How to Make Easy Chicken Pot Pie with Flaky Puff Pastry Crust in Less than 1 Hour and 15 Minutes
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How to Make a Roasted Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Dinner
It really doesn't get any better than a cast iron roasted chicken with a side of roasted vegetables on a cold wintery day. I think it's my favorite dinner to make not just because it tastes like warmth and love and cozy cabins, but also because it takes so little effort to prepare. We have a cabin in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York where we spend our weekends recuperating from the hectic city life and in our freezer we almost always have 2-3 organic whole chickens on hand. We can pick up the chickens from our local butcher, Fleisher's, who sources organic local chickens year round. The farm stand down the road keeps all the root vegetables that you can still get in the winter like squash, potatoes and onions. So on any given winter weekend, you can pretty much count on the Miles family eating this dinner in some variation or another.
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Raise your hand if you grew up eating Hamburger Pie, the recipe no doubt selected from the 1970's guide-to-being-a-working-mom cookbook: Better Homes and Gardens. I loved that recipe growing up. That's why I kept all of the ingredients in tact and just made a few adjustments to the processed ingredients. This Hamburger Pie Recipe made from scratch will bring you right back to the dinner table of your childhood. And, it makes a great dish to take to a friend in need of a comforting home cooked meal.
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When I find a new way to get my toddler to eat healthy food I feel like I'm the smartest person in the world. I want to call the president and be like; "Um hello. Did you know I just solved the problem of how to feed my toddler healthy food? Well, I guess you should put me on the next space shuttle to the moon because I'm a goddamn genius." And I totally deserve to feel this way. Cracking the code of finicky toddler eating habits is harder than I ever thought it would be. One minute she is like "Yum! Tofu!" and the next she is like "Tofu, floor, all done." But, cut that boring old tofu into star shapes, bread it and fry it up in healthy olive oil and she is like "Star! Tofu! Star! Yummy!!" and gobbles it all up like it's chocolate chip cookies. Genius I say.
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I love this time of year more than any other time of year mainly because of the abundance of fresh vegetables and fruits. I get so overwhelmed with all of the fresh veggies and fruits at the farmer's stand that I sometimes find my fridge full of items that I'm not sure what to do with. Luckily, I grew up with an Italian momma and I'm able to make a pasta dish with my eyes closed. Recently, I bought a bunch of kale and didn't know what to make with it so I looked up kale pasta recipes but couldn't find anything that looked appetizing. So, I came up with my own recipe that you can throw together in a jiffy for a healthy and quick family meal.
I don't know about you, but I crave a burger on about a weekly basis. Now, if I ate a beef burger on a weekly basis I would have to get my big butt to the gym a whole lot more than I currently make it there. So instead of letting the beef burger get the best of me, I like to substitute with healthy ground chicken. A weekly chicken burger has curbed my burger cravings, kept my waist line at a reasonable circumference and (bonus) fulfilled the toddler-will-eat entree requirement for one night a week. I like to add basil, garlic and Worcestershire sauce to my chicken patties to give them a little zip. Enjoy!
Hi friends. Today I've got another one of my favorite family recipes. Homemade fish sticks, rather than store bought frozen fish sticks, are definitely the way to go. They taste about a million times better and are way more nutritious if you use fresh fish. Also, I'm not sure if you have ever made your own tartar sauce instead of using the jarred kind, but homemade is definitely the way to go in the tartar sauce department. It is so tangy and fresh with fresh lemon juice and fresh onions and it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. Plus, while your making it, you can pop 2-10 gherkin pickles in your mouth making the cooking process a whole lot more fun. This meal is so quick and easy to make, that I end up making it about once a week. It seriously only takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. I like to serve the fish sticks with baked sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach or a smoothie. My toddler really loves this meal and so does her father and I. I guarantee your family will love it too!
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As promised, I am rolling out recipes for some of my favorite family meals. This one is a huge hit with my toddler because it has "noodeeze" and turkey meatballs. She isn't so keen on the tomatoes, but I reserve those for my husband and I. Also, the finely chopped greens that end up on the "noodeeze" are a great way to sneak some greens into her picky little mouth. Ramps are only around in the spring and early summer so get em while the gettin' is good!
Lately, I have been looking for new family meals that my entire family will enjoy, including my southern husband and my picky toddler. This recipe was derived from the southern ham and beans recipe but I added my northern twist to it making the beans with ketchup, mustard and brown sugar to give them more of baked bean flavor. The skillet cornbread is a MUST with this recipe because the juice from the beans is so yummy and flavorful that you have to have something to mop up all that goodness. Over the next couple of months, I will be sharing many of my original family/ toddler friendly meals with you. So please stay tuned!
