BakeAwayGirl

 Definitely the hit of the season. Easy, quick, cheap, and SO delicious. This is definitely going to be a favorite in our house. Notes: it is enough for us for now... but in the near future, we will need a lot more. The rice is delicious because the chicken cooks in it, so unfortunately, we can't just make more rice. It could be done in the oven, though, so you could easily bake a second dish. Cilantro Lime Chicken & Rice Adapted from here 2-3 tbsp olive oil 4-6 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on Salt Pepper 3 cups chicken broth 2 cups jasmine or basmati rice 2 tbsp butter Garlic powder 2 limes, juiced 1/3 cup cilantro, finely diced Coat the bottom of the Dutch oven with oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper liberally over both sides of your chicken. Arrange the chicken in the oil of the Dutch oven, skin side down. Turn on medium heat. Cook chicken 8-10 minutes, untouched, or until skin releases easily from pan. Flip and cook an additional 3-5 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and turn he...

 More Dutch oven.  Why not? It's absolutely delightful and so easy. First of all, this calls for "stew meat." What is stew meat? Google says round steak or chuck steak. Take your pick. We tried this 3 ways over the course of the winter. First we added the potatoes into the stew as the recipe suggests. That was fine. Unremarkable but fine. Then we skipped the potatoes in the stew, made a separate bowl of mashed potatoes, and served the stew over those. Oh yes, this is how it was intended to be. The pure definition of warm comfort food. Last, we put the stew over white rice made separately. That was Jeff's favorite. Ultimately, my suggestion is to skip the potatoes in the stew and make whatever starch you want for your bowl, whether it's mashed potatoes or rice. Beef Stew Adapted from here 1 tbsp butter 2lbs stew meat, diced 1/2 cup flour Salt Pepper Garlic powder Paprika Thyme 1 cup dry red wine 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 small can tomato paste (about 2-3 tablespoon...

 I'm on a Dutch oven kick. Why not? I can cook the entire meal in one pot, usually on the stove, and it looks pretty too.  It helps that it's so cold outside. I have no measurements for my seasonings. I season with my heart. I season until my British Isles ancestors roll in their graves. Chicken & Dumplings Adapted from here Soup 2 tbsp olive oil 1lb chicken breasts 1 medium onion, diced 1 cup diced carrots 1/2 cup diced celery Salt Pepper Thyme Garlic powder Onion powder 4 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup heavy cream Dumplings 1 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg 1/2 cup milk 2 tsp dried parsley 1 tsp salt Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat olive oil in Dutch oven. Add chicken and onion. Season as you stir. Cook for 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery, cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Pour in broth and season again. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes until veggies are soft. Add cream. In a separate bowl, mix the dumpling ingredients together wit...

 Our neighbor brought us a basket of fresh picked strawberries, and while our kids inhale strawberries, we had just picked up a bunch from the grocery store. There was no way we could eat them all.  Well, there was, but it would be ridiculous. So instead, I headed to Pinterest for ideas. This particular recipe was so delicious that we immediately made it again, substituting the strawberries for raspberries and lemon. It was way more tart with the raspberries and lemon, but I also went hard with lemon, so it's possible to sweeten it up.  The point is, you can use most berries in some form. It's worth noting that this does go bad relatively quickly when left at room temperature, even when well wrapped.  We didn't quite finish the last pieces of either version before they went bad... and we ate it fast. So either store it in the fridge, or bring it to share within a day or two. Strawberry Oatmeal Bars Adapted from here 1 cup rolled oats 3/4 cup flour 1/3 cup brown sugar...

