Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 73

Tuesday Things.

1. This flourless pistachio cake is incredible. Need to make it.

2. It’s so light and bright and sunny now. Forced to come out of hibernation!

3. I often put on the siriusxm fly station which plays the best 90s hip hop, etc. They play a lot of Aaliyah it def feels like 1997 again!

4. Rest if you must, but don’t quit!

5. TV things!! Okay, Love is Blind is still crazy. Why am I on pins and needles waiting for such wonderful trash to come out on Wednesday?! Mind numbingly delicious.

6. I was obsessed with the farmers almanac when I was a kid. I think I thought it predicted the future.

7. Planning on rainbow ordering my library bookshelves today and this brings me more joy than it should.

8. 10 food facts you’re wrong about.

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Cheese Tortellini Minestrone Soup.

This cheese tortellini minestrone is a fun, satisfying spin on the traditional soup. Lots of vegetables, creamy white beans, fire roasted tomatoes and tortellini come together in a bowl covered in shaved parmesan. It’s comforting and hearty!

It’s still soup season over here!

Okay, so we’re having a little weird heat wave in march, but I’m making all the soup I can before it gets super hot. This minestrone soup is made with tons of veggies, beans and cheese tortellini all in a parmesan-flavored fire-roasted tomato brother. 

DELICIOUS.

It’s as rich and decadent as a vegetable soup can be. 

I’m continuing my tortellini journey with this delicious, veggie filled soup. It’s made with a base of fire roasted tomatoes – my absolute favorite!

I don’t even know if it’s possible for me to make a soup without fire roasted tomatoes. So here we are. 

Minestrone has always been one of those soups I’ve made for the kids. The reasons being that you can make a big batch, it freezes great, it’s filled with vegetables and they love it. Especially when my kids first started to eat, this was something I gave them all the time. The tender veggies soaked in a flavorful broth became their favorite thing. 

These days, I’m always looking for ways to make old favorites new and exciting. Hence, the tortellini. We are all loving tortellini so much right now that it makes sense.

And as usual, you can use whatever variety you have and/or love. Chicken tortellini, spinach, sun dried tomato – it doesn’t HAVE to be a version of cheese tortellini. 

Though who doesn’t want extra cheese!!! 

I always want extra cheese. 

One of the main reasons I love minestrone is because of the beans! Gosh, I love beans. They are one of my favorite foods. Creamy, buttery beans that enhance the flavor and satisfaction factor of the soup. I live for it! 

Here’s a run down of what goes into my minestrone. If you’ve made my kale pesto minestrone before, you may be familiar with it! 

Onions, carrots and celery, of course. I don’t love celery but make an exception in soup!Lots of garlic. I like a ton in this soup.Fire roasted tomatoes, which I think we’ve covered.A big old parmesan rind. This is key for flavor!Fresh green beans!! I love green beans in minestrone. LOVE. Creamy cannellini beans. The best.Lots of spices and an extra flavorful stock. Cheese tortellini! Current favorite, obviously. 

The cheese tortellini is such a basic ingredient but adds so much to this soup. It makes it feel different and special and unique, which is really just what I need some weeknights when I’m trying to get dinner on the table. 

There are two options for the tortellini.

First, you can cook the tortellini right in the soup. If you’re feeding a big crowd, do this. Or if you don’t mind that your tortellini will suck up a lot of brother and make the soup thicker, you can do it. 

Next, you can cook the tortellini separately and store it separately too, only adding a bit of the pasta to the soup when serving. I like this method for leftovers and make-ahead lunches. Minestrone is always a great choice for meal prepping lunches. One we make often!  (more…)

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A Week In The Life, Vol 10.

10 weeks into the year!

Here’s another weekly post where I ramble about being obsessed with my kids!

All Jordy needs is a truck and some rocks.

Baked pasta for dinner one night.

Magnatiles on the garage door.

So proud!

Writing everyone she loves. I can’t handle her!

