.

Just need to add heavy cream and parmesan cheese to the kale, gnocchi, and Italian sausage dinner recipe

Step 10: Now you can add your 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.

Step 11: Continuously stir all of the ingredients for a few minutes and bring to a simmer.

Step 12: Enjoy!

I love this creamy Italian sausage recipe and I hope that you and your family enjoy it as much as my husband and I do. Are there any gnocchi recipes that you keep in rotation? Share them with me because I am always looking to expand the ingredients I use when cooking!

If my opening paragraph got you thinking about soup, I have an easy soup recipe that I posted last year that you can give a try! As always let me know if you end up trying any of my recipes at home!

XO,

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Baked Salmon with Mango Salsa Dinner For Two

Hi, me again!
I know that during this time of the world being upside down, a lot of people are turning to new recipes and spending way more time in their kitchens. I have (somehow) done the opposite. I have been rotating a lot of the same recipes that we have always done because in this time of complete uncertainty, I can rely on my go-to recipes to create some kind of normalcy…? I know, it’s weird. This recipe is one that I have been making for Kevin and myself since we’ve been living together- 4 years?!- and it is definitely a favorite. We don’t make this meal as often as we’d like because our number one priority for meal planning is sticking to a budget and salmon filets can become more expensive than the typical proteins we build our meals around. BUT… we have recently begun shopping at Sam’s and we got a killlllller deal on a skinless salmon filet that we cut into 8 individual filets, making each filet only $3.25!!! I think this recipe may be revisited more often because of this (which is awesome!).

Servings
4
Like I said above, the salmon that we purchased created 8 individual filets. For this recipe, we only used 4 🙂

Cost
Total: $26.89
Per Serving: $6.72

Time
Prep: 15- 20 minutes
Cook: 15- 20 minutes
Total: 30- 40 minutes

Ingredients
4 Salmon Filets
1/2 of a Red Onion
2 Red Peppers
3 Mangos
2 Avocados

Seasonings
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup of Cilantro
1.5 Lime
Olive Oil

Step 1: To start, you’ll dice all of the vegetables– red peppers and red onion. Because this is a salsa, you’ll want the ingredients to all be diced smaller. For this dish, I love to add 1/4-1/2 an avocado to the plate for a little extra color, flavor, and fat. I don’t necessarily add it to the salsa and usually dice the half length-wise.

Step 2: Dice the fruit. The mango may be the one ingredient that needs more instruction when dicing. When I first started using fresh mango in my recipes I definitely had to look up how to cut a mango on YouTube (lol)… and I recommend doing that if you need more of a visual than I can provide! Still a mango newbie here! You’ll want to start by making vertical slices around the seed. Line up the stem so you know where to avoid. Next, you’ll slice a grid pattern into each slice. If this is how you cut avocados, you’re in luck because it’s pretty similar. Be sure not to cut into the skin while you’re making your horizontal and vertical slices. Once you have made the grids into each piece, you can cut the chunks off by guiding the knife closely to the skin. I told you I am a newbie… so hopefully the pictures help clear up my amateur mango dicing skills! 😉

Step 3: Once all of your veggies are cut, you can dice up your cilantro and slice open your limes into 3 halves.

Step 4: Combine your red peppers, red onion, mango, cilantro, and limes into a bowl and mix.

Step 5: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Step 6: Season the salmon. Unless I am making a very specific-themed salmon dish (Asian, Italian, etc.) I usually only season my salmon with salt and pepper. At this point I will also add 2 tablespoons in an oven-safe pan and turn the burner to medium-high heat to get the oil warmed up.

Step 7: Start cooking the rice. You all know (or maybe you don’t HA) I usually use par-boiled or pre-cooked rice. This just reduces time and allows me to not be stuck in the kitchen forever! If this is not your first choice, by all means prepare your preferred rice. At this time, I will usually get the water and rice measured out into the pot and start cooking it.

Step 8: Once your oiled pan is heated, you can add the salmon. Cook the salmon on the stove for 4 minutes. This will make it nice and crispy before going into the oven.

Step 9: Place the oven safe pan with the salmon and olive oil into the oven for 7-10 minutes. You want your salmon to cook between 110-140 degrees F. If the temperature reaches above 140 degrees F, your salmon is likely over cooked (which is honestly so easy to do).

