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Cheesy Taco Soup

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Taco SoupCheesy taco soup. Cheesy Taco Soup! CHEESY.TACO.SOUP!!!! I must tell you that I love this stuff. I know I say I love a lot of things but I SERIOUSLY love this stuff. Like this is at the top of the top of my lists of favorite things to eat. I’m pretty sure it’s the cheese. There are so many good things about the soup, but let’s face it…I’m a cheese-a-holic. Cheese makes everything better.

Taco SoupIf you couldn’t tell by my enthusiasm, this was an instant classic in our household at first bite. I think as I was making this soup for the first time Travis gave me some quizzical looks as I started adding more and more spices and (planned) randomness to the soup. Luckily for him, and for me, the creation turned out top notch. No need for quizzical looks or uncertainty. You can be certain that you will be eating a delicious cheesy taco in a bowl before long.

Taco SoupIf you haven’t noticed, Travis and I are huge fans of thick and creamy soups. Not convinced? Check out my creamy tomato basil soup or cheesy veggie chowder. It may not be possible for me to make a soup without the words “creamy” or “cheesy” in front of it. Challenge accepted. Just wait for it. It’ll come someday. But for now, I’m happy with my cheesy taco soup.

Taco Soup

Cheesy Taco Soup
Serves 8
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
50 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
50 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 pound ground turkey
  2. 1 onion, diced
  3. 1 jalapeño, seeds removed and minced
  4. 2 tablespoons chili powder
  5. 1 tablespoon cumin
  6. 1 teaspoon paprika
  7. 1 teaspoon black pepper
  8. 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  9. 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  10. 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  11. 1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce can)
  12. 6 cups chicken broth
  13. 1 cup uncooked brown rice
  14. 2 cups milk
  15. 1 can black beans (15 ounce can), drained and rinsed
  16. 2 tablespoons corn starch and 1/4 cup water, whisked into a slurry
  17. 3 cups cheddar cheese
  18. salt, to taste
  19. tortilla chips, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Brown the ground turkey over medium-high heat in a large pot. Drain any excess fat. Add the onions and jalapeño and saute 2 minutes.
  2. Add in the spices, tomatoes with juice, and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer.
  3. Stir in the rice. Return to a simmer, cover, and let simmer for 40 minutes.
  4. Add in the milk and beans and heat until the soup is back to a simmer.
  5. Add in the corn starch and water slurry, stirring constantly while bringing the soup to a light boil. The soup should thicken with the slurry.
  6. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the cheddar cheese. Add salt, to taste.
  7. Serve with tortilla chips, to garnish.
Notes
  1. You can also make this with ground beef but since there is so much flavor already I stuck with the ground turkey!
  2. Keep in mind the tortilla chips are salty so I tend to add only a little salt.
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

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butternut squash mac & cheeseI’M BACK! *Finally*, after lots of holiday traveling (and fun!), website rearrangement/launching, and the craziness of going back to work after a couple weeks off, I am back and ready to keep on cooking and sharing more delicious recipes! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We certainly did here!

Back to the serious business at hand…cooking! I made this butternut squash mac & cheese with a little caution. Yes, I was confident that I could make something edible, but I wasn’t looking for edible. I was looking for DELICIOUS! Luckily, with a little finagling this dish DID turn out delicious!

butternut squash mac & cheese
If you’ve ever worked with butternut squash, you know that it’s not necessarily scary or even hard to work with but that it takes a little bit of effort to peel and cut into pieces. You can always use pre-cut cubes that are often sold in the store, but where’s the fun in that?? Plus, you pay way more for the pre-cut stuff so I tend to take on the challenge of an extra few steps instead of forking out the money. Take a look at the notes in the recipe to learn how to cube a squash!

butternut squash mac & cheese
This mac and cheese ends up ooey and gooey just like any mac and cheese. The butternut squash just adds a fresh and unique flavor to an ordinary dish. Plus, for those of you with kids, the butternut squash is basically the same color as typical mac and cheese so it’s easy to slip it in there for some extra nutrition without anyone noticing. I wouldn’t call that sneaky, just…creative. Yeah, we’ll go with creative.

butternut squash mac & cheese
So if you’re ready for a different take on mac and cheese that will make you feel not-as-guilty about that New Year’s resolution that has been broken way too many times for the 2nd week of the year, this is the dish for you! I’m not saying that this dish is the most figure friendly dish out there, but it sure beats some other mac and cheese dishes!

