I’m all about making as many things as possible ahead of time to make actual dinners or events easier to manage. And Thanksgiving is certainly no different. Slow Cooker recipes, like this Slow Cooker Creamed Corn, are perfect for make ahead sides for Thanksgiving!
This recipe for Slow Cooker Creamed Corn is super easy and can be made a few days ahead of time if needed. But, because it’s in your slow cooker, it’s also easy to make the day of while not using precious stovetop and oven space!
Note: I was sent jars of Le Sauce & Co Finishing Sauces in order to write this post. All opinions are mine alone.
For the last few months, I’ve been messing around with a new toy: a precision cooker that allows me to cook sous vide (which means “under vacuum”).
To cook sous vide, you add ingredients to a sealed plastic bag (or glass jar) and cook it in water that has been brought to a specific temperature. Cooking using this method takes considerably longer than sautéing, roasting, or grilling, but the result is a perfectly even and tender meal! I’ve made a few things sous vide so far, but wanted to first share the most common recipe: Sous Vide Steak. This cooking method seals in moisture and results in a super flavorful steak, so you only need a simple sauce to complete your meal.
I drizzled my Sous Vide Steak with a sauce from Le Sauce & Co.: Classic Green Peppercorn Sauce. Le Sauce is a boutique, craft food company that believes every meal should be an experience. They have four different finishing sauces that elevate a meal with little effort! The Classic Green Peppercorn Sauce is the perfect complement to a perfectly cooked steak, and is made with cream, butter, shallots. cognac, and green peppercorns. Other finishing sauces include Coconut Thai Red Curry, Roasted Poblano & Garlic, and White Wine Lemon & Garlic, and all can be found on Amazon.
Ingredients:
2 (8 to 12 oz) boneless beef tenderloin steaks
salt and pepper, to taste
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or other oil with a high smoking temperature
My husband really likes chia seeds. He will even just add them to water and have them that way. As (un)appealing as that sounds, I’ve been trying to incorporate them into some recipes that make the most of chia seeds while being a bit more… tasty, like this recipe for Overnight Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding Jars.
Chia seeds are pretty bland, so they are easy to add to recipes without impacting taste. When soaked in a liquid, they expand and thicken whatever liquid they are added into, making them perfect for pudding or jam.
This recipe for Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding is an easy make ahead recipe for breakfast on the go. My husband and I just grab one of these pre-made jars and bring with us to work to eat.
Note: this recipe makes 4 (16 oz) jars or 8 (8 oz) jars, depending on how large you want your servings
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I had the opportunity to try a featured milkshake at Bassett’s Ice Cream using Tastykake’s new Cookies and Crème Mini Donuts.
The donuts are the first offering from Tastykake Scoop Shop™, an ice cream-inspired line of sweet snacks. Scoop Shop Cookies & Crème Mini Donuts are available everywhere Tastykake is sold for $2.99 per 9.5oz bag or $1.79 for the six-count single serve option.
The Scoop Shop line features fan favorite ice cream flavors in sweet snack form and will be launched in two phases, the first already available, with phase two planned for late April. Leveraging trends in the snacking category, Tastykake Scoop Shop explores the crossover of two sweet snacks by borrowing flavor and forms from different categories. The first Scoop Shop item, Cookies & Crème Mini Donuts, blends one of the brand’s top-selling product types with a proven favorite ice cream flavor. And they really nailed it, the donuts really do taste like cookies and cream! Phase two combines mint chocolate chip ice cream flavor with a creme-filled cookie for the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich (um, YUM), so be on the look out for those in late April. The new treats create a fun snacking experience that ice cream and sweet snack lovers will appreciate.
To help celebrate the launch in its hometown, Tastykake partnered with another Philadelphia icon and the nation’s oldest ice cream company – Bassetts Ice Cream – a full-service frozen dessert distributor. I was thrilled to try this partnership from two brands with tons of Philadelphia history, more than 250 years of combined history in Philly! I headed over to Reading Terminal Market (fun fact: my husband and I were actually married in Reading Terminal) to try the limited-edition milkshake item. Kirby the Krimpet, the Tastykake mascot, even made an appearance!
The milkshakes are made with Bassetts’ cookies and cream ice cream, chunks of Tastykake’s Cookies & Crème Mini Donuts, and chocolate syrup, topped with whipped cream and garnished with a Cookies & Crème Donut. The shakes are sold at Bassetts’ original retail location in Reading Terminal Market for a limited time.
I swear they made these Donuts and milkshakes just for me, Cookies and Cream is my favorite! So naturally, I wanted to try to make my own version at home, this recipe for Cookies and Cream Donut Milkshakes. I picked up two pints of Bassetts’ cookies and cream ice cream, a bag of Tastykake Cookies & Crème Mini Donuts, milk, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream, and I was ready to go!
