Garlic and butter green beans

This is such a simple recipe, but it's so good. It's probably all the butter. I seriously cannot say no :)

Garlic and butter green beans-adapted from thechefs(ex)wife on Tasty Kitchen
Total time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound frozen green beans, thawed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients and saute until heated through, 5 to 15 minutes depending on if beans are still frozen. 

Cheesy Biscuits

These were very quick and easy to make. Less than 15 minutes and you have some yummy dinner rolls!

Cheesy Biscuits-adapted from Taste of Home Cooking School
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Serves 10

• 2 cups Bisquick mix
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stir Bisquick, milk and cheese in a large bowl until a dough forms. Spoon 10 balls of the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Seared Salmon with Brown Butter Cucumbers

Any recipe with 'brown butter' in the name is likely one I will make. It just makes food absolutely delicious! This recipe was no different and super easy.

I used Penzey's Florida Seasoned Pepper and Trinidad Garlic Marinade instead of regular salt and pepper. This was done in less than 30 minutes from start to finish (including dicing the cucumber) and is done in one dish. Pretty much the perfect weeknight meal!

Seared Salmon with Brown Butter Cucumbers-adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Serves 2

• 2 salmon filets
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cucumber, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Season the salmon with salt a pepper. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Cook until the foam subsides and the butter turns deep gold in color, about 2 minutes.

Add the salmon to the pan skin side up. Cook, without turning, for 2 minutes. Add the cucumbers and pinch of salt to the salmon turning to coat cucumbers with butter. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes or until underside of fish is golden brown. Turn the fish, add the garlic and cook for 2-4 minutes longer or until fish is cooked and flaky.

Cauliflower Rice

I made this to go with the Greek Chicken Stew. It was great with the stock. I don't know that I would make it with anything that didn't have a sauce to it. It wasn't bad, just not a ton of flavor.

Cauliflower Rice-adapted from Skinny Ms.
Total Time: 10 Minutes
Serves 4

• 1 head cauliflower florets
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Boil cauliflower for 8 minutes or until fork tender. Drain. Return to pan, add oil, salt and pepper and mash like you would potatoes until a consistency you prefer.

Pesto Chicken

This is quite possibly the easiest and most delicious whole chicken recipe ever. It has three ingredients, and you're done! It takes about an hour, so isn't super fast, but if you're working around the house and don't want to spend a lot of time on dinner prep, this is what you should go with!

Pesto Chicken-adapted from Heather Christo Cooks
Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Serves 4

• 3-4 pound whole chicken
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken on a roasting pan and rub the pesto over the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Roast for 60-75 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Bridal Punch

The second thing I made for Melissa's shower--punch! And of course, it had to be pink! If you wanted this to be an alcoholic punch, I'm sure you could easily add champagne or anything to it that you like! It was easy to make and delicious!

Plus, look at my mom's awesome punch bowl!

Bridal Punch-adapted from The Recipe Nut
Total Time 5 Minutes
Serves 15

• 12 ounce can frozen pink lemonade concentrate
• 4 cups raspberry sherbet
• 12 ounces lemon-lime soda

Mix all ingredients in a punch bowl. Use a blender if necessary, but it should melt pretty well into a lovely foamy beverage!

Ranch Salsa Tacos

This is quite likely the easiest slow cooker recipe ever. Three ingredients. That's it. And it was probably one of the best tacos I've ever had.

Ranch Salsa Tacos-adapted from Picky Palate
Total Time: 6 hours
Serves 8

• 2-3 pound pork roast
• 1 packet dry ranch seasoning
• 16 ounces of your favorite salsa
• Tortillas, hard or soft shell-your choice
• Lettuce, tomatoes, onion, black olives, guacamole, sour cream-whatever you like on your tacos!

Place the roast, ranch and salsa in a 5-quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours or until meat is cooked through and tender. Shred roast with two forks and serve with taco toppings.

Salsa Fish

When I come across a recipe for any kind of whitefish--tilapia or halibut for example--lately I've been substituting swai fillets. They're usually a bit cheaper at the store, and I think they taste pretty much the same!

This recipe was an...interesting one. I'm pretty sure I put too much dijon mustard because it was very tangy. And by very, I mean overly mustard-y. And I'm not really a huge mustard fan. Mistake #1. There was then also a lot of salsa to this too. I'm not sure I'd make this again. Scott liked it okay, but I wasn't overly thrilled.

If I do make this again, I think the key is to spread on the mustard and salsa to your own taste.  Then you can make sure you don't over do it like I did. Let me know if you try it!

