I don’t eat a lot of meat.  I like meat, it’s just that my body is not a big fan of it.  Maybe I’m missing some important enzyme or something that helps me break it down.  That would be my luck.  Anyhow, I tend to eat very little meat to keep from having a crazy, messed up gut all the time.  Well, except for bacon.  Because it’s bacon, duh.

So since I don’t eat a lot of meat, I get my protein from other places.  Like chickpeas!  Of course, I don’t just eat them plain (boring!), I like to mix them in with different dishes.  I threw this particular salad together the other morning to have for lunch, and ended up eating it for 3 days!  It makes a lot more than you would think. 🙂

Marinated Zucchini and Chickpea Salad

1 medium zucchini, halved and sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cups chickpeas (if canned, rinse well first)
2 roma tomatoes, sliced into strips
1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and marinate for at least six hours in the refrigerator before serving.  Don’t forget, the longer it sits, the more delicious it tastes!

That’s it!  Short, sweet and to the point.  Unless of course, you want me to ramble on and on about chickpeas.  Which I can totally do, by the way.  No?  Fine.  Jeez.

Here’s a video about chick peas instead, just because I find it hilarious.

Look –> Dancing and informative cartoon chick peas!

Cream puffs. You know you love them. I typically buy the tub of them from the freezer section of the grocery store as an impulse, you know like when you’ve been shopping for over an hour and your kids are asking for everything and you haven’t had dinner and OH MY GOD I MUST HAVE THESE RIGHT NOW.

Those shopping trips. Lol.

However, if I actually plan ahead, I can just make them at home in under an hour for a lot less money.  Cream puffs are actually one of the easiest desserts to make, yet they come out looking fancy schmancy like they took all day.  They always make me think of the rice krispies treats commercial from years ago, you know the one I’m talking about!  (No?  What’s wrong with you?!  Just kidding, you can check it out below!)

Today I’m sharing how to make cream puffs at home, with a delicious caramel apple twist on the traditional cream and chocolate.  I got a jar of Musselman’s Apple Butter at a conference I attended this summer (they were a sponsor for Reviewer’s Retreat) and I knew it’s spiced apple flavor would be perfect for making my fall inspired cream puffs!  Check out the recipe below, and see just how easy they are to make for yourself!

Caramel Apple Cream Puffs

Ingredients:

Dough for Puffs
1 cup water
1/3 cup butter
1/3 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs (beaten)

Apple Cream Filling
8 oz container whipped cream (frozen)
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Musselman’s Apple Butter

Caramel Drizzle
1 cup of unwrapped hard caramels

Directions:

Puffs
1.  Preheat oven to 375.
2.  Bring water, salt and butter to a boil in a small saucepan.
3.  Quickly stir in flour until the dough forms a ball in the middle of the saucepan.
4.  Remove from heat and add eggs.  Whisk until smooth. (Quickly, before the eggs cook from the heat)
5.  Grease two mini muffin pans (Cake Release is AWESOME for this!)
6.  Scoop dough by the tablespoon into the mini muffin pans. (I know it doesn’t look like a lot, trust me!)
7.  Bake for 20 minutes.
8.  Remove from heat and cool.  (With a fan, if you are impatient like me!)

I wasn’t joking about the fan!

Cream Filling
1.  Mix all cream ingredients together until smooth.
2.  Fill a squirt bottle or piping bag with the filling.
3.  Poke a hole in the side of the cooled puffs and fill with cream mixture.

Caramel
1.  Melt the caramel in a microwave safe bowl for 10 seconds at a time.
2.  Remove and quickly drizzle with a fork over tops of cream puffs.
3.  Reheat as needed, as it will cool VERY quickly!

Now put your beautiful Caramel Apple Cream Puffs out on a fancy plate and tell everyone to get over there and ohh and ahh over them grab one and experience the deliciousness!

Thank you to Double Duty Divas, iRetreat Conference, and Musselman’s Apple Butter for the inspiration behind this recipe!  I hope you enjoy these tasty puffs of amazingness as much as we do!

On busy nights, one of my favorite things to do for dinner is a one dish casserole.  Casseroles mean less dirty dishes, less preparation, and less time, all of which are awesome when Nate has a report due, Nikoletta needs help with handwriting, Eva is asking for me to listen to her read out loud, Ryan is confused about his algebra….you get the point. 🙂

Just because it’s a one dish meal doesn’t mean that is has to be bland.  Simple does not have to mean boring.  Tonight I put together a delicious carbonara pasta casserole that took less than 20 minutes to prepare, and was ready and on the table in just 40 minutes, from start to finish.

