Stefani Hood, Author at There's Always Pizza

Dirty Martini Dip

martini dip If you love martinis then this is the dip for you. Boozy olives and creamy blue cheese is perfect with a crispy crostini and a cold martini!

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Dirty Martini Dip

Ingredients

3/4 cup Pitted Castelvetrano olives, drained and quartered
1/4 cup Olive brine
1/4 cup (2 ounces) gin
1 tablespoon Dry vermouth
3 Strips lemon peel (from 1 lemon)
8 oz (1 packet) cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz Creamy blue cheese, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon Black pepper
3 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 Baguette sliced and toasted

Instructions

Place quartered olives, olive brine, gin, vermouth, and lemon peel strips in a bowl. Let marinate in the refrigerator until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
Strain olives, reserving the olives and brine mixture separately.
In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, blue cheese, salt, pepper, and 5 tablespoons of the reserved brine mixture mixer on medium speed until well blended. Taste and stir in additional brine mixture, if desired.
Transfer cheese mixture to a small serving bowl. Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into the center. Spoon reserved marinated olives over top. Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with flaky salt and pepper. Serve with crostini.

Stefani Hood2024-12-12T16:11:57+00:00December 12th, 2024|Starters, Uncategorized|0 Comments

When the fall and winter seasons approach there is nothing more comforting than French Onion Soup, but it never feels like a complete meal. Adding chicken makes this a meal that even picky kids will eat and will fill them up! Super easy and so flavorful, plus you house smells amazing with all the onions cooking. It takes about 45 min total!

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French Onion Chicken

Servings 4

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons granulated onion
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1/4 cup butter, divided
2 onions, cut into slices
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1.5 Tablespoons flour
2 cups beef broth
1/2 baguette, sliced into 1/2 sliced
6 oz Gruyere cheese, shredded
6 oz Provolone, shredded
3 Tablespoons Chives, chopped

Instructions

If you can buy thin cut chicken use that if, if not, slice your chicken breast lengthwise to create thinner breasts.
In a bowl combine sour cream, granulated onion and garlic. Add chicken and coat evenly. Place in the fridge for 30 min- 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In an oven safe skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add onions and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until soft.
Remove onions from skillet. Add remaning butter and oil. Turn heat up to Medium high. Add chicken breasts-with the sour cream coating still on. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Saute chicken on each side for 3-4 minutes or until brown. They will not be cooked through.
Remove chicken to same plate as onions.
Sprinkle flour into pan. You might need to add a bit more butter to create a paste. Let cook 1-2 minute. Add beef broth. Whisk until smooth.
Add chicken back to skillet and top with onions. Arrange baguette slices on top of onions. Top with cheeses. Place into oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese if bubble and golden. Sprinkle with chives. Serve.

Stefani Hood2024-12-12T16:13:10+00:00November 14th, 2024|Meats & Fish, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Chicken with Pancetta and Boursin Sauce

This is such a delicious and very quick weeknight dinner. It feels fancy but is not fancy to make. Plus it takes about 20 min!

This is one of those dishes that you can use all the short cuts and it will be a fabulous filling weeknight dinner. Serve with mashed potatoes (the pre-made ones), roasted potatoes, green beans (steam in bag), asparagus or even rice and dinner is done! To make this a 20 minute dinner I buy the thin sliced chicken breasts. You can absolutely cut the regular breasts in half to make thinner if you cannot find the pre-sliced in your grocery store, but I try to find the thin sliced to save me time. There is nothing worse than sautéing thick chicken breasts in a skillet and it taking 10 minutes a side and the grease is splashing all over your stove. I like to put the thin sliced breasts in the skillet with a little […]

Stefani Hood2023-04-04T15:45:18+00:00April 4th, 2023|Meats & Fish|0 Comments

Starter Kitchen Essentials

Well its that time of year-College send off! I know so many of you are getting ready to send off your babies to college and many of you are sending them off to their first apartment or house. Its very bitter sweet. It is incredibly fun to watch your kids grow and find their own place in this world, but it is also very hard as a parent to let go-how did the years go so fast? How was it we were buckling them in their carseats just yesterday and today we are stocking their dorm rooms and apartments? The days are long, but the years are short! But, time must go on and it is our job to prepare them for the stage ahead. So let’s have fun getting their new place ready!

