All our loves together on one sandwich – chicken thighs get sprinkled with ranch, grilled, and topped with cheese and bacon, plus more ranch for good measure.
I loved this. We eat grilled chicken often so putting it on a bun didn’t seem like a big variation. One kid said they’d rather it be a burger & the other ate it disassembled. Cool, cool.
Grilled Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Sandwiches Ingredients: (for 4) 3-4 chicken thighs 1 tablespoon ranch mix powder 4 brioche buns 4 slices of cheese (mine was an herb fontina) 2 bacon strips/2 tablespoons bacon crumbles 4 tablespoons ranch dressing
Directions: Sprinkle the chicken with ranch mix and a sprinkle of pepper, on both sides. Grill until cooked through – 170-degrees on the thermometer. Slice cheese, buns, lettuce and get bacon crumbles and ranch dressing ready.
Melt the cheese over the chicken and remove from the grill. Assemble with ranch on each side of the buns, lettuce, the chicken, and bacon.
Yum! I loved this. The littlest kiddo had hers without bacon (what?) and ate the parts separately (but mmmm’ed so that seemed fine) and big brother ate about half then wished it was a burger but finished the bun and most of the chicken.
It’d work well in a wrap too!
We had it with a side of tomato & mozzarella & pesto salad which the kids love.
Salad kits are so fun, though rarely enough for a family meal so I made our own. I love love love pickles so seeing the pickle inspired ones are close to my heart.
Pickle Ranch Salad Ingredients: 1 packet “Restaurant Style” Ranch Mix 1 cup mayo 1 cup buttermilk (or sour cream + 2 tablespoons lime juice) 2 dill pickles 2 tablespoons pickle juice greens (half romaine and half arugula is good!) hard boiled eggs broccoli cheese crispy chicken sunflower seeds, optional
Directions: Mix up the ranch dressing mix with mayo, sour cream, lime and refrigerate for at least one hour and it will be thick like dip. For the dressing, mix half the dip with pickles and pickle juice. Stir well, and add more pickle juice until the consistency you like.
Assemble your salad and toss with dressing. Enjoy!
I loved the pickle-y flavors. Our kids love salad bar but aren’t as into pickles so they had the plain ranch. Sometimes they will pick their salad ingredients separately and dip into dressing and sometimes it gets tossed all together.
The kits often have lots of cabbage and radish but the greens and broccoli was a good combo for me. I forgot I meant to add sunflower seeds on the top.
I made tortellini in honey garlic sauce and thought the pairing of ham and honey was spot-on. We love that sauce on pizza, turkey sandwiches, burgers, on broccoli, or anything!
We shook up the smoothie game with a redo of Creamsicle Smoothie. We, as in, the little girl and I are the only consistent smoothie drinkers here. The key is to add some other fruit beyond just oranges – it neeeeds frozen peaches or frozen mango.
Creamsicle Smoothie
Then I made a Cheeseburger Burrito and it was perfect. I loved the crumbled burger with a little rice and all the burger fixings. I loved it an plan to whip up a few for a night that needs dinner in-advance or on the go. It seems fitting for a baseball night this season. I wouldn’t freeze these but they could be assembled and popped into the toaster oven or to a pan when it was time.
The big kid: It is prime birthday party time for his school-friends. We are seeing ohh-so-many, almost all are at the trampoline park. He loves going and I’m enjoying it for him, especially for this time of the whole class, or all the boys, etc. My strategy is a go-to present we give everyone unless he has an idea and they’re super close. He’s into Mario Kart and always legos. Baseball starts soon!
The little one: One afternoon when big-brother was at a birthday party, we found our own excitement with a teddy bear tea party at the library and it was adorable. They had gold-rimmed paper plates and paper cups with handles and matching saucers and tiny spoons. It was very fancy and she loved it. She’s still always coloring and very into magnatiles.
Next month will feel full with Easter, school vacation, we’re getting our floors refinished (which means totally cleared off and a few days before we can walk on them again!), and of course some birthday parties. I’ve planned a few fun foods for April!
Goals: Year of workwear! I tried a new brand for some short-sleeves which might be a tiny bit premature season-wise, but I have them. Salads or side-dishes: not really. prep ahead bfasts or lunches for weekdays: I haven’t been great about this – I need to get back to it. Monthly dates: we didn’t. booo. I had to reschedule one and couldn’t get another Saturday until May! Declutter/cleaning: This is prime time to clear some stuff out before we get our floors refinished. I handed over a few baby-ish toys and expect to really get some stuff out. Workouts as a routine: I’ve gone on a few runs and am doing one a mix of weight days with yoga days – though I’m at a solid 2 out of the 3 yoga ones they think I’ll be doing per week. What I’m reading: My bookclub read And Then There Were None as our classic – it was pretty ok. I read The People We Keep and found it to be the best coming-of-age story I’ve read in awhile. I read It Ends With Us and sort of got the hype, but wasn’t blown away. I can’t quite picture the next one. I also read The Personal Librarian and hadn’t had a historical fiction in awhile.
Ham seemed like such a nice fitting with the honey garlic sauce but there are a few paths to take this one in. While you’re at it, make a double batch of honey garlic sauce and freeze some. We put it on pizza, it is wonderful on a turkey sandwich, mix it into pasta/mashed potatoes/roasted broccoli, add on a charcuterie board, or anywhere you’d like!
Tortellini in Honey Garlic Sauce with Ham Ingredients: 1 garlic head 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons honey 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1, 19oz package of frozen cheese tortellini ~2-3 slices of ham (or chopped roasted chicken, or sausage, or skip to keep vegetarian)
Directions: Prep the honey garlic sauce: (roast the garlic in foil & olive oil and drizzle for 30-45 min until totally soft), then blend together the roasted garlic, olive oil, butter, honey, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Boil water for the pasta. Chop the ham and warm a medium skillet to medium-high heat and sear the ham. Cook the tortellini until they rise to the top (~4 min). Drain and mix together the pasta, sauce, and ham. Sprinkle with some pepper. Enjoy!
I loved it. I won’t repeat it all that often but I consider it a success. We had it with roasted broccoli and it was good for variety and a sauce I make all the time for pizzas. I warmed leftovers then topped with a mound of arugula which is my happy place.
{originally published in 2013 and updated in 2023}
This smoothie came about as an alternative use for a bag of mandarin oranges I’ve been eating forever. 2 of the 4 of us eat them so they can seem never ending. I figured they’d be a good smoothie addition!
I loved the really orange AND cream flavors. I think frozen mango or frozen peaches add frostiness since the oranges weren’t frozen and tone down the acidity.
Creamsicle Smoothie Ingredients: (serves 2) 3 clementines or orange, pealed 1 cup frozen mango or frozen peaches 1 cup vanilla yogurt 1 cup juice
Directions: Add everything to the blender and blend until totally smooth. Drop in some ice cubes and blend again to make it thicker and more frosty.
I hate peeling oranges so this was perfect! It makes me want to get my hands on some blood oranges! Maybe they’ll be next!