Tag: easy

Homemade Granola

We’ve recently been on a big yogurt and granola kick in this house, probably because the warm weather means buying more fresh berries. So when we ran out of granola a week into our grocery cycle, but still had plenty of yogurt left, I decided to make some homemade granola!

I used to make homemade granola a lot when I lived on my own, in particular a random peanut butter granola recipe I found. But I decided to make a classic honey and almond recipe for the 3 of us since that’s what we’d been buying plus we have a Costco bottle of honey. The recipe I found is super customizable and easy to adjust: I’m not a big dried fruit fan so didn’t add any, but you could very easily add raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried blueberries, or anything else you like. The recipe also calls for almonds in particular but what we had were some individual packets of assorted roasted nuts? So I just used a bunch of those! No need to buy a big expensive bag of nuts if you don’t have to. But you could still do truly any nut you like. The recipe also specifies that the key to this granola is that it’s equal parts oil and honey. Which means you could easily decrease the honey if you want something that’s less sweet, just made sure you decrease the oil too.

So here’s a super easy granola recipe! Perfect for when you run out of granola or just want to use up some oats. Bonus points for being an excellent snack that I will be bringing on my camping trip next week.

Easy Homemade Granola

Time: 35 minutes

Makes: 5 cups of granola

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup neutral oil (vegetable oil, coconut oil, etc.)
  • 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup sliced almonds (or any other nut of choice)
  • 1 cup raisins or other dried chopped fruit (or leave out)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven tp 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray
  2. Whisk together the oil, honey, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.
  3. Add the oats and nuts ad stir to coat.
  4. Spread the mixture out onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. The granola is ready when it’s golden brown and the almonds have toasted. It will still feel wet coming out of the oven, but will harden as it cools.
  5. Add the fruit, tamp down, and cool. Store in an airtight container

Smashed Chickpea Salad

Bringing y’all another easy lunch recipe! This one is particularly good as we head towards summer because there is no cooking at all. It’s smashed chickpea salad! And when I say salad I mean like egg salad or tuna salad, not your average salad with greens.

I’ve seen this kind of recipe around a lot and since my roommates and I tend to eat vegetarian at least 50% of the time, I thought it would be a good recipe to try for some lunch time meal prep. And it was a hit!

I ended up reading through a bunch of recipes and then used what I had in our kitchen to make my own. But this is totally customizable to whatever you have! To make my version, I smashed my chickpeas, added mayo and dijon mustard, sprinkled in salt and pepper to taste, and was good to go! But you could add more or less mayo or mustard depending on your preferences, mix in some hot sauce or sriracha for a spicy kick, mix in some dill if you have it, add chopped cucumbers or celery or bell pepper for some crunch. This recipe simply serves as a base for whatever you want to add.

In terms of serving, my roommate Carissa and I have been eating this in sandwiches: I’ve been adding cheese, she’s been adding pickles. Both are delicious. Other options I think would be tasty: avocado, cucumbers, red onion, hot peppers. This would also make a great filling for a wrap, or a dip/spread for crackers or chips! And it keeps super well in the fridge, so is excellent as meal prep for the week.

As the weather gets warmer and you want to stand over a stove less, try this super easy smashed chickpea salad for some no-cook lunch meal prep!

Smashed Chickpea Salad

Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

  • 2 (14 oz) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1-2 tbs mayonnaise
  • 1-2 tbs dijon mustard
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Mash the chickpeas with a fork, or pulse in a food processor until roughly chopped.
  2. Add mayonnaise and mustard to desired consistency
  3. Season to taste with salt and pepper (or any other spice you wish!)
  4. Enjoy! Keeps super well in the fridge

No Knead Bread

Introducing my go to homemade bread recipe!! Is it any surprise it’s from Beth at Budget Bytes?

When I started living on my own, I decided I wanted to become someone who made their own bread. It’s quite inexpensive and super tasty, so I embarked on a journey of finding the best bread recipe. After a lot of trial and error, and realizing that being in college doesn’t really afford me much time for kneading and preparing bread, I settled on this No Knead Bread.

If you are intimidated at the idea of making bread at home, this recipe is for you. And if you have absolutely no time, this recipe is also for you. And if you would rather spend your time doing anything else, this recipe is for you. Because this is basically the easiest recipe of all time. Just mix flour, salt, yeast, and water. Let it sit for 12-18 hours (or longer! Sometimes I leave it for a whole day). Preheat your oven. Then bake. And you end up with the best, easiest, crusty loaf of bread. Perfect for toast, dipped in sauce (like the shakshuka I shared this week!), or just ripped right off the loaf.

