Author: servedwithloveincolorado

Dinner inspiration: My neighbor’s arugula pesto

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We have the best neighbors in the entire world.  Seriously.  This is for a variety of reasons but one that I hold especially dear:  They share things from their garden.

The other day we were in the backyard trading gardening stories with our neighbor (we have both just moved into new houses and this was both of first years for these gardens).  He then asked if we would like to try his arugula pesto.  Absolutely!  In two minutes I was holding a mason jar full of love from his garden.  He said it was a mix of home grown arugula, lemon juice, parmesan, olive oil, and pine nuts.  I don’t know the recipe so that’s why I’m not sharing it here.

With that in hand, I was inspired to make a pasta dish with some love from my garden too.

I marinated chicken thighs in basil, olive oil and pepper then grilled them.  Roasted sliced zucchini (from my garden) and asparagus (cut into one inch pieces) mixed with olive oil, pepper, and salt at 350 for 15 minutes and then high broil for 2 minutes.  Boiled up some shell pasta and mixed it all together with the pesto.  Plated it up and topped it with some shredded parmesan.

I can always tell how well Beast likes something by if he runs to claim the leftovers for lunch the next day.  As we were clearing the table, he was already scraping the bowl into a “to go” container.

This is easily re-creatable even if you don’t have lovely neighbors giving you jars of heavenly made pesto.  Grab a jar of pesto at the grocery store or make your own.  Serve with roasted veggies, pasta, and grilled chicken and you’ve got it.

Happy cooking!

Served With Love: Grace

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Originally written 5/31/17

We got back from vacation Sunday night so the house was a mess (when I unpack, it looks like a bomb went off in the suitcase) and fridge was bare.  I didn’t sleep well the night before because all the things I need to do were running through my head.  I didn’t leave work until almost 5:45 pm which meant I wasn’t home until well after 6 pm.  Dinner getting on the table by 6:30 pm was not going to happen, especially if I had to make something.  A quick call to Papa Murphy’s and a stop on the way home was all I needed to get a meal on the table.

And you know what?  Everyone was happy!  Not a big deal at all.  And I was able to soak up some time with the kids while the pizza was cooking.  Way better than frantically trying to create something out of nothing while exhausted.

I’m glad I’ve learned through the years to give myself some grace on nights like this.

What is your go to quick pick up meal?  I’d love to have some others in my back pocket!

High tea baby shower: Recipes and source list

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A colleague of mine is having a baby this summer so I wanted to throw a little baby shower for her.  I always struggle coming up with themes but this one was a hit so I wanted to share the recipes and sources I was able to find that made it come together.

My inspiration for this was actually something we did for my Working Moms MOPS group.  We put together a formal high tea for our last meeting this year.  I was also looking for a reason to get my grandmother’s tea set out and actually use it!

I made tea sandwiches, punch, lavender cookies, fruit and cheese bites, and had various types of tea available.  I bought some chocolates and a colleague brought some delicious homemade scones.

Here are the recipes I used (great ideas from other people):

Punch Recipe (both a blue and pink version)

Lavender cookies (recipe from the MOPS magazine “Hello, Dearest”)

Sources of various products I used:

Runner

Napkins

Serving towers

Tea pack

This was very easy to pull together and like I said, it went over very well.  It was easy to quickly get some water boiling between conversations and refill the pot occasionally.  The amount of food was perfect for 5-6 people and I felt like I was actually able to enjoy the get together without having to coordinate too much.

It really was a fun little get together and something I will definitely do again!

Why I love Hello Fresh

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If you’re online even a little bit during the day, you’ve probably seen an ad or two for various meal delivery boxes.  I’ve tried a few of these for a variety of reasons and I have to say my favorite by far is HelloFresh so I’d thought I’d share a little bit about why I love it so much and how I use it to help me meal plan.

Beast and I started trying out these meal delivery boxes after our first kiddo, Bear, was born.  I was trying to master the working mom/new mom thing and just plain needed a little help getting dinner on the table.  So we started getting a box or two a month just to give me a break some weeks.

 

Still to today, I love when that box shows up!  It means a delicious dinner is planned for the next two nights with no planning required from me.

Out of the services we tried, we’ve liked HelloFresh the best for the following reasons:

  • It is flexible.  You can stop/start service at any time and skip as many weeks as you want.  We currently get a box every 3-4 weeks and I can easily log in on their online calendar and skip/add weeks as I think of it.
  • The meals are easy to recreate.  I save the recipe card for the meals we receive, hole punch it, and put it in my meal planning binder.  The ingredients are all very  easy to get at any grocery store.  I can thumb through my binder while meal planning, pick out something that sounds good, and quickly add the ingredients to my grocery list.  I love this because it helps me branch out to new recipes so I don’t fall into a rut of just making the same 8 meals over and over each month.