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
Serves 6
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
50 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
50 min
Ingredients for the pasta
  1. 5 cups cubed butternut squash (about 1 squash)
  2. 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
  3. 1 1/2 cups milk
  4. 2 cloves garlic
  5. 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  6. 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (about 1, 5.3 oz containter)
  7. 2.5 cups shredded Gouda
  8. 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  9. 1 pound rotini, cooked
  10. salt & pepper, to taste
Ingredients for the topping
  1. 1 tablespoon butter
  2. 1 cup breadcrumbs
  3. salt & pepper, to taste
  4. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
Directions for the pasta
  1. In a medium to large sauce pan, add cubed squash, chicken stock, milk, garlic and nutmeg. Heat over medium-high heat until it begins to simmer. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, or until the squash is fork tender.
  2. Add Greek yogurt, salt and pepper to pan. Use immersion (hand) blender to bend until smooth. Alternatively, you can transfer the squash mixture to a blender, add the Greek yogurt, salt, and pepper and blend until smooth.
  3. Fold in Gouda cheese and Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
  4. Pour squash and cheese mixture into a large bowl or pot with the cooked pasta. Stir to blend.
Directions for the breadcrumb topping
  1. Melt butter in a small sauté pan.
  2. Add breadcrumbs and stir until breadcrumbs are crispy.
  3. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and parsley over mac and cheese to garnish.
Notes
  1. To cut the butternut squash into cubes, use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Cut a small piece off the side to help stabilize the squash when turned on its side. Place the squash on the flat surface you just cut and cut the squash in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the stringy flesh and seeds. Finally, cut into strips then cubes.
  2. You can make the sauce beforehand then heat it up when you are ready to serve!
  3. You can use any kind of melting cheese in place of the Gouda. Simple cheddar would be delicious as well!
Adapted from The Chew
Adapted from The Chew
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/

Asian Marinated Salmon

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Asian SalmonI’ve been on an Asian and Mexican food kick lately and this salmon recipe certainly does the trick. The strong flavors of the marinade help to make the salmon taste less salmon-y. Since I’m not a huge fan of fish just yet I love the fact that the flavors all blend to make something delicious! And yes, salmon-y is now a word if you were still stuck on that.

Asian SalmonMy sister, Liz, originally made this for my family awhile back when I was even less of a fish fan. I’ve been meaning to make it ever since (which has been a LONG time) because it was *delicious* the first time. Way to go, sister, for making me like things I didn’t think I liked!

Asian SalmonI served mine up with some rice and vegetables. YUM! There are certainly other ways to serve it up as well but the rice is nice because it soaks up all the marinade. Then you have delicious fish on top of delicious rice. That’s pretty awesome, right? The answer to my rhetorical question is YES! It it is very awesome.

Asian Salmon

Asian Marinated Salmon
Serves 6
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Prep Time
1 hr 10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Prep Time
1 hr 10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Ingredients
  1. 2.5 to 3 pounds fresh salmon fillets, cleaned
  2. 1/2 cup soy sauce
  3. 2 tablespoons Sriracha (chili sauce)
  4. 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
  5. 4 cloves garlic, minced
  6. 1/2 lime, zested and juiced
  7. 2 tablespoons honey
  8. 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  9. 3 green onions, finely chopped
  10. sesame seeds and chopped green onions to garnish, optional
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, Sriracha, ginger, garlic, lime zest and juice, honey, red pepper flakes, and 3 green onions.
  2. Cover bottom of glass baking pan with parchment paper and place the salmon fillets in the pan, skin side down. Pour the marinade on top of fillets and lift the salmon slightly to make sure the marinade reaches all sides of the salmon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate about 1 hour to marinade.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the plastic wrap from the salmon and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the fish turns opaque and flaky.
  4. Serve with sesame seeds and green onions to garnish, optional.
Adapted from A Chookie Chookie
Adapted from A Chookie Chookie
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/

Lasagna with Meat Sauce

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Lasagna is something that everyone seems to love. It’s ooey and gooey and saucy and full of flavor. Plus it feeds a lot of people! Don’t worry, I won’t be mad if you don’t like lasagna. Everyone has their own preferences. With that said, let’s be real…it would be rare that you have someone over for dinner and they are disappointed when lasagna shows up on the table. Seriously.

This recipe came from Travis’ family. It’s slightly adapted but it’s more or less the same as when I got it. Delicious as always! The main difference is that I typically use ground turkey instead of ground beef. Both add a good flavor. Plus with the sausage in there I honestly can’t tell the difference between ground beef and turkey. So use what you like or what you have!

