When I was brainstorming recipes and content for the new year, I was admittedly in a bit of a rut — struggling with fresh ideas. I’ve been blogging for over a decade and sometimes I have to go back to my own site to ask “did I already do that?” One thing I realized: a lot of my everyday meals, the staple dishes I make every week, are so second nature to me that I never take the time to write them down. I’m trying to be better at capturing the “classics” from my weekly meal plan, and this skillet roasted chicken is an all-time fave that I make often. We typically eat the legs and thighs for dinner and save the leftover chicken breast meat for chicken salad, soups, taco filling, etc. The bones get added to my instant pot with all the leftover veggies in my fridge drawer and I make stock to tuck away in the freezer. Don’t be afraid of the spatchcocking process, you just need some sharp kitchen shears and a brave face (this tutorial is helpful). Get the rest of the recipe below! read more

Nearly every time my family gathers together I make this classic homemade mac and cheese (it even made it into my cookbook!). I’ve used it as the base for tons of variations — with everything seasoning, stuffed and baked in apples, and mixed with hidden veggies to trick my toddler! It’s been a bit since I’ve shared my traditional recipe, and gave it an update for the holidays.  The festivities can officially start once a big scoop of this cheesy pasta gets served on your plate — get the recipe below! read more

I keep a long list of blog post ideas in my phone, all organized by season and event. I was scrolling through the list last  week and an idea for buffalo roasted chickpeas I was saving for the Super Bowl jumped out at me. Life is short, and if this year has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t make plans that far in advance. So I grabbed life by the chickpeas and said let’s jump on this idea right now! Instead of serving them as a stand-alone snack, I roasted them and served them over a rice bowl with crumbled blue cheese, scallions and celery. I also mixed in a little leftover shredded chicken that I tossed in the same buffalo sauce, but you could easily omit that to make it a vegetarian meal. I love a little spice this time of year, but also pulled some of the chicken and chickpeas aside to serve buffalo-free for a kid-friendly dinner too. Get the full recipe below! read more

If I’m ever stumped about what to make for dinner and ask my husband if he has any ideas, 100% of the time he answers with “what about tacos or fajitas?” It’s the perfect answer because everyone is happy when tacos or fajitas are on the menu! I like to take some inspiration from #DomestikateGrazingBoards series and turn taco night into a big, serve-yourself, DIY fajita salad board so that everyone can pick their favorite ingredients and assemble their own fajita salad bowl, served on top of my favorite Little Leaf Farms lettuce! read more

With summer coming to a close (ugh!) I’m making use of every last second of the season by grilling and eating al fresco as often as possible. I have been honing my grilling skills this summer thanks to my new Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub – see my green goddess grilled chicken recipe and my mango-peach grilled pork tenderloin – and have been trying to expand my menu with new grilled dinner ideas. The tomatoes and basil in my veggie garden are still going strong and served as inspiration for this bright, fresh dish: grilled cedar plank salmon with pesto. read more

If you have been around here for a while, you have heard me tout my love for al fresco chicken sausage. It’s a staple in our fridge for quick weeknight dinners when I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen (a little secret about being a food blogger: when you cook all day for work sometimes the last thing you want to think about is what to make for dinner!). When my friends at al fresco chicken shared their first taste of their new line of chicken burgers I was eager to give them a try. We’ve been making an effort to cut most red meat out of our diet this year to lessen our impact on the environment, so a chicken burger swap for summer grilling was a welcome menu addition!  read more

After I started using the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub in some of my go-to recipes (see my green goddess grilled chicken recipe!), I started to explore some of the other cook programs on the app. It got my wheels turning and gave me the confidence to try grilling some proteins that I haven’t tried before. Pork tenderloin is a dinner favorite at our house in the cooler months, but I never cook it during the summer because I hate turning the oven on for 30+ minutes to let it cook. I decided to use the pork cooking programs on the Weber Connect to experiment with cooking it on the grill. read more

The weather is warm, my garden is bursting, and with our summer-at-home in full swing it’s the perfect time for some al fresco grilling recipes! Grilled chicken is just about as classic as it comes for a summery dish and this version is drizzled with a riff on green goddess dressing that is packed with seasonal flavors. My friends at Weber shared their Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub with me and I got to test it out on this recipe. It has a variety of cook programs for different selections of meat that take you through the prep stage through taking it off the grill. It takes the guesswork out of the grilling part, and leaves the seasoning, sides, and sauces up to me (my favorite part!) read more

Summer dinners are all about keeping things simple and seasonal, and the corn and basil fettuccine is the perfect representation of simple and seasonal. It’s made with just a handful of ingredients: pasta, fresh corn, crisp green herbs, some pasta water and parmesan cheese (plus some hot red pepper flakes if you like the heat!). The sauce that coats the al dente pasta is made from pureeing some of the sweet summer corn with hot pasta water and salty parmesan cheese, it’s almost like a corn cacio e pepe! More fresh corn is folded into the pasta with a heap of fragrant green herbs. I snipped the basil, parsley and chives out of my garden just a few minutes before adding them to the dish, so I’m basically a farm to table restaurant now, right? Scroll down for the full recipe, and enjoy! read more