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Hi!  Trendsetter here.  I know.  I know.  Avocado toast is so trendy and annoying, but if you haven’t had it yet or are wondering, wtf it is, now is your time to shine, grasshopper.  This simple, inexpensive, and filling meal/side will make your tummy, significant other, child, and bank account happy!

Since avocado has that “good fat” in it, I don’t feel bad eating this a few times a week.  Full disclosure – I’m like a kid in a candy store when my avocados are ripe.  I do the happy dance with my son (to the tune of “Push It” by Salt-n-Pepa – this is 100% a true story and have video to prove it)!  

I know avocado toast seems so simple and a recipe isn’t technically needed, but it’s a fun food and I may as well hop on the bandwagon!  

I make a few different variations and honestly, you use any ingredient to make it your own.  Here are 2 different types of toppings I love:

Avocado Toast – 2 ways

• 1 Ripe avocado (This will make 4 slices of toast.)
• Bread, toasted (I love a grainy, seedy bread, but use your fave bread!  You aren’t going to insult me!)
• Various toppings: Feta, cilantro, egg – cooked ANY way, onion, sriracha, roasted pepper, sliced tomato, radishes, ANYTHING – except like peanut butter or milk or something doesn’t go with avocado at all.  Sickening.

1. Toast your bread and spread 1/4 of the avocado on each slice.

The picture above has Feta, salt, pepper and an olive oil drizzle on it. I usually will put cilantro on this combo but it’s monsooning outside which means I’m not running between the raindrops to grab some out of the garden.  Nope.  Not happening.  I shall go without…

Perhaps my fave way to prepare it is in the picture above: an over-medium fried egg with the oh-so-lovely sriracha drizzled over it.  😍  Simple yet a flavor combo made by the gods themselves!  

Again, I totally know that a “recipe” for avocado toast is kind of lame, but this may open your eyes to a new way to use the rest of the avocado that you have hanging around before it gets black and all gross!  

Happy Cooking (and eating)!

So you like ‘Italian,’ huh?  So you want to throw something in your crockpot and forget about it, huh?  You may want to pay attention then to this bad boy!  This recipe, like most of my others, is quick, easy, and cheap!

Let’s start this off right though… First of all, I cannot take credit for this recipe.  This came from my girl, Meghan, who is a new mommy!!! Eloise is perfect and adorable and she even puked on me 😂

Phew, now that I got that out of the way, I also have to tell you that I forgot to take finished product pictures 😱  It usually disappears within a few minutes so next time I will be quicker on the draw!

Sausage with Peppers and Onions

• 1 package of raw sausages – about 4-6 large links (Italian, spicy Italian, brats, ehhh whatever strikes your fancy)
• 1 onion, sliced 
• 2 peppers, sliced (any color works great!)
• 1 jar marinara sauce 

1. Cut the sausages into 1-inch pieces.
2. Put everything in the crockpot. Cook on HIGH for 3 hours.

It turns out cooked to perfection… again, sorry about the no-pic deal 🙄 I put it on some boiled ravioli and done! We have also put it on French bread with some mozzarella! Come to mama! 

Thanks, Megs, for the recipe!  It’s a hit in the House of McDonald!

Happy Cooking (and eating)!

Happy Friday to my non-meat eaters, but what is this the 1950’s?!  Shout out to my Busia who’d make this for all of us when we were little!  I swear I haven’t had these since the late 80’s and thought, eh, let’s give this a whirl.  For a quick, healthy, and CHEAP meal, I’d try just about anything…

Tuna Patties 

• 2 cans chunk, light tuna in water – I used albacore and pretty sure that gave it a less fishy taste!  
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 1 egg
• 10 teaspoons powdered Parmesan cheese (an extra tangy binding ingredient!)
• 2 good, hard shakes of Weber – Veggie Grill Seasoning (that’s a fancy way of saying “Season to taste”)

1. Open the cans of tuna and squeeze all the juice out.  I mean get rid of it.  Every single drop has go to go. See ya, juice!
2. Mix the tuna and all additional ingredients in a bowl and form into four patties.
3. Heat a skillet on high heat with about 1 T. Olive oil.  
4. When the pan is screaming hot, throw in your patties.
5. Cook on each side about 5 minutes, flipping when necessary.

That’s it.  No seriously, THAT IS IT!  Serve these however you want.  I put mine on wheat bread with olive oil mayo and ate them open-faced with a crap-ton of hot sauce on them.  (Yes, crap-ton is a standard measurement…. and I put hot sauce on practically everything even if I LOVE how my food came out.  I mean who doesn’t like their tongue on fire when they eat something! 😂)  You can eat them plain, throw ’em on a salad, on top of rice, on crackers… you get my drift here, right?

This meal took 10 minutes and that includes the cooking time!  Guess what we are having for lunch next Friday too…

Happy Cooking (and eating)!i

OMG.  It’s not often that I lose it over a meal because it’s that good (ok I’m lying… I love and appreciate a good meal!), but I LOST it over this meal!  Are you looking for a QUICK and EASY one pan (plus a blender) meal?!  Well, put on your seat belt, we are in for quite a ride!

First, let’s make a super easy restaurant-style salsa.  (I forgot to take pictures of the process so let’s all use our imagination here.)  Thanks to Aldi, this blender full of salsa costs about a $1.25 instead of $2.50 for a 12 oz. jar!  And this stuff is the BOOOMMMBBBBBB!!!!!!!  

Restaurant-Style Salsa

• One can fire-roasted tomatoes
• One can tomatoes with green chilis (Rotel)
• 1/2 an onion – roughly quartered
• 1 handful of cilantro
• Salt to taste
• About a teaspoon of lemon or lime juice
• Jalapeño (optional)

Put everything in a blender and blend it to the consistency you like.

Seriously, that’s it!  THAT IS IT, PEOPLE!  

Pineapple Salsa 

Since I’m using this with shrimp tacos, I want it to be a little sweeter. The whole savory-sweet thing is ideal with seafood!  So… I took about half the salsa and added a 1/2 can of chunk pineapple (just the chunks not the juice).  Again… blend, blend, blend!  Bam!  Hello, Pineapple Salsa!

Shrimp Tacos and Roasted Corn

Again, here comes another easy one!

• 1 lb. raw, peeled shrimp
• The above mentioned Pineapple Salsa – enough to cover the shrimp and to save for putting on your finished Tacos 
• Cilantro (optional)
• Flour tortillas
• One bag of frozen corn
• Olive oil 
• Salt and Pepper

Cover the shrimp with the pineapple salsa (and optional cilantro) and let sit in the fridge for about 3-4 hours. 

If you don’t have time or want to do this, SKIP THIS STEP!  You can always use a storebought seasoning- think Weber Grill’s Kickin’ Chicken Seasoning or heck even Mrs. Dash would be great!  Shake it on before putting it on the cookie sheet (spoiler alert)!

This is when things get so darn simple; it’s insane!

Get out your frozen corn and throw it on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with 3 T. Olive oil and salt and pepper. Mix it up and push it to the sides. 

Take out the shrimp and place it in the middle of the corn. Try to drip off the moisture (eww…this sentence sounds so gross….)!
Throw the pan in the oven at 450• for 10 minutes.  Mix the corn and flip the shrimp half-way through.  

That’s it!  I heated a flour tortilla in a dry pan, added the shrimp and pineapple Salsa and BOOM!  

Roasted Corn “Salad”

• Roasted Corn
• Mayo or Creamy Hot Sauce (see pic below), to taste 
• Queso Fresco or Feta, a heavy sprinkle

Mix all of this together and eat it.  You’re welcome.  It’s delicious, right?!

That Blue Top Lime Jalapeño Creamy Hot Sauce is no joke.  It’s hot as all get out but I LOVE it!  It was an impulse buy and they got me, hook, line and sinker!

PS “Salad” is used in quotations because it’s always up for debate as to what a “salad” actually is…. lettuce-based?  Mayo-based?  Jell-o-based?  Aspic anyone?  (If you don’t know what aspic is, treat yourself to that Google….)

I’m not sure what is on the junket for tomorrow but it’ll be Delish!

Happy Cooking (and eating)!

This post some could consider as boring because Veggie Stock?  Really?  That’s a real snooze fest… but I promise if you make this, your world will be changed and you will send me flowers because of it.  (No, for real, this is now a binding contract.  I like calla lilies.)  Plus it saves you money to make it homemade!!  Win-win!

I’ve made plenty of homemade stocks over the past 6 years.  From beef, to chicken, to shrimp, to my fave, VEGGIE!  Remember how I had that freezer bag full of veggie scraps?  Sounds gross, but I promise cooking this down into a stock is a total game changer!

This is such a quick and easy way to save a few cents and always have a stock on-hand!  CAVEAT:  YOUR HOUSE WILL STINK LIKE COOKING VEGGIES! Thought I should mention that before you hunt me down holding your sweater that smells like a pot of veggie soup….yes, this has happened…. Anna Honey- remember when I had you smelling my sweater?! 

Now that we are on the same page about the funk, here’s what you need:

• A bag of veggie scraps
• Water
• Roughly a teaspoon of salt

1. Empty your scraps into a big ol’ pot. Use a BIG pot.  I’ve made the mistake of using a smaller pot and I’m still scraping yuckiness off my stovetop. (Insert eye roll here…)
2. Add water a little less than even with the veggie scraps.  (The veggies will unfreeze when you add the water and start to float like they are in the picture.)
3. Add about a teaspoon of salt.  
4. Cook it down for about an hour.  The longer you cook it, the stronger the flavor.  I like a strong veggie flavor so 45 minutes to an hour is about perfect!  
5. Periodically mix it, push on the veggies to get that sweet nectar out, and watch the level.  It’s going to cook down pretty quickly!

   

6. When it’s pretty low and a strong color, strain it.
7. Freeze or use!

Use this stock for soups, casseroles, really anything that a broth or stock is used in!  My fave is to use it in place of water when I’m making rice in the rice cooker.  (I like to think I am a good cook, but I cannot make rice on the stove to save my life!  Crunchy rice anyone?! Sickening.)  

If you make this, let me know!  I want to know what else you use it in!

Tomorrow I have an AMAZING Shrimp Taco, the world’s easiest salsa, and roasted corn side dish blog ‘comin’ right up!’  Seriously…. I made this last night and I want to do it again already!  Woah!

Happy Cooking (and eating)!