If you have been following along on Instagram you know my feelings about dinner. I F*CKING hate it with a passion. I didn’t always feel that. I used to love cooking. Loved zoning out in the kitchen but as many of you with little kids know, it can be bonkers. It’s the witching hour for us and lord have mercy it is a lot.

For that reason, I have been taking the easy route and cooking our 5 staple dinners for months now. Frozen meatballs, pasta, tacos, etc. Nothing wild but I am tired of it. So I’m switching it up and challenging myself to bring new meals into the rotation. Still would like for them to be easy of course, which is exactly what this dinner was.

So with that, take a look below and remember if you want other recipes to try, be sure to sign up for my newsletter here where from time to time, I love including one exclusive recipe for subscribers only. You won’t want to miss out!

What You’ll Need:

• 2 lb fresh salmon- sliced into cubes
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1TSP Garlic Paste
• 1TSP Ginger Paste
• 1TBSP Brown Sugar
• Sesame Seeds
• Sliced Avocado
• Edamame Beans
• White Rice (I used minute rice but I’d recommend trying going with something stickier the next time)

What to Do:

• Mix together soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, fish sauce, garlic & ginger paste and then add in cubed salmon
• Let salmon marinate in mixture for AT LEAST 30 minutes prior to cooking
• Once ready to cook, add salmon to a skillet with 1tbsp avocado or olive oil and cook on medium heat until all salmon has been cooked through and browned on each side.
• Cook rice according to instructions
• Add rice to a bowl, add salmon, edamame, avocado and garnish with sesame seeds (of course, feel free to add any other topping desired)
• Serve and eat your face off!

Although the holidays made at home meals a bit more challenging this month, I still managed to introduce a few and this one…. A HUGE WINNER! Especially for this pregnant mama. I dont know if you can tell but this growing baby girl of mine loves creamy dinners. I mean who doesn’t? And trust me, I am not complaining one bit!

So with that, take a look below and remember if you want other recipes to try, be sure to sign up for my newsletter here where I always include one exclusive recipe for subscribers only. You won’t want to miss out!

What You’ll Need:

• 1 Rotisserie Chicken with meat off bone OR 2 boneless/skinless chicken breast (shredded)
• 7 oz sour cream
• 8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese
• 12 oz frozen peppers, onions (feel free to add in any other veggies or fresh veggies if you want)
• 7oz Diced Green Chiles
• 8 soft taco size flour tortillas
• 1.2-1 cups chicken broth (you don’t want it to be watery but you do want it to loosen up the sour cream)
• 2 tbsp chilli powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• mined garlic 2 TBSP (I usually eyeball the amount I put in but you can play around with us depending on how much you love garlic)
• OPTIONAL: Cilantro to garnish. I hate cilantro so I passed on that part but you can totally add that in

What to Do:

• pre heat oven to 400
• on stovetop, sauté chicken, green chilis, frozen peppers, cumin and chili and I along with 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. If your chicken was being stored in the fridge before use and is cold, I like to use a little chicken broth to help it cook down and shred better.
• Add 2-4oz of Monterey Jack cheese to chicken once everything is combined.
• In soft tortillas, place desired amount of chicken mixture. You will want to roll these up so make sure the amount you place it doesn’t overflow. Once rolled up, put in 9×13 baking dish
• Mix together sour cream, remaining cheese, 1 tbsp garlic, chicken broth in separate bowl and then pour over rolled up tortillas
• Place in oven for 25 minutes
• Serve and eat your face off!

NUTRITION: Not putting it this time because I have no clue plus it all depends on how you want to make it. Bring down the carbs by omitting the rice or up the fat by using whole fat cheese. Its all up to you. Just remember, you are allowed to enjoy food and one decadent meal won’t ruin you 🙂 

Have you heard the news over on instagram? This hungry and pregnant mama is sick and tired of eating the same old meals and taking on a little challenge. Each week, I am aiming to pick 2 dinner inspirations, have you all weigh in and vote, and then go from there to create a meal and share it with you.

But here is the thing: I am no chef and I am not one for following recipes. These could totally end up sucking but either way you’ll end up hearing about it. As the title says, its a “Dinner Rut Rehab.” Time to kick myself out of my comfort zone and try something new. I’m excited about it and I think you should be too because after a few recent successes, I have a feeling we might make magic.

So lets see, our first meal that was voted on by you all over on Instagram was this creamy chicken dish. This was the original recipe I used as inspiration. As you will see, it looks delicious. But I wanted to make a few things. For starters, I wanted to use my crock pot. Why? Because as a mom whose kids have a witching hour right around dinner time, having a meal sit and stay warm and be ready to serve the moment Kev walks in the door, is an automatic win. Secondly, I am currently having a mushroom and cream moment. Call it a pregnancy thing or not, but I wanted to add in some baby Bellas. And then lastly, I wanted to make this somewhat healthy but not skip out on the creamy. So I figured I would add in some feta cheese.

What You’ll Need:

• 2 Rotisserie Chickens- meat off bone OR 4 boneless/skinless chicken breast
• 1 8.5oz jar of Sundried Tomatoes- drain from oil
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 2 tbsp minced garlic (feel free to add more if you want)
• 1 Yellow Onion chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms (I used baby Bella)
• 2 giant handfuls of fresh spinach but again you can add however much you want
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup feta cheese

What to Do:

• Separately on the stove, combine mushrooms, onion and garlic with a little olive oil and sauté until browned. This should take no more then 5 minutes
• Take sautéed veggies, and add to crockpot and combine with all other ingredients listed above.
• Set on low and let sit for 4-6 hours.
• If you used a rotisserie chicken, you can shred this pretty quickly. But if you use raw chicken breast, you will want to wait until cooked through and can be easily shredded.
• Whenever you are hungry, eat that food! And hey, if you want a little something extra, try this over some egg noodles. You won’t be disappointed.

Nutrition Facts: These were calculated using 4 chicken breasts instead of rotisserie but I’d imagine it would be very similar. I am also guessing that this can feed 6 to 8 people.

Anyway, I told you it is EASY! I am so excited to have found a new go-to meal for my family and can’t wait for you all to try it. Be sure to let me know if you do and if you aren’t already, be sure to follow me over on Instagram for more life adventures, yummy meals, and more!

 

With baby boy coming in 6-7 weeks (unless he decides to come early or hang out late), we have been busy over here preparing and taking advantage of our last few weeks of a family of 3. With that being said, its been a bit since we had the time to sit down and actually do a new date night recipe.

Using Pinterest as my source of inspiration, I stumbled upon an image of this delicious looking pasta & cherry tomato dish. Of course though, it wasn’t linked to anything so I can’t credit the source but I did use it as inspiration and tried to replicate it as best as possible.

Now one of the biggest perks about where we live in NJ is that we have so much access to these amazing farm stands. I know NJ has a wrap for being all Jersey Shore but what you cant forget that we are called the “Garden State” for a reason. We grow some bomb-ass produce, specifically tomatoes, peaches, and corn. By taking advantage of this, I headed 5 minutes down the street and grabbed 2 pints of yellow and red cherry tomatoes and let me tell you, they are out of this world!

So without further adieu, here is the delicious Summer Pasta dish that is perfect to have on a warm summer night.

Summer Pasta

What You’ll Need

• 2 Pints of Cherry Tomatoes (I chose to do 1 pint red and 1 pint yellow)
• Garlic, 6 Cloves minced or 2 TBSP Garlic Paste
• 20 Basil Leaves, chopped (this can be increased based on preference)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (this too can be increased based on taste preferences)
• 1 Cup Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Package of Angel Hair Pasta

What To Do:

• Cut cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending on size
• Combine tomatoes with garlic, basil, salt, pepper, red pepper, and olive oil
• Cover and let marinate at room temperature for AT LEAST 2 hours ( I let mine sit out for 5)
• Once ready to serve, cook pasta according to packaging instructions
• Combine with bowl of cherry tomatoes and add in parmesan cheese
• Eat your face off!