Roasted Broccoli

Aaron came up with this recipe, and it was one of his typical "a little bit of this, a little bit of that...and lets try some of this". Somehow, he is the luckiest man on the planet, and almost every one of his magical recipes turns out awesome! This one was no exception!

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut of the same steamed veggies every...single...meal....and it gets old. This changes things up just enough, and it's still a super easy recipe to make!

So here you go:

(I apologize in advance for not having "exact" amounts... it's just not how my husband comes up with his recipes...)

What You Need:

1-2 heads of broccoli

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Salt

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Rinse, and cut your broccoli into thin slices, like such:

We also cut some of the broccoli stem into thin pieces, about 1/4" thick.
We roast these as well and they taste great! You can actually see
some of the stem pieces in the title photo.

3. Toss broccoli in olive oil until well covered. Spread evenly onto cookie sheet. Sprinkle with even amounts of salt, pepper and garlic salt.

4. Roast broccoli in oven at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes, tossing/flipping broccoli a few times so that it is evenly roasted/browned. You want your broccoli to just begin to brown and get crispy, that means it's done!

5. Serve immediately & ENJOY!

This is one of our favorite veggie sides when we make our Better Than The Restaurant Fish Fry!

Hope you give this recipe a shot and love it as much as we do!

Blackened Walleye

 It is truly as simple as that.

I wanted to try and use our recipe for our very own "blackened chicken"... but at the same time I wanted the traditional buttery-lemon, baked fish taste in there as well. So, without having ANY clue as to how it would turn out, I came up with a concoction to combine the two! 

Luckily, it turned out to be DELICIOUS!

This specific recipe paired great with some asparagus and parmesan couscous on the side!

I used 3 walleye fillets, and it was the first time I have used a ziplock bag for marinating...but it most definitely won't be my last! Wow, it made mixing the seasonings and the butter together SO much easier than trying to mix together a liquid and seasonings in a bowl... seasonings tend to clump up, and in the bag it was so easy to just mash it all together. 

I marinated the fillets just while the grill was heating up, so it's really a super fast, and simple recipe. We really rubbed the hardened marinade onto the fillets before grilling them, so that they would go on the grill and really soak up the extra flavor.

The great thing about this recipe, is it's versatile enough to try on any other type of fish, not just walleye.

ENJOY!

See below for a typed out list of ingredients and instructions:

Ingredients:

3-4 walleye filets

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp paprika

1 clove minced garlic

Instructions:

In a ziplock bag combine butter, lemon juice, spices and walleye fillets. Seal bag and mash all ingredients until combined well, and mixed together.

Marinate fillets for roughly 10 minutes, while grill heats up to medium-high heat.

Before putting fillets on the grill, rub each with the hardened marinade for extra flavor, while they grill.

Grill fillets for about 4 minutes each side. It is cooked through when the fillet flakes easily.

VOILA!

Simple as that.

ENJOY!

CrockPot Stroganoff

Maybe it's just me, but there's something about Fall... and crockpot dinners.

I have somehow developed a new obsession with crockpot meals over the past couple weeks.

The ease of throwing everything into a crockpot in the morning, and not having to do a thing to it all day, but having a delicious dinner ready for you come 6pm... is a beautiful thing. Especially when you are busy chasing around a 1 year old all day.

I was craving stroganoff- a warm, cozy meal for a November night.

So after looking at a couple recipes as a guide- I decided to go at my own little recipe.

I used a couple different recipes as a base- and used whatever ingredients I had on hand!

And voila- this amazing crockpot recipe was born!!

I have to share it, because my husband rated it a 9 out of 10 (I asked him what was a 10...and he didn't know....) and because it is such a simple, delicious fall recipe!!! 

I also tried to make it as healthy as possible...as healthy as a stroganoff can be...

I definitely think it tastes lighter, not quite as heavy, as most other traditional stroganoff recipes!

Anyways...

Here It Is:

Ingredients:

(I choose to use all organic ingredients)

1 lb sirloin steak cut into 1 inch cubes

3/4 cup beef broth

1 can cream of mushroom soup (about 12 oz)

1/2 yellow onion diced

2 tablespoons dry white wine

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

16 oz bag egg noodles

1 cup plain greek yogurt

Dried parsley flakes & sour cream *optional*

Instructions:

1.  Add sirloin steak, beef broth, mushroom soup, onion, wine, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper to crockpot and stir together.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

(I cooked mine on low for 3 hours, and then set it down to 'warm' for the remaining 3 hours since our crock pot always seems to cook at a higher temperature)

2. About 20 minutes before your desired "dinner time", cook noodles according to instructions on package. Strain the noodles.