In college or even the first couple of years of working its so, so hard to grocery shop, meal plan and cook. You are either focused on the next party, test, weekend trip or […]

Stefani Hood2022-07-15T19:39:55+00:00July 8th, 2022|College|0 Comments

Bourbon Peach Slush

Since most of the country is in a massive never ending heatwave I thought it would be appropriate to post one of my favorite summer drinks. I love bourbon and I love peaches so… Bourbon Peach Slush it is. And man do these go down fast when its 105 degrees.

I like to use frozen peaches for 2 reasons-first, the frozen fruit means I don’t have to dilute the drink so much by adding more ice to give it that slush texture and second, the peaches are typically very sweet because they freeze the fruit at the height of its ripeness. HOWEVER, this time the frozen peaches I bought were not that sweet…kinda sounds like everything in the world right now-nothing is up to par. SO, I just added a bit more peach nectar. The recipe below is assuming the frozen peaches are very sweet, but you just need to adjust the recipe to your liking. If you want it really sweet then you can add […]

Stefani Hood2022-07-15T19:25:42+00:00June 22nd, 2022|Starters|0 Comments

Lazy Mans Enchiladas

If you are in college or just crazy busy this is a great recipe. It is EASY and is delicious. My son is in college and living in a house and tries to cook as often as he can so that he can avoid fast food or just the expense of eating out every meal. Plus, he lives in a rather small town and finding speciality ingredients is fairly hard so I try to give him recipes that require minimal ingredients and minimal time because lets face it a 20 year old in college would rather be at a party then cooking dinner.

This recipe requires 3 ingredients- frozen taquitos, enchilada sauce in a can and shredded cheese. If you want to be really fancy you can add shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes or guacamole or salsa. You can choose between chicken or beef taquitos-I have not found any other frozen kind. This is the extent of this dish. Place it all in a baking dish […]

Stefani Hood2022-08-22T16:05:19+00:00June 16th, 2022|College, Meats & Fish|0 Comments

Shrimp Puttanesca

Need a light, but VERY flavorful new pasta dish to make on a week night? This is the recipe! Puttanesca is a sauce that is made of garlic, anchovies, tomatoes, olives, capers…. it is delicious and SO easy to throw together. It can be on the table in 30 min flat! I like to add shrimp, but you can add chicken or salmon or no protein and just enjoy the pasta.

I like to use a hearty thick pasta like bucatini, but any pasta that you have on hand will work. Do not run to the grocery store for pasta! And if you don’t already have olives, capers and anchovies in your pantry you need to have these items in stock. They last forever and they are always good to have on hand for a quick meal.

There are obviously many versions of puttanesca since it is such an old “recipe”. I like my sauce on the […]

Stefani Hood2022-04-12T15:33:47+00:00April 12th, 2022|Pasta|0 Comments

Smoked Salmon Breakfast Casserole

It is spring and that means Easter and Mother’s Day are right around the corner and that means brunch! I love brunch at my house. Its a bit more relaxed than dinner and the menu can be a bit more forgiving-you can just throw what sounds good onto the table and no one questions it and most things can be made ahead of time. One of those make ahead dishes is the breakfast casserole and at most brunches there is always a breakfast casserole, but I am so, so sick of the sausage and cheese breakfast casserole. Don’t get me wrong I love sausage and cheese especially with green chilis, but I wanted something else so I came up with this recipe. My family LOVES salmon and it is such a typical brunch dish. Salmon with cream cheese, green onions and bagels are so good, but how do I combine the tastes with a casserole? Well, here it is…

Stefani Hood2022-09-26T13:26:36+00:00April 6th, 2022|Breakfast & Brunch|2 Comments

French 75 Cocktail

Now that we are moving into Spring I am switching up my happy hour cocktail from the Manhattan to the classic French 75. It is one of my favorite drinks that is very easy to make but shockingly it is hard to find it made well when you go out. I had the BEST French 75 in Cabo at the One and Only Palmilla Resort-perfect combination of sweet and tart. I am not a huge gin fan but this drink calls for it. The gin goes so well with the champagne and lemon. And while we are on specifics you must use champagne or sparkling wine, NOT Prosecco! It is too sweet! Honestly Prosecco should be be outlawed, lol. If you are a true “champagne” drinker you cannot drink the “fake” stuff. So, when you are out and ask for a French 75 be sure and confirm that they are using champagne or sparkling wine Brut.

Stefani Hood2022-08-22T16:06:48+00:00March 10th, 2022|Starters|0 Comments

Manhattan Cocktail

The Manhattan Cocktail is an old classic drink that has stood the test of time for one reason-its damn good! Oh and its so easy! So many cocktails these days have 25 ingredients and need random things like green tea syrup. I mean who has time to make that especially if you have little kids running around or if you are old like me and just exhausted.

