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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.

So Scrumptious, You’ll Want To Eat This With A Spoon

Last year I did something awesome. It may not seem like that big of a deal to others, and I certainly didn’t know at the time that it was going to rock my world. What I did was – I made eggplant dip for the first time in my life. I had never even thought of using eggplant this way, and I had my doubts about how it would turn out.

Somehow I wanted to give it a try, anyway, and it turned out better than any dip I had ever tried before! So it quickly became a staple at every game night and potluck I attended since.

It’s amazing how beautifully creamy this looks and tastes like, even though it is vegan and doesn’t have a bit of cream in it. I know the word “vegan” may scare off some people, but please, give this one a try! You may never go back to your old, sour cream/mayo/cheese dip recipe again.

This dip is also easy to prepare and you won’t have to chop anything. In fact, you could throw all the ingredients in a food processor to make it even easier!

Recipe and image courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Quick Tip: Serve with chips, crackers or even as a yummy spread on your sandwich.

These Aren’t Your Grandma’s Cabbage Rolls – Or Are They?

Raise your hand if you’re a fan of cabbage! It’s one of my favorite ingredients in the world, which is kind of a big deal since I didn’t used to like it at all, as a kid. I would go into the kitchen and tell my mother the whole house smelled awful, whenever she was making cabbage soup or any cabbage dish, really. Poor Mom – I was definitely a picky eater when I was little!

But I think I was about 10 when grandma was staying over at our house and she wanted to cook dinner for all of us. She made her famous cabbage rolls and I just didn’t have the heart to tell her I don’t like cabbage. It’s weird, isn’t it? I had no problem at all telling my mother I hated it, but when it comes to grandmas I guess we all act a little differently!

Anyway, I’m really glad I decided to keep my mouth shut because it meant I had to give those cabbage rolls a try. And they were ridiculous. I mean that in the best possible way! They were so tasty I kept eating until grandma laughed and said I was probably going to explode if I had one more.

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Quick Tip: Make a double batch and freeze the other one for a quick meal when you need one!

The Recipe Your Neighbor Is Trying To Keep A Secret

Here’s a recipe that’ll make you feel like a true cowboy, or cowgirl! Perfect for the chilly, dreary days and guaranteed to keep you warm, no matter what the season. You’ll be surprised to hear that this hearty chili is super lean and great for anyone who likes to watch their figure. This recipe makes 8 nice and filling servings, but you can easily make a double batch for a larger crowd.

Besides being lean, this chili is incredibly easy to make. Just brown the beef, onions and bell pepper, then throw in all the remaining ingredients and let it simmer on the stove until all those beautiful aromas fill up your whole house.

There are a couple of very surprising ingredients in this recipe, that I had never even thought of using in chili. But I believe those ingredients are exactly what set this chili above anything else I’ve tried before. This is simply mouthwatering, and it’s impossible to settle for one serving only!

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Quick Tip: Instead of lean ground beef, add leftover shredded chicken to this chili.

You’ll Want To Lick Your Plate Clean When You’re Finished Eating This!

If you’re anything like me, you’re having a hard time trying to fit cooking into your daily schedule. I have chosen to get takeout more often than I care to admit, and even though my kids don’t seem to mind (“Mom, can we have pizza every night?”) it’s not something I’m very proud of. In fact, I often feel guilty for serving them food that is not very healthy, or nutritious.

I guess every Mom feels the same way at some point, but I still felt like I really needed to make some changes. I couldn’t just stop working to create more free hours in a day, so I did the next best thing. I got a slow cooker and started collecting tasty recipes that were super fast to put together.

It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? It’s called a slow cooker but it helps me make dinner quickly! This Mexican pot roast from Betty Crocker is one of my family’s favorite recipes – it’s super easy and it’s absolutely delicious. It literally takes only a few minutes to throw this together, and then you can completely forget about it for a whole day!

Recipe and image courtesy of Betty Crocker.

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Quick Tip: Make sure you drain the canned tomatoes or the roast might turn out too watery.

Hands Down, The Most Comforting Meal For The Chilly Fall Nights

There’s nothing I enjoy more than a delicious, hearty soup on a cool fall day. I’m a big fan of this season – I like the cooler weather, the crispy air and the golden shade of autumn sunlight. What I don’t like is the fact that it gets cold inside the house, too. Which is where all kinds of soups come in handy. No, you can’t wear them (at least I wouldn’t recommend that), but a steaming hot bowl of soup will fill your belly and make you feel warm again.

My family doesn’t always agree with me, though! You know how it is with teenagers; I guess soup isn’t a very trendy dish these days. They would rather have tacos, burgers or lasagna – or something else I really can’t even pronounce correctly.

I was determined to make soup, anyway, but I wanted to surprise my family by turning it into something they would actually love to eat. Enter, this incredible tortilla soup from Noshing With The Nolands!

This is such a brilliant idea and I’m kind of jealous that I didn’t think of this on my own… But I’m super happy they did, and decided to share the recipe!

Recipe and image courtesy of Noshing With The Nolands.

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Quick Tip: Like your food extra spicy? Add some diced jalapenos!

Out of this world – with an amazing sauce!

Wow – did these patties completely blow my mind! I don’t know why, but I had always just made ground beef patties and fish patties. I guess it’s because those are what my mother always used to make, and my grandmother as well. That’s how it often is with recipes; there are staples that get passed on from generation to generation and we love those familiar flavors so much, that we don’t even think of trying something else for a change.

I’m really glad my sister is crazy about trying all kinds of lean alternatives when it comes to cooking. This recipe probably wouldn’t have been my first choice (or even the second) if I had just randomly come across it. But she was serving these for dinner last weekend and they were so incredible that I don’t know if I can ever go back to my old patty recipe again.

These turkey patties are scrumptious on their own, and I can imagine they would make really tasty turkey burgers! But the sauce is what takes these to a whole new level. I swear, I wanted to eat it straight from the serving bowl!

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Quick Tip: Try ground chicken instead of turkey!