Our family is continuing our efforts to eat more vegetarian meals each week and this Taco Lentil Soup recipe has been a perfect weeknight dish to help us with that goal. A few things I love about this recipe: 1) it’s easy to make and is a one-pot meal for quick clean up, 2) it’s full of pantry staples like dry lentils, canned beans, salsa and taco spices so I can make it when there’s not much in the fridge, and 3) the recipe is great for making ahead of time and reheats well for leftovers.
read more
A hearty fall soup is the perfect meal for a chilly day. This version of a classic corn chowder has an extra flavor boost from fire roasted corn, bacon, bell peppers, and a touch of heat from chipotles in adobo sauce. Get the full recipe below! 
read more
Soup is on repeat here the past few weeks. It’s been great for using up leftover veggies and pantry staples, pairs perfectly with all of the bread we’ve been baking, and feels like the right kind of comfort food to have during all of this social distancing. Plus the weather has been terribly cold and rainy recently: the ultimate soup weather. This soup is one that I tested a few weeks before we hunkered down, and it felt so appropriate for the times since there are lots of modifications you can make with what you have on hand. I opted for frozen fire-roasted corn, but canned works too. I used up a few pieces of bacon I had in the freezer but you can omit it if you want to make it vegetarian. You can use any kind of stock you have available, and the milk that gets stirred in the end is optional if you prefer a dairy-free version. We ate ours with some garlicky buttered naan bread that Jane and I made together using this recipe — scroll down for the full recipe! 
read more
Oh boy, it’s a big day at Domestikatedlife headquarters! We have two big milestones happening today — Jane started her first day of preschool this morning (queue the tears — mine, not hers!), and today is the one year anniversary of my cookbook being published! It’s sort of like both of my babies have grown up — and with most large emotional changes in my life, I’m dealing with it by turning to comfort food, ha. I was totally feeling some warm, cozy, fall-cooking this week as we kicked off the month of October and decided to experiment with a new autumnal twist on a classic chili recipe. 
read more
It is that delightful chilly time of year when all of my favorite comfort foods come back into the kitchen. My favorite fall comfort food to make is a big pot of chili (let’s be honest: I’m in it for the toppings — cheese, please!). We had a bunch of leftovers in the fridge recently from smoking a whole chicken, and my husband and I were brainstorming what to add to our dinner plan with the extra chicken. He suggested a chicken-chili, and I was craving enchiladas so we compromised and this recipe was the result! An easy, chicken enchilada chili that is packed with flavor from the spices, enchilada sauce, and sautéed peppers, onions and chilis. If you don’t have leftover chicken, just grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for this recipe! I served it with all of my favorite toppings (cheese, duh) and some warm corn bread muffins on the side. Get the full recipe below:
read more
Last weekend the weather was so warm, we were walking outside with short-sleeve t-shirts on and enjoying brunch at a restaurant that had all of the windows open. This weekend? Back to boots and sweaters and bundling up baby with temperatures in the teens. I’m ready for that spring weather to make a come back, but if it’s going to be arctic-cold for a little while longer I’m going to make the best of it. We had some friends over for lunch this weekend (life with a newborn guys, lunch dates are the new dinner date!) and took advantage of these chilled temperatures with a crackling fire in the fireplace and a hearty lunch menu. I was craving something warm like a homemade soup, and decided to test a new recipe with tons of my favorite soup ingredients: hot Italian sausage, white beans, carrots, spinach, and some tasty cheese tortellini.
read more
Do you have those go-to recipes in your head that you can just make with your eyes closed? You know that pinch of this and a dash of that are the perfect measurements, no need for measuring cups or recipe cards. That’s my chili recipe — honed over the years to be both classic and at the same time totally unique to me. For example, I alway do half beef, half ground turkey — you still get the flavor of the beef but it cuts down on fat; I also feel strongly that all chili should be made with tasty golden kernels of corn (fire roasted is the way to go!) and simmered for hours in a sturdy cast iron dutch oven (I love our Martha Stewart one.). And my secret ingredient — a trick my dad taught me as a kid — is to add a can of baked beans into the mixture for a little punch of sweetness to balance out the spice. A few weeks back my sister pointed out that even though I make this 2x a month all winter long, I never posted about it before on the blog. So here it is, finally written in stone for her to use (and hopefully you too!). 
read more
As I’m sitting at home on this icy-cold snow day, I could not think of a better time to be sharing this recipe — a rich and hearty soup, chock-full of vegetables and a warm, flavorful broth. I’m still kind of baby when it comes to eating a lot of vegetables — it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that pasta and chocolate and cheese are SO much tastier. So I’ve been attempting to sneak them into dishes (and let’s be honest — covering them with cheese does help — this recipe has both!). Sausage and white beans make the soup filling enough to have it as a dinner, the roasted garlic gives it tons of flavor, and the secret ingredient gives the broth a little extra oomph: a parmesan rind that breaks down partially as it simmers. Full recipe below:
Ingredients:
- 2 Bulbs of Garlic
- Olive Oil
- 1 Yellow Onion
- 1 Large Shallot
- 1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage (casing removed)
- 5 oz Bag of Fresh Spinach
- 2 cans of White Beans
- 2 cups of Carrots (diced)
- 4 cups of Chicken Stock
- Parmesan Cheese Rind
Instructions:
- Slice the top of each bulb of garlic off and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the bulbs in foil and place in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the garlic cloves become soft and caramelized. Remove cloves from bulb once cooled.
- Dice onion and shallot and add to a large dutch oven or stock pot with a drizzle of olive oil. As they begin to soften, add sausage and begin to brown, breaking up into smaller pieces as it cooks.
- Once sausage is browned, add spinach to the mixture and mix in to wilt.
- Add white beans, carrots, roasted garlic, chicken stock and parmesan rind to the pot and bring to a slow-boil for 10 minutes.
- Reduce soup and simmer for an hour; remove what remains of the parmesan rind.
- Serve hot with fresh grated parmesan cheese and a side of crusty bread — enjoy!
