easy

30 Easy Healthy Chicken Dinners Ideas

It’s the weeknight riddle that becomes less and less funny: What to make for dinner tonight? This list of 30 easy healthy chicken dinner recipes is the answer.

This time of year is ultra-busy for everyone – getting back in the swing of back-to-school, treasuring the memories of the last long weekend for a while, and soaking up those warm sunshiny days before Fall’s chill hits – so quick, easy dinner options are a must.

This list of 30 easy chicken dinner recipes makes cooking good healthy meals at home just as easy as picking up or ordering in. From whole roasted chickens better than any you’ll find at the grocery store check out, to the easiest ways to cook chicken breasts, this list of 30 dinner recipe ideas will satisfy every member of your family no matter how picky they may seem to be.

So break out your love of chicken and visit these chicken dinner ideas for tonight, starting now and lasting all year long. continue to the recipe… about 30 Easy Healthy Chicken Dinners Ideas

Rosemary Garlic Butter Smashed Potatoes

This hybrid of roasted and mashed potatoes is literally a mash up of cooking techniques to create a creamy potato on the inside with the crispy edges everyone craves on the outside, and it’s all made extra good thanks to garlic, butter and rosemary flavored smashed potatoes.

Easy side dishes should be a dime a dozen but I keep hearing from you guys that this is one of the most challenging parts of putting the finishing touch on your dinner time meal.

The beauty of a simple side dish like potatoes is they go with pretty much any main dish. Personally, I could eat them as the main dish all on their own.

So why mash when you can smash?

Because smashed red potatoes that are crisped with garlicky butter and rosemary like these smashed rosemary garlic potato babies here are the sure cure for your dinner-finishing cravings.

continue to the recipe… about Rosemary Garlic Butter Smashed Potatoes

How to Make Homemade Chicken Parmesan

This surprisingly easy, 30-minute Chicken Parmesan recipe is a far cry from the over-floured and fat-fried version of the past. Instead, I’m sharing my tips to deliver juicy chicken breasts with a delicious bite nestled in a flavorful tomato sauce with a mozzarella cheese-pull that’ll stun even the cheesiest eater, with every single bite.

This recipe is brought to you by Kroger

So why do they call it Chicken Parmesan? Probably because someone in the family didn’t like eggplant. Go figure!

Italians on the island of Sicily (who we lovingly thank for introducing us all to the Mediterranean flavor-ed influences we love about Southern Italian cooking #bowdown) would dip slices of eggplant in egg and ground bread crusts, fry them up, and then top them with slices of homemade tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese then pop the whole shebang in the oven.

So most likely, some husband said (sound familiar?), “I’m not going to eat EGGPLANT! Give me CHICKEN!” (Is that my husband I hear speaking up?)

And this is likely where Chicken Parm was born.

Chicken Parmesan may not be authentically Sicilian, or even red-blooded-Italian. But seriously…this version prepared with this year’s healthy-ish-but-still-comfort-food-in-30-minutes-goals in mind, ticks off so many of my meal planning check boxes I’m pretty sure nations of eaters are totally okay with looking past it’s family tree.continue to the recipe… about How to Make Homemade Chicken Parmesan

Blueberry Oatmeal Quick Bread

This incredibly easy blueberry bread gets an added dose of healthy with the addition of Greek yogurt and oats, making it an even better option than banana bread or blueberry muffins.

This quick bread recipe is a favorite I originally shared back in 2013. Lately I’ve been making it over and over again—it’s that perfect food gift for welcoming the new baby (hello, baby Max!) or saying hello to new neighbors. So while I was at it, I took new photos to share again here.

This oatmeal blueberry bread recipe came about after standing at the kitchen counter one day with a half dozen super ripe bananas, swatting my husband’s headed-to-the-garbage-can-hands in an attempt to quell their discarded fate.

I knew by the super sweet smell and the mooshy touch—not to mention Smudge’s squinched up expression each time she passed them by thanks to their rather unattractive state—that I’d be lucky to squeeze even one more day in before my opportunity to make banana bread would be gone. And just like that, it was.

That’s when blueberries came to my quick bread rescue, for a quick bread worthy of any breakfast, brunch, or treat.continue to the recipe… about Blueberry Oatmeal Quick Bread

Heavenly Funeral Potatoes Recipe

Funeral potatoes are an easy-to-make and even easier-to-love comfort food casserole that is totally heaven sent.