  • There is a variety of different cuisine types.  You get to try your hand from everything from Italian to Korean.  I love exposing the kids to different flavors and types of food so this box makes it very easy for me to do that!
  • The Family Box is very kid friendly.  Nothing is too spicy or strange.  My kids eat the meals well and the recipe cards even have suggestions for steps you can have the kids help you with.
  • I learn new techniques and how to use/prepare ingredients that I haven’t used before.  Again good to diversify what my family is eating and make sure no one gets bored with my usual fare, including me.
  • And probably most importantly, the end product is delicious.  We’ve loved literally every recipe.

If you’re interested in trying HelloFresh 

(and getting $40 off your first box) 

take a look at this offer:  


HelloFresh $40 off

Happy cooking!

Lemony salmon and Greek zucchini pasta

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During the week, getting dinner on the table ASAP is often my goal but Sundays are different.  Sundays we can take our time prepping and cooking which means my Sunday suppers are often a bit more involved.

Bear is currently on a salmon kick where the boy, I kid you not, can sit down and eat a half pound of salmon or more.  At age 3 1/2.  It is kind of impressive.  And I absolutely love cooking him something he gets so excited about so I’ve been trying to make sure he gets his salmon every 1-2 weeks.

Lucky for me, our local grocery chain King Soopers does an awesome fish program called “Easy for You” where they put the seafood of your choice in an oven ready foil bag with tons of great seasonings and herbs.  It even tells you on the back of the bag the appropriate temperature and time to cook it based on the weight.  Our favorite right now is salmon with butter, dill, lemon, and the lemon pepper seasoning.  For 2 lbs of salmon, you bake it at 380 degrees for 40 minutes and it comes out perfect every time.

 

When cooking fish, it is always better to err on being underdone and sticking it back in the oven for a few minutes.  If you overcook it, it will often have that not so pleasant fishy taste that makes people think they don’t like fish.  In reality, they don’t like overcooked fish.

 

If your grocery store doesn’t offer a similar program, you could make your own foil envelope and just top the salmon with the following:

  • 2 Tablespoons of butter
  • Healthy shakes of lemon pepper seasoning
  • Slices of lemon
  • Sprigs of dill

While my salmon was cooking, I got to work on the pasta.

Ingredients:

  • 3 zucchini (small, spiralized to about twice as thick as typical spaghetti)
  • 1 bunch of asparagus (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1/2 cup of pitted kalamata olives (cut in half lengthwise)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
  • 1/2 cucumber (cut in slices and quartered)
  • 1 small jar pesto sauce

Directions:

  1. Spiralize and cut all veggies, keeping the zucchini noodles and asparagus separate from everything else.
  2. Put a large pot of boiling water on to boil.
  3. When the salmon has 5 minutes left to cook, drop the zucchini noodles and asparagus in the boiling water.
  4. Boil for 3 minutes.
  5. While the asparagus and noodles are boiling, stir the pesto into the other veggies with some freshly cracked pepper.
  6. Drain the asparagus and noodles in a large colander.
  7. Push down on the asparagus and noodles with a paper towel or clean dish towel to release some of the excess water.
  8. Mix the asparagus and noodles into the other veggies.
  9. Plate the pasta with the salmon and top the pasta with a little bit of crumbled feta.

My kids can’t tell the difference between zucchini noodles and regular pasta, especially once it has a sauce on it, so this is a great way to sneak some extra veggies in.  When serving this up, I made sure Bear got extra tomatoes and Beast had as few olives as possible since those are their preferences.  I left the feta off the top of the kids’ plates because my kids gag on “weird white stuff” (feta, cottage cheese, and mashed potatoes).  Not a battle I wish to fight since they are great about eating virtually everything else including their veggies.  The feta and cottage cheese I can understand but I think they are really missing out on the mashed potatoes.

This went over well in our house and I hope it will in yours as well!

Happy cooking!

Cinnamon apple pork chops with sweet potatoes

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My kids (and hubby) love their sweets.  This is a dinner that to them tasted like dessert but I felt fine about it because there was plenty of fruit and veggies in every bite.  Ladybug decided that forks should be optional during this meal because she was able to shovel in the goodness with her hands better. 