I have to thank my dear childhood friend, Kristy, for the inspiration to starting drinking this luscious drink again. I kinda got into a rut with dirty martinis or old fashioneds, which I still love, but needed a change. Don’t get me wrong, a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned are very similar, but I tend to not get a headache with a Manhattan.

One thing I have learned the older I have gotten is it is worth it to spend the money and buy GOOD liquor. Don’t waste your money on the cheap […]

Stefani Hood2022-08-22T16:06:18+00:00February 2nd, 2021|Starters|0 Comments

Butternut Squash Soup

Jump to Recipe

A savory butternut squash soup with shredded chicken, white beans, sage and crispy bacon.

The weather is cold and yucky in a lot of the country probably because its January and I think its still 2020 in disguise as 2021. So what better way to way to warm up than to make a huge batch of Butternut Squash soup. I have said before that soup is an appetizer for boys, but this soup is really hearty with navy beans and shredded rotisserie chicken. Now, don’t get me wrong this would probably not be the only thing I would serve to my boys, but for me and my husband it is perfect and it’s even better for lunch the next day.

Whenever I make anything with butternut squash I always buy the pre-cut squash in the grocery store because why in the world would I risk my fingers trying to cut a whole squash. However, if you cannot find pre-cut then be very carful when cutting […]

Stefani Hood2021-01-26T17:16:08+00:00January 26th, 2021|Soups & Salads|0 Comments

Cannelloni

Cannelloni is a pasta dish similar to lasagna-the only difference is that the sheets of pasta are filled and rolled into long tubes instead of layering the sheets with the filling. This is a vegetarian lower calorie version, but is still just as comforting and satisfying as the heavier traditional version of cannelloni.

I do not put any meat in this recipe, but you can absolutely add Italian sausage or ground beef to give it more oomph. Instead of meat I put mushrooms to give it that hearty texture, but you can add zucchini, red peppers, eggplant… The only trick with adding all those vegetables is you need to sauté in a skillet until all the water it out otherwise your cannelloni will be soggy.

Now, on to the cannelloni noodles… I am very lucky to have Central Market (HEB) and several Italian markets near me so I use the “fresh” lasagna sheets I find there. BUT, have no fear if […]

Stefani Hood2021-01-18T19:01:16+00:00January 18th, 2021|Pasta, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Macho Salad

There is nothing like a really good salad, but making a really good salad is not as easy as it sounds which is why we all go out and pay $25 for $6 worth of ingredients. But, there is nothing better than a hearty, healthy salad (just watch the dressing calories). I have to admit I am not a huge fan of the Houstons/Hillstone/White House/Honor Bar/Bandera food chain only because I kinda feel like the staff is a bit rude and I really hate eating at 11am or 4:30pm or waiting 2 hours for a table, but I do love most of their dishes on the menu. One of my favorites is the Macho Salad at Honor Bar. It is filled with so many good things like roasted chicken, cornbread croutons, avocado, dates, goat cheese, corn… its just yummy!

So, one of the best things about this salad are the cornbread croutons. Do not let this turn you away from making this salad. They are not […]

Stefani Hood2021-01-12T22:02:56+00:00January 12th, 2021|Soups & Salads, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Tortilla Soup

If you live in Texas you are very familiar with tortilla soup. It is on every Tex-Mex restaurant menu and there are many, many different versions. I have one version already on the blog, but this one is by far my boys FAVORITE. It is thick, creamy and perfectly balanced with spice.

My oldest son is in college and living in an apartment and has realized that eating fast food everyday gets old real fast so when he was home over break we made him about 10 freezable meals. One of the freezable dishes was this tortilla soup. He said he and his roommates plowed through the soup first and all said it was the best tortilla soup they have ever had! WOW! If you have boys you understand how big that is. Boy are not big “soup” eaters so for them to say it was the best and could I please make more…. big deal!

