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5-Minute Harvest Crunch Snack Mix

October 10, 2016 by Megan

Hi Friends! How are ya? Crazy busy here! And that is why I am so into this 5-Minute Harvest Crunch Snack Mix! My kids have been bombarding me for candy lately. Everything is candy this, candy that, I want candy! Get Me Candy Mommy!! AWWWW! I am tired of saying no to candy so that is why I am saying yes to this 5-Minute Harvest Crunch Snack Mix. No guilt in handing this snack over to my kids. 😉

The purpose of this post is to talk to you about what is going on in my life right now. Things have been crazy busy and by crazy busy I mean we are going to be packing up and moving out of our house soon! Ahh! How am I ever going to find the time to pack up things in a few weeks?! Well that is why I am taking the time to create a post that took so little time to make. My kids were ecstatic that when they asked for candy I actually gave them just that, along with some healthy stuff too! They ate it either way! And this caramel candy corn was just simply awesome! I am not a huge candy corn lover but my hand kept finding its way back to this stuff. 🙂 I love Honey Nut Cheerios and Honey Nut Chex cereal so together they are even better!!

Making this snack mix had a few good things going for it. 1) IT MADE MY KIDDOS HAPPY AS CAN BE. 2) I was able to spend two minutes cleaning up and then head outside to play with my kids! The end result…EVERYONE IS HAPPY. They LOVE going outside to swing and run around in the leaves. Usually, I am stuck inside cleaning up my kitchen mess. However, not today! I was all smiles because we raked leaves and I love nothing more then watching a 2, 3, and 4 year old jump in a pile of leaves and think it is the greatest thing in the world!! It totally reminds me of when I was their age loving the exact same thing!! The little things in life are often the biggest memories. And today we made big memories in our backyard. And for that reason, I am satisfied with my 5-minute harvest crunch snack mix!! 🙂

Happy Monday!

5-Minute Harvest Crunch Snack Mix

3 Scoops of Sugar

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Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Course Snack

Ingredients

1 bag popcorn popped
1/2 cup or couple handfuls of caramel candy corn
1 cup Honey Nut Chex cereal
1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios

Instructions

Combine all four ingredients in large bowl. Vary the amounts of ingredients to your own liking or add additional ingredients including peanuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. Be creative!

Pumpkin Linguine with Kale & Walnuts

October 3, 2016 by Megan

OMG! PUMPKIN LINGUINE WITH KALE & WALNUTS! Pumpkin pasta, where have you been all my life? Eating this pumpkin linguine make me think I am in some fancy lil restaurant enjoying a bowl of crazy good pasta but much to my surprise I am sitting at our dinner table with the hubs. 🙂 All the better!! Simply because that is my goal–to bring simple, healthy, and delicious homemade meals into your home.

For the longest time, cooking pasta has been a little intimidating for me. Basically, there is one main reason: 1) How do I get not only perfect tasting but also looking noodles? I have had noodles that are mushy, ones that stick together like white on rice, and once in awhile noodles that turn out okay. But I want better noodles than that! I want restaurant quality noodles that swirl around on my fork just perfectly with a taste that makes me go “WOW!” AND THAT IS WHAT I AM GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY!!

The credit for this pasta making process goes to Bon Appetit. I grabbed my latest issue the other day and immediately noticed on the cover there it was, “How to make perfect pasta.” Yes! I thought, finally! I need to read more into this because I simply love pasta, especially in the fall and winter months when I am loving some warm, comfort food. It isn’t even about the pasta itself that I like. I have this picture in my mind that on a cold, Fall evening it would be so cozy to grab a bowl of yummy pasta and sit in front of the fire cuddling up with my hubs and kiddos. I mean, honestly how fun does that sound?!! I think it sounds awesome!!

