grated parmesan cheese

Parmesan Encrusted Shrimp

April 9, 2020 by Dana

Shrimp is one of my favorite ingredients for a quick under 30 minute meal. This Parmesan Encrusted Shrimp is SO GOOD and SO EASY. Not only is it delicious and simple, it also remind me of something you would order as an appetizer at a nice restaurant. It feels like meal that requires you to sit down with your family and enjoy a glass a wine and forget about the dishes!

Today Pennsylvania announced there will be no school for the rest of the year due to the Covid-19 virus. I can’t say that I was surprised, as it doesn’t seem there is an end in sight to this pandemic. My heart goes out to the teachers and students in Pennsylvania and all other states who left their classrooms for the last time in March. Most were unaware that this would be the last time they would all together for the rest of the school year. It makes me sad that there were no goodbyes. My heart hurts for the teachers who are at home thinking about what they missed and their students.

When they announced on March 13, 2020 that Pennsylvania schools would be closed for 2 weeks, I definitely did not see this coming. As weeks went on, I realized that it was only a matter of time until they announced the kids would not be returning from school.

You guys, this is why I love cooking and baking. It makes my heart happy. Cooking gives me an outlet to create and it has been getting me through not only the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine, but also a lot of other heartbreaking issues in my life. It helps me forget about everything I’m upset about. My hope is that everyone has something that they love to do during this time. Hugs to anyone having a bad day today or any other day. Just know that you are loved.

Parmesan Encrusted Shrimp Tips and Tricks

For Frozen Shrimp: Make sure you defrost your shrimp before adding it to the pan! If it is still frozen it will make your butter and garlic mixture watery.
For Pre-Cooked Frozen Shrimp: Again, make sure your shrimp are defrosted. After you melt your butter and cook your garlic, simply add your defrosted shrimp and give them a little heat until they are warm. Since your shrimp are already cooked, there is no need for additional cooking.
Your breadcrumb mixture will be wet. This will give you a nice and crispy coating on top of your shrimp.
I served my shrimp with rice and green beans. This combination was delicious! However, the shrimp would also go great with pasta.
Be sure to watch your shrimp under the broiler. It can go from perfect to disastrous in a matter of seconds.

Traditional Meatballs

April 4, 2020 by Dana

I admit, I have had my fair share of meatball recipe fails. From being dry and tasteless to having a weird texture, meatballs can be hard to master. These Traditional Meatballs bring the flavor and tender texture without the hassle.

This Traditional Meatball recipe is SIMPLE. It is minimal. It does not require mincing onions and garlic and buying several different cuts of meat. It is kid friendly, picky eater friendly, and yields a delicious, tender meatball that will swim perfectly in your favorite sauce. I know, I know, there are a million other meatball recipes out there, but just take my word for it, this one is good!

How to Make the Perfect Meatball

Skip lean cuts of meat. I always use 80/20 when making meatballs. I have tried 90/10 and from my experience this is exactly how to get a dry meatball.
Soak the breadcrumbs. You will want to give your breadcrumbs a brief soak in the milk and eggs before you add them to the meat. This also ensures your meatballs won’t be dry.
Do not over mix. I get my hands in there and mix everything quickly instead of using a spoon or fork. You’ll have to get your hands dirty to get all of your ingredients distributed properly, and that’s ok! Give your mix a few good squishes and you should be good to go.
Season your meatballs properly. The WORST meatballs are bland and tasteless. No amount of sauce or salt afterward will make your meatballs taste better, so you must season as you go. I use a mix of coarse kosher salt, parmesan cheese, Italian breadcrumbs, and a small amount of soy sauce to ensure my meatballs are properly seasoned and taste anything but bland.
Do not bake the life out of them. I prefer to start my meatballs in the oven at 400 degrees. This will give you that beautiful, brown outside crust that we are looking for. However, overtaking can also yield a dry result. I have found about 20 minutes is plenty of time in the oven, then I put them right in the sauce for simmering.

To finish off my meatballs, I paired them with pappardelle pasta. For the sauce (because I have extremely picky children) I used Simply Ragu Traditional. If you have children who like a very smooth sauce, Simply Ragu Traditional is your best friend. I added a little bit of sugar and salt to the sauce and gave my meatballs a quick simmer and viola!

Italian Avocado Salad

June 19, 2018 by Dana

This Italian Avocado Salad is everything avocado dreams are made of! Delicious, fresh ingredients, with a creamy homemade Italian dressing…. you really can’t go wrong here! Pair it with your favorite protein and you have a delicious meal! 🙂

I was at the grocery store today and had in my mind that I’d like to make an avocado salad with my Creamy Italian Dressing recipe. I have been trying to find new ways to eat avocados because of all the health benefits. This recipe is an avocado home run!

