"Best Of"

What about a "Best Of" recipes post? I need to get my butt in gear and start coming up with new and exciting things for dinner. In the mean time, here are a few of the "Best Of" selections that are made over and over again and somewhat east to do.

Pizza Bites-- Remember these? A few ingredients you may already have laying around and in less than 30 minutes you have hand-held pizza bites to munch on, take for lunch, or a great appetizer!

Baked Zucchini Sticks-- Ok so maybe not a meal, but another great snack. Better if made & eaten fresh, as they may get soggy as leftovers. Very few ingredients. 

Broccoli Chicken Bake-- One of the most requested recipes. Simple, vegetable, pasta, chicken. Dinner in a dish & bake. 

Easy Enchiladas-- I realize these are just cheese enchiladas, so adding ground beef would be extra better. EASY!

Potstickers or Dumplings-- I need to make these again! So easy, finger food and can be customized to whatever you want to fill them with!

Now I feel like I need to go make a bunch of food!

What are some of your favorite, easy, go-to meals? What would you like to see me make?

Pumpkin Pancakes

Fall is leaves, cool temperatures, warm socks, hot chocolate & Pumpkin anything.

I love pumpkin anything, any time of year. Since everyone else is into pumpkin baking and the only thing I've baked pumpkin-wise has been bread, thought I'd give these a try. But, why do it the easy way? Let's do everything from scratch. Don't worry, its not much more work (seriously), I just didn't have the easy stuff (pancake mix) on hand. As I'm stocking up on pumpkin now, the real ones and baking them myself, I might as well make some good stuff with them. These are great for dinner the next day, or any time of day FYI.

Pumpkin Pancakes (from scratch, original recipe by me)

1 1/2 cup milk (soy or dairy-free work well too)

1 cup pumpkin puree (room temp)

1 egg

2 tablespoons apple sauce (in place of vegetable oil)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 cups flour, white or whole wheat

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground all spice

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

*Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, mix milk, pumpkin, egg, apple sauce & vinegar. If using vanilla add into milk mix. In a separate bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda and spices including flaxseed. Can use more flaxseed if you'd like. Adds a nutty-er taste but hardly can tell. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just enough to combine. Not mixing too much or the batter will make the pancakes too "heavy". I still haven't perfected this. Poor onto hot griddle and flip over when 'bubbling' begins. 

I'm not the best at cooking pancakes, still working on that. These had a slight enough pumpkin flavor but not overpowering. Personally, next time I'd add more pumpkin, vanilla and more cinnamon.

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Did you think I forgot how to cook or how to post food & recipes? Nope! I just don't post often. I'm still cooking.

While looking through The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for dinner ideas I came across her Pesto recipe and Pizza dough. I absolutely love Pesto but never have basil and always want to make my own. This meant a trip to the grocery store!

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Pesto sauce (recipe below)
Chicken, about 1 lb, grilled & shredded
Cheddar cheese, about 1-1 1/2 cups shredded
Pizza dough (recipe below)
Oregano (to taste)
Basil (to taste)
Garlic salt (to taste)

Pesto Sauce (taken from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook: Food From My Frontier)

3/4 cup fresh basil
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
salt & pepper
1/3 cup EVOO (olive oil)

Place basil, parmesan, pine nuts, whole garlic cloves and salt and pepper to food processor. Put lit on and begin to blend. Adding EVOO as you go. Add enough so the pesto is a sauce and not so thick. Set aside or put in the fridge for a day or so. Can also be frozen in cubes to be used later!


Next, make the pizza dough...which can also be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Pizza Dough (Also taken from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook: Food From My Frontier)

1 scant teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

First combine yeast and warm water in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Add flour to the bowl of a mixer, using paddle attachment. Sprinkle in the salt. Turn the mixer on and add olive oil. Finally, pour in the yeast water mix. Stop mixing when it becomes sticky. Allow dough to rise for about an hour before using. If storing in fridge, take out and allow to rise for about an hour before using

Before cooking

And after cooking

Once you have the dough and the pesto, and the chicken is cooked and the cheese is shredded, heat oven to 350 degrees. I lined a cookie sheet with foil so it wouldn't stick. Roll out pizza dough and lay on the cookie sheet. Cover with pesto sauce. Next, sprinkle cheese around. Then, add chicken. I sprinkled with oregano, basil and garlic salt. Baked in the oven for 15-18 minutes. If you want a crispier crust, bake a little longer.

