eating lately: meal services

Last month when I mentioned that I was trying out some of those ubiquitous meal delivery services, I got a lot of interest in hearing about my experience with them - which surprised me a little, because I thought I was totally late to the game on this! But by popular demand, here are my thoughts about Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. If these get you intrigued enough to want to try them yourself, let me know... I actually have a couple of codes to share a free box with a friend for both of these, so send me an email if there's one you're dying to try!

Overall thoughts

Bottom line: I love not having to think of what to make for dinner, or go out and buy the stuff to make it! I don't mind grocery shopping, and I do cook dinner nearly every day, but receiving a box that has recipe cards and exactly the amounts of each ingredient that I need? It really is extremely convenient. And they do really give you everything you need - all you need to have stocked in your kitchen is olive oil, salt, and pepper (and occasionally a tablespoon of butter for Hello Fresh). The recipe cards are really helpful too - detailed instructions and even photos of the process in addition to the finished product.

I also love the opportunity to try recipes that I would normally be intrigued by but never actually make, since they call for some obscure (according to my pantry's stock, anyway) ingredient that I don't want to buy a whole container of and use only once. But these boxes have exactly the amount of fish sauce or ras el honout spice blend or whatever it is, and that lets us try all kinds of flavors that we would be intrigued enough to order at a restaurant, but never actually make on our own.

But those perks are actually also the downsides for me. Because I do grocery shop and cook dinner regularly, it feels a little silly to be paying more to still be the one doing the cooking. Granted, it's still quite a bit cheaper per serving than going to a restaurant, but it's a bit more than usual home cooking. Also, much as it's nice to branch out, I like my go-to recipes because I can cook them and also field 20 zillion questions/requests from a 4-year-old, empty the dishwasher, set the table, and feed the dog all the while. Multitasking is often a must on a busy weeknight, so doing these new-to-me recipes is a little more enjoyable on the weekend (with a glass of wine, of course).

Beyond that, here are some specific thoughts on the two services we've tried - Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. Pricing is pretty similar on them (about $9.99/serving for 2-person plans and $8.99/serving for family plans), but my experience was a bit different - so read on for pros/cons, and who each one would be best for...

Blue Apron

Pros

• Really delicious food. Really good. I feel like the menus are things I would be interested in at a restaurant, but would never cook on my own, so it's fun to get to bring that into my kitchen.
• Great opportunity to cook different flavors and formats. I specifically choose our boxes based on things that I don't often cook, in fact - lately that's meant any fish recipes, Asian and Moroccan flavors, and anything that has you make a sauce (since I am clueless about making sauces on my own, but Peter LOVES a dish with a sauce). I feel like this is where I derive the most value from a service like this, if I choose the recipes accordingly.
• Many of the recipes have quite good portion sizes - so we can do the 2-person selection for the 3 of us (and sometimes even have a bit left over)
• Plenty of choices (I think 6?) per week, so there's a lot to choose from - and it's sometimes hard to narrow down your selection of 2 or 3 from there.
• Super easy to put on hold if you don't want any meals delivered that week (just enter your "skip this week" before the deadline). Same with Hello Fresh.

Cons

• Recipes are pretty labor-intensive. There's always a 30-minute meal recipe available each week, but even with those, or the 45-50 minute ones, it feels like I need to be doing something the entire time. Rather than the stick-it-in-the-oven-and-work-on-other-chores approach I like with my cooking. While the food is delicious, when I'm done cooking I feel a bit tired...
• ...which is not good because there are often a ton of dishes to do after.
• While I've got this collection of handy recipe cards (which I love - I'm sick of trying to cook recipes off my phone, with the screen constantly turning off!), I don't feel like I can actually remake some of them, because they come with special spice blends or things labeled "soy marinade". What is that?! How do I reproduce it?!
• There's a charge for shipping if you only want 2 meals/box, and no charge for 3 meals/box. I'd rather have 2/week, but, man, paying shipping is annoying.
• Recipes never get repeated in a year - which I guess could be a perk, for lots of variety, but a couple of times I've wanted to try more than 2-3 and wish the other interesting ones would show up again later for me to try.

Best for
People who are into cooking; those who have wide-ranging palates or want to expand the flavor profiles they cook; people who like to go out to restaurants a lot but want to save a little money or cook more at home (it turns out to be very reasonably priced if you think of it as a replacement for going out - and I say some of the recipes are definitely restaurant menu-worthy); people who are fairly comfortable in the kitchen but wouldn't mind learning some new techniques/flavors.


