Grilled Italian Chicken
This is one of our favorite grill meals to make. Not only is it really easy with just two ingredients, it is super tasty too. It is also a great meal for summer nights since you use the grill instead of the oven! I typically start with frozen chicken breasts, cover them with the dressing then let it marinate for about 24 hours. If you start with unfrozen chicken breasts you can marinate for about 4 hours before they’re ready.You need to make sure to use Zesty Italian Dressing. I’ve tried both types of dressing and the zesty really just kicks the recipe up a notch. If you use regular Italian Dressing the flavor isn’t quite as good. Don’t worry though, the zesty doesn’t make it spicy, it just give the flavor a more complex note.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:199]
Alex is actually always asking me to make asparagus in the spring. I finally decided it was time for me to figure out how to make it for him. We both enjoy garlic so I decided this was the best flavor to add to the asparagus since it certainly wouldn’t ruin it. Even though I didn’t love this recipe, it wasn’t actually bad. I just didn’t really like the flavor of the asparagus. However, Alex absolutely loved this! So if you’re an asparagus fan, you will probably enjoy this.This is a very easy recipe and will add a great bit of spring flavor to your meal. One thing I struggled with was knowing when the asparagus was actually done cooking. Since I’d never cooked it (I’m not even sure if I’d had asparagus before this) I had no idea what I was actually looking for to know when it was done. Thankfully I had guests over who cook asparagus all the time and helped me figure it out. What I discovered is that the asparagus turns a brighter green as its cooking. You want to wait until it is pretty bright green and tender.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:198]
Alex has been wanting to try different types of pizza recently. We’ve both grown sick of our typical pepperoni and mozzarella pies so I thought this would be a great way to spice up a pizza without really going too crazy.One thing I discovered while making this, was that it really is better if you coat the chicken with buffalo sauce before you put it on the pizza. It would also be fantastic if you could cook the chicken with the buffalo sauce and really get the flavor to bond with the chicken. I often make buffalo chicken in the crockpot so I decided just to set some aside in the freezer next time we want this dish.You can use any type of crust you’d like on this pizza. We used a semi-thick crust. I think it would actually be the best if you were to use a super thin crust and just lighten up when adding the toppings. This would really give you a chance to experience all the flavors and provide another texture in the finished product.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:196]
We had some asparagus leftover in our fridge and I just had to do something exciting with it. Alex has been requesting stir fry for several weeks so I thought I’d use the asparagus to make just that. This was actually a very easy recipe to make. I had dinner ready in under an 45 minutes from start to finish and that included the marinate time for the beef.The beef is best if you marinate it overnight to give it a full flavor. If you don’t have time though, you can just quickly marinate it for 15-30 minutes. I don’t often have steak on hand so I used a chuck roast for this recipe. Just make sure the beef is very thinly sliced especially if you use a roast or some other typically tough cut of meat.This recipe really doesn’t smell the best when you’re making it. Alex wasn’t very excited to have it for dinner since it was pretty stinky, however when he finally did sit down to eat it he said it was actually incredible! The flavors blend nicely together, especially the beef and asparagus. Don’t let the smell fool you, it is way better than is smells![amd-yrecipe-recipe:195]Source: Adapted from 
We decided that we were tired of our typically pizza crust so we want to experiment with a thin crust version. I searched high and low for a version that actually looked easy to make. I really hate letting dough rise, especially when I’m pressed for time. This recipe doesn’t require any time for rising, however it doesn’t hurt especially if you’d like fluffier crust.You can use whatever toppings on this crust you like. Alex and I typically prefer pepperoni and sausage so that’s what I’ve put on. You just want to make sure that you don’t load the pizza up with too many toppings. Since the crust is thin you need to make sure it’s not going to fall apart under the toppings when finished.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:193]Source: Adapted from 
Alex has been requesting different Chinese dishes for dinner the last few weeks. I’ve been trying to accommodate as many of them as I can since I haven’t been home for dinner too much. I’ve also been trying to make as many crockpot dishes as possible since I can just set it and forget it.This dish was gone very quickly. Alex absolutely loved it and he had it for lunch for the next three days! He said it had fantastic flavor, and was even great reheated. The red pepper flakes had just a slight bit of heat to the overall recipe, if you don’t want any sort of spicy you can just leave them out.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:192]
Alex and I love to have tacos for dinner. With this being such an easy recipe, I can set it in the crockpot and forget all about it and we have a fantastic dinner ready at the end of the day!I typically use my own 
I decided that I wanted to make another trifle in my beautiful trifle dish. I received the dish as a wedding present and have only had a chance to use it once before. I thought Easter this year would be the perfect time to put together a new recipe.Originally I wanted to put together a Triple Berry Cheesecake Trifle, but when I went to the grocery store they only had strawberries on hand. So I decided to simplify and just make it a Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle. You really could substitute any sort of berry or berry combination for the strawberries in the recipe and I think it would still be fantastic.This recipe received rave reviews from the Easter guests. Alex said he especially loved the thick slices of strawberry mixed throughout the dish. You can make this recipe even if you don’t have a trifle dish. Simply use a deep sided bowl and layer as you would with a trifle dish. You just won’t be able to see the beautiful layers the same way, but it will still taste the same![amd-yrecipe-recipe:190]
My Dad makes the absolute best Calzone in the world. After much practice I feel like I’ve finally come close to an acceptable mastery of this recipe. This is the same recipe that my Dad uses so it has the potential to be absolutely incredible.I believe the keys to making this recipe amazing is in the fact you don’t use marinara sauce in the calzone and the cheese sauce. The cheese sauce is what really makes this recipe delicious. You should include it in the calzone and also on top of the finished product. This make it super cheesy and will delight your taste buds.Typically I make a loaf of pizza dough in my bread maker. This provides an excellent base for this recipe and also makes prep pretty easy. If you don’t have a bread maker you can simply make (or purchase) your favorite bread dough to use. Be sure to sprinkle it with plenty of garlic salt to really amp up the flavor.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:189]