This recipe is brought to you by Cache Valley Cheese

The Best Funeral Potatoes Recipe

If you grew up in Utah, there’s a 99.9% chance you’ve had (and loved) funeral potatoes. If you haven’t lived in Utah, you’re likely scratching your head wondering what in the world am I talking about?!? Unless you’re from the South, then you may be in the know, too.

This potato casserole’s roots run deep in the LDS faith and are a long-lived staple at family gatherings of every sort, including potlucks, family dinners, and any Sunday night dinner. My Grandma used to serve them at Christmas with her Roasted Turkey Breast with Oregano and Lemon with warm potato rolls, and believe me, rarely were there any hash brown potato casserole leftovers to be found.

So where did funeral potato casserole get it’s name? It’s from years and years of being served following Mormon funeral services, typically prepared by the ladies of the ward (aka the Mormon congregation) for a luncheon gathering for families and friends and pretty much anyone who crossed the threshold.

I’m not Mormon, but I’ve been to several Mormon funerals, and I can bear witness that you’ve never seen so many pans of hash brown casserole with corn flakes than at a Mormon funeral. Proof that food does indeed heal.

But there’s another reason they’re called funeral potatoes, and that’s because they’re absolutely heavenly.

continue to the recipe… about Heavenly Funeral Potatoes Recipe

Easy Green Beans with Browned Butter Almondine

These green beans almondine are made in one skillet, steaming the beans right in with the butter and almonds then finishing them off with some lemon juice.

Easy Green Bean Recipe

This year I’m adding more simple side dishes to the blog’s recipe list because while main dishes are often the star of the dinner time show, it’s the sides that I find always sneak in and steal the spotlight. And this FoodieCrush green beans almondine recipe is proof that statement is true because it’s easy enough to make for everyday, but pretty enough to serve for special occasions too.

I remember my mom making a version of this super easy green bean recipe since before I could even decide if I liked it or not. At our house, there wasn’t really an option. You ate what was served and that was that. But I always loved these green beans.

They’re crisp. Buttery. A little bit lemony, and always with the crunch of almonds. And they are totally unlike the Brussels sprouts my mom tried to poison me with, where with each forkful I’d chew just enough to be convincing, then fake cough the mouthful into my napkin so I could feed them to our dog Posey. But Posey was smart. She didn’t like Brussels sprouts either. But she would have loved these green beans, if I’d been generous enough to share with her.

And yes, it is true. You can feed dogs green beans to help them lose weight. It was our secret weight loss ingredient for our 120 lb. malamute, Akasha, who shed the pounds but still felt full thanks to the fiber in green beans. Or at least she wasn’t howling and writhing with hunger pangs because she was a dog…and since she couldn’t talk and couldn’t sneak her own food, I’m deciding she was just fine with her mix of dog food and green beans.

I’ve often wondered if the green bean diet would help humans lose weight too? I mean, why not? Green beans are high in dietary fiber, low-calorie and virtually zero fat. Not to mention the loads of vitamins they pass along to our able bodies.

But I digress…

Back to the almondy beans…

While this simple recipe for fresh green beans topped with almonds has always been at the top of my side dish list, my husband prefers the canned version and has passed that preference along to our daughter, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially when it’s totally convenient to pull a can out of the pantry to get a quick veg into a meal.

But in my starry eyes, there’s really nothing better than the al denté snap of these babies. And whether you call it green beans almondine or amandine, those brown buttered almonds are the perfect topper for an easy side dish any time of year.continue to the recipe… about Easy Green Beans with Browned Butter Almondine

30 Days of Soups, Stews, and Chilis Made to Keep Winter Warm

Sign me up for this list of 30 days of soups, stews, and chilis on repeat to warm up this body of mine and soothe my ever-loving seasonal soul all month long.

I know, I know–wintery weather blows in just about every 365 days from right about today, yet I’m never quite ready to give up on the gorgeous warmth of Indian summers and the fall leaves a-falling. I love me a snowy white winter, but fall has my heart.

While winter doesn’t officially begin until Christmas is nearly here, the change in weather and my freezing cold feet—now clad in fuzzy socks and boots— is the sure-fire signal for me to start craving the heartiest of rib-sticking comfort food.

This list of 30 soups, stews, and chilis are sure to warm us up and fill us up, but not fill us OUT, because each of these recipes are made with healthy, real good, real foods.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a spoon and dig in!continue to the recipe… about 30 Days of Soups, Stews, and Chilis Made to Keep Winter Warm

14 Days of Healthy Breakfast Recipe Ideas

What can I cook for breakfast? It’s a question repeated by millions every single day. And I bet you’re one of them.

I talk a lot about my cravings for easy, healthy breakfast recipes, because, hey, it’s the most important meal of the day, right?

Why is breakfast important? Because eating breakfast helps with weight loss, brain function, and keeping you moving all throughout the day. That’s why I am ALWAYS on the lookout for easy breakfast recipe ideas to keep this healthy habit fresh and fun. Because as we all know, breakfast is too easy to skip, and too often breakfast is boring too.

This list of 2 weeks, or 14 days, of seasonal and simple healthy breakfast recipe ideas offer up WAY better than average starts to your day and make eating breakfast a habit you’ll actually enjoy.

These breakfasts focus on all the flavors of fall, with some geared toward on-the-go and others for easy weekend breakfast or brunch. They’re seasonal but simple recipes for eggs, breakfast sandwiches, simple frittatas, oatmeal, avocado toast, and protein pancakes will make breakfast your favorite meal of the day.continue to the recipe… about 14 Days of Healthy Breakfast Recipe Ideas

15 Easy Healthy Breakfast Recipes to Get You Through the Week

This list of 15 easy and healthy breakfast ideas will have you out the door and on the go in no time.

We’ve heard it and know it by heart—the oft-repeated mantra, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

But too often the back-to-school rush of packing lunches, figuring out dinner plans, choosing healthy snacks, etc., breakfast can get left behind in the shuffle.

Even if you’re not sending littles (or bigs) out the door, I’m all about having options to mix up my healthy breakfast eating routine, because you KNOW I’m not one to skip any meal, but most importantly not breakfast and my daily time-to-be-just-with-me quiet time.

This list of 15 easy breakfast provides three weeks worth of weekday breakfast options that will get you out the door quickly without sacrificing your diet, sanity, or valuable hair blow-drying time.continue to the recipe… about 15 Easy Healthy Breakfast Recipes to Get You Through the Week

Easy 3-Ingredient Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream

Homemade chocolate sauce is so much easier to make than you might think, and with just three ingredients (plus a pinch of salt) your ice cream, cheesecake, fruit fondue, or even chocolate cake will be dripping in chocolatey goodness in no time.

This recipe is brought to you by Kroger and Tillamook, which is heading East ya’ll!

My husband is an ice cream lover through and through. He’s just like my dad who nearly every night has a scoop or two while we binge watch our favorite TV shows. But when I was a kid, my dad never ate the ice cream naked on its own, and neither does my husband. These boys always have their ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce — or as my husband calls it in his best British accent that sends our daughter into a reels of laughter “a bit of CHOCK-OH-lut taaaahhh-ping.”

“Really dad? Chocolate TOPPING??,” she fights to dispute. “It’s called chocolate SAUCE, dad!”

Personally, I’d rather have chocolate sauce or hot fudge rather than a mysteriously labeled “topping” on my ice cream because what the heck is in “topping” anyway? That’s why this super easy, 3-ingredient sauce is now a standard at our house.

continue to the recipe… about Easy 3-Ingredient Chocolate Sauce for Ice Cream

30 Healthier Spring Pasta Recipes to Make in April

These 30 irresistible, lighter, healthier spring pasta recipes are simple and perfect for when you’re craving carbs but don’t want to feel weighed down.

Happy April!

We’re pretty happy to greet spring’s arrival, because that means fresh produce, flowers, and all things green—and the start of rosé season, of course.

So when the weather shifts from snowflakes falling to daffodils blooming, our food cravings shift as well, from heavy comfort foods to lighter fare. We’re big fans of pasta around here—it’s basically our spirit animal—and we crave it on the regular. But come spring, we find ourselves trading in the noodles cloaked in rich cream and meaty red sauces for lighter, simply-sauced dishes with fewer calories and big flavors.

These lighter pastas highlight seasonal veggies like asparagus, peas, and greens, and are seasoned with fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon, and you can throw many of them together in 30 minutes or less, making them totally weeknight-friendly.

