Impressive Meals So Good People Will Not Think You Made Them!

Sharing 5 easy, impressive meals that look and taste like you spent all day in the kitchen—but are surprisingly simple to cook at home! These from-scratch dinner ideas make the most of fresh seasonal ingredients and are perfect for family meals, hosting, weekly meal planning, or when you want to make an ordinary dinner feel a little more special.

I’m enjoying the last of our summer garden produce while slowly looking ahead to the cozy months and all the comforting food that comes with them. Come spend some time in the kitchen with me as I cook with the kids, dry summer herbs, and make a handful of delicious homemade meals that I hope inspire your own cooking and meal prep.

If you enjoy cooking from scratch, easy family meals, seasonal recipes, cozy homemaking, meal inspiration, simple living, and practical meal planning, I hope you find a few new ideas to add to your kitchen rotation 🥧

Recipes:
1. Roasted Tomato Pasta & Sausage:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop about 3c of tomatoes (large or cherry - cherry can stay whole) and place on pan with parchment paper, whole garlic pod with top cut off in middle, ~2Tbsp of fresh rosemary, thyme and basil. Toss with 1.5tsp salt, .5tsp pepper and 2-3tbsp olive oil. Bake ~15-20 minutes.
-Boil pasta and reserve 1c of pasta water while grounding sausage. In pasta pot once pasta has been removed, add 3tbsp of butter to pan with 1tbsp chopped thyme to fry for a few minutes.
-In roasted tomatoes, squeeze garlic pods out. Puree in blender 3/4th of the tomatoes, all the roasted garlic and 1tbsp brown sugar. Add puree to butter mixture with about .5c of pasta water (can add more if needed). Mix in cheese to melt (1c parmesan and 1c white cheddar), sausage and pasta. Then top with rest of roasted tomatoes. Serve topped with basil.

2. Peach Cobbler with Browned Butter:
-Night before or early morning ferment the topping with 1.5c fresh milled soft white wheat flour (or 1 1/4c all-purpose) .5c/113g active starter, .5c/85g maple syrup, and 1/4c coconut oil. Ferment on counter 8-24hrs
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and in cast iron brown 14Tbsp of butter (not necessary to brown but highly recommend). Scrap brown bits up.
-Slice 8c fresh sliced peaches (6-8 peaches) and mix in 1/2c brown sugar, 1Tbsp vanilla, 1tsp salt, .5tsp cinnamon & 6Tbsp of browned butter. Bake 10-15 minutes
To the fermented topping, mix in the rest of browned butter (8Tbsp), 1tsp cinnamon, .5tsp nutmeg and salt, 2tsp baking powder, .5tsp baking soda.
-Reduce oven to 375 degrees and use cookie scoop to put topping across peaches and spread out slightly. Bake 20-30 minutes until lightly golden on top and toothpick comes out clean (cook time will depend on size of cast iron and how thick the topping is spread). Top with vanilla ice cream!


3. Crispy Chicken with Honey Butter Sauce:
-Preheat oven to 425. Salt and pepper ~1lb chicken tenderloins (or chicken breast cut into tenderloins). In one bowl mix 3c breadcrumbs with 1/4c parmesan. In separate bowl mix 1c flour with 1tsp onion and garlic powder and S&P. In another bowl mix 1 egg with 1Tbsp honey. Dip chicken in flour, then eggs, then breadcrumbs. If have leftovers, dip chicken again. Drizzle with olive oil or spray with avocado oil spray and bake 20-25mins until crisp.
-While baking make honey butter sauce by combining in small saucepan 4Tbsp butter, 2Tbsp honey, sugar & soy sauce. Heat on medium until sugar dissolves and sauce is bubbling (~2mins while bubbling).

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Chapters:
00:00 Easy impressive meals
00:46 Delicious shrimp rolls
02:13 Sourdough Peach Cobbler
03:59 Roasted tomato pasta & sausage
06:18 Homemade dried herbs
07:57 Caesar salad with browned chicken
09:30 Easy crispy baked chicken

#routineeveryday #lifestyle #slowliving #slowlife #cookingroutine #healthyhabits