-
Grilled Steak Salad
This Grilled Steak Salad is AMAZING!! It is salty, creamy, tangy, smokey and will satisfy every grilling craving you have!! I am so excited to be in grilling season again. When you live in the suburbs of Chicago, as we do… or anywhere that is cold a good part of the year. You get very excited when it is not cold anymore! I long for Summer days of being outside with the kids, having the sun still be out at 7p, playing in the water, and most exciting of all… Grilling! I feel like there is nothing like the smell of a grill heating up or charcoal burning. There is…
-
Stuffed Peppers
One of my favorite smells is green peppers roasting. Whether it be in the oven or on the stove for Italian sausage. I think it is one of the best aromas to fill the house. So, there is no doubt that I absolutely love smelling these delicious gems cooking. Especially on a chilly Fall day. When I was younger I would just eat the insides out as I didn’t actually like to eat the whole pepper. Yet, I loved the flavor that it gave to the meat and the rice. That kiss of pepper taste. Now my girls do the same thing. They eat the inside and they love it. What peppers are…
-
Italian Beef Egg Rolls
I was thinking about this as I was making these yummy bites… are these only a Midwestern thing? Do you all know about and eat Italian beef sandwiches or is it one of our delicious Chicago land treats! Let me know in the comments below if you are not from Chicago land area; have you had, do you know what they are and do you love them like we do! Why egg rolls and not just the sandwich? The story behind these yummy bites is this. We had eaten these about 6 or 7 years ago in a restaurant for an appetizer. My husband talks about them all the time. So finally after…
-
Thanksgiving Leftovers
So, it is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Most likely we have already forgotten about the holiday we are onto Christmas. In full shopping mode and thinking about what cookies we are going to make! BUT, we may still be holding onto some turkey, ham and mashed potatoes. If that is the case, here are a few Thanksgiving leftover recipes for you to use up the rest of those yummy bites that we do not want to throw away! Let’s start with the Turkey 2020 of all years is probably where we have the most turkey leftover. We all celebrated with much smaller groups than normal. Even though we gave leftovers to our few…
-
White Bean Ragout
I absolutely love Fall food and flavors for so many reasons. The biggest reason is though that they are so bold and hearty and stew and braise and simmer for hours. This creates amazing complex flavors in so many ways. It was a rainy chilly day here in Chicago land and so it was the perfect day for some hearty, bold flavors and this white bean ragout was the absolute perfect thing. You can pair this with meats, sausage would be amazing with this. I paired it with some perfect filets of Chilean Sea Bass. The recipe for the Chilean Sea Bass is below and it was a match made in heaven. To…
-
Blueberry Peach Crumble
This was the perfect end of Summer dessert. I made this dessert for a Labor Day party that we went to today and it was a huge hit. I have made countless crumbles between work and home. This was definitely a keeper recipe. I did something slightly different than I normally do in the topping. Instead of adding chunks of butter or even just straight melted butter… I used brown butter in this crumble. I also used brown sugar in the topping versus regular sugar. The nutty addition of the brown butter and the slight molasses flavor in the brown sugar both complimented the fruit perfectly. I always say to use recipes as…
-
Homemade Peach Pie
One of my favorite things about Summer is in season stone fruit. I absolutely love peaches, nectarines and plums. I love to just eat them whole. I also really love them cooked. Whether it be grilled, baked in a pie, in a crumble or just baked on their own and served with vanilla ice cream. So, you can only imagine how excited I was to learn when I started dating my now husband, that his parents grow peaches in the back yard!! What?? Home grown stone fruit for Summer… YAAAASSSS!!!!! It was like I hit the mother load! I always enjoy the peaches that they send home for us, but this year was…
-
Unicorn Cookies
I am always on the look out for fun new things to use in the kitchen with the girls! A few months back I found Frozen chips and we made cookies with those! Well, I was at our local grocery store and I found Unicorn chips! As a girl mom, I HAD to get them! My oldest daughter, who is almost 3 years old, was especially excited for these! So is all about unicorns and rainbows and anything colorful and girly! My younger daughter, 20 months, was excited because her sister was excited! HAHAHA! https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.kuti.3/videos/10220916279589587/ Cookies, Brownies or Cupcakes I was trying to decide if we should make cookies, brownies or cupcakes with…
-
Grilled Fruit Bruschetta
This is going to become your go to Summer dessert! It is simple, delicious and best part is you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. You can even use fruit that is about to go bad and you need to use it up quick. The whole family will love this dessert. Bread or Pound Cake? In every recipe I have ever seen for any kind of fruit bruschetta, they are still using Italian bread or some type of crusty bread for the crostini. I am sure it wonderful, however, I wanted something that was more dessert-like than just still using regular crostini. So, I use pound cake in mine. Pound cake…
-
Cocktail for Cinco De Mayo
Happy Cinco de Mayo!! I think that everyone knows that Margaritas are the go to cocktail for Cinco de Mayo. Yet, in our house, we like a different drink. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a Margarita just as much as the next gal. I love a good Margarita, I love a flavored Margarita too. There are also some local restaurants that are even making frozen Margaritas to go! Who doesn’t want a Margarita to go! There is definitely a place for them and especially today! Yet, I am staying home and making our own Cinco de Mayo celebration at home. I love a slightly less popular Mexican tequila drink. It is…