3. Add the cooked noodles, and the 1 cup plain greek yogurt to the crock pot. Mix well.

4. To serve, sprinkle with the dried parsley, and add a dollop of sour cream - if you so desire :)

(Which I always do!!!...stroganoff without sour cream just seems wrong...)

And there you have it!!!

A simple, and delicious recipe for the days you just don't have the time (or energy) to cook a big dinner!

ENJOY!!

Apricot Lemon Glazed Chicken

This is a favorite in our house! 

Super easy, healthy, and tastes delicious!!

I LOVE this recipe because it takes under 20 minutes to make!! There's also not a whole lot that goes into preparing it- so it's easy to make this, and at the same time be chasing around my 1 year old :)

You can't say that about many other meals!

What You Need:

(We choose to alway use organic ingredients)

2 chicken breast

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp salt (I use "Real Salt" Sea Salt)

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup apricot spread

What to Do:

1. Combine your curry powder, salt, and pepper in a small dish. Rub over chicken breast.

2. Grill chicken breast on medium-high heat.

3. WHILE the chicken breast is grilling, combine lemon juice, water and apricot spread in a small pan over medium heat. This will be your delicious glaze :) You want it to simmer- so it thickens up. Once it is at a good "sauce" consistency, turn the heat down to low to make sure it doesn't get too thick. This usually only takes about 5-10 minutes.

4. Once the chicken breast is done grilling, we always put it over some leafy greens (spinach, mixed greens...etc.)! Then drizzle the glaze over the chicken and the greens. The combination of the chicken breast, the glaze, and the greens is delicious!

There you go! 

Hope you Enjoy!

:)

We were obviously really craving the "greens" this night- since the additional
side was peas. :)

Better than the Restaurant Fish Fry!

Once again- my husband has outdone himself and created a crazy good new recipe for us!

(This is what happens when you get super sick of eating chicken every night...you just whip together anything you have on hand that's NOT chicken...luckily for us, it became a new favorite recipe!!)

We used my chicken cordon bleu recipe (another one I will eventually get around to sharing on here) as inspiration...and voila. A super amazing fish fry recipe! Far healthier for you than the typical restaurant fish fry, and super fast and easy to make! 

Here you go:

What You Need: 

(we choose to use wild caught cod and all organic ingredients)

4 pieces Cod (2 per person)

1/2 teaspoon Salt (we use sea salt)

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1 teaspoon Garlic Salt

1 teaspoon Thyme (dried)

1 Cup Bread Crumbs (we use 1/2 cup wheat crumbs, 1/2 cup regular crumbs)

2 Eggs

3 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

3 Tablespoons unsalted Butter (melted)

What To Do:

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic salt, thyme, bread crumbs and melted butter. Mix well. 

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the 2 eggs. 

3. In a large frying pan melt the coconut oil over medium-high heat. You want to make sure you have enough coconut oil to completely coat the entire bottom of the pan.

4. Dip the cod into the whisked eggs, then batter them in the bread crumbs bowl. Make sure to cover  them good with the bread crumb mixture- this makes them nice and crispy!!

5. Toss the cod into the frying pan. After a few minutes flip the cod. You want to make sure the "crisp" turns a nice golden color. All in all the cod takes less than 10 minutes to cook. Not very long!

We always pair this recipe with some fresh steamed broccoli (topped with a little unsalted butter and sea salt...yum!) and I love to add some parmesan couscous to the mix! YUM!!!

ENJOY!

Eggplant Parm - *Our* Recipe

Eggplant Parmesan is one of our favorite recipes!

We've tried numerous different recipes that we've found online, but we always ended up tweaking them, or thinking "next time lets try it this way". 

So we finally just came up with our own recipe & we love it!! 

This is definitely a recipe that takes a little more time.

Prep time takes us about 30 mins, and it bakes for 1 hour.

But if you have the time- it's so worth it! 