Step 10: Once your salmon reaches the desired internal temperature, remove from the pan and let rest for a few minutes. I always plate this meal with the rice on the bottom, then salmon, with the mango salsa resting on top. If you decided to have avocado with this meal, you can either set on top of the salmon with the salsa or to the side– or honestly whatever you want to do (there are no rules!).

Step 11: I LOVE cilantro… so at this point I add more of that to the plate.

Step 12: Eat it up!!!

I love hearing if you’ve had this meal before, are planning to try it, or have made it and loved it! As I always say, I myself am the worst recipe follower… I just add seasonings and cook on intuition, writing these out is getting easier for me, but I am absolutely no expert! Thanks for following along for the recipes I can actually organize. 🙂 I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this crazy time!

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Easy and Healthy Caribbean Jerk Chicken Bowls

Hi, me again! I know it’s been awhile since I have posted a new recipe on here so I knew I needed to come back with a bang… pun intended. This is a dinner recipe that doesn’t get into rotation as much as it should. This is another recipe that gets prepared for Kevin & I for 2-3 nights, but if you are cooking for a family of 5 this should be a great dinner to serve all of you.

Servings
5-6

Cost
Total: $30
Per Serving: $5- $6

Time
Prep: 10- 15 Minutes
Cook: 25 Minutes
Total: 35- 40 Minutes

Ingredients
2 Red Peppers
1 Green Pepper
1 Medium Red Onion
1 Whole Pineapple (can sub pre-cut or canned)
2.5 Cups of Brown Rice
4-5 Chicken Breasts

Seasonings
Lawry’s Caribbean Jerk Marinade
1/3 Cup of Fresh Cilantro
2 Limes
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Step 1: To start, I marinated the chicken breasts in the Caribbean Jerk Marinade for about 10 minutes. This is definitely something you can do for an hour or even overnight. I had started thinking about dinner on this particular night a little later than I should have… so 10 minutes it was!

Step 2: Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. While the chicken is marinating, you should begin chopping the vegetables and fruit. I have taken step by step pictures of how to chop bell peppers and onions in a previous blog. If you would like more detailed instructions you can visit the blog about BBQ Chicken Tostadas. For the pineapple, I suggest chopping the stem off first and then slicing off the skin completely. Then, turn the pineapple onto its side and slice it into circles. Once you have that finished, you can dice into medium chunks.

Step 3: Remove the chicken from the marinade and place onto a baking sheet. Place the chicken into the oven for 20- 25 minutes (depending on size and thickness of the chicken). Always be checking the internal temperature of the chicken and be sure it gets up to 165 degrees, Add the chopped veggies to a large skillet and begin cooking over medium heat. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and coat them with the seasonings listed above: 1 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of black pepper, 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp of garlic powder.

Step 4: When there are 15 minutes remaining, put the 2.5 cups of brown rice into a pot to begin cooking. I usually just use the Minute brand of brown rice because it’s quicker. (If you prefer the non pre-cooked rice, get that started prior to marinating the chicken because that usually takes about 45 minutes). Squeeze one lime into the rice once it’s almost finished cooking.

Step 5: Once everything is cooked, you can plate your desired serving. I suggest placing the pineapple chunks on top because they are cold. After you have plated everything garnish with cilantro and 1 lime wedge per plate or bowl.

Step 6: Enjoy!

Don’t forget to let me know if you make any recipes I post or add any substitutions to my original recipe 🙂

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Easy Stuffed Pepper Soup

Because soup season is right around the corner, I thought I would share one of my favorite soup recipes! This recipe is an absolute staple in our house and gets prepared for me and Kevin for two nights. It is a definite go-to for weeks when I have hockey games, concerts, or any other crazy event. This soup does take a bit longer than most of my recipes to prepare, but what’s nice is while this is simmering you can do other things in the kitchen or around the house!

