January 7, 2023

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I’m headed to Santa Fe with my sisters for a few days next weekend and I can hardly wait. It’s been far too long since our last getaway. Do you have a favorite spot in Santa Fe? Shoot me a note if there’s something new I should try.

ON THE BLOG this week: Crispy-edged baked green chile chicken burritos full of cheesy goodness are an easy-to-assemble mealtime hit, full of green chile flavor.

Potatoes, red and green bell peppers, and yellow onions are combined in a colorful and flavorful breakfast skillet that is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Loaded with flavor and just a hint of heat, these Italian stuffed bell peppers are filled with ground beef and rice, seasoned with plenty of Italian spices, and topped with cheese.

White bean and corn enchiladas with green chile sauce and lots of cheesy goodness serve as a meal or snacktime dip.

Naturally sweet and bursting with blueberry freshness, banana blueberry pancakes are a weekday breakfast must in our home. Are you wondering how to pull off pancakes on a busy weekday morning?? Check out all the tips in the post.

Warm slices of baked apples covered with cinnamon brown sugar streusel topping are all that’s required to make this easy apple crisp recipe.

What I’m CRAVING: This Chocolate Cream Pie by Valerie’s Kitchen is what chocolate-loving dreams are made of. I haven’t had a chocolate pie in ages and this one needs to happen soon!

My FAVORITE THING this week is the Misen vegetable peeler. (link HERE) My friend Rebecca gifted it to me a few weeks ago and if I’m honest, I wasn’t convinced I’d love it. (I’ve never been a big fan of the Y-shaped peelers in the past.) She was right though. This one is a keeper. It’s wicked sharp and comfortable to use.

What I’m WATCHING: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (link HERE) If I’d been asked half an hour into this movie what I thought of it, I’d have said “serious cringe” and I was about to turn it off. However, I was watching with my kids and we wanted to give it a chance. 

Luckily, it turned out to be an excellent watch. In a terrific mix of the expected a

Warm slices of baked apples covered with cinnamon brown sugar streusel topping are all that’s required to make this easy apple crisp recipe.

All by itself or topped with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream, apple crisp is one of our favorite desserts year-round. If you manage to have any leftovers the next day, this makes a spectacular breakfast too.

You could even include a crisp for a big weekend brunch, coupled with a pan of breakfast enchiladas, a cheesy bacon quiche, or a jalapeno popper breakfast casserole.

You’re probably not surprised to hear that my favorite way to eat this is with my morning coffee and a scoop of ice cream. It’s probably a good thing that I don’t usually have a fresh apple crisp waiting in the kitchen in the morning.

Easy Apple Crisp Recipes

As much as I love apple crisp, I don’t always love eating the soupy dish that sometimes masquerades as an “apple crisp.” This old fashioned recipe is not at all soupy, the tender apples are covered with the perfect amount of crunchy topping to balance it well.

Want a little more evidence of my love for easy apple crisp recipes? Tart cranberries and sweet apples are baked inside a brown sugar and oat crisp for a perfect not-to-sweet cranberry apple crisp.

Tart blackberries are paired with sweet apples in this brown sugar and oat fruit crisp. Apple Crisp Ice Cream is made with the creamiest of homemade vanilla ice creams, then completely loaded with bits of cinnamon sweet baked apples, and crunchy streusel topping.

Old Fashioned Recipe for Apple Crisp

This recipe is so easy to pull together and only takes a few minutes of prep time. The most labor-intensive part is slicing your apples. To save time, I don’t peel the apples for this recipe, though you certainly can.

You can use any kind of apples you like in an apple crisp and it will turn out deliciously each and every time. Granny Smith apples yield a little bit more tartness and pair nicely with the brown sugar and cinnamon.

My favorite combination is a mix of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples.

Slicing the apples thinly and evenly is important for getting the perfect apple crisp texture. Apples tha

Potatoes, red and green bell peppers, and yellow onions are combined in a colorful and flavorful skillet that is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Breakfast Potatoes Skillet

I love having potatoes with breakfast in the morning. Well, technically, I would enjoy having potatoes with most of my meals. Potatoes, peppers, and onions add up to a terrific meal that comes together quickly any time of day.

