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.

Do You Love Buffalo Chicken? This Appetizer Is Made For You!

Buffalo chicken dip is always a winner at my humble abode. If you have fans of the almighty spicy chicken wing in your family, then you have fans of this amazingly delicious dip!

My husband is crazy about buffalo chicken wings – and by crazy I mean completely insane. He could eat them for lunch and dinner every single day of his life! However, I am actually not that big a fan. Even though I do enjoy the flavors every now and then. I guess it’s more about that stickiness and mess when I’m eating them, not as much the ingredients.

That’s why this buffalo chicken dip is a huge hit at our house. It’s very simple to make and there’s no mess at all, when you’re eating it! You still get all those familiar flavors, and you can combine this with pretty much anything; tortilla chips, your favorite veggies, or even toast! In fact, if there’s any leftover dip (usually there isn’t), I like to turn it into a lunch sandwich for the next day.

Image credit Phil Denton.

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Quick Tip: I like to serve this hearty dip with taco chips and celery sticks.

You Only Need 5 Ingredients For These Awesome Loaded Baked Potato Totchos!

I want to get something straight right from the beginning. I am a very lazy cook. Mm-hmm, yes I am, and I’m not even ashamed to admit it! I don’t hate cooking, per say, but I think it’s because of my crazy schedule that I often find it hard to get excited about preparing a fancy, time-consuming meal. With all the kids, their school and hobbies and my work; it’s just not realistic I tell ya!

So I am always on the lookout for simple, yet scrumptious meals that I can put together in no-time (and clean up in even less!) Needless to say, slow cooker is my trusty companion, but I don’t want to make all of our meals in the crock pot.

Enter my favorite recipes that I like to call “one-pan wonders”! When all you need to do to prepare a meal for the whole family, is to throw a bunch of ingredients into a single pan or pot – I call it a winner. And this delicious recipe from Pillsbury is exactly like that. It’s ready in 30 minutes!

Recipe and image courtesy of Pillsbury.

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Quick Tip: Serve as a side dish or amp up to make this your dinner!

One of the things I love to do is try to recreate the dishes that my family finds most enjoyable when we eat out. I take it a step further by trying to recreate the recipe on a budget. One of the most challenging, but most rewarding, recipes was this cast iron buffalo chicken and bacon pizza. The original recipe was found at a local pizza restaurant in Alabama called Buck’s. We tried it while I was pregnant and it took until my son was 3 to nail all the flavors.

Though I am sure it is not 100% identical to the amazing pizza we first tried in that sleepy Alabama town, it comes very close. You can create this yourself with a cast iron skillet, chicken, bacon, and a few other key ingredients. The prep time takes about 15 minutes and the cook time takes 30 minutes.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Megan Coogle-Ashfield

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Quick Tip: Don’t use a traditional buffalo sauce of hot sauce and butter. The butter will cause the pizza dough to be damp and mushy and give a raw feel to the pizza.

Are you still eating your chicken salad with *just* mayonnaise? It’s time to dress up the blandness and take this lunch staple to the next level.

Adding in juicy grapes give you a little pop of sweetness and using romaine lettuce prevents it from being overly mushy. Add in some other goodies like tomato, cheddar cheese, and a mixture of ranch with the mayonnaise for an extra boost of flavor. This recipe calls for using canned chicken, however feel free to use rotisserie chicken for a fresher alternative! Make this for a brunch get-together, or as an everyday midday meal – you’ll love it!

Image courtesy of Oh, Sweet Basil

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It’s always the green dressing that seems to be the best. This tomatillo ranch chicken is no exception to the trend!

If you’ve ever tried the Mexican grill Café Rio then you have likely already fallen in love with their tomatillo ranch dressing that you find yourself putting on everything – possibly even eating by the spoonful?! Maybe that’s just me. Serve this delicious chicken dish with rice and pour that green creamy goodness over everything for one heck of a savory dinner!

Image courtesy of Life in the Lofthouse

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Grab your carrots and celery sticks because this homemade Ranch dressing is straight up addictive!  You’d never believe how easy it is to make this favorite dip from home.  You’ll never buy it form the store again!

This recipe only yields about 1 cup, so if your household is anything like mine, this will barely last.  You may want to double or even triple the recipe, as this will keep just fine in the fridge.

Recipe and photo courtesy of  12 Tomatoes

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