what we’ve been eating

1.  Parmesan Roasted Potatoes.

We’ve had a lot of little potatoes from the CSA lately and I needed a yummy new way to fix them.  This is IT!  They were devoured.  Crunchy and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Delicious.  

2.  Bacon appetizers.

The Pioneer Woman strikes again.  These are meant for parties, but I made them one Sunday since I had all the ingredients.  Do NOT do that!  We demonstrated absolutely no control and ate them all.  Then we had tummy-aches.  For a party full of people – YES.  For 2 adults – NO!  (and two napping kids – I’d like to count them because 4 sounds way better than 2, but clearly the sleeping children didn’t help eat them.)  They were sooo good. 

3.  Mozzarella sticks.  

OK – I have a thing for appetizers.  so what.  :)  (You should see my food pinboard…..it’s basically all the same delicious color – the color of cheesy fried things!)  But, these are baked not fried!  Whoohoo.  Wonton wrappers and string cheese.  GENIUS!   And things I almost always have.  (hint…when the wonton wrappers are on manager special I buy a bunch and keep them in the freezer – they are AWESOME for all kinds of things.)  And FYI – my sister brought these to a big party my parents just had.  And they were gone FIRST.  And talked about all night.  I brought these.  They were all gone too – but much much later.  :)    

4.  Loaded Mashed Potato Casserole.

So good that we almost forgot to take a picture!  

5.  Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas.

These were delicious.  One recipe even made enough for me to freeze half!  The whole family loved it!  

6.  DIY Taco Seasoning

I love knowing what’s in it!  No MSG or other strange chemicals that I can’t pronounce.  You only need 2 tablespoons for a pound of meat and it makes really delicious tacos!  I might try it for chili next time.  Seems like all the same ingredients.  :)

7.  Crack Bread

I made this for the football game last Sunday and there was NOTHING left.  It really is awesome.  I’ve never had crack – but this appetizer was amazing!  :)  (Hint – Sometimes when a recipe calls for bacon, I buy it from the salad bar.  Then I don’t have to cook it and make a mess and smell up the house.  The bonus is that since the salad bar cost is based on weight and bacon is really light the amount I used for this bread only cost about 50 cents!)  (And the sourdough was on manager special too!  SWEEET!)

8.  Corn and Chicken Chowder

This was SOOO good.  I used fresh corn from the market and it was perfect!  (I used half of the milk that the recipe called for and added water because I don’t like super creamy soups.)  Ideal for fall.  I made some fresh bread to go with it and my husband who doesn’t consider soup a meal loved it!  (and bacon from the salad bar makes another appearance!)

9.  Asian Chicken salad

This was great.  So easy and delicious.  The kids and Kevin ate it right up!  I didn’t have the dressing that the recipe called for so I kind of made my own with rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and Sriracha.  It was really good.  I also didn’t have a bag of cole slaw mix, but I shredded up a red cabbage and some carrots.  It was perfect.

10.  Healthy Granola Bars

A chewy NO BAKE granola bar without a strange list of ingredients.   The coconut oil makes them firm and chewy since its solid at room temperature.  The kids love them and I love giving them as a treat.  So easy to grab on the go and filling from the almond butter and oats.  I added some flax seeds too.

11.  Banana chocolate cookie bites

These little cookies are great.  They weren’t very sweet which I loved.  A fantastic little chocolatey treat.  But I think the kids wished they would be sweeter.  Maybe my bananas weren’t extra ripe enough?  They were really good, and were eaten up by everyone……but maybe next time I would add a dash of honey or maple syrup or sugar?  Maybe I should name them Chocolate Monkey Bites – then they would devour them!  They really liked helping me make them.

12.  Spicy Asian Green Beans

I loved these.  Kevin loved them too.  The bean ate them right up – but they were a little too spicy for the bird.  Which was kind of sad because she loves green beans.  I would add less spice next time, but they were delicious.

13.  Sausage Egg Muffins

We love these things.  I’ve been making variations of them for years.   I like to keep them on hand in the fridge.  It’s such a great easy breakfast and you can add anything you want!  They are great alone or wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla and they are the perfect shape for toasted English muffins.

14.  Chocolate cups

And  last but not least – the infamous chocolate cups!  My sister and I made these for my nephew’s birthday a few months ago.  They were a huge hit and actually way easier than I thought they would be.  You really just melt chocolate and dip a balloon in it and then put them in the freezer.  You have to carefully pop the balloons and pull them out, but they really did come right out.  My sister bought milk chocolate because she and the kids prefer it.  We think that dark or bittersweet would hold up better because the cups got a little melty once we started eating them.  But they do look SO very cool and fancy!

So, there you have it.
I love finding new recipes on Pinterest!

My sister is on a crazy, fall, pumpkin, nesting kick right now and has tried these pumpkin recipes that she found there too!  She made me a pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin cream cheese on graham crackers yesterday.  DELICIOUS!

pumpkin cream cheese
pumpkin pancakes
pumpkin pull apart bread
pumpkin spice latte
butternut squash gratin
(not pumpkin – but close enough!)

Have you tried out any new recipes lately?  Let me know if you would like an invite to Pinterest.  But, enter at your own risk – it’s kind of addicting!  :)