Tag Archives: recipe

Nov1

Roasted Corn Queso Fundido

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Roasted Corn Queso Fundido

Hello!!! Johnny and I had a fabulous Halloween weekend and I hope that all of you did too! On Friday, we hosted our bestie, Cliff, for dinner and scary movies and we helped pass out candy in my parents’ neighborhood on Saturday. We had a blast and I wish the weekend could have lasted forever! For Friday night’s dinner, I made all of the fixings for tacos including cilantro lime rice and my homemade guacamole. I also wanted to try something new by making a Roasted Corn Queso Fundido dip from closetcooking. The recipe sounded awesome but it was not that great in execution. Check it out:

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This Fundido dip required minimal ingredients and simple steps. Literally all I had to do was chop some peppers and onion and let it start to char in the pan. Once the veggies were ready, it was time to add mayo, lime juice, and the cheese and mix it all up. In theory, I thought that this recipe would be really yummy and it was good. However, it wasn’t great and I definitely wouldn’t make it again.

My biggest qualm with this dip was its consistency. It wasn’t ooey gooey like I was hoping for and was essentially just veggies wadded up in melted cheese. With little to no liquid in this recipe, it makes sense and I should have thought to add some cream to it while the cheese was melting. Hindsight is, as always, twenty/twenty and I don’t really like to make tweaks on the spot with a brand new recipe. Even if this dip did have a thinner consistency, it still wouldn’t have blown me away. The flavor of it was okay, but it didn’t pack a punch and would need some doctoring up for sure.

New recipes can’t all be winners and this one from closetcooking was not the best and I don’t recommend it. I would like to try and make a Queso Blanco dip next and will hopefully have more success with that!

What is your favorite snack food? What do you like to cook when you have guests over? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct5

Quick & Easy Pumpkin Milkshake Recipe

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Quick & Easy Pumpkin Milkshake Recipe

Howdy! The transition into fall is the perfect time to host guest bloggers on lifewithlilred. It is such fun to be inspired by the autumn traditions and joys of dear friends and readers and it adds that extra touch of (pumpkin) spice to my page. Speaking of pumpkins, today, we will be checking out a pumpkin milkshake recipe by Rachael from And Fierce. I have never tried a pumpkin milkshake before, but with a recipe that sounds this yummy, I think I’ll be giving it a shot! Take a look:

Quick & Easy Pumpkin Milkshake Recipe

Compliments of Rachael from And Fierce

One of our local restaurants we like to hit up at the end of their season will have a pumpkin milkshake. Earlier this month, I kept saying we have to go the last day and get one. We ran out of time and never went. After that, I decided I would make my own at home.

Simple and real ingredients but the result is perfection! So let’s go!!

Ingredients:

15 oz can of pure pumpkin

10-12 oz of vanilla ice cream (if you want more feel free to add more)

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 inch nob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie seasoning

Salted caramel sauce

Real whipped cream

Directions:

Add your pumpkin, vanilla ice cream, peeled and grated ginger, milk, and pumpkin pie seasoning into a blender and mix it up.

Once blended, get a cup and squirt caramel on the sides of the inside of the cup. Squirt or dollop your real whipped cream and add more caramel sauce to the top.

Yeilds: Roughly 32 ounces

As you can see I split mine into three 16 ounce cups to share between myself, Atticus, and Winter.

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These really hit the spot and are completely kid approved! I’m sure we will make these again!

Many thanks again to Rachael for sharing her gorgeous Halloween Wreath and Pumpkin Milkshake Recipe here on lifewithlilred. For more from this amazing blogger, check out her page and give her a follow on Instagram @kavebabe !!

What is your favorite fall flavor? Are you team pumpkin spice or apple? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May24

Super Easy Baked Potato Dinner

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Super Easy Baked Potato Dinner

Hello! After a long stint of craziness in my life, I have finally found some extra time and energy in the evenings to cook again. It makes me so happy to be able to make dinner and mine and Johnny’s wallets have been happy because we haven’t had to DoorDash in weeks! Despite having the additional time to cook, that doesn’t mean I want to spend all evening cooking and if the meal takes longer than a half hour to make than I say forget about it lol. The same goes for if the recipe has a million ingredients because that’s a hassle and a half too!

