Chicken Sausage Tortellini Alfredo

 

Chicken Sausage Tortellini Alfredo

I saw something similar on TikTok that was a 9x13 pan dump and bake recipe, but I was able to put a little more time into dinner tonight, so I decided to use a cast iron skillet.

Ingredients:

- 1 package chicken sausage chopped (I used 3 links)

- 1 bag frozen tortellini

- 1 small onion chopped

- 1 bottle alfredo

- a bit of olive oil, butter, Italian seasoning (1/2 tsp), jarlic (prob 2 tbs), pepper, red pepper flakes

- 1 tsp chicken Better Then Bouillon

- shredded mozz & parm. I honestly eyeballed it, maybe less then a cup of each?

While the tortellini was cooking, I just sauteed the onion and chicken sausage until it looked browned in some olive oil and like 1-2 tbs butter, it was just the end of a stick. Then I added a bunch of jarlic with the seasonings, and sauteed for a few minutes. I then added the jar of alfredo, then filled it halfway with water and added it to the skillet along with the bouillon. Then I topped it with the cheese and covered it for like 15 minutes and baked at 350. Then I broiled for 4 minutes and done! It was super good and flavorful, I'd definitely make it again. 

It was based off of @itsmesaramartinez on TikTok. She also added pumpkin to hers, which I personally would love but I know my husband would prefer no pumpkin so I left it out. 

Quick Honey Mustard Salmon with Power Grains and Broccoli

Quick Honey Mustard Salmon with Power Grains and Broccoli

I love this girls Instagram, she has super easy meals that just are low calorie and high protein. This dinner took like 15 minutes! Everyone liked it so I'll definitely make it again. I had never thought of just shaking seasoning in the broccoli bag before.

Click here for DevinSteeleDiatician on Insta

 

Chicken Caesar Salad

 

Chicken Caesar Salad

This was a super quick and easy meal. I just had some bagged salad, frozen chicken tenders, croutons, shredded parmesan and Bolthouse caesar dressing. My son also had an extra tender (with McDonald's sauce lol) and some garlic bread. Yum!

Dan Dan Noodles

 

Dan Dan Noodles

These were good, I probably wouldn't make them again unless requested. Only because I've made other quick noodle dishes I like better. Even though there was a bunch of chili crisp, there was zero spice so I did add sriracha. I also didn't have the green onion toppers, because my green onion went bad after only 2 days! Crazy. That would of really brightened it up.

Click here for the Dan Dan Noodle recipe from Budget Bytes

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla's with Cilantro Lime Rice

 

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla's with Cilantro Lime Rice

This was a "use up what I have" dinner. The quesadillas had Monterey Jack cheese, leftover rotisserie chicken, bbq sauce, cilantro and onions. The rice was microwaveable cilantro lime rice. Super easy and I always like using up ingredients we already have. I really should have made some veggies, but I'm exhausted and just wanted to make a quick dinner. 

The baby was already asleep when I made this, but I'm going to see if he likes the rice tomorrow! So far he hasn't been a fan of rice, but he's only tried it twice. 

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

 

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh geez this is the worst food pic I've ever taken haha. My husband grabbed his bowl and I forgot to take a picture so I quickly snapped it. I guess the lighting was bad and I moved my phone away too quickly......oh well :) 

This was a wonderful recipe! The only thing I did differently was instead of fresh carrots, I threw in a bag of frozen peas & carrots after it was cooked (while the noodles cooked) because I had one already to use. I ended up using 2 chicken breasts and it was perfect. This was great since we had all the ingredients already, and my husband loved it. Definitely rotation worthy.

Click here for the Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup recipe by Jo Cooks

Garlic Butter Tilapia with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes

 

Garlic Butter Tilapia with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes

A super quick clean out the pantry meal tonight. I made the recipe as is, and the green beans are a frozen garlic butter blend and instant mashed potatoes. It was really good for a quick pantry meal! Quick meals for busy nights with a baby :)

Click here for the Garlic Butter Oven Baked Tilapia recipe by Diethood

Tuna Noodle Casserole

 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This is delicious, filling and warm, perfect for these freezing January temperatures! I like that it's from scratch, no "cream of" soups, it really really tastes better that way. The only change I made was that I added garlic, because garlic makes everything better. We all loved it. Served with green beans!