Her leopards didn’t really match but how could I tell her no?

Mini BFFs at the library.

Randomly found this on my phone this week. Emilia!!

Lots of hockey this week!

Also went to disney on ice with cousins!!

The hand hold!

So many princess dresses to choose from… she decided to wear belle!

The LOVED it.

Mesmerized.

She was the PERFECT age for this! Loved it so much.

More games for Max today too!

Best hockey cheering babes!

Jordy always says let’s do “funny faces!!”

He has us laughing constantly.

And it’s a new week! Crazy!

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What To Eat This Week: 3/3/24

Salads, pizza, grain bowls and more this week!

What’s on your menu for the week?!

What To Eat This Week

Pistachio crusted chicken with zucchini ribbons

Taco puff pastry pizza

Winter citrus farro salad

Hot honey buffalo chicken wrap

Weeknight steak salad

Weeknight white pizza

White bean tuna salad

Almond butter baked oatmeal cups

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Currently Crushing On.

Happy weekend!

This week on the blog, I shared our favorite baked cheesy rice. It’s so good! I also shared this incredible brown butter cookie granola and spicy vodka unstuffed shells.

You can find my february favorites here, along with everything I read in february!

There’s a new weekly menu up and a peek at a week in our life!

You can join The Everyday Dinners cookbook club right here! If you have a copy of the book, request to join the group. If not, get one here!  Ready to start on fall! It is such a wonderful community and an amazing place for recipe ideas.

xoxoxo

WHAT I’M LOVING THIS WEEK

This lemon raspberry bundt cake is so pretty.

Sheet pan maple salmon forever!

The ultimate chocolate cupcake. Wow.

Carrot cake bars. That time of year!

This cream puff cake looks incredible.

Pork and vegetable stir fry. Yum.

Craving this creamy chipotle chicken.

Chocolate pound cake. Stunning!

I love a good chopped salad.

Pistachio cake is absolutely gorgeous.

I am intrigued by banana bark.

White bean hummus! Look how creamy.

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Spicy Vodka Unstuffed Shells.

These unstuffed shells are a fun twist on the classic stuffed shells! Jumbo pasta shells are tossed in a spicy, silky vodka sauce and dolloped with ricotta cheese. Sprinkle with parm and fresh basil and it’s a dreamy meal!

Dinner is here!

These unstuffed shells are made with my spicy vodka sauce, lots of ricotta cheese, parmesan basil and crushed red pepper. Silky, spicy, cheesy and so satisfying. 

Hello hello!

Why yes, I am back with another vodka sauce pasta recipe. 

We can’t get enough. 

I want to eat it in every capacity possible. 

Sorry? 

These unstuffed shells are fun. They are different.

And they probably won’t be for everyone. But if you like big slabs of pasta with a silky, smooth saucy blanket, dollops of ricotta and lots of fresh basil?

This is for you. I made it for you! 

Oh and parmesan. Tons of parm, of course. 

I didn’t even realize unstuffed shells were a thing until I came across this recipe. This looked like the exact type of pasta dish that I love to eat. Not too saucy, some crunchy, cheesy golden and crisp bits from the oven, lots of cheese and herbs. 

Adore that. I never even liked tomato sauce growing up, so I still prefer my sauce on the lighter side. 

I say that this may not be for everyone because some may think it’s just TOO much pasta. Big shells of pasta coated in sauce. The sauce sneaks into that pasta coil and it’s perfect! But, you know,  Eddie prefers this with ground beef or turkey. The kids love it, and I have to cut it up for Jordan. They also don’t like it super spicy, so crushed red pepper is minimal. 

I like these as a main dish with a big greens salad. You can also serve them as a side dish. Any kind of protein – even meatballs! That’s Eddie’s preferred method of consuming them. 

They are really quite simple!

This is how I make the dish.

(more…)

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What I Read In February 2024.

There were so many great reads this month – especially two that I still can’t stop thinking about!

Let me know what you read down below.