With my time and ingredient limit in mind, I racked my brain for dinners that I could make fairly effortlessly when putting in my curbside order. I came up with several, one of them being baked potatoes. I cannot tell you the last time I have had one and as soon as I thought about it, I was craving them something fierce. This past week, I made a baked potato meal with all of the fixings for me and Johnny and my dad and brother and it turned out SO bomb. 20/10 would make again! Check it out:

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Although baked potatoes are crazy easy to make, I have never made them before. In my youth, I remember my parents just sticking the potatoes in the oven and calling it a day. I wanted to make the 2.0 version, however, and began consulting different websites to find the best way to make them. The resounding theme that I found was to coat the potatoes in olive oil and seasoning and bake it on a foil lined sheet. I did just that and coated the skins with salt, pepper, parsley, and rosemary and let them bake for about an hour at 425 degrees. Once they were close to being done, I steamed broccoli and dinner was ready to go.

The final result of my baked potato effort was a huge hit and everyone who I cooked for loved it. The oil and seasoning truly made all of the difference. The skin of the potato was so crisp and flavorful and the inside was soft and fluffy – they were the dictionary definition of “just right”. This meal required no skill or thinking, but it was the favorite thing that I have made for my captive audience in a minute. Often times, simple is best when it comes to making dinner and this is one that I would definitely make again soon!

I have been working hard at setting small goals for myself and cooking was at the top of my list. I am beyond thrilled that I am holding true to my goal and accomplishing it and the reward is everyone enjoying what I am making. That’s the best part of all! ❤

What is your favorite easy dinner to make? What is your go to baked potato toppings? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

May13

Simple Dinner: Homemade French Bread Pizza

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Simple Dinner: Homemade French Bread Pizza

Hello! My life is pretty crazy at the moment and it can be hard to find the time and energy to do much of anything once I return home for the day. One thing that always makes me feel good no matter how tired I am, though, is cooking dinner when I can. Earlier in the week, Johnny and I put in a curbside shopping order filled with all of our essentials and ingredients for me to make meals with. As soon as all of our groceries were put away, I got to work making homemade French bread pizzas as I wanted to use the loaf of bread we got at its freshest. They turned out SO good!

The cheese doesn’t look as melted as it actually was in these pictures and I will definitely keep them in the oven longer the next time around. I just didn’t want the pizzas to burn because I accidentally broiled them a bit too long in the first step. That was my bad because I actually should have baked it instead of broiled lol WHOOPS! Check it out:

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Ingredients:

1 loaf of French bread

Pizza sauce

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Butter

Garlic powder

Toppings

Step One: When I made jalapeno popper bread, I learned from the recipe to bake the bread with a melted butter and garlic powder spread to keep it from getting too hard. This was very effective and it kept the inside of the French bread soft and the outside nice and crisp. And, I repeat, BAKE not broil lol smh.

Step Two: Once the bread was taken out of the oven, I added pizza sauce, pepperoni for Johnny, and cheese, then put it back in the oven again to bake. Because of the broil catastrophe, I was monitoring my creation pretty closely and made the executive decision to take them out early. The cheese could have melted more, but it was an overall great first try!

Step Three: Enjoy!

This was such an easy and yummy dinner to make and was a fun twist on regular old pizza night. I really enjoyed my cheese French bread pizza and I know that Johnny loved his pepperoni ones because he asked me to make it again as soon as he was done eating. This is the best stamp of approval of all because my sweet husband is a fairly picky eater! I kept things simple in terms of toppings, but next time French bread pizza is on the menu, I will add some green pepper and red onion to mine; My favorite!