Lasagna is a little bit of a process but in the end it is definitely worth it! One wonderful thing about lasagna is that you can easily freeze and thaw it before baking it so if you make it, you might as well make a lot of it so that you can have it more than once! Or, if you have company coming this is a great make-ahead dish so that all you have to do is pop it in the oven. Easy peasy.

Travis and I have been making homemade pasta for awhile now so we made homemade lasagna noodles for this. So. gosh. darn. good. Don’t get me wrong, this lasagna is scrumptious with or without the fresh noodles. BUT, lasagna with fresh pasta is like eating pillows of noodles covered in gooey cheese and meaty tomato sauce. Yeah. Just stop and think about that for a minute…pillows of pasta. gooey cheese. meaty sauce. Enough said.

Lasagna with Meat Sauce
Serves 8
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Prep Time
40 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 40 min
Prep Time
40 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 40 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 pound ground turkey (or ground beef)
  2. 1/2 pound ground Italian sausage
  3. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  4. 1 can whole tomatoes (28 ounces)
  5. 1 can tomato paste (12 ounces)
  6. 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
  7. 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  8. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  9. 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  10. 2 cups cottage cheese
  11. 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese + 1/2 cup for topping
  12. 16 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
  13. 1 box lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
Instructions
  1. Brown ground turkey and sausage in a large pan over medium heat. Drain any excess fat and add the garlic to the pan. Sauté 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Slightly break apart the tomatoes as you stir. Stir in the basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. In a bowl, stir together the cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and grated mozzarella cheese.
  4. In an ungreased 9 x 13" pan, alternate layers of sauce, noodles, and cheese, starting with a little sauce on the bottom. End with a layer of sauce and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese on top.
  5. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
Notes
  1. This recipe can easily be frozen after assembly then thawed and baked as directed!
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/
 

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

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Cheesy Vegetable ChowderMy husband and I are fans of thick, chunky, and creamy soups. I first made this recipe several years ago and it was *amazing* to begin with. It’s slowly evolved to be even thicker and even more full of chunky vegetables. Oh, so perfect for a hearty and satisfying dinner. Especially perfect on a night like tonight where I am huddled in my jacket because I’m too cold to take it off. It’s only been like an hour…or 2…or something along those lines since I got home from work. Maybe 3. Don’t judge.

Cheesy Vegetable ChowderI love this soup with the basics of carrots, celery, potatoes, and broccoli but you are certainly more than welcome to try it with your favorite vegetables! I’ve added onions in the past as well but didn’t when I made it this time because my husband and I aren’t huge fans of onions in general. We’re working on that one.

Cheesy Vegetable ChowderDid I mention how creamy and cheesy this soup is? Maybe I did. Doesn’t matter because I’ll tell you again. This is the most creamy and cheesy and delicious soup EVER. In the WHOLE WORLD. Travis says I can be overly dramatic sometimes. Maybe this is one of those times. But, mark my words, you will love this soup!

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
Serves 5
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
35 min
Total Time
50 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 tablespoons butter
  2. 5 carrots, diced
  3. 4 celery stalks, diced
  4. 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  5. 4 cups chicken broth
  6. 5 potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes
  7. 1 cup milk
  8. 1/4 cup flour
  9. 1/2 cup water
  10. 1 head broccoli (approximately 4 cups), chopped
  11. 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded + more for garnish
  12. Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Melt butter in large pot and sauté diced carrots and celery for 7-8 minutes, or until they start to soften, over medium heat.
  2. Add in garlic and sauté 1 additional minute.
  3. Add chicken broth and potatoes and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
  4. Add 1 cup of milk and heat through.
  5. Mix together flour and water in small bowl then add to soup. Stir until the soup comes up to a simmer and thickens.
  6. Add broccoli and simmer until tender, about 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the florets.
  7. Remove from heat and stir in shredded cheddar cheese until it is melted. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
  8. Serve with cheddar cheese on top.
Notes
  1. This is a very vegetable packed soup! If you like a certain vegetable more than another you can alter the proportions of vegetables easily. Cheddar cheese that you shred at home (not the pre-shredded stuff) seems to melt better in the soup, though it will be delicious either way!
Adapted from Lulu the Baker
Adapted from Lulu the Baker
Flavor From Scratch https://www.flavorfromscratch.com/
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