This recipe […]

Stefani Hood2021-01-08T15:28:38+00:00January 8th, 2021|Soups & Salads|0 Comments

Irish Beef Stew

Beef is the most requested meat in my house! My boys would eat it everyday if I let them, but I try only make it a couple times a week. Since it is winter I made a Beef and Beer Stew today. Who doesn’t love stew? There are a million variations of stew and every culture has their version. A stew is basically a tough cut of meat, think cheap, that has been cooked low and slow in a liquid (beer, wine, broth..). You can add any vegetables you like, but normally they are hearty root vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, potatoes, turnips…

The good thing about stew is you can make it early in the day and let it go all day in a low oven or in a crock pot. Just make sure you have enough liquid in the pot so that it doesn’t evaporate and become a burnt mess-I’ve done that before and it really sucks when you open the lid expecting a fabulous stew and find burnt pieces of meat.

Another note about stews or soups, do not […]

Stefani Hood2021-01-06T17:24:23+00:00January 5th, 2021|Soups & Salads, Meats & Fish|0 Comments

Caviar Potato Chips

Well…. 2020 is about to come to an end, THANK GOD! I know I am not the only one that is ready to put this year behind me. Yes, I know when the clock strikes midnight all our problems will not disappear, but at least we can start fresh with 2021!

With a lot of people staying home and not entertaining this year it makes for a very strange New Year’s Eve, but we still need to celebrate. Celebrate that we made it through 2020, celebrate that we are here to see another year, celebrate life! So try and make it a special night even if you are staying at home. Break out the champagne flutes, the good champagne and toast to a healthy and happy new year ahead.

One way to make the evening seem “fancy” is to make a few fun appetizers to munch on while you watch the ball drop. This one, Caviar Potato Chips is EASY, EASY and will […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-30T18:19:02+00:00December 30th, 2020|Starters|0 Comments

Ritz Pie

The famous Ritz Pie recipe you have been waiting for, well famous in my family. This is a pie that my Grandmother made every single holiday, but I especially remember it at Christmas. I am certain that she got it off the back of a Ritz Cracker box back in the 1970’s because it is so simple and very basic. And honestly a bit strange, but SO GOOD!

It is more like a cookie than a “pie”, but it has that salty and sweet thing going on and then it has the classic Cool Whip on top, yes the stuff in the tub in the freezer section. This don’t use no fancy whipped cream, hell no! It is the old fashioned sugary sweet Cool Whip. And it is oh so good. Not sure what the mandarin oranges are for except for it kinda cuts the sweet of the cool whip. I told you it was a strange “pie”, but we all love it and now […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-22T18:24:23+00:00December 22nd, 2020|Desserts|0 Comments

Yorkshire Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding is a traditional English side dish that is very similar to a popover. They are basically like a biscuit here in the states or a piece of a warm, crusty loaf of bread in France. Just something your serve along side the meal. I make these ALL the time because they are so easy! I promise they are pretty fool proof.

These amazing warm little treats are typically served with standing rib roast or Sunday Roast so you have beef drippings that collect in the bottom of the roasting pan that you use for the fat in the recipe. The beef drippings make it a very rich and delicious side dish, but I truly make these all the time and although I do make a lot of beef for the boys I do not make standing rib roast but just once a year at Christmas, so I use butter in place of beef drippings and they are just as fabulous!

The […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-21T18:53:17+00:00December 21st, 2020|Sides|0 Comments

Christmas Menu

It’s official Christmas is less than a week away! Every year it seems to come quicker and quicker although the older my kids get the less hectic the season is. Once your kids are out of elementary school you don’t have to go to all the holiday parties, plays and performances. You don’t have to spend hours online or in line to find the perfect toy of the year-they are happy with one big gift. You actually have time to go to lunch with your friends and have a holiday drink because you don’t have to drive carpool at 1:35pm!

There are benefits to having older kids, but there is a downside as well. I no longer have to remember the elf or hide the packages all over the house that I know I will never remember where they are all hidden or wake up at 5am Christmas morning. So to make up for some of the Christmas magic that has left our house I try to make the Christmas Eve dinner that much more special. Thanksgiving and Christmas are truly the […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-30T18:19:36+00:00December 17th, 2020|Menus|0 Comments

Winter Stovetop Potpourri

It is almost Christmas! This year seems a bit anticlimactic for some reason. Maybe because part of the joy of Christmas is being at home with nothing to do but watch movies, eat good food and hang with family. Yeah, well we have been doing that since March! I want OUT! I am so sick of my house! What about you?

But…, since we are at home for a bit longer I want to try and make the holidays special and a good memory to think back on. One way is holiday traditions that you have with your family and the other is smells. I have said this before and I’ll say it again-smells are SO important! Smells are so closely linked with memory. More so than any other sense. Odors take a direct route to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions in the brain related to emotion and memory. There ya go-a bit of trivia!