Some recipes we've tried

• Katsu-style wild Alaskan pollock
• Honey-butter barramundi with zatar roasted veggies (soooo good)
• Spicy pork & Korean rice cakes (really good sauce flavor)
• Chipotle roasted vegetable salad with farro (spicy!)
• Pork chops & balsamic-pear compote 
• Middle Eastern baked chicken & rice (yummmmm)
• Top Chef seared grassfed steaks (yummm again)
• Chickpea and cauliflower tagine

Hello Fresh

Pros

• Pretty generous portion sizes - with the 4-person family plan I could cook half at a time and easily feed the 3 of us, and then cook the recipe again with the other half of the ingredients later.
• Related, I liked that many of the recipes included two sides, one more starchy and one straight-up green veggie, so it felt like a well-rounded meal, and again, plenty filling. 
• Hendrik liked all of these meals. Dinner winner!
• When you receive multiple meals in one box, they're completely separated into paper bags. With Blue Apron you have to sort through all of the ingredients for what you want - minor detail, but it's quicker when you can just pull the one paper bag out of the fridge for tonight's recipe!
• No shipping charges.

Cons

• The recipes felt a little basic to me - especially in comparison to Blue Apron. In particular, the stir fries and pasta dishes I tried felt very similar to recipes I already make, so it didn't feel like as good of value then.
• Along with that, I didn't always love the lineup of options. This might be because we were doing the family plan, which is specifically geared toward being more kid-friendly. So there was always a taco option and a burger option - but again, I make a variety of those already, so I don't want to pay more for their options. Also I didn't like that they didn't have any fish options ever in a family plan. If part of the value in doing a meal subscription for me is branching out, I really want fish to be an option.

Best for
Families; people who want to make a quicker/simpler meal; those who are less comfortable in the kitchen or need some help with cooking basics.


Some recipes we've tried

• Figgy pork tenderloin (I've made this one again - really good sauce)
• Cherry balsamic pork chops
• Honey sesame chicken tenders
• Barbecue pork meatloves
• Pasta in tomato cream sauce (meh)
• Sesame honey beef stir fry

Bottom line, I enjoy the concept, but it's not going to be an every week thing for us. I probably will reactivate the plans if I get some great coupon (after I cancelled the first time, Hello Fresh sent a 50% off coupon that was too good to refuse), or if I'm really feeling in a cooking rut and need something to pull myself out of it. They're also pretty great to have arrive on the day you get home from a vacation - no worries on shopping! And if I were going for most interesting and exciting, I'd definitely pick Blue Apron; if I were going for family-friendly convenience, I'd go Hello Fresh.

eating lately: skillet sensations

After I included a cast iron skillet on my Christmas wishlist, my grandma very kindly showed up at a family gathering a few days later with one of her collection in tow for me. I was excited last week to finally try out one of the many skillet-based recipes I've bookmarked on Pinterest, and there'll be lots more uses to come, since as you can see, you can use a cast iron skillet to make something delicious for everything from breakfast and dinner to appetizers, side dishes, and even dessert.

These are a few of the recipes I have lined up to try:

sweet potato skillet hash: as a sweet potato lover I have a hard time not pinning anything that involves them... but I especially liked the sound of the Mexican spice twist for this one.

baked fontina: how great does this look for an appetizer? It would be so easy to prep for hosting a book club or a party.

simple cast iron skillet ratatouille: I confess I've never made even regular ratatouille before, but seeing this skillet version inspires me to want to give it a try.

skillet lasagna: this recipe has been on my things to eat board forever, so I knew it had to be my new (old) skillet's inaugural use - and it was a winner. Seriously, delicious! The Italian sausage made for really yummy flavors, and the broiling at the end makes the cheese so yummy gooey. My only caveat is that if your skillet isn't HUGE, you might want to halve the recipe. I had to do some scrambling midway through when I realized mine was probably going to overflow...

skillet cookie: there are no end to the amazing looking pies, brownies, and cookies made in skillets that you can find on Pinterest. But suited to my ongoing obsession with my chocolate chip cookie pie recipe, I think the first one I try is going to have to be this one!


Do you cook with a skillet? Any great recipes for me to try? In the meantime I'll be over here learning how to season and take care of mine - plus maybe acquiring some accessories for it...

eating lately: ladies lunch

Recently I have enjoyed catching up with some college friends, now that I live much closer to them again. Getting together for a ladies lunch is always lovely, but especially so when it's with old friends, and also when you do it in your own home, I've decided. It's fun to meet up in a coffee shop or restaurant, but there's something really nice about catching up in the comfort of your own home, without interruptions - we're always way too busy chatting to even look at a menu anyway, which has got to be annoying to waitresses...

Here are a few ideas from my recent get-together with my lovely college floor/housemate and editor friend Becky. We're lucky to have flexible work-from-home schedules so we could fit a lunch date in on a Friday, but this would all be equally as nice on a weekend too! It was so easy and fun that I definitely want to make a point to do this more often.

