Creamy Zucchini Casserole

Around here, summer squashes are popping up everywhere! Try using some in this dish that can be used as a side or even for the main dinner event!

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If you grow zucchini in your garden, you're going to have more of the stuff than you probably know what to do with, so make life easy on yourself one night and throw together this easy dish that can serve as a side, or be the main event!

Super-Simple Sweet Potato Soup

Calling this a recipe almost seems like a joke -- it's so easy to make, you won't believe it's all from scratch!

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We go through a bag or two of sweet potatoes each week, so I always have them on hand and this recipe is one I can throw together in a flash when I have no time or no clue what to fix for dinner!

Creamy Red Pepper Soup

Festively-colored sweet peppers are a healthy addition to your regular diet -- try turning them into this delicious soup for a new way to enjoy them!

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We're already in the throes of summer around here, but still not quite ready to give up our weekly soups yet (hello, easy dinner!)

This peppery version is a great transition-season choice, as it feels light and breezy, despite having a creamy texture!

Amazing Asparagus Shepherd's Pie

Go a different direction with this dish and find a new way to use up stalks of a veggie that's so prolific this time of year!  

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We get on food kicks around here, so after making this sweet potato dish a few weeks ago, I was craving more of that comforting goodness and since G returned from the hunt (otherwise known as grocery shopping) with a bag of regular potatoes and twelve bunches of asparagus, I decided to whip up another version of shepherd's pie!

Super Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Turn a classic into something a bit healthier with this sweet potato twist!  

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A few weeks ago, we somehow got all jumbled up with our dinner schedule and I found myself with a bunch of random veggies and things that were about to go bad.

One of our favorite things to eat is shepherd's pie, so I knew that would be a great way to use a bunch of those veggies up, since you can throw just about anything in a dish and cover it with potatoes and cheese and it will be yummy.

But we don't often eat regular potatoes, and I had two bags of Aldi sweet potatoes that would start walking around on their own if I didn't use them soon, so I decided to try a bit of a spin on the classic dish, just to see what happened.

It. Was. Delicious.

And we may never eat shepherd's pie with regular potatoes again!

Crockpot Dill Pickle Soup

Add some tang to your soup repertoire by introducing this dill pickle dish to your family!  

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I love dill pickles.

Not quite as much as the Duggars, but I can easily put away several pickles at one time.

We also really enjoy soup around here and since I try to make a different one each week for dinner, I like to get creative with the flavors to keep things interesting.

I thought this turned out great and G declared it one of his absolute favorites:

Delicious Dhal

It's no secret that we love food from all over the world, but this dish has become an almost-weekly staple in our house, since it's so easy and delicious!  

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I had eaten plenty of this lentil dish over the years (yummy Indian buffets!), but it wasn't until we visited a friend of G's several years ago that it became a staple in our home.

We were staying with this friend just before leaving on our babymoon trip a few months before Gv was born and had planned to be as unobtrusive as possible, since it was Christmas and that is a crazy-busy time for a retired-but-not-really-retired priest.

We barely got to enjoy more than a few minutes of chit-chat with him before he would have to rush out to perform yet another Mass.

That's why I was so surprised when he offered to whip us up some lunch before heading out the door again, but when I watched how quick and easy it was for him to prepare this delicious dhal, it all made sense.

This is one of those dishes that tastes like it took all day to cook, but can pretty much be thrown together in ten minutes and needs only half an hour more to simmer away and fill your home with tantalizing smells before you can devour it!

Tantalizing Thai Carrot Soup

Wintertime calls for soup -- and lots of it! We eat soup pretty much once a week during these freezing cool-ish months and this is one of our favorites!  

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We buy these ridiculous, ginormous 25-pound bags of carrots because even though they're sold for people to feed to their horses, they're organic. They're super-cheap (like, less than the regular-sized bag of organic carrots cheap!), so we figure with a deal that great, we can throw 3/4 of the bag away and still come out ahead.

But if you know me very well at all, then you know that I cannot stand to waste food, so whenever those orange roots jammed into my fridge's veggie drawer start growing hairs, I know it's time to figure out something creative to make to use them all up before they get really gross.

I usually make up a mess of this comforting carrot soup, but the other day, I wanted something a little bit different and came up with this tasty creation:

Crazy-Lazy Breadsticks!

Sometimes you just need to throw together dinner fast and these super-simple and speedy breadsticks are a great accompaniment for those times!  

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I'm always making bread around here. 

Usually, I have at least a general idea of what I'll be doing for dinner all week, so I'm not often caught scrambling around trying to take care of the bread or buns or dough I need for each night's meal.

But sometimes, I just don't feel like proceeding with the plan and decide to whip up a quick something - often some comforting soup - and am faced with a doughy dilemma.

Amazing Apple Crumble

If you're looking for an easy, healthy-ish dessert you can throw together quickly, then this Shortbread Apple Crumble fits the bill!  

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I had an overabundance of homemade shortbread cookies after making my Eggnog Cheesecake this year, so I decided to throw together something that used them as a crust.

We always have a bag of apples on hand, so it was easy to grab a few and get cooking!

What You Need

A  cup or two of shortbread cookies (see recipe here)

8 sliced apples (we like the skin, but you might want to peel them)

1 T lemon juice

1/2 cup + 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup + 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 t. cinnamon (I just shook it out willy-nilly -- we like a lot of cinnamon!)

1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup butter

1/2 t baking soda

What You Do

1.  Zub the cookies until they're fine crumbs (in something similar to this), then squish them into the bottom of a pie plate. You can add melted butter to make it stick together better, but I figured the cookies had enough butter already and since we were after a crumble dessert anyway, I decided it didn't have to stick together perfectly (even though it did!)

2. Stir the apples, lemon juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in a large bowl until the apples are coated. Pour them into the pie plate.

3. Zub everything else but the oats together until finely ground, then add the oats and pulse once or twice. Sprinkle over the apples in the pie plate.

4. Bake for about an hour at 375 degrees. It's done when it's as browned as you'd like.

5. Let it cool a bit and then dish it out. You could easily serve this with ice cream or whipped cream, but we just ate ours plain and thought it was delicious!

Do you love simple desserts like this that you can throw together in a flash? I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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Crazy-Good Cauliflower Soup

I don't think we could ever get tired of soup around here, but we drained our bowls of this delicious recipe even faster than usual!

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Gv loves cauliflower.

Like, seriously, she'll request it for dinner and eat an entire 1-pound frozen bag of the stuff -- sometimes even still frozen!

Even though I love that she digs this cruciferous veggie so much, I would like things even more if she got a little more variety into her diet, so I came up with this soup.

And the bonus is, it turned out soooo good, so now G and I have a new favorite to drool over, as well!