Magnolia Mamas : dinner recipe

Showing posts with label dinner recipe. Show all posts

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Kitchen Confessions: Easy Fish Tacos

It's been a minute since we've been on here. Lots of life happening and just not a lot of time for blogging, but we're slowly settling into a summer routine and that means just a little more free time on the horizon. Time to enjoy family, time to enjoy the sunshine, and time to actually cook a good dinner!

There is something about summer that makes me feel like we should be eating more seafood. We've had some Mahi Mahi in the freezer for a while from a fishing trip the Mr. took this spring and I found THIS recipe online for fish tacos.

They were SO good. My family was so impressed and they tasted like something you'd have at a restaurant. So yummy! The fish was seasoned just right and I think the other key was having all the best toppings including the tacos sauce that the recipe shared.

Fish Taco Ingredients:

small flour tortillas

1 1/2 lbs. white fish of your choice

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

Fish Taco Toppings:

1/4 purple cabbage

2 avocado, sliced

tomato, diced

1/2 diced read onion

1/2 cup Catija cheese, crumbled

1 lime cut into wedges

Fish Taco Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup sour cream

1/3 cup mayo

2 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Sriracha sauce

Instructions:

1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In small dish combine seasonings and sprinkle evenly over both sides of fish.

2. Lightly drizzle fish with olive oil and dot each piece with butter. Bake at 375 for 20-25 mins.

3. Combine all taco sauce ingredients in medium bowl and still until well blended.

4. To serve tacos, quickly toast the corn tortillas in large dry skillet over medium/high heat.

5. Assemble starting with pieces of fish then add toppings and taco sauce. Serve with fresh lime wedge to squeeze over tacos.

6. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Kitchen Confessions {Air Fryer Salmon}

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've been loving my air fryer and we've tried all sorts of things in it. Last week I shared my Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts (SO GOOD) and the Mr. made wings in it for the Super Bowl. For me it has made weeknight dinners easier to put together because it cooks things so much faster. I have the Cosori air fryer and have been really happy with it. It thousands of great reviews on Amazon, too!

One of my favorite things to cook in it that is super easy and quick is salmon! I've always been a salmon fan, but after trying this new way of cooking it, I won't ever be going back. This recipe calls for a little bit of brown sugar and it caramelizes so nicely. The top of the salmon browns, but it keeps in all of the juices and it is really tender.

Air Fryer Salmon

Ingredients:

-2 salmon fillets with similar thickness

-2 tsp olive oil

-salt and pepper

-2 tsp paprika (I don't really measure though...just kind of sprinkle some on)

-1 Tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1. Rub each fillet with olive oil and season with salt/pepper, paprika and brown sugar.

2. Place fillets in the basket of the air fryer, skin side down.

3. Cook at 390 degrees for 8-12 minutes depending on your desired doneness. As you can see from the picture, I prefer mine more done so did them the full 12 minutes, but you can adjust the cooking time to fit your preference! If you prefer your salmon a little less done I would start with 8 minutes and check it before adding a few more minutes to the cooking time.

That's it! Just add a veggie or salad and you have a great healthy meal. Let me know what you are cooking in your air fryer...I'm always looking for new ideas!

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Kitchen Confessions: Simple Taco Soup

It's been quite a while since our last Kitchen Confessions post so I figured it was high time to share something we've been eating lately. Weeknights are the hardest because we are so short on time. Between practices for three kids in multiple sports, finding a night that I am home with nothing to do except cook dinner is rare! I love quick and easy meals that are a crowd pleaser and this simple taco soup is just that. I can put it all together in my crockpot in the morning after the kids get off to school and know that it will be ready for us to eat anytime we happen to get home that evening.

We actually had this for the first time at my good friend A's house on Halloween. She had made a big batch of it for us to eat before trick-or-treating. I got the recipe from her and altered it just a bit to fit my kids' tastes, and have made it several times since then. Starting back to school this week I knew I needed to plan for some easy meals and this was on the top of the list!

