Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Old Favorites

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 6 comments » / Stuff

While I haven’t been cooking much new stuff for the blog, we have been cooking some old favorites.  I was recently asked “What’s your favorite source for recipes?”, and my response was “Honestly, my own blog.”  I don’t mean that in a conceited way, it’s just when I need a reliable recipe that I know we will like, and I know what preparation time & difficulty is involved, the very first place I look is my own archives.  I realized there are a lot of recipes from way WAY back in the day that I make all the time (which is apparent when you see how awful some of the photos are), and I’d love to reintroduce you to them.  These are all things we’ve managed to make while I’ve been home on maternity leave.  Because some of these are such old favorites, I know they’ll be new to you!

Turkey Enchilada Casserole
Believe it or not, this is one of the better photos of this dish.  If you want to see the ugliest, most unappetizing photo ever, click through to see.  And while you’re there, check out the recipe for this super simple, delicious meal.  We’ve made it a million times.

Spicy Honey Brushed Chicken Thighs
We enjoying changing it up and eating chicken thighs pretty often.  They are so moist & flavorful, and this is a very simple preparation that both Nathan & I have prepared many times.

Turkey Sloppy Joes
Again, pretty unappetizing photo.  Why is it that the best tasting stuff can sometimes be so ugly?  I love this homemade version of sloppy joes, with a surprise ingredient… Carrots!

Light Chicken Parmesan
This dish comes together so easily, and tastes great!

Chicken Sausages with White Beans & Kale
 Because of all the wonderful kale we’ve been getting in our CSA, this is often a “go-to” preparation for them.  I often catch the spicy italian chicken sausages on sale, and the white beans are a pantry staple.

Raw Summer Vegetable “Pasta”
 Right now is the perfect time of year for this dish as all the ingredients are in-season.  We were both surprised at how amazingly simple, yet incredibly delicious this dish is.

Overnight Yeasted Waffles
For Father’s Day, when Elliott was almost 4 weeks old, I made these waffles for Nathan.  And by “I made these” I really mean I prepped the batter the night before, and he cooked them himself!  Haha!  In those early weeks you do the best you can.  I wanted him to have a special breakfast, and we wanted to be able to stay home and enjoy it.

Ginger Syrup
If there’s one thing I definitely need as the mother of an infant, it’s coffee.  Elliott has gotten better about sleeping at night, but he is a pretty early riser.  I drink 1-2 iced coffees a day and my preferred method of sweetening it is with a little bit of homemade ginger syrup.  I’ve made two batches already while I’ve been home on maternity leave!

Lemon Cumin Quinoa with Avocado, Raisins, and Apricots
This is hands down my favorite quinoa recipe in my blog.  This recipe makes for an incredibly flavorful dish I ate as a “power lunch”, side item to grilled fish, or just something to snack on throughout the day.  It’s a pretty simple recipe, yet with a newborn I think it took me ALL DAY to make because I had to keep stopping to care for Elliott.  Haha!

I’m not usually a fan of this type of round-up posts on other blogs, but I’ll admit even some blogs I’ve followed religiously for years will do one and I notice a recipe that I somehow missed in the past.  So I hope you forgive me if you don’t like round-ups.  And I really hope you might have discovered a new recipe that piques your interest!  I hope to have new content up soon, but it’s just hard to find time for two free hands in the kitchen AND at the laptop.  I’ve had my hands full these days.  After all, it’s a hard job raising a future leader: