I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, Jamie. She always has awesome recipes. You can’t go wrong with this chicken – it’s not expensive, it’s juicy, and it’s got great flavor. You can grill it on the BBQ or bring it inside (like we did last night since we are out of propane) and I just cooked it up on our plug-in griddle. My kids now call it favorite chicken. I snapped a quick picture before they devoured last night.

Printable Recipe Here

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (go for the thighs – they make the recipe! Breasts are too dry) This is about half of a Costco or Sam’s bag
1.5 cups soy sauce (if you want less salt, go for the reduced sodium soy sauce)
1.5 cups water
1/2 C brown sugar
2 T minced garlic
1 T minced ginger (optional)

Place all ingredients in a ziplock bag or large bowl and marinate for 2-4 hours. Grill until done.

YUM. I hope you love it as much as we do.

Printable Recipe Here

If you want more summer recipes:

Fall Off The Bone Ribs

Favorite Zucchini Bread

Best Salad Ever

Banana Bars

Happy Grilling!

This is a family favorite and so super easy! A little messy but a great kid friendly option for a busy night.

** Printable recipe here ***

Preheat oven to 475 degrees or 450 degrees convection.

Take some cooked quicken from a rotisserie or your instant pot or cook some up, add a can of black beans, some white cooked corn (I love the super sweet frozen corn from Costco or the steamable bags or you could use canned) and stir it together. You could also add some tomatoes but we like to add salsa on top after they have baked. Then add equal parts of some bbq sauce and ranch dressing and mix it up with a large spoon.

Note: the original recipe from a magazine called for simply mixing chicken with salsa but my kids love this bbq-ranch combo that my sister Kelsey used on a salad at a family reunion and it just kind of came to be. Combinations and possibilities are endless with this recipe!

Line a large baking sheet with foil for easy clean up and spray with cooking spray.

Then take some flour tortillas and spray one side with cooking spray (your choice) or you can melt real butter and use that.

Flip the tortilla over, fill with the chicken mixture

Then, top with cheese.

Fold over (cooking spray should be on the outside) and bake for about 5-7 minutes, but watch closely after 4 minutes. They will be crisp on the outside and warm and delicious on the inside. I cut them in half with a pizza cutter and serve with salsa, sour cream, and avocado. Cut up some watermelon and grab a bagged salad and you are set!

They aren’t the neatest meal, but so good!! This is the pan  I forgot to line with foil – you’ll definitely want to use the foil for easy cleanup.

** Printable recipe here **

Cowboy Chicken Quesadillas

Preheat oven to 475 degrees or 450 degrees convection. Line baking sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Ingredients:

Canned black beans

Cooked white corn

Cooked chicken

Bbq sauce

Ranch dressing

Shredded cheese

Flour tortillas

Cooking Spray

Mix together the black beans, corn, and chicken. Add equal parts of bbq sauce and ranch to desired consistency. Spray one side of tortilla with cooking spray, turn over and fill one side with chicken mixture then top with cheese and fold over. Cooking spray side should be on outside. Bake for 5-7 minutes, begin watching closely at 4 minutes until they reach desired crispness on edges. Cut in half with pizza cutter and serve with salsa, sour cream, and avocado. Enjoy!

I wanted to share a super easy painless way to make some delicious, tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs: we use the crock pot! If you are a vegetarian or have an aversion to meat, you will not want to continue reading this post.

Click here for the printable recipe.

If we are having guests I buy the Costco or Sam’s Club baby back ribs pack and cook them all. I usually figure 3-4 ribs for adults and 1-2 for kids. If it is just our family (7 of us) I freeze half for later. Cut the racks in half with kitchen scissors and season them up good with rib seasoning, salt & pepper – rub it all in really well. We love the Weber smokey mesquite (find at most grocery stores), Costco also has a great rib seasoning.

Stack them up in the crock pot – make sure the lid can fit on securely. They can all fit in my 6 quart.

Cook them on low for 6-8 hours. The meat will be already falling off the bone when you take them out – be very gentle with them!

Then we take them out to the grill – squirt bbq sauce on them and then brush it in.

Grill on both sides for about 5 minutes or until the sauce caramelizes. If you don’t want to use the grill, just put them on a baking sheet lined with foil and stick them under the broiler for around 5 minutes and then flip and do the same on the other side.

Serve with extra bbq sauce. They are soooo good! Enjoy  Click here for printable recipe.

This is our favorite way to use that end of summer zucchini! I got it a long time ago in Montana from my friend Mitzi Luke. Enjoy!

Our Favorite Zucchini Bread – printable recipe here. Makes 2 loaves

from my friend Mitzi Luke ♥

3 eggs

1 cup oil*

2 cups sugar

2 cups peeled, grated zucchini

3 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

Cinnamon Streusel topping:

5 Tbs melted butter (or just softened)

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Beat eggs, oil, and sugar together, then add zucchini and vanilla.Stir dry ingredients together and then add to previous mixture just until mixed in (don’t overbeat)Pour into 2 well oiled loaf pans.

To make streusel topping: Mix ingredients until mixture is moist and crumbly. Sprinkle topping on top of batter and bake at 325° for 55 minutes-1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

* you may substitute applesauce for some or all of the oil. I usually add 1 cup of applesauce and 1/8 to 1/4 cup of oil.

Printable Recipe here.

We had a special weekend as my baby got baptized this weekend. He doesn’t like to be called my baby since he’s eight years old, but of course he always will be (cue Mariah Carey!) and it was a momentous day for our family.