Salsa Fish-adapted from 365 Last-Minute Meals by Better Homes and Gardens
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4

• 4 white fish fillets (halibut, tilapia, swai, etc.)
• 1/2 cup bottled chunky salsa
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place fish in a shallow 2-quart baking dish and bake uncovered, about 6 minutes. Drain liquid from baking dish.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine salsa and honey until blended. Brush mustard onto fish and spoon salsa mixture on top. Bake for 2 to 3 minutes more or until salsa mixture is heated through.

Wheat Thin Cookies

These cookies are a Christmas tradition around our house. My mom has made them every year, and they are Scott's favorite cookies! This year, as one of my Christmas gifts, I made a bunch of cookies for someone's present (he's a dessert fiend). Scott asked that I try making my mom's cookies, and I knew exactly what he meant right away!

I now know why my mom only makes these once a year. They are very putsy to make. Like take a lot of time and repetition. In the end, it's totally worth it, but you want to be sitting at a good table with a good movie on or music or something! As always with classic recipes, I felt like mine just didn't turn out as good as my mom's, but we got the jist of it!

Also, as you'll tell from the recipe, it's not very technical...

Wheat Thin Cookies
Total Time: 30 minutes-1 hour, depending on how many you make

• 24 ounces white or milk chocolate almond bark
• 1 large box wheat thins
• 1 jar peanut butter

In a microwave safe bowl, break up the almond bark slightly. Melt in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between. 

Meanwhile, take one wheat thin cracker, place a thin layer of peanut butter, and top with another wheat thin cracker. Repeat with the rest of the crackers. 

Dip the cracker sandwiches into the melted almond bark until covered on both sides. Place and let cool and harden on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Keep refrigerated in an air tight container.

Halloween Chex Mix

After my first Chex Mix try over two years ago, I've never made it again until now. I am so glad that I gave this recipe a try! It is sweet and the perfect treat for Halloween! It is so easy to make, the hardest part is just making sure that you mix the chocolate coating well! This is a quick and easy snack to make for a Halloween party or just a random get together! To speed this up, I put the cooling final product into the freezer. That got it hardened quickly enough to eat!

Halloween Chex Mix-adapted from ChexPartyMix.com
Total Time: 15 Minutes
Serves 18

• 8 ounces white chocolate baking bars, chopped or broken up
• 4 cups rice chex cereal
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1/4 cup chocolate sprinkles

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate bars uncovered on high 1 1/2-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.

Gently stir in cereal and raisins until evenly coated. Stir in candy corn and sprinkles. Spread on waxed paper until cooled and chocolate is set. Break into chunks. Store in a covered container.

Heat's Homemade: Cream of Anything Mix

I have decided to try to make more of my own ingredients. This is both for health and financial reasons. I'll know exactly what's in these ingredients, and I usually have most of the stuff on hand, and/or it will last me so long the initial cost will outweigh how much I don't have to spend in the future.

The thing that got me started on this was when I made this pizza sauce and pizza dough. I realized I spent just a little bit of money to buy the ingredients I didn't have, but had most of them on hand. It also tasted great and I could customize it as I chose!

The next thing I wanted to try was to make this mix for cream of chicken, mushroom, etc. soups. While the cans are relatively inexpensive, $0.66-$0.99 each, I feel like they just seem so unhealthy and gloopy. My post tomorrow will show the actual recipe I made with this, but I think it turned out great! The entire mix fits into a gallon size ziploc bag, or you could find a cool container to house it in. It then makes the equivalent of 9 cans of soup!

Cream of Anything Mix-adapted from One Good Thing by Jillee
Total Time: 5 Minutes
Makes equivalent of 9 cans of soup

• 2 cups powdered non-fat dry milk
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning 

Combine all ingredients in a resealable plastic bag, mixing well. Use 1/3 cup mix with 1 1/4 cup cold water for the equivalent of a can of soup. Whisk until well blended.

Cheesy BBQ Chicken

This is another slow cooker recipe where I cooked it for too long and the chicken was over cooked. I need to remember to watch that a little more closely! You can over cook something in the slow cooker! Sometimes I'm really into barbecue sauce, but other times I'm not. There wasn't anything wrong with this recipe, but I just wasn't a huge fan. It was very simple and easy to make and you usually have most of this stuff in the pantry, so it's a good last minute dinner!

