Recipes

Be a Better Baker Challenge: Pretzels

Please note: This post was created in collaboration with Chase Freedom Unlimited. All opinions, images and content are my own.

This month’s progress on my “be a better baker challenge” in collaboration with my friends at Chase Freedom Unlimited is starting to take an autumnal spin! I shared in my last post in this series that one of my biggest takeaways on this goal journey is finding the motivation and inspiration to just bake. I tried to be more purposeful this month about seeking inspiration in new places to get that motivational charge. read more

Recipes

Pumpkin Turkey Chili.

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

Recipes

Be a Better Baker Challenge: Muffins

Please note: This post was created in collaboration with Chase Freedom Unlimited. All opinions, images and content are my own.

I’m continuing to work on my “be a better baker challenge” in collaboration with my friends at Chase Freedom Unlimited. The project has been going on for a few months now, and I’ve learned a lot so far — practice makes perfect! One of the biggest takeaways that I’ve had as I tackle each new step working towards my goal, is that motivation (particularly on a warm summer day!) and inspiration can be my two biggest challenges. I have found that I get the best results when I’m feeling excited, motivated, and inspired by the baking challenge in front of me. read more

Recipes

Cauliflower Stuffed Shells.

Have you seen that funny meme about how adulthood is just taking everything you love and replacing it with cauliflower? It makes me laugh every time I see it because I feel like I have cauliflower’ed so many recipes – from cauliflower gnocchi to cauliflower mashed potatoes from cauliflower stir-fry to cauliflower stuffed peppers. You would think I would be done with it, but I have one more to add to the mix, this new recipe for cauliflower stuffed shells. The thing about cauliflower is that it can take on so many different flavors, and in this recipe it’s sautéed with lots of garlic before being folded into a ricotta cheese mixture. It gets totally hidden in garlic and cheese, in fact I served this to my family recently and no one knew the cauliflower was in there. So sneaky and so tasty – get the recipe below! read more

Recipes

Savory Breakfast Hash.

One of my very favorite parts about holiday cooking is having all of those tasty leftovers stacked up in the fridge after a party. My friends at Family Circle Magazine asked me to create a holiday recipe with Eggland’s Best Eggs for the October issue of the magazine, and I couldn’t wait to share this easy breakfast recipe made up of many of those delicious holiday leftovers, topped with a perfectly cooked fried egg!  read more

Recipes

Zucchini Corn Fritters.

I feel like we are in that final stretch of summer where the farm stands and markets are bursting with the best produce, but I know it won’t last for much longer. Instead of panicking (okay I’m panicking a little), I’m taking every single opportunity I get to eat this sweet, perfect summer bounty and incorporating our local produce into every recipe I can. Zucchini and corn were looking plentiful at our farmer’s market last week, so I jumped at the chance to experiment with them and ended up making these tasty fritters. The zucchini gets grated on a box grater and mixed with corn, scallions, egg, flour and parmesan cheese to make a “dough” that gets crisped up in a cast iron skillet. I served them with a tangy lime-sriracha sour cream sauce for dipping, and even used the leftovers the next day to eat with a runny fried egg. Get the full recipe below! read more

Recipes

Broccoli, Chickpea, and Sausage Salad.

Even though I am loving every last second of the end of summer, I do get very excited about getting back into the steady routine of fall. Our weeks are a little more structured, and I definitely always think about the start of the school year as a reset-button on my habits and goals. With that reset-button comes a bit more intention about how I plan my days, and meal-planning at the beginning of the week always gets me started on the right foot! As I get back into the meal planning groove, I wanted to spice up my go-to dishes that I make ahead for a week of lunches (See some of my best meal planning tips in an older post). read more

Recipes

Be a Better Baker Challenge: Bread

Please note: This post was created in collaboration with Chase Freedom Unlimited. All opinions, images and content are my own.

I’m making some progress on my “be a better baker challenge” in collaboration with my friends at Chase Freedom Unlimited, and I have been digging into a baking area that I was really excited to tackle: bread! Oh gosh, I love bread, and fresh baked bread is just about the best thing on earth. I have been determined to master a go-to recipe in the bread category that I can make when we have guests over for a meal, because a good crusty loaf is the perfect accompaniment to most dishes and summer desserts. read more

Recipes

20-Minute Summer Veggies, Sausage, and Tortellini.

I am lapping up every last drop of summer this week, which means spending lots of time outdoors. We have been plucking the most delicious end-of-summer veggies out of little container garden — the tomatoes are bountiful! And I’ve been scooping up sweet yellow squash and crisp green zucchini from our farm stand. To make the most of our ripe vegetables and our summer nights I have been using lots of shortcuts for speeding through making dinner. Less time in the kitchen = more time playing in the yard!  One of my best shortcut tricks is using al fresco Chicken Nights Faster Sausage. read more

Recipes

Kid-Friendly Bento Box Breakfasts.

Toddlers and meal time, it’s a tumultuous relationship! Some weeks we hit our stride and meal times go like clockwork, and other weeks I have to try just about every trick up my sleeve to get Jane to eat anything at all. One of my very best tricks though, is giving her a few options. I love giving her bento box style lunches with a variety of ingredients to keep her engaged at mealtime. It’s been something that’s worked really well for us at lunchtime, and I even assemble a bento box style dinner for eating outside on the patio or on a summer picnic. Since this has been such a success for us at other meal times, I thought I’d try a breakfast bento box to get us out of a morning rut, using some of my favorite Cascadian Farm organic granolas and cereals. read more