You can follow me on goodreads here.

I do have a book of the month membership – I love it so much. I get so many of my new releases and debut author books there. You can sign up for one here.

All of these books are linked through bookshop (if available!) and I highly suggest shopping through there because it will support your local indie bookstore. You can choose the local bookstore to support! I support Penguin Books when I buy which is my fave here in Pittsburgh.

WHAT I READ IN FEBRUARY 2024

Maybe Once Maybe Twice – 5 stars

Oh my gosh. THIS BOOK!!! It will probably be one of my favorites of the entire year. This is everything I want in a romance novel. The story follows a girl who, at two different points in her life, made that cute promise of “if we’re not married by the age of 35, let’s get married” – to two different guys. I ended up loving both guys and just had NO IDEA what was going to happen. Even when I thought it was over, it wasn’t! This is such a good one.

The Women – 5 stars

Another fab one. I have been reading Kristin Hannah for over 20 years – long before she started writing historical fiction. Some of her early romance novels are my life long favorites. With that being said, this book is absolutely heart breaking but wonderful but real. The story follows a woman (and friends) who decide to join the Army Nurse Corps and head to the Vietnam war. But it’s also so much about after that. As usually happens with her books, I was an emotional basketcase! So wonderful and heart wrenching.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store – 4 stars

This was my mom’s book club pick in January and I knew I had to read it! She kept talking to me about it, so it’s been on my list. I knew it wouldn’t my usual light hearted read so I stuck it between two romances. This story follows a town in Pennsylvania and is sort of a murder mystery – a skeleton is found and the story is transported to the 1920s/30s. It’s a time when the town was split between the Black community and Jewish immigrants, and the town comes together to save a young boy. Heartbreaking and wonderful. Such a good story!!

Come & Get It – 4 stars

I LOVED Kylie Reid’s first novel and was so excited about this one!! The story follows Millie, an RA at a university, who gets involved with a professor and some students in a sticky situation. The character development in this book is insane – there are so many layers! There are also some funny bits too. Definitely took me back to dorm life in college some too.

The Improbable Meet-Cute collection

I also read four of these amazon short stories that came out in January!! I was SO excited about these. They are super fast reads (like I read them in 1 to 2 hours each) and just little novellas. So I can’t write a big review, but added some notes below!

Worst Wingman Ever – 4 stars

A story involving note passing, but also a lot of depth. So heart warming.

The Exception to the Rule – 4 stars

My favorite – basically an entire book done in emails! Super cute.

Rosie and the Dreamboat – 4 stars

Such a cute and funny story about a girl trapped in a spa relaxation tank.

Drop, Cover and Hold On  – 3.5 stars

Another cute one that involves and earthquake and being trapped in a bakery. Forced proximity!

(This is not sponsored but there are a few bookshop and/or affiliate links above! Thank you for reading!)

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Brown Butter Pistachio Cookie Granola.

This brown butter pistachio granola tastes like one big crunchy, buttery cookie! Made with pepitas, coconut flakes and dried cherries, it’s so delicious, crisp and perfect for snacking. Chocolate chips are optional!

I made you a breakfast dessert!

This brown butter pistachio granola is so crunchy and delicious, studded with dried cherries, pepitas and made with ground flax and maple syrup. It’s fabulous as a cereal, sprinkled on yogurt or eaten by the handful.

You know, when you need something sweet after breakfast. Or lunch. Or even dinner! 

It tastes like a cookie. And even though I just told you about my favorite store bought cookie granola last week in my favorites, I was making this before I discovered it. This is more of a sweet and salty, crunchy cookie granola. 

I’m a huge fan of homemade granola and I have a ton of recipes that we enjoy. This salted maple granola is constantly in rotation. We also love my pumpkin granola bark. And cashew butter granola is also delicious.  

With that being said, this one takes the cake. This recipe is SO GOOD. 

