Home Plate {Italian Sausage Soup}

Is there anything better than soup for dinner when the weather cools off?  We have several family favorites, but my aunt's recipe for Italian Sausage Soup is on the top of that list!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. Italian Sausage (if using links, remove the casing)
olive oil
1 large onion
3-4 cloves of garlic
4 lbs. fresh tomatoes peeled and cut in wedges or 2 28oz cans dices tomatoes
2 cups tomato juice (add more at the end to get desired consistency)
1 1/2 lbs. zucchini (diced)
2 green peppers (diced)
1 cup celery (diced)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
shredded mozzarella to garnish

Brown the sausage and onion in a bit of olive oil, then drain off the grease.

Chop the zucchini, green pepper and celery.  The Pampered Chef handheld food processor makes this step so easy!

Chop your tomatoes or rinse from the cans.  I like to dice my tomatoes super small, but some people prefer them chopped.

Combine veggies in a large soup pot.

Add seasonings and browned sausage.  I topped this batch with a little fresh basil from the garden.  I like to let this soup simmer for a few hours to distribute the flavors.

Ladle into bowls, top with mozzarella cheese and enjoy!  Add a salad and garlic bread and you've got a meal!

I know your family will love this as much as we do!

Home Plate {Pampered Chef Taco Ring}

This Pampered Chef recipe was such a HUGE hit with my family last week  for "Mexican Monday" that I knew I had to share it with all of you!  If you want to see perfect pictures of this meal, head to Pinterest.  If, like me, your kids sometimes need your attention while you are cooking, settle for my pictures that show a finished product that was left in the oven a few minutes too long.  :)

No harm done...it was still super yummy!

My niece recently began selling Pampered Chef products and I had a party to help her kick off her new adventure.  It had been a few years since I had been to a party, but I have always loved their products.  I got a ton of new items from my party and love using them!  

For this recipe, I used the Rockcrok Grill Stone and the Mix and Chop.  I do not know how I ever browned ground meat without a Mix and Chop.  I have had mine for years and it still looks and works great!  Like everything in most of my recipes, you can buy almost all of the ingredients at Aldi.

Ingredients

2 pkgs. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (sorry, Aldi, not a fan of yours) :(

1.5 lbs Ground Beef

Taco Seasoning

2 tbs. water

Shredded Mexican or Cheddar Cheese

Lettuce, Tomatoes, Black Olives for garnish

1 pepper, any color (optional)

Salsa and Sour Cream for topping

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Separate crescent rolls into triangles and lay in a circular pattern on the Rockcrok Grill Stone with large edge on the inside and each one overlapping.  You should have about a 4-5 inch open circle in the middle of the pan.

Brown the ground beef and mix in the taco seasoning, water, and about a cup of cheese.

Spoon the ground, seasoned beef onto the crescent rolls.  Lift the small triangular edge over the beef and tuck it under the other side.  Top with shredded cheese.  Since making this recipe, I received the Pampered Chef Course Grater and cannot wait to make this again using freshly grated cheddar cheese.

Pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

Cut the top off of a pepper and clean out the inside.  Fill with salsa and set on the middle of the pan.  Fill the rest of the open circle with lettuce, tomatoes and black olives.   Top with sour cream after serving, if desired.

So simple and so good!  Love Pampered Chef products and their recipes!

If you are interested in purchasing any of the products listed, click HERE.

Home Plate {Italian Zucchini Boats}

There is nothing better than eating from the garden in the summer.  Unfortunately, my garden is not doing so well this year, but I do have a few excellent farms near me that make up for my lack of crops.  My sister shared this idea with me and I altered it so that all of the ingredients come from Aldi!

Italian Zucchini Boats

Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage, casings removed

1 white onion

fresh mushrooms

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Fresh zucchini, sliced into two and hollowed out

Mozzarella or Parmesan Cheese

Slice the mushrooms and remove the casings from the sausage.

Finely chop the onion.  I love my Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor for this step.

Add the onion, sausage and mushrooms in a pan.  Cook until sausage is browned.  Cover with the jar of spaghetti sauce.

Hollow out the zucchini making "boats".  Fill with the sausage mixture.

Top with cheese of your choice and cook at 350 for 45 minutes.

I love to make an appetizer plate to keep my family happy while I am finishing dinner.  All of these items are also from Aldi.

Super simple summer dinner perfect for dining outside!

Home Plate {Summer Salads}

I love having go-to salad recipes to make in the summer.  I find myself making them as a side for dinner and then eating the leftovers for lunch.  My two favorites are Caprese Salad and Strawberry Poppyseed Spinach Salad.  Both of these salads can be made with ingredients from Aldi except for the poppyseed dressing.

CAPRESE SALAD

I could literally eat this every day.  I especially love when I can get the tomatoes and basil straight from my garden.  This salad just tastes like summer and couldn't be easier to make!