What You Need:

1 medium eggplant

2 1/2 cups almond flour

4 organic, cage free eggs

1 (8oz) container grated parmesan cheese

4 cups shredded organic whole milk mozzarella

Dried Parsley

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Sea Salt

Pepper

1 jar tomato sauce (we use Garlic Roasted Garlic organic tomato sauce)

Coconut oil

What To Do:

1. Grease large cookie sheet & a glass 9x13 pan with coconut oil & set aside.

2. Slice eggplant into thin slices. (I always try to get at least 16 slices). Sprinkle each with sea salt.

3. In a shallow dish whip together all 4 eggs, 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, and a few pinches each of garlic powder, and dried parsley. 

4. In another shallow dish, add 2 1/2 cups almond flour, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 3 Tbsp dried parsley, 1 Tbsp onion powder, 2 tsp sea salt, 2 tsp pepper and mix together.

5. Dip each slice of eggplant into the egg batter, then in the almond flour making sure to cover both sides, and lay it on the greased cookie sheet (we always slightly overlap our eggplant slices).  

6. Once all slices have been battered, broil on High until they become slightly brown and crispy (this never takes long AT ALL...we usually only broil ours for about 2 minutes- so keep an eye them!). 

7. In the greased 9x13 pan, put a thin layer of sauce, then sprinkle some parmesan cheese, then sprinkle mozzarella cheese, then add the eggplant slices(we usually use 8 slices per layer)- slightly overlapping each other. Then repeat- another layer of sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, eggplant slices. 

8. Once you have used all of your eggplant slices, we top it with one last layer of sauce, then mozzarella cheese, and then we sprinkle the very top with parmesan cheese, dried parsley, and garlic powder.

9. Cover with aluminum foil & bake at 350 for 1 hour.

ENJOY!!!

Sweet Potato Fries

Delicious Sweet Potato Fries!

So I actually just made these last night- and my husband said they were the best sweet potato fries he's ever had! Woo Hoo!! (usually he makes them, but last night I took them on because I was hungry and he wasn't home from work yet! No patience here when I'm hungry).

So here's how we make them:

What You Need:

1 large sweet potato

Coconut oil

Salt (we use RealSalt Nature's First Sea Salt)

Pepper

Garlic salt

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 400.

Peel and cut sweet potato into thin, fry-size strips.

Using coconut oil grease cookie sheet.

Toss sweet potato fries onto cookie sheet in a single layer (try not to overlap too much).

Depending on how much seasoning you like, season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

Toss in the oven (we baked ours for 20 minutes..I like my fries to have a good crisp, and 20 minutes seemed to be perfect! If you want less crisp-less time, if you want more crisp-more time)  

I did not flip the fries at all, some people do half way through.

There you go- Delicious healthy sweet potato fries!! 

:)

ENJOY!

Cranberry Cream Cheese Chicken

Cranberry Cream Cheese Grilled Chicken with Broccoli & Quinoa Brown Rice

Healthy, Simple, and FAST Recipe!

Ok this is one of our absolute FAVORITES!! Why?  Because it's super easy, super fast, and oh so good for you!  

Being a new mama, it's key for Aaron and I to have some fast and simple recipes, that we can make, eat, and be done with in time for Gavin's bath time at 7:15.  This is a recipe, that in total takes ... Oh maybe 20 minutes!  

We use all organic ingredients.  The chicken is cage-free, farm fresh.  

So here's what you need:

-Chicken breast (however many you need)
-Organic cream cheese
-Organic dried cranberries
-Organic broccoli
-Quinoa & Brown Rice

Directions: 

Grill the chicken.
While your chicken is on the grill, start making the quinoa brown rice (this time we chose to just try one from a bag. It's already pre-seasoned... and it was delicious! See exactly what we used below)  It's super fast- we just warmed it up in a pot on the stove--- took all of maybe 10 minutes!

Chop up your broccoli into bite size pieces (for this recipe we don't use the stems at all- in one of our other broccoli recipes we do! I'll share that one at some point!) We just steamed our broccoli- which takes only about 5-10 minutes!

Once the chicken is done, we top it with a little slice of cream cheese, and cover it with some dried cranberries! Over our steamed broccoli we put a little bit of butter- (we use organic unsalted) and we use a little bit of salt (we use sea salt)... those are the finishing touches! That's it! Super easy, and super delicious!!

ENJOY!!
:)