Category: From My Kitchen

Posted in From My Kitchen

Easy Chicken Dinners in 30 Minutes

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

We all know that weeknights get busy—whether you’re working late, shuffling kids to soccer practice or trying to squeeze in an evening yoga class—and there’s not always time to whip up an elaborate meal. That’s why we love having a few tried-and-true 30-minute recipes to rely on. They make meal prep easier and allow you to spend less time in front of the oven and more time enjoying whatever it is you like to do in the evenings.

With the help of shortcuts like rotisserie chicken and naturally speedy dishes like stir-fries, weeknight dinners don’t have to take all night. We’ve found plenty that feature family-favorite chicken and can be on the table in 30 minutes or less. Read on for our favorite easy ideas.

Curiously, water and oil work together to make a magical one-skillet weeknight chicken dinner in this easy recipe. A true hands-off meal, potatoes boil in water alongside crispy chicken thighs until they are tender. Then they fry into golden nuggets in the remaining oil.

Food Network

Posted in From My Kitchen

Quick and Easy Casserole Recipes

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Break out your best casserole dish because there’s nothing better than some homemade comfort food. From breakfast casseroles that can feed a crowd to creative takes like casseroles inspired by other popular dishes (and everything in between!), these recipes are layered with flavor—and sure to satisfy. You can’t go wrong with any of the recipes in this roundup but we love a good mashup like this one. With hash browns, ground beef, canned tomatoes and green chiles, taco seasoning and gooey cheese, it can’t be beat. It’s the ultimate hands-off meal. And since everything’s tossed together right in the baking dish, there’s very little cleanup. Simply garnish with your favorite taco toppings and dinner is served. If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, try wrapping them in a tortilla for a quick burrito.

Food Network

Posted in #allrecipes

Champion Chili Recipes for Winning Cook-Offs

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

These top-rated recipes are tried-and-true chili cook-off winners. And they could be your ticket to a blue ribbon, too. From classics to spicy new favorites, you’ll want to try all of these prize-winning chili recipes.

  • Boilermaker Tailgate Chili
  • Debdoozie’s Blue Ribbon Chili
  • Fusion Chili
  • Best Damn Chili

Allrecipes

Posted in From My Kitchen

5 Big-Batch Soups That Are Perfect for Stocking Your Freezer

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Whether you’re craving some cozy comfort on a snowy day or need an easy meal because you’ve got a case of the sniffles, there’s no better choice than a warming bowl of homemade soup. But, what do you do when cooking from scratch isn’t an option? With a little planning, you can simply reach in your freezer!

Stocking your freezer with soups may seem like a big task but it’s surprisingly simple to do. Just make a big batch on the weekend, let the soup cool completely and then tuck it away in your freezer. Most soups are freezer-friendly as long as you store them correctly.

When it comes to tucking them away in your freezer, less is more — meaning that it’s better to save the soup as several small portions than it is to freeze the whole batch in one big container. If you don’t have the right size or shape containers for maximizing freezer space, you can pour the soup into several gallon zip-top bags. Freeze the bags flat on a sheet pan so that you have several thin, frozen packages that are easy to stack and store. (You can also vacuum-seal portions of soup and freeze the same way.)

So, which soups freeze best? Most soups work well although ones that include a starchy element (like rice or pasta) are better if you undercook that ingredient just a touch. That way, when you reheat the soup the rice or pasta will be perfectly cooked. If that feels too complicated, just go ahead and make the recipe as directed, cool and freeze — I promise, it will be fine. Your rice or pasta will be just a little bit softer.

One ingredient you should avoid when you’re freezing soups though, is potato chunks. They don’t reheat well. If your soup calls for chunks of potato you can omit them and cook them fresh when you’re ready to serve your soup. Or, simply stick to soups where the potatoes are pureed (like Ree’s Perfect Potato Soup, below).

Ready to give it a try? These five big-batch soups will help you get started.

Food Network

Posted in #allrecipes

How to Create Perfect Cheeseboards Year-Round

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

Let’s start with an apology. We’re sorry we didn’t bring this hack to you back in November. This was before all the holiday cheese boards and charcuterie boards. Trust us, if we had known about this trick back then, we would have shared it with you. 

Fortunately, cheese isn’t just a holiday food. It is everyday food for many of us. There are always occasions to make cheeseboards. Some occasions include birthdays and anniversaries. Valentine’s Day, an Oscar party, and the big bowl game are other examples. Even an average Tuesday is a good time, to name a few.

If you always volunteer to bring the cheese to an event, you should know about this trick. You like your cheese boards to look professional with uniform slices.

How to Use a Fork to Uniformly Slice Cheese

This viral cheese-cutting tip that spread.the.grub posted on Instagram is so simple and so genius. 

Here’s how it works. Grab a dinner fork (any regular old dinner fork). Grab your block of cheese. This trick seems like it would work best with a semi-hard cheese such as Cheddar, Gouda, Swiss, or provolone. It wouldn’t work very well with a soft goat cheese or Brie that isn’t easily sliceable. Hard cheeses, such as Grana Padana or Parmesan, would probably crumble under the knife. 

But for those cheeses that are cut into slices cleanly, this method will make easy work out of uniformity.

Allrecipes