Fresh Vegan Mushroom Tacos Recipe (Awesome in Cast Iron)

If you're looking for a new way to incorporate those fresh, local, Farmer's Market ingredients into a recipe, here's a good one! These Vegan Mushroom, Onion, and Pepper Tacos are super delicious and you definitely won't even miss the meat! 

Even more special, is the fact that we got to create this recipe for Martha Stewart Essentials available at Macy's. It's been SUCH an honor creating a set of four recipes for Martha! It's definitely a food blogger's dream :)

Keep reading to get the full details on this delicious, vegan recipe (but, feel free to add some cheese or sour cream if you like!!).

We found all of the fresh ingredients at our local Farmer's Market here in Carbondale, IL.

As soon as I learned about this amazing opportunity, I went searching through all of the items and decided upon four very delicious recipes, which I will link you to as soon as they are live! 

I was encouraged to use recipes right from MarthaStewart.com, so I used her basic recipes, then embellished and modernized them to make them extremely appealing for my Pinterest fans. Well, everyone has loved them so far, and now all of the cast iron skillets are SOLD OUT on the MAcy's website! Perhaps my recipes helped, but the fact that they were each around $15.00 might also be the reason these have all sold out. Nonetheless, find your favorite cast iron or other skillet, and let's get started!

Ingredients / Materials: 

- 1-2 lb. Fresh Mushrooms 

- 1 red onion

- 1 medium bell pepper (we used several small ones)

- 2 Tbsp. or more Mexican Seasoning

- 1/2 bunch of cilantro

- Small Flour Tortillas

- Martha Stewart Cast Iron Skillet 

Instructions:

1. Prepare and chop mushrooms, red onions, and bell peppers. 

2. Heat olive oil in a Cast Iron Skillet, add chopped onions, then belle peppers, then lastly, mushrooms.

3.) Season veggies generously with Mexican seasoning, a tiny bit of salt, and any other seasoning you would like. Also, add chopped cilantro at the end and stir everything one last time. 

4.) Warm tortillas, then add the veggie filling, and enjoy! They're so delicious, I hope you love them! 

FLYWAY FAMILY FARM MUSHROOMS (MAKANDA, IL)

As I mentioned, I got to use local ingredients from our Farmer's Market! We loved finally being able to utilize three different varieties of mushrooms from Flyway Family Farm. They have different mushrooms at the market almost every weekend!

Also, I used the red onions and colorful bell peppers from Country Sprout Organics, my other favorite booth at our local market! 

Hopefully, you have enjoyed this recipe! Stay tuned for several more recipes inspired by Martha Stewart! 

Beer Cheese Potato Soup Recipe

Thank you Potatoes USA for sponsoring this post. Make a delicious and convenient meal for your family tonight with potatoes!

A delicious beer cheese and potato forward soup that is sure to please just about anyone! The taste of the dark, robust stout really shines through while the potatoes add an element of creaminess that makes it hard to not go up for seconds! I always thought that creamy soups had to be cream-based and I was completely wrong! This potato soup only contains a very small volume of cream, and the rest is made creamy with pureed potatoes! 

Find the printable recipe at the very bottom of this post. 

Ultimate Potato Cheese Soup Recipe (Serves 8+)

Prep Time: 15-20 minutes // Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 8 cups chopped russet or baking potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped or grated carrot
• 1 cup chopped or grated white onion
• 3 ounces chopped lean ham, cubed
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup beer
• 3 ouncesgrated cheddar cheese
• 3 ounces grated gruyere cheese
• 1/2 cup reduced fat milk

Potatoes are a culinary canvas with limitless possibilities!

Note - we chose an Imperial Stout, pictured below, and it was delicious! If you wanted to tone down the taste of the beer, then use a dark beer like a Porter that is under 5% ABV.

Another note - if you want your soup to me way more yellow, then choose a yellow cheese like cheddar and even colby jack. 

Directions

1. In large pot, heat butter over medium until bubbly.
2. Add carrot, onion and ham. Saute 5-10 minutes.
3. Add potatoes and chicken stock, stir to combine. Simmer for 20 minutes, covered.
4. Put about half the soup in a blender and process until smooth. Add back to pot.
5. Add beer, cheese and milk. Stir to combine.

Additional Info

Blending only half of the soup smooth gives it a great texture. If you’d like to make this soup vegetarian, simply skip the ham and use vegetable stock instead of chicken – it will still be rich and delicious!

I really hope you enjoy this recipe! If you use more of an Irish Stout, then you could utilize the St. Patrick's Day theme even more! 

