eat seasonal

Broccoli Cheese and Potato Soup

This creamy and cheesy potato soup with broccoli comes together quickly for an easy and quick weeknight meal that everyone will love.

Cheesy Potato Soup with Broccoli

I was a bit of an anomaly as a kid.

I didn’t care for peanut butter, opting for liverwurst instead. I loved oatmeal for breakfast and salad was one of my favorite snacks. And what was my pre-dinner ritual? Two tall glasses of milk before the food ever even hit the table.

Who was this kid?

I also liked broccoli. I mean I really, really, liked broccoli. When other kids wouldn’t touch their “green trees” unless they were camouflaged under a blanket of cheddar cheese (not that there’s one darn thing wrong with that!) I loved them simply steamed with a little butter, salt and pepper and drizzled with vinegar. That side put me in heaven every time.

But even while I enjoyed my broc in that cleaner way, the soup that always rang my bell was a creamy cheddar cheese broccoli fusion. I don’t know that my mom ever made it at home, but when we went out, it was my kryptonite.

Like most recipes you love as a kid, the cravings for them simply don’t go away. And as things go as an adult, the extra lbs don’t always go away as easily either. But this broccoli potato cheese soup recipe doesn’t sacrifice flavor in it’s ingredient modifications, but instead is a healthyish version of my childhood fave.

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The Best Buttery Parsley Potatoes

Boiled potatoes get an infusion of butter and parsley to make this super easy, three-ingredient side dish. This is one of my all-time favorite side dish recipes for any meal!

Buttery Parsley Boiled Potatoes Recipe

This is one of those recipes that comes so naturally, without much thought, that I didn’t really think about sharing it.

Until someone asked for it.

I bet we had these potatoes at least once a week when I was growing up. They’re the ultimate pairing for any and all comfort food because they’re so insanely simple to add along to any main. And so intensely delicious.

Baby red potatoes are the simple cook’s dream side dish. They’re creamy in texture. They cook quickly. You don’t have to skin them. And they’re easy to prepare no matter what your method. Roasting. Grilling. Smashing. And like here, with your basic quick boil in water.continue to the recipe… about The Best Buttery Parsley Potatoes

Microwave Egg Caprese Breakfast Cups

This hot homemade ham, egg and caprese-flavored breakfast can be in yo’ belly in just two minutes thanks to a quick cook in the microwave. Yes, this is how you can easily cook eggs in the microwave.

Hi! I’m Heidi and I’ll be serving you today. What can I get you?

One of the recent requests here on le bloggity blog is for more easy recipes for quick breakfasts please!

I totally get it. We all know that a good breakfast is the key to setting up your day for success so if you could create a weekend-tasting breakfast in the time it takes to pour a bowl of cereal, I’m betting you’d totally be into this breakfast that fully supports your snooze button needs. (Have you seen my list of 19 healthy breakfasts when you don’t have time to eat?!!)

And that’s why the microwave is your egg cooking friend.

continue to the recipe… about Microwave Egg Caprese Breakfast Cups

Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

Store-bought pie crust, fresh raspberries and sweet peaches make these simple hand pies an easy dessert made extra yummy when served with vanilla ice cream.

Even as little tow-head, I had a very special relationship with my Grandma Frieda.

Because she lived just outside San Francisco and we lived in Utah, we only saw her twice a year, sometimes three. But the times we did see her, either at our house or hers, it was all about spending time with her granddaughters. She taught us old old German children’s songs (hoppe hoppe reiter!), taught us the finer points of eating cottage cheese with jam on toast, and squired us in her 1968 VW Beetle that she and Grandpa brought over from Germany up and down El Camino Real to Safeway for treats.

We didn’t let the distance stop our relationship from growing because my grandma and I were die hard pen pals. My grandmother and I wrote letters back-and-forth, forth-and-back. She had the most beautiful penmanship, unlike any I’d ever seen thanks to her schooling as a youth in Germany, and no matter how mundane, she was always keen on receiving my letters.

I’d tell her about the weather, or my latest soccer game or that we gave the dog a bath. Whatever the topic was that either of us wrote about didn’t really matter. It’s the fact that we wrote one another at least once a month, and the anticipation of getting that familiar looking addressed envelope in the mail. That was always the most exciting part.

