I absolutely adore my mom, but I came to college with the following skills: cereal, microwaved hot dogs, frozen chicken patties, and a mean PB&J. OH, and break-and-bake cookies.That are somehow always a little too burnt when she makes them.
When Morgan and I got engaged, I knew that menu just wouldn’t fly, so I started to find and make one new recipe a week. In the process of learning how to cook, I learned to love to cook. Cooking, to me, became a way to serve my husband and a way to make our house a home to our community. Over time, it’s turned into a weirdly-relaxing hobby that I genuinely enjoy. I’m no where close to being a master cook, and I kind of like that. The “oh my gosh I made this?!” feeling after that first bite is unmatched.
The only thing better than really good food is really good, cheap food, and, with a budget like ours, that’s about all we can hope for. When I’m meal planning for the week, I peruse Pinterest to put together meals that use ingredients that are on sale that week at our grocery store. I keep handy foods stocked up, like baking supplies, cooking oils, canned goods, and spices, and I load up our freezer with meats that are on sale.
I’m all about sharing recipes! I’m hooking you up with my five favorite side dishes, main dishes, and desserts. You’ll notice some trends, like my heavy reliance on Ree Drummond, the fact that I use chicken all the time (it’s my favorite), and the disturbing amount of chocolate called for in each of the desserts. These are tried and true recipes, so dig in!
Top 5 Sides
Roasted Lemon Parmesan Asparagus
Top 5 Main Dishes
Bang Bang Shrimp Pasta (I usually substitute chicken for shrimp)
Crock Pot Chicken Caesar Wraps
Top 5 Desserts
Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bites
(pictured below. and tastes even better than that picture looks.)
Farmer Takes A Wife 
Holly, I’m the same way! I didn’t know how to cook anything (except bagel bites and insta-muffins…. basically anything you can make in the toaster oven!) when I came in to college. i learned how to make pasta and sauteed chicken in college, but that’s about it. 😉 It’s so fun to learn though! The many mistakes along the way just make every good recipe turn out sweeter, right?? I made veggie quesadillas so often when we first got married, that was like my specialty. Oh and I made cake balls a lot too, haha. But we also heavily relied on Digiorno’s! 🙂
Sydni–Yes! The mistakes make the good food taste even better. And there’s nothing wrong with Digiorno’s in my book… 🙂