Ingredients:

  • Pork chops
  • 1 c (or one juice box) apple juice
  • 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 c honey
  • 2-3 sweet potatoes
  • 2 apples
 Directions:
  1. Night before (or right when you get home) put pork chops, apple juice, honey, and cinnamon in a large ziplock bag to marinate the meat. Cooking/Meal planning tip:  Even if I haven’t meal planned, I like to know what I am making for dinner by the night before.  That way I can make sure any meat needed is thawed and ingredients are on hand.
  2. Get home from work and put a cartoon on for the kids.
  3. Peel and cube sweet potatoes (~1/2 inch cubes are perfect)
  4. Cook the sweet potatoes with some coconut oil or olive oil for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
  5. Preheat the grill.
  6. While sweet potatoes are cooking, cube the apples (I leave the peel on)
  7. Once the sweet potatoes are starting to soften, add the apples and a little more oil. 
  8. Put the meat on the grill, keeping the marinade.
  9. Pour 1 cup of the marinade into the sweet potatoes and apples and cover.
  10. Flip the meat when it is no longer sticking to the grill (about 4 minutes)
  11. Pull the meat off the grill when again, it is no longer sticking to it and let it rest while the apples and sweet potatoes finish cooking.                                                                                                        
  12. Once the sweet potatoes and apples are softened, pull off the heat.  
  13. Serve in a bowl with the sweet potatoes and apples in the bottom and the pork chop on top.  We served in a bowl because the sweet potatoes and apples mixed with the apple juice and cinnamon makes a yummy sauce that is great to dip the cut up pork chop in.

Beast was excited because he thought we were going to have enough for a great lunch for him the next day.  But Ladybug kept going back for seconds, thirds, fourths and beyond (I actually lost track).  His lunch whittled away to a tiny snack by the time she was done.

As I was originally typing this, Bear is looking over my shoulder and he just said, “That was good!”

Definitely something we will be having again!

Same meal different way:  So sometimes we get sick of making the same things the same ways.  An alternative way to make this meal would be to slice the apples and cook them with cinnamon, a little water, and honey.  Then roast the sweet potatoes with a little olive oil and cinnamon.  Grill the pork chops as recommended above.  Then the plate looks different with each item separated but it is essentially the same thing.

When you cook with booze, which should be often…

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If you’ve taken a look at my recipes, a lot of them include deglazing with wine or beer.  Is this just an excuse to open up a bottle of something on a weeknight?  Well, maybe.  But really the goal is to deepen the flavor of whatever I’m cooking, which brings me to this cooking tip:

Never, EVER,  cook with booze you wouldn’t enjoy drinking.  


Seriously.  Never.  If they sell it as “cooking wine” in a grocery store DO NOT cook with it.  Ever.  If you have a can of Natty Light in the fridge that’s been there forever DO NOT put it in your food.

Why?  If you don’t like the flavor of it enough to drink it, you won’t like the flavor it adds to your food.

A lot of the cooking wine I’ve tasted honestly tastes nothing like wine at all so it doesn’t have the same effect as adding a glug of chardonnay.

Here’s my rule:  If you like it and genuinely enjoy drinking it, then it is good enough for your food.  It doesn’t have to be expensive.  If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t let it touch your food.

There you have it.  Now crack open a bottle of something and deglaze a pan with it.  And pour yourself a glass while you’re at it.

Served With Love: Humor

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Originally written 10/24/17

Last week I made something delicious.  It was also appalling to look at.  I share this story in order to show that even people who like to cook and think they are pretty ok at it still have meals that don’t go so well.  Ultimately, these are meals you learn from and get better because of.  All you can do is laugh and try again the next meal.

Beast was out of town for a few days last week so I was trying to make a healthy meal that would be super easy.  And I was craving something that tasted like fall.  Pork chops, sweet potatoes, apples, and cider were on hand so I was planning to make my Cinnamon Apple Pork Chops but thought maybe it would be even easier if I put it all in the crock pot instead.

Yes, this was easy.  Yes, it tasted fabulous and the pork chops were super tender and tasty.  But…  Sweet potatoes and apples when left in a crock pot for hours become a not so attractive mush of orange and brown.  I’m sparing you from a picture on purpose but I’m sure you can imagine it.

Bear, who eats EVERYTHING, looked at the plate I put in front of him and without so much as smelling my foul appearing concoction said, “I don’t think I like that.”  Well said, my son.

He and Ladybug both did try it and both did eat it well because after you got over the visual appearance, it really did taste exactly how I wanted it to: sweet and cinnamony, tender and juicy.

Now there was plenty leftover but I could not imagine myself actually pulling these leftovers out of the fridge and thinking, “Mmmm, yeah that looks good.”  I also could not imagine throwing a whole pork chop and bowl of veggies away simply because they looked bad.  So our dog, Charlie, ate well the next two meals.