Traditional Italian carbonara is made with eggs, cheese, bacon and black pepper, and of course pasta.  I tweaked that a bit and added in some veggies and skipped the eggs in favor of a ricotta to help hold the casserole together better.  It was really delicious, and all of the kids just gobbled it right up!  I hope your family enjoys it as much as we did!

Carbonara Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound of short pasta noodles
1/4 cup Country Crock spread
1 cup thin sliced red onion
1 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup chopped roasted red pepper
1 bag of baby spinach
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup ricotta
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs grated Pecorino Romano
2 Tbs grated Parmesan
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 Tbs salt
2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend

Directions:

1.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook pasta, drain and set aside once finished.
2.  Preheat oven to 350.
3.  Melt 1/4 cup Country Crock spread over medium heat in a large saucepan.
4.  Add in sliced onion and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft.
5.  Add in bacon bits and red pepper to onions and cook for another 2 minutes.
6.  Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the eye and fold in the spinach to wilt (about a minute)
7.  Remove from heat completely and mix in cooked pasta.
8.  Add in tomatoes, ricotta, milk, pecorino, parmesan, salt and pepper.
9.  Pour into a baking dish and top with Italian cheese blend.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
11.  Set oven to high broil and cook for another 2 minutes to brown cheese on top.
12.  Remove from oven and enjoy!

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Now, I know the list of ingredients looks a little long for a “quick fix casserole,” but it’s really not as much work as it seems.  Most of the time for this dish comes from baking, so you can get back to taking care of your family and home while it’s in the oven!  Here’s the prep work involved for this recipe:

-Slicing cherry tomatoes in half (or you could use canned diced tomatoes that have been drained instead)
-Slicing the red onion
-Chopping up roasted red pepper (comes in strips already, I just like it in smaller pieces)

Everything else can just be poured right in and mixed up!  It’s easy and delicious, I know you’ll agree once you try it yourself!

If your family likes casseroles, be sure to check out this cheesy bacon biscuit casserole that’s perfect for breakfast!

What’s your favorite one dish casserole recipe?  I’d love for you to share in the comments below!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Meatloaf has always been one of my favorite dishes, but it can be pretty, well, meaty.  Several years ago I started adding lots of veggies into my meatloaf recipe and my family loves it!  Red Gold Tomatoes sent me a variety of their canned tomatoes to try out earlier this month, and I just knew their Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano would be the perfect complement to my vegetable meatloaf recipe.  This week, I picked up all the ingredients I needed for meatloaf from Aldi and with the added touch of the tomatoes, and our grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers were delicious!

Grilled Vegetable Meatloaf Burgers

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 cup finely chopped carrots (I use my 3 cup food processor)

1/2 cup minced onion (Yep, food processor again!)

1 can Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
(drained and chopped, save liquid for sauce)

2 eggs

2 cups dry oatmeal

1 lb pork sausage

1 lb ground beef

Directions:

1.  Mix all ingredients (except liquid from tomatoes) in a large bowl.

2.  Measure out 1/2 cup of meatloaf mixture for each burger patty.

3.  Brush each patty with oil.

4.  Place patties in a grill pan on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes.

5.  Brush tops of patties with oil and flip.

6.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes or until meat is cooked throughout.

Grilled Onion Buns

Ingredients:

Onion buns

Vegetable oil

Directions:

1.  Brush the inside of the onion roll buns with oil.

2.  Place face down on the grill pan at medium high heat.

3.  Grill for about a minute until they are toasted.

4.  Remove from pan and serve with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

Jalapeno Tomato Spread

Ingredients:

Reserved liquid from Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano

1/2 cup jalapeno ketchup (I used Mama Selita’s Jalapeno Ketchup)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1.  Pour all ingredients into a small saucepan.

2.  Bring to a boil on high, reduce to medium-low.

3.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

4.  Serve as a spread with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

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This vegetable meatloaf recipe is really simple,  you basically just dump everything in a bowl, mix it up, and slap these puppies on the grill!  Because the weather has been so crazy here lately, I cooked them inside instead on my non-stick grill pan.  It is an awesome way to get those seared grill marks without the hassle of firing up a grill.  And it’s so easy to clean!  I definitely recommend picking one up for your kitchen!

I couldn’t resist sharing this picture of my sweet 5 year old helping me cook.  She’s learning to crack eggs without completely shattering the shell, and she’s getting pretty good at it!

This recipe is one of our favorites, and the pre-seasoned diced tomatoes Red Gold sent me added the perfect mix of herbs and spices!  You can find more tasty recipes like Caribbean Chicken Burgers and Summer Tomato Burgers on the Red Gold website.

Red Gold provided the tomatoes for this dish, but the recipe and opinions are all my own.  This post contains affiliate links.