last week's food wins//black beans are our friends

It's been a while since I've been able to compile the food we've been loving. A teething baby and a two year old in the midst of... well, being a two year old, will do that to you. We've still been eating at home 95% of the time and loving it. We've settled into a pretty good rhythm and meal planning and shopping for it is getting easier and easier.

We've been eating a LOT of black beans lately since we've been cutting down on meat. These three recipes are so good that I've made them each twice in the last 2.5 weeks!

The biggest win in the last few weeks were these black bean burgers. I mean, Pioneer Woman. Yup.

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I follow the recipe pretty closely. The only change I made is using sriracha in the place of regular hot sauce and using a little bit of cayenne to add a nice little kick. We put some cheese and toast the buns up nicely and they're just so, so good. And really easy to reheat on the griddle with just a smidge more oil.

The next recipe we LOVED (including Reuben) are these black bean and cheese enchiladas. 

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Real talk- I completely skipped the whole making my own sauce because a'int nobody got time for that. I just used a can of Old El Paso from Winn Dixie (because we don't have Kroger down here :-( ) and called it good. So basically, it's a can of black beans, two cups of cheese, 12 corn tortillas, and a can of enchilada sauce. Doesn't get cheaper or easier than that. These are TASTY!

The last great recipe was this southwestern black bean casserole. 

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Again, this is so easy (notice a trend here?) and tasty. Reuben loves it and we do too. I always use a few more tortillas than it recommends because I like tortillas a lot. Let's be real. Oh, and I leave out cilantro just because I can't find it at Aldi and I don't feel like going somewhere else for that one ingredient when it tastes great without it.

What are you and your family loving this week?

last week's food wins//vegetarian, WHAT?!

Clint and I like meat. Like really like it. We eat it every dinner. Meat and a side. But ya know what? Meat is expensive. And according to Forks Over Knives, it's not even that good for you. I decided to leave it out of several meals this week. Not only did I get food for an entire 7 days (plus some) for under $100 (details next week. Hint: Aldi), we didn't even miss it!

One night I tried Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce from The Pioneer Woman.

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This was super easy to make and really tasty! I started the sauce and then just let it do its thing while I put Reuben to sleep and by the time I was done, it was ready to move on to the next step. I substituted greek yogurt in for heavy cream to save some serious calories and add in some more protein. Just swap out a cup of yogurt for the cup of cream. Worked like a charm and saved over 700 calories.

I'm not sure you caught that. A simple swap saved over SEVEN. HUNDRED. CALORIES. 

Next up was Crock Pot Potato Soup. 

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Ok, technically we did have some bacon in this, but leave that off and it's meat-free! This took a little bit more work than my regular crock pot potato soup because I used fresh potato instead of frozen hash browns, but it was tastier, so totally worth it. Again, I swapped out heavy cream for greek yogurt. I left out the thyme because Aldi didn't have it and I didn't want to buy a ton of it for one recipe. We didn't miss it at all.

Fun Florida story. I told Clint I had decided to make this soup for dinner and that he should invite someone over because we had plenty. He mentioned it to our friend, Kevin, who said, "What's potato soup?"

WHAT'S POTATO SOUP?!

Then he asked a few more people in the office and NONE OF THEM HAD EVER HAD IT BEFORE. Kevin's wife, Brittany, had it one time at a restaurant, but that's it. Apparently this is a southern thing that has not quite made it down here? We'll be happy to start the introductions.

The last, and absolutely most surprising one, was Black Bean Tacos with Avocado Cilantro-Lime Sauce.

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Guys, this. was. DELICIOUS. I can't get over how much I loved it. We all loved it. Reuben ate it happily, too! The beans were rich and delicious and the sauce had an amazing zing to it. The filling can't get easier. Literally two cans of beans, a cup of salsa, and some cumin heated and smushed together. Reuben could've made dinner if he could use a can opener. We added a pinch of cheese and used flour tortillas because Aldi didn't have corn, but it would've been gluten free and vegan and just as delicious without that. Clint made some breakfast tacos for lunch over the weekend and added some of the leftover sauce to them and it took them to a whole new level. 