Servings
5-7

Cost
Per Serving: $3.09-$2.21
Total: $15.47
(excludes seasonings)

Time
Prep: 20 Minutes
Cook: 60 Minutes
Total: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes

Ingredients
2 Green Bell Peppers
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Large White Onion
28 oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes
1 lb. of Ground Beef
6 oz. Can of Tomato Paste
32 oz. of Beef Broth
Small Shell Macaroni
Garlic (or Garlic Powder)
Onion Powder
2 TBSP of Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning
Salt & Pepper

Step 1: To start, brown the ground beef in a large pot. For soups, I often use the Red Copper pot my mom got me for Christmas one year. Yes, the one that’s “as seen on TV.” HA. It’s a 4.5 quart, 10 inch pot so… really any pot that has those dimensions (or close to those dimensions) will work.

Step 2: While the ground beef is browning, this will give you time to dice the onion, yellow pepper, and green pepper. You can substitute yellow onion instead which is usually my preference, but the yellow onion selection was less than desirable. If you can’t find one onion that is large enough you can get two smaller ones- which is unfortunately the route I had to go this time. Dice the peppers into small cubes.

Step 3: After browning the beef in the pot, I use a slotted spoon to transfer the beef into a bowl- leaving the grease in the pot. This is what you’ll cook your onions and peppers in! At this time, add your onions and cook them at medium heat until they are translucent in color.

Step 4: Once the onions are the appropriate color, add the green peppers, yellow peppers, and the two tablespoons of olive oil. This is also when you will add your first round of seasoning. Add a generous amount of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and Italian seasoning. Start out slow, you can always add more. You know me, not measuring anything and just following by taste 🙂 I’ll try to get better at that! Be sure to continuously stir the onions and pepper in this step.

Step 5: You should simmer the onion & pepper blend, still over medium heat, until the peppers are soft. This should take about 10 minutes.

Step 6: Once the vegetables are cooked, you will be adding the diced tomatoes- do not drain the can! Stir everything together for about 5 minutes.

Step 7: Add the beef back into the pot and stir.

Step 8: Now add 4 cups of beef broth, 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, and additional seasoning as needed. Stir. Cover with lid and let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Occasionally stirring.

Step 9: While the soup is simmering, cook 5-7 servings of the small shell macaroni.

Step 10: Once the soup has simmered for 30 minutes, add the cooked macaroni to the soup. Let sit for 5 minutes and then it will be ready to be served! If you like your soup to be thinner, you can always add water or more broth. I suggest adding in 1/2 cup increments.

Step 11: Enjoy!

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How To Make Meal Planning Simple and Easy

Since we moved to Omaha I have been planning every meal of (almost) every day for Kevin and myself. This has helped us save money, be more organized, and eat more healthy-ish meals.

Every week we alternate who purchases groceries which week and we have a $100 grocery budget- this excludes any nights we eat out. Because I plan out our meals, it’s not likely that we won’t know what we’re having for dinner and run through a fast food restaurant for convenience. Instead of spending almost $20 on 1 night of meals, we’ll spend $20 for 2-3 nights of meals.

Anyone who has been to my house can attest that I am the organization QUEEN. I have a monthly calendar, weekly calendar, daily planner, and a monthly bill tracker. This excludes everything I have organized on my phone as well. I told you… organization queen here. Having a career that has a different schedule week to week, scheduling out our meals helps to keep the both of us organized. We also go grocery shopping the same day every week (most of the time)- Sunday. Not only does this help in my planning, (I can start planning fresh on a Monday) but this is something we can do together and look forward to.

I say “healthy-ish” because planning these meals around the most healthy ingredients is not my main goal (I like recipes with heavy cream & butter, too!), but when I can incorporate more healthy options- I do! Most of the time anything you make at home will be more healthy than if you ate out at a restaurant because you are in control of the ingredients.

On Saturday or Sunday morning I will begin my meal planning for the week. I start by perusing the pantry to see if there are any dry goods we have on hand that I can get rid of and utilize in any recipes. I will then go through previous weeks’ meal line-ups and add some of the rotating recipes- stuffed pepper soup, lasagna roll-ups, Andouille sausage cajun pasta, Mexican bake, etc.- into the current week. If I still have holes in my week, I will turn to Pinterest for inspiration-whether that’s to use a recipe exactly or just to get some ideas brewing in my head. I usually plan meals for Monday-Saturday, leaving Sunday day open in case we want to do something. For the past couple months we have been getting the ready-to-bake Hyvee pizza for Sunday night dinner. It’s our night to indulge and it’s a night where I don’t have to worry about actually prepping & making a meal. LOL.

