fresh garlic

Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken & Guac

March 26, 2017 by Dana

Grab your tortilla chips and get prepared for some fresh guacamole and perfectly grilled chicken! This Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken & Guac does not disappoint in the flavor department and takes only a few minutes to prepare. Weeknight grilling for the win!

Truth: I’m trying to fit more fruits, veggies, healthy fats, and lean protein into my diet. All winter I wasn’t taking into consideration what I was eating, and I found myself mostly snacking on carbs all day. In my Balsamic Glazed Grilled Chicken recipe, I discussed prepping meals ahead of time to try to balance my diet a bit more. So far it is working great, except when my husband comes home and eats all of the portions I made in advance. Meal prep fail! His job is super labor intensive, so I guess he gets a pass to go on this one. 🙂

Cilantro is super popular, but I feel it is so underrated! Every time I purchase a bunch of cilantro at the grocery store I:

Immediately smell it 1,000 times
Make a gorgeous salad with a cilantro lime dressing
Make fresh guac, of course
Start putting it on everything until it goes bad

But for real, this Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken & Guac is one of my favorite uses for it. You just can’t beat a perfectly grilled piece of chicken, seasoned to perfection, bursting with bold flavors, and perfect for leftovers! I mentioned meal prepping earlier and this chicken made awesome salads the rest of the week for me. I tossed it with some dark leafy greens, a few tortilla chips as croutons, fresh avocado, cherry tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and my favorite ranch dressing. Yum!

Grilling Tips

I have a few grilling tips I’ve repeated here about 1,000 times but here goes again! I suggest generously seasoning your meat with coarse kosher salt and black pepper beforehand. This is an important part of this recipe because bland chicken is no good! Next, I would suggest using thin cut chicken breasts, or filleting and pounding your chicken breasts flat with a meat tenderizer. This also makes a huge difference in how your chicken grills, and eliminates that super fat part that contributes to uneven grilling and a bland end product.

Classic Beef Macaroni Soup

March 23, 2017 by Dana

Snow day food alert! This Classic Beef Macaroni Soup was the perfect pot of delicious last week when we had a snow storm in the middle of March. I was not ready for snow in March, but a big pot of soup can fix any problem, right?

This is such a standard, simple recipe. Sometimes I wonder, do people even want to see recipes THIS EASY. I always find myself saying, yes! Of course they do! Not every recipe has to be elaborate, or out of the box. Simple, classic comfort food is a thing because it is one of the best ways to eat. I’ve been making this soup for my kids for a number of years now, and I thought it was time to share it!

Not only does this Classic Beef Macaroni soup taste delicious, it is so quick to make. From start to finish I want to call it a 30 minute meal, but with the boiling time it may be a few more minutes. With the short cook time, I can make this any day of the week, then have the perfect leftovers for the rest of the week.

Classic Beef Macaroni Soup Recipe Tips

The most important thing to remember with this recipe is to stir the pot while your noodles are boiling. The macaroni noodles have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot, so I would not suggest just pouring in the macaroni and walking away.
After my soup was boiling I realized I had some excess grease pooling on the top of the pot. I just took my large metal spoon and removed it.
I topped my soup with a little bit of extra sharp cheddar cheese. This is optional but highly recommended by someone who thinks cheese is basically life.
This soup gets better and better in the refrigerator! After all of the flavors come together over night, you may notice you love it even more!
The tomato product I use are just plain strained tomatoes. I’ve been using this product for years, and it is one of my most loved pantry staples! You can use it in just about anything. This is a no salt added product so you don’t have to worry about your soup being super salty in the end. The product size is 24 ounces, so you will be using the whole jar.

One Pot Veggie Mac N Cheese

October 1, 2014 by Dana

30 minute meal right here! Feeding your family veggies has never tasted so good! Cheese meet veggies… 🙂

For real though, who doesn’t love some mac n cheese? It’s like an American diet staple. Please let’s remember the best mac n cheese DOES NOT… I repeat… DOES NOT come out of a box! ~~Kraft Annies Velveeta.~~ Even the “better” organic boxed mac n cheese still has a nice little packet of cheese powder stuff right inside the cute little bunny box. Now please, someone… anyone… what IS that stuff?

How, just how I ask… do you get cheese powder like that? Don’t know, don’t care! *finger snap* because anyone who has a stove can make their own mac n cheese with just a few ingredients PLUS veggies. Incase you think you are not included in that “anyone” even my mom can make homemade mac n cheese, and let’s just say she’s not kitchen savy.

That’s real cheese right there! Cheese powder say what? That’s what I thought! In your face cute bunny packets!

Ok, now that I verbally abused the Annie’s bunny I’m just going to keep explaining how amazing one pot meals are that take LESS THAN 30 minutes to make. This reminds me so much of my Unprocessed Hamburger Helper recipe, in that it is made the same way. Instead of ground beef, I sautéed those lil baby bellas with a clove o’ garlic, and then I added the other goodies, put a lid on that baby, and let a little heat work it’s magic. Now, let’s not just walk away from our stove like those baby bellas don’t need supervision because they do. This pot needs stirred a little more then the Unprocessed Hamburger Helper but it is still very low maintenance and easy.

If you are looking for a little more oommmph in your pot, go ahead and throw in some shredded chicken. A little protein goes a long way, so chicken could bump this meal up on the “I’m full scale” if you need it. 😉

Now excuse me while I go eat what is left in that pan!