Glazed Spam & Rice | Always Be My Maybe

Today I'm sharing a ridiculously easy recipe inspired by the Netflix original movie, Always Be My Maybe. It's so simple that I almost feel silly sharing it, but that's kind of the point of this post, since I'm joining my friend Kimberly from Coffee and Casseroles in another of our self-appointed just-for-fun challenges. Everybody has those days (weeks...months...) when they're lacking in funds, right? Well, since we were both feeling that pain, we decided our current project would be to pick a movie...any movie...and create a dish that uses either rice or ramen, since both are inexpensive (and I pretty much always have them in my pantry, anyway).

But then Kimberly suggested we also try making the dish cost $5 or less. So, in the end, our challenge was to create a movie-inspired dish that cost $5 or less per serving and included either rice or ramen noodles.

Spaghetti and Peas | The Girls in the Garden

The book tour stops here today for the latest novel by Lisa Jewell called The Girls in the Garden. Set in a communal garden square tucked away in the city of London, we're thrust immediately into the the climax of the story, leaving us in the dark about the cast of characters seen through a haze as Pip discovers her sister Grace's unconscious, bloody body near the edge of a rose garden.

The book is then divided into two parts, "Before" and "After, the former making up the bulk of the story which is told mainly through the voice of three characters—tweenage Pip, her young, timid mother Clare, and the beautiful, slightly older, bohemian-style Adele (mother of Willow, Fern and Catkin, wife of handsome, charming Leo).

Campfire Beans & Weenies | Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

It's zombie time! This month's In the Kitchen with Zombie Fiction pick is the 2015 movie Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Our main characters are three high school guys, who have been best friends since joining the Scouts as young kids, Ben, Carter, and Augie. Ben and Carter both think they've outgrown it and are ready to move on, but are staying for Augie...or at least until he's awarded the highest honor a Scout can get later that night.

In the time between school ending for the day and their campout starting for the night, they hit a deer and get a flat tire, are "invited" to the secret senior's party by Carter's sister's boyfriend, and meet a hot girl that used to go to their school, but is now a cocktail waitress at a strip club—and she buys them beer.

Thai Fish Soup

This soup came about on a clean out the pantry and fridge night. I used a can of peas and a can of corn (I know - gasp!), along with the end of a bag of julienne carrots. But really, any frozen or fresh veggies will work here. Throw in some ribbons of greens, some snow peas cut on the bias, or some beautiful carrot coins. Switch up the herbs, or use only one kind.

Easy Mixed Seafood Chowder

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Seafood Nutrition Partnership. All opinions are 100% mine.

Is there anything more comforting than enjoying a bowl of chowder on a cool, crisp day? I'm going to go ahead and answer that question. Nope, nothing is better. Especially if that chowder isn't only comforting, but also healthy, tasty, and best of all–quick and simple to make!

One-Pan Swordfish w/ Ratatouille

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Seafood Nutrition Partnership. All opinions are 100% mine.

Over the years I've mentioned my penchant for seafood, which I think really took hold after my trip to Scotland's Inner Hebrides. I imagine any coastal location has a way of making you a believer—eating seafood moments after it was pulled from the water is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their life. But alas, I don't reside in a coastal area.

Fortunately it's easy to get your hands on good quality fresh and frozen seafood in this day and age. Flavor factor aside, eating fish and seafood just makes me feel a tad more virtuous. While I'm sure that's part mindset, it's actually a truth, since seafood is high in Omega-3s, healthy fats that are essential for heart and brain health.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

It seems like corned beef and cabbage is the St. Patrick's Day equivalent to margaritas and burritos on Cinco de Mayo. So, Irish-American (or Mexican-American) food. I get, though...and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Growing up in a melting pot, we often grab on to symbolism and culture in only flashy, consumeristic way we know how.

I grew up in a country that uses Lucky Charms, four leaf clovers, Irish cream, green beer and spry little leprechauns to represent something that has nothing to do with any of those things. And while I've been told that I have a sliver of Irish in me, that was the extent of it. I knew nothing about my Irish roots (or my German, Bohemian - as in Czech, or Cherokee ones, either).

Quick Turkey and Hominy Chili

My hunt to add more easy weeknight meal options to our dinner rotation is ongoing. If I don't actively experiment and look for inspiration, I find myself in a rut, making the same things over and over again. Every once in a while, I head to the library and come home with a giant stack of magazines. I've been known to spend hours scouring the pages, ripping my library receipt into little strips to mark the pages that inspire me. I actually find the process calming and productive at the same time.

I was doing just that a few months ago when I came across a recipe for a simple, hearty chili in the June 2015 edition of the Food Network Magazine. It was actually the first thing that I made from all of the recipes I tagged that day, adapting it slightly by adding more hominy (because I love the chewiness and earthy flavor), more spices (because I love flavor), and some masa harina to accent the hominy.

This isn't chili in the way that I normally think of chili, like a warming stew, it's actually closer to the meat sauce variety. Aka, there's not a whole lot of liquid. But they recommended serving it over rice, and that was right on. The little bit of liquid that it does have soaks in and adds some flavor to white rice. Oh, and it was on the table in 30 minutes.

Quick Turkey and Hominy Chili

Spiced turkey and chewy hominy are the stars of this easy, hearty weeknight meal.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Keywords: turkey hominy entree

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeños + more to garnish
• 1 tablespoon brine from pickled jalapeños
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon masa harina
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 (25 ounce) can of hominy, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups chicken stock (or turkey stock or water)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, smoked or regular
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• big handful of roughly chopped cilantro
• 2 cups hot cooked rice, to serve

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, jalapeños, garlic, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Cooking, stirring, until onion is tender, ~5 minutes.

Add turkey, masa harina, chili powder, smoked paprika, and cumin; cook for another 5 minutes or until turkey has browned, breaking it up as it cooks. Add tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes to start to break down the tomatoes. Add hominy, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook until thickened, ~10 minutes.

Stir in the jalapeño brine and half of the cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve over hot rice, garnished with extra cilantro and some more pickled jalapeño, if you wish.

-slightly adapted from Food Network Magazine, June 2015

Sloppy Totchos

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Manwich. All opinions are 100% mine.

Growing up, I always looked forward to Sloppy Joe night at the dinner table. Whenever I saw a couple pounds of ground beef on the counter next to a couple of cans of Manwich, my stomach started to growl. Not only did all of us kids actually like them (which can be a rarity with any more than one child, let alone four), they were also fun to eat. I mean, what kid doesn't enjoy getting a little messy? We almost always had potato chips alongside them, and I would scoop up all of the meat that escaped the bun with my chips to finish it.

Who am I kidding? I still do that today. Back then, we always ate them as a sandwich. Or should I say a meal? (You know, because "a sandwich is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal".) Never really thought to eat them any other way. And honestly, that's the way I serve them most often to my own kids. There's nothing like covertly making sure that they are entirely present at the meal by making them use both hands. Am I right?