Next time, I’ll put the pork chops, onions, cider, and spices in the crock pot and leave the sweet potatoes and apples for cooking later.  Once again a reminder that we first eat with our eyes and the appearances of our meals are important.  I’m sure Charlie is hoping I forget that fact again soon.

Served With Love (in Austin): What to do and eat in Austin/Waco

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Beast and I just got back from a little getaway in Austin so I thought I would share some of the recommendations we received and the places we found on our own that were fabulous.  When the two of us visit a city together we pretty much always plan out our time the same way:  we find a place to stay that is within walking distance to some fun areas and then we make reservations for brunch and dinner each day.  The rest of the trip has a way of filling itself in naturally along the way.

Here’s our thoughts on what to do (and eat) in Austin/Waco:

Stay: North of 6th Street on the western end of the bar/music district.  We did not listen to this advice.  While we were very close to 6th Street and lots of great things, our walks home at night were maybe not as safe as they could have been if we were 4 blocks west.

Get in line for: Franklin BBQ.  It opens at 11 AM and most days you’ll need to be in line by then to make sure you get some of their now world-famous brisket.  We literally drove straight from the airport to get our spot in line.  The wait was 2 hours which sounds like a lot for BBQ but it really, really is worth it.  While you are waiting, they have lawn chairs you can sit in and move along the line.  You can also walk up to the counter to order drinks to enjoy while you wait.  Once you do get to the counter, make sure you get a mix of fatty and lean brisket (1 lb) at least and save a couple of slices for a late night snack.  We had some sausage, ribs, and beans as well but the star really is the brisket, which I will gladly wait in line for again.

     

Walk around: 6th Street.  Lots of bars and live music.  Food trucks galore.  We’re suckers for a piano bar and enjoyed a couple hours at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar.  Sit upstairs for a great view of the piano show and fabulous people-watching.

Fancy dining: Walk to wink restaurant.  They have a daily menu with new creations and 5 or 7 course pairing menus with the option of very reasonable wine pairings.  We were VERY happy with everything we tasted and would highly recommend the 5 course menu with the wine pairings.  The service was fabulous.  Since we were there celebrating our anniversary, our waitress took a copy of the menu they had printed with our names on it and had the chef sign it.  Sweet touch.

Casual, local flavor: Uber to Matt’s El Rancho.  This one came recommended to us by a colleague of mine who grew up in Austin.  It did not disappoint.  Margaritas were great as was their signature appetizer: The Bob Armstrong.

Walk around: The State Capitol and UT.  Wander around the capitol and when you see a tour going through, just start following them as long as you want to.

Hole-in-the-wall find: Arturo’s Underground Cafe for breakfast or lunch.  Beast loved the migas and I loved my The Works breakfast tacos.  The Texas Pecan coffee they had was delicious.  Go ahead and pay the extra dollar for bottomless coffee because you’ll want a refill.

Brewery: Uber to Lazarus Brewing.  This might be the find of the trip.  A place that sells coffee, tacos, and beer would intrigue us already but then you walk in this place and WOW.  It is gorgeous.  Deep, moody colors on the walls, cognac leather and natural wood everywhere, everything looking 100% curated and thought out.  Not the typical stainless steel and butcher block bar you see at 90% of the breweries we’re visited.  I kept telling Beast “This doesn’t look like a normal brewery.  I think a woman is involved in this somehow.”  And after we got talking to the incredibly friendly staff, we learned that yes, that is true.  A pastor and his wife started the brewery and she is the one behind the hospitality and coffee.  And their daughter is an apprentice brew master.  They clearly make a great team along with some other folks that help them brew and run the place.  They have only been open about a year and have already won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival.  They also have this cool crowd funding thing they did where they sold gorgeous glass beer steins for $1000 and then the “Patron Saint” who bought it gets their first drink free for life and keeps their special glass displayed at the brewery behind the bar.  A bunch of people apparently use this brewery (and their free wifi) as their home office so in the morning you’ll see a bar full of people with laptops drinking coffee and by 5 pm they’ve switched to beer.  Just a really cool place run by really cool people and definitely worth a stop if you are in Austin.

Bar: Across the street from Lazarus Brewing is an old granary-turned-bar called Whisler.  They only have two kinds of beer but they mix up some very tasty cocktails.  Candles are lit throughout the space making it a cozy, old find.  Out back is a well-known food truck called Thai Kun (from the same folks as East Side King), which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The panang curry left our mouths on fire, but Whisler’s “Root Down” cocktail with a piece of candied ginger was all we needed to get back on track.  We then went back over to Lazarus to have another new favorite to end the night.