I’m trying to instill that same love and connection in my daughter for her grandparents. But it’s not easy.

It’s a lot harder today because letter writing just doesn’t happen as much anymore. It’s more about the immediacy of texting and seeing each other in person thanks to FaceTime. But I’m okay with that. Because no matter if it’s with a pen and paper or a device and a video, it’s really just about keeping in touch.

And that makes it even more special when Smudge gets one-on-one time with her grandmothers, like cooking lessons from her Grammy Pat.

continue to the recipe… about Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

Fried Green Tomatoes Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I’ve had a hankering to post a fried green tomato recipe, for, oh, say, the past 2 1/2 years. And lucky Mrs. GreenJeans, the day has finally come.

You can thank my underabundance of ripe, red tomatoes that instead produced a lovely harvest of green tomatoes for this recipe.

I’d have to say after eating this grilled cheese sandwich, it was nearly worth forgoing another burrata caprese salad in place of the plethora of my under-ripened fruit. The sweetness of these tomatoes paired perfectly with the spiciness of the monterey jack cheese oozing out from it’s edges.

Green tomatoes are still stunners, afterall.

continue to the recipe… about Fried Green Tomatoes Grilled Cheese Sandwich

How to Make Hatch Chile Salsa Verde

Right now. It’s happening. And there’s no better time to take advantage of it—of every single, last, bit(e).

There’s truly no better—and easier—time of year to eat seasonal. Fresh fruit is literally falling from the trees and the bounty of the summer harvest is at full throttle, artfully displayed in droves at farmer’s markets in small towns and big cities alike. Even grocery store produce tastes fresher and looks better. It’s here for one and all to savor.

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Friday Faves

Each peanut M&M equals walking the length of one football field? Tell me it isn’t so!

My Smudge informed me of this random urban legend (?) after we brought home the remnants of a 5 lb. Costco bag from the cabin last weekend. It’s been sitting on the shelf in the kitchen. And you know what that means, because it’s sitting open. And every time one of us walks by, we dip our hot little hands into the bag to fish one (or half dozen) peanut M&Ms out of the bag. In fact, I had JUST peanut M&Ms for dinner one night. And no, I’m not kidding.

So this football thing? I had to look it up. And lo and behold, her useless (read: I’d rather ignore than admit) factoid is indeed true. In fact, the truth is even worse. Read about it here.

This weekend we’ll be heading to South Eastern Utah, to the land of prehistoric red rocks and aging punk rock bands for my husband’s reunion show. Rock on crouton!

Happy Friday everyone, and on to this week’s links…

continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves

Stuffed Artichokes with Thai Shrimp Salad

Eat seasonal! Eat fresh! Eat good food! In my world that’s the mantra to live by.

While I crave ultimate comfort foods like blackened seafood pastas, the perfectly cooked steak and grilled cheese sandwiches, you’ll never find me shying away from super fresh, in-season fare that’s light on the palate but heavy on flavor.

I’ve always been a big artichoke fan. Heck, it was my second post ever on this little bloggity blog. And now…my how things have changed. I didn’t even realize I needed to post my own recipes back then, and just look at how Smudge was just a smudge!

When it comes to the green leafy orb, you could eat it the traditional route. Melted butter for tender leaf dipping. Another swath of mayo (nay to the Miracle Whip on my side of the table) and into the mouth. That’s the way most artichoke dipping begins and ends.

But we’re going lighter this time around with a rice wine vinegar seasoned Thai flavored shrimp salad to top every tender tooth-scraping artichoke leaf. We’re just going with the seasonal flow.

continue to the recipe… about Stuffed Artichokes with Thai Shrimp Salad

Broccoli Cheese and Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup with Broccoli

The Best Buttery Parsley Potatoes

Buttery Parsley Boiled Potatoes Recipe

Microwave Egg Caprese Breakfast Cups

Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

Fried Green Tomatoes Grilled Cheese Sandwich

How to Make Hatch Chile Salsa Verde

Friday Faves

Stuffed Artichokes with Thai Shrimp Salad

How to Make the Best Potato Salad

How to Make Classic Macaroni Salad

How to Make the Best Grilled Salmon

The Best Greek Chicken Marinade

eat seasonal

Cheesy Potato Soup with Broccoli

Buttery Parsley Boiled Potatoes Recipe

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