Pasta Making Secrets

1. Use a dutch oven. A large pot like this will prevent your pasta from falling out the sides and making a mess meaning less cleanup for you!
2. Create your flavors. Start with heating olive oil in the Dutch oven. Use enough oil to cover the bottom and heat over medium-low heat. Add aromatics like garlic or shallots to add flavor to your pasta. Next, begin adding mushrooms, onions, or additional veggies until they are tender. In this recipe I started with garlic and added onions.
3. Get the pasta going. In a pot of salted water, cook the noodles until they are several minutes shy of al dente. I cooked linguine in a pot of water for 5 minutes. Then transfer noodles with pasta fork to the Dutch oven. Add a cup of pasta water as well. The noodles should be swimming in the liquid and the liquid should be bubbling.
4. Toss, toss, and toss again. Toss the pasta again and again as the pasta finishes cooking. Add a little more pasta water if needed. Toss some more and then slowly stir in some grated cheese like Parmesan until it melts completely.
5. Finish it up. Continue tossing pasta until each strand is coated and no bits of grated cheese remain. Remove from heat and if desired add cheese on top.

The steps above are a great tool to cooking any pasta because it takes the pressure off the recipe and emphasizes the pasta cooking process. It is easy to change things up using these steps and have an entirely different meal with just a few change of ingredients! Love these pasta cooking tricks!!

Now it is time to enjoy some delicious pumpkin linguine with kale and walnuts!!

Pumpkin Linguine with Kale & Walnuts

3 Scoops of Sugar

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Total Time 30

Course Main Dish

Ingredients

8 oz linguine
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup yellow onion chopped
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup pasta water
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese + more for garnishing if desired
1 cup loosely packed kale
2 tablespoons half and half
crushed walnuts

Instructions

Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in Dutch oven. Olive oil should cover the entire bottom. Add garlic and onions and saute for 2-3 minutes or long enough for onions to soften. Add pumpkin puree, nutmeg, and chicken broth. Stir to combine.
In the meantime, in a pot of salted water, cook linguine until several minutes prior to al dente. I cooked the linguine in the pot for 5 minutes. Then transfer linguine with pasta fork to Dutch oven. Add 1 cup pasta water with noodles. Noodles should be swimming in the liquid and liquid should be bubbling.
Toss the pasta continuously for a few minutes. Add more pasta water if needed. Toss again and then add Parmesan cheese slowly and toss linguine until cheese has melted completely and coats pasta evenly.
Add kale and half and half and stir until kale has just wilted. Remove from heat.
Serve topped with walnuts and grated Parmesan if desired.
Enjoy!

Granny Smith Apple Crisp

September 30, 2016 by Megan

Granny Smith Apple Crisp is the ultimate fall dessert! Hello Fall! We are going to be good buddies this year!!

There is nothing like warm apple crisp topped with cool vanilla bean ice cream. I am super excited about this post!! My reasons are twofold!! 😉 1. This apple crisp tastes amazing! It has all the right ingredients packed into one 8×8 square baking pan. 2. It is baked with the apple skins so it is packed with extra nutrients. The trick is the skins have been finely chopped in a food processor so there is no annoying texture. Just amazing apple crisp!! It’s a love-love relationship right now with this apple crisp. And you may be wondering what is up with all of the love talk in my food blog posts???Well why the heck would you want to read about some supposed awesome apple crisp that a girl thinks is just okay!? I SURE WOULDN’T!!
I want to read food blog posts from someone that is passionate about their food and ingredients and what goes into it to taste great but is still healthy for you!! That is what I want to read about…just sayin.

Oh, another point: Who ever came up with the line regarding desserts that the first one is the best and it goes down hill from there as a way for you to limit the number of bites to just a couple…well that saying does not apply to this granny smith apple crisp! Not lying either peeps! This apple crisp gets better with every bite. Especially when it is warm out of the oven with a scoop or two of ice cream on top. It is so awesome that we used the apple skins in this recipe because that is where the nutrients are!