This was delish! I made the pesto and dough a day ahead of time, so that saved time. All I had to do was grill the chicken and shred the cheese while the dough was rising. Good to make a head of time! There were no leftovers :)

Breakfast: French-Omelet

Alert the presses. I'm back in blogger world & in the kitchen.  Haven't had a whole lot of time to be cooking anything fancy or taking pictures of it, but I'm making a better effort to try. I find myself using my phone to take pictures and send it more often.

Had some time this "weekend" (my weekend off work) to do some cooking. This consisted of making Jackson's food and some delish items for us grown ups too! Who you calling "grown up"?


French-Omelet (created by me)


8 eggs
about 1 cup milk (soy or regular)
3 slices of bread (whole wheat) tore up into 9 slices
1 bell pepper (I used red)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (or to taste)


Mix all these in a bowl. Preheat oven to 350. Use a cheesecake pan (with the outer ring that can be removed, and obviously I don't know the real name of it) and spray with non-stick or olive oil. Place slices of bread on bottom of pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on the bread. Pour egg mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. **The more eggs you use/larger batch will require more baking time as it will be thicker. 

Staple Food--Fried Rice

I'll take one order of this please. 

That's Pork Fried Rice, as promised from this post talking about a bunch of good food. Remember?

Fried Rice has become a staple for us. It has been a while since I've made some, but it is so easy and when you love rice like we do, its a great go-to meal. I personally love steamed white or brown rice, but fried rice is also good too.

Pork Fried Rice

2 cups steamed white or brown rice, cooled

1/2 to 1 cup frozen peas (or veggie of your choice)

1/2 lb pork, sliced into strips (think stir fry)

2 eggs

Soy Sauce

Hot sauce (I use Siracha)

Marinade pork in soy sauce (about 3 tablespoons, or whatever "looks" like enough) for at least 1 hour. I did mine overnight. Steam rice and set aside to cool. I let mine cool overnight in the fridge. Easier this way! Cook pork in a pan until cooked through. Add eggs and scramble. Next, add in rice while heat is still on medium high. Poor soy sauce over, covering rice until most of the top is covered. It really is up to you how much you like soy sauce or how strongly flavored you want. I go for a medium flavor. Toss rice in the pan and cook for a few minutes to get the flavor and things mixed up. Next, add in some frozen peas. Cook for another few minutes to "thaw" out peas and get them warm. 

This is great warmed up the next day for lunch. Add in hot sauce to your liking. This works as a side dish or a whole meal itself. This made enough for a good size bowl for both of us with left overs for each of us for lunch the next day. This can be halved too. 

Hey Little Muffin

Starting the new year off right, and also continuing to eat healthy since being pregnant, I'm making better choices about what we eat as a family. Well Jackson doesn't really have much food choice yet, but soon enough.

I'm also striving to save as much money as I can when buying groceries. So meal planning is a must. I'm trying to make ahead as much as I can and keep our freezer stocked with pre made spaghetti sauces and muffins. I like the idea of having healthy choices for a quick grab 'n go for breakfast that isn't drive through. We don't usually do fast food anymore anyways. Gosh, it's probably been months since we've had drive through food.


Whole wheat oat muffins
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
**optional: 2 tableapoons flaxseed


The flaxseed is the extra healthy kick and good for you too! The taste doesn't change much, just gives it more of a nutty flavor.


In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients, and flaxseed if you use it. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Pre heat oven to 400°F. Fill greased or paper lined cups in a muffin pan 2/3 the way full. I used a small ice cream scoop to fill paper cups. Bake for 15-17 min.

I couldn't wait, they were just sitting right there, staring at me. Yum!

Have a great week!