Shoutout to Beth for consistently bringing easy, inexpensive recipes! And give this bread recipe a try, I promise you won’t regret it.

No Knead Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp instant or bread machine yeast
  • 1/2 tbs salt
  • 1.5 to 1.75 cups water

Instructions

  1. The day before baking, combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl and stir until they’re well combined. Stir in about 1.5 to 1.75 cups room temperature water until a shaggy, sticky ball of dough forms and there is no dry flour on the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours.
  2. When you’re ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on top of the fermented dough and scrape it out of the bowl (the dough should be very light, fluffy, and bubbly by this time). With well floured hands, shape the dough into a ball and place it on a piece of parchment paper. Let the dough rise for 30-60 minutes,
  3. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the Dutch oven inside the oven as it heats, and make sure it sits in the fully heated oven for at least 15 minutes before baking the bread.
  4. Once the bread has risen and the Dutch oven is fully heated, carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Lift the parchment paper (or just the ball of dough) straight into the Dutch oven and cover with the lid.
  5. Return the Dutch oven to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the crust is a deep golden brown. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, lift the bread out by using the parchment paper, and allow it to cool before serving.

Note: if you don’t have a Dutch oven, just use a sheet pan! The bread will just be slightly less crusty (but no less delicious)

White Bean Shakshuka

Back with another Budget Bytes recipe! But truly, what’s new. This White Bean Shakshuka is amazing: smoky tomato sauce, gooey poached eggs, some beans to give some added heft, and of course salty feta cheese on top. And super easy!!

I made this last week along with some no-knead bread for dipping and it was so tasty. And made for great leftovers! A few adjustments I made: I added a diced yellow pepper that we had in the fridge as well as a yellow squash that I didn’t want to go bad. And to compensate, I added a little bit more crushed tomatoes from an open can we had, and used 6 eggs instead of 4 (so each of my 2 roommates and I got 2 servings!). But this recipe as is still knocks it out of the park.

So try out this White Bean Shakshuka for a super easy dinner! And a nice change of pace from Italian style tomato sauce 😉

White Bean Shakshuka

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 tbs smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 1 15 oz can cannelini beans (chickpeas work well too!)
  • 4 large eggs
  • Feta cheese

Instructions

  1. Mince the garlic and finely dice the onion. Cook both in a large deep skillet with olive oil over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
  2. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and the smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Stir to combine.
  3. Allow the sauce to come to a simmer. Let the sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes or until it has thickened slightly. Add 1/4 tsp salt, then taste and adjust spices to your liking.
  4. Drain the white beans, add them to the skillet, then stir to combine. Allow the skillet to return to a simmer. Simmer for 2-3 minutes more.
  5. Crack 4 eggs into the skillet, then place a lid on top and let them simmer for 5 minutes or until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft.
  6. Top with crumbled feta and enjoy!

Tofu Noodles

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Popping in with a super yummy tofu recipe we tried out the other week. My boyfriend found this recipe on Reddit and raved about it, so we knew we had to try it too. And it is SO good and super easy!

The recipe he sent me was super bare bones and for about 2 servings, so I’m dropping the version we made with more vegetables that made probably 9 servings (3 meals each for me and my two roommates). But this is super easy to scale up or down, and you can add literally anything! We added a bag of coleslaw (an easy shortcut for cutting up your own cabbage), sliced up a container of mushrooms, and added one of those frozen stir fry vegetable mixes. But you could very easily add any vegetables you have on hand: onions, bell peppers, broccoli, green beans, edamame. Just cook them through before tossing with the noodles and sauce! And if you aren’t a tofu fan, try cooking up some pork or beef instead!

We also decided to use packets of extra Ramen we had on hand, but I think this would be amazing with Udon noodles, or any other long noodle you happen to have.

So try out this easy Tofu Noodle dish, and make sure you have leftovers because it’s even better on day 2 (or 3, or 4).

