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Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos

Who doesn’t love a good Taco Tuesday Recipe! This is a favorite of ours for Meatless Mondays or Taco Tuesdays or really any other day of the week. Most of the components can be prepared in advance so this makes for a quick meal to 

Healthy Pancakes

Healthy Pancakes

I am always surprised by the number of people who only use pre-made pancake mix. I am all for keeping things simple and cutting steps but with pancake mix, you still have to do most of the steps as it’s really only the dry ingredients 

Rustic Italian Chicken

Rustic Italian Chicken

This is another crockpot recipe that you can set in the morning and have a great dinner waiting for you at night. It is also one of my go-to ‘meal-train’ recipes. It can freeze well and is great for left overs. Served over noodles (gluten free for us) or with hearty loaf of bread and a side salad and it makes a full meal.

Chop up an onion and some garlic (2 cloves). Next, throw everything in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, shred the chicken and add back to the sauce.

Cook up some noodles when you’re ready to eat and top with some mozzarella or parmesan. Bow-tie noodles (Farfalle) are my favorite with this dish but I have yet to find a gluten-free version. We typically use gluten free Rotini with this dish.

Rustic Italian Chicken

Ready in 6hr 15 minutes15 minutes of active time

Serves 4 people

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (can also use chicken thighs)
  • ground black pepper and salt, to taste
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary
  • ½ tsp. dried thyme
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1x 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
  • 1x 14.5 oz. can of cannellini beans (drained & rinsed)
  • 1/2 box of bow-tie pasta (16oz)

PREPARATION

  1. Slice an onion and mince the garlic gloves.
  2. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and then place them in the slow cooker.
  3. Layer sliced onion on top of chicken. Sprinkle herbs and garlic cloves over the top. Pour in vinegar and top with tomatoes. 
  4. Cook on low for 6 hours; turn crockpot to warm setting
  5. Remove chicken, shred and return to crockpot with sauce
  6. Cook pasta
  7. Serve chicken, beans & sauce over pasta
  8. Optional: top with mozzarella or parmesan; serve with fresh bread
  9. Enjoy!

TIPS

  • To freeze: once cooled, place chicken, beans & sauce in a Ziploc bag and freeze flat.
  • Favorite pasta to use is Farfalle.
  • Can be cooked on high for 2-3 hours if you want this to be ready faster.
  • This recipe can be doubled with no issues.

Rack of Lamb with Chimichurri

Rack of Lamb with Chimichurri

With this title, you might be thinking… wait, isn’t this supposed to be a blog about simple dishes? Well, yes it is! This IS a simple recipe AND I think everyone needs to have a few ‘fancy’ dishes in their repertoire for special occasions. Rack 

Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Everyone needs a chili recipe and this is my award winning chili recipe. My husband has named this “Two Bean Turkey Supreme” Chili. I use ground turkey as we use it in most cases as a replacement for ground beef for health and environmental reasons. 

Baked Falafel & Tzatziki

Baked Falafel & Tzatziki

I love Mediterranean food and when I first move to Cincinnati there was not a single place where I could fine Tzatziki. So I set out on an adventure to create my own. At the time, Greek Yogurt wasn’t even a thing so I had to strain my own yogurt to make it. Now, with Greek Yogurt being everywhere, making tzatziki is a pretty easy task and a regular on our menu. I’ll share some recipes in the future that also use it. Today’s use is to accompany falafel.

Baking the falafel turns it into a healthier version of it’s typically tried counterpart. But fair warning – it isn’t quite as crispy and falls a part easier. You’ll still get the delicious combination of flavors. It is more traditional to serve falafel with a tahini sauce but we found the flavors too redundant and prefer Tzatziki and a nice Greek vegetable medley to top it.

Start by prepping the ingredients and then tossing them into the food processor. A good food processor is really helpful for lots of recipes and this is one of them. Chop up some red onion (about 1/2 a cup) and 2 cloves of garlic. Wash and dry some cilantro (1/4 cup) and parsley (1/4 cup). Add the chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, dry spices, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and baking soda to the food processor and mix until there’s still some chunks but it is mostly smooth.

Mixture after being put through the food processor.

Form the falafel mixture into patties and place in fridge to firm up for 30-60 minutes (can stay longer).

Falafel patties formed and ready for fridge.

This is a great time to make the toppings & sauce. For the Tzatziki, start by finely dicing a quarter cucumber and mince two garlic cloves (or use a spoonful of minced garlic from the jar). Mix diced cucumber and garlic into 1/2 cup of plain Greek Yogurt. Add a tbsp of olive oil and give it a good mix. Let those flavors all meld together in the fridge.

Tzatziki
Tzatziki

Next, prep the vegetable topping. Chop a 1/4 cucumber, a handful of cherry tomatoes, a red pepper, and 2 tbsp of red onion (about 1/4 of one). Add 2 tbsp of vinaigrette based salad dressing. I used Italian (because it’s what I had in the fridge) but a balsamic vinaigrette is great!

Vegetables
Vegetable Topping

Once you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer the falafel patties to the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip them over. They will fall a part a bit, just press the pieces back together. Cook for another 15 minutes.

When the Falafel is done baking, you can assemble the pitas. I like to go Pita, Tzatziki, Falafel, vegetable medley. We like to serve these with roasted potatoes or just eat them on their own.

Falafel
Ready to eat!