If you or anybody in your family is skeptical of meat-free meals, I seriously encourage you to try the tacos out and see what they think. 

Clint and I have decided we're going to cut our meat consumption down to 3 times a week and see how it goes. I want to make sure we're replacing it with good, nutritious food and not just carbs on carbs on carbs. It will be a challenge, but Pinterest absolutely helps! Check out all my boards here. I just pinned a vegetarian crock pot pin that looks like I hit the motherload. I can't wait to try some out and tell y'all about them!

Have you ever been surprised by a meat free meal? Have any favorites I should try? Let me know!

last week's food wins//"chick-fil-a" nuggets

Last week was CUH-RA-ZY. Clint was gone way more often than he wasn't and we were just off our game. There was a lot of cereal, PB&Js, and snack-food-made-dinners for me and Reuben.

However, I DID cook dinner for our guest, Josh. One night, I made the turkey burgers from last week because they're literally that good. The other, I decided to revisit a recipe I'd made one of our first months in Knoxville.

Just check this picture out.

Copycat Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets.

Guys. These things are soooooooooo good. They're definitely Chick-fil-A quality. And I ate the leftovers on a Sunday. It doesn't get much better than Chick-fil-A on a Sunday.

I followed the recipe pretty much to the point besides not having time to let the chicken soak in the milk/egg mixture. I popped them right in and out and they still tasted fantastic. Also, I had to cook them a little longer than 3 minutes per side to get them golden brown, but I was using a regular, non-stick skillet. It may be completely different in a cast iron skillet like they use. Next time, I plan to sprinkle in the tiniest bit of cayenne just for a lil' somethin' special.

What are you guys eating this week?

last week's food wins

I'd never claim to be a fantastic cook. I try, but my go to will always be pan fried chicken and pasta because that's what I ate 90% of my childhood. #pickyeater

Pinterest is my go-to for new recipes. Sometimes they're a hit, other times they're a BIG ol' miss. Last week was FULL of wins for me. Every dinner, Clint raved about how yummy it was. Reuben, not so much. His toddler taste buds will get there, I'm sure.

First one was Wednesday. Steak salad. Gosh, I wanted to eat that entire 16 oz of sirloin all by myself. It was THAT GOOD.

I've never cooked a steak in my life. I did some research (AKA googled) and saw there were a ton of different ways. I took a bunch of them and combined them to what sounded best to me. First, I set the steak out to get to room temp, dried it really well, and did a very generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and kosher salt. Then,  I got our nonstick pan suuuuuuuper hot, sprayed it with a little cooking spray, and stuck the steak in there. Three minutes on each side and a couple on the fatty side to get it to render off, and we were left with this. It was melt in your mouth good.

Reuben didn't love it. He said "Oh! I try steak!... Oh. I no like that." We'll try again, little guy. Clint said it was one of the best steaks he's ever had. BAM.

Cut up some zuchinni, shred some carrots, roast a little corn, and toss in some shredded cheese on top of your spring mix. Dinner. Is. Served.

The next night we did greek yogurt pancakes.

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I fried up some turkey bacon and scrambled some eggs to go with these. I doubled the recipe to make sure we had some leftover for the next few days of breakfast. They're delicious popped in the toaster! I added some chocolate chips to a few since we were out of syrup and we gobbled them up. And guys, they've got greek yogurt in them. Instantly healthy.

I'd say the creme de la creme were these turkey and zucchini burgers.

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I used sweet onion instead of red onion and used a little more zucchini than it called for, but it still tasted great and I was able to make 6 patties instead of 5. They seared beautifully and cooked really quickly. We put them on some pretzel buns I'd found at aldi. YUM. We ate the again the next night, they were THAT good.

Tell me, what have your dinner wins been lately?