10 Delicious Thanksgiving Side Dishes

This is the first year we're hosting Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to spending time with family and close friends. It was initially just my parents and sister but the party has now grown to 11 adults plus two twin baby girls.

Easy Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe

It's been a while since I shared a recipe. I usually aim for quick and easy meals that take under 30 minutes or can cook itself in the crockpot.

Mini Ham & Cheese Quiche Recipe

I made these for a friend's baby shower a couple weekends ago. I used croissant rolls dough for the crust which was tricky to work with since it becomes fluffy when baked so I'll probably stick to frozen pie crust moving forward. Either way it's still an easy and delicious recipe to whip together.

Don't Waste The Easter Ham Bone

I've had this recipe post sitting in my drafts since Christmas which the last time I baked a ham and decided to wait to post it right before Easter which clearly didn't happen. SkinnyTaste beat me to the punch by posting their Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup with Ham last week which is almost identical to my recipe (except their photos look much more appealing).

Easter Dinner, Decor & Desserts

In the past few years, we've hosted Easter for our close friends that don't have family in close proximity. Even though my in-laws only live two hours away, K's huge extended family celebrates Easter in West Palm Beach which is too far of a drive for a Sunday dinner so we started a little tradition of hosting our own dinner.

This year we have something nontraditional planned for Easter weekend, which I'll share later this week) so I'm definitely going to miss all the dishes and desserts we usually feast on with friends. With Easter being this weekend, I still wanted to share some fun dishes, decor, and dessert ideas for those celebrating Easter this year.

Breakfast

Southern Squash and Shrimp Quiche

Strawberry Banana Crepes

Appetizers

Fried Deviled Eggs

Vegetable Bundles with Maple Glaze

Refreshments

Sunrise Sparkler

The Main Course

Apricot Rum Glazed Ham

Side Dishes

Pimiento Potato Gratin
Holiday Carrot Salad
Green Bean Cornbread Saute

Spring Cobb Salad

Desserts

Cotton Tail Chocolate Truffles

 

Lemon Cookie Pudding

Easter Surprise Cupcakes

Front Door Decor

If you plan on celebrating Easter this weekend, I hope you enjoy time spent with family/friends and cooking up some delicous dishes.

Enjoy!

7 Healthy & Delicious Recipes

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes! It's been a while my friends.

I cook healthy meals during the week mainly chicken stirfys, baked salmon, and a couple different types of salads which are getting a little old.

It's about time I add some new recipes that are easy-to-make yet healthy and delicious to our weekly dinner rotation.

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Citrus, Avocado, Quinoa, and Blackened Salmon Salad

Sweet Potato Coconut Soup

Asian Sweet Chili Sesame Chicken

Avocado Club Sandwich with Portobello Mushrooms

One Pan Shrimp Fajitas

Butternut Squash Hummus
(for a snack)



The options are endless but these seven caught my eye while browsing Pinterest and various recipe sites. Let me know if you have any other easy and healthy recipes perfect for a weeknight dinner.

30 Minute Dinners | Tuna Casserole

Growing up my mom always used to make tuna casserole and when I stumbled on this similar but much easier recipe, I knew I had to give it a whirl.

Ingredients:

12 oz. egg noodles

13 oz. bag of frozen sweet peas

12 oz. can of tuna in water (drained)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

10 slices of Muenster Cheese

10 oz. can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

3/4 cup chicken broth

Ground black pepper to taste

Cooking Spray or butter for the casserole dish

 Toppings:

1/4 cup shredded cheese

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

What To Do:

Boil the egg noodles for 7-8 minutes and drain

Return noodles to the pot and add the sweet peas so they can defrost and chopped onions to get softened.

Put the pot back on the stove on low and add the cheese slices, drained tuna, cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth and black pepper to taste. Stir until the cheese is melted and everything is well blended together.

Set the oven to preheat fro 350 degrees.

Grease the baking dish with cooking spray or butter and then add the contents from the pot. 

Top with shredded cheese and bread crumbs,

Bake for 15 minutes.

Let the casserole cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Turkey & Eggplant Lasagna

Lasagna is definitely one of the most classic Italian dishes and one I don't make often enough. I wanted to try my hand at creating a slightly healthier version by substituting ground beef with turkey and replacing half the amount of noodles with sliced eggplant to cut the carbs.

Makes: 10 servings

Ingredients

16 oz. lean ground turkey (cooked)
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch slices
3 lasagna noodles (cooked)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
 36 oz. tomato & basil pasta sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

Extras
9x13 baking dish
 Aluminum foil

What To Do
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil drizzled with olive oil. Place the eggplant slices in a single layer on the sheet and bake for about 20 minutes until tender.

Line the baking dish with foil to save time on dish cleanup. Pour 1 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of baking dish and layer evenly with ground turkey. Sprinkle with one-third of mozzarella cheese and top with the 3 cooked lasagna noodles side by side. Repeat with pasta sauce, ground turkey mozzarella cheese and then layer with eggplant slices. Spread remainder of pasta sauce on top, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and breadcrumbs. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
 

Shortcuts: the ingredients include pre-made pasta sauce, fully cooked ground turkey, and prepared lasagna noodles cooked according to directions on the package

Remove the foil, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese on top and bake for about 10 minutes until bubbly.
 

 

Let cool before serving and ENJOY!

Delicious Recipes for Fall

I've been trying to get back into cooking "new-to-me" dishes on Sundays when I have time to get all the ingredients from the grocery store and plan accordingly. I made my first Fall-inspired recipe - eggplant parm lasagna - over the weekend and since then I've been searching for more recipes to add to my dinner menu:

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

  

Shredded Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

Sweet Potato with Goat Cheese, Cranberries & Balsamic Glaze

New Orleans Gumbo

Firecracker Chicken Meatballs

Pan Seared Cod in White Wine Tomato Basil Sauce

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

Pumpkin Cheesecake Shooters

What's on your menu for Fall?

Festive Rice Krispies Treats

This is seriously the easiest dessert recipe I've ever tried and it goes a long way for entertaining guests. I made a pink and blue batch for Kate's gender reveal party and then another festive batch for the 4th of July weekend.

The Original Rice Krispies Treats recipe on the back of the cereal box is more or less what I followed but I doubled the ingredients since it was for a large group and added a few more marshmallows. Of course the colorful topping is optional but adds a festive touch for certain occasions.

Serving Size: approx 30 bars

Ingredients:

25 oz large marshmallows

12 cups Rice Krispies cereal
6 tbsp butter

Pearlescent sugar or sprinkles

Cooking spray

Two 15-inch baking sheets

What To Do:

Melt butter in a large nonstick saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir frequently until completely melted and then remove from the burner.

Add Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal to the mixture and stir until the ingredients are well mixed together.

Use cooking spray or butter to grease the baking sheets. Also grease the spatula or spoon you will be using to prevent the mixture from sticking as you transfer over to the baking sheet.

Carefully transfer the mixture over to the baking sheets and use greased wax paper to press mixture evenly.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes before adding the topping of your choice.

Side note: I'm not a baker and rarely make anything of the dessert variety so my initial thought process was to use food coloring to do a batch of pink and then a batch of blue treats to go with the gender reveal theme. Thank goodness I couldn't find pink food coloring and I stumbled on those gorgeous pink and blue sugar crystals because everyone's mouths at the party would have been "undelightfully" colorful.

 

Once completely cooled, cut into 2-inch squares and they are ready to be served!

What I love the most about this recipe is that is takes just under 30 minutes to complete because it requires no baking time. And, not to mention, they are a light and delicious treat to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Enjoy!