Pesto Prosciutto Pizza

So many dream ingredients on one incredible pizza: pesto, prosciutto, feta, mozzarella pearls, and kale!

I kinda love how puffy my pizza crust got here but I think I finally found my happy medium pizza crust. I used the same ole recipe that is my tried and true - split the recipe in half, as you are supposed to do - and instead of prebaking it, I put the toppings on and then bake the crust just once. It keeps it from getting out of control puffy, so it's a thinner crust, but it's not so thin that it feels like you are eating cardboard.

Anyways, here I am sharing another recipe with pesto. I love love pesto and I was super excited for this recipe. It did not disappoint. I loved the salty prosciutto and the tangy feta. Also, mozzarella pearls are my favorite way to get mozzarella on my pizza. I love how gooey and melty they get! And kale! AH! This pizza has so many good parts to it and I adored it.

Black Eyed Pea Stew with Sausage and Kale

The perfect New Year's Day stew to bring prosperity for the new year with some black eyed peas!

Each year on New Year's Day, we eat black eyed peas in some form. It's a Southern tradition that's meant to bring prosperity in the new year. Of course, we don't truly believe that, but it's a fun tradition to do and it's a good positive thought to start out the new year, so no harm in it, right?! For 2018, I made this stew. I knew I couldn't go wrong with kielbasa and kale and I was correct. The kids and Nick aren't huge fans of black eyed peas, but they liked them a lot in this. It was an all-around wonderful stew and I just had to share the recipe in time for our upcoming New Year's Day. This is also pretty exciting because I believe it is the first recipe on my blog with black eyed peas!

Italian Sausage Frittata

This savory breakfast has everything you need for the perfect morning including sausage, veggies, and feta cheese crumbles.

My newest favorite thing is feta cheese. I discovered it a few years ago, but I've really taken a liking to it in 2018 and have tried to convince the others in the family of the same thing. Cami likes it. I think Matthew is indifferent. But Nick hates it. So I don't think I'm going to win that battle. However, that means more food with feta for me, like this frittata! It's got so many elements going for it that just make me so happy - feta, kale, sausage, and red bell pepper - plus a few dashes of hot sauce for a little kick. It's a great and easy breakfast. My big kids really enjoy cooking and I know this is one they could definitely do mostly on their own with a little assistance with chopping the vegetables.

Breakfast Scramble

This meatless scramble has so many fresh ingredients in it - it's the perfect morning food!

This recipe had me at scramble...because I LOVE scrambles. I've been eating lots of them lately, especially tossing leftovers into scrambles. It's either that or omelets and, to be honest, I'm still not the most proficient in making omelets. This scramble is meatless and has kale, peppers, and green onions. Plus FRESH HERBS. I have so much basil from my Aerogarden that I just relish in any opportunity to use it. I hope to make this scramble often and I would definitely love to try some crumbled feta next time!

Sausage & Kale with Garlic Roasted Potatoes

This skillet meal is made better by the addition of roasted potatoes and loads of kale!

About two years ago, I reviewed the 101 One-Dish Dinners cookbook. Out of the recipes that I made from the cookbook, this skillet dish was outright the favorite recipe for everyone in my family. I made it multiple times in a short period of time after first making it and then it became a regular meal in the meal plan rotation. It's on a one skillet meal or a recipe that can be made in under 30 minutes, but it is close enough to both of those things to make me a happy camper.

The potatoes are roasted in the oven while the other ingredients are prepped in a skillet. Once the potatoes are done, they are added in and there's not much else to do. I love how much kale is in this recipe and I also really love the addition of beans to it.

Spaghetti with Kale and Sausage

Find the recipe on The Recipe Jackpot

One Pan Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta

This wonderful pasta recipe with all the best stuff is ready in under 30 minutes!

Despite it being off season for soccer, I still appreciate a one pot recipe that takes less than 30 minutes to make. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking and don't mind being in the kitchen for an hour. I find it funny that I wouldn't eat sausage as a child and now it's one of my favorite meats - especially in pasta dishes and with kale. Yum!

Skillet Bruschetta Chicken with Kale

Most of this recipe is prepped early in the day or the night before, so it can be a quick dinner when you're in a bind!

This bruschetta chicken recipe did not call for kale originally, but why not!? Kale makes everything better, plus I had some leftover kale that I did not use all of sitting in my fridge. I also did not have a spiralizer at the time I made this, so I replaced the zoodles with regular noodles. It was a wonderful and hearty meal with all the veggies and chicken and pasta. We really loved it. I got to use fresh basil from my Aerogarden and it made me really happy, especially since my basil has been crazy and I have to trim it constantly to keep it under control. I love that the chicken was marinated in Italian dressing because it reminded me of one of my favorite recipes, Italian Pineapple Chicken (I'll link it at the end of the post).

Italian Sausage and Kale Baked Ziti

This baked sausage and kale pasta dish is uncomplicated without sacrificing