Once all the meals have been decided, I organize the week in the Notes App on my iPhone. Depending upon what events I have going on at work will determine which meals are made on which day. Below each meal I list out the ingredients that will be needed.

Once I’ve gathered all of this information, I log onto the HyVee website and shop for all the items needed. This gives me an idea of how much we will be spending and if I need to change out a meal or use a different brand because we are past our $100 budget. I also try to see if there are any deals where I could swap something in the recipe for whatever is on sale or if a certain item has a lot of fuel saver opportunity. (Hy-Vee has the fuel saver program where certain items get you a certain amount off of gas). In addition to the ingredients for the meals, I check with Kevin about what lunches he will be having- he’s a simple guy, it’s either a deli meat sandwich or PB&J’s- as well as whatever snacks I’ll be having at work throughout the week. It’s usually only a few rotating snacks- bananas, pretzel crisps & hummus, carrots & ranch, and Cheez It’s. Once these are all added to the list and the Hy-Vee cart to be sure we have everything and are within budget we head to the store. Like I said, we kind of enjoy our time together at the grocery store so that’s why instead of just utilizing the Hy-Vee pick-up since everything is already in the cart, we go to the store.

And that pretty much sums up how I plan out our meals weekly! I really do think that this way of planning has helped us save money & make better choices for meals. Just because this system works for me, doesn’t necessarily mean this exact way will be perfect for you, but maybe my organization tips can help you create your own! 🙂

Happy Planning!

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The Best BBQ Chicken Tostadas

Hi, me again, trying to write out a recipe when you don’t follow recipes is rough 🙂 Bear with me once again while I get the hang of these food posts! I got the inspiration for this recipe from Pinterest, but have given it my own twist. This is a relatively easy dinner for the work week that Kevin requests very frequently. This recipe typically yields enough servings for 2-3 people. (When Kevin works 12 hour days outside, it’s definitely only for two people. HA.) All the ingredients together cost $12.74 (without BBQ sauce included because this is something I almost always have on hand).

Ingredients:

1 Small Red Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
2 Large Chicken Breasts
3/4 Cup of BBQ Sauce
12 Street Taco Tortilla Shells
Monterey Jack Shredded Cheese

  1. Again, I am going to urge you to get all of your ingredients, chopped, shredded, or placed out and ready to go… “mise en place.” To begin, I place the two chicken breasts (if you have smaller chicken breasts, I suggest using 3) on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with Pam. I then season the chicken with salt and pepper and put them into the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

2. While the chicken bakes in the oven, I will begin to chop the red onion and red pepper. You will want to cut the onion into long, thin strips. To do this, cut the onion in half from top to bottom (the bottom being where the “hairs” are). Now, cut the bottom parts off of each half and discard them. Cut the onion along the ridges to give even slices. (3rd picture below). The red pepper should also be chopped into thin slices. Slice each edge of the pepper and then slice each of those into thin strips.

3. Now that all of the vegetables have been chopped, the chicken is ready to come out of the oven and be shredded. If you have a hand held mixer, I would definitely use that in this step. Because I don’t have one of those, but I have a Kevin, he helps me shred the chicken with two forks. Judy likes to help too 🙂

4. Once the chicken has been shredded finely, you can add 3/4 cup of Barbecue Sauce. Any brand will do, my favorite brand is Sweet Baby Rays. If you desire a more “wet” or “dry” chicken- dress accordingly.

5. Next, place the 12 tortilla shells onto two greased cookie sheets- 6 will fit perfectly on each sheet. On each tortilla place about 1/4 cup of barbecue chicken.

6. After each tortilla shell has the chicken added, you can add the vegetables and cheese. I typically put 3-6 pieces of each veggie on top of each tortilla, but if you prefer more or less, top accordingly. For cheese, I like to use Monterey Jack cheese, but I’ve used plain Cheddar and Colby Jack as well. Just a pinch of cheese atop each tortilla is plenty.

7. Once you have added all of your toppings you can pop your tostadas into the oven at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. You don’t want the shell to get too golden. The perfect tostada will have a slight crunch, but still be a bit chewy.