Not only was the recipe delicious, I found the PERFECT bag of avocados. Not too mushy, but not un-ripe. Small seeded so that one side doesn’t have to be completely uprooted to remove the seed. The skins peeled right off. I mean, in the avocado world I basically hit the jackpot! I was peeling those babies like YESSS this is avocado life.

*Side note: You should start peeling your avocados! A lot of the good nutrients are right under the skin and when we scoop them out instead of peeling we loose important stuff. Peeling also allows you to cut some pretty impressive chunks for this salad. I simply slice the avocado in half, then slice it into chunks when it is still in the peel. If your avocado is perfectly ripe you should be able to start peeling it from one of the edges. If you are finding it hard, slice the little nugget on the end off and you should be able to start peeling.

Keto Diet Update

This is the part where I talk about my diet, so if you aren’t interested just scroll. 🙂

I mentioned in my Keto Approved Burger post that I started the Keto diet. I’ll be 100% honest here, it hasn’t been unicorns and rainbows. I’ve had some ups and downs due to breastfeeding and being concerned about the safety during this time. I’ve gotten off track quite a few times but somehow I always seem to reset and start again. I’m on a roll this time, and hoping to continue!

Storing Your Italian Avocado Salad

We all know that avocados can brown very quickly! The dressing in this salad prevents this to a certain degree. I would suggest making the salad at the time you are going to eat it, and finishing it within a day or two. I’ve stored mine overnight and had no browning/turning to mush but the second day I finished it.

If you are making the salad for a gathering or picnic I would suggest putting it together 1-2 hours before you go. A bit of time in the refrigerator is great because it allows the flavors to come together, but isn’t enough time for the avocado to start looking funky.

One More Thing

My Creamy Italian Dressing recipe yields about 2 cups of dressing, which is a lot more then you will need for this salad. I cut the original recipe in half for this salad and it was plenty. If you’d like to have some extra dressing (it is super delicious), then you can double the dressing ingredients. In my original recipe I was using a food processor to make the dressing, however I no longer have that (long story), so I just used a bowl and a whisk. The food processor makes a thicker dressing, but you certainly can get away with just whisking super vigorously and making sure you pour your oil in slowly. I also omitted the red pepper flakes because I just didn’t think they would mesh well with the avocado.

Pepperoni Pizza Panko Chicken

March 16, 2017 by Dana

Pepperoni Pizza Panko Chicken. Say that a few times really fast! This is an easy, kid friendly recipe that screams weeknight meal to me! It combines panko and parmesan crusted chicken, pizza sauce, Applegate Pepperoni, and melty mozzarella cheese to make a delicious main dish.

Truth…I am not a huge pepperoni person, and never have been. Growing up I was just an extra cheese kind of girl. I have ventured out a bit since those days, but my ideal slice of pizza is still extra cheese. Cheese = Life.

My children, on the other hand, love pepperoni. They have been known to completely abandon a slice of pizza after eating just the pepperoni off of the top.

WHO. DOES. THAT.

Despite not being a super duper pepperoni lover, I saw this Applegate Naturals pepperoni at the grocery store and thought it looked brilliant. It was huge. It was massive. It deserved to sit atop a chicken breast with melty mozzerella cheese and fresh basil on top. I needed this pepperoni in my life to show my children that I, in fact, can be a pepperoni person too.

Here is my husband pretending to be tall, dark, handsome, and mysterious while showing off this wonderful Applegate Naturals Pepperoni! He attempted to give me several pointers on how to get this shot. ~~I didn’t listen to any of them!~~

Ingredients and Tips

I have been mentioning this a lot here lately, and here I go again. Target is really killing it with their organic, non-GMO, and better ingredient oriented grocery selection lately! I am so impressed with their organic selection, sometimes I forget I’m even at Target. As I browsed the isles, ~~or ran through them with a screaming baby~~, I picked up a jar of their Simply Balanced organic pizza sauce for $1.29!

$1.29!!!! I thought it was a steal. 🙂

I also used Kikkoman panko bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, and thin cut chicken breasts. If your chicken breasts are thicker, I highly suggest filleting them first (cutting them in half length-wise), and pounding them thin with a meat tenderizer.

When I sauté chicken, temperature and enough olive oil is key to getting those perfectly crisp panko crumbs on the outside. I had my burner on a steady medium-low the whole time. I knew I did not want to crank it up too high, as to not burn the olive oil or the panko bread crumbs. I think the crucial part to getting perfectly crisp and browned breadcrumbs is 100% the amount of oil in your pan. So before you put each piece of chicken in your skillet, make sure there is a generous dash of oil waiting for those breadcrumbs!

