Bacon Ranch Potato Salad

I am a big fan of summer time. I’m a fan of all seasons, but summer is right up there with the fall. The laid back vibe, sunglasses, pool days, flowers blooming, sunny days, and the food is what make this time of year for me. My favorite dinners are food from the grill, fruit and a summer salad.  The cleanup is always easy and often summer salads can last for a few days in the fridge, which I love.

Last night, I made Bacon Ranch Potato Salad to get ready to have my cousin over for dinner.  Our plan is to grill some chicken, have sweet chili roasted broccoli and bacon ranch potato salad. The dinner prep will be quick and the clean up will be even quicker. This means more time together as a family and more times for conversations and laughter.

What you will need:

• 15- 25 small red potatoes
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• a pinch of salt
• 5 green onions
• 6 celery stalks
• 10 strips of bacon
• 3 large spoonfuls of mayo
• 1 16 oz. container of sour cream
• 1 packet of hidden valley ranch mix or you can use ranch dressing

Step 1: wash your potatoes and start cubing them into bite size pieces. If your potatoes are small, like the ones I was using, you can cut them into quarters. Once all of the potatoes are cut into small enough pieces, put them into a large pot and fill your pot with water. You will want to season your water with olive oil and some salt. Bring the water and potatoes to a boil. Boil the potatoes for 5 – 10 minutes and then slightly reduce the heat, this will help the starchy water not overboil, but you still want it to be hot. Test your potatoes after about 12 – 15 minutes, by piercing with a fork. If tender take off the of the heat and strain all of the water out, if not tender let them stay in the hot water for a bit longer.

Step 2: Leave your potatoes in a colander off to the side, until cooled. You may want to toss them every now and again with a wooden spoon. Cooling your potatoes is KEY! If the potatoes are not cool enough all of your yummy sauce will heat up and not stick to the potatoes. I cooled my potatoes for about an 1.5 hours.

Step 3. Wash all of your veggies.  Dice your celery, green onions and bacon into small bits.

Step 4. Once your potatoes are completely cooled, mix in a separate bowl the mayo, sour cream and ranch packet. If using dressing, use less sour cream and mayo.

Step 5. Now it is time to dress the salad! I like to do this in two separate parts. Using a big bowl, put half of the potatoes, half of the bacon, celery, and onions and half of the dressing and mix it together. Once full mixed, add the rest of your ingredients and mix again. This makes it a little more manageable. 

 
I hope you enjoy this creamy potato salad. Remember to fully cool your potatoes and it’s easiest to make this the night before. Enjoy! 

For the LOVE of Broccoli

Would you believe me if I told you, I love broccoli and can eat almost a whole head of it in one sitting? Well before I found this recipe I am about to share, I would have laughed at that thought and probably reached for another dinner roll with a heavy serving of butter. However, I am not joking, if you already love veggies – good for you, but if you don’t, this will convert you.

This recipe comes from The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook by Mary Younkin. I recently purchased this cookbook, after a coworker encouraged me to look through some of these yummy recipes and told me of the great and easy recipes they were making at home for weeknight dinners.  I decided to pick up a copy for myself and honestly, even though it has only been a few weeks, we have already found some staples for our weeknight meals, like the Sweet Chili Roasted Broccoli.  You can find a copy of the cookbook here.

Sweet Chili Roasted Broccoli 

What you will need:

• 6 c. Broccoli florets, about 2 medium sized heads of broccoli
• 2 Tbs. Light-flavored Olive Oil
• 2 T. Honey
• 2 T. Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1 tsp. Salt

Step 1. Get organized! I always feel like it is easier to cook, if everything is ready to go.  Pull out all of your ingredients, get a cutting board ready and place a clean kitchen towel or paper towel over the top of it, cover a cookie sheet with foil (this will save you from a lot of clean up) and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Step 2. Wash the broccoli thoroughly and shake off any leftover water. Place your washed broccoli on top of the clean kitchen towel or paper towel.  Start cutting the main stem off of the broccoli and proceed to cut into florets (individual pieces of broccoli).

Step 3. This is where the kitchen towel comes into play. You want to remove as much moisture from the broccoli as possible. If there is water lingering, this will cause the sauce not to stick to the broccoli. Wrap the broccoli up in the towel and try to remove as much water as possible. Transfer cut broccoli to the cookie sheet covered in foil.