1. Keep it simple. Hosting is a little more work than going out, of course, since you actually have to serve up the food, so just keep it low-key and pressure-free. It's mostly about catching up anyway! For a simple lunch menu, I love a quiche with a fresh side salad - tasty, filling, and covers lots of food groups (especially when paired with these easy baked apples I stuck in the oven as we sat down, so they were ready when we were done with the main course).

2. Make it semi-homemade. A super way to keep it simple is to pick up part of the lunch at a deli or bakery - like this mini quiche I walked down to a local cafe for and just heated up in my oven for a few minutes. The salad had some handy shortcuts too (pre-washed spinach,  a bottle of Annie's balsamic dressing), and then I just tossed it with these super easy candied walnuts and other fixings that I always have on hand (feta, dried cranberries).

3. Set the table. No need to make it formal or anything, but making it a little special by having things laid out nicely ahead of time just adds to the enjoyment of time spent with people you don't get to see very often. Plus if you have everything out ahead of time, you have more time to spend talking!

4. Contain the kids. I love getting together in your home as a way to make lunch dates happen despite having a toddler who doesn't last as long in a restaurant high chair as the amount of conversation time we need in order to satisfactorily catch up... Hendrik could run around and play with his own toys while we chatted, and since he had already lunched at daycare, while we ate he sat with us and played with play-doh in his high chair. Contained and entertained! (And no worries if he got a little loud or wanted to get down.)

5. Put another one on the calendar. Make sure you actually pick a date for your next lunch date rather than just saying "let's do this again soon!" and then letting it fall through the cracks in busy schedules, as always (sadly) seems to happen. I'm looking forward to hosting several ladies for some holiday cookie decorating next month (check out my ideas from last year's gathering - such a fun way to hang out with friends!).

eating lately: sweet treats for all + giveaway

I "met" my blog friend Kait through my blog-turned-real-life friend Sarah, and in spite of the always major jealousy-inducing gorgeous photos of her Hawaii life, I stuck around for her vibrant personality, great writing, funny puppy stories, and yummy recipes - so I was excited to hear that she had a project in the works to combine several of those great things: Sweet Eats and Dog Treats, a gluten free cookbook of baked goods for you and your pup.

Even more excited to have a copy of my own to try out - as well as a giveaway for one of you to do the same! The chocolate honey cookie cake and ricotta cookie recipes were very enticing, but I decided to start with the citrus berry chex mix as a sweet & tangy side addition to the pulled chicken BBQ and slaw I was serving family dinner guests last week. (Also quite delicious paired with summer beers, FYI.)

And we couldn't leave out the dog treats portion of the book... There are several options, from more basic treats to "pupcakes", and they're perfectly simple, pretty much just using pantry staples. I had some leftover shredded carrot from my last mini me baking adventure (zucchini carrot muffins), so Hendrik and I got the mixing bowls back out to try the carrot & apple biscuits.

Somehow I had a bit of a kitchen fail here and didn't get a dough consistency to be able to use a cookie cutter, but we had fun making biscuit plops all the same. Giving Ginger a treat is one of Hendrik's favorite things lately, so he loved feeding them to her after they cooled, and she came back looking for more, so I say success, despite the weird consistency of my batter. Side note: Hendrik also ate a fair bit of batter, because that's his favorite part of making avocado blueberry muffins. Weird in this case because it has chicken broth in it, but whatever.

I love the simplicity of this book, from the crisp and clean photography to the totally straightforward and doable recipes, to it being an easy iTunes download. Also, all the recipes can easily be made gluten free with Kait's tips at the beginning, or you can just use regular flour if you're not dealing with dietary restrictions.

Want to try this out for yourself - or your pup? Leave a comment on this post sharing a link to your favorite sweet (or dog treat) by Sunday, August 16, and I'll pick a winner on Monday to receive a code for a free iTunes download of the book. Thanks, Kait, for sharing the code, and congrats on publishing your book!

eating lately: no dishes required

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group®, Birds Eye®, and Tyson® but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #FastFreshFilling http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

It's been one week since moving day, and while life is still pretty chaotic, I'm thankful for all the help from family with cleaning and childcare during the moving process, and also for really handy microwaveable dinner options - which meant that while everything in my kitchen was still in boxes, I could still make a healthy meal, no dishes or even oven required.

While prepping for the move, I stopped at Walmart to pick up the Tyson Grilled & Ready chicken breast fillets and the the Birdseye Protein Blend package in the Asian style, available right across from each other in the freezer section. The protein sides are easily prepared in the microwave, include a good serving of veggies plus protein/grains to make a more complete meal, and even have a flavored sauce to add some interest to your quickie meal. Plus, the chicken is already fully cooked, so nothing but microwave is required.