Check out the Potato Goodness Facebook page here, and the Potatoes USA website here.

PRINT THE RECIPE BELOW:

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

Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo Chick and Broccoli Bake

The other night I was hungry, surprise, surprise, and knew I wanted to incorporate chicken into my dinner somehow. Well, I scanned the pantry, and am so happy with what I created! 

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 Chicken Breasts

- 1/3 of an onion

- 1 - 2 cloves garlic

- 1 - 2 C. Broccoli

- 1 Jar of Tomato Alfredo Pasta Sauce 

- Italian Seasonings ( I adore this one)

- 1 box Penne Noodles

- 1 C. Mozzarella Cheese

- Shredded Parmesan Cheese

- Bread Crumbs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) Boil noodles until al dente.

2.) While the noodles are boiling, add a bit of olive oil and chopped onion to a skillet. Season with salt and Italian seasoning. 

3.) Once onions are sautéed nicely, add chopped chicken breasts and garlic. Season generously with the Italian seasonings, and cook chicken until the middle is no longer pink. 

4.) During this time, also boil your chopped broccoli, until tender, and strain. 

4.) In a large bowl (there is a lot to mix, here - just warning...), mix 1 jar of tomato Alfredo sauce, cooked chicken, all of the noodles, mozzarella cheese, part of the parmesan cheese, steamed broccoli, and more seasonings if desired. Mix thoroughly.

5.) Coat a 9"x13" baking dish with non-stick spray, pour the mixture in, and smooth out. Top with bread crumbs, and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes covered with foil, then 5-10 more minutes uncovered to get a crispier top. Let cool and serve! This turned out SO well.

Quick N Easy Pesto Pasta

Pasta couldn't get much easier than this. It's nice and light, and super fresh. 

INGREDIENTS:

Green Pesto

Fresh Tomatoes

Thick Spaghetti Noodles

Mozzarella Pearls

Parmesan Cheese, Grated

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Italian Seasoning To Taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Boil noodles as directed. Strain and return to original pot. Scoop about 3-4 tablespoons of Pesto onto noodles. Also add your olive oil, Italian seasoning, and salt. Stir together, combining well. Turn the heat back on to low. Add mozzarella pearls, and stir. They should melt pretty quickly. Once they're melted, sprinkle past with parmesan cheese, and stir once more. 

Serve topped with more parmesan cheese and chopped tomatoes. 

Enjoy! 

Market Fresh Ratatouille Recipe

Are you looking for a fresh, tasty recipe that you can make with items you find at the Farmer's Market? Here's a recipe you will love! This shop has been compensated by CollectiveBias, Inc. on behalf of its advertiser. All opinions and ideas are my own. #PickedAtPeak  #CollectiveBias

By incorporating fresh vegetables, and Prego® Farmers' Market sauces, your family will be eating more vegetables, and asking for seconds! This dish smells absolutely delicious while it is baking, and you can also make this dish ahead of time, and even freeze it to bake at a later date. Win-Win in my mind! 

I love the fact that we have two farmer's markets here in Carbondale, IL, and since the soil in Illinois is SO fertile, we are lucky enough to have lots of options as to what local foods we want to use. 

LET'S TALK SAUCE:

- New Prego® Farmers' Market Sauces have market-fresh ingredients, like vine-ripened tomatoes, garlic, and basil, that are picked at the peak of freshness. These new sauces are available at Walmart in the pasta aisle, my favorite aisle of all...

When I first began researching this ratatouille recipe, I found that every recipe traditionally called for a lengthy process of creating a sauce of your own. This recipe will save you so much time, by simply incorporating a jar of Prego® sauce, which makes this dish taste amazing. 

This Cotton Market Bag, above, was printed and designed by my friend at Bodega Press. It's one of my favorites! 

INGREDIENTS FOR 2-3 SERVINGS:

Squash At The Carbondale Market

- 1 Jar of new Prego® Farmers' Market sauce. I loved the Classic Marinara and the Tomato & Basil.

- 1 Zucchini, sliced very thin

- 1 Yellow Squash

- 1 Chinese Eggplant (the skinny kind)

- Olive Oil & Brush to apply oil

- Fresh Parsley, chopped finely

- Salt and other seasonings as desired

- Circular Baking Dish & Non Stick Cooking Spray

- Foil

Note: The above image shows more vegetables you can add to this recipe, but you can definitely make this with just the few ingredients I have listed. 

- Also, you can slice up onions and tomatoes, and layer them in between the other slices. 