Stefani Hood2020-12-17T16:04:33+00:00December 17th, 2020|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Sweet and Salties

It’s December and it’s COLD. The arctic cold front hit most of the country and it’s cold! It is the perfect day to reflect on all that you haven’t finished for Christmas. Let’s see…mailing the adorable cards you had made (I mean you did wrestle the monkeys into nice clothes and scream and yell at them and the dog to sit still so you could get that perfect shot), get on Amazon and try to find something for the teenager living with you, finish decorating the tree and finally, deliver the neighbor gifts. Oh yeah those people that look after your house while you are on vacation and call the cops because your alarm is going off for no reason at all. Well, those people deserve a sweet gift for putting up with your kids throwing a million balls in their side yard or tear up their front yard with their bikes or throwing a football in their tree and trying to climb it to get it out all the while breaking 12 branches. Oh, is that just me? My neighbors are […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-17T21:26:20+00:00December 17th, 2020|Desserts|0 Comments

Tetrazzini

I grew up with Chicken Tetrazzini and I absolutely HATED it. I dreaded it every Christmas when we went to West Texas. I have such amazing, truly classic holiday memories from all holidays out there, but not the tetrazzini, lol. When I say classic holidays I mean it was just magical for a kid. We would arrive and my grandmother would have Christmas music playing, the toy tree with the strawberry candies pinned to it and the big flocked tree would be decorated to the hilt. My granddad would wrap the huge pecan tree in the front yard with big blue lights and the house was lined in the colorful lights. It was just beautiful. We would pray for a West Texas snow to make it even prettier.

We would go to church on Christmas Eve with the ENTIRE family (all 27 of us) to this beautiful quintessential small town church-Second Baptist. I still remember the smell-pine trees and tradition. […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-10T18:14:33+00:00December 10th, 2020|Meats & Fish, Pasta|0 Comments

Newporter Salad

Well it was a very different Thanksgiving, but I have to say it was kinda nice. I missed the big family, but it was very special to have just my little family of 5. With all our boys away at school I treasure every minute with them. Plus clean up was a breeze!!! Did y’all notice that? I mean 5 plates, 5 napkins, 5 glasses…. It took us about 20 minutes to clean the whole kitchen!!

Since there were only 5 of us we did have a lot of leftovers and we are not big leftovers people so I had to find a way to use them instead of just putting them in the freezer which means I just toss in the trash in 3 months. I first made Turkey Noodle Soup then I made Turkey Tetrazzini then I still had leftover turkey so I made a SALAD! I much needed SALAD! I love the R&D restaurant salad, but I do hate […]

Stefani Hood2020-12-10T16:00:48+00:00November 30th, 2020|Soups & Salads|0 Comments

Thanksgiving Menu

2020 The year of NOT NORMAL! I know we are all ready for this god forsaken year to be over! And it almost is, yay!! But, even though this year has been absolutely awful I am hopeful that we can have a good Thanksgiving. It will just be my little family-me, my husband and our three boys, but I am grateful for that. I cannot wait for all my chickens to get home and to share a meal and count our blessings, which are many. Don’t get me wrong, we have had a bad year too-our senior lost SO much last spring that he worked so very hard for, not mention his crappy first semester of college experience. Our junior has lost his first year on varsity, his first formal, a trip he worked so hard to be accepted to attend and our freshman has lost all the experiences that he has waited so patiently for 6 years to have at the school his brothers attended. It has been hard as a parent to hold my kids as they cry and to […]

Stefani Hood2020-11-30T20:16:54+00:00November 17th, 2020|Menus|0 Comments

Easy Chicken Pozole Verde

If you are looking for an EASY, QUICK, dinner/lunch this is it! Easy Chicken Pozole Verde is so delicious and perfect during the cold winter or the hot summer. It is a bit tangy with a tiny bit of heat (you can always add more) and it is filling and comforting. Its just so good!

I have dumbed this recipe down so it can literally be made in about 20 minutes and I promise you will not know it did not take all day to make. Sometimes, most of the time, I just don’t have all day to make soup.