He was baptized at the church and then we came back to our place for brunch. Here are a few ideas:

We just printed our favorite 4X6 pictures of him, mounted them on scrapbook paper and hung with some small clothespins on ribbon.

And also hung some at the window

The banner at the fireplace was the Little Explorer Personalized from Minted – you can make it say anything, I probably would have used the number 8 instead of spelling it out.

This was a last minute thing but ended up being my favorite – I had this chalkboard from Christmas and asked him to write some things down that he knew (his testimony) ♥

On the tables we used white tablecloths that I found for a screaming deal on Amazon and tins from the Dollar Tree with some balloons from our local grocery store. We just taped the balloons to tuna fish cans and covered them with tissue paper.

For food we did a crepe bar and breakfast casseroles. My dad’s crepe recipe is here and we have 2 pans to whip them out quickly. I’m fine with cold crepes since we usually fill them with fruit and cream but my dad was a hero and cranked them out as we were eating so they were nice and warm. Michael and Kristine (my bro & sil) have used tortilla warmers for theirs.

I got these great little chalkboard labels – a dozen for $6.99 and favorite toppings ended up being: buttermilk syrup, bananas, nutella, lemon mousse (Kristine makes it with whipping cream, cream cheese, lemon juice), strawberries, blueberries, real whipped cream, and my Dad’s fried apples. The breakfast casserole recipe I used is here but I followed the comments and used croutons instead of the bread and maple sausage. My brother also made a dutch oven mountain man breakfast. We just did juice and water to drink – but get no pulp juice so it doesn’t clog up the dispenser.

I hope this helps if you have an event coming up –- I always like to see other ideas.

This is a simple salad but it’s sooooo good. It’s the one I always get a request for when I make it for company or bring it to a gathering.

The secret ingredient: this English cheddar that I buy at Costco – sweet & rugged and it crumbles perfectly – it is divine with the lemon poppyseed dressing. This cheese was introduced to me by GoToRecipes on Instagram in another salad she shared that is also soooo good –she has the best recipes.

Lightly toss together:

- Spring mix salad mix (or just whatever dark greens + spinach you have on hand)

- Coastal English cheddar cheese, crumbled

- Dried cherries (or cranberries, I like the cherries)

- slivered almonds (you can caramelize them if you like)

- thinly sliced apples or pears (dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning if it will be awhile before adding dressing)

Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oil (whatever I have on hand: canola, vegetable, or olive)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, lemon juice, onion powder, mustard and salt. Process until well blended. With machine still running add oil in a slow steady stream until mixture is thick and smooth. Add poppy seeds and process just a few seconds more to mix. Toss with salad right before serving.

Yum.

Enjoy! Here is the printable version

My top 3 popular recipe posts:

1. Banana bars

2. Greatest granola

3. Easy peasy homemade donuts

This is our favorite, go-to soup in the fall and winter. It can be thrown together in 20 minutes or less, is great doubled for a crowd, and chances are -- you have everything on hand. It is adapted from the Baker Upstairs. We LOVE Jamie’s Breadsticks with it.

Easy Potato Cheese Soup -- printable version here.

6-8 small russet potatoes or 4 big ones

4 Tbs. butter (if you want to make it REALLY good, substitute some bacon drippings for the butter. Basically, when you make bacon, save the bacon grease in a container just for this purpose. It makes it YUM.)

1/2 cup flour

2 cups milk --whatever you have on hand

4 cups chicken broth OR 4 cups water + 4 chicken boullion cubes (my favorite is the Better Than Bouillon -- I find it is least expensive at Costco)

Seasoned salt and or garlic salt to taste

a couple of big handfuls of shredded cheese

a few big spoonful's of sour cream (also optional if you don’t have it on hand)

Optional:

If you don’t have bacon drippings, throwing in some real bacon bits is so yummy

*optional: garnish with additional cheese, sour cream, real bacon bits and green onion.

Pierce the potatoes a few times and microwave them all until soft, in my microwave it’s about 12 minutes. Let cool while you are putting everything else together. When cool, I take the skins off, but I know some like to leave them on. Cut them into bite size pieces

Melt the butter in a large soup pot, add the flour and whisk until smooth and combined about 2 minutes. Add the milk and chicken broth and cook, stirring occasionally until thick and bubbly, about 6-8 minutes.

Gently stir in potato chunks. Add seasoned salt/garlic salt to taste and add the cheese, stir until melted. Take off heat, stir in sour cream.

Printable version here.

Enjoy!!

I got one of the best meal planning tips from this old book my Mom gave me that she had when she was a young mom.

It is to know what’s for dinner by 10.

10 p.m. the night before if you are working outside the home, and 10 a.m. if you are at home. It gives enough time to turn on the crock pot, take meat out to thaw, start the rice cooker, or know what you need to grab at the store. It’s amazing what a simple thing like knowing what’s for dinner can make in the day! I try to make a general meal plan for the week on Sunday, but it’s flexible because sometimes you don’t feel like spaghetti on Wednesday, but everyone is always in the mood for pizza on Friday. Tonight it’s Yoshida chicken: we just get the Yoshida sauce in big bottles at Costco (or look for it at Sam’s or the grocery store, it’s really expensive on Amazon!), cover chicken in the crock pot with the sauce and let it cook on low all day. Serve it over rice with vegetables on the side.

I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a recipe rut lately~have you come across any good family-friendly recipes lately? We would love to hear them, or leave a link in the comments or on Facebook!

Happy Wednesday~

Quick & Easy Chicken Wild Rice Soup

-adapted from Taste of Home

1 envelope chicken noodle soup mix ( I use the Lipton envelope soups found in the soup aisle, this one)

Happy Soup-ing!