Tasty Baked Potatoes

My husband is a typical "meat and potatoes" type guy so I like to find a variety of ways to serve up one of his favorite side dishes! This is a SIMPLE twist on the typical baked potato and he's in LOVE with it!

Ingredients

• Baking potatoes
• olive oil
• sea salt (or regular table salt is fine too)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Wash potatoes and prick lightly with a fork 2-3 times
3. Cook in microwave for 8 minutes, turning after 4.
4. You want to be able to feel a little give in the skin but not so much that it breaks
5. Remove them from microwave and brush with olive oil and salt
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes

This recipe makes the skin SUPER yummy! I cook four potatoes...one for myself, one for the kids to split and two for Zach ;)

Broiler Corn

One of my personal favorite side dishes, and super quick and easy to whip up for the whole family!

Ingredients:

• frozen bag of corn kernels
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Put oven on High Broil
2. Lay corn (still frozen) out on baking sheet. I have a family of four and typically only use 1/2 a bag at each meal as this isn't very good left over!
3. Drizzle olive oil over corn
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Heat for 5 minutes in oven

YES! It really is THAT SIMPLE!!! And it's delicious! 

Butternut Squash Fries

Orange vegetables are a tough sell in my house and these allow me to make sure my kids get the nutrients they need!

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Peel and cut squash into strips
3. Coat lightly in olive oil on a baking sheet
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
5. Cook in oven for 30-40 minutes, the longer you bake the crispier they will become

I serve them with a little side of ketchup for my 4 year old and he gobbles them down! I keep them in a tupperware and serve at lunches!

Frozen Bananas

My kids enjoy eating bananas each morning for breakfast. Since I only grocery shop once a month I've had to get creative to make them last! Both of my kids love the frozen bananas so much that they prefer them over the fresh ones!

• I buy roughly 20 bananas at the start of each month
• I wait until they are starting to turn brown...like this:

• Then I PEEL each banana and break it in half
• Next I place each half in a Ziploc freezer gallon sized bag (and in this case I do think the brand name is worth it as it tends to cause less freezer burn than other freezer bag brands)
• I am careful to lay each one flat in the bag

•  After all of my bananas are in the bag I carefully lay the bag in the freezer making sure it stays laying flat so the bananas won't stick together after frozen!

• Each morning I grab one half of banana for each child and let it thaw a little before cutting it into pieces for them! They are also EXCELLENT to add to smoothies!
• I recommend if you're going to eat them to do so rather quickly as after a while, when they get fully thawed, they get very mushy!

Poppy Seed Chicken and Noodles

My sweet sister-in-law made this dish for me after I had surgery and it was SO GOOD I ate it for several meals while resting in the bed :) When I cooked it for the first time my son said it's his most favorite thing I've cooked yet!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 sleeve Ritz crackers
• 1 tsp poppy seeds or more if desired
• 12 oz sour cream (I used 1 and 1/2 of the 8 oz serving containers)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 box fettuccine noodles (I used whole wheat)

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook 1/2 box of noodles, according to package
3. Boil chicken on high heat until boils then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and then shred.
4. Mix sour cream and soup in a bowl...I also seasoned with salt and pepper
5. Combine butter, crackers and seeds in a separate bowl
6. Pour 1/2 soup mix in baking dish then top with chicken, noodles, remaining half of soup mix, finally top with cracker mix
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes

When I made this I realized once I had already started preparing it that I had bought sesame seeds rather than poppy ones! Oops! I just didn't have seeds in it and it was still SUPER yummy! I can't wait to try it again with the seeds next time ;)

Garlic Green Beans

I don't like to use canned goods often but this is a quick way to eat some green vegetables when in a rush to get dinner on the table!

Ingredients

• Canned green beans (any type)
• Garlic (I buy the big container of it and keep it in the fridge to have on hand)

Directions

1. Pour green beans (including juice from can) in pot on stove
2. Add 1 tsp of minced garlic
3. Let cook on a low setting for 20 min or so (I just let it cook the entire time I'm making the rest of our dinner!)

Honey Carrots

None of my family really enjoys eating carrots...yet we ALL love this recipe!!! 

Ingredients

• Whole carrots (as many as you'd like...I usually do 4 or 5 carrots for our family)
• 3 Tbl olive oil
• 3 Tbl honey
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Clean and peel carrots then cut into sticks
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Place on baking sheet and toss in 1 Tbl olive oil along with salt and pepper
4. Roast in oven for 20 minutes
5. Drizzle with 2 Tbl olive oil, 3 Tbl honey and 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
6. Put back in oven for 5 minutes

This is a wonderful side dish however I'm always mindful to only make enough for us to eat immediately as they aren't very good left over!