Skinny Zuppa Toscana

October 24, 2017 Amanda Plott

Okay, so there really isn't enough good things that I can say about this soup. I actually made my first attempt at this soup a few years ago. Long before I originally posted it here. My in-laws were in town and I knew that this soup from a well-known restaurant happened to be one of my father-in-laws' favorites. Since he's a health-conscious individual such as myself, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making a healthier version of it for him.

I hadn't had the soup before, so I couldn't say at the time if it was anything similar to the one that he was used to, but he did have a couple of bowls of it for dinner! Me? I was anything but a fan. Why? One word. Kale.

Yes, I've ranted on before about my strange love/hate relationship with kale. And, this is basically where the hate part of that started...

Mongolian Beef & Broccoli 'Rice' Bowl

October 19, 2017 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Conagra Brands. All opinions are mine alone. P.F. Chang's and P.F. Chang’s Home Menu® are registered trademarks owned by P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. and are used with permission. #AuthenticMadeEasy #CollectiveBias

So, with life being crazier than usual (or maybe it's really just the same amount of crazy), I decided to have a more simple sort of dinner today. Simple in a lot of ways. Simple to make. Simple to eat. Simple to enjoy.

I started out with some sirloin steaks and a head of broccoli and ended up with a pretty fabulous take-out fake-out meal that was quick, easy, and delicious. With keeping this simple, I thought that instead of having rice, I would rice my broccoli. Why not? I've made cauliflower rice before, and broccoli is pretty similar texturally. Plus, it goes so well with beef!...

3 Ingredient Pumpkin Noodles

October 13, 2017 Amanda Plott

Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere! My pumpkin game is strong today. In years past, I've made pumpkin flavored... almost everything. From mac-n-cheese to chili, and so much more. Today though, with a bit of some sort of light allergies among the household, I decided some noodle soup would be the best way to go.

And what's more comforting than a nice warm bowl of homemade Chicken Noodle Soup? You know the kind of soup. The kind where it's just a handful of ingredients and scratch-made noodles? The big thick hearty noodles that fill you up...

Marbled Chocolate & Matcha Candy Cups

September 15, 2017 Amanda Plott

This post was sponsored by Crisco® Coconut Oil as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

So, over a year ago now I had made these amazingly delicious PB&J Cups that were some of my most favorite homemade candies ever. Party because they were so good, and partly because they were - well - more wholesome for being homemade. These Marbled Chocolate & Matcha Candy Cups are no different.

They chocolate used here is a dark chocolate, which instantly gives you a few more benefits than most other chocolates. And to make it even better, I filled them with a matcha butter that is perfectly balanced with the swarms of white chocolate to give just the right amount of sweetness without being an overkill...

Tomato, Mozzarella & Avocado Salad (Sponsored)

August 22, 2017 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BaronessPatches #CollectiveBias

We made it! I finally got back from our end of the summer spur of the moment vacation road trip across two states with just myself, my mom, and my little girl. It was a blast! The girl trip that we've always wanted with three of our four current generations of ladies among my family. That being said, we literally got home with one day between us and back-to-school! Talk about flying in hot.

What else does back-to-school mean? Meal time chaos at it's finest. Add in a touch of being exhausted from the trip and you've got the perfect mix for bringing in my favorite wing mom. The Baroness...

Healthified Crock Pot Kalua Pork

June 29, 2017 Amanda Plott

Summer time around here (especially July) is when my mom always likes to throw a mostly annual luau. Unfortunately, she hasn't really been able to do that for the past couple of years, just because they had moved about an hour further away from me and well... all of their friends basically too. Either way, this is one of our family favorite recipes for these such luaus! And with it being nearly July, I thought it would be a great time to update this Kalua Pork with a bit of a facelift.

So, what do you do in Hawaii? You go to a luau. What do they serve at a luau? Kalua pork.

Kalua (as not to be confused with Kahlua) is a traditional way of cooking pork in Hawaii. The word kalua actually translates to 'to cook in an underground oven'. While they use something in Hawaii called an imu for this process, I don't readily have one of those at my disposal... so I used the next best thing. My slow cooker!...