And so without further ado, here are 30 lighter, easy, spring green pasta recipes to make in April!

Make meal planning your month of meals a snap.

First, download this free printable weekly meal planner/to-do list to fill in, tape to the fridge, take to the grocery store, or use for reference next year when you can’t remember what the heck were your fave recipes from this one.

And then sign up for your free weekly meal plan and prep list here.

You get the idea. Now let’s dig in.

These pretty spring pastas will totally put some pep in your step, so go green or go home!

April 1: Linguini and Zucchini Noodles with Shrimp

FoodieCrush

This perfectly garlicky, always delicious and popular seafood dish gets a healthy makeover with a mix of zucchini noodles and whole wheat linguini, and it’s also made with a lot less butter (your hips will thank you).

April 2: One-Pot Spring Pasta with Dill + Lemony Vinaigrette

With Food + Love

Take what you know about macaroni salad and throw it out the window, because you’re going to want this dill and lemon-flavored pasta on repeat all spring and summer-long.continue to the recipe… about 30 Healthier Spring Pasta Recipes to Make in April

Easy Broccoli with Feta Cheese

Everyone knows broccoli is healthy for your body and is a superfood powerhouse that’s high in fiber too. While it’s delicious served raw and steamed, my favorite way to eat it these days is roasted in the skillet.

Most often when I choose a recipe to feature here from a cookbook I love, I tend to skew toward the main dishes or maybe a dessert. But lately, I’ve been hearing my sister’s voice in my head, replaying her request to add more easy side dishes to my recipe list. Sides that aren’t complicated to make, or that call for too many unusual ingredients.

Just really good, simple food that compliments a variety of mains to pair it with.

So when I received the new cookbook A Couple Cooks Pretty Simple Cooking: 100 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes to Make You Fall in Love with Real Food from my friends Sonja and Alex Overhiser, I found myself totally torn between several of the recipes within, and even took to Instagram stories to ask which you’d like to see between a simple broccoli side dish or Turmeric Cauliflower tacos.continue to the recipe… about Easy Broccoli with Feta Cheese

20 Chicken Dinner Ideas You Can Make On the Sheet Pan

When deciding what to make for dinner, you can never go wrong with chicken, especially when it’s a whole meal cooked on just one sheet pan. These 20 fast and healthy chicken sheet pan dinners are great for easy meal prep, and are exactly what we need to usher us through the busy week.

One pot wonders and sheet pan dinners are the saving grace of the workweek. I mean, how can you possibly resist an entire meal that effortlessly comes together on just one sheet pan?

You can’t. And a chicken sheet pan dinner? Forget it!

Chicken is this country’s go-to, and something we seem to rarely tire of eating. It’s healthy, tasty, easy, reliable, and affordable. Plus, we pretty much always have some in our fridge or freezer.

These sheet pan dinners not only save you time in the kitchen, but they also save you clean up, and fewer dishes means more time to relax on the couch with some Netflix and a glass of wine (cue the singing angels).

continue to the recipe… about 20 Chicken Dinner Ideas You Can Make On the Sheet Pan

The Best Baked Chicken Breast

Whether you’re working on making your weekly meal prep easier, or need a quick and simple recipe for weeknight dinners, this recipe has all my secrets for the best baked chicken breast guaranteed to come out perfectly juicy every single time.

The ubiquitous chicken breast could quite possibly be the most popular protein of any out there. Beloved by eaters for its neutral flavor and lauded by home cooks for its versatility, there isn’t much one can’t do—or many who won’t be pleased—when it comes to including chicken in the meal.

Unless it tastes like a piece of dry shoe leather.

This baked chicken breast recipe is the total opposite of some worn-out old loafer, and is about to become your secret weapon when it comes to easy eats. This is my tried-and-true, tested-for-years basic baked chicken breast recipe that is easily mastered no matter what your skill level, and it’s the centerpiece of turning weekend meal prep into successful weeknight eats.

Because let’s face it, even if chicken breasts are easily dressed up to fit most any meal, they can be a bit boring on their own. Unless they’re cooked to juicy perfection. And this my friends, is how you nail baking the best baked chicken breast every time.continue to the recipe… about The Best Baked Chicken Breast

Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Spinach and Goat Cheese

30-minute recipes like this stuffed chicken thighs recipe with a mixture of creamy, melty goat cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes that sits right under the crispy skin, not only make boring chicken dinners a thing of the past, but since it’s cooked all in one cast iron skillet, the typicial stack of dishes to wash goes by the wayside, too.