On the way to the checkout I grabbed a head of lettuce and bottle of soy sauce (anything with an Asian flair will do, like a bottle of dressing or soy sauce). Then I microwaved the veggie blend and a chicken fillet according to package instructions, shredded up the chicken, and stuck both (along with a drizzle of soy sauce) into the lettuce wraps. The only dishes I really needed were some paper towels, which was perfect as that's all I had available, thanks to all the moving day house cleaning that was going on.

How's that for a healthy, quick, fresh meal that doesn't require any dishes that avoids the moving day pizza delivery default? It was perfect for a late-afternoon, I've been unpacking for hours and suddenly I'm starving kind of meal (along with the beer I decided I had earned after a day of work), but it would also be great as a summer appetizer - quick, light, and mess-free.

Whether you're in the middle of a move or just in the middle of a busy week, it's nice to have super fast dinner ideas that avoid the need to turn on your oven for these hot summer days - so here are four no-dishes-required (aka no clean-up required!) meals you can do with the Tyson Grilled & Ready and Birdseye Protein Blends lines. You just need a base to build from, like a lettuce cup or tortilla, different flavored meat and protein/veggie blend options (Asian, Southwest, California, or Italian), and a sauce/dressing to add a little extra flavor (soy sauce/Asian dressing, guacamole, hummus, or Italian blend cheese).

Now that I've got the kitchen all unpacked I'm looking forward to cooking some of our summer favorites - especially with all the great in-season stuff from the fabulous farmers market that's a 3-minute walk from the new house - but I'll definitely be keeping the above ideas in my back pocket for the too hot or too busy days. And in the meantime I admit I've been heavily relying on dinner at my parents' house, 10 minutes away...

pin to present: Greek chicken

A few weeks ago Megan at Latte Everyday posted about five Pinterest recipes she makes over and over, which I thought was such a great idea. Pinterest is positively overflowing with recipes, and while I've managed to find a few tried-and-true ones of my own (see especially fish taco bowls and quinoa with grilled veggies), it's so helpful to narrow down all the options by getting a quick list of someone else's successes. And I was especially interested in repinning and trying the baked Greek chicken one.

recipe and image: The Wanderlust Kitchen 

Another thing I loved about getting Megan's review before pinning the recipe to my board is that she totally has the same philosophy of Pinterest recipe making... her criteria for actually getting around to trying a recipe include fast and easy, just like mine (I should probably go and delete all my pins that don't meet those criteria, since I'm really never going to make them so they're just cluttering up my board!). Of course to become a go-to it also has to be delicious - and this recipe, I can confirm, is a winner on all of the above. Baking the chicken with hummus on top, garlic underneath, and lemon all around makes it quite tasty, and I was a big fan of those roasted onions too.

I ate mine as a big spinach salad with some cucumber slices and a bit of my favorite garlic expressions dressing - since that's what I always use to make a Greek salad, I thought it would be perfect on this, and it was. Peter ate his in a pita, and I made him a quick yogurt sauce with plain yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, and he was effusive in his praise of this meal. Put it on the go-to list! Especially in farmers market season...mmmm.

Thanks to everyone who linked up in May to show off their Pinspirations! Usually we do this the last Thursday of the month, but for June I've got some guest posters filling in that week while I move... so we're going to do the linkup next week - Thursday, June 18. I hope you'll share something next week!

Some ideas I loved from last time - there was such a fun variety of outfits, DIYs, and recipes that it was hard to choose... but here's one of each.

outfit by Just Jacq | script art by Shea Lennon | orange chicken by My Borrowed Heaven

I'm excited to share my next project - a super quick and easy one that re-purposes supplies from a previous Pinterest-inspired favorite - and even more excited to see yours.

pin to present: stuffed peppers

Another from the Whole30 new recipe trove, saved to my pin board in all my pre-program Pinterest cruising: paleo Greek stuffed peppers. I've been wanting to try out making stuffed peppers forever, so when I saw this recipe, I decided the time had finally come...

image and recipe: Paleo Porn

...and it was a new recipe success! Score. The Greek twist in the flavors was a nice change from all the Mexican and Indian flavors we'd been having, and I love getting in extra veggies as a container for the main course - who even needs buns or tortillas, anyway?

Only complaint (besides being slightly messy to eat) was that they're a bit more labor-intensive than I like my recipes, since you have to chop everything up, then sautee it, then actually stuff the peppers and bake for 45 minutes on top of that, but the results were pretty darn delicious. I actually ended up prepping the stuffing part one day and saving it in the fridge to bake the peppers on another day, so that might be a way around it - prep a bunch and freeze! A couple of other modifications, but it still tasted good: used ground beef instead of lamb, and a tiny bit of red pepper flakes instead of the banana pepper. Just the right amount of kick for me that way.

The pin to present linkup from last month ended up being all recipes - fun to see what other people have been cooking and enjoying from their boards. A helpful way to narrow done which of the zillions of recipes out there I should try out! Here are my favorite three that were linked up.

