Tag - easy

Tried It Tuesday: Sweet Vinegar Slaw

May 31, 2016

Sweet Vinegar Slaw - Life in Lape Haven. A yummy recipe for a vinegar-based slaw that is always a summer hit. Great side dish for barbecue and easy to make.

When Brad and I were first married, our church had a picnic once a month in the summertime, which meant that as a newlywed who was still building her recipe repertoire, at first, I didn’t have a lot of ideas for what to take each time. After all, there’s a bit of a difference between cooking for two and cooking for a crowd.

After a couple of summers of taking things like fresh fruit salads, cookies, or random recipes, I was inspired by a side dish at a new local barbecue place, a side dish that I loved and knew I could recreate or at least get pretty close to: Sweet Vinegar Slaw.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of traditional coleslaw. I mean, it’s okay with your bucket of fried chicken and all, but I could take it or leave it.

However, when I first tasted this vinegar-based slaw at the barbecue restaurant, I was hooked. It wasn’t like the creamy, mayonnaise-y taste of regular coleslaw, but rather a sweet, sour, tangy, crunchy yumminess that is especially awesome with barbecue ANYTHING.

: Thinly chop cabbage, onion, and grate carrot.

: Place in a LARGE bowl with room to mix.

: Sprinkle sugar over and mix thoroughly.

So, I went home, hit up Google, and found several recipes that seemed to mimic the slaw I’d had.

I honestly don’t remember where I came across the recipe that I finally made (and I tried looking it up), but it’s been written in my little recipe journal for several years. It’s a definite go-to recipe, especially in the summer.

From the first time I made it to every time since, this slaw has been a hit. It’s great for potlucks, picnics, and family gatherings, and unlike creamy coleslaws, you don’t have to worry too much about this in the summer heat. The vinegar and sugar won’t spoil as easily as mayonnaise. Plus, this recipe goes a long way.

: Boil dressing, then allow to cool completely.

: Toss slaw in dressing and refrigerate.

While it’s a good side for just about anything, we LOVE this on barbecue pulled pork sandwiches. It’s a tasty little culinary match made in heaven. 🙂

So, to get your summer started off right, here’s how I make Sweet Vinegar Slaw. Enjoy!

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Tried It Tuesday: Easy Beef Stroganoff

May 3, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday: Easy Beef Stroganoff. This quick, easy recipe for Beef Stroganoff has become a favorite of my whole family. Plus you can make the sauce ahead & freeze it to make an extra fast, tasty dinner.

Earlier this year, I was looking for something new to make for dinner. Tired of the usual standbys, I went searching for inspiration on Pinterest, and I came across a fairly easy-looking recipe for which I had enough of the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator that I could try it out.

Knowing that my guys all love pasta, I decided to see how they liked Beef Stroganoff, something that I knew my two little boys had never had. It was a bit of a gamble since they can have their picky-eater moments, but it turned out to be worth the risk because everyone loved it. This quick, tasty dish has since become a regular menu item in our house, one that my boys eat right up.

The recipe I started with is Creamy Beef Stroganoff from Cooking with K, but of course, as usual, I’ve tweaked it based on what I have on hand and our family’s tastes.

This is a really simple, throw-it-together kind of a meal, and according to the original recipe, you can make the sauce (minus the sour cream) and freeze it, which would make it an even quicker dinner if you prepped ahead. I haven’t tried this yet. I do, however, usually buy 3 or more pounds of ground beef, and brown and freeze it in 1-pound portions, so I have that ready to go. (This is great for quick sloppy joes, spaghetti, cheeseburger soup, or even this beef stroganoff.)

Some of the changes I have made to the recipe include using a little less ground beef and onion, not using any green peppers, adding more evaporated milk, and using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It’s also nice to jazz it up with fresh mushrooms or heavy cream instead of evaporated milk.

It might not be the prettiest dish, but it is definitely a delicious one. 🙂

Here’s my version of an Easy Beef Stroganoff. Enjoy!

Tried It Tuesday: Easy, Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

April 12, 2016

4 Comments

Life In Lape Haven - Tried It Tuesday: Easy, Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies. A simple and simply delicious peanut butter cookie recipe for crunchy, yet chewy cookies.

I have a pretty great husband. I do. Not only is he a Godly man who loves me and the boys and works diligently to take care of us, he is my number one fan in everything I do. He helps cover my slack around the house when I’m working on projects, even cleaning the bathroom, and he stays up with me on those late nights when my blogging inspiration is a little delayed, so that he can proofread for me and just be with me. (It’s okay to say, “Awww.” He’s totally a sweetheart.)

So the other day when I was itching to bake something sweet, I thought of him and his recent comment about craving some good peanut butter cookies.

