cooking lately: easy recipes to bookmark

Summer cooking often involves a lot of grilling and light/fresh meals, so I don't feel the need to utilize all that many recipes. However, I have made a couple of new ones lately that definitely are getting bookmarked for later - not only because they were so tasty that we'll want to eat them again, but also because they're going to come in very handy with how quick/easy they are, when I've got an infant around again soon. If you've got jam-packed summer days or are just looking for some new flavors, thought you might like to bookmark as well!

Sauteed beef and bok choy bowls: this was a recent Blue Apron winner for us that has one of the best quick'n'easy-yet-delicious ratios out there - definitely kept this recipe card in order to add the meal to our rotation. It's not always easy to get one's hands on baby bok choy, but other than that, the ingredients are ones that I have on hand or are easy to add to cart (versus some of the more specialty ones in other Blue Apron recipes that I enjoy eating but then toss the recipe card afterwards...). The combo of savory + acidic with the marinated radishes, and then the creamy spicy (sub sriracha for the gochujang for an easier on-hand ingredient) to top it all off, makes for an excellent meal. And handy that the spicy part can be skipped or moderated for any kids/people who like it less spicy.

Turkey burgers with pesto mayo: I've made pesto burgers in the past but was looking for something a little different, leading me to this recipe from Food and Wine. It's excellent for when you've got a bit of pesto left over from last night's pasta dish, since you don't need a ton of it. I chopped the sundried tomatoes and put them right in the burgers (yum), and this one went over really well with the whole family. Even grilled it myself, so this one is very achievable...

Soy and ginger stir fry with noodles: I was looking for something that would be easy to pack and easy to cook on the stovetop with limited kitchen implements and space when Peter and I had our Getaway cabin stay earlier this week and decided to add this stir fry meal kit to my online grocery order - and we'll be ordering it again for sure! Ready in under 10 minutes and very tasty, with veggies galore. To make it for the family I would try this shrimp version pictured, from Natt Eats, to make it go a bit farther (plus Hendrik loves shrimp), but it could be done with chicken too, or it's delicious on its own. 

Slow cooker chicken tacos: you hardly need a recipe for these, they're so easy - basically just tossing some chicken in the crockpot with some salsa - but it was good to be reminded of this type of recipe recently when I was hosting some extended family and needed to easily feed a crowd. To make it go even further, I served it as burrito bowls - one-pot beans & rice as the base, cut up the chicken into cubes to top, and then got premade pico de gallo and guacamole, shredded cheese and lettuce, and set out some hot sauces for people to jazz up their own. (Didn't do the sweet potatoes in this recipe but that would be good and make it filling too.) Feeds a crowd well, but if you've got a smaller crew is great for leftovers, which will come in handy when we've got a baby around and want quick lunches or subsequent dinners (not to mention there is very little hands-on cooking time with the chicken, also useful for when your hands are already full!).

Will definitely have these in the rotation here for the next month or two - let me know if you try and like any of them as well! Now to decide if I should explore the world of freezer meal prep (kinda not my thing), or just see how it all goes come August... there's always takeout.