Best Ever Burrito Bowls

It is no secret that I like to grill (or that I rarely make the same recipe more than once), so it should come as no surprise that grilling would be on the menu for Isaac's first birthday party.

Well, to be honest, I had initially planned to just order pizza, but Daniel persuaded me to cook for everyone.

Anywho, last week I made these Fiesta Ranch Chicken Burrito Bowls from a recipe I found at Carlsbard Cravings and they were really out of this world. So Daniel said I should just make them for the party.

You know that it's a great recipe when I made it twice... in one week no less! The prep was simple. I just had to marinate the chicken ahead of time and then I whipped up this Cilantro Lime Rice from Culinary Hill (a Chipotle knockoff). It was also amazing (the secret being to cook it with a bay leaf, who knew?!?).

Anyways, if you are looking for a delicious, easy to make meal, you need to give this a try. Seriously. I will be making it again! The chicken and rice are THAT good!

I Love to Grill

 Lemon and Dill Barbecue Salmon Kabobs [recipe via Plating Pixels]

If you follow me on Instagram, or are Facebook friends with me, you probably noticed my hashtag #ilovetogrill. 

 Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Kabobs [recipe via The Mediterranean Dish]

This summer I really got addicted to grilling. In general I don't cook very many of the same recipes more than once and this summer I embraced that principle with grilling.

Apple Cider Glazed Pork Chops [recipe via Delightful-E Made] 

with Peaches and Sugar Snap Peas

At first I thought I would be limited on what I could do on the grill, but I discovered a love of grilling and so many flavors that I hadn't experienced before.

Rack of Lamb [recipe via Food & Wine], Okra and Corn on the Cob

I grilled salmon, chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, pork chops, lamb, veggies, and fruit. Oh, yeah and burgers too! The list goes on and on.

 Grilled Salmon and Sea Scallops with Sugar Snap Peas and Summer Squash

I especially loved making kabobs and tried every recipe I found on Pinterest that sounded like it might be good.

Grilled Shrimp and Sausage Kabobs with Bacon Wrapped Mushrooms 

[recipe via Taste and Tell]

Besides the amazing taste, one of the main reasons I love grilling is because of how easy it is to marinate food and fire up the grill for a meal. With a 3.5-year-old and an infant, time is a luxury I don't have a lot of, and grilling met my need for variety and great tasting food.

Sweet Maple BBQ Chicken Kabobs [recipe via A Dash of Sanity] with 

grilled Brussels Sprouts [recipe via Alton Brown] and Zucchini

Let me tell you, it was one delicious summer of food on the grill!

Teriyaki Salmon Skewers [recipe via Simply Recipes]

Now that the weather is cooling off, I will probably turn to warm soups and chili and cornbread as my go-to meals, but I truly love grilling, and when the weather permits, I will be outside with my grill!

Grilled veggies for The Pioneer Woman's Grilled Veggie Enchiladas 

[recipe via The Pioneer Woman]

Follow me on Pinterest and let me know if you have any favorite grilling recipes!

Hamburgers and Sweet Potato Fries

What's Cooking?

Happy Monday All. Here is a recap of what I have been cooking lately...

Lazy Stuffed Peppers via Cheryl Style 

I tried the Lazy Stuffed Peppers recipe again and this time it wasn't a flop! The biggest change was to cook the rice separately and mix it in at the end. 

To be honest, I thought the flavor of this dish was a little bland. Maybe because I used the cheese as a sparse topping instead of a big element. I think if I made it again, I would use sausage (or at least half sausage) instead of ground beef. Jack will try peppers now, but still isn't really a fan of peppers or tomatoes.

Parent Score 3/5 | Toddler Score 3/5

End-of-Summer Juicy Tomato Sandwich

Sometimes you just crave things like tomato sandwiches. They remind me of summers as a kid. The warm toast, the juicy tomato, the cold Miracle Whip. I will always love this sandwich. 

Fruit Smoothie

Jack and I make a smoothie almost every day. One cup of frozen fruit, one cup of juice, blend. Sometimes I add in some yogurt, but it is always a sweet afternoon snack. We have to have it outside on the porch because Jack says it is too cold for drinking inside.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Pineapple Grilled Salmon via Make the Best of Everything

I was so excited about the idea of this dish. Unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but the flavors of the pineapple didn't translate to the salmon. 

The grilled pineapple, on the other hand, was loved by our entire household. In the future I would just grill the fresh pineapple and skip on the pineapple plank – it made the salmon take forever to cook.

Parent Score 4/5 | Toddler Score 4/5

Fruit Trifle via Taste of Home
I made this dessert for our small group on Sunday night (I forgot to take a finished photo though). I was running short on time, so I substituted cold pudding cups (8) instead of making the pudding. I think the sour cream in this really gave it a nice kick. The kids loved it, but it tasted more like an adult dish and not just pudding with fruit and angel food cake.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Skinny Shrimp Alfredo Pasta Bake via Damn Delicious 
Every once in awhile I will get it in my head that I will make something with an alfredo sauce, and every time I do this I end up not making alfredo. Daniel and I don't really care for the creamy white sauce (too rich) and I just cant bring myself to put cream cheese in a pasta dish (even though I know it will be delicious)! 

For this dish, I used half a pound of shrimp and half a pound of sauteed chicken. And instead of making a white sauce, I just stirred in mozzarella with a bit of cream until it melted. Not exactly alfredo, but still good. 

Parent Score 4/5 | Toddler Score 4/5 

Crockpot Enchilada Soup via Your Cup of Cake 

I don't make many crockpot dishes, but this one is a win. The only thing I changed was using a chopped up fresh red pepper instead of roasted red peppers and corn from a can instead of frozen. This dish was a big hit. The flavors were perfect and it didn't feel as heavy as eating enchiladas. Jack cleaned his bowl.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

BBQ Chicken with Corn on the Cob and Zucchini on the grill

We have really enjoyed our grill this summer and this was a simple dish to throw on the grill. Everything cooks quickly (about 5 minutes per side).

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5 

What's Cooking?

I have decided to switch gears a little since my last "Cooking with Pinterest" post. I am still going to review recipes I find on Pinterest, but also share stuff I am cooking that might not have recipes. Each thing I try will include what I changed (if anything) as well as whether or not it was toddler approved. Also, I will include the flops – for some reason these always tend to involve rice when it comes to my cooking...

Grilled Chicken Kabobs, of the Hawaiian kind

Mushrooms, Peppers and Pineapple combined with chicken on the grill is a win in this household. I made this variation with a Hoisin, soy sauce blend. Jack loves mushrooms and pineapple, but still isn't a fan of bell peppers.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 4/5

Tacos with a side salad

We like to enjoy a good taco night every once in a while. Especially when we are short on time. If we have tacos, we prefer the Stand and Stuff kind since you can fit more in them and they don't fall over. Jack likes his toppings wrapped in a soft shell. I tried to sneak some fresh baby spinach into Jack's and he called me out and said it was yucky. Minus the spinach for Jack, tacos are always a hit at our table.
Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 4/5

Grilled Chicken with an Alabama White Barbeque Sauce via Buns in My Oven 
with a side of Grilled Mushrooms and Zucchini

Oh my, this was a great recipe! From the homemade rub to the homemade white barbeque sauce, this was delicious. I loved the flavors and it really wasn't that hard to make. 

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Oven Roasted Sausage and Potatoes via Recipes from the Big Blue Binder

For a twist, and to make this dish a bit healthier, I used half sweet potatoes and half russet potatoes. Daniel didn't care for the sweet potatoes, but I actually liked them better. Especially with the sausage. I thought this dish was quite tasty, Daniel and Jack were less partial to it.

Parent Score 4/5 | Toddler Score 4/5

Double Chocolate Banana Bread via Smitten Kitchen

We had some bananas that were very ripe (mushy as Jack likes to point out) so we made a batch of Double Chocolate Banana Bread. I don't think you can go wrong when you add dark chocolate to things. In this case I added dark chocolate cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips. We all loved it. And Jack is a happy camper any time I let him lick the beaters.
Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Shrimp Boil Kabobs via Cook au Vin

This recipe was very similar to one I tried last month. This time I left out the chicken and marinated the kabobs as they cooked instead of just dumping the butter sauce on them afterward. Overall I love this dish. Daniel is a bit more ambivalent – mostly he just doesn't like that the sausage has such a high fat content. Jack and I enjoyed the sausage :)

Parent Score 4/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Hoisin Chicken with Rice and Roasted Brussel Sprouts made up on the spot, by yours truly.

I literally just sautéed chicken in olive oil, added some Hoisin and soy sauce and a little brown sugar. Brussel sprouts went in oven at 425 for about 20 minutes. I covered them with olive oil, garlic powder and 3 garlic cloves that were in big chunks. Very yummy and quick! Jack and Daniel did not care for the brussel sprouts but enjoyed the chicken and rice.
Parent Score 4/5 | Toddler Score 4/5

Dark Chocolate, Zucchini, Oatmeal Cookies via Cooks.com

Jack requested cookies so I decided to make some that were semi healthy. To be fair, I did add dark chocolate chips to them. Daniel walked by and asked why there was green stuff in the cookies, but didn't complain once he actually ate them. Overall a win. We will be sharing these cookies with friends.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Lazy Stuffed Peppers via Cheryl Style
Flop. Flop. Flop. I think this would have been a really yummy dish but it was a flop because 1) I let the rice simmer at too high of a setting (my stove top is finicky and hard to get rice to absorb the water correctly) and 2) I used half white rice and half brown rice. The brown rice never got soft and the entire bottom of the pot burned. I don't toss out many dishes, this was a toss. I will have to try it again when I have enough white rice. Also, next time I will just cook the rice separately and mix it in at the end. The dish started out looking and smelling so good. I hate having to throw out food!

Not going to score this since we didn't eat it. Photo is pre-burning. 

Cooking with Pinterest.10

Recent recipes I have tried (not as many Pinterest finds this time around)... 

Toad-in-Hole with Sliced Tomato

Someone had recently given me some homemade sourdough bread so I used it to make Toad-in-Hole (one of my favorite things for lunch or breakfast). You just cut a hole out of your bread and then cook a fried egg, over-easy, in the center. The bread is great for soaking up the runny yolk. For my side, I sliced up a fresh tomato and added salt. Perfection.

Watermelon Mango-Banana Smoothie

Jack and I have been on a recent smoothie kick. Last week I cut up and froze some fresh watermelon and it has been a great base for smoothies. For this one I put 1 cup of frozen watermelon, 1 cup of frozen fruit (mango and bananas) and 1 cup of orange juice in a blender.
Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Watermelon Berry Smoothie

For this one I put 1 cup of frozen watermelon, 1 cup of frozen berries and 1 cup of orange juice in a blender. Yum! You can do all sorts of combinations for smoothies with whatever you have on hand. 
Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Quinoa Enchilada Casserole via Damn Delicious

Excellent dish. I added sauteed chicken to make it a little heartier (plus Daniel likes meat in his meal when possible). This dish came together really quickly and we had leftovers for lunches that week.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

Peach Cobbler via Pink Parsley

This is one of my all-time favorite cobbler recipes. It is really simple to make and always turns out perfectly. Jack helped me make this for company last week. He likes to drop the peaches into the batter.

Parent Score 5/5 | Toddler Score 5/5

BBQ Turkey Breast and Shrimp

While my aunt and her family visited, I threw together this dish of rice with BBQ Turkey and Shrimp with a side of sauteed zucchini and corn. It was really simple to make and fed a big crowd. I just sauteed shrimp and turkey in BBQ sauce and made a pot of rice.