As a recipe creator, it’s part of my job to look through cookbooks. But as a regular-old, home cook, one of my favorite hobbies is to look at them for fun, too. Call me crazy—I’m okay with that—but don’t ever think I don’t find myself one of the lucky few who actually gets to weave a hobby they love into their full-time job. I mean, how many of us can count walking through the grocery store and squeezing avocados or deciding on shrimp or chicken for dinner tonight as the means for their paycheck? So when I receive another new cookbook in the mail, it’s like Christmas at our house. Make that Christmas in the kitchen.

Today’s recipe comes from Megan of the blog Country Cleaver‘s new cookbook Cast Iron Gourmet, with recipes any home cook can easily master. From one-pot dinners, to meals made with just 5 ingredients, or those ready in 30 minutes or less, these cast-iron skillet or dutch oven recipes prove her tagline of “with less fuss and fewer dishes” totally true. And totally my kind of recipes.

Chicken is always a popular recipe to prepare. The best grilled chicken. Oven roasted chicken (proof that garlic, lemon and rosemary are made for one another.) And of course slow cooker chicken. So it’s no wonder that while looking through Megan’s book that’s loaded with a bounty of comfort food recipes and deliciously inspiring photos, chicken is what made me stop and stare.

To put it simply, chicken can sometimes get boring. But not this one. I’ve been ready to add a cheese stuffed chicken recipe to the blog forever, so when this one loaded with my best-loved Mediterranean-inspired ingredients of artichokes, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes caught my eye, it went straight to the top of my to-make-list.continue to the recipe… about Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Spinach and Goat Cheese

31 Instant Pot Dinner Recipes to Make in October

These 31 recipe ideas for the Instant Pot are perfect for whipping up homemade dinners on the fly this month!

Happy October!

For our tenth installment of our 31 Days Series, we’re simplifying with the all-in-one magical unicorn workhorse Instant Pot. If you’re a little late to the party, the Instant Pot is the newfangled version of the pressure cooker, and if you don’t have one yet, you likely have major appliance envy, because this baby is the Beyoncé of kitchen appliances.

I’m telling you now…there isn’t a single appliance I’ve loved more since I got my Instant Pot last year than this and my friends and family can all vouch for this because I think they’re sick of hearing me talk about its virtues. And if you don’t believe me, believe Amazon, where it was the #3 best-selling product on 2017’s Amazon Prime Day.

But really, it does it all. The thing I love about it most is you can actually sear meats, chicken, vegetables in it before using the slow cooker or pressure cooker function so you get all that good flavor and don’t have to dirty any extra pots! It’s the true one and done.

It’s user-friendly, often cuts our average cooking duration in half, makes perfectly peelable hard boiled eggs!!!!, and it is a powerful force when it comes to weekly meal planning. What’s not to be totally smitten with? Things are getting pretty serious and all of our other appliances are getting jealous, but we #cantstopwontstop now.

If you don’t have yours yet, here’s an affiliate link, but seriously…this isn’t a sponsored post, I just love this machine and I don’t know anyone else who’s bought it who doesn’t love it too.

**UPDATED: I JUST received an e-mail that tomorrow, Oct. 2, 2017, you can get the Instant Pot for $30 off — that’s just $69!!!! — at the one day sale on Amazon!

Click here to buy the Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart (limit of 5 for the sale price on Oct. 2, 2017)

Instant Pot, we love you. Thank you for making our lives eternally easier and our kitchen sink considerably emptier.

continue to the recipe… about 31 Instant Pot Dinner Recipes to Make in October

Pan-Seared Citrus Shrimp Recipe

This simple, bright, and fresh shrimp dish is ready in under 30 minutes, making it an easy dinner for anyone on the go or the perfect appetizer to take to a party, and it’s lush orange and lemon citrus sauce leaves out the butter and cream but will still have you dipping your bread in for more.

I’d have to say one of the most common complaints I hear about cooking at home is when you suddenly realize it’s one of those days when dinner slips up in front of you and you have absolutely nothing planned to cook. Typically, that’s when some would throw their hands up in the air, concede defeat, and then reach for a bowl, some cereal and milk—or the closest take-out menu, whichever is easiest to get to first.