Simple Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups water
1 can (16 ounces) mild chili beans, undrained
1 can (15 1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (10 ounces) Rotel
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until no loner pink. Drain.
2. Add taco seasoning and mix well.
3. In a crock-pot, add all ingredients including ground beef. Cook on low for about 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.
4. Stir and serve with Fritos.
5. Garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheddar cheese.
6. Enjoy!

If your kids are anything like mine, they will love this because they get to eat it with chips! That makes everything taste better, right?!

Monday, November 5, 2018

Kitchen Confessions: Creamy Sausage Rigatoni

Happy Monday friends! We had the best weekend - we cheered on our favorite soccer star, caught up on house projects, and celebrated Carrie Beth's birthday. It was a good one. Daylight savings though has rocked my world. As always it has taken me by surprise and has me all thrown off.

Can we not do away with this mean little trick? It's voting week...can we add "Do away with Daylight Savings" to the ballot? I mean, if a candidate made that as their platform they've got my vote. I have a feeling all the parents will be behind the movement.

We wrapped up the weekend with a yummy Sunday night dinner. Sunday nights tend to be our only calm dinner night of the week. Typically it's the only night of the week the whole family is home, so we try to at least attempt to sit down to a good meal. At an actual table.

I've share this dinner on Instagram before, so if you've seen it there, I apologize. But I feel it's just too good not to show it a little more Internet love.

This Creamy Sausage Rigatoni is delicious! It's quick and easy to make - my main requirements for dinner when I'm in charge. And it's a meal the whole family enjoys. That alone qualifies it for meal of the year.

How to make Creamy Sausage Rigatoni

Serves: 6-8

Total Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

1 lb. of Rigatoni pasta, uncooked
1 lb. of Italian sausage
1 24 oz. jar of Marinara sauce
1 8 oz. package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of Basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions

Cook pasta as directed on package.
Remove sausage from casings (if necessary), and crumble over stove top in a large skillet. Cook on medium heat, stirring until brown.
Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Add pasta and cream cheese. Mix well.
Cook on low heat stirring frequently until cream cheese is melted.
Drain pasta and place in large bowl.
Add sauce mixture to bowl and stir frequently until well mixed.
Top with Basil leaves and Parmesan cheese.
Serve and enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Come spend the day with us on:

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Kitchen Confessions: Simple Sheet Pan Supper

It's no secret I don't love to cook. It's not really that I don't like to cook, but that I usually don't have the time. Between running kids around, helping with homework and getting everyone to their practices and games every evening, I'm usually rushed to figure out something for everyone to eat.

I finally found something that is an easy week night dinner and one that makes *most* everyone happy. Simple Sheet Pan Suppers are my new go-to.

Literally you just chop up some vegetables, add some meat and seasoning, and bake. One dish, one healthy meal, one less night to have to worry about dinner.

Plus, it's so very colorful that makes me feel good about feeding my family! There are so many variations of this meal. Just by swapping the vegetables, meat and marinade you can come up with a ton of different meals!

I'm sharing this recipe and a few ideas for switching it up over on Savvy Sassy Moms. Be sure to head over and check it out!

Friday, September 29, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Zaycon Fresh

Heading to the grocery store to purchase meats for your family's dinners is what most of us do on a weekly basis. What if we told you that wasn't the only option though? We were recently introduced to Zaycon Fresh, a meat delivery company. Now, we laughed at first learning that we were going to be heading to a drive-thru meat market and picking up a bulk order of pork tenderloin from the back of a truck. However, the process was actually pretty neat and now our freezers are stocked with farm-fresh meats at amazing prices because we bought in bulk.

To read all about how Zaycon Fresh works check out our post on Savvy Sassy Moms. We're also sharing an easy recipe for all that pork tenderloin that is one of our very favorites!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Mango Salsa

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared about our Key West trip and all of those huge Mahi Mahi that we caught?!

Well, the good thing about having such great luck fishing means tons of fish to bring home. All of the couples got to bring home tons of fish and now our freezer is stocked! I've been looking for different ways to cook it and thinking back to some of our meals we had in Key West I immediately decided fish tacos with mango salsa would be added to the list.

I started looking around for some fresh mango salsa recipes, but couldn't find anything that was exactly what I was hoping for so I decided to just give it a whirl and try creating my own. That could have gone way wrong, but instead it went oh, so right! This mango salsa was seriously so delicious I might have hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back.

The hardest thing was cutting that dang mango. I had to google how to do it properly and still ended up throwing half of it away because I pretty much butchered it. Next time I make this (and there will be a next time!) I think I'll probably just buy some already pre-cut.

Mango Salsa
-3 mangos, diced (again with my mix-up I'd probably substitute 2 cups worth of diced mango)
-1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Combine mango, pepper, onion and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with lime juice and mix well, season with salt to taste. Stir and serve!

This salsa was SO very good. I had made it ahead of time for the dinner we were going to be cooking the next night, but we couldn't wait to eat it so we had some of it that night with tortilla chips and I could have finished off the whole thing. It was that good!

I made myself save some for the next day though because those fish tacos were calling my name. I baked the Mahi Mahi and added that with lettuce, cheese and the mango salsa to our taco shells. Not only did it look nice and colorful, but it seriously tasted like something from a restaurant!

This is such an easy thing to make ahead of time and last for up to 2 days covered in the refrigerator.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin Made Easy With Dorot

It's officially Spring! Even if the temperatures dip back below freezing, which in our case is anything below 60 degrees fahrenheit, I've decided to say goodbye to all things Winter. Winter clothes (bye), Winter boots (bye), and even Winter foods (see ya!).

Warmer temps make me crave lighter fares and frostier beverages. My ~~crockpot~~ oven tends to get a rest, and my grill comes out of hibernation. Our garden becomes more colorful, and our plates often look just as vibrant.

Over the weekend our southern spring was in full swing and we took our little dinner party outdoors with one of my favorite spring time meals, Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin.

Here's my confession for the day: I totally cheat at making this meal. I cheat in a totally good way though. And I am about to make you a cheater too! Here's how...

I love this meal. It is so so yummy. But (and it's a HUGE but) I tend to put it on my back burner when it comes to meal planning because I rarely have the time to make elaborate meals. And this one isn't even that elaborate, but it typically involves mincing garlic cloves. Again, not hard, but takes more time than I have sometimes.

But then as I was shopping along at Trader Joe's last week, I spotted my new favorite meal making time saver - Dorot! After doing a little investigating about these pre-packaged herbs, instantly I realized I would be able to put together delicious meals with out having to take the time to chop/dice/mince my way through a list of herbs - it's already done for me!

The Dorot herbs are already prepped and then flash frozen immediately so that they are just as fresh as if I cut them myself. I love that all the work is already done for me and that all I have to do is pop out one of the pre-portioned cubes for my recipe. Half the work, and none of the mess - yes, please!

They are completely all natural, Gluten free, Vegan and Kosher, and offer a wide variety of flavors. For the Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin recipe I only needed the Crushed Garlic, but there are six total options - Crushed Garlic, Chopped Parsley, Crushed Ginger, Chopped Basil, Glazed Onions, and Chopped Cilantro. So healthy, easy, and I might not ever have to cry from chopping onions ever again - double yes, please!

This recipe was already pretty simple, but now with even less prep time I might decide to tackle it a few more times this spring.

Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 60 mins

Ingredients
- 2 lbs of pork tenderloin
- 4 cubes of Dorot Crushed Garlic
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 1 bag of baby carrots
- 2 lbs of sweet potatoes and red potatoes

Directions
1: Preheat the oven to 375.
2: Slice the potatoes and put in a large mixing bowl with the carrots.
3: Stir the honey, vegetable oil, and Dorot Crushed Garlic together in a small mixing bowl.
4: Place tin foil on a large pan. Place a second section of tin foil on the center of the pan and then put tenderloin in it. Brush the honey garlic mixture over the tenderloin and then wrap completely with the tin foil.
5: Toss remaining honey garlic mixture over carrots and potatoes. Place carrots and potatoes around the tenderloin on the pan.
6: Roast in oven for approximately 40-50 mins, or until internal temp reaches 150 degrees.
7: Remove and let tenderloin sit for about 10 mins.

Serve and enjoy!

See...cheating in a totally good way. A totally good, super yummy way!

If you want to cook up a little something elaborate (without all the elaborate work) this Spring, you can find yourself some of these amazing Dorot herbs at Trader Joe's on your next shopping trip.

Just look in the frozen section of the store.

I was able to find the Dorot products right in the beginning of the vegetable section of the frozen food aisle.

Just pop them in your cart and thank me later when you aren't washing, chopping or peeling!

What yummy spring time meal will you be making now that you know less chopping and more enjoying is in your future? Share with us your favorite spring time meals!

Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin recipe. Great quick and easy recipe for dinner!

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Kitchen Confessions: Pork Tenderloin Stroganoff

Today's kitchen confession is really brought to you by Mr. Cute. I just sat back, ate, and enjoyed.

Of the two of us, Mr. Cute is way more of a food person. When it comes to dinner, he likes decadent elaborate meals, and I am happy with chicken nuggets and a few raw carrots (he's totally gagging and eye rolling just reading that). Unfortunately for him, I'm usually in charge of the dinner making department here at Casa de Cute. While I've made a few attempts at venturing out (awesome attempts if I do say so myself), I've convinced the kids that crockpot chicken tacos four nights out of the week is the best thing ever, and Mr. Cute's dreams of homemade five star dinners have been put on permanent hold.

#welcometoreality

Some days I feel bad about it. I really do. Especially as he stares longingly over my shoulder at those Pinterest recipes I am scrolling over in order to make sure I pin the most amazing Valentine's Day crafts ever. Maybe one day, when we are retired, I will sign up for a few cooking classes and really try.

Or maybe I will sit on the beach with a fruity cocktail and a big fat novel in my lap.

You just never know what the golden years might bring.

When the new year rolled around we hosted my family for an evening of dinner and football. Mr. Cute decided we were to venture outside of all things slow cooked, and made a delicious Pork Tenderloin. Even though there were eight of us, he made so much we had a ton of leftovers. So much so that we were able to make two more meals out of them - with hosting an additional four other people each time. At least we were prepared!

My favorite of the two meals was this Pork Tenderloin Stroganoff.

It was SO good! And after asking Mr. Cute about it, I realized it was actually kind of easy to make (especially if you have Pork Tenderloin already made). It was a hit amongst even our pickiest of eaters, so I know ~~Mr. Cute~~ we will put this into our dinner rotation again soon.

PORK TENDERLOIN STROGANOFF

Ingredients

Pork Tenderloin (approximately 2 cups, diced)
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 stick of butter
16oz. of sour cream
1 pkg. of egg noodles

Directions

Dice pork and onion.
Saute pork and onion together in a pan with butter. Cook until onions are tender.
Add sour cream to pan and stir.
Cook egg noodles according to package. Drain.
Place pork mixture over noodles.
Serve and enjoy!

Enjoy dinner now and thank Mr. Cute later!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Kitchen Confessions: Crock-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Happy Monday, friends! We had such a busy weekend that it didn't even really feel like a weekend. A baseball game, sleepovers, football/cheer, another baseball game, two birthday parties, a trip to the pumpkin patch, a soccer game, another birthday party, and all-star cheer practice. Basically I shuttled kids around all.weekend.long. I need a weekend just to recover from my weekend.

Times like this when I'm not home to cook we will usually just run through the drive through or order pizza, but we've been doing that a lot and I really have been making an effort to plan ahead for our meals. Last week our friend, Amanda, from Dixie Delights shared a crock-pot chicken noodle soup on her Instagram Story.

(Side note - I am totally obsessed with watching peoples Instagram stories. Are y'all watching? Do you love it as much as I do? It's like a sneak peek into their lives that you don't always see on their Instagram feed. Plus, I love hearing people talk and love when they share their voice. It's usually not at all what I picture them sounding like, but still fun!)

Back to the recipe. She had shared it on her blog, HERE, so I printed off the recipe and got to work. The first, and most involved step was getting all of the ingredients. For most it might not be hard, but remember that I like to keep things simple around here and I had to google what a leek was.

#WishIWasKidding

#NotAGourmetCook

In my defense, I had heard of a leek before, but had never cooked with one and I needed to know what to be looking for at the grocery store. Being the best friend she is, Jen made me feel better about my lack of knowledge about leeks.

After I was armed with my leek knowledge and had I gathered all my ingredients, I was ready to pull out the old crock-pot. Saturday morning before we had to leave for all of the game and parties and actives, I chopped and prepared and dumped in all of the ingredients. 7 hours later I returned home to a delicious and hearty meal! It was finally feeling like fall outside and we had spent most of the day outdoors, so this was the perfect meal to come home to. We had pumpkins on our porch, we had football on the TV, and we had soup to warm us up!

A few things to note about the recipe and changes I made:
-I used boneless chicken breasts instead of bone-in chicken.
-I used pre-sliced carrots from the produce department.
-I also used jarred/ground spices and herbs instead of the fresh sprigs and leaves it called for, because it is what I had in my kitchen and, let's face it...I didn't even know what a leek was.

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Source: Southern Living, via Dixie Delights Blog

Ingredients:
2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skinned and trimmed
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 1/4 cups)
1 celery root, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (2 cups)
1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh sage sprigs
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups wide egg noodles
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions:
1. Place chicken and next 11 ingredients in a 6-qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours or until chicken and vegetables are tender and chicken separates from bone.
2. Remove chicken from slow cooker. Dice meat, discarding bones. Return meat to slow cooker. Stir in uncooked noodles and parsley. Cover and cook on HIGH 15 to 20 minutes or until noodles are tender. Stir in lemon juice. Serve immediately, and garnish with any leftover chopped fresh parsley.

I definitely recommend making this soup! It was so yummy. We had enough for leftovers and I also ended up freezing some to be able to pull out and warm up another time. Such an easy meal and perfect for the fall!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Kitchen Confessions: Paleo Whole30 Chicken Fingers

Last week I mentioned how I have been in a dinner rut, and shared how I was combating this issue by ordering healthy dinners straight to my doorstep. Aside from hiring a personal chef though, I still have most nights of the week to plan, shop, and make dinner myself.

Whomp. Whomp.

The hardest part about dinner other than time for me, is finding something everyone can agree on while taking into account all allergies. Some nights I feel like I am making four dinners just to appease everyone!

Craziness! Who has time for that?!?

I was browsing Pinterest, and this recipe for Paleo Whole30 Chicken Fingers popped out at me from Jay's Baking Me Crazy blog.

Now if I know anything, chicken fingers is a dinner my family will gladly get behind. The fact that these were healthy chicken fingers made me a little nervous they would revolt, but I decided that was privileged information and they just needed to know they were chicken fingers.

Well let me just tell you, not only did everyone eat these, they asked for more. Then, two days later, they asked me to make them again. They are that good.

The nice thing about this chicken finger recipe is that it only takes a few minutes to make. Easy, quick, and yummy? Sign me up!!

PALEO WHOLE30 CHICKEN FINGERS

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 10-15 mins

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs of chicken (Note: I purchased the pre-sliced ones from our grocery store to save a step, and just bought two packs.)
1 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup of coconut flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of non-dairy milk (I used Coconut milk)

1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne (optional - although I added it and it was yummy!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (Note: I didn't have any on hand, so I just greased with coconut oil.)
Get three shallow dishes or bowls out for your breading station.

Put the coconut flour in dish number one.
Whisk eggs and milk together in dish number two.
Place almond flour, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and cayenne in dish number three.
Taking one strip of chicken at a time dip into the coconut flour first (making sure it's coated entirely), then dip into your egg mixture second, and then your almond flour mixture third.
Place on cookie sheet and repeat until done.

Bake for 10 minutes, then flip over for remaining five.
Optional: Turn oven up to 500 for an additional five minutes to make them golden brown. (Note: We did this for two minutes and it was just right.)

Trust me - make these and you will not be disappointed!

Magnolia Mamas

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