To purchase these sauces, visit your local Walmart store, or shop online, here.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) Slice all 3 vegetables (zucchini, squash, and eggplant) very thinly (You can also include slices of onion and tomato here ). I used a Mandolin Slicer, which worked incredibly well for this recipe. CAUTION - Please, please use the guard piece that comes with the machine, because this took a small part of my boyfriend's pinky off and caused a big mess! Poor Bobby...Anyway! He's doing fine now :)

Set veggie slices aside and grab your sauce! It's already time to prepare your dish. 

2.) Spray your baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of sauce, roughly 1/4" - 1/2" around the bottom of the dish. I used about 2/3 of the jar of sauce, but ideally 1/2 of a jar would be perfect!

3.) "Shingle" your vegetables, see below. I loved this part! Get about 4-6 veggie rounds in your hand, and alternate colors. 

4.) Put the shingled veggies into the baking dish, over the sauce, making sure not to press too hard, because you don't want the sauce on top of the veggies while baking.

5.) Continue the veggie spiral all the way to the center of the dish.

6.) Chop the parsley to sprinkle on top of the dish.

7.) Brush olive oil onto the veggies, carefully as to not get sauce on top of the veggie slices. Add salt and any other seasonings you want to the top of the dish. Garnish with chopped, fresh parsley - this adds so much to the look of your dish! 

8.) Lastly, bake the dish at 375 degrees, for roughly 30 minutes covered in foil, then for another 10-20 minutes with the foil off. Once the vegetables have browned, and the sauce has cooked down to a desirable amount, you're done! 

Enjoy!

Amazing Homemade Meatballs Recipe

Want a great recipe for someone special? I think this would make an awesome Father's Day recipe for Dad, grandpa, husbands, boyfriends, or whatever guy is special in your life, deserves this amazing dish!

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 lb. ground pork

- 1 egg

- 1 C. breadcrumbs

- Seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic powder, Van Zandt's seasoning mix

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with foil. 

2.) Spray a cooling rack with non-stick spray, and place it onto the foil lined baking sheet.

3.) Let's make the food! Combine sausage, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, and seasonings in a medium bowl. Mix with hands (I always use rubber gloves), until well-combined.

4.) Roll mixture in hands to form 1"-1.5" balls, and place each one on the rack. Space them apart a bit, they won't change in shape, so you can bake quite a few at once.

5.) Bake for 16-20 minutes, and more if they aren't done yet. 

6.) While baking, boil your noodles, and heat your sauce separately. 

7.) To Serve: Place noodles on a plate, add meatballs, and then cover with sauce! Garnish with more parmesan cheese, and dinner is served! These are so incredibly easy to make, and reheat well. 

Other ideas for these meatballs:

- Meatballs, Peppers, and Penne Noodles

- Meatball Sandwiches

- Slice meatballs thin to put onto pizzas

- Dip them in sauce, without noodles

- Make ahead of time, and freeze these for dinner in advance! 

Baked Chicken & Tomato Taquitos Recipe

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #YesYouCAN #CollectiveBias

This recipe turned out extremely well! These taquitos are absolutely delicious, and would be the perfect way to incorporate Hunt's Canned Tomatoes into a Mexican-Inspired dish for dinner or even a party. 

First, I will start off with a kitchen hack! Read the instructions below the photo. This was such a great way to make shredded chicken. 

A BONUS KITCHEN HACK

Using a roaster chicken for shredded chicken is genius! I absolutely loved using this method, compared to spending literally hours waiting for chicken breasts to slowly boil, then become soft enough to shred. This seriously saved me many hours of prep work, and tasted incredible! 

Check out more Mexican inspired recipes here

---

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 Can Hunt's Tomatoes

1 Roaster Chicken 

1/2C. - 1 C. Cream Cheese

1/4 - 1/2 Onion

2 Cloves Garlic 

Olive Oil 

Mexican Seasonings and Salt

1/4 - 1/2 Bunch Cilantro

1 C. Shredded Mexican Cheese or Cheddar.

Tiny Bit of a Jalapeno (Optional)

Small sized corn or flour tortillas (I used corn)

Sour Cream For Dipping

---

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) To shred the chicken - (make sure chicken has cooled, and use your hands (I used rubber gloves), to begin to tear apart all of the meat on the roaster chicken. Set aside, and discard bones and anything you can't use.

2.) Chop onions and garlic, and set aside.

3.) Simmer a tablespoon or so of olive oil, in a medium saucepan (I used one with sides). Once warm, add chopped garlic and onion. Also add about 1/4 tbsp or more of the Mexican seasoning. and a pinch of salt if desired. Stir. Optionally, add a tiny bit of the jalapeno pepper - this added SO much flavor and wasn't even really spicy. 