Alex has been bugging me to make fajitas for months now. I just never seemed to have time or all the ingredients into order to make these. I finally just sat down and made them even though I didn’t have all the traditional ingredients called for. Alex absolutely loved them though and couldn’t get enough!I actually used thinly sliced rump roast for this recipe and it turned out fantastic (see Mom, you actually can use roast for this!) I know typically you use some sort of steak but I didn’t have it in my freezer and I didn’t have time to run to the store to get any. The key was to marinate the very thinly sliced beef overnight in the spice mixture in order to give it great flavor.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:188]
This recipe is super easy and quick to prepare and when you’re finished you’ll have an excellent meal. I personally love ravioli and this is a great way to enjoy it.I pretty much always use frozen ravioli for this recipe. However, I boil and drain it before I throw together the finished baking dish. I love using a mixture of shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. I really feel like this makes the finished dish pop with flavor. Make certain to cook until the cheese is bubbly and brown.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:187]
I wanted to do something a little different for Easter this year. So I decided to make little chocolate cupcake nests. This is a really neat little baking project that is sure to impress your guests without a whole lot of time and energy investment.I doubled the measurements below intending to have two dozen cupcakes for Alex to take to work. However, I only had one bag of Cadbury eggs, so that resulted in a little over a half a dozen cupcakes ending up with green sanding sugar (or grass as I liked to think of it). I think this combination really complimented each other. It had a really light, spring feel to it when I was putting them in the storage container. If you’re only planning to make one dozen cupcakes you should have plenty of mini-eggs with just one bag.This is the absolute best chocolate frosting you will ever taste…no I’m convinced of that. I’ve found that whenever I try to make a chocolate frosting it ends up being grainy or not really tasting chocolaty enough. This is not the case with this frosting recipe though. The combination of flavors really makes the chocolate pop and it is absolutely not grainy at all.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:186]Source: Cake adapted from: Kiss my Bundt – Chrysta Wilson
Alex had been requesting these from me for several weeks before I finally got around to making them. For some reason the idea of nuts and coconut just really appealed to him. I made a few tweaks to this recipe, like always, to give it my own flair. It also helped that I didn’t have all the traditional ingredients like I thought I did. These would make an amazing and easy dessert for any Easter celebration this weekend.This is a chocolate-peanut butter version of Seven Layer Bars. Since I only had chocolate graham crackers and peanut butter chips I decided it would be best just to embrace it and make these a combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Alex has requested that I get the ingredients for traditional seven layer bars so I’m sure you’ll see that in the future.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:185]
I’d been interested in making a lemon and pepper chicken for a while but it was a tad bit scary looking at working with such a strong flavor as lemon. I wanted to do the flavor combination justice, but I was just really nervous to try. However, I finally just decided it was time and went out and found a recipe. I of course adapted it to fit with my personal tastes and time schedule, but I think it turned out fairly well.This recipe calls for a boatload of lemon juice. I actually used fresh squeezed lemon juice and I think that really amped up the overall flavor of the dish. However, if I were to make this dish again and were using fresh juice, I would decrease it by 1/3 to half since lemon juice is very tart. If you’re using bottled juice you’re going to need the entire ½ cup to get the flavor of the dish to come through.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:184]Source: Adapted from 
Baked potatoes are one of my absolute favorite foods. You can make them pretty much any way you like and they are still amazing. I only make this specific recipe on very special occasions since it has so much butter, sour cream and cream. But seriously, this is a fantastic recipe!This would make a great nontraditional dish for your Easter celebration. If you’re tired of the same old mashed potatoes this would be a way to spice up a dish you might be tired of having since you make it several times a year.The amount of milk called for in this recipe is just enough to soften the mixture up. If you add too much the potatoes will be runny and if you don’t add enough they will end up being pretty hard. It really just depends on your personal consistency preference. I typically put in more milk since I like my potatoes pretty soft and squishy. However, I know people who prefer the potato chunks so they would choose to put less milk in. Its really up to the cook. You can also use heavy cream instead of milk to give the recipe a fuller taste.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:183]
I make this for Alex at least once a month since it is one of his favorite dishes. However, he always does the seasoning since I “don’t make it spicy enough”. This is a very malleable recipe. You can make it sweeter, spicier or in between. The directions for this recipe are all spices to your own particular taste. We tend to go heavy on the chili powder, cumin and siracha. But if your taste buds don’t like super spicy things you could go heavier on other things.With the quantities I’ve listed below you can either feed a small army, or you can have leftovers for a week. Since this is an easy dish to reheat Alex loves taking it to work for lunch. It also freezes really nicely if you get tired of it before you finish the leftovers. ;)[amd-yrecipe-recipe:182]
During our trip to Ireland we had lunch in this amazing little café right at the bottom of 
I saw this recipe online and thought I absolutely had to try making it! So after figuring out how to find bourbon at the store (I’d never had to purchase bourbon before) I got right down to making it. I’ve made several small changes to the original recipe to make it more like the normal banana bread I make.This is a recipe in preparation for St Patrick’s day. Come back on Thursday for one of the most amazing (actually Irish) recipes I’ve ever had! I’ve realized that I actually enjoy baking with spirits, it lends the baked goods extra moisture and flavor. The bourbon in this recipe really pairs well with the banana. The chocolate I’ve added also give an additional touch of sweetness that I personally love in banana bread.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:180]Source: Adapted from