Tomatoes, sliced
Mozzarella Cheese (Buy as a ball and slice.  Yes, you can get this at Aldi! )
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt

Slice the tomatoes and cheese and stagger on a plate.  Tuck basil between layers.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkle with sea salt.

I've also made this as an appetizer with grape tomatoes, mozzarella and basil layered on toothpicks:

STRAWBERRY POPPYSEED SPINACH SALAD

The combination of flavors in this salad is so good!  I created this several years ago and it has traveled with me to many a cookout.

Spinach Leaves, washed and dried (I like the baby leaves)
1/2 red onion, diced
2 English Cucumbers, diced
1 Quart strawberries, sliced

Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing (found at Wal-Mart, Kroger or HyVee)

Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl.  Top with poppyseed dressing and toss just before serving.  Add chicken to make this salad a meal!



Do you have a favorite summer salad recipe?  I'm always looking for new ones to try!

Home Plate {Easy Weeknight Chili}

I am always looking for new recipes that are inexpensive and come together in a flash.  I need to have dinner on the table early in my house with all those hungry boys to feed!

I love to make chili on fall weekends that includes lots of chopping and simmering.  Sometimes, though, I just need to get a pot of something hearty on the table in thirty minutes or less.  This recipe fits that criteria and while it won't win you a blue ribbon at the chili cook-off, it's tasty just the same!

Ingredients (All bought at Aldi!)

1 pound grass fed beef (not pictured)

1 large can tomato juice

mild chili beans

1 packet chili seasoning (not pictured)

Directions

Brown the ground beef and add in the packet of chili seasoning.



Pour the tomato juice in a large soup pot.



Add the seasoned browned meat, and chili beans to the tomato juice.


 
Cook on medium heat until heated through.

I like to serve this with a pan of Jiffy corn bread on the side. Since Mason has an egg allergy, I make his corn bread with half of a banana instead of an egg. It works!  



My family also likes cheddar cheese and sour cream to top off their bowls of chili.  This recipe serves four, so I double it.

Warm, filling, quick and inexpensive!

Home Plate {BBQ Pork Tacos}

I am so excited to blog about this recipe because it is one of my family's favorites, it's super easy, and it cooks in the Crock Pot.  That's a home run in my book!

I know I have mentioned this cookbook in previous posts, but it's worth mentioning again.  This recipe comes from my Mix and Match Mama Eats cookbook.  There are so many recipes that my family loves in this book.  Get your own copy HERE! 

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 lb. Pork Roast

1 medium sized onion roughly chopped

1-2 cans Dr. Pepper or Coke (no diet soda)

BBQ Sauce (our family loves Sweet Baby Rays original flavor)

Taco Shells (of course we buy the Aldi brand)

GARNISH:

Shredded Cheese (our family likes pepper jack, but white cheddar works well too)

Green Onions 

DIRECTIONS:

Roughly chop the onion and place in the bottom of your slow cooker.  Place the roast on top of the onion.  Pour in the Dr. Pepper and cover the top of the meat with BBQ sauce (approximately half of the bottle, reserving the rest for later).  

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.

Remove the meat from the slow cooker, add more BBQ sauce and separate meat with two forks or kitchen scissors like mine from Pampered Chef.  I use these all the time!

  Serve on taco shells.  Garnish with cheese and green onion.  

YUM!!

How Does She Do It? {Meal Planning}

One of the things I love about the online world is seeing how other women “do life” more efficiently.  Everyone has such great ideas to share and their own spin on how to make life more manageable.  I am constantly curious about other people’s habits, routines, and life hacks.  (Does that make me sound like a stalker?  I promise I am just curious about people. :)

I will be sharing how I manage some of my household routines in this series called, “How Does She Do It?”  First up, meal planning!  Selfishly, I hope you will share your best tips and tricks as well.

Since I live with four males, meals are serious business in our house.  Our grocery bill is literally the size of a mortgage payment and, although everyone has their favorites, I am always looking to mix up our nightly meals.  So my steps for weekly meal planning are:

• Review the sales.
• Look for new recipes.
• Clean and organize fridge and pantry.
• Make a weekly menu. 
• Make a detailed list.
• Plan coupons.
• Shop for food.
• Meal prep.

*Review the Sales*

I do this throughout the week as the flyers come in the mail.  For example, if my local store has chicken on sale that week, I know that we will be eating chicken sometime next week, or stocking up for future meals.

*Look for New Recipes*

I am constantly scouring magazines, cookbooks, blogs and Pinterest for new meals to try.  I usually screenshot recipes on my phone so they are handy when I get to the planning step.  Truth be told, if it goes in a Crock Pot during the week, it is moving to the top of my list.  I have a special place in my heart for my Crock Pot and could not feed this tribe without it!  One of my new favorite cookbooks is from fellow blogger, Shay Shull, Mix and Match Mama Eats.