Buttery Garlic Parmesan Rolls

August 31, 2015 by Dana

I believe the name of these delicious rolls speaks for itself! These buttery, garlicky, parmesan cheesy, carb-o-licious rolls are perfect to eat with your next Italian dinner or just by themselves, because yes, they are that good. Slather on some extra butter, melt some provolone cheese on top, or just eat them plain, you can’t go wrong…I promise!

The real reason I baked these delicious babies up is because my son has a complex about his bread at school now. Yes, the 3rd grade pressure is really getting to him! I asked him if he wanted a sandwich in his lunchbox and his first question was “Well what bread are you using?” We pretty much only eat Food for Life Ezekiel bread because it is the best store bought bread I have found. I totally love the Ezekiel bread because it is loaded with natural nutrients and tastes great. It doesn’t include any ingredients that I can’t pronounce and it doesn’t contain any preservatives. My son is more of a processed, packaged bread lover (because I can’t shield him from everything!) so I’ve resorted to making my own breads and skipping the processed, unnecessary ingredients in store bought white breads and rolls (I also add in whole wheat flour).

Did you know that some brands of shelf stable breads can even include hidden trans fats??? I KNOW! Ridiculous! The hidden source will be labeled as mono-and-diglycerides, which can be found in a ton of processed foods. I’ve seen it in everything from dips, to ice creams, to most processed breads. I have even seen it in grocery store “bakery” breads, also know as “We are just pretending to bake this but in fact it came in frozen and isn’t really the fresh product you thought you were buying.” Those “bakery” breads can be super misleading because they look homemade but if you take a gander at the ingredients sometimes they are even worse then the pre-packaged stuff. I have looked and looked for a grocery store that carried a bread that doesn’t contain anything weird and I have only found ONE option at Wegman’s, their organic sourdough bread. I’ve noticed that it has been sold out every week so maybe Wegman’s will take the hint and come out with more options! That would be awesome!

With that being said, I wanted my son to be able to take something he wasn’t embarrassed about and would actually eat so here it is. 🙂 I settled for using mostly bread flour (King Arthur’s brand) and stone ground whole wheat flour which created a really nice end result. Bread flour has never failed me to create the perfect roll, so I highly recommend using it in this recipe. I baked the rolls in pie pans (10 per pan) right next to each other because I like that pull apart aspect I get from doing it like that, but you could certainly separate them and bake them on a sheet tray or in a rectangular pan.
*Recipe adapted from Almost Famous Breadsticks by Foodnetwork.com

Chicken, Bacon, and Broccoli Pasta

August 18, 2015 by Dana

One. More. Week. Just one more week of summer vacation left. Have you seen the video of the mom singing “Bye, Bye, Bye” as the bus leaves on the first day of school? Yeah, that’s me right now. I’m ready to see that bus pull away (ok, we don’t have busses but if we did….) and I’m ready to get back to the “school year” schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love my oldest son dearly. It is just that I’m 36 weeks pregnant, FAT as ever, out of energy, can’t bend over, and have exhausted all of our summer plans. But here I am making this Chicken Bacon Broccoli Pasta anyway!

I never thought I would be ready for summer to be over, but today when it hit me that next Tuesday is the first day of school I was kind of excited! Maybe it is because I really am just tired of adulting, or maybe it is because I have been telling myself over and over again that at the end of summer I will have a new baby. Which ever the case I’m just not so sad to see summer go this year.

Speaking of adulting, I did a little bit of it today and whipped up some brownies PLUS this delicious, cheesy, and somewhat indulgent pasta. Who doesn’t love a pasta dish like this one? Cheesy..check. Creamy..check. Bacony..check. Carb-o-licious..check. Oh and then there is the broccoli that I threw in there to convince myself I was being healthy..check. 🙂 This dinner is a win-win in the ingredient department, but even better is that it takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish! With back to school schedules in full swing I know I will be needing meals like this to get me through the week (and keep my kids from complaining).