By taking the time to prep them in advance, I simply heat as many as we need when we are ready to eat them. These potatoes are great as a dinner side dish, as a simple lunch, or tossed into scrambled eggs for a hearty breakfast.

Breakfast Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

I get why some people don’t like to pre-chop their potatoes because they discolor and turn brown. For breakfast potatoes, I typically dice them the night before and store them in the refrigerator submerged in water.

Wondering how to make crispy breakfast potatoes? In the morning, drain the water and pat the diced potatoes to dry. Drying the potatoes well is the key to getting the best crispy potato edges.

The peppers and onions can be chopped and just stored in containers or in simple zip-close bags until you’re ready to cook them.

Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

You’ll need just a few ingredients to make this recipe.

• olive oil
• yellow onion
• potatoes
• bell pepper
• kosher salt 
• freshly ground black pepper

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Crispy-edged green chile chicken burritos full of cheesy goodness are an easy-to-assemble mealtime hit, full of green chile flavor.

Green Chile Chicken Burritos

Burritos are often served wet or smothered in delicious cheeses and sauces. Some days just beg for a simple, flavorful baked burrito with a bit of lettuce, tomato, and sour cream on top.

I enjoy the contrast of the, baked slightly crispy-edged burrito with the creamy, cheese filling. We like to top these easy chicken burritos with freshly shredded lettuce, tomato, and olives with a dab of sour cream. Fresh salsa or guacamole make wonderful toppings as well.

When making green chile chicken burritos I like to cook my own chicken seasoned with Mexican spices and then shred it and add green chile sauce.

To do this, I place chicken breasts or thighs seasoned with taco seasoning into the crock pot along with some green chile sauce. Cook the chicken for 4-5 hours until the chicken can easily be pulled apart.

When the chicken is done, shred it with a fork or roughly chop it and let it sit in the juices for a few minutes soaking up all that flavor. Add the additional green chile and the drained beans to the crockpot and stir to combine before spooning the filling into the burritos.

To assemble the burritos, fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of the chicken mixture, add the cheese, and sprinkle with cilantro. After rolling each burrito, keep the seam sides down and slide them into place on the pan.

If you do all the assembly right on the pan, it helps to avoid it spilling out the ends or unrolling when you transfer it.

Baked Chicken Burritos

To finish these chicken burritos in the oven, pop them into the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until

Loaded with flavor and just a hint of heat, these Italian stuffed bell peppers are filled with ground beef and rice, seasoned with plenty of Italian spices, and topped with cheese.

Served with a salad or warm rosemary garlic bread, this is a hearty meal that comes together without any fuss.

Just brown the meat, fill the peppers, and let them roast away while you kick back on the couch with a book. Sprinkle the warm peppers with cheese just before serving and you’ll have an easy dinner on the table with minimal effort.

Spicy Italian Peppers

These Spicy Italian Peppers are one of my husband’s favorite meals. I’ve been making them for at least 8-10 years now and I double this recipe almost every time I make them.

They’re loaded with flavor and just a hint of heat, but if spicy dishes aren’t your thing, skip the crushed red pepper and you’ll have Italian-style stuffed peppers that will make everyone happy.

The meat mixture freezes perfectly on its own and the stuffed peppers freeze well too. I often freeze the cooked peppers individually for quick and easy lunches.

Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

To make the recipe even easier, you can also use cooked rice leftover from a previous meal. Make rice as a side dish for your lunch and use the leftovers in stuffed peppers for dinner!

My kids and I typically eat one pepper each and my husband will eat a couple of them. They’re filling, delicious, and enthusiastically enjoyed by everyone.

Stuffed Bell Peppers are easy to customize based on your family’s tastes. You can play with different pre-made spaghetti sauces, adjust the spices and try different kinds of cheese on top of the cooked peppers.

Feel free to use this recipe as a jumping off point for making the Stuffed Peppers of your dreams. I love the ground beef in the original version but sausage and ground turkey work well too.

These Italian style stuffed peppers have the advantage of being convenient, easy, customizable and kid-friendly to boot. As far as weeknight meals go, can we ask for anything more?

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