I don’t think I’ve made peanut butter cookies since we’ve been married, so I had to do some online searching to find a recipe that sounded like a winner.

After reading through a couple of recipes and their comments, I decided on this one, Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies from Dessert Now Dinner Later, mainly because I know Brad likes chewy cookies, and she also mentioned that you can just scoop and bake these cookies rather than rolling them and pressing them with a fork.

Josiah was on-hand to be my assistant, which usually means it takes me way longer to make something than it would if I were doing it all myself, but I know that he gets such joy in being my “big helper boy,” that it’s worth the extra time, mess, and occasional frustrations that come with little ones helping in the kitchen.

These cookies are super easy. It’s just a matter of creaming your butter and sugars, mixing in your peanut butter, egg, and vanilla, and then adding your dry ingredients. From there, you scoop your cookie dough out onto the baking sheet, bake, and enjoy.

The first time I made these, I let them bake a little too long. The scooper I used was larger (#20) than the one the author used for hers (#30), so I adjusted the time…but a bit too much. On the plus side, the cookies were huge! 🙂

However, the cookies were still really good. Brad was pleasantly surprised to come home to homemade peanut butter cookies, and the boys loved them, too.

Since I knew the cookies could have been better, I had to do a second batch a few days later with the intent of getting the right cooking time. No one in my house complained about more cookies. This time I pulled them a couple minutes sooner, and they were even better than the first ones.

So now I have a tasty, easy go-to recipe for peanut butter cookies on the days that I want to do something a little special for my hard-working, giving hubby. (Awww – yes, I’m a sweetheart, too. Hahaha)

By the way, even though I haven’t tried it – yet – I’m pretty sure you could create a variation on this cookie by subbing out the peanut butter for hazelnut spread. Mmmm. I considered doing that, but Brad is not a fan of hazelnut spread. Or you could mix in some chocolate chips with the peanut butter cookies because chocolate + peanut butter = yumminess. I have also seen people put marshmallow creme and melted chocolate between two peanut butter cookies to make a fun cookie sandwich.

Okay, now that you’re hungry for delicious, chewy peanut butter cookies, here’s the recipe. Enjoy!!!

A simple, and simply delicious, chewy peanut butter cookie recipe.

Zucchini Pizza in a Pot

August 11, 2015

2 Comments

Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday - Zucchini Pizza in a Pot

I love having a garden. Being able to go outside and pick what you’ll have for dinner is awesome and so fun. However, when everything comes on at once, it can be tricky to eat it all up before it goes bad.

This year, hubby, our boys, and I planted a small garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow summer squash. Our zucchini and summer squash plants were initially feeding the local rabbits, but once we blocked the plants off with chicken wire, we’ve managed to harvest a few vegetables from each plant.

My parents’ garden, however, has flourished with zucchini and squash, so with all that they’ve grown and our own garden’s contribution, we have quite a bit to use up between us.

For my family, the go-to recipe for zucchini and/or squash has been zucchini pizzas. (In case you don’t know, zucchini pizzas are made by slicing the zucchini into thick rounds or cutting it in half as “boats” or planks, then topping it with pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese, and whatever other pizza toppings you want, and baking it.) It’s so yummy, and it gets my guys to eat their veggies.

Well, at least two of my three guys will eat their zucchini or squash. Josiah, who’s 2, just pulls off the toppings and eats those, leaving the sad little zucchini “crust” all alone on his plate.

So last week, as I stared down at a zucchini and squash that needed to be cooked, I had an idea and decided to try it out.

Since there wasn’t enough there to make zucchini pizzas for everyone, I decided to slice them both very thinly then cook it in a pot, adding the sauce and pizza toppings at the end to create the flavors of zucchini pizza, but all mixed together. I hoped this would serve two purposes: it would stretch what I had to work with and maybe, just maybe, Josiah would eat it better.

It was super quick and easy to throw together, and the end result was tasty, just like zucchini pizza, only saucier, which my guys loved.

My experiment worked, at least on one count. It definitely made enough to feed us all. Josiah, however, was not convinced. He actually sat there and picked the toppings out, bit by bit, leaving strips of zucchini and squash behind. *Sigh*

Brad and Elijah loved it, so it has become a new go-to zucchini recipe for us. Since I know we’re not the only ones with an over-abundance of zucchini and squash right now, I thought I’d share my little thrown-together, quick and easy, one-pot meal recipe with you all.

Just a note: Feel free to tweak the ingredients to your family’s liking. If I were making this just for myself, I’d use less sauce (maybe even half as much), but my guys love some pasta sauce. (Ours is almost a zucchini pizza soup. Haha) You can add more or less pepperoni and cheese and add whatever other pizza toppings you have on hand.

If you try it out, let me know how it goes over with your crew and if you were able to sneak it past any picky eaters with better luck than I had!