Recipe Tips:

I used thin sliced chicken breasts for this recipe, as I always do. If you pick up regular chicken breasts at the grocery store, you can easily slice them in half lengthwise before slicing into strips, or use a meat tenderizer to flatten them a bit before slicing into strips. There is something really gross about biting into a super thick and chunky piece of meat so I always recommend thinner pieces.
I only cook the broccoli for a minute or two when I first put it in because it will continue cooking. When your broccoli brightens up in color you are good to add the rest of your ingredients.
Additional salt and pepper to taste can make or break a recipe. The cheese in this recipe is pretty salty, so you probably won’t need to add too much additional seasoning if you do.
When cooking your bacon you may notice some residue on the bottom of your pot. THIS IS GOOD. When you stir in your milk go ahead and scrape that residue off the bottom of your pan for extra flavor.
As always when cooking I keep my burner at a medium temperature. Often times I feel like people want to crank up the heat but this can easily ruin a recipe. A steady low-medium is where I do most of my cooking!
Recipe Update: I have made this recipe a couple times and have found that I like cooking the bacon separate from the rest for a crispier result. I just throw my bacon in the oven. When it is cooked I diced it up and mixed it in at the end.

Creamy Italian Dressing

April 23, 2015 by Dana

This Creamy Italian Dressing recipe is one of my all time favorite recipes I have ever published on this blog! I even come to my own blog to look up the recipe for this dressing frequently. I guess I should write it down somewhere, but coming here is just as easy.

It is April 19, 2020 and I just so happen to be updating some older recipe posts that I have been popular. The original recipe was posted on April 23, 2015. How could this have been 5 years ago?

I didn’t quite like the writing style so I decided to re-do the whole thing. Over the last 5 years I have made this recipe dozens and dozens of times. It is perfect for everything from a good old salad dressing, to a pasta salad dressing, and even great for grilling. There isn’t much I haven’t done with this recipe in the last 5 years!

Creamy Italian Dressing Tips and Tricks

One thing that I realized over the last 5 years is that not all Creamy Italian Dressings are created equal. In fact, you can use the same recipe and yield different results depending on what you are using to mix the dressing. What I found was that my more expensive blender (Vitamix) did NOT yield the same result as my $20 mini food chopper from Ninja. I actually far prefer the mini food chopper for making all of my dressings. If you like making dressings at home, or are looking to cut out processed ingredients in store bought dressings, I think the $20 price tag for the mini Ninja is totally worth it! In fact, I would buy it just to make this recipe over and over again.

*Side note: I still totally love my Vitamix and nothing else I have made in it was a flop.

When it comes to homemade dressings I highly suggest looking for a very mild extra virgin olive oil. I have made dressings with very robust olive oils in the past and they can be overpowering. I look for oils that are specifically labeled mild.

Chicken Parmesan Alfredo

April 22, 2015 by Dana

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE my cast iron skillet? Yes, it’s true. A few years ago I traded in my non-stick cookware for all stainless steel and cast iron. It did take me a while to get used to not burning stuff to the bottom of them like EVERYTIME but after adjusting my heat (much lower!) I realized I didn’t need those chemical laden pots and pans after all! 🙂

Today I’m sharing this chicken parmesan recipe that goes to a whole new level by adding a super yummy Alfredo sauce to the pasta and lots of mozzarella cheese before baking it in the oven to get that nice, crusty mozzarella we all love. The best part is I used my wonderful cast iron skillet to get a nice, crispy piece of chicken without a deep fryer or any unhealthy oils. If you don’t own a cast iron skillet no worries, you can do this in just about any sauté pan, however I do love the results I get from my cast iron. Just take a look and you’ll understand! Now that’s a piece of chicken to be proud of!

Another thing I love about his recipe is the versatility. If you are short on time and don’t feel like taking the extra steps to make the Alfredo sauce you can absolutely toss your pasta in extra red sauce and call it a day. Sometimes I go the red sauce route, sometimes I go the Alfredo route. Sometimes I even toss my pasta in extra red sauce AND ricotta cheese and that is delicious too. Either way you will end up with a dinner your family will love!

Whenever I use a convenience product like the panko bread crumbs I used in this recipe I always caution folks to READ INGREDIENTS! These are the products most notorious for adding a bunch of crappy ingredients that don’t need to be there just for the sake of keeping the product on a shelf for years without it going bad. I get so frustrated with brands like Progresso who willingly put profit and production above ethics. When it comes down to it, there should be no reason any breadcrumb product contains ingredients like partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. When I started reading labels one of the first products I immediately threw away were the breadcrumbs that had been lingering in the back of my pantry forever. That alone should have indicated to me that something just wasn’t right with the product to begin with. Since that time I’ve experimented with making my own breadcrumbs (which works wonderful too!) but this time I opted for an organic panko product I’ve found in most mainstream grocery stores (check their organic section).

Here’s the product I used as well as my favorite cast iron skillet! 🙂

*This is a bulk listing.
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Parmesan Encrusted Shrimp

Parmesan Encrusted Shrimp Tips and Tricks