Voila! You have made yourself some delicious barbecue tostadas. It takes longer to prep this meal than to actually bake it, so if you are short on time, you might consider chopping all of your veggies and cooking your chicken a day or two prior. This will cut time down to less than 30 minutes. If you make this recipe, share it with me 🙂 I’d love to see your recreation of it!

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Healthy Buffalo Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Zucchini Bowls

Okay, so bare with me. This is my first cooking/ food related post and although I enjoy cooking and am honestly pretty good at it… I don’t usually follow recipes. So creating this post with a recipe for others to follow is not the easiest thing for me to do. I rely heavily on tasting my food and instinct- so hopefully this will end up making sense! Sounds promising… ha!

I plan every meal for my lunch and every dinner for my boyfriend and myself before each week starts. My goal is to have a variety of meals that are easy, healthy-ish (most of the time), and cost effective. This meal is one I ALWAYS come back to. It’s super easy and relatively healthy. I hate reading blogs that give you 10 pages before their recipe- so I promise not to do that 🙂

This recipe will typically yield enough for 3 lunches for myself. All the ingredients together- excluding olive oil & seasonings, because these are things I always have on hand- cost $12.10. I don’t know about you, but on the rare occasion I eat out during the work week, I can easily spend $12 on one meal. With this recipe, you’ll be making 3 meals for about $4. Because I know it will be asked, this meal is about 320 calories.

Ingredients:

1 Large Sweet Potato
1 Large Zucchini
1 Package of Ground Chicken
Your Favorite Buffalo Sauce
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

  1. The first step in any recipe I will share with you will always be to get your “mise en place” in order… or for those that don’t live in the food and beverage field or binge The Food Network- get all of your ingredients prepared and ready to be cooked!
    In this step I dice up my sweet potatoes into bite-sized cubes: peeling the skin off, dicing the potato into 1/2 inch circles, cutting those circles into 3-4 strips, and cutting those 3-4 strips into 3-4 bite-sized pieces. You want to be sure your cuts are even as possible so everything cooks evenly.


While still in the first step, I will also cut the zucchini into bite-sized cubes as well. Start by cutting the zucchini into 1/4 inch circles and then cutting those circles into 4 pieces.

2. Next, I will spread the sweet potato on a baking sheet, coat with a bit of olive oil, and sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder evenly over the cubes. Once they’re seasoned, I pop them in the oven at 375 degrees alone first because the sweet potatoes need a little extra time than the zucchini. The sweet potatoes will be in there for 50 minutes total. While the sweet potato begins roasting, I will remove the ground chicken from its packaging and get ready to cook it on the stove top.

3. Once the sweet potato has been in the oven for 20 minutes, I will remove the baking sheet and move the sweet potatoes to one side to make room for the zucchini. (You could just use another baking sheet, but…dishes.) I then spread the zucchini out and add the same seasoning combination. These will go into the oven for 30 minutes. After putting the baking sheet back into the oven, you can begin cooking the ground chicken on the stove top.

4. I coat a medium-sized cooking pan with Pam and begin sauteing the chicken similarly to ground beef. I use a wooden spatula to break the chicken into smaller pieces, cooking over medium heat. Cook until there are no longer pink pieces- about 10-15 minutes.

5. Once the ground chicken is completely cooked, I coat the chicken with buffalo sauce- I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Sauce- it’s not too thick or thin & doesn’t pack too much heat. You’ll use about 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce, but you can coat according to your preference.

6. Once the zucchini and sweet potato have been in the oven for an additional 30 minutes and are beginning to brown you can remove and get ready to begin placing into your Tupperware. Place 1/3 of the sweet potato and zucchini that you made into each dish. For the chicken, I usually put about 1/4 of what I made into each. This will leave you with some leftover, but often I just add these to my eggs in the morning for a little extra protein and no wasted ingredients 🙂

There ya go! You just meal prepped 3 meals for lunch for the week and it took one hour! I usually meal prep another meal at the same time as this, so usually I get 5-6 meals done in an hour, but I’ll start with this for now. If you are vegan or vegetarian I have made this recipe with roasted chick peas instead of the ground chicken and it was just as amazing. I hope this becomes a staple lunch in your house as it has in mine!