Baked Falafel with Tzatziki

Ready in 1h 30 minutes; 30 minutes prep; 1 hour inactive time

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

  • Falafel
    • 1 can chickpeas (14.5oz)
    • 1/2 cup red onion; chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
    • 1/4 cup fresh parsley (flat leaf)
    • 1 tbsp lemon juice
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp ground coriander
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • Tzatziki
    • 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
    • 1/4 cucumber; finely diced
    • 2 garlic gloves; minced
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Vegetable Topping
    • 1/4 cucumber; chopped
    • Handful cherry tomatoes; chopped
    • 1 red pepper; chopped
    • 2 tbsp red onion; finely diced
    • 2 tbsp salad dressing – vinaigrette

Preparation

  1. Chop red onion (about 1/2 a cup) and 2 cloves of garlic.
  2. Wash and dry some cilantro (1/4 cup) and parsley (1/4 cup).
  3. Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas.
  4. Add the chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, dry spices, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and baking soda to the food processor and mix until there’s still some chunks but it is mostly smooth.
  5. Form the mixture into patties. Scoop 1/4 cup of the mixture and press into a patty. Place in fridge for 1 hour to firm up.
  6. Mix Tzatziki ingredients together: Greek Yogurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil. Place in fridge
  7. Chop remaining 1/4 cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, and red onion. Mix together and add salad dressing. Set aside for serving.
  8. Preheat oven to 400F.
  9. Place falafel patties on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  10. Bake for 20 minutes. Flip patties and then bake for an addition 10 minutes.
  11. Assemble pitas.
  12. Enjoy!

Tips

  • Patties might fall apart a little while flipping. Press the pieces that fell off back into the patty and it will stick back together in the second baking phase.
  • These freeze pretty well but end up more crumbly after freezing and reheating.
  • We have served these on pitas or on salad.
  • The falafel and toppings are gluten free – just use a gluten free pita, serve on salad, or in a lettuce wrap to make the dish gluten free.

Sausage & Pepper Pasta

Sausage & Pepper Pasta

This is one of my husband’s favorite dishes. I wasn’t sure I could make a recipe post about it because it’s really just combining a couple of ingredients together but it is definitely delicious. And bonus! My picky eater kids actually sampled this when I 

Chicken Wings

Chicken Wings

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am VERY passionate about chicken wings. What started in college as a weekly wing night with friends, continued into my young professional life, and even now my kids know that if wings are on the menu, it’s likely 

Chicken & Chickpea Curry

Chicken & Chickpea Curry

I don’t have a ton of recipes that I use my crockpot for but there are times when having a few go-to recipes that can be set in the morning and ready at night comes in really handy. As with many of my recipes, this can also be adapted lots of ways to use what you have on hand and meet your dietary restrictions or choices.

Having a well stocked spice cabinet is really helpful in being able to expand your cooking repertoire. But – spices also are best if used and do lose their luster if they sit in your cabinet for too long. Those big spice jars from Costco are a great value but there are only a few spices that I use frequently enough to make them worthwhile -garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, paprika are the ones I can buy in bulk. The rest I buy in small quantities either from the grocery store (store brand is generally fine) or our local market. This recipe use Tandoori powder, Curry powder, and Paprika.

This dish can be adjusted to use multiple different combinations of ‘star’ ingredients with the same core sauce & spices. Here are some of the options I have done: chicken, chickpea, cauliflower, potatoes and combinations of all four. We almost always do chicken and add in at least one of the other. It makes the meat go further and adds great flavor combinations.

In the morning (or at least 6 hours before you want to eat), prep the ingredients. Chop the onion and pepper. Mince the ginger and garlic. If using cauliflower or potatoes, chop them up. If using chickpeas, drain and rinse a can. Trim the chicken of any excessive fat but this will cook down during the process, so no need to be too precise.

Throw all the ingredients (other than milk) in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Take out the chicken breast, shred and return to the sauce. Once done, you can leave on warm until you are ready to eat. Chicken does not needed to be shredded at the 6 hour mark exactly – it can be done anytime after that. The recipe can sit in the crockpot on the warm setting until you are ready to eat. Add in the milk (optional) and give a good stir.

Curry all done in the crockpot

I usually serve this with rice and naan bread. We use gluten naan bread for my husband and me but feel free to omit. We love eating leftovers with tortilla chips.

Chicken & Chickpea Curry with rice & naan

Chicken & Chickpea Curry

Ready in 6 hour 30 minutes (30 minutes of active time); Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

  • 1 lbs chicken breast
  • 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) (15oz)
  • Variations: head of cauliflower (chopped) or 1 lbs red potatoes (halved)
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 thumb size piece of ginger, peeled & minced
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 3 tbsp butter (can substitute vegan butter)
  • 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
  • water (fill tomato sauce can)
  • 1 tbsp Tandoori powder
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp Curry powder (more for spicier)
  • 1 cup milk (whole milk or coconut milk preferred) -optional

Preparation

  1. Chop the onion and pepper. Mince the ginger and garlic.
  2. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas.
  3. Trim the chicken of any excessive fat.
  4. Add all ingredients (up to milk) into crockpot. Set on low for 6 hours.
  5. Shred chicken and put back into sauce.
  6. Add milk (optional) and stir.
  7. Serve with rice and naan.

Tips

  • Frozen chicken breast can be used but add at least an hour to cooking time. At 7 hours, check if chicken can be easily shredded. If not, add more time.
  • Milk makes the dish a little smoother and less spicy. I have made it with and without and like it both ways.
  • This dish freezes really well. If freezing, only add the milk to the portion you are eating that night as it is better to freeze without the milk in it.

Black Bean Burgers

Black Bean Burgers

I have tried to introduce meatless Mondays into our rotation of meals. But, I have to say, we are a meat eating family – generally chicken, turkey, and fish but meat nonetheless. So, we are still pretty new to vegetarian options. This recipe meets all