Step 4. Mix your sauce! In a small bowl add all of the ingredients (olive oil, honey, sweet chili sauce, and salt) and whisk together to create a thick paste. A helpful hint is to measure out the olive oil first and then the honey and sweet chili sauce. This will coat your tablespoon and the honey won’t stick. It’s pure magic!

Step 5. Drizzle the sauce over the broccoli and evenly coat each piece of broccoli by mixing it all together with your hands.  A little messy, but it gets the job done.

Step 6. Roast the broccoli for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and using a metal spatula stir the broccoli and roast for additional 2 -3 minutes.

The first time I made this recipe, I thought the broccoli looked too brown and crispy, however, this is how you want it!

This is such a great side, that is super quick, goes great with about anything. We often will eat it with grilled hotdogs and hamburgers.  I hope you enjoy this recipe and check out Mary Younkin’s cookbook.  I have about 20 cookbooks, and this is definitely a keeper.

Landscaping 101

Pizzicato Oriental Poppy

Last summer when we built our house very little landscaping, in terms of plants, had been done. We were excited to become settled last summer and this summer had big plans to start building up our flower beds. 

Here are some before pictures of our blank space:

The only experiences I have working with plants is taking greenhouse classes in high school, that was a long time ago, and my parents have an amazing yard full of beautiful blooms. So, I consider myself a novice. 

In order to catch myself up to speed I did the following:

• Studied the sun pattern on the front of house to see how long our flowerbeds were in the sun verses the shade. I found the front of our house is in the sun for most of the day and the side of our house only gets about 4 – 6 hours of sun. 
• I researched a lot about plants that can handle full sun, compliment eachother, our resilient, and can also handle part sun and part shade. 
• After figuring out what I thought would do well in our flower beds, I made a list of the plants, in hopes the trip to the nursery was not completely over whelming. 

Finally, the weather was cooperating and it was time to head to the nursery. The key to my trip at the nursery was time. Enough time to take it slow, read about each plant on the index card that comes with the plant and not make rushed or impulsive purchases.  I didn’t stick to my list completely, but it helped me have an idea of what to look for. 

While buying the plants, I methodically thought about how much space they would take up, only purchased perennials and purchased plants that would bloom throughout the summer or at least at different times. This will help our flowerbeds have continuous color. 

Now it was time to plant! Our soil is mostly clay, so along with my plant purchases, I also purchased 2 large bags of potting soil to plant the plants with. 

This will help them get a head start, develop root growth and have a little fertilizer food. To get started, I sorted the plants by sun only and part sun/ part shade plants. 

Here are some after photos, we are excited about our new and improved curb appeal:

Matt, my husband, and I had to work as a team to rake out the rock in our flower beds, cut the weed barrier where the plants were going to go, dig the holes, dispose of the clay, plant the plants and put the rock back. 

Some things that helped us, was staging all of the plants where they would be planted after the rock was removed, both having our own tools and easy access to the potting soil and wheelbarrow.  I also kept all of the index cards to help me memorize which plant is where and also learn more about the plant. 

Here are some photos of our staged plants:

It took us about 3 hours to plant 20+ plants. We had a great time together and are excited to watch our garden grow. 

I hope this inspires you to build up your yard or start as simple as a potted plant. Even a novice can develop a green thumb. 

Easter Decorations

Since we moved into our home, I’ve enjoyed decorating our front porch. Especially this winter and spring.  Adding a little color to our gray days with a wreath or something festive has lifted my mood and made me smile every time I pull into our driveway. 

Decorating your front porch for different seasons does not need to take a bunch of time or be very expensive. When purchasing decorations sometimes it’s just about timing. 

Earlier this week, I stopped by Michaels looking for some supplies for an upcoming event at work and saw all of the Easter decorations were 50% off! I couldn’t help myself and purchased this cute basket and paper mache eggs all for $13.00. 

You just can’t beat a deal like that! Also our front porch is covered and these delicate paper eggs won’t get ruined with all of the rain we have been having. 

A couple of weeks ago, my parents visited and my mom brought us an Easter wreath from Pier 1 imports. This is also now on sale and you can find one here. 

I hope this provides some inspiration to add a little color to your front porch and find bargains on seasonal decorations. 

Cheesy Tortellini with Sausage Meatballs and Alfredo Sauce

Now that the weather is becoming nicer outside, we have been taking nightly walks and our little one has been enjoying riding in her little red wagon. I love making these memories and getting our family outside. However, a fast dinner is of the utmost importance now. I would much rather spend time with my family than cooking.  This easy dinner takes about 20 minutes to put together. 

All you will need includes: 

-precooked sausage meatballs

-one package of refrigerated tortellini 

-1 small container of alfredo 

-1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese 

-1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese 

Step 1. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and follow the directions on the bag of meatballs. We love the Costco meatballs. Preheat your oven and place the meatballs on the lined cookie sheet. 

Step 2. Add water to a pot and season water with salt and olive oil. Bring water to a boil. Once the oven is preheated, start cooking meatballs. 

Step 3. Once water is boiling, add the tortellini.

When the tortellini is fully cooked, they will puff up with air and float to the surface. Refrigerated tortellini cooks very fast, usually in 2 to 5 minutes. 

Step 4. Remove cooked tortellini using a spider strainer or spider skimmer. This is such a great tool and does not damage these delicate noodles as you remove them. You can find one here. As you remove the tortelini with the spider strainer be sure to drain most of the water over the pot of water and then put the tortelini in a cool skillet. You do not want the skillet to be hot because it would scorch the tortelini. 

Step 5. Once all of the tortelini is strained and placed in the cool skillet. Add the alfredo sauce. My favorite is Buitoni Light Alfredo Sauce. It has great flavor, doesn’t taste completely processed and does not have the heavy feeling you can get with alfredo. Place the skillet on low heat and slowly mix the alfredo and tortelini with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. You want to be careful to not damage the tortelini. I prefer to use a bamboo spatula and is really gently on the pasta but still gets the job done. 

Step 6. Once tortelini is fully coated, add meatballs to the tortelini and alfredo.  

Step 7. Add Parmesan and half of the mozzarella. Gently stir together. Add the rest of the mozzarella to the top of the pasta and meatballs. Place lid on skillet and let the cheese melt.

Enjoy this quick meal. It’s a favorite in our house and takes only minutes to throw together. 

Decorating a Bookshelf

I love to collect most things that are old and just a little bit different. Some of my favorite afternoons are when I get to wander through antique stores and just look. I might buy something, but it’s fun to slowly collect pieces and then figure out how to decorate with them. 

Decorating and putting all of these pieces together can be the difficult part, but this is where a bookshelf comes into play. By strategically using books and fun things I have collected, I have come up with an eclectic display for a fun bookshelf. 

I originally purchased this bookshelf in college to serve as a place to put my dishes in a teeny apartment. Now it’s a fun decorative piece in our formal living room.

To decorate this bookshelf, I first laid everything out and decided what should go on each shelf by picking what books looked best with eachother (size and color) and then picking decor that will create a balanced look and help hold up the section of books. 

I love this 36 hour travel book and I found the brass duck bookends at one of my favorite antique stores in McCall, ID.

The goal is to create a balanced look. Not too full of books and not too full of decor. This is definitely not a step by step project but is something to do when in a creative mood.  

These are some fun old croquet balls.

This little vintage toy phone belonged to my grandma when she was a kid. I bet she had so much fun pretending to call so many people.

I found this old champagne bucket at a random antique store in town. It has been a fun purchase and is so versatile when decorating.

I hope this provides some inspiration for putting together your own eclectic display. 

Crockpot Chili Verde

Mexican food and crockpot meals are always a win, so when this can be combined it’s amazing! We were coming off of a weekend from family visiting and late nights, so it was nice to put something in the crockpot and have a great dinner with minimal effort. 

When I started to make the crockpot chili verde, my parents were still visiting and my dad told us how his grandma would make homemade chili verde. It’s always fun to hear about the past and he was so nice to help cube the pork. 

What you will need includes: 

-pork shoulder (it is easier to work with a bone out pork shoulder)

-1 large jar verde salsa

-1 can green chiles 

-salt and pepper to taste

-cumin to taste 

Step 1: pull out your crock pot and cube the pork. 

and then your dad steps in and helps. If you do get a bone in pork shoulder a filet knife works well to cut it off the bone and also remove any excess fat.

Step 2: as you cube the pork remove any excess fat. This may feel like you are throwing away a lot of pork, but you don’t want all of the extra fat. 

Step 3: place the cubed pork into the crockpot. 

Step 4: add the jar of verde salsa and the can of green chiles. 

Step 5: season with salt, pepper and a little cumin. Make sure the pork is evenly coated and turn the crockpot on high for 6 hours. 

Enjoy this super easy crockpot chili verde. This will taste like you have spent hours making homemade Mexican food, when in fact it takes about thirty minutes to put everything into the crockpot and you can relax while it cooks. 

Serve with rice, beans and tortillas. Enjoy! 

Meal Prep

Thawing meat has to be number one on my least favorite things about cooking list and number 2 is cleaning up. It’s a pretty short list :). The idea of thawing meat on defrost in the microwave makes me want to throw in the towel and say we’re going to dinner. I’m not really sure why I take such issue with it, however I do. 

To combat this hate for thawing meat, every month I do a little bit of meal prep. I will buy a large roast, make extra chicken for a dish or buy more hamburger than what I need for one casserole or spaghetti sauce, and freeze whatever is leftover for future use. Rather than devote a ton of time to meal prep I try to build it into a meal I’m already making. 

For example, this past weekend we made the big journey to the local Costco (I love Costco! Mostly because it’s fun to look at everything!) and we purchased a bulk pack of hamburger. Later that same weekend, we decided stuffed pepper burritos sounded great for dinner. So I cooked all of our bulk pack of hamburger, knowing we only needed about 3/4 lb for our burritos. 

I lightly seasoned the hamburger with salt and pepper as it was cooking.

Drained the grease. My favorite way to remove grease, while cooking, is a stainless steel turkey baster. I found this one Amazon. 

Aftet the meat was fully cooked, I made sure to let it cool to a moderate temperature. 

I then labeled gallon size ziploc freezer bags and bagged the hamburger. To easily bag cooked meat, when you have only two hands, place a ziploc bag into a bowl. Fold over the top of the bag about two inches. This allows the bag to stay open and not flop over. 

The trick to freezing cooked meat is to lay the meat flat in the bag. This allows the meat to evenly freeze and prevent “hot” areas that do not cool quickly, thus encouraging bacteria growth.  If you don’t have enough free space in your freezer to have something freeze flat, place whatever you want to freeze on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet in the freezer. 

By cooking all of the hamburger we purchased, I now have two bags of cooked hamburger in our freezer that I can pull out and create a quick meal with.  This prep did not feel like a ton of work, since I included it in our regular dinner plan. 

Meal prep can be the adventurous create 27 meals in a day for $200 or it can be as simple as incorporating it into your  current meal plan.

Enjoy! 

Vintage Tablecloths

I have a strong love for most things vintage and I used to joke around about putting the word “vintage” in front of anything old meant it was cool….that’s not always the case, but most vintage tablecloths are pretty cool. 

They can come in all shapes and sizes, some are printed on old broadcloth and others have been embroidered by someone who really loved what they were making. Have you ever tried to embroider something? It definitely is an art and takes a lot of time. 

This past weekend, a good friend sent me a vintage tablecloth in the mail and it was such a nice surprise. Just in time for spring and it has some of my favorite colors. 

Not all vintage tablecloths have been cared for the same. Here are some tips and tricks for starting/adding to a collection and  or buying them in general:

– look for them in antique stores. Often they will be in a back corner with other linens or sometimes on display with dishes and a table. 

– if you are lucky and find one that you like, open it up all the way and inspect the tablecloth. You may feel like you are intruding in the antique store, but some tablecloths have moth holes, stains, yellow spots from aging or thin spots or holes if they were well loved and someone used them a lot. The damage can run the gammet and learn from my experiences, inspect, inspect, inspect! Some damage is irreparable.     

-barter! Some of these lovely tablecloths can run between $35-$70 depending on the shape they are in and most of the time an antique store owner wants to make sale. See if you can negotiate the price or ask if you buy one can the second tablecloth be half off. What’s the worst they can say, no? It’s not like they can take away your birthday. Plus, I love a good deal and am always willing to negotiate a price at a flee market or antique store. The thrill is in the deal! 

-look around! If at first you don’t succeed in finding something you love, keep looking. There are a million vintage linens out there, that people have pulled out of their mothers and grandmothers basements. You will find the right one for you! 

I hope this inspires you to start collection something you love, whether that be vintage tablecloths, candlestick holders, old paintings – the world is your oyster! 

Breakfast Burritos

I love breakfast for dinner and we had some ingredients in our fridge that needed to be used. So tonight’s dinner was Breakfast Burritos. These are so delicious and easy. 

What you will need:

-1/2 lb of cooked ground sausage

-5 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped

-1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped

-6 eggs

-1/2 c. shredded cheese 

-3 large tortillas 

-taco sauce 

-sour cream 

Step 1: wash the bell pepper and core it. Slice into quarters and take two quarters and cut into strips. Dice strips of pepper into small cubes. 

Step 2: take cooked bacon and cut into strips. 

Step 3: heat olive oil in pan. Once olive oil is heated add cooked sausage, bell pepper and bacon. 

Step 4: place lid on sausage, bacon and bell pepper mixture and let the peppers soften, stirring occasionally. While this is cooking, crack 6 eggs into a bowl. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper. 

Step 5: once peppers are soften or a desirable texture. Add eggs and slowly scramble the eggs until completely cooked. 

Step 6: remove from heat and add shredded cheese. Place lid back on the pan, until cheese is melted. This takes about 2-3 minutes. 

Step 7: heat tortillas in microwave for about 10 seconds per tortilla. Add burrito filling, just over a cup per burrito. Season with taco sauce and sour cream. 

Step 8: fold tortilla and enjoy!

Cajun Chicken

Chicken is a favorite in our house, mostly because it’s versatile and our little one likes it a lot. So when the kiddo finds a favorite, we find a favorite :). 

If you are looking for chicken packed with a lot of flavor and a kick, Cajun Chicken is a dish for you. 

This recipe is adapted from, The Weeknight Dinner cookbook by Mary Younkin.

You will need the following: 

-thawed chicken breasts

-1 T. Smoked paprika

-1 T. Garlic salt

-2 tsp. White pepper

-2 tsp. Onion powder

-2 tsp. Oregano

-2 tsp. Thyme

-1 tsp. Chili powder or cayenne pepper 

-olive oil 

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil. I find it best to take two sheets of foil and lay them on top of eachother. Folding over on the long edge twice. This will create a seal in the foil. Flip over and wrap around the cookie sheet. I repeat this step twice (lining the cookie sheet twice). Trust me on this one, it will create such an easy cleanup. 

Step 2: Place chicken breasts on lined cookie sheet and pat the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel. This sounds crazy to dry off your chicken, but it will help the seasoning stick to the chicken. 

Step 3. Rub olive oil over chicken. This is definitely a less is more step. Once chicken is coated in olive oil, flip the chicken over and coat the other side in olive oil. 

Step 4. Mix together all of the seasonings into a bowl. Once all of the seasonings are mixed together, add a spoonful to each chicken breast. You will want to make sure to not touch the spoon to the chicken to prevent cross contamination with the extra seasoning and chicken. Rub the seasoning into the chicken. Once completely rubbed in, flip the chicken over and repeat this step until chicken is completely coated. 

If there is additional seasoning left over, keep it! This would be yummy on some vegetables or chicken in the future. 

Step 5. Place chicken in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip chicken over and bake another 15-20 minutes. Chicken must reach 165 degrees to be fully cooked, I would highly recommend using a meat thermometer. 

Step 6. Once chicken is fully cooked, remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice chicken and serve. We typically serve this with angel hair pasta coated in butter and Parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy! 

Pam’s French Toast

I’m a big fan of breakfast for dinner, especially when it includes sweet and savory. I received this recipe from one of my good friends mom, Pam. While on breaks in college a group of us would sleep over at our friends Molly’s home. Usually, catch a show at the local Shakespeare Festival or eat a bunch of junk food and pass out, either way it was a fabulous time. In the morning, we would make our way out to the kitchen and Pam would greet us with her famous french toast while sharing her funny stories and pearls of wisdom all young women need to hear. When I was getting married, Pam gave me this recipe and it has been cherished since. My husband claims this is the best french toast he has had. 

Ingredients:

3-4 large eggs

1/2 c. flour 

Thick sandwich bread (Texas toast or a thick sliced french bread)

Step 1. Crack all eggs into a pie dish and whisk together. 

Step 2. Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time and whisk together until all lumps are removed. Scrape the sides of the pie pan. This should resemble a thick pudding. 

Step 3. Add milk to batter, until batter becomes less thick. I probably added less than 1/4 c. of milk. Whisk together. 

Step 4. In a large skillet heat up 1 tablespoon of oil or butter over medium heat. Dip bread into batter, slowly coating both sides of the bread and carefully place into hot skillet. 

Step 5. Cook the bread until golden brown and flip with a spatual until both sides are golden brown. 

Step 7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all pieces of bread are cooked. 

Step 8. Top with anything you would like – butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, jam. 

Enjoy!