Chilled and Refreshing Cold Pea Salad

Who doesn't love that bacon, cheddar, ranch combo? Even here in this pea salad it works wonders and really builds a basic salad into a memorable side dish.

It's an excellent option for an Easter dinner to serve with a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, and the best homemade dinner rolls. Then for dessert carrot cake of course!

This pea salad is a much tastier option than serving those frozen peas plain, it's worth the bit of extra effort especially for a holiday celebration or weekend dinner.

It has a tempting blend of textures and well rounded flavor with it's sweet pea freshness, salty bacon, toasty almonds, the depth from the cheese, and a rich creamy dressing to polish it off. It's a salad fit for a feast!

Vegetable Stir Fry - A beautiful, colorful rainbow of fresh vegetables are sautéed together in a hot skillet or wok and seasoned with a abundantly flavorful sweet and savory stir fry sauce. It's nutritious and completely delicious!

Rainbow Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

Our favorite takeout-style easy vegetable stir fry! Made with a lovely blend of colors and boasting with plenty of fresh flavor.

It makes a delicious vegetarian main dish (with a vegan option) that you can serve with brown rice or white rice, or it can double as a side to a healthy protein such as salmon, shrimp or chicken.

In it you'll find a tasty variety of vegetables and the stir fry sauce will leave you craving more!

It's easy to substitute here using other vegetables you may have on hand (see ideas below).

So clean out the fridge with all those veggies and make this delicious stir fry!

My Favorite Way to Make Puff Pastry Chicken Pot Pie

Most often you'll see chicken pot pie with puff pastry made two ways. Either prepared and baked as a whole "pie" in a single baking dish, or made in individual ramekins or bowls.

Both work but I created this variation because I wanted something easier, a dish that finished with perfectly flakey and non-soggy puff pastry, an option that didn't waste puff pastry scraps (precious!), and something that wasn't so messy.

If you bake in a single dish the puff pastry doesn't cut cleanly, and if you do individual servings it's tedious to work with single bowls and get the puff pastry to stick well. You also may likely find the end result of both said options yields a soggy layer on bottom.

This method works beautifully, and it's so convenient that the filling only needs to cook on the stove top so you can bake the puff pastry and make the filling at the same time.

And honestly who can resist those cute little puff pastry bites? I want to put them on everything and it's hard not to eat half of them before dinner is served.

All around this creamy chicken pot pie with buttery puff pastry makes for the perfect homestyle dinner!

Homemade Shrimp Fried Rice

This easy shrimp fried rice recipe is a classic stir-fry favorite! It's completely delicious and easily worthy of being included in your dinner rotation on repeat.

I've made this version to be generous with the vegetables including carrots, onions, peas, bell pepper and cilantro. And you'll also find a fair amount of shrimp to make it more of a meal in one.

The important thing to note here (as with just about any fried rice recipe) is that you'll want to use leftover rice from the day before so it will soak up the moisture and doesn't end up soggy. In other words plan ahead if you don't usually have some on hand.

The chopping will take a bit of time but from there it's a total breeze and it cooks quickly. And when it's done to make it spicy finish your serving with Sriracha to your hearts content.

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

A homestyle dinner that's perfect to cozy up to after a long, cold day. And you'll love that it's all made from scratch with the help of a few shortcuts.

This easy, simplified version of pot pie is made with store-bought rotisserie chicken, pre-cut frozen vegetables and homemade drop biscuits (instead of the standard shape and cut biscuits).

And the rich and creamy, herb infused, gravy-like sauce is what leaves us craving more. It perfectly compliments and finishes off the filling ingredients.

So much to love about this hearty and flavorful pot pie!

Looking for more take-out favorites? See my collection here.

Restaurant Style Fried Rice

Fried rice has always been one of my favorite take-out dishes, how about you?

Sure many people consider it a side but I usually just eat it as the entire meal. A generous sized bowl of it, with plenty of sriracha drizzled over the top.