Click here for the Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe from BudgetBytes

Sheet Pan Parmesan Garlic Chicken Thighs

Sheet Pan Parmesan Garlic Chicken Thighs

I didn't even get a picture of it plated because baby was being fussy. This was super good and it will go in our rotation! I liked how easy it was and everyone loved it. I made it exactly as written using Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parm sauce. I bought a bag of already chopped broccoli so the longest thing was quartering potatoes, and I really could just use my veggie chopper for that. 

Click here for the recipe from Cooking in the Midwest

 

Beef Stew with Potatoes

 

Beef Stew with Potatoes

This was so good! I basically followed the recipe by Pioneer Woman. I didn't have any turnips or parsley, and I used baby carrots since I had so much. I also just made instant mashed potatoes because I have a 3 month old and can barely cook lol. I also added a can of golden mushroom soup since I had it. We all loved it.

Click here for the Beef Stew with Potatoes Recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

 

Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake

This was excellent! I needed something quick I can make while baby wearing, and this looked interesting. It's super flavorful, creamy and a wonderful comfort food. My husband said it was okay, but that was expected lol. I made the recipe as written and the smokey gouda really made a difference. We dipped the bread in and just also ate it with a spoon. The garlic bread was just a baguette that I cut in half and smeared with butter, garlic & parm. I was going to have it with a salad but the lettuce went bad, so no greens tonight oops. 

 Click here for the Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake recipe by The Food Charlatan 

Quesaritos

 

Quesaritos

This was just a random clean out the pantry meal. I was able to cook dinner again (yay!) Lincoln was cooperating lol. He likes to be held non stop, and mainly by me. But we've been having Craig give him a formula bottle (he's breastfed) in the evenings so I can do stuff....and it's really working out great. It takes some of the pressure off me and it helps them bond.

This quesarito was just whatever we had already lol. I spread a tortilla with a layer of canned fat free baked beans, a packet of Taco Bell hot sauce, ground beef that I cooked with taco seasoning, chopped onions, sour cream and cheese. Then I grilled it up in a pan and that's it. Super yummy and quick. 

For my quesarito I used a low carb tortilla and fat free cheese. 

I grilled the family's quesarito's with butter, but since mine was lower calorie I used this low calorie butter. It was crazy, instead of melting on the skillet it just evaporated lol. 

Baby tax!

Garlic Parm Wings with Mac & Cheese and Green Beans

 

Garlic Parm Wings with Mac & Cheese and Green Beans

This is the first meal I've cooked since Lincoln was born! He's 5 weeks now. Before tonight we had dinners I had prepped while I was pregnant, and some frozen foods. This was, easy fast and yummy.

I just air fried the wings, added pepper and a smidge of cayenne to the mac & cheese, and the green beans were frozen that I mixed with butter/garlic/salt/pepper.

Here's my little guy, he was born on August 30th.

Ground Turkey Pita Pockets

 

Ground Turkey Pita Pockets

I had the best intentions for making this as the recipe said to lol. I had planned on just buying a tzatziki sauce because I'm due any day now and even cooking takes it out from me. I bought a pound of ground turkey, and I also had a 1/2 pound of ground beef leftover from making beef stroganoff, so I added that to the ground turkey. Which meant I added more spices too. I normally am not a fan of feta but it really does work with these flavors.

The first issue I had with this dinner is that I could not get the pita's into pockets, probably because I just bought the Walmart brand and they are too thin. So I thought oh well we'll have pita tacos, that's fine. The second issue is when I went to make the pita pockets.....I realized I forgot to order the tzatziki sauce! I was so bummed because I love tzatziki sauce. So instead I spread the pitas with a layer of hummus and a thin layer of garden veggie cream cheese. I also put some ranch on my sons pita pocket. Overall they still were delicious and really fresh tasting, and I'd like to make it again but actual pocket style with tzatziki sauce. Oh yeah and the cucumbers & tomatoes were from Craig's garden!

Click here for the Greek Pita Recipe from Jar of Lemons

Beef Stroganoff & Air Fried Ranch Zucchini

 

Beef Stroganoff & Air Fried Ranch Zucchini

I've made this recipe a million times. It's easy, good and cheap so that's great lol. The zucchini was from the garden that I tossed in EVOO, garlic/pepper/ranch seasoning and air fried at 400 for like 6 minutes. 

Click here for the Beef Stroganoff recipe from BudgetBytes

Tortellini Salad

 

Tortellini Salad

This is another "it's too hot to cook" meal. Super easy and I wanted to use up a few ingredients from the garden. I was inspired by this tortellini salad recipe by Love & Lemons and I just randomly added stuff that I had already. I also used bottle dressing because I really wanted a super quick meal lol

Ingredients:

- 20oz bag of tortellini

- 2 tomatoes from the garden, diced

- 2 zucchinis from the garden, diced

- 1/2 red onion, diced

- 1 5oz container shaved parm

- 1 14oz can of white beans

- 1 14oz can artichoke hearts, diced

- 1 bell pepper, diced

- 1/2 cup maybe of pepperoncini, diced 

- a few handfuls of an arugula/spinach blend

- 1/2 bottle of Kens Zesty Italian dressing. I don't like it too wet so I added garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a smidge of cayenne to taste and mixed it into the salad

I just cooked the tortellini, chopped all the veggies and just combined everything. Super fresh and tasty, it would be amazing with some fresh herbs. The zucchini I diced and air fried with a little EVOO/salt/pepper/garlic at 400 for about 6 minutes. 

Veggie Sandwich with Garlic Butter Fries

 

Veggie Sandwich with Garlic Butter Fries

The guys were here finishing up the flooring today and I wasn't sure how late they'd be here. So I got some Dave's Killer Bread that I toasted and I spread some garden veggie cream cheese, & topped with: arugula, pepperoncini, tomatoes & cucumber from the garden, avocados and red onion. We had some bacon too that would have been yummy.

I also air fried some of these garlic fries from Kinders, they are super good

EveryPlate Cheesy Southwest Beef Tacodillas

 

EveryPlate Cheesy Southwest Beef Tacodillas

Not a very pretty picture, but I only wanted one lol. These are delicious of course, I mean who doesn't love taco meat in a quesadilla. Plus homemade salsa and a lime crema. The only changes I made were that I had cilantro already chopped so I added that to the salsa, plus a little garlic. My husband said they're "too cute" of course, but he should be happy that he has a homemade meal lol. 

My only complaint is that they did NOT add enough cheese for all those tortillas! If I only used what they sent, each tacodilla would only get a tiny sprinkle. I added cheese we already had so we could actually taste cheese. 

Saucy Potsticker Rice Bowls

 

Saucy Potsticker Rice Bowls

This is a mish mash of all the TikTok recipes for this dish using what I had lying around basically. I really liked it but it's not my fav recipe ever but it was good and I'd make it again. The boys all said they liked it too so that's good. Plus it was fast!

Ingredients:

- half of a big bag of frozen potstickers (or 1 small bag)

- 1 can coconut milk

- 1 tbs tomato paste

- 1/4 cup maybe of Lawry's Teriyaki with Pineapple Juice Marinade (or just soy sauce or soyaki)

- 2 tbs red curry paste

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- leftover shredded carrots (cabbage would be good too)

- 1 tbs jarlic

- 1 squeeze of refrigerated tube ginger

- 1 bag steamable frozen broccoli

- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar

- chili crisp

- 1 cup rice

- green onions

- cilantro

Directions:

1) Make rice as directed

2) heat sesame oil in pan, sauté carrots for a bit until soft, then add jarlic & ginger

3) add coconut milk, tomato paste, teriyaki, curry paste, rice wine vinegar and stir

4) add potstickers

5) cook for 10-15 minutes covered

6) While everything is cooking, heat broccoli in microwave

7) Plate!

Air Fried Chicken Tenders, Hatch Chili Goodles & Sauteed Zucchini with Onions

 

Air Fried Chicken Tenders, Hatch Chili Goodles & Sauteed Zucchini with Onions

Using lightly breaded chicken and high protein pasta really helps make it a bit healthier. It's 100 degrees today and I wasn't turning on the oven, and I didn't feel like cooking too much. I made the Goodles as the directions said, with the butter options. I've tried the regular mac & cheese flavor without the butter option and it was kinda dry and not that great. The hatch chili flavor is reallly good, and even my husband said it's "not bad" which is high praise for a healthier option like this lol.

I followed the directions for the tenders too, I think it was 390 for 10 minutes? It says on the bag. The sauce is just bottled Chick-fil-a sauce because that's always delicious. I was going to make a high protein dipping sauce but like it said, it's hot so I didn't want to spend to much time in the kitchen.

My husband planted some zucchini plants and we didn't even realize we had any growing until we found this giant one buried under some leaves! It's as big as my 40oz cup.

I pretty much followed this recipe by Well Plated, except I did add garlic because garlic good.