You know I looked and looked for years for a good, quick pozole and every recipe I came across had me making the tomatillo sauce from scratch, which is fabulous, but why waste all that time? Plus finding tomatillos can be hard sometimes. They are the green looking tomatoes that have thin husk on them. I am sure you have seen them in the grocery and wondered, “what the heck am I to do with those?”. […]

Stefani Hood2020-10-30T20:46:22+00:00February 17th, 2020|Soups & Salads|2 Comments

Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce

Valentine’s Day is holiday that is such a welcome treat after all the New Year’s resolutions of eating healthy and working out more. It is the night that you get to indulge just a bit! But, one thing I don’t like about the Love holiday is the restaurant fight. It is just always such a pain to go out on Valentine’s Day. The restaurants are crowded, the food is pre-made a week in advance, you feel rushed and plus it costs and arm and leg to be romantic on that day. I have found over the years that we prefer to just stay in on Valentine’s Day. This recipe for Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce sounds so fancy, but it is really simple and delicious!

You can use any cut of steak that you prefer and you can use any mix of mushroom you can find. The key to this dish being so fabulous is the sauce. Please do not be scared off by the word SAUCE. It is EASY, […]

Stefani Hood2020-02-11T21:52:54+00:00February 10th, 2020|Meats & Fish|0 Comments

Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is a famous French recipe also known as Beef Burgundy because its beef braised in red wine (typically red Burgundy wine) and beef broth. It is a go to recipe that everyone should know how to make. It is easy and DELICIOUS! The leftovers are just as good as the first round so be sure to double the recipe. I serve this over mashed potatoes or noodles and with a huge hunk of fresh bread to soak up all the fabulous juices.

I love the Trader Joes frozen mashed potatoes. They come out perfect every time. Just add some milk and heat in the microwave.

This Beef Bourguignon recipe is not fast only because it takes hours to get the beef so tender, but it is easy in that there is very little hands on time. I will put this in the oven in the afternoon and by dinner everyone is so hungry from smelling it all day. It is a dish that […]

Stefani Hood2020-03-17T14:59:58+00:00January 29th, 2020|Soups & Salads, Meats & Fish|0 Comments

Spaghetti Squash Chicken Skinny Alfredo

I LOVE alfredo sauce and I LOVE pasta, but my waist does not. So, sticking with the theme of trying to eat healthy in January here is recipe for Spaghetti Squash Chicken Skinny Alfredo. I posted awhile back a recipe I found from Katie Lee for a skinny alfredo which is amazing! I mean amazing! You will not be able to tell the difference, I promise! So I combined that recipe with spaghetti squash to take out the carbs and added in rotisserie chicken to increase the protein and what you have is delicious, healthy and hearty Chicken Alfredo without all the guilt. And my boys ate this and went back for seconds so it passed that test which is huge!

There are a couple steps to this recipe, but by using rotisserie chicken that takes away one step of roasting or grilling the chicken breasts. And you can make this in advance and reheat- so make it on a Sunday and serve it one day when you have zero time to make […]

Stefani Hood2020-01-10T18:31:37+00:00January 10th, 2020|Meats & Fish, Pasta|0 Comments

15 Bean Soup in the Slow Cooker

This time of year I am gung ho to cook healthy for me and my family, but I am exhausted from the holidays. January is just the month of rest not the month of exercise plans and planners, in my opinion. I need EASY recipes that they will eat. So…here is a super easy one for you. Now, if you live in Texas or the South the weather has been GORGEOUS and it seems like we should be eating spring salads, but its still January so soups and stews are on the menu. And if you are like my sister and in-laws who live in the Northeast, god bless you and you need this recipe more than all of us! It is hearty, filling, healthy and I swear your kids will eat it because it has a ham hock in it so it makes it very savory and rich.

I am not a huge slower cooker fan only because the meat tends to be dry and bland when it comes time to serve, but I […]

Stefani Hood2020-01-08T18:03:38+00:00January 8th, 2020|Soups & Salads|0 Comments

Sausage Balls

Oh the sausage ball! A Southern staple at any party, kinda like Pimento Cheese. They are just good even after all these years. I guess they have stuck around so long because they are super easy to make and use pretty basic ingredients. Remember Bisquick when your mom would make pancakes or waffles? Well, it makes a come back in this recipe and its is so good! Another ingredient in this recipe is good ole’ pork breakfast sausage. I like to use regular breakfast sausage, like Jimmy Dean and add red pepper flakes to up the heat because I feel like the hot sausage is too spicy for everyone, but if you like it spicy then by all means use the Hot Breakfast Sausage.

One good thing about this recipe is you can make these in advance and freeze them. Then just pull them out when you are ready to party and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until warmed through. You can serve them at fancy parties or at a football tailgate […]

Stefani Hood2019-12-17T23:05:18+00:00December 17th, 2019|Starters|0 Comments

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