4.) Add shredded chicken to the onions and garlic mixture.

5.) Strain some of the excess juices out of the Hunt's Tomatoes, and add 3/4 or 1 whole can to the chicken mixture. Stir until combined, and again, season the chicken tomato mixture.

6.) Turn off heat, and add the cream cheese and shredded cheddar, and a little bit more seasoning if you like. Stir until combined well. 

7.) Chop leaves off cilantro, and add that to the rest of the ingredients.

8.) Preheat oven at 350-375 degrees, use PAM on Pyrex dish or baking dish.

9.) Warm corn tortillas in the microwave or on a warm stove. 

10.) Spread a small amount of the chicken mixture onto the centers of each tortilla. Wrap the tortillas around the mixture. Practice first, because the corn tortillas can easily split and break.

11.) Bake at 350-375 Degrees for about 25 minutes, and serve with a side of sour cream. These taste amazing!! Enjoy!

Look how beautiful this filling turned out! You can use this as dip with chips. or fill any type of burrito quesadilla, or taquitos with this. 

This is a good amount of filling to use! Roll these up and bake them in a glass dish at 350 Degrees for about 25 minutes. 

Serve with a side of sour cream, they are incredibly tasty!!!

WHERE TO FIND THESE INGREDIENTS...

The great thing about this recipe, is that most of the ingredients were easy to find at Walmart. They have great prices on these ingredients, which is great if you're serving these to a crowd, or just making them for family. The Hunt's Tomatoes were found in the Tomato Sauce aisle. The organic yellow onions and garlic were found right in the front of the store by the fresh produce, too! 

And, here is that DIY project I promised you :) Check out the Cactus DIY below. 

Amazing Baked Chicken Drumsticks Recipe

Wow, these turned out SO well! This was our first time cooking any bone-in chicken, and it went really well. I looked up various recipes, and once I realized you could just bread them (duh!), and then bake them, I would just do that!

INGREDIENTS:

12 Chicken Drumsticks

4 Eggs

Flour

Bread Crumbs

Parmesan Cheese

Seasoning To Taste

Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 425* F. Gather your ingredients. Cover a baking sheet in foil, then place a baking grid on top, and spray with non-stick spray. I guess this is also called a Cooling Grid, but I use it in the oven al the time! 

- Find 3 separate dishes (shallow pyrex work well). In one each, place flour with salt and other seasonings, in the next one put your eggs with seasoning, and then in the last dish, mix up 1 1/2 C. breadcrumbs, and 1/2 C. freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

- Now, get your drumsticks onto one plate, and et ready to coat them. Coat your drumstick in flour, then in egg, then into the breadcrumbs. Place it on the grid, and make sure to place it towards the edge. These 12 drumsticks will fill the whole tray.

- Repeat this for each drumstick, flour, egg, and then breadcrumbs. 

- Bake for about 15 minutes and enjoy1 These are amazing by themselves, or dipped in BBQ sauce or honey mustard. These reheat extremely well in my toaster oven, leave then in for about 10+ minutes at 350* F. 

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...

Peanut Butter Puppy Chow

Pepsi Glazed Bacon

7 Can Soup Recipe

Happy November! Let's Eat Squash!

We finally got all of the ingredients together to make this hearty meal last night, and it was pretty good! I even made a Flipagram for you to watch and see how pretty these turn out!

I was so happy to find Organic Acorn Squash at Kroger! 

They're really quite pretty when you cut them open! Scoop out all of the seeds and inside bits!

View on Flipagram

Scoop out the insides, cover with oil and salt, and bake at 4000 Degrees for 40 mins. Then, prepare to make the filling!

Below, we covered the acorn squash with olive oil and salt, and baked them for 40 minutes at 400 Degrees.

For the filling, we used about 1/2 Lb/ ground pork (but could have easily used ground beed or turkey), 1/2 a red onion, 3 stalks of celery, salt and seasonings, 1/2 C. breadcrumbs, and 1/2 C. Parmesan cheese. 

Now, cook the onions, celery, and ground beef in a little bit of olive oil, and season for extra flavor. Below, you will see the filling after the meat has browned. Photo on the left is after we added the breadcrumbs and the parmesan! Yum!

Now, put that filling into the squash you just took out of the oven! Bake for 20 more minutes...

And you're ready to eat!!! YUM!!!

Tater Tot Horseshoe Sandwiches

Horseshoe Sandwiches originated in my hometown, Springfield, IL. They're awesome - It's like a burger and fries, topped in homemade cheese sauce. Click Here for the full recipe on Bisque This!