Cheesy BBQ Chicken-adapted from Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipes by The Original Crock-Pot
Total Time: 8 hours
Serves 6

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 26 ounce bottle barbecue sauce
• 6 slices bacon
• 6 slices swiss cheese

Grease the inside of a 5 quart slow cooker. Place chicken in slow cooker and cover with barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours.

Before serving, cut bacon slices in half. Cook bacon on the stove until done to the preferred consistency. Place two pieces on each chicken breast and top with cheese. Recover slow cooker and put on high until cheese melts.

Potatoes Alfredo

I saw this recipe and was instantly excited to try it. I'm pretty much in love with my own mashed potato recipe, but I'm always looking for different things to try. The one thing I hate about potatoes is peeling them. I don't know why, but I just haven't been able to find a way to do it easily. Either way, every once in awhile I'll take the time to do it.

These potatoes were very simple to make and the Alfredo sauce just made the potatoes super creamy and delicious in a way that you haven't before.

Potatoes Alfredo-adapted from Five Ingredient, 15 Minute Recipes by Weight Watchers
Total Time: 50 Minutes
Serves 8

• 2 pounds baking potatoes
• 10 ounces Alfredo sauce
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 2 tablespoons shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel potatoes, and thinly slice about 1/4 inch thick. Combine potatoes, Alfredo sauce and milk in a bowl, stirring lightly. Arrange potato slices in overlapping layers in an 11x7 inch baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cheese and pepper.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes, or until potato is tender and golden.

Cajun Cornmeal Crusted Fish

This recipe called for catfish, but I used swai instead and it ended up delicious! The cajun seasoning adds a lot to this simple fish recipe. Also, the amount of cornmeal mix was perfect-I didn't have a ton leftover like I normally do with breading meats.

Cajun Cornmeal Crusted Fish-adapted from Cooking Light's 'Comfort Food'
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4

• 3 bacon slices
• 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
• 4 fish fillets

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; reserve 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Reserve bacon for another use.

Combine cornmeal and cajun seasoning in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in cornmeal mixture. Heat reserved drippings in pan over medium-high heat. Add fillets; cook 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Chicken and Rice

I pinned this recipe on Pinterest a long time ago, and finally got around to making it. I've seen it repinned a lot over time, so I was excited to try it. It was easy, simple and very delicious. The chicken was moist and flavorful. I'd definitely recommend it.

Chicken and Rice-adapted from Stick a Fork In It
Total Time: 6 hours
Serves 4

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 ounces low fat cream cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 packet Italian dressing seasoning
• White rice, or rice of your choice

Place chicken in 4-5 quart slow cooker and top with cream cheese, soup and italian seasoning. Cook on low 4-6 hours, until chicken is cooked through and tender. 

Just before chicken is done, make your rice. Serve the chicken mixture over the rice.

Broccoli Topped Potatoes

This was a filling way to enjoy baked potatoes. To be honest, I never would've thought to combine broccoli and potatoes, but it was awesome! I had this as my meal, but it would also be a hearty side!

Also, this is hands-down the best way to make steamed broccoli! I had no idea, and probably won't be buying frozen broccoli ever again!

Broccoli-Topped Potatoes-adapted from The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook by Erin Chase

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves 4

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 1 head broccoli
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and scrub potatoes. Cut slits in potatoes and wrap in tin foil. Place directly on rack of heated oven, and cook for 1 hour, or until potatoes are soft.

Cut the broccoli into spears and trim the stems. Place into a microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 5 minutes until tender.

Halve open the potatoes, and top with broccoli and even amounts of cheddar cheese.

Creamed Corn

I remember creamed corn as a kid. I didn't like it. I know it's not the healthiest thing for you (just because corn is in the title doesn't make it healthy!), but this was actually pretty good! If I ever decide to ahve creamed corn again, I'm definitely making it from scratch!

Creamed Corn-Adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time 15 Minutes
Serves 4

• 4 cups corn kernels
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Using a food processor, puree 3 cups corn kernels. Transfer to a small saucepan and stir in the remaining corn. Add the butter and cook over medium heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

Mustard Fish

This gives a nice twist on regular breaded fish. Next time I'm going to try baking it in the oven instead of frying it! I used Beer & Brat mustard, but you could use your favorite! This is so easy and quick that I'll definitely make it again!

Mustard Fish-Adapated from Every Day with Rachael Ray
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4

• 4 tilapia fillets
• 6 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1-2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard evenly on top of each piece of fish. Cover the fish in breadcrumbs, pressing down to help them stick. 

In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the fish to the skillet and reduce heat to medium and cook, turning once, until golden brown and crisp, about 10 minutes.