Mediterranean Orzo Jar Salad

May 28, 2022 Amanda Plott

If you’re looking for quick, easy, make-ahead lunch ideas then look no further! This Mediterranean Orzo Jar Salad is probably going to be my go-to lunch for a good long while. It’s super fast to make and tastes absolutely amazing. Plus, making them up ahead of times makes them all the more convenient. This salad is light but also surprisingly filling, making it perfect for the start of Summer here.

You get a little bit of everything in this salad. Plenty of veggies, cool baby spinach, some orzo pasta, and a homemade dressing that’s truly one of the most simple dressings that I’ve ever made for a salad. Oh, and who could say no to the feta cheese in here?!…

Vegetarian Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole

May 25, 2022 Amanda Plott

It’s been… a week. My kiddo is sick ahead of their final exams, decisions need to be made ahead of next year, and the world is on fire as far as I can see. It’s going to be a difficult next few days for the lost of us and I’m buckling up for this bumpy ride to continue. The very least that I can do is to have some good food on hand that’s easy and quick to prepare. So here we are. Vegetarian Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole.

I’ve made burger casseroles before, but none of them included tater tots and none of them were vegetarian, so we’re making progress here I think. Or at very least doing something a little different right? Right. So instead of being a noodle based casserole this one is… not. It’s vegetarian meat based and tater tot influenced? Sure. Let’s go with that…

Giant Monster Cookies

May 22, 2022 Amanda Plott

From Cookie Monster Cookies, now to these Giant Monster Cookies! I love making BIG cookies. These Giant Monster Cookies are peanut butter dough based and are loaded up with chocolate chips and M&M’s! They are fairly easy to make and all come together in one bowl with no chilling required, which quite honestly is one of my favorite parts.

The peanut butter in these cookies leave them perfectly soft and a little crumbly. I was sure to swap out all of the sugar for sweetener based alternatives. You should be able to use whichever brand you enjoy the most. My natural sweetener is stevia based and measures cup-for-cup like sugar, but the brown sugar blend that I currently have uses half of what standard brown sugar calls for…

Strawberry Waffles

May 19, 2022 Amanda Plott

I took a little bit of extra time this week to make myself some breakfast and I was not disappointed. These Strawberry Waffles were the perfect little bit of summer sweet strawberry to wake up to. I made sure that these waffles were from scratch too. And while they do take a few extra steps to make, they are definitely worth it!

The texture of these waffles is a bit more dense due to all the real strawberry goodness in there. It’s sort of on par with how banana bread is more dense and moist than a standard white bread due to the additional moisture from the fruit. But don’t worry, they still end up crisp on the outside and spongy on the inside!…

Air-Fried Veggie Nuggets

May 16, 2022 Amanda Plott

It’s no secret that I do my best to eat as many vegetable and even vegetarian dishes as possible. Of course this isn’t an entirely vegetarian house, but I like to limit red meat to once a week and have at least two vegetarian dinners too. Over the past few years there’s been an enormous shift in the meatless section at the grocery store and now there are just limitless options to make it so easy to go meat free even if it’s just for one night.

That being said, you do have to be careful with some of those things. Sure they might be meatless, but that sometimes means that they’re loaded up with tons of fake nothingness as ingredients. These Air-Fried Veggie Nuggets are not only meatless and vegetarian, they’re also vegan and made with simple pantry and fridge staples that you likely already have on hand!…

Easy Key Lime Pie

May 7, 2022 Amanda Plott

Key lime pie is one of my favorites. Not that I’d turn any fruit pie away, but there’s just something about key limes! I love that it’s a creamy textured pie that is cut through with the slightly bitter and bright notes that come along with a key lime. I haven’t made a key lime pie in a good long while, so I thought I’d whip up a super easy from scratch one to be able to enjoy on this very warm Texas weekend.

This Easy Key Lime Pie is made with just a few ingredients - six to be exact! And 5 of those ingredients are pretty standard to most home pantries. The only thing slightly exotic is the key limes themselves! Being as there are so few ingredients, there isn’t a whole lot of swaps you can make to adjust this into a more health conscious pie, but I somehow managed!…