It has a crazy depth of caramely flavor from the brown butter. It is so incredibly crunchy in the best way possible. The pistachios are super buttery and lovely.

And that little sprinkle of chocolate? Well, it’s everything. 

This granola is a slight spin on the eleven madison park granola, which is fabulous. It is so crunchy, has the perfect amount of sweetness and my favorite part – has dried cherries.

I opt for cherries 100% of the time over cranberries and I love them in my granola. 

The other reason I love this is that it includes a few of my favorite granola add-ins. In fact, they are probably my top three

Pistachios

Pepitas

Flaked coconut

I could put those three things in a bowl and go to town! So super delicious. 

They are ingredients that I use all the time, and the ones I turn to when I need a pick-me-up. I mean, I put pistachios on just about anything. 

My favorite part of this granola though? The brown butter.

Of course!!

I will forever and always adore brown butter. It’s delightful. It adds so much flavor to everything sweet and savory. 

Sometimes I throw a few chocolate chips into this when it comes out of the oven too. That is totally optional. Just depends on what kind of mood I’m in.

The chocolate chips don’t make it taste cookie-like… the brown butter and oats do that on their own. But who doesn’t love a little hint of chocolate?! (more…)

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Tuesday Things.

1. Tuesday is basically my favorite day because new books release every Tuesday. It’s a rush to my reading loving brain.

2. This lime chiffon pie!! Looks so good I can taste it.

3. Our weather is so weirdly warm that I’m already gathering my summer essentials. Like what? Please don’t let me down with three feet of snow.

4. How to get better at active listening.

5. TV things!! Oh man, new season of Love is Blind sucked me in and WOW. AD is my favorite. I also watched Anyone But You and I loved it so much! Def a rom com I’ll watch over and over.

6. Gilmore Girls is an endless buffet of TV comfort food. I could not agree more! It’s my go-to background show always.

7. My current obsession is a sourdough pizza dough sandwich. I will tell you about it soon!

8. The Cheesecake Factory is thriving. Not gonna lie, I still love it!

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Our Favorite Baked Cheesy Rice.

This baked cheesy rice is ridiculously easy and so delicious. It’s a crowd pleaser that goes with almost any main dish and is a neutral staple in my recipe box! Cheesy, easy and fabulous!

Otherwise known as, the side to go with everything!

I get it. This looks like a verrrrrry boring baking dish filled with rice. 

But I promise it is not that. Well, okay. It is that. 

But minus the boring! This is not plain old rice. Though there is nothing wrong with that. I have always loved plain old rice!

This is like plain old rice, but let’s make it a little fancy. But it can’t LOOK fancy, or the kids won’t eat it.

IYKYK…

If you’ve ever made the “stick of butter rice” before, this is sort of like that. Except I don’t use beef stock or canned soup and I don’t use an entire stick of butter. 

This is more of a “bland” rice recipe, which is funny because it’s not bland at all. But it does look a little bland. The good news is that because it looks bland, the kids go crazy for it.

Like all the kids.

This is such a basic rice with a ridiculous amount of flavor and it can be served with ANYTHING!!

This is how I make it, and it’s kind of embarrassingly easy. 

Rice + stock + grated cheese + butter

You basically dump everything in a baking dish. Then bake it for one hour.

The result is a fluffy, buttery white rice that has cheese mixed in – but not too much cheese. Just enough that it gives it a wonderful sharp flavor. It’s not melty with cheese pulls, but it’s so flavorful that it makes you wonder what’s in it. 

Because there is no way that it’s just regular old rice. 

Since the ingredients are combined in a dish, the cheese migrates to the top. This gives the top a nice, slightly cheese crust that is almost gold and sometimes crunch, 

A bonus to this being “plainer” than the stick-of-butter rice? It allows you to serve it with more meals.

This is the perfect side dish for ANYTHING. Chicken, steak, seafood, tofu, beans – prepared any way. It can be the base for a rice bowl or served on the side. It’s incredible topped with a fried or poached egg. (more…)

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