Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Tuesday is always a wild card post for me and today I have some new kitchen ideas and products that I thought it would be fun to share. I like to link up with Joanne’s Talking about it Tuesday posts, too, so this works out.

I have been wanting to try this olive oil for some time. It’s Bobby-approved and I have seen it at Costco. I happened to see it at Kroger when I had run out of my other olive oil and I grabbed it.

I freaking love it! I am not sure why I love it so much, but I love the easy to squirt bottle and I probably use it every day.

I have only been off work for a week, but one thing I like to do is to cook dinner or elements of dinner in the morning. Here me out…I have no energy left at dinner time. I can easily resort to carry out if I have nothing planned or prepared. That’s ok one night a week, but I want to cook most meals.

The other day I knew I had a pool day and that makes me extra lazy – the sun and the water – so I went ahead and boiled the cavatappi noodles, cooked the bacon, and I already had the sauce ready for our dinner. It worked out great!

If you have your energy in the morning like I do, have you tried this?

I made the chicken for our Greek bowls in the morning last week, too. That made dinner time super easy.

Are you a coffee with creamer person? I have a new favorite. I thought oat milk was good for you and then I heard it wasn’t and now I just like the taste of this so I’m going with it for now. If you like a brown sugar shaken espresso or cold foam or whatever the kids are calling it, this might be for you…if you have a Trader Joe’s.

After I whined to you all many times about what to do for my coffee – Keurig? Nespresso? Pour over? I am a classic coffee pot gal now. I don’t want to grind my beans because I can only imagine what Eddie Otis would do. I like to set the pot up at night and then it’s ready to go. I am the only one drinking it so I just make about half a pot each morning. We also have a Nespresso machine out and we have decaf pods for Mason and for me sometimes in the afternoon.

Right now I have found this Trader Joe’s ground blend. I thought it looked better in this large Mason jar.

I am also drinking a green tea most days in the afternoon. I have read about many benefits including reducing inflammation.

I bought this and I am not sure what to do with it. I think I will use it in my skinny margarita. Any ideas?

For my green tea, I do one tiny squirt of stevia to make it taste a little sweeter.

I made a fancy grilled cheese for Mason recently. I offered. It’s brioche with mayo on the bread instead of butter (that is how you get the nicely golden color), fig jam, and havarti cheese.

This looks like a dog’s breakfast (love that British expression) but my lunch one day was leftover potato, bacon, a bit of cheese, and some sour cream. It was the same effect as potato skins.

I made sloppy joe’s one night. Tom loves them.

I made this broccoli salad. I love a broccoli salad!

I left out the craisins, cabbage, and bacon. It didn’t really need them. I liked the addition of the shredded carrot.

Sunday night everyone raved about this. I boiled angel hair. I put grape tomatoes on a cookie sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and roasted them. When they were almost done I put about 1/4 block of cream cheese because I didn’t have boursin. I added feta when it was done. I cooked spinach on the stove. I guess I could have added it with the tomatoes. I grilled chicken and put that on top. This is basically the Tik Tok pasta that was trending a few years ago.

Here is what it looked like without the chicken:

I enjoy cooking. Sometimes I am over the ideas/shopping for ingredients part for sure. I have a niece Nora who also really loves to cook and seems to be a natural. Her mom (my sister Kate) says she just has a knack for technique and knowing what to put with what.

I proposed a challenge with Nora this summer. We take turns sending a recipe to each other on a weekly or biweekly basis and then we both make it and take photos and share how it turned out. She seemed excited! For her summer gift, I sent her a 200 year old San Francisco sourdough starter from Etsy! I hope she likes it!

What would you say about any of these products, tips, or meals?

What have you made or purchased lately?

Amy

34 thoughts on “In the Kitchen with Amy”

  1. I think one of the most important things to do is to keep trying new recipes and techniques and it sounds like that’s what you’re doing and finding “things” that work for you! I do often prep for dinner. It makes putting together everything for the meal that less daunting when some of it is done already. That grilled cheese sandwich looks so good!

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  2. I do a lot of food prep early in the day; cut up all the veggies, I still tend to cook meat in the crock pot or at least marinate the meat if we’re going to grill, take out all the ingredients from the cabinet, etc… Yesterday I made homemade teriyaki before lunch since we were having a stir-fry and I would never go through that “work” at dinner time. Basically anything that requires more effort than I know I’ll have to give by the end of the day.

    Your meals sound so yummy. I’ve been struggling a lot lately since my youngest appears to have a dairy allergy and I’m trying to cook for us all without milk or cheese or sour cream and I just had zero clue how often we really do use dairy!

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    1. So smart! Often I will do this while making my breakfast.
      What a challenge! Whole Foods and even Kroger have a dairy free product section but they all look so sad and tasteless.
      Can you focus on veg and protein and if you were to do cheese only add that on the end to those who eat cheese?

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  3. Your meals look good and I am going to try that last one. I love a broccoli salad too, & would leave off the same things, except the bacon. I add a package of bacon bits to mine. I haven’t made it in so long though, but hope to this summer.

