Make-Ahead Meals

Harvest Bowls

  A sweetgreen copycat recipe, this wholesome bowl meal is easy to customize and a perfect way to use leftover turkey or chicken!    Faced with a need to raise funds for her college triathlon team a decade or so ago, Sarah Lanphier looked no further than her favorite homemade granola recipe. The nut-based granola…

BLT Pasta Salad with Avocado

In recent weeks, I’ve heard from many readers who offered kind praise for my Mexican Street Corn Salad recipe. Many noted the big flavor punch delivered by the small amount of lime juice that’s added to the mayo.  The bright, fresh taste it delivers happens to be my favorite part of the salad, too. In the following…

Classic Gazpacho (A toppings bar makes it a meal-or a party!)

A selection of toppings turns this classic summer soup into a filling meal. Simple advance prep makes it ideal for casual entertaining and easy weeknight meals alike, and the flavor improves over time!   While living in Spain for six months many years ago, I was told that when the weather gets hot, even a…

Summer Breeze Chicken Salad

This fresh-tasting chicken salad offers a uniquely delicious way to savor sweet, seasonal peaches. The combination may seem unexpected, but once you try, I’m betting you’ll be sold!   Some people are hard to forget.  Take the gem of a teacher who totally gets your toddler.  When my older son first went off to preschool he…

Cheater Macaroni and Cheese

This shortcut recipe is ideal when you’d prefer not to clean messy pots and pans. You don’t even have to precook the noodles!      Settling on a Father’s Day recipe was particularly challenging this year.  As is often the case, my inability to decide what to share in this space was more a case…

Amish Baked Oatmeal

This wholesome family favorite can be prepared in advance and tastes a lot like a cinnamon oatmeal cookie. I typically take a minimalist approach, but the recipe is easy to customize through the addition of raisins, nuts, etc.   Twenty years ago, when baked oatmeal was hardly a blip on anyone’s breakfast radar, a friend…

Muesli Baked Oatmeal

If you were to choose your career all over again, what would you be?  I  love what I do, but I could have been very happy as a scientist.  Given my love of experimenting in the kitchen, a career in the lab would have suited me well. Though it’s not exactly research for a new…

Cannellini Tomato Soup… with Grilled Cheese Croutons or Dippers

The unexpected addition of a simple can of cannellini beans provides protein and added creaminess when pureed into the soup…and nobody ever knows it’s there. Whether served with grilled cheese croutons or dippers, what kid (or adult) wouldn’t love it? Plus it’s easy to make with basic, inexpensive, pantry items. You may be wondering how…

Lemon Dijon Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes & Apples

With a combination of creamy, crunchy, and crisp ingredients, this wholesome salad is sure to satisfy, and leftovers hold up well. For a protein-rich complete meal, top with grilled or roasted chicken or salmon-or white beans or seared tofu for complementary meatless alternatives. Every fall, when the days start to grow shorter and colder, I sell…

Curried Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Red lentils add a hearty dose of protein and minerals to this much-loved seasonal soup, yet no one would ever know they’re there. This Curried Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup is kosher, gluten-free, easily made vegan, and so very satisfying!     Many of us hardly know what we’re making for dinner next week, let…

German Steam Pot with Special Sauce

An authentic recipe from a German friend, a steam pot is one of the easiest, most flexible dinners – and the special sauce bumps it up an extra level!   What, you may ask, is a steam pot? I first learned about this rustic yet satisfying meal through Marga, a former neighbor and self-described war-child…

Easy Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

When I began my little Fountain Avenue Kitchen adventure four years ago, I hadn’t the slightest idea where it would take me. I had never posted anything on social media, didn’t own a real camera, and didn’t follow a single blog. In fact, I was reluctant to call my website a blog because, to me,…

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