main dish

Southwestern Egg Roll Bake has all the taste of Southwestern Egg Rolls with a fraction of the work! This easy main dish casserole is a play on one of my favorite appetizers.   I love egg rolls of about any variety, but I don’t really like making them at home. It’s time consuming and messy and greasy. Basically any time I make something that’s individually fried it’s a labor of love towards whoever I’m cooking for.  My Southwestern Egg Roll…

Chicken Zucchini Casserole is the perfect hearty weeknight dinner and a great way to sneak in more veggies. Chicken, vegetables and stuffing are tossed with a creamy homemade sauce and then baked in the oven. This Chicken Zucchini Casserole is a one pan wonder! It’s easy to make. Creamy and hearty without relying on canned cream of chicken soup. And it’s chock full of vegetables, which makes this casserole healthier for you and easier on your budget. Do you have…

Tender and juicy classic oven roasted chicken couldn’t be more easy or economical! This is one quintessential recipe you’ll come back to time and time again. I remember being a newlywed, a novice cook, and being completely intimidated by the idea of cooking a whole chicken. Tucking wings? Trussing legs? Carving? It was just too far outside my comfort zone. It wasn’t until years later when I became more conscious of stretching our budget and stretching my time that I…

Creamy, cheesy, and a little bit spicy, this Cajun Sausage Alfredo covers all the bases.   Cajun Sausage Alfredo is a cheap weeknight dinner. It’s quick and easy to make. It only takes about 15 minutes, doesn’t take a ton of fancy ingredients, and it tastes amazing! Finding that combination of cheap, easy, and delicious is hard to do. But this easy pasta dish hits all 3 criteria and that’s why it’s is in the regular rotation at my house.…

Calico beans. Cowboy beans. Baked beans with beef and bacon. These deliciously easy beans go by many names, but they’re all basically the same thing, a variety of colorful beans slow simmered in a sweet and tangy sauce with ground beef and bacon. As a food blogger, a lot of people ask me questions about food in real life. Things like, what side dishes go well with this main dish? What’s something good to make for a crowd? What’s a…

Cheese Tater Tot casserole is an easy make ahead weeknight meal. A hearty beef and bean chili base is topped with gooey melted cheddar cheese and finished with crispy tater tots. Today I’ve got an easy everyday recipe for you made with ground beef! Because we get our beef directly from the butcher, it comes in 2lb packages. So I tend to brown both pounds at once and then make two main dish recipes, one for that day and then…

Don’t let anyone tell you that soup can’t be a meal. This tortellini soup is so hearty and filling. With robust Italian sausage, loads of veggies and savory cheese tortellini, this soup packs a lot of flavor! Serve it up with a side of garlic bread baked in foil and you’ve got a one pot wonder of a meal that comes together in 40 minutes. Guess who’s got two thumbs and is excited that the weather is starting to get…

Rich and creamy, cheesy and hearty, this broccoli cheese soup is one of my tried and true favorite soup recipes. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just have to take a break from the baking and the sweets! Last week I worked and worked on dessert recipes trying to decide what to make for a local charity auction and dinner. If you are a member of my baker’s group on Facebook (Let me pause here to say you…

Cool and creamy. Spicy and fresh. This Sriracha Shrimp Pasta Salad is an easy make ahead main dish loaded with colorful crisp veggies, shrimp, and a bold sriracha dressing. I started this blog just over a year ago. If you’re familiar with my story, then you probably know that I started blogging because I was at a low point in my life. I’d recently lost a part of my identity, after being a stay at home for 15 years my…

Crispy-edged, creamy-centered polenta topped with chili, cheese, and crunchy crushed nacho chips. No one will ever guess that this chili cheese polenta is a frugal leftover makeover, unless you tell them that is!   They say that necessity is the mother of all invention and in most circumstances it’s probably correct. But not when it comes to the creation of new recipes. At least not in my kitchen, most often it’s stubbornness that is the mother of all new recipes.…