*Clean and Organize the Fridge and Pantry*

This sounds like a daunting task, but once you get rolling with this plan, it is super simple and only takes about 15 minutes.  I do this step every Thursday because our family eats leftovers on that night.  It's super simple to incorporate these steps as your pulling out the leftovers.  We put everything on the counter and let the kids eat buffet style.  A night off from cooking!  I keep my grocery list close by during this step and make note of any staples that we are out of or running low on (milk, butter, bread, etc.).  I wipe down the inside of the refrigerator and throw out any old food.  In the pantry, I reorganize everything and do a quick inventory as well.

*Make a Weekly Menu*

At this point, I am now ready to make a weekly menu.  The shopping list sheets I use have a space for writing the menu at the bottom of the page and I love that so much!  I bought them from Jack and Ella Paper, which is a company out of Wisconsin run by a fellow "mom boss" that I found on Instagram. (Follow me @deannazehr on Instagram.  I have so much fun on there!) Seriously cute.  My motto is to only buy things that are pretty and make me happy.  So if I have to do something boring like write a grocery list, I want it to be on pretty paper.  It is the little things that make a big difference!

Our pantry door is painted with chalkboard paint and I also write our weekly menu up there as well.  No more, "What's for dinner?!"  Our typical week is Mexican Monday, new or favorite meals on Tuesday and Wednesday, Leftovers on Thursday, and we order pizza on Friday.  We usually go out on Saturday and I cook a big afternoon meal on Sunday that includes something I'm prepping for another meal in the coming week.

*Make a Detailed List*

From my menu, I now write down all ingredients that we need.  I also know what we have on hand because of my prior step.  This step is super fast.

*Plan Coupons*

When I was a single mom, I used coupons like a boss.  So much so, that I was able to feed the three of us for $300 a month.  At this phase in life, I use very few paper coupons other than the one's that the store mails to me.  I do love using Ibotta, however.  I have downloaded the app and look for coupons when I have a spare minute.  This adds up quickly.  I also download electronic coupons when available at my store.

*Shop for Food*

We are one of those families that shop at multiple stores.  For example, we may stop by our local store and grab the sale items we need when we are running a kid to practice.  However, Aldi, Kroger, and Costco are our consistent stores of choice.  I will do a future Aldi post, because I have that place down to a science!  I can't get everything there, so Kroger is where we get everything else.  We may buy household items from Target because, let's face it, it gives me an excuse to go there and see if they have anything else that's cute (and they always do!)  I avoid Wal-Mart as much as possible, but probably find myself there four times a year.  We don't go to these stores every week, they are just on our rotation.

*Meal Prep*

When I get home from the store, I wash all of the produce immediately and recycle packaging as I am putting things away.  That way if someone wants to eat grapes, they are washed and off their little stems.  When you are hungry, washing grapes seems like a super big task and it is easier to grab an Oreo. (Just me?)

I hope you have found some tips that help you plan your weekly meals.  It sounds like a lot when you write it all down, but it is just part of my routine now and saves us a ton of trips through the drive-thru.  Share your meal planning tips below.  I love to find new ways to increase efficiency and save more money.

Happy meal planning!

Home Plate {Easy Fish Tacos}

Welcome to my recipe series!  We are a baseball loving family (despite our differences in team preferences), so there is no better title for this series than “Home Plate”.  After all, these recipes feed my very favorite home team. J

Getting dinner on the table every night for my household of boys can be a bit of a challenge.  I will be blogging about my meal planning process soon.  While our family has our tried and true favorites, I am always scouring blogs, magazines and Pinterest to add new recipes to our rotation.  The older they get, the more they eat, so staying on a budget is also a priority.

Over the past six months or so, I have begun shopping at Aldi for more of our family’s food.  While I can’t get everything on my list there, I am finding more and more products that my family loves (organic coffee pods, I’m talking about you!)

Today’s home plate is a super quick recipe for fish tacos using a majority of items found at Aldi.  My family loves this dish and I love how easy it is for the weeknight rush.

{Easy Fish Tacos}

2 Packages Frozen Talapia (thawed)(approximately 4 filets per package)

Old Bay Seasoning (not at Aldi, but the best!)

Flour Tortillas

Toppings of Choice:

Mexican Cheese

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Cucumbers

Cilantro

Avocado

Sour Cream

Spray a large baking sheet or 9 by 13 pan with non-stick spray.  Place Tilapia on the pan and drizzle a little olive oil on each filet.  Season each filet with Old Bay and bake the Tilapia according to the directions on the package.

Chop and prepare toppings while the fish cooks.  Wrap the stack of tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for a few minutes.

When fish is ready, place in a bowl and separate with a fork.  Spoon fish onto warm tortillas and top as desired.

This is such a quick and easy meal that pairs well with chips and salsa, rice, or a salad.  It might be a bit healthy too!  (Shhhh….don’t tell the teenagers. J)

I’d love for you to share links of some of your family’s favorite meals for me to steal try.  Enjoy!