Note: This is a sponsored post, powered by BrandBacker. I was sent samples of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to make this post. Opinions are mine alone.
Some ingredients are so wonderful, that you don’t need much else to make a beautiful dish. Parmigiano Reggiano is most certainly one of those ingredients.
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is made in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, and Mantua, Italy. Made by a collective of farmers and producers, Parmigiano Reggiano has just three ingredients: milk, salt, and rennet. with over eight centuries of cheese making experience, every wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is carefully tended to by workers who wipe, brush, and turn them every ten days. The outsides of the wheels dry over time to form a natural and edible rind. The wheels are typically aged for 18 to 36 months, with 24 months being the most common. So how do you know you have real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese? Look for the pin-dots on the rind, which are imprinted on every wheel.
This process results in a hard, dry cheese with a pale gold rind and a straw colored interior with a wonderful rich and sharp flavor. Pre-grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese doesn’t do the freshly grated stuff justice. And the best way to highlight the flavor of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano is in this super simple recipe for Cacio e Pepe, or translated to Cheese and Pepper.
Traditional Cacio e Pepe is made with just 4 ingredients, but my Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper Pasta) has 7 ingredients – pasta, freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, pepper, salt, garlic, butter, and olive oil. The result is a simple but decadent pasta dish with the most luxurious, silky cheese sauce.
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) box linguine
salt, for the pasta water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving
1 large garlic clove, very thinly sliced
2 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus more for serving
(Krusteaz is also offering one I Can Cook That reader a breakfast kit! More details at the end of the post.)
The protein pancake mix is free of partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors and preservatives and had 13g of added protein. The back of the box has a few additional suggestions to add even more protein to the pancakes, by using milk and eggs in the batter. I immediately thought this batter would be great for bacon pancake strips!
Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is the definition of simple, elegant decadence.
Carbonara is typically made with pork fried in olive oil, grated hard cheese, raw eggs, and pasta. Versions use pancetta or bacon for the pork, pecorino romano or parmigiana reggiano for the cheese, and spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine for the pasta.
With just a few (ok, 6) ingredients, you can make this oh so delicious recipe.
I made a more traditional version of this, using a Mario Batali recipe as my inspiration.
You can never have too many quick side dishes to help complete a meal. This one comes highly recommended by my husband; the first time I made it, I didn’t even get a taste because he gobbled up all of it before I could!
I changed the original recipe slightly because I was feeling particularly lazy and found diced pancetta in my supermarket. Everything else I kept the same.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 ounces diced pancetta
3/4 cup uncooked whole-wheat orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1 3/4 cups unsalted chicken stock
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
Breakfast Night inspiration including sample Breakfast Night recipes
Krusteaz is also offering one I Can Cook That reader the same starter kit listed above! Details after the recipe. Krusteaz currently also has a coupon for $0.50 off any one pancake or waffle mix.
My fiance loves breakfast for dinner, so I decided to make a savory pancake topped with sunny side up eggs to celebrate National Pancake Day!
Krusteaz’s Buttermilk Pancake Mix makes this recipe a cinch to prepare! Just add some additional ingredients and you have a delicious dinner ready in minutes!
I spent the last two weeks in total holiday mode. With my birthday, Christmas, and getting engaged all in the past couple of weeks, it’s been one big celebratory meal! I’ve done very little cooking and a whole lot of eating, so it’s time to get back into a normal cooking/eating schedule again.
For some reason I really haven’t mastered the whole crispy skin thing for fish. Which is kind of ridiculous. I eat/prepare salmon probably once a week on average. Anyways, even when I fail at achieving crispy skin, I still thoroughly enjoy my salmon dish. And this is another one of those cases. This recipe should result in crispy skin. And. Well. It just didn’t, but it’s absolutely delicious anyways!
Ingredients (serves 4):
1 pint cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom)
2 teaspoons plus 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
East Passyunk Avenue is hosting “Flavors of the Avenue” this Saturday, an event where 25 restaurants will be handing out samples from their menus. I was given the opportunity to go to a media tasting for this event a few weeks back and have been unable to think about anything else since! I am SO excited for this event!
I must not be alone, pre-sale tickets are completely sold out, although some limited tickets will be available at the entrance to the tent on Saturday. During the media tasting, I was able to sample food from 7 of the participating restaurants.
Anyone else still have a house full of Peeps following Easter? Those poor little marshmallow leftovers are past even their somewhat stale crunchy stage and are just kind of hanging around at this point. So I decided it was about time to put them to good use. Peeps S’mores time!
Ever since I made the S’mores Milkshakes, I have had S’mores on my mind. So what better way to utilize a house full of sugar coated marshmallows than by making a batch of festive after-Easter Peeps S’mores?
Ingredients (makes 2 servings):
2 graham crackers, halved
1 chocolate candy bar, halved (milk or dark, I prefer dark)
