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triple love

Chili Macaroni and Cheese

Apr 20th, 2012
by erin.
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Chili Mac n Cheese

Date: 4/18/2012

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2011/02/02/four-bean-chili-mac-cheese/

Modifications: I added a lot of sour cream since I was using 2% milk and because sour cream is delicious, and I think I used too much pasta so I added more chili and cheese to compensate.

Time to table: 20 minutes

Servings: 5 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: Again, this was so easy – I LOVE the concept of using leftovers to make a slightly different meal. We will definitely be trying this more! We all loved this meal in both forms – Annie probably enjoyed it a bit more here – mostly she just picked out each noodle though :)

Annie eating the noodles

Annie eating the noodles

Four Bean Chili

Apr 19th, 2012
by erin.
1 comment

Four Bean Chili

Date: 4/16/2012

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2011/02/01/four-bean-chili/

Modifications: I used ground turkey instead of beef, and added a chopped bell pepper.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 6-8 hours cooking time.

Servings: A lot – this nearly filled our crockpot – at least 8 adults.

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This chili was really good!  We all are bean lovers, so this went over well. Annie enjoyed narrating which bean she was eating at that time :) This is part of a 3 in 1 meal that weelicious posted, so the next post will be what we did with the leftovers.

Beans for Four Bean Chili

Four Bean Chili

French Toast

Apr 3rd, 2012
by erin.
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French Toast

Date: 3/28/2012

Recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_toast/

Modifications: I added a splash of vanilla to the mixture, didn’t use triple sec or orange zest.

Time to table: 20 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We are coming around more and more to breakfast for dinner – mainly because it’s guaranteed to be well liked by Annie and is usually really easy. This is an excellent basic french toast recipe – I’ve never actually made french toast in my life, so it was high time I start! Unsurprisingly, we all LOVED this. I used french bread, and served with sausage and strawberries. You know something is good if Annie will even eat some of it when strawberries are an option.

Chicken Spaghetti

Mar 28th, 2012
by erin.
1 comment

Chicken Spaghetti

Date: 3/26/2012

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/

Modifications: We used an entire chopped red pepper and a whole onion too. This was split into 2 portions, each in a 8×8 pan.

Time to table: 1 hour prep (including cooking chicken and shredding it), 30+ minutes baking (it’s closer to an hour if baking from frozen)

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This is one of our freezer meals – I’ve blogged about it on my other blog several times but it’s never been featured here. It’s a big hit around our house. I think it would be good with different veggies in it too – maybe some chopped broccoli instead of the pepper.

Annie's chicken spaghetti
“Now picture of Annie’s food, too”

Meatloaf with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Jan 27th, 2012
by ben.
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Meatloaf, broccoli and potatoes

Date: 1/24/2012

Meatloaf recipe: http://kickassbbq.com/smoked_meat_loaf.html

Broccoli recipe: 1 head of broccoli tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Roast at 425 for 20 minutes.

Mashed potatoes recipe: Quarter the potatoes and boil them until soft, mash with butter, sour cream, and cream.

Modifications: We used turkey thigh instead of beef, and added garlic, shredded carrot, and only used 4 strips of bacon.

UPDATE 4/30/12: Made this again last night and wanted to document what I thought was a winning combination of ingredients:

  • 2 lbs ground turkey thigh
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 1/2 carrot, shredded
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 egg
  • 2 T bbq rub
  • 1/4 cup bbq sauce
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

Time to table: 30 minutes meatloaf prep, 90 minutes meatloaf grilling time. I made the broccoli and potatoes while the meatloaf was grilling.

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler, and several lunchs of leftover meatloaf

Ben: LOVE

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was simply amazing. We made this meatloaf before using the smoker, not the grill, but this time was tremendously better. I was surprised at how tasty the turkey thighs were, and the grill cooked the garlic more than the smoker did, so it turned out better. Annie surprisingly loved the broccoli tonight and continued to ask for more off of Erin’s plate. Everything came together great in this meal, AND I timed everything perfectly so that it was all hot when we ate it. I’m pretty great, if you ask me.

Meatloaf

Tortilla and Black Bean Pie

Jan 18th, 2012
by erin.
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Black Bean Tortilla Pie

Date: 1/17/2012

Recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/336692/tortilla-and-black-bean-pie (I also made this before WAY back in the day right after I’d started my blog)

Modifications: Used whole wheat tortillas – and the ones we got (Mission 100% whole wheat “soft taco”) were EXACTLY the perfect size for my 9” springform pan so that was awesome. I used water instead of beer – I’m sure the alcohol cooks off, but it feels weird cooking with any alcohol for a pregnant woman and a toddler… so yeah, just water. I added some additional seasoning – Penzey’s Adobo seasoning. Also added a chopped green pepper to the onion/garlic/jalapeno mix to up the veggie content.

Time to table: 30 minutes active, 20 minutes baking

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love (with the addition of a fried egg for him)

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We are on a ROLL with the triple love meals over here! I knew this one would be a hit – we have loved it all the other times we’ve made it and this was no exception. I forgot to add sour cream and salsa to mine but it was still quite good even without that. We even had this on a weeknight and Annie devoured it – proving that it’s a keeper!

Black Bean Tortilla Pie

Ben's black bean tortilla pie w/ fried egg
Ben’s serving topped with fried egg

Holding her food out for me to take a photo :)
After I took a photo of my dish, Annie held hers out for similar treatment :)

Chicken wild rice soup and honey yeast rolls

Jan 17th, 2012
by erin.
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Chicken Wild Rice Soup and Honey Yeast Rolls

Date: 1/15/2012

Recipe:

Soup: Ingredients:

  • Approximately 7 cups water, 6 tablespoons of “better than bouillion” vegetable broth mix
  • 2 cups finely chopped celery (when we have extra celery, we chop and blanch and freeze in 2 cup portions to have on hand for soups – so one of those bags went in here)
  • 1 carrot, shredded
  • Half an onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
  • 3 cups cooked wild rice
  • 1 pound cooked chicken thighs, cubed
Directions:
  • In a large saucepan, combine the first nine ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. (We did this part while cooking the wild rice)
  • In Dutch oven, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in broth mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add mushroom soup, rice and chicken; heat through. 

Adapted from:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-Wild-Rice-Soup

Rolls: http://annies-eats.com/2008/10/29/honey-yeast-rolls/

Modifications: The soup recipe was pretty heavily modified, which is why I posted what we did. I followed all instructions on the rolls, but it didn’t take 2 hours for my dough to double.

Time to table: Soup took about an hour total, because the wild rice takes 45 minutes to cook – but since we combined that with the first step of the soup (simmering for 30 minutes) it wasn’t so bad. Rolls take about 3 hours including all rising time, maybe 30 minutes of active prep time total.

Servings: The 3 of us ate this for dinner, and then froze another dinner portion for all of us. There was enough after that still for one lunch and one toddler dinner. Probably would feed 6 adults. The rolls make 10-12.

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: I feel like we need a special category for these rare (but happened twice in a week!) triple LOVE meals. So I am making one, and calling it “triple love” (some are amended from my feelings on a meal during the first trimester of pregnancy. Another note – apparently we mostly love soup). I was VERY skeptical that this would live up to restaurant quality soup, but wow, it definitely did! This soup was absolutely delicious, and paired with fresh baked rolls? Can’t get much better than that on a cold January night! When Annie even chooses to eat the soup after eating an entire roll, you know it’s good. She eats so much better on weekends it’s ridiculous – the big difference being that we don’t give her snacks in the afternoon on weekends – shockingly that results in her actually eating dinner! Anyway, this meal was definitely a winner all around. Kind of surprising for us given the lack of cheese and cream involved!

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Honey Yeast Rolls

Annie eating soup and bread

Crock pot jambalaya

Jan 12th, 2012
by ben.
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Jambalaya

Date: 1/9/2012

Recipe: From Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes, Judith Finlayson

1 lb Italian sausage

2 onions, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

2 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp dried chopped oregano

1/ tsp cracked black peppercorns

1 cup pearl barely, thoroughly rinsed under cold running water

1 28 oz can coarsely chopped tomatoes, including liquid

3 cups chicken stock

8 oz medium shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped

  1. In a nonstick skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up with a spoon until no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Drain all but 1 Tbsp of fat from pan. Reduce hear to medium.
  1. Add onions to pan and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, chili pepper, Cajun seasoning, oregano, salt, and peppercorns, stirring for one minute. Add barely and stir well. Add tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil.
  1. Pour mixture over sausage and stir. Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIG 3-4 hours. Add shrimp and roasted red pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH for 20 minutes, until shrimp is heated through.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 8 hours cook time

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: We made this recipe a couple years ago, but it seemed different and I think we both liked it way more this time for some reason. Annie very much enjoyed this, unless a piece of shrimp got anywhere near her mouth. That went right back in the bowl. She also enjoyed the pear she had for dessert.

Pears for dessert

Corn & cheese chowder

Nov 10th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Cheesy Corn Chowder
Doesn’t look like much, but it’s fantastic.

Date: 11/7/2011

Recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/soups/corn-cheese-chowder/?print=1/#sizeFP

Time to table: 1 hour

Modifications: I added a couple stalks of diced celery because we had some for other meals this week.

Servings: 5 adult dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Like/Love

Annie: Love

Notes: This was an awesome soup that I’ll definitely make again, I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow for lunch (We saved the leftovers for dinner tonight). We didn’t use bread bowls, but I can imagine that would be delicious. We had this for leftovers tonight and I made the mistake of crushing up some crackers in Annie’s bowl. She recognized the crackers and proceeded to pick the cracker pieces out and just eat those. Ugh.

Annie chowing on chowder

Cheesy Corn Chowder

Sweet potato chili…….again

Oct 14th, 2011
by ben.
3 comments

Sweet Potato Chili
Date: 10/12/2011

Recipe:

28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 cup dried black beans (or one 15 oz can)
1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo sauced, seeded and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 small bell peppers, diced
1 packet of chili seasoning (or make your own) 

Soak the beans overnight (if you’re using dried beans)

In the morning, chop up all the veggies.

Put the tomatoes and water into the crockpot with the seasoning and mix it in well

Add all of the ingredients

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream if that’s your thing (and it is most definitely OUR thing). I also love having my chili over pasta, ever since my friend Scott introduced me to that concept a couple years ago.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 6 hours cook time

Servings: 4 adult dinners, 2 toddler dinners

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: I totally screwed up the beans here. I let the soak overnight and then put it all in the crock pot in the morning, but the beans didn’t finish cooking by the time we ate it, so the beans were hard on the outside still. Certainly edible and it was still delicious, but it would be even better with fully cooked beans. I partly blame our crockpot because it doesn’t seem to get as hot as other crock pots. We served this with leftover frozen cornbread muffins. Annie devoured all of this with reckless abandon.

Sweet Potato chili

Eating Sweet Potato chili

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