What is your favorite pizza topping? What is your go to simple dinner to make? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

 

Apr2

Super Yummy Jalapeno Popper Bread

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Super Yummy Jalapeno Popper Bread

Hello!!! Things have been crazy and stressful in Lil Red’s world and, thankfully, there appears to be a clearing in the woods. This past Thursday, I was so happy to finally have the time to cook something! Despite loving to cook for Johnny and myself, it is often one of the first things that falls by the wayside when life gets too busy. I have several recipes that I bought groceries for and decided to keep things simple by making some jalapeno popper bread. It was SO easy, cheesy, and delicious and I wanted to share it with all of you for a meal or snack that took barely ten minutes to prepare! Check it out:

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This recipe is compliments of Kami at NoBiggie and can be found on this link!

One of mine and Johnny’s favorite meals is jalapeno popper quesadillas. Naturally, we like any variation of cheese and jalapenos so when I saw the recipe for jalapeno popper bread on Pinterest, I was eager to try it out! When scouring for new food to make on Pinterest, I like to find recipes with minimal ingredients and prep time. The popper bread recipe boasted both of these requirements with only eight ingredients, ten minutes of prep, and about fifteen minutes of baking. I could definitely swing that!

To make my popper bread, I purchased a gorgeous loaf of artisan cheese bread from Giant Eagle’s bakery. I already had several of the ingredients listed, but I was also in need of pickled jalapenos and found a jar of sweet heat ones that were really tasty. To start, I cut the bread in half and brushed it with melted butter and garlic powder and let it bake for five minutes. During that time, I mixed up the mozzarella cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, and jalapenos to top it off with. This spread was then applied to the bread and it went back into the oven to bake. Done and done.

While the bread baked, I monitored it pretty closely because our oven has the habit of burning things as soon as your back is turned. It was so satisfying to watch the ooey gooey cheese bubble and brown and it couldn’t bake fast enough; I was starving! I knew that the bread was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be freaking mind blowing. The cheese mixture had the consistency and flavor of a white pizza, the jalapenos added some kick, and the bread was crisp without being tough. It was SO yummy and filling too. I was full after a one third size piece!

I would happily make this recipe again and cannot recommend it enough. In fact, I plan on buying another loaf of bread to use up the rest of the ingredients as soon as we are out of leftovers. Thanks again to Kami of NoBiggie for sharing this!

Have you tried any new recipes lately? Do you have a favorite food blogger? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan4

Super Yummy Breakfast Pizza

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Super Yummy Breakfast Pizza

Hello! Due to the crazy circumstances of the past few months, it has been a while since I cooked a big breakfast over the weekend. That was one of my Johnny’s favorite things and our low key New Year’s weekend gave me the opportunity to whip together a new concoction made with the same ingredients as my usual breakfasts. It was basically like the Taco Bell menu of different items using the exact same base ingredients and I was so proud lol. Behold, the vegetarian breakfast pizza:

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cans of Pillsbury biscuits
  • White gravy for the sauce
  • 5 scrambled eggs
  • 6 MorningStar sausage patties
  • Shredded cheese
  • Hashbrowns if you want!

Instructions:

  • Separate the biscuits in half and fill a cooking tray with them to form the crust. Keep an eye on the biscuits while they’re in the oven since they are half of their normal size.
  • Begin cooking your additional ingredients of eggs, sausage patties, and hashbrowns. Cut the sausages into bite sized pieces once they are cooked.
  • Prepare the white gravy for the sauce (The recipe is in the link under ingredients.). If the gravy gets too thick, add some milk because you should be able to cover the biscuits entirely with just the one pot.
  • Assemble your breakfast pizza and top with shredded cheese. Then, stick it back in the oven for a few minutes so it can melt.
  • Remove from the oven and enjoy!

This breakfast pizza turned out delicious if I do say so myself and Johnny does too! Oh yeah, and so does my mom, dad, and sister because they all tried it as well lol. He spent the entire day complimenting my efforts and it made me feel awesome. Of course, I modestly said it was the same thing I always make but assembled differently and he would hear none of that. He also told me it was so good because I haven’t made breakfast in forever and I thought that that was the sweetest. I know that Johnny loves my cooking (He better, anyways!) but to hear him be so forthright about it made getting up early on a Saturday morning to cook all the more worth it. ❤

My Breakfast Pizza is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and a hearty portion of my family agreed. I guess I better start cooking breakfast again!