Homemade Cornbread Adapted from here 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1 cup whole milk 1 cup flour 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 large egg 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted Preheat oven to 400* Mix the cornmeal and whole milk together in a mixing bowl. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. DON'T TOUCH. After 10 minutes, stir in the rest of the ingredients. Make sure you stir well to incorporate all of the ingredients. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Quarantine day one bazillion We've stopped counting.  We stopped counting days, glasses of wine consumed, calories, and meltdowns.  We're safe in our house, we're avoiding all human contact, and nothing else matters. Baking and cooking gives us a pretend purpose during the day beyond responding to work emails, zoom meetings, changing diapers, and potty training.  It's a nice reprieve.  So here's our newest recipe! Couple of things to note: You can use either sweet or spicy Italian sausage.  We used spicy because I never buy anything else.  Also we used uncased, but there's really no reason you couldn't cook links and chop it up or slice it. Our bell peppers were tiny and there was enough, but I wouldn't have been sad if we had normal sized ones and more in the pasta We used our favorite marinara sauce, but you can use whatever tomato based sauce you want.  Plain tomato sauce?  Arrabiata? Do you. We used Costco's 5 cheese tortellini and...

Quarantine Day 9287473829. Or at least that's what it feels like.  Mostly due to anxiety.  Every time one of us coughs, it sends a panic shock through the house (at least for me).  The worries cause tension, of course, and the age old question of "What should we have for dinner" is a little loaded because we can't/won't go out if we're missing an ingredient.  And I'm a crazy person, so when I see a recipe call for an ingredient I have in limited supply, I discard it because the thoughts "What if I want to use that ingredient later?!" overtake any rational ideas. Luckily, we do love trying new recipes and I have a whole enormous Pinterest board filled with ideas, which is where we found this one.  I actually pinned this one years ago, but today proved a perfect opportunity for it.  We had heavy cream in the house because we wanted to make a soup and I forgot how much we needed, so I bought the big carton and now we have leftover!  It actuall...

Another fantastic crockpot dish to add to the long list of ways to cook lazily.  My favorite type of cooking!  I prefer to prep, go to work, and come home to a house that smells like I don't have to do anything.  It's my favorite smell of all. Wow, this one is spicy.  We went to my cousin's annual pumpkin party, where there is always copious amounts of delicious food, and this year was no exception.  The hostess with the mostest made this chili and it was a big hit.  We quickly added it to our to-do list, and quickly learned a critical component. All jalapenos are different sizes! The original recipe calls for 5 jalapenos, but doesn't specify size and it DEFINITELY matters.  We used 3 large-ish jalapenos.  So be as bold or as cautious as you prefer.  I love spicy, Jeff does not.  That said, this was perfectly spicy for me, but it would still be delicious with significantly less heat.  Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili Adapted f...

This is the most delicious soup we've ever made, and we've made some great soups.  It sounds sinful with its bacon, its sausage, its cream, but don't worry, there's kale.  Kale is the miraculous ingredient that just erases any semblance of calories while not tasting bad itself.  Who knew all these people who have been blending it in smoothies and eating it on everything were onto something?  Here I've been living my life thinking it was only useful to line salad bars! Just kidding, yes, this has all sorts of delicious ingredients.  And they are worth every. single. bite. Zuppa Toscana Adapted from here 1lb ground Italian sausage 8 slices of bacon, diced 1 medium yellow onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tsp dried parsley 1-1/2 tsp basil Salt & Pepper to taste 2 Tbsp flour or cornstarch 48oz chicken stock 4-5 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 bunch of kale (leaves only) ...

Yum!  Fall is here, and that means everything turns into a pumpkin.  My kitchen churns out all sorts of pumpkin spiced baked goods, from bread to donuts to these new cookies.  My son loves to help me bake, and our favorite activity is cookies, mostly because he loves to eat the chocolate chips that play a major role in every cookie I make.  Including these beauties.  I've never had pumpkin cookies, but everything else it touches is delicious, so why not?  Well, except pie.  Pumpkin pie is gross.  Fight me. So in my first attempt of pumpkin cookies I have learned a few things. These don't spread.  However you plop them on the cookie sheet is pretty much how they come out.  I happen to like them to look like delightful little blobs of pumpkin-y goodness, but the original recipe suggests using the back of a spoon to squish them down a little. These are cake-like.  Very dense.  It makes it extra delicious and increases your...

Last year for Jeff's first father's day, he sent me this recipe with the caption "All I want for Father's Day."  It's a generic recipe for oatmeal, and you can add whatever you want to it to make it delicious.  I was a little hesitant because oatmeal isn't my favorite breakfast food.  I mean, I'll eat it, but it's not my first choice. Then we had it for breakfast and I was sold.  This is now our go-to breakfast on a Sunday morning, and (for now) we have enough leftover to eat throughout the week.  The best part is, everyone loves it! Oatmeal Bake 3 cups quick oats or old fashioned oats 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp clove 1/2 tsp all spice 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla *1 can of chopped peaches (NOT drained) *1-1/2 cup dried cranberries Grease 9x13 pan.  Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Bake for 30-35 minutes or ...

We had a ton of cherries that we just could not eat them all before they were going to go bad.  I always wanted to bake with cherries, but I don't have the patience to pit them.  Luckily, I have the best, most patient husband in the world, and he said he would pit 6 cups of cherries for me!  Perfection!  That was the right amount for my very first cherry pie, something I've wanted to do forever. But the group we were having over had a gluten-free member.  She never expects anyone to accommodate her, but a life without dessert just sounds terrible, so I always try to make some dessert she can have.  Seriously, I'd never go to a party if I couldn't ever have dessert.   So instead, I found two similar recipes, one gluten-free.  That one was supposedly with blueberries, but the topping was a sort of lemon shortbread topping, which would work just as deliciously with cherries.  So I made double the amount of cherries needed for the crum...

This is a childhood staple for me.  Anytime we have uneaten bananas that have gone beyond edible in our eyes, we would mash up 3 of them and make banana nut bread.  It was always a breakfast food, but it's definitely dessert-like.  It's delicious and even moreso now that I usually incorporate chocolate chips as well! Banana Nut Bread 1/2 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups flour 1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (3) 1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts) - Optional 1 cup chocolate chips - optional Cream butter and sugar.  Beat until smooth; add eggs. Stir in flour and baking soda, one cup at a time.  Mix until fully incorporated. Add bananas and any extras such as nuts and/or chocolate chips. Line a bread pan with parchment paper, or wax paper.  Pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350* for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  This varies.  The edges finish first, but the very center usually is still doughy.  Bake until it's to ...

When we first moved into our house, we embarked upon the adventure of discovering all the plants in our yard.  We played "Weed or Legit Plant" for pretty much the whole summer.  Turned out, the giant growth of plants in our arbor was raspberries!  Jeff had some for breakfast every day for a few weeks.  The next year, the plants grew, but no berries, so I gave it one more year to produce or I was cutting it all out and seeding over the area. This year, Jeff picks about 4+ cups of raspberries every single day. So we immediately took to Pinterest to find baking ideas including fresh raspberries, and this bread was our first foray into it.  It's named "bread" but make no mistake; it's a cake.  A delicious, lemony, raspberry-filled cake.  Yummmmm Mini Loaves Raspberry Lemon Bread Adapted from here Bread 1 cup butter 2 1/4 cup granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 cup sour cream 1 tsp vanill...

I have admired trifles from afar for a while now, and then my cousin told me about one she made and I was very jealous.  But as it's not a baking dessert, I generally steered clear.  Also, I didn't have a trifle dish and wasn't about to buy one for something I wasn't sure I even sure I would like. So when we were browsing the shelves of Bed, Bath, and Beyond to register for our wedding, I somewhat sheepishly added a trifle dish.  Secretly, I think, I hoped that being a grown married woman would encourage me to make fancy desserts, like trifles. Well being a grownup married woman didn't have much to do with it, but hosting my first book club in our first house sure inspired me. That, and having a 10 pound box of fresh Michigan blueberries in the fridge. It was easier than anticipated and certainly a crowd-pleaser.  It's rare when you have a group of women that every one goes up for seconds!  But I will admit I was slightly disappointed in my first adv...