And the next round will be May 28, so if you've got any recipes (or outfits, DIYs, etc.) to share, come back then!

one-skillet sweet potato burrito bowl from The Lady Okie | eggplant pizzas from Persian Frenchie | peanut butter oatmeal energy bites from Cornflake Dreams

eating lately: whole 30, halfway point

Well, I'm past the Whole30 halfway point! Click through for an update on how things are going, but first, lots of tips and resources and recipes for you. There are so many good recipes and websites out there, but if you're looking to narrow down a little bit of inspiration, here are some favorites of my Whole30:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Recipes

Breakfast

• Sweet and savory blueberry egg tortilla*
• Sunrise hash (use 2 teaspoons of this sunrise spice mix in a hash of ground pork, diced sweet potato, and diced apple, with eggs scrambled in)*
• Sweet potato quiche
• Spinach, mushroom, and prosciutto frittata
• Homemade Italian sauasage*
• Banana & egg pancakes (okay, not exactly in the spirit of Whole30, but when you're sick of straight-up eggs, still healthy and quick - and a good vehicle for almond butter!)

Lunch/dinner

• Taco salad (with guacamole as dressing)*
• Taj Mahal curry (same recipe, but with chicken thighs)*
• Zoodles with marinara sauce (I usually do a jar of Rao's sauce and add in some cooked chicken strips)*
• Shrimp scampi with zoodles*
• Zoodles with romesco garlic shrimp
• Cajun zoodles
• Crockpot BBQ chicken drumsticks (with compliant sauce like Tessemae's)*
• Sausage, peppers, onions, and potatoes (with compliant sausage, of course)*
• Oven fajitas (leave out non-compliant ingredients and it still works great!)*
• Burrito bowl
• Fiesta pork chops*
• Greek paleo stuffed peppers*
• Shrimp, bacon & "grits"
• Pan-seared salmon with spaghetti squash* (try with one of these pesto recipes)
• Pan-fried trout with garlic and lemon

Sides

• Brussels sprouts/carrots/potato hash (I roast mine in the oven with garlic powder and Italian seasoning)*
• Oven roasted cauliflower rice*
• Summer squash and tomato bake
• Roasted asparagus with prosciutto *
• Balsamic glazed carrots
• Salt and vinegar roasted cauliflower
• Spiralized sweet potato fries

*asterisks represent recipes I've done and loved; the others are on the menu soon.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Pre-made products

Condiments/toppings

• Wholly Guacamole in handy single-serve packs - grocery store/Target
• Tessemae's dressings, especially the balsamic - supposedly at Whole Foods, but mine doesn't have them, so I ordered online
• Tessemae's ketchup - takes a little getting used to but I like it
• Tessemae's BBQ sauce - again, takes a little getting used to but a reasonable substitute for me (since everything else has added sugar)
• Rao's marinara sauce - Target
• Coconut aminos, for when you need to substitute for soy sauce - Whole Foods
• Pre-mixed spice blends (harissa is really good on roasted veggies, especially sweet potatoes, and the shwarma made a yummy twist on a burger) - Whole Foods

Snacks/drinks

• Nut mixes - Trader Joe's (my favorite has almonds, cashews, pistachios, and macadamia nuts)
• Lara Bars, favorite compliant flavors blueberry and lemon (supposed to be used sparingly in Whole30 because they're kind of a sugary [though no sugars added] treat, but it's hard to get anything else down post-workout so I use them a couple of times a week - grocery store health food section
• Creamy almond butter (soooooo good on apples) - Trader Joe's
• GT Dave's Kombucha, favorite flavors cosmic cranberry and passionberry bliss (really good when everyone else is having a beer or a glass of wine and you want something a little fizzy and special) - Whole Foods, Target
• La Croix, favorite flavors cran-raspberry and orange - grocery store, individual cans at Target & Whole Foods if you want to try flavors

Meal stuff

• Aidell's chicken and apple sausages - grocery store
• Chili lime chicken burgers - Trader Joe's freezer section
• Applegate Farms pre-cooked chicken strips - Whole Foods
• Carnitas - Trader Joe's refrigerator section (microwave with a can of fire-roasted tomatoes for a great salad topper)
• Chipotle! Salad with no dressing, carnitas, guacamole, and pico
• Whole Foods salad bar/hot bar

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Great resources

Blogs/websites/posts

• My Whole30 pin board.
• Whole30 site - I refer to it regularly, especially the rules, the downloads page with meal template, shopping guides, and more, the list of approved items (and the forum with lots of related advice), and the recipes page. I found it really inspirational to read testimonials on the site and other info on their blog as well, to motivate myself to get into this program and explore how I can use it to improve my own health.
• Inspiralized blog - the queen of zucchini noodles (and so much more) - lots of inspiration for using your spiralizer to make delicious meals.
• Lazy Girl's Guide to the Whole30 - a helpful post with tips & tricks for minimizing the workload of doing a Whole30.
• The Clothes Make the Girl - lots of great paleo recipes - some of my favorites are in the recipe list above.
• Tessemae's recipe blog - I spent a loooong time scrolling back through all their recipes. So many great looking ones that are easy and compliant (or easily made so).
• Prepping and stocking your Whole30 kitchen
• Whole30 tips, tricks, and lessons learned
• Nomnom Paleo - more great paleo recipes; you can easily find Whole30 compliant ideas
• #whole30 hashtag search on Instagram - my favorite way to find inspiration when I can't think of what to eat.