I know. I’ve been there.

That all-too-common predicament is one reason why this recipe spoke to me, because:

The ingredient list is short and simple.
It’s healthy, low-cal, high in protein, and frigging delicious.
99% of the time I have the ingredients in my freezer, fridge, and in my pantry.
It’s ready in under 30 minutes.
And it’s amazingly adaptable to be served with a variety of sides or re-invented in other dishes for just about every one of the picky eaters.

Sorry cereal, you’ll have to wait for your time to come.continue to the recipe… about Pan-Seared Citrus Shrimp Recipe

15 Holiday Appetizers with 5 Ingredients or Less

Holiday entertaining is made easy with these 15 festive appetizers that have just 5 ingredients or less!

The holiday season is in full swing, which means all month-long we’ll be toasting and hosting–a–plenty as we walk out of the room to adjust our waistbands to make more room for more. More. MORE!

In between decorating and shopping, we’ll be scurrying off to holiday dinners and parties of all sorts, as well as throwing our own. Since December brings such a flurry of activity, and our time is limited and precious, we’ve gathered up 15 simple but amazing holiday appetizer recipes using five ingredients or less.

Simple to make? Yes! Short on flavor? NO WAY!

From the usual suspects, like baked brie and crostini, to a made-over version of the nostalgic party fave—the cheeseball—these festive 5-ingredient appetizers are the perfect way to spread the cheer with the ones you love, and give you more time to mingle!

continue to the recipe… about 15 Holiday Appetizers with 5 Ingredients or Less

Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

If you’re like me, cooking is simply part of life’s continuing education. Just when I think, “I’ve got this down pat,” or “There’s no possible way this could taste any better,” I get schooled once again.

Take for example the basic, elemental pasta sauce. The one that is so simple it works as the foundation for so many tomato-based recipes where other ingredients do the glitzy red-carpet-look-at-me-I’m-the-star work and the tomato sauce simply shines in the background.

I thought I knew this recipe just by intuition and from following recipes handed down to me from family or ones I’d learned from my hoarder’s collection of magazines.

But I have just discovered, I was doing it all wrong.

continue to the recipe… about Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

Skinny Slow Cooker Kale and Turkey Meatball Soup

This healthy spin on classic Italian Wedding Soup is made lighter with turkey meatballs, white beans, and plenty of kale, all in a light and comforting broth.

We’re all feeling it, aren’t we? It wouldn’t be the New Year without focusing on cleaning up, clearing out and and cleansing from tip to toe.

Keeping with my new year tradition every single year, I’m taking advantage of my healthy resolve and I’m eating clean. This week. And maybe next. With just a side of butter and maybe a bite or six of cheese. And please, don’t hold it against me if there’s a nibble of chocolate here and there.

Balance, it’s the new black.

In thinking about eating strategies and menu planning, I still have cravings that need to be filled. Savory but simple. Filling and fortifying.

And can we make it in the slow cooker please?

continue to the recipe… about Skinny Slow Cooker Kale and Turkey Meatball Soup

Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait Plus a Giveaway

This post is sponsored by California Strawberries, whose sweetness will surely inspire you to start the new year right with this Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait and the opportunity to win a Vitamix blender.

If you’re like me, moving into the new year means coming down from my holiday foodie high of sweets, treats and not-especially-healthy-eats and confronting myself with reality.

That boils down to clearing out the stash of Christmas cookies and the last sips of eggnog and making room for more healthful fruit and veggies for this girl. STAT!

With this as my first recipe post of 2014, it seems only fitting to have it start with the most important meal of the day: breakfast. And since I’m six days in and feeling all gung-ho with my annual analysis of what I feed this body of mine, I’m leaving the eggs, french toast and waffles for later.

Today we’re starting off simple. And fresh. And easy. With strawberries.

continue to the recipe… about Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait Plus a Giveaway

5 Ingredient Thai Pumpkin Soup

With just 5 simple ingredients, my Thai Pumpkin Soup delivers a curry and coconut flavor combination more often expected from a pumpkin soup recipe with far more ingredients than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bonus: It’s ready to eat in under 10 minutes.

My Smudge has been losing her mind this year with anticipation of Halloween, dressing up herself, the house and of course, the dogs. Oh those poor dogs.