What is your favorite breakfast food? What is your favorite meal to cook? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug28

Breakfast For Dinner

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Breakfast For Dinner

Hello! I am a huge fan of breakfast food and used to love cooking big breakfasts for myself and Johnny over the weekend. This hasn’t happened in a while because now we usually just skip to lunch lol. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have breakfast for dinner, instead! This past week, I whipped up our favorite spread when I got home from work and it hit just right:

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My go to breakfast foods for me and Johnny are dippy eggs, MorningStar sausage patties, biscuits and gravy, and hashbrowns for Johnny. Biscuits and gravy was something that I always wanted to try but never got the opportunity to because it’s always made as sausage gravy in restaurants. However, inspiration struck several months ago and I finally thought to look up a vegetarian recipe for it.

During my search, I found this recipe by ammiface and it is, easily, one of my favorite dishes morning or night. The white gravy recipe is SO quick and simple to make with only six ingredients. It turns out amazing every time and tastes just as good leftover as it does freshly made. Not only is it a must make for me but I now have to make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners because the other vegetarians and meat eaters alike in my family love it too.

I suppose I could incorporate MorningStar sausages into this gravy recipe but I like it so much as is that I never have the heart to. Regardless of any tweaks you might make, the vegetarian white gravy is perfect for breakfast, dinner, or in this case – breakfast for dinner. Enjoy!

What is your favorite breakfast food? What is your favorite vegetarian dish? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug26

Yummy Asian Cabbage Salad

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Yummy Asian Cabbage Salad

Hello! Johnny and I have several favorite go to meals that I make pretty much every time I do grocery shopping. This is all well and good but it can get kind of boring cooking the same things with no variation. So, I have made it a point to try making new side dishes to enhance the meal even more. It’s amazing how much the dinner transforms with just one different thing, like when I made a pot of cilantro lime rice with a taco dinner.

To keep going with this, I decided to try a new salad recipe when I cooked a veggie lo mein meal for my entire family. I found the recipe for Asian Cabbage Salad with a peanut ginger dressing on Well Plated By Erin. I had scoped out many Asian salads on Pinterest but I went with Well Plated’s because it used the fewest ingredients and looked so easy to make. Check it out:

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I love going on Pinterest but it can sometimes be disheartening because there are a plethora of recipes that I would like to try but use SO. Many. Ingredients. I just can’t justify buying twenty plus things for a dish that I might not even like. I already had about three fourths of the ingredients that I needed for this salad so it was the obvious choice to go with and I am glad I did!

This Asian Cabbage Salad was to die for and, much to my surprise, Johnny even liked it. That is really saying something because I truly thought that he was going to tell me that there were too many vegetables in it lol. The salad had so much crunch, flavor, and texture and it was delicious as a side or mixed into the veggie lo mein. It also kept for several days leftover and that was another huge plus because of how much the simple recipe made.

I definitely plan on making Well Plated By Erin’s recipe again but there is one thing that I will be tweaking. While I liked the peanut ginger dressing well enough, it didn’t pack much of a punch against all of the colorful veggies. I would have liked for the dressing to have a bit more bite and I’m not sure if that can be solved by making more of it or adding something new. I’m thinking of substituting a tablespoon of the honey for brown sugar and adding one more tablespoon of soy sauce to see if that will make a difference.

Overall, I am really pleased with this new recipe and it was a hit at dinner… It was also a hit every time I had it leftover too and you can’t beat that!

Where do you like to find new recipes? Have you cooked anything new recently? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

 

Aug18

Delicious Guacamole Recipe & Cilantro Lime Rice

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Delicious Guacamole Recipe & Cilantro Lime Rice

Hello! This past Saturday was a very busy one. We visited my mom at the Cleveland Clinic, I cooked up a feast, and watched my niece while her baby sister was born. For dinner, I treated my dad, brother, and Johnny to homemade Cheesy Gordita Crunches. This is the second time that I have made them and the meal turned out excellent. And in the words of Emeril Lagasse, I definitely kicked things up a notch.