Books

• Well Fed 2 - by the writer of The Clothes Make the Girl blog; everything is Whole30 compliant. Sarah so kindly dropped this by for me to use this month, and it's great. Tons of recipes with great photos (a must for me to get motivated to try something), but I also love her tips, tricks, and Whole30 encouragements at the beginning.
• Well Fed - bound to be great if it's anything like Well Fed 2.
• It Starts with Food - the basis of the Whole30 program, it's nice to read to get the why of the program. I skimmed some parts of it, but overall it did help in informing me and getting me ready to go! Also some good recipes included.
• The Whole30 cookbook would be a great resource I'm sure, but just not released in time for me to use this month!
• Inspiralized - would love to check out this cookbook too!

pin to present: even easier fajitas

Fajitas are one of our frequent easy go-to meals. But could it get even easier? Pinterest seemed to tell me so - I spotted a recipe for an oven-cooked version and was intrigued. The results? Yes, please.

image: Budget Bytes

While fajitas are not a difficult meal to make, these really were even easier - same amount of chopping, but less standing by the stove and stirring. I liked being able to just stick it in the oven and actually even run to the grocery store for a few forgotten other things (e.g. Peter's tortillas for the fajitas) while they cooked. The chicken turned out maybe a bit drier than I would like, but that's probably because it ended up being in the oven slightly longer than intended while we tended to something Hendrik-related - not an uncommon occurrence with cooking around here...

My Whole30 month is the perfect time to try these for several reasons: first, our beloved Rick Bayless sauce isn't compliant, so I needed to find some new fajita spice mix anyway - just left out the non-compliant ingredients on this recipe's list and it turned out great. Also, makes for excellent leftovers so I didn't have to think when it came to lunch for the next day, and the dish is easily adaptable to Peter's tastes (he used tortillas and of course his favorite hot sauce, while I ate mine tortilla-less with lots of guacamole).

I really like this set it and forget it routine when it comes to cooking. Some other Pinterest successes I've had in this category:

one-pan Mexican quinoa (blogged here) | crockpot BBQ chicken (blogged here) | one-pot Thai pasta (blogged here)

eating lately: whole 30

Given that I started a Whole30 on April 1, my "eating lately" feels like a bit more of a not eating: for 30 days, no added sugar, no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no alcohol. I'm trying, though, to think of it in the spirit of the program - as the health-providing things I'm eating to properly fuel my body: plenty of proteins, healthy fats, and tons of veggies. And that's some good stuff.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I've been seeing more and more people on blogs and Instagram who are trying out this Whole30, and at first it was the kind of thing I thought NO WAY, NEVER about. Give up my beloved Greek yogurt? And chocolate? And Diet Coke? Why? I'm thin and doing just fine, thank you very much. But the more I read, the more I liked the program's focus on making yourself healthier through what you put into your body - because I need that.

In reality, I've been living under the pretense of eating healthy - I don't overeat, I don't eat fast food, etc. so I considered myself good to go. But I've known for a while that I'm fooling myself, and reading through this program's emphases was a serious reminder that thanks to some disordered eating my diet is majorly lacking in the arena of proteins and fats, which my body needs in order to operate properly but I'm not providing. And who isn't lacking in the veggie department, really?

In addition, while I have to acknowledge that I already had a disordered approach to/thoughts about weight, eating, and exercise for a while, the first two got completely out of hand when I got injured last summer and couldn't work out as intensely and frequently as I was used to (and in fact had to take about 8 weeks entirely off from cardio workouts), and my nutrition has definitely suffered for it.

So this is why I'm doing the Whole30 this month: I want to be physically and mentally healthier. While I don't need to lose any weight - and in fact probably need to follow the program's guidelines to ensure that I don't - I'm more and more convinced that my (lack of) nutrition is making me just as unhealthy and has contributed to getting injured and not recovering well. I want to heal my body, and I also want to restore a psychologically healthy relationship with food.

I'm ready for a reset. The small changes I've been trying to make just haven't gotten me anywhere with them, so it's time to go big. After the 30 days I'm sure I'll go back to some of my old ways physically (ice cream is one of my life's greatest pleasures) and mentally (a disorder never quite goes away), but I'm hopeful for a positive experience and ready to feel healthy again.

If nothing else, less sugar and more veggies for a month has got to be good for me, so that'll be a success either way, right? Not to mention that I've already found plenty of new recipes to love - click the links under the images to explore!

eating lately: meal planning, v. 3

This month's plan-by-ingredient dinner menus are inspired by my preparation to do a Whole30 (eek!), so I'm working on upping the veggies and proteins in rotation. While not all of these recipes are compliant, they could pretty easily be made so with some substitutions (including make-your-own sriracha), and they're all easy and tasty enough to get me excited about the prospect of a month with no sugar...

zucchini: I keep seeing all of these recipes made with spiralized veggies so I just had to have one of these cool tools... so this week's meal plan starts out with two yummy recipes to utilize it: make up a big batch of zucchini "noodles" to start with creamy roasted red pepper zucchini noodles, and then the rest for pesto squash noodles with burst cherry tomatoes.

cherry tomatoes: the remainder of your pint of tomatoes then gets roasted in this super easy, one-pan salmon with roasted tomatoes and corn dish.

salmon fillets: buy a enough salmon fillets (I think the frozen kind are handy because I can pull out just the number I need to thaw on each day) that you can use the rest to whip up these simple salmon burgers with sriracha mayo.

sriracha sauce: this has become a staple around our house, and pretty much any recipe that includes it ends up being a winner for Peter. Bonus: this slow-cooker honey sriracha BBQ chicken not only uses some more of your sriracha but also is really easy (crock pot!) and makes for great leftovers.


Anyone else got great ideas for the spiralizer? Or Whole30 meals?

eating lately: meal planning, v.2

The last round of menu planning by ingredient re-use was so fun - and so useful for reminding me of some great recipe inspiration from my Pinterest board - that I thought I'd do another for this month. Here we've got some tried-and-true and new favorite ingredients that you can totally get your money's worth out of by utilizing across these 5 recipes.

shredded chicken: make a big batch with this easy crock pot recipe and then start with one of our long-time favorites, easy chicken tostadas (with lots of guacamole!). The next night, transform your chicken and give it a whole new flavor as BBQ sandwiches (I love this recipe, but it's even easier to just reheat shredded chicken with sauce, if you already have chicken left over).

BBQ sauce: the rest of your bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's (or whatever your household's favorite is) becomes the sauce for this BBQ brussels sprouts pizza. And if you still have leftover shredded chicken, you could toss some on here too!

brussels sprouts: chopped up along with some carrots and potatoes, the remaining sprouts make an amazing hash to serve with this hummus chicken. (Tip: roast the hash in the oven for 30-40 minutes. It works much better than on the stovetop. Done this way, it has become my new absolute favorite side dish.)

hummus: and then for a low-key dinner or a lunch you can serve up the rest of your hummus in these veggie wraps.

All looking pretty enticing, right? What are you meal planning for the week?

pin to present: the best chili + linkup

Some time ago my blog buddy Sarah posted about the best chili recipe ever, and I immediately bookmarked on my Pinterest eats board because - best ever? I'm in! Somehow I forgot all about it though until Sarah had us over for a little dinner party and served up bowls of amazing, with a side of cornbread, and I knew I had to get this one in my repertoire.

recipe and image: Total Basset Case

We already had a go-to chili recipe around here (this one, except halved and with the bacon variation - start by cooking up 1/4-inch slices of bacon for a few minutes, then adding the diced veggies and going from there), but I like how Sarah's changes things up from our usual ground beef to use ground turkey instead, plus it has the addition of sweet potato chunks, which makes everything better in my book. Can't get enough of sweet potatoes lately. Plus somehow this one feels like a lot less work than my regular recipe - less chopping I think - which is a win for sure.

This recipe really is great, but here's the issue: Sarah is one of those good cooks who annoy me in their ability to add a dash of this and a bit of that and make something amazing. I'm a to-the-letter recipe follower, so those people who never make their recipe quite the same way twice (but it always tastes delicious) cause an inexpert cook like me grief...

As my first attempt at this one was nowhere near as tasty as Sarah's, I thought I'd better start to experiment myself to capture whatever she did. Thus my second time I added some minced garlic with the onions and some chili powder with the other spices, and also used TJ's fire-roasted diced tomatoes, and I got more flavor depth.

Thumbs up all around my house at these results - well, except for Hendrik, who was way to busy shoveling it in by the handful to pause. Best recipe ever becomes messiest dinner ever around here, but he's such a happy camper I have to just let him go at it.