She’s carved 172 pumpkins and has even planned out what container she’ll be storing her “free” candy in after she roots through her haul (these from OXO make her feel like she has a candy store right at home.) As long as that stash is close to me, I like her plan.

I love Halloween too. But man, when Halloween is on a weeknight, the rush of getting her home from school, then getting us all into costumes, rounding out the candy and then either hosting the annual Halloween party (woo-hoo I got a pass on that this year) or sailing off to one of her friends’ house to do the trick or treat routine (yea for friends!) takes TIME.

And time is always a precious commodity since its usually a rarity.

That’s why with just 5 ingredients as the sum total of deliciousness, my Thai Pumpkin Soup is the perfect last minute fare.

It’s a savory time saver. You don’t have to pay me extra for the jokes folks.continue to the recipe… about 5 Ingredient Thai Pumpkin Soup

Microwave Egg and Vegetable Breakfast Sandwich

It’s been 6 months since I quit my job and became a solopreneur. Taking ma’ bizness into my own hands and saying goodbye to an office full of officemates.

Since that time, I’ve often thought about the mornings I’d have to hustle about the house, trying to get it all together to make it to work in time. In time to drive to work, walk over to Whole Foods to get a coffee to go, head into the office, check e-mail, see what’s up on Twitter, check in with co-workers. You know, the mundane routine you do to ease into the work day.

I never used to eat breakfast before I went to work. It wasn’t that it was a running-out-of-time-oh-hell-I’m-going-to-be-late thing, it was mostly that my stomach wasn’t tying itself into knots crying out in pain for food so I figured I could wait a little longer ’til it spoke up. Plus, making breakfast at work as a nice.little.diversion from work.

So after I’d finished my morning office round-about-routine I would make my eggs for breakfast. In the office. “Wow!” you must be thinking to yourself, “you had a full test kitchen at your office. Cool!” Um, no. So I came up with an alternative cooking method…continue to the recipe… about Microwave Egg and Vegetable Breakfast Sandwich

6 Back to School Easy Breakfasts Plus a Frog In the Hole

Back to school is hard. And the end of summer is even harder.

So when the two collide in a how-can-it-be-over-I-want-summer-back flurry of a.m. activity because nobody is back on an appropriate school time sleep schedule, breakfast takes a back seat for too many school-bound families.

In my search to find some new breakfast routines that don’t include commercial, big-brand sugar cereals with way too loud of packaging for the early hour, I find myself gravitating to a go-to favorite breakfast my husband introduced to me just a few years ago. How in the world did I survive my adolescence without this breakfast?

Frog In the hole. Yup, that’s the name, don’t wear it out.

Odd name it may be, but easy it most definitely is. By choosing a whole grain bread that provides a long-wearing carbo load, protein packed eggs and the finish of cheese just because, and a bit of fresh fruit, it’s a healthy, power-packed breakfast that’ll keep my 7-year-old’s brain churning ’til lunch.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

5 from 5 votes

Frog In the Hole

This kid friendly egg and cheese breakfast Recipe

Ingredients

1 slice whole wheat bread I like my local brand Grandma's Sprouted Wheat
2 eggs
1 tsp butter
1-2 T shredded cheese

Instructions

Heat a fry pan on medium and spray with cooking spray and 1 tsp of butter. With the rim of a water glass or biscuit cutter, cut out the center of a slice of whole wheat bread. Place bread slice and remaining round in fry pan and crack 2 eggs in center of holed-out bread. Place a lid over the pan and cook for 2 minutes or so. As eggs set and whites become cooked, flip bread and egg with turner, also turning bread round. Add shredded cheese to top of egg and bread, cover to cook and melt until eggs are cooked as desired. Serve with fresh fruit. For the adults, I serve with Chohula or salsa and sour cream for a little kick.

Need a few more ideas for make ahead or easy a.m. recipes? These will get you through the morning and are as easy as putting on a fresh cup of joe.

photo > Family Fresh Cooking

Entice the kids with Family Fresh Cooking‘s sweet Berries and Goat Cheese Mini Pizza, a recipe that brainwashes the young-uns into thinking they’re eating dessert for breakfast. Pick up a pre-made pizza dough (Marla likes Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough) then go with a mild goat cheese—or a more potent flavor if your kids aren’t picky—and choose your own fruit and nut combo to keep them happy.

photo > Framed Cooks

Simplify your morning but still get mom (and dad) star points? Yes! Thanks to Framed Cooks maple-ey on-the-go version of the good old stand-by French Toast, Kate’s French Toast Muffins are perfect to make the night before and toss to the kids as they sprint out the door.

photo > What’s Gaby Cooking

Clear out the veggie crisper and bake ahead the night before so that the next morning you’re ready to warm up What’s Gaby Cooking‘s Petite Vegetable Frittatas in the microwave for a minute and toss to the kids as they bolt out of the door. This recipe would also be great in a ham and cheddar cheese variety for a meat lovers option.

photo > Ingredients, Inc.

Ingredients, Inc. is full of healthy and delicious recipes. And with peaches coming into their peak season, Alison’s Fresh Peach-Pecan Muffins are no exception thanks to healthy whole-wheat flour giving kids a dose of good carbs that they’ll never see coming, pecans packing the protein and good fats (yes parents, you can eat them too, and keep your cholesterol in check) and the peaches, well, the peaches are just plain tasty and sweet.

photo > Mountain Mama Cooks

Super easy and quick to bake while still finding your morning coffee, Kelley uses store-bought puff pastry, milk chocolate bars and almond paste to keep her kids morning breakfast sweet and simple with Mountain Mama Cooks Chocolate Croissants Cheater Style .

photo > Taste Food

I’m a sucker for the thick, tarty flavor of Greek yogurt, and Lynda’s easy breakfast of Yogurt, Plum and Granola Parfait is another supreme example of a make-ahead-becomes-breakfast-in-a-minute recipe. I’m betting Taste Food‘s spiced plum compote could easily be adapted to showcase any stone fruit like spring’s apricots or fall’s peaches.And a side note, Maria is receiving some great holiday cookie submissions from our foodie blogger friends and can’t wait to showcase them in our upcoming Winter Issue, and we’d love to see yours. Submit your holiday cookie by September 1 and share your sweetness with the world.

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Miso Ramen Noodles

Today we’re announcing the winner of the Peko Peko, Family Friendly Japanese Cuisine cookbook giveaway. But first, a big round of thanks to the hard working and philanthropic foodies who put together Peko Peko including our friend Rachael of La Fuji Mama. If you haven’t purchased a cookbook to help Japanese relief efforts, please consider doing so.

And now, drumroll please…

photo > foodiecrush

Congratulations to…Lynx! You’re the winner of the Peko Peko cookbook thanks to your comment, ” my favorite Japanese dish is ramen with ‘soft’ boiled egg. Nothing beats perfectly cooked noodles topped with a glossy soft boiled egg.” Oh be still my ramen loving heart.

And now for the story of why you’re the chosen one. See for me, it started like this…

Mitsuwa Marketplace on Centinela and Venice Blvd was my first. It’s where I fell in love. Hard. With ramen.

Our torrid affair began in the grocery store’s food court. I was a bit shy, unsure of which food court stand would become my favorite suitor. I stood to the side, watching patron after patron quietly take their place at the head of the line and place their order.With a nod of the head, and a quick slight of hand, they were bestowed a golden ticket then deftly made their way to a sea of food court tables.

I gained courage. I made my move and I placed my order. And I waited.

And just when I thought the moment would never come, the man behind the counter sternly and succinctly called my number on the muffled loudspeaker. Heads turned, others glanced at their own tickets in hopes they were the chosen one. I rose to accept his gift with open chopsticks.

And there it was. Miso ramen. Adorned with tofu, fresh veggies, a slice of fish cake, half an egg and a tender slices of chasu. I twirled the noodles, I slurped the soft tofu, I dribbled the broth–that heavenly broth that I ate with abandon, not caring who saw us tangle our freshly made, perfectly cooked noodles.

And then, in a blink of an eye, it was gone.

Our affair lasted for several years, but oh too soon we were torn apart. We’re now separated by hundreds of miles of mountain ranges and mini malls but our memories will always remain.

And with each and every search for a new ramen to take his place, I always remember Santouka and Mitsuwa Marketplace—my first true noodle love.

For delicious ramen noodles to try at home, check out this Miso Ramen recipe from Peko Peko contributor Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen.

Or if you just need a quick fix, here’s my version.

5 from 2 votes

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:164]

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