And if you are seeing these pictures in the evening and wondering whether it is worth going to the trouble of making this apple crisp? It definitely is! Totally would not lie about this! Why? Because I made this recipe starting at 8:00pm while my kiddos were watching Strange Magic (their current favorite movie for the week) and I was in the kitchen slicing and peeling apples. There were a lot of interruptions including getting chocolate milk and/or apple juice for my kids! I finally got this crisp into the oven at 9:00pm! My apple crisp was perfectly done after 50 minutes and I let it cool for 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, I cuddled with my babies and got them into bed. I totally love their ages right now. They have such fun and full-of-life personalities and we have so much fun doing mindless things like playing monster, hide-and-seek, and building castles. It is difficult at times to find time to blog, but I just find the time because I love every bit of it!!

So the hubs and I sat down at 10:30pm after I snapped some awesome shots of the apple crisp of course! We shared a dish of this perfect granny smith apple crisp with some vanilla ice cream and we were so amazed!! Love this apple crisp! 🙂

I just discovered my favorite fall dessert today and I am loving every bit of it!!! This recipe was adapted by Jo Robinson from Eating on the Wild Side. Amazing book!! You should totally check it out!

Granny Smith Apple Crisp

3 Scoops of Sugar

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Prep Time 35

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 25

Course Dessert

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

Apples

2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and core apples and set aside the peels. DO NOT DISCARD PEELS. Slice the peeled apples into 1/4 inch slices and place in a large mixing bowl.
Combine 1 cup of sliced apples, apple skins, honey, one tablespoon flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in food processor. Process on high for approximately 3 minutes until skins are finely chopped. Stop and scrape sides of bowl once or twice.
Stir the chopped mixture in with the bowl of sliced apples until well combined. Spoon apple mixture into a greased 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
For the topping combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir until blended. Spoon topping mixture over the apples.
Bake in the middle of the oven at 350℉ for 50-60 minutes. Top should be golden brown and apples should be tender. Cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries

September 26, 2016 by Megan

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries…I love you! Weird, I totally know so you can think it too. What is it about sweet potato fries?! For some reason, I can always find a way to say no to the greasy, caked in salt fries that you get from restaurants, fast food, the works. Bottom line is I can say no. Homemade sweet potato fries on the other hand…there will not be one left over at the end of our meal. Not even one! What is even better? The result is a perfectly crispy sweet potato fry! Stinkin good!!

Once you try these sweet potato fries, you won’t even need to look back. They are the best fries evaaa!! Healthy sweet potato fries will satisfy you from here on out. No need for greasy, fried, salt-overloaded fries from elsewhere.

These little guys are packed with flavor and nutrition. An interesting point about sweet potatoes is that baking them makes them more nutritious for you because it doubles the amount of antioxidants. Cool huh! I think you just saw the dietitian nerd side of me come out! It gets even better. Sweet potatoes are better for you than traditional potatoes and they have a lower glycemic index which is good if you are at all concerned about your blood sugar level. A lower glycemic index food reduces how fast your blood sugar increases after consumption. So go eat more sweet potatoes!!

Here is a snapshot of all of the flavor that goes into these amazing sweet potato fries! 🙂

The prep for these sweet potato fries makes them turn out crispy in the oven. To give credit where credit is due the process for these sweet potato fries was adapted from Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny. She has totally nailed these fries. The first step involves cutting up the sweet potatoes into fries. That is probably the most challenging part of it all because sweet potatoes are not so easy to cup up. Once that step is done, you need to soak the sweet potatoes in cold water for one hour. Rinse and drain them and place them in a Ziploc back with corn starch. Shake them around a bit so they are all coated with the corn starch. These two steps will give you amazingly good and crispy sweet potato fries!

Little secret from muah- I had two cookie sheets of sweet potato fries in the oven cooking at the same time. The top cookie sheet turned out perfect, but the bottom sheet fries were burnt to a crisp. So if you can fit both cookie sheets of fries near the top of your oven, I would suggest doing that! Also, if you have a double oven that would be ideal to use for these. Second little secret-they were so delicious I was still eating the burnt ones!! HAHA!

For the perfectly done sweet potato fries…umm…so this is a little embarrassing but I was totally being a 12-year-old. My husband and I sat down to dinner and I took a reasonable portion of fries and started eating. But as I realized how amazing these fries turned out my hand was continually making it back to the pan of fries and stealing more. I couldn’t help myself. I do not consider myself a fry lover but sweet potato fries are the bomb people! You have got to try these!! YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU HAVE NOT MADE THEM SOONER!!

Healthy Sweet Potato Fries

Megan

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Course Sides

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into fries. I would recommend checking out youtube on how to cut sweet potatoes into fries because this was very helpful! Soak sweet potatoes in cold water for one hour.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Rinse/Drain sweet potatoes and pat dry with paper towels. Place in large Ziploc bag and add corn starch. Shake bag around until all the sweet potatoes are coated with corn starch. Smooth out any clumps that have formed.
Transfer sweet potatoes to a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss sweet potatoes around with your hands to ensure all of them are well coated with the oil. In a separate small bowl, combine chili powder, paprika, salt, coriander, cumin and black pepper. Sprinkle seasonings over sweet potatoes slowly and make sure all of the sweet potatoes are seasoned evenly.
Place sweet potatoes on baking sheets in a single layer. Do not let them touch each other. To prevent fries from burning, place sheets near the top of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Toss sweet potatoes around using a spatula and spread back into a single layer. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes.

Hearty Ratatouille Soup

September 19, 2016 by Megan

Time for fall and that means soups galore! Oh I how Iove love love soups. Fall and Winter are my favorite food months. Soups and stews oh my! 😉 Paninis and cheesy, crusty French bread to dip into the soup. So amazing!! This hearty ratatouille soup is deeeeelish!

Just saying the word Ratatouille brings me back to my childhood when I was home sick and my mom bought me the Disney Pixar version of Ratatouille and that was totally my kind of movie back then. Loved the movie! What was next—had to make ratatouille with my mom and so we did and it was absolutely hands down my favorite! I mean the dish has my name written all over it. So beyond the food itself, I love why I love ratatouille so much. That make sense?!

It’s just like music in my eyes. Oh no, here we go…deep thoughts by me. I love music and I can listen to a song and have all of these different memories come flooding in after just listening to a song. Take “Happy” for example by Pharrell. Love that song! Well my little brother got married about a year ago and me and my sisters changed the words of the song to relate to Marc and Katie. We sang it to them at their rehearsal dinner! We are AWFUL singers don’t get me wrong. But thinking back about that evening and how we actually had the guts to get up there despite our terrible voices was pretty darn cool. It makes me smile! And that is exactly how I see ratatouille. A happy time in my life that was spent cooking with my mom.

Ratatouille alone is superb and so why not make it into a soup?! No reason my friends, no reason at all. Love the combination of eggplant, onions, yellow bell peppers, and not to forget the crushed tomatoes!! Plus making ratatouille soup is probably the only way I can get my husband to eat eggplant in all seriousness. Final verdict—yep he loved it! I don’t think he wanted to admit it but there was no denying it!! I would not skip on the French cheesy bread either because it was so tasty with this soup.

Hope you give this ratatouille soup a try. You won’t regret it!!

Hearty Ratatouille Soup

Megan

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Course Soup

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large white onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon Herbs from Provence
1/2 eggplant diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth low sodium
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
6 thick slices baguette
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
fresh ground pepper

Instructions

Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook about 3 minutes until onion is soft.
Add 2 teaspoons Herbs from Provence and 1 teaspoon salt.
Add eggplant, zucchini, and bell pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add crushed tomatoes with their juices, the broth, and basil.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Preheat broiler for 5-10 minutes. Brush bread with olive oil and sprinkle with Herbs from Provence and salt. Broil until lightly toasted. Keep a close eye on bread as this will only take a couple minutes. Top with cheese and broil until cheese is melted.
Puree half of soup in blender. Return to pot and season with salt and pepper. Serve with cheesy french bread.

Let me know your thoughts!

Peace friends!!

Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies

September 15, 2016 by Megan

When life gives you lemon curd, what do you do? Make Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies!! 😉 Why? Because these little guys are amaaaaaazing!! They are the perfect “goodbye summer” cookie as the season and me part ways until next year! And it seems summer is leaving us a bit abruptly as evidenced by the recent cool weather here in NE lately. Anyway, back to the point…these cookies have something special going on! The dough portion of the cookie has a lemon taste but then you bite into the lemon curd and WOWZA! That is when you know you owned that cookie! I want you to show your kitchen who is boss today! 🙂

So I recently showed you how to make lemon curd. Now we are taking it one step farther and we are going for the gold!! And by gold, I mean these lemon curd thumbprint cookies are going to knock your socks off!!

Cookies are totally my favorite dessert! Simple, yet satisfying! 😉 Even around the holidays if there is a tray of chocolate chip cookies next to brownies, cheesecake, or pie I am totally going to go for that chocolate chip cookie! What is it about cookies?!!

AND Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies definitely are in the race for a top 5 in my all-time favorite kinds! They will definitely test your will power to only have one! These are melt in your mouth cookies!

You can make these cookies one of two ways. You can bake the cookies and top with the lemon curd and serve them or after adding the lemon curd you can bake them for another couple minutes in order for the lemon curd to set. I baked for another 3 minutes after adding the lemon curd and they were fantastic.

Hope you enjoy them!! Hello Lemon Cookies and Goodbye Summer!

Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies

Megan

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 22

Total Time 37

Course Dessert

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup lemon curd

Instructions

COOKIE PREP:

Preheat oven to 350℉. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Cream butter and powdered sugar in mixer for about 3-4 minutes. Add egg yolk, lemon juice, zest, and salt and mix until combined. Mix in flour on low speed just until you notice small clumps to form. Form dough into 1 inch dough balls and place dough balls on cookie sheet 1 inch apart from each other. Using your thumb, dip it in flour and then press down in middle of cookie enough to fill with lemon curd.

BAKE:

Bake cookies at 350℉ for 18-20 minutes or until just golden on the outside. Remove cookies from oven. Add lemon curd to cookies as soon as removed from the oven. May serve immediately or return cookies to oven for another 2-4 minutes in order to set the curd. Dust cookies with powdered sugar just prior to serving.
Notes: If making cookies ahead of time, wait to add lemon curd until ready to serve.

Notes

Inspired by Mad About Kitchen

Most Delicious Lemon Curd

September 13, 2016 by Megan

Friends…HELLO!! MUST.TRY.LEMON.CURD!!
There is a reason I did not name this recipe just lemon curd. Mainly, because that doesn’t sound that exciting at all unless you have had lemon curd before and you know how amazing it is. This lemon curd is the most delicious lemon curd!! No joke. So if you are not a lemon fan, sorry, you probably still will not be a lemon fan after lemon curd. BUT, if you are a lemon fan, then you have found some magic to put on top of your morning toast, english muffin, etc. Your morning just got better.

The secret to this stuff- a little goes a long way! Add a teaspoonful to some toast and you have just made a quick and tasty breakfast. Everyone should try lemon curd at least once in their life.

Lemon curd is quite delicious either way: 1) by the spoonful 😉 or 2) added to a fresh, flaky biscuit. Eat this lemony heaven with tea or coffee and complete the experience. Throw a tea party!!

To make lemon curd, start off by adding 8 egg yolks to a medium sized heat proof bowl. Beat with a whisk for one minute. Add sugar and beat for another minute. Then add lemon juice and lemon zest and stir ingredients together.

Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Cook egg mixture until it thickens, approximately 10-20 minutes. Think low and slow when cooking! Stir in butter pieces, one at a time making sure one melts before adding the next. Finally, strain mixture through fine mesh sieve. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

It’s simple. Make. Eat. Enjoy!
But do remember…portion control! 😉

Do it–MOST DELICIOUS LEMON CURD!

Most Delicious Lemon Curd

Megan

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Course Sauces

Servings 2 cups

Ingredients

8 egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
10 tablespoons butter cut into pieces

Instructions

In medium sized, heat proof bowl, add egg yolks. Beat for one minute. Add sugar and beat for another minute. Add fresh lemon juice and lemon zest and stir contents together until combined.
Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. The bowl should not be immersed in the water. Cook egg mixture for 10-20 minutes until sauce thickens. Once sauce has thickened, add butter one piece at a time and wait to add another piece of butter until previous one has melted.
Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
Serve and enjoy!!