Tofu Noodles

Serves: About 9

Ingredients

  • 6 (2.46 oz / 70 g each) blocks of uncooked ramen, or other noodles of choice
  • 2 blocks extra firm tofu
  • 1 bag coleslaw mix
  • 1 container mushrooms
  • 1 bag frozen stir fry veggie mix
  • Salt, to taste
  • Green onions and sesame seeds for serving

Sauce:

  • 2.25 cups room temperature broth or water
  • 3/4 cup soy sauce
  • 4.5 tablespoons corn starch
  • 6 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar (or to desired sweetness)
  • 1.5 tablespoons gochujang or Korean chili paste (or substitute with other chili sauce, like Sriracha) to desired spice level
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice or rice vinegar
  • 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1.5 tablespoons sesame oil or neutral oil

Instructions

  1. Mix all sauce ingredients in bowl until well incorporated, set aside. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil
  2. Heat a pan over medium heat and sauté tofu and vegetables in some oil. Then add sauce, leave to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent starch from sticking to the bottom.
  3. Boil noodles according to package directions, then add to the sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat until the noodles absorb the sauce, and the sauce thickens. Season with salt to taste, if needed
  4. Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions, and enjoy!

Unstuffed Bell Peppers

Who is surprised, back with another Budget Bytes recipe! This one is her Unstuffed Bell Peppers. All the flavors and comfort of stuffed peppers, but made in one pot with chopped up peppers for ease of eating! No more trying to figure out how to saw through your stuffed pepper without losing any of the filling.

I doubled this recipe for my 2 roommates and I just to guarantee plenty of leftovers, but it couldn’t have been easier. Just sauté your veggies and meat, throw in your rice, and then hang out! We also decided to use red bell peppers instead of green like Beth uses because we like the flavor (although green bell peppers do tend to be cheaper) and we used ground turkey instead of beef because we LOVE ground turkey. This would also work great with ground chicken, ground sausage, or no meat at all if vegetarian is more your style! Although if going meatless, I would suggest upping the vegetables or adding something like diced potatoes to bulk it up.

So try Beth’s Unstuffed Bell Peppers for a super easy weeknight meal! With the best leftovers (perhaps even better than the first day…)

Not the prettiest picture but I swear it was SO good

Unstuffed Bell Peppers

Serves: 6

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 2 bell peppers
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 pound ground beef (or other meat)
  • 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1.5 cups beef (or chicken or vegetable) broth
  • 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

  1. Mince the garlic and dice the onion and bell pepper
  2. Add the olive oil and meat to a deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until it is fully browned
  3. Add the diced onion, bell pepper, minced garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper to the skillet. Continue to cook and stir until the onions are soft
  4. Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), uncooked rice, and broth. Give everything a brief stir to combine
  5. Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the broth to come to a full boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest with the lid on for another 5 minutes
  6. Once the rice has rested, remove the lid and fluff it with a fork, gently folding all the ingredients together (the vegetables may rice to the top during the cooking process)
  7. Pour the tomato sauce over the top, sprinkle with the cheese, and place the lid back on to allow the residual heat to melt the cheese
  8. Remove lid and enjoy! Season with salt if necessary

Pesto Tortellini

Popping in with a super quick and easy recipe today! Pesto pasta is a staple in our dinner rotation this year, and we’re always changing it up. Plain pasta with pesto, adding in tomatoes, or mozzarella, or sausage, or all of the above. A few weeks ago though, we decided to do something a little special and “splurged” on tortellini instead of regular pasta.

I feel like this can hardly be classified as a recipe because it just entailed putting pesto on tortellini and adding some chopped tomatoes, but I wanted to share it in case you were looking for something extremely easy, and super comforting. So next time you want to change up your pasta routine, splurge on some tortellini! Adding pesto and tomatoes like we did is delicious, but you could also add sausage for some more protein, or toss them in red sauce if that’s more your speed

Pesto Tortellini

Ingredients

  • 2 packages of Aldi cheese tortellini (I think in total this was 6 servings)
  • 1/2 jar pesto
  • 1 carton of cherry tomatoes
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

  1. Boil tortellini according to package directions, and save about 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining
  2. Chop cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters (depending on your preference)
  3. Add pesto to tortellini, adding pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary
  4. Add tomatoes and some shredded cheese (or any other mix ins) and enjoy!

Kielbasa Sheet Pan Dinner

Another Budget Bytes recipe coming your way! I hope you don’t get tired of these, but she’s just my favorite source for easy and cheap recipes. Today’s recipe is a sheet pan recipe that’s pretty similar to my Giambotto recipe from a couple years ago, but with a slightly different flavor profile. Plus made simpler with kielbasa!

This sheet pan dinner features kielbasa, potatoes, onions, and frozen green beans and it couldn’t be easier. Just chop everything up, drizzle with olive oil and season with your favorite spice mix (Beth used steak seasoning, I used chicken grilling seasoning, but there are so many tasty options out there) and then cook for 30-40 minutes! I’m always a big fan of one pan recipes particularly because they’re light on dishes to wash at the end.

If you’re new to kielbasa, it’s just a fully cooked Polish pork (or other meat) sausage. In my opinion, it kind of tastes like a grown up hot dog haha. But since it’s seasoned and a bit fatty, as the sheet pan cooks your veggies absorb all that yummy kielbasa flavor. And if you’re not a green bean fan, you could totally customize with other veggies! I think broccoli, zucchini, or Brussels sprouts would be great.

Bonus points to this recipe for making fantastic leftovers too. You could just reheat them, but why stop there? My roommate topped her leftovers with hot sauce and an over easy egg, and it looked incredible.

So if you’re looking for a super easy, super delicious weeknight dinner (that my roommate said was one of the best things I’ve ever made) try out this Kielbasa sheet pan! You won’t regret it.

I actually added sliced zucchini the first time I made this!

Kielbasa Sheet Pan Dinner

Ingredients

  • 24 oz petite red (or yellow) potatoes
  • 12 oz kielbasa
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 12 oz frozen green beans
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tbsp steak seasoning (or other seasoning mix of choice)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash and slice the potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Slice the kielbasa into medallions. Dice the onion into 1 inch pieces.
  2. Add the potatoes, kielbasa, onions, and frozen green beans (no need to thaw) to a large sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning. Toss everything until fully coated with oil and spices (and add more if necessary!)
  3. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then give the ingredients a good stir. Roast an additional 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and brown.

Tomato Lentil Soup

It is freezing in Pittsburgh today (and around much of the country) so I’m back with a Budget Bytes soup recipe. We all know I love lentils, and this tomato lentil soup is SO easy and SO warm and cozy. Pairs perfectly with a grilled cheese for a snowy or rainy lunch or dinner.

Not much else to say on that! Hope you’re staying warm and cozy this week, and I’ve got a super delicious sheet pan meal coming tomorrow.

Tomato Lentil Soup

Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 3 carrots
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 russet potato (about 1 pound)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes
  • 1 cup brown lentils
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 4 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce

Instructions

  1. Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and slice the carrots (try for smaller pieces). Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and olive oil to a large soup pot and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft. While the vegetables are cooking, peel and dice the potato into 1/2 inch cubes.
  2. Add the tomato paste and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until the tomato paste begins to coat the bottom of the pot.
  3. Added the cubed potato, stewed tomatoes (with juices), lentils, spices, and broth and stir to combine.
  4. Place a lid on the pot and allow the soup to come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are super tender and begin to break down slightly (this helps thicken the soup).
  5. Add the soy sauce to the soup and then taste, adjusting the salt if necessary.

Shepherd’s Pie

This recipe is one of my all time favorite comfort foods from home, and I was reminded just how much I love it when my mom made it a few weeks before Christmas. Shepherd’s pie has always been a dish I enjoyed, ground meat with vegetables and cheese, topped with mashed potatoes. But my mom didn’t love it, so she made some changes that make it infinitely better (even for me!).

Number 1, she tops it with tater tots instead of mashed potatoes. This makes it SO easy, and the crispy, crunchy tater tots just bring the dish to the next level. And number 2, she mixes sriracha into the meat. To be honest, regular shepherd’s pie just seems boring to me now. The slightly spicy meat and crispy potatoes, with vegetables hidden inside and melty cheddar cheese? The perfect casserole for a chilly weeknight dinner.

Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

  • ~3 lbs ground meat (I use turkey)
  • ~2-3 tbs Sriracha sauce
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1-2 bags frozen mixed veggies
  • 1-1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
  • 1 bag frozen tater tots

Instructions

  1. In a large pan over medium heat, cook the ground meat with salt, pepper, and sriracha sauce to taste. Meanwhile, steam the frozen vegetables for about half the time indicated on the bag (just to thaw them, not completely cook them)
  2. Pour the meat into the bottom of a large casserole dish. Pour the thawed (and drained, if applicable) vegetables over the top of the meat, and top with the shredded cheese.
  3. Top with the tater tots, and lightly salt.
  4. Bake according to tater tot package directions (generally, at about 425°F for 25-30 mins, or until tots are golden)
  5. Serve hot, with extra cheese sprinkled on top!
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