July Recipe Remake Recap

Howdy there! The end of July is a little sad to me. While I loathe summer (heat...blech... I hate being hot) I love being home with my little man. August goes so fast, and before you know it I'm back at work missing my little buddy. It's all good though, I try to live in the moment and not freak about the future (of so I tell myself hahaha!) July was a yummy month. There were a lot of very simple meals made (think frozen pizza, boxed mac and cheese, etc.) so I don't have a ton to share with you, but what I do was delish!

This month I had a couple coworkers come over for lunch. I was really unsure what to make, so I decided on these chicken parm paninis. One of my coworkers has a nut allergy so I left off the pesto, but it was still good. To make life easier I made them in advance, wrapped them in foil, then just heated them in the oven once the girls (and babies) were here!

Cajun shrimp pasta is truly one of my favorite meals. It's so spicy without being hot, just flavorful. I made Landon some pasta without the cajun seasoning but he was insistent on trying ours. Let's just say, little man does NOT like the cajun heat yet, but John and I do! I used light cream this time instead of heavy because it was all I had. It was good but not as decadent, but that's not a bad thing.

Since I love my new grill so much, I grilled some steaks using this classic steak marinade which is hands down my favorite marinade. John and I just love the flavor! It's simple and uses all common ingredients... perfect.

I will confess that I have yet to make a homemade vodka sauce that I love as much as the Italian restaurants around here. However, of the many varieties I've tried, this slow roasted pasta sauce is my favorite. It's time consuming, and I still have yet to make it without getting tomato guts all over my kitchen as I smush the tomatoes, but there is something so therapeutic about squeezing tomatoes in your hands!

When I got my new Le Creuset skillet this month the first think I made were these cheesy garlic biscuits. They are like those Red Lobster biscuits and are just so good. Landon was moaning as he tried them for the first time... I mean, can you get much better than a baby shoving biscuits down and moaning? I think not.

I love stir fry meals to use up bits and pieces of leftover veggies so I was excited to make this sweet and sour chicken stir fry. This time I made it with red bell peppers and zucchini. It was a delicious and easy meal. John and I enjoyed it, Landon licked the chicken twice, told me it was "gross" and stuck to gnawing on a veggie egg roll. His loss!

Last but not least, my favorite "go-to" meal when I don't know what to cook is chicken parmesan pasta. I had bought some chicken tenders from our local Italian deli for Landon and had several left. It wasn't enough to use for a meal for John and I so I decided to make this. Always a winner around here!