Any wins around your house lately? Link up any Pinterest-inspired recipes, outfits, projects, etc. below, and be sure to link back to this post in yours to spread the love!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sharing on Shea Lennon's Weekly Eats Linkup

eating lately: meal planning

I'm lucky that I don't have to worry that much about grocery bills, but I still try to be smart with my shopping - and even more so with my time. So lately I've been thinking about weekly meal lineups that utilize overlapping ingredients, to save money of course, but also to get dinner on the table fast by utilizing leftovers or already chopped up/prepped ingredients in the next night's meal. Here's a recent special ingredient shopping list + recipes culled from my Pinterest board.

Here are 5 tasty dinners that make re-use of these 4 key ingredients:

Cooked quinoa: make a big batch ahead (even easier, get the frozen one from Trader Joe's!), and you can do a spicy chickpea stew, perfect for cold winter nights; on another night you're ready to go to use the leftover quinoa for quick black bean & quinoa burritos.

Corn & beans: toss the leftover beans & corn from the burritos into the slow cooker to make Jamaican jerk pork chops.

Sliced bell peppers: while you're prepping peppers for the jerk pork, slice some extra ones and save them for an easy sausage, peppers & onions meal on another night.

Italian sausage: and then with the remaining sausage links from your sausage, peppers & onions dinner, you can do this one pot roasted red pepper & sausage alfredo.

The meals don't have to be made in this order, of course - move things around within the week for variety if you get tired of the ingredients!

What are you planning for dinner this week?

Sharing on Shea Lennon's Weekly Eats.

how to: host a cookie decorating party

It officially feels like the holiday season now: last weekend I had some blogger lady friends over for an afternoon of Christmas cookie decorating, and we're all feeling the seasonal spirit after getting our sprinkles on. The holidays are of course an excellent excuse to get some people together and have some fun, and this is my favorite annual event to host - in the past I've done it with girlfriends, couples friends, church small group friends, and kids, and it's always a great time for all.

Looks fun and yummy, right? If you want to host one of your own, the basics are pretty straightforward: all you really need are some cutout cookies, frosting, and sprinkles in order to get a group of friends together and let everyone have at it for a good time. But here are some tips for success:

Invites: this is a crazy time of year, so it helps to get those invites out early, and to pick a time that works around other holiday events - I figured 3 pm was workable between peoples' Christmas shopping and any evening parties they might have. These great invite cards I used are from Tiny Prints, and they were the perfect inspiration for the color scheme/decor for the rest of the party prep!

Pre-prep: cut down on party prep stress by cutting out and baking your cookies well ahead of time (I recommend this recipe, of course). They keep great in the freezer and take only a couple of hours to thaw, so you can knock this part out even several weeks in advance and then just pull them out the day of the event.

Supplies: for icing, I always do the most simple powdered sugar + milk mix. It's easy to make, sets hard and shiny, and holds sprinkles well - plus I think it tastes really yummy. (For more icing tips, see this post on The Kitchn. It's pretty much everything I do, down to the squeeze bottles, which work great for those fancy marbelized designs made by dragging toothpicks through the icing. Learn how to make them ahead of time - here and here - and wow your guests with a tutorial!). Beyond supplying a few icing colors, any assortment of sprinkles for decorating works great.

Setup: covering the table with something disposable (I used wrapping paper) makes for easy cleanup because you can just fold all the frosting drippings and spilled sprinkles into it and toss. Then I put out a paper plate for everyone to decorate on along with piles of cookies, icing in bowls and squeeze bottles, and sprinkles in little ramekins with mini spoons for scooping.

Little details: you can ask guests to bring their own containers to take home their cookies, but it's also nice to pick up some simple cardboard boxes and embellish with a coordinating sticker. I also sent everyone home with a little cookie cutter of their own - another idea would be to add a recipe card so they can make their own.

Also, I always think when there's this much sugar around it's nice to have some salty snacks on hand to balance things out, so I put out some bowls of popcorn and crackers in the kitchen. Plus some seasonal beers and wines!

And I'll say it again; from now on, the only kinds of parties I host are sweets-themed ones. People can't help but have a good time when they get to eat baked goodies - and drink some beer/wine - right? (cf. cupcake pairing party and cutie pie birthday party.) Thanks to Sarah, Katie, Lauren, Liz, and Katie for making it a fun afternoon!

Sources/materials:
Invites: Tiny Prints
Cookie cutter favors: Target
Favor stickers: customized address labels from Tiny Prints
Ramekins: Sur la Table
Ceramic spoons: Sur la Table
Striped paper plates: Target
Icing bottles: Wilton mini squeeze bottles via Michaels
Table cover: wrapping paper from Container Store
Take-home boxes: Container Store
Stickers: customized gift tags from Tiny Prints
Napkins: Tiny Prints
Acrylic wine glasses: Crate & Barrel
Latte mixing bowls: Anthropologie
Tray: Ikea

Sharing on Jenna's Coffee Date linkup and Fresh Mommy's Dream Create Inspire linkup.