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  4. I love what you are doing with your niece Nora. That will be fun and so special.

    I’m so busy lately I am not at all interested in cooking anything too elaborate. My job and my side hustle literally take all of my time.

    In your retirement I think you will really enjoy cooking lots of delicious and fresh meals! I’m excited to see where this takes you!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  5. That pasta looks amazing! I may try this soon. I love that challenge you’re going to do with Norah! And that’s a great gift idea; I’m sure she will enjoy that. Speaking of sourdough, that’s what I’m doing today. I really need help with cooking right now; I don’t know why it’s so much more difficult to cook for one than it is a whole family! I’m having problems with motivation in the kitchen. Maybe I need to browse some cookbooks to help me with this…I miss the days of watching cooking shows on TV. Ree Drummond inspires me like nobody else!

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    1. I think you will like the pasta, but the boursin is my favorite cheese to do it with. You should be able to find it at any grocery. Let me know if you make it. It’s very easy to make just one or two portions, too.
      Why don’t you look at Slender Kitchen website. My best tips for you are the mediterranean and the asian sections. I know you love both. Her recipes are seriously so good you won’t even know it’s healthy. I need to re-visit some of my faves of hers.
      I also loved a cooking show!

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  6. Hi!

    I think cooking with Amy is a wonderful Tuesday idea! I love seeing what people are eating for some reason! also, when you go to local places to eat, maybe share menu pictures? looking at a menu is also my jam!

    Happy retirement, Again! I have noticed I use the crockpot a lot more in retirement than I ever did. I agree much more energy in the mornings!

    Have a great day!

    Missy

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  7. So many great meal ideas! Your “dogs breakfast” looks delish…as does the TT pasta. I made that once and forgot about it. We’re not in a summer dinner groove yet as every day has been so different 🫠 I literally just had groceries delivered for today until I can get a plan otherwise haha
    You’ve inspired me! Next week should be my first somewhat normal week of summer but until then, I seem to be winging it

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    1. Thank you! Yes, the flavors of taters, cheese, bacon, and sour cream are delish together.
      It is really hard to find your routine. I am trying to think of summery meals and I am actually reading my own blog for what I made in summers past!

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  9. I always try and prep as much as I can for dinner earlier on in the day, especially in the warmer months when the kitchen can get too hot later in the day.
    I love reading about products from the US, we don’t get most of these things that you have mentioned here in England, not that I can find anyway. I love the sound of that creamer and the Lime.

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  10. First off… Happy Retirement!!! (I’ve been offline for several days and missed your goodbyes.) It’s such a bittersweet time but I’m so excited for you and the adventures that await! That olive oil is definitely my hubby’s favorite! He loves to dip bread in it! I love all your kitchen hacks and advice… keep them coming!

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    1. Thank you! That’s ok! I need to do a wrap up post but haven’t been motivated yet. It says for cooking but I have been using it like that, too. It’s very smooth unlike some oils. Thank you so much!
      My husband said “is this dinner going to live up to last night’s?” when he came home from work. He is appreciating my extra effort since I have been out of school. He is very happy!

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  12. I am working full time, but I get to do several days a week from home. Oftentimes, I will get dinner prepped during my lunch break and save the easy, quick meals for the days I am in the office. We currently have two exchange students with us, so it has been interesting blending several cultures and preferences. A few months ago, I told everyone that I would just keep repeating meals if no one would give me ideas on what to cook. Joke was on me as they didn’t seem to care to eat the same four or five meals over again. Does your family give you feedback for meal ideas?

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    1. That is so smart! Wow – two exchange students! That is a lot! I hope it’s going well. They tell me what they like. One wants more fish. I don’t really ask them anymore. Lol.

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      1. It actually is going great with both of our students. They are siblings from the same country. One has taken to American cuisine and the other prefers their Native cuisine. It has been fun!

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  13. The brocolli and angel hair pasta look so good! For creamer, I like to use the coffee syrups with a little milk. The syrups come in regular or sugar free. You could use milk or half and half. I like this because some days I just add a splash of milk, and other days I add milk with the syrup if I’m feeling like something sweet. I also like that you can adjust how sweet you want it. These are the syrups I’m talking about. https://amzn.to/3HAMCAT

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    1. That dish is on repeat for this week! I am going to try to do the spinach with the tomatoes.
      I did use Torani and half and half for a bit. Maybe I will try that again.

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  15. Your cooking posts are always so good. I wish I had that love for it, but I don’t. I just want someone to tell me what to cook, buy the stuff, and I’ll take it from there. I’ve thought about Hello Fresh, but I don’t want to do a subscription box and forget to cancel when I don’t like it.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com

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    1. Thank you! I feel like they are kind of basic, but I hope they help someone! My fave subscription service that I used was Dinnerly. The recipes were more “normal” and less out there. It’s been 5 years so I don’t know now. I think you should do it and write the cancellation date on your calendar. It would be a fun thing to try to see if it fits your style.

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  16. my sister makes a lot of her dinner in the morning too! Last week we grilled a bag of chicken and had it different ways all week! That was easy!

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