Notes

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Quick & Easy Salsa Verde Quesadillas

September 8, 2016 by Megan

School is back in session and sports and the endless number of activities have started for the year! Yay! What do you not want to think about…supper. Try these awesome quick & easy salsa verde quesadillas! To sum up in one word–SATISFYING!! You may think well, that’s a boring word. I beg to differ. These quesadillas are a mix of beef, cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, and avocado topped with my salsa verde and a dab of ranch! YUMMAY!

Quesadillas are a great weeknight meal. They can be as simple or as fancy as you like! I like my quesadillas more on the fancy side! 😉

How to fancy up your quesadillas:

1. First you need to decide whether you want meat in your quesadillas and if so what kind of meat?Quesadillas are fun to make with beef, chicken or even go vegan with a mix of veggies and black beans.
2. What will be your mix-ins. Possibilities are endless, but you could do the usual avocados, cheese, tomatoes or get daring and go for chickpeas, black beans, jalapenos, onions, zucchini, the list could go on and on.
3. Last and most importantly are the toppings!! This is my favorite part. Nothing completes a super fab quesadilla like dabs of fresh herbs, ranch, and your favorite salsa or guacamole. Today, I am totally excited about topping off our quesadillas with my salsa verde. It makes a mouth happy!! 🙂

These quesadillas go from tortilla and ingredients to full blown amazing, mouth-watering quesadillas in under 30 minutes. During the school year, 30 minute weeknight meals are huge!! And it’s a total BONUS when that doesn’t mean you popping in a frozen meal that you have likely had a thousand times before!

Say NO to frozen meals today! You know you want to do better than that!

Back to my word of the day–SATISFYING. These quesadillas are packed with ground beef, cheese, tomatoes, and a couple slices of avocado and topped off with some some fresh salsa verde and a bit of ranch. It only takes a reasonable portion to feel satisfied because of the variety of ingredients and protein from the beef and cheese and healthy fats from the avocado. So go ahead and satisfy yourself with these delicious quick & easy quesadillas with salsa verde!

They simply rock!!

quick and easy quesadillas with salsa verde

Quick & Easy Salsa Verde Quesadillas

Megan

Delicious beef quesadillas topped with salsa verde. Load 'em up with all of your favorite toppings!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
1 avocado sliced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes chopped
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4-8 inch flour tortillas
optional toppings-salsa verde sour cream, ranch, cilantro, fresh lime juice. Go nuts!

Instructions

PREPARE INGREDIENTS:

Brown ground beef. Add taco seasoning and 1 tablespoon water. While meat is cooking, slice avocado and chop tomatoes.

ARRANGE QUESADILLAS:

In heavy cast iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium-high heat for 2-4 minutes. Lay out tortillas and add ground beef, cheese, tomatoes, and avocado slices to one side of tortilla and fold over other half. Turn heat down to medium and cook quesadillas for a couple minutes per side. Keep a close eye on quesadillas so they do not burn. Remove from heat.

ADDITIONAL TOPPINGS:

Cut quesadillas in half and top with salsa, ranch, and fresh lime juice if desired.

ENJOY SOME TASTY QUESADILLAS!!

Salsa Verde (Tomatillo Salsa)

September 5, 2016 by Megan

Salsa is one of life’s greatest creations. I love it! Salsa verde…OMG! It just blows me away! All of the flavors and ingredients come together to produce this tomatillo burst of goodness! Salsa verde refers to green salsa and the green comes from tomatillos. Salsa verde-when I think of you all I can think of are chips, game day, hanging out with friends and family. Salsa verde should be at the center of all of that! For sure!

Salsa Verde…thanks for coming into my life today!

Tomatillos are seriously the cutest thing ever! I was so pumped to be making a recipe using these cute little guys! I used all fresh ingredients to quickly whip up this recipe and you can tell that when you take your first bite!

This salsa is for those of you that go for the heaping mound of salsa on your chip and expect it to not run off! You know who you are! You probably wonder why you bother with the chip at all sometimes! 😉 Salsa verde is for the hangry chip and salsa lover. For the ultimate game day, I foresee some red salsa coming along with my favorite guacamole recipe and a spread of all kinds of chips……(me walking to the fridge for yet another taste of this amazing salsa verde!)

Make big plans for your salsa verde. I mean c’mon it is simply great with chips, but a bit of this salsa is a super easy way to dress up your usual chicken enchiladas, beef quesadillas, or as a topping on your taco salad. Salsa verde is just too easy to make to let it slip past your recipe book. It’s something different from that usual jar of salsa you pick up at the store. You should let your inner foodie give this recipe a shot! I mean why even fight something like this anyway? A new simple salsa recipe is totally needed as we start up this fabulous football season. Go SKERS!! 😉

This salsa is basically two steps: Gathering your veggies and broiling them for about 8 minutes and then popping all your ingredients into a food processor until you have reached the desired consistency and you have got some salsa verde!! Super easy if you ask me!

Live a little…make some super easy and yet super amazing salsa verde!!

Salsa Verde (Tomatillo Salsa)

Megan

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Course Dips

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds tomatillos husked
1/2 large white onion quartered
2 jalapenos seeded
1 green pepper quartered and seeded
4 garlic cloves peel on
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

BROIL VEGGIES: Position a rack near the top of the oven. Preheat broiler for ten minutes. On a broiler pan, add the tomatillos, white onion, jalapenos, green pepper, and garlic. Broil for about 8 minutes making sure to watch veggies closely so that they have a nice char but do not burn. Rotate pan after 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
PREPARE VEGGIES: Remove the stem, membranes, and seeds from jalapenos as well as the peel from the garlic cloves.
PROCESS: Add broiled veggies, cilantro, lime juice, and salt to a food processor. Process ingredients to desired consistency. For best results, refrigerate for 1-2 hours and then serve.

Fancy Fall Pumpkin Muffins

August 29, 2016 by Megan

Fancy Fall Pumpkin Muffins are the perfect fall treat for everyone! If there is one treat you should be looking forward to this week it is these. Oh yes, you definitely want these pumpkin muffins!

Say hellooo to these super fab Fancy Fall Pumpkin Muffins!
Actually it’s hello (again) because I initially posted these last fall but feel they could use a bit of an updated post because they are just so delicious.

See for yourself…

Bite here, bite there, I just always find myself making my way back to these super moist and delicious pumpkin muffins. It’s not fall until you make yourself (and your fam of course) these wonderful fancy fall pumpkin muffins. The best part is that they are soo simple to make and before you know it you will have your own batch of these beautiful little bites.

If there is one thing pumpkin I have to make every fall it is without a doubt these pumpkin muffins.

Plus it gives me a reason to use my new cute little drizzler. Check it out here.

And you will definitely thank me for the glorious (yes, glorious is what I definitely meant to say) aroma in your kitchen!

Fancy Fall Pumpkin Muffins

Megan

Fancy Fall Pumpkin Muffins should be on your fall menu. It's not fall without tasting these amazing muffins!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 22

Total Time 42

Course Breakfast/Brunch

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1-15 ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut oil melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter melted
1-2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375℉. Arrange paper liners in standard 12 count muffin pan.
In medium sized bowl, measure out flour, sugars, soda, salt and spices. Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside for now.
In a separate bowl, add eggs, pumpkin, coconut oil, and vanilla. Whisk wet ingredients together and pour into dry ingredients. Mix together just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not over mix.
For best results, use an ice cream scoop to pour batter into each muffin liner. Batter will be evenly distributed that way.
Bake for 22-27 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.
Once muffins have cooled, combine glaze ingredients in small bowl. Pour glaze into small sealable plastic bag and cut one of the corners out of the bag to easily pour glaze over muffins.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Lovely Little Kitchen

Nutrition Facts doesn't include glaze because there may be a large variation in amount used.

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