This fried rice recipe is deliciously flavorful, super hearty and perfectly filling, and incredibly easy to make! And it's just as good as what you find at restaurants.

Plus it's easy to switch up and use other vegetables or meats you like.

I love that it uses ingredients I usually have stocked, and for the few you may not it's pretty easy to find a replacement.

A versatile, forgiving, foolproof recipe people of all ages love! A recipe worthy of the dinner rotation.

Just like the flavors in my Easy Chicken Pot Pie but in comfy and cozy, warm and sip-able soup form!

Homestyle Chicken Pot Pie Soup Recipe

Oh this soup! Could I say enough good things about it? It is the perfect comfort food.

A nostalgic favorite turned into an indulgent, good for the soul soup. And when you finish it off with biscuits it becomes a dinner nobody will forget!

It's just a homestyle recipe that people of all ages will enjoy, even the picky eaters that may not like the classic chicken pot pie.

You'll love that it's packed with fresh veggies, and the potatoes and chicken makes it amazingly hearty. So much goodness in a one perfectly satisfying bowl of soup!

Wondering what to serve with it? How about my 1 Hour Dinner Rolls or Cheesy Garlic Bread to make an extra cozy meal!

Hamburger Soup Recipe

So what exactly is hamburger soup? Does it taste like a hamburger? This soup is basically the simplified, soupier cousin of beef stew.

It's a ground beef based soup loaded with lots of nutritious vegetables. Plus it's a versatile soup so you can play around with the vegetables and seasonings added.

And no it doesn't really taste like a hamburger.

I don't know that that would taste very good, we'd have some soggy buns, ketchup, and mustard in there or something, yuck. So I guess if you'd like you could just call this beef soup or beef vegetable soup.

It’s just many times people refer to ground beef as hamburger.

No matter what you call this though it’s almost certain to become a family favorite! It's just classic homestyle comfort food, that's sure to brighten up those dark out days, at least a little.

Then as a side note this is more of a stewp (somewhere between a soup and a stew) if you want more liquid feel free to add extra broth.

Love stir-fry? Then also try my Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry, Teriyaki Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry, and Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry.

Chicken Stir-Fry Recipe

I think we all need one or two tasty and easy stir-fry recipes in our dinner rotation. Because not only do they taste delicious, but they're also a great way to get a generous serving a vegetables in one meal.

This healthy chicken stir-fry is no exception! It's packed with veggies and it's perfectly filling and flavorful.

And this version is perfectly saucy, because isn't that a must? Plus it's easy to customize with your favorite vegetables or others you may have on hand.

Chicken Stir Fry Video

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You can also swap out the chicken breasts for chicken thighs if that's what you prefer.

Skip going out and enjoy this delicious take-out style dinner at home instead!

This is how you do chilly day dinners!

The Best Shepherd's Pie Recipe

I made shepherd's pie (AKA Cottage Pie) FIVE times this week to perfect it and I'd have to say I don't know that it could get any better! This has honestly got to be the coziest meal-in-one out there. And while it may not be the fastest easiest dinner it's worth every minute of prep and patience!

Hearty ground beef is browned and seasoned with aromatics including fresh veggies and herbs, then red wine and beef broth are added and it's simmered and reduced to a light gravy. And then comes my favorite part - its topped and finished with the most heavenly mashed potatoes!

Broiled vs. Baking

One thing I found it testing that there was no point in baking the layered pie at high temperatures up to 30 minutes, rather a quick broil kept the potatoes from drying out and the beef filling from scorching and getting tough.

Both the filling and potatoes are freshly cooked and hot so this method only made sense, plus it's faster this way.

It's also nice to bake the pie in the same pan the filling is cooked in rather than transferring to a baking dish, this way you save cleaning up one extra pan.

A Comfort Food Classic!

You'll love that this is just old fashioned, cast iron cooked, classic comfort food that reminds you of home.

If you like shepherd's pie then don't hesitate to try this recipe! You'll learn all the tips and tricks to perfecting it and it's likely to become a new family favorite!