Brunch: Uber to Stubb’s Gospel Brunch (Sunday).  The food was great and they bring in various gospel groups to sing while you’re eating.  I’d highly recommend the ticket with a “view of the band” so you get the full experience.

Drive to: This whole trip was planned by Beast so he could take me to Waco for Magnolia Market at the Silos.  I’ve been a fan of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper” for some time and think Chip and Joanna Gaines are just adorable.  The market was very fun and totally worth the trip to shop and enjoy the grounds.  The cupcakes from the Silos Bakery were delicious and also worth the short line we waited in.  The whole operation was a well-oiled machine with lots of friendly people making everything run super smoothly.  After we shopped and ate some samplings from the various food trucks, we took the free trolley around town.  It took 15 minutes and basically showed us the rest of the downtown area.  We then knew where we wanted to be dropped off on the next go around so we could visit other shops and the Farmer’s Market (Saturday).  I would say a half day in Waco was good for us but you could probably find enough to do to stretch it to a full day.  Staying in Austin and then renting a car for a day to drive there worked perfectly.

On the way back: Stop in Salado, TX.  We happened on this town trying to find a brewery and stumbled on “the best art town in Texas.”  There are lots of cute shops, art galleries, and then Barrow Brewing Co.  Beast and I played Trivial Pursuit at this brewery while sipping on their creations for at least 2 1/2 hours.  When we went it was the town Christmas Market and it felt like every person in town was out and about shopping and chatting.  It is a great place to stop right off I-35.

So there you have it!  If you’re visiting Austin, check out these spots!  If you’ve visited Austin before and have other favorite spots, please leave them in the comments.

Happy Traveling!

Mel

Go-To Pasta Meat Sauce

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This is the recipe for my Go-To Pasta Meat Sauce that I seriously make almost every week.  Without fail.  My family loves it.  It makes plenty for dinner and next day lunches too.  And the kids have no idea how many veggies they are eating.  Seriously, no idea.  

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 cup carrots, chopped
  • 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
  • 1 box of your favorite pasta
  • 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • Red peppers flakes (to taste)
  • Red wine for deglazing the pan
  • Parmesan cheese

Other possible additions:

  • Chopped zucchini
  • Chopped fresh spinach
  • Chopped red peppers
  • Canned pumpkin Seriously, you can’t taste it at all and it adds lots of vitamins and fiber.  And gets that can out of the fridge that you had to use half of for another recipe.

Directions:

  1. Put on a Daniel Tiger episode for the kids.  Choose their sermon.  Today you need to hear about sharing…
  2. Open red wine and pour taster glass.  You have to make sure the bottle is good before using it in a recipe.  Seriously.  Really this might be step one depending on the work day…
  3. Put on your favorite Pandora mix.  I recommend “A Dinner Party Ambience Radio” or “Indie Singer-Songwriters Radio.”
  4. Put on a big pot of water to boil for the pasta.
  5. Brown meat.
  6. While meat is cooking, chop onion and carrots.
  7. Once meat is browned, drain if there is a pourable amount of fat.
  8. Add onions and carrots and cook about 5 minutes (until onions are tender)
  9. While onions and carrots are cooking, chop anything else you will be adding and get it ready.  Tonight I added zucchini so here is where I chopped that.
  10. Add the zucchini or any other fresh veggies.
  11. While the additions are cooking, add the Italian Seasoning, red pepper flakes, and garlic.
  12. If at any time the bottom of the pans starts to get crusty technical term deglaze the pan with a glug of wine.  Once the wine is in, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the good stuff off flavor off the bottom.
  13. Add in any other additions.  Tonight I added canned pumpkin since I had still had one can leftover in the pantry from all the pumpkin recipes I was making in the fall.
  14. Cook until the carrots are tender.
  15. Add the pasta sauce and turn heat down to low to simmer.
  16. Depending on how long it is going to take Beast to get home, I’ll sometimes simmer the sauce stirring it occasionally for 15-30 minutes or just go straight to serving.  You can be flexible.  
  17. Once I have “Find iPhone” stalked Beast and determined he is 10 minutes from home, I drop the pasta and cook according to the directions on the box.  
  18. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pot of sauce.  I have toddlers so we use a lot of penne or other small pastas that they can more easily eat than spaghetti.
  19. Stir to get sauce in every nook and cranny.
  20. Top with parmesan cheese or “sprinkle cheese” as it is known in my house and serve.
  21. Watch your children eat carrots, spinach and other goodness they have no idea about.  Evil cackle quietly to yourself.

So there you have it.  This is not anything fancy but it goes over really well with my family and tastes great for lunch the next day.  It is also really flexible and you can make it different depending on what you have on hand.


Hope it works for you too!