The last time I made Taco Bell style Cheesy Gordita Crunches for dinner, I used the beef crumbles by MorningStar. While I didn’t care for it, Johnny liked it well enough so I just decided to use real beef for the guys and vegetarian refried beans for me. I have never cooked ground beef in my life and apparently it turned out good lol. Not that I was surprised because, I hate to toot my own horn, but Johnny says I cook bacon better than someone who eats meat. GREAT SUCCESS! 😀

Not only did I make all of the fixings for our taco dinner but I also prepared some extra additions to enhance the meal. I made a new Pinterest recipe for cilantro lime rice, which can be found here at Downshiftology. I also whipped up a batch of my own personal recipe for guacamole that I think is simply the best. Check it out:

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^^^ Obviously I should have taken a picture of my guac before we chowed down!

Of course, Taco Bell was the source of inspiration for this meal and my life in general. However, I was also trying to serve major Chipotle vibes. The recipe that I used for the cilantro lime rice claims to be a Chipotle taste alike and I completely agree. It. Was. Delicious. The zingy lime and cilantro balanced out the garlic and salt perfectly and I honestly think that I could have ate the entire bowl. I highly recommend making it during your next taco dinner!

I also hate to toot my own horn again but I truly believe that my guacamole is a Chipotle taste alike too. It is SO easy to make with minimal ingredients and tastes divine. This is my recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 2 mashed avocados
  • A small portion of red onion, finely chopped
  • Juice, pulp, and zest from one lime
  • Several sprigs of cilantro
  • Course sea salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste

While you can add anything you please to your guacamole like chopped olive or tomato, I always say that simple is best. All of the different flavors and textures in my recipe blend together so well and that extra dose of lime in the zest and pulp sends it over the top. I also just mash up my avocado with a spoon, which makes it very similar in texture to Chipotle’s, which is definitely more chunky. Now, if only I could make a taste alike for their tortilla chips. YUM!

As you all know, I love cooking for Johnny but it was SO nice to be able to make a meal for my dad and brother too. Cooking soothes my soul and watching people enjoy what I make makes it even better. ❤

What are some of your favorite taste alike recipes? How do you prepare the perfect taco? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug15

Homemade Salsa Recipe

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Homemade Salsa Recipe

Hello! My dad’s magnificent garden has been providing an endless supply of tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, and herbs. I tried to ease the burden of putting a dent in his harvest by making some spaghetti sauce. It turned out a bit lackluster but at least I used eight tomatoes with it lol! This past week, my dad and I made salsa together and came up with our own recipe. It turned out great! Check it out:

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Our Recipe:

  • 22 small to medium tomatoes
  • 1/2 of a red onion, finely chopped
  • 3/4 of a green pepper, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves pressed garlic
  • 2 cubanelle peppers, finely chopped
  • Very small pieces of serrano pepper – *Warning* they are very hot
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • Several sprigs of cilantro
  • Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

I had an absolute blast making this salsa with my dad! I couldn’t tell you the last time we collaborated in the kitchen and it was so much fun to make salsa magic together. The day before we made our concoction, my dad scoured different recipes but we decided to just wing it and see what happens. We delegated different tasks to each other, taste tested along the way, and ended up being really happy with what we came up with.

Salsa is a cool thing to make because you can adjust it as you go to your liking. Whether you want more heat, extra onions, or super garlicky is your prerogative. My dad and I agreed on something more mild after tasting the extreme heat of the serrano peppers from his garden. This was an excellent call because not only was my mouth on fire but my hands burned until the evening just from chopping them. Not to mention the suffering I experienced when I had to take my contacts out. Ouch!!

Minus the serrano incident, I couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon with my dad. We definitely plan on making our salsa again and I hope that all of you enjoy the recipe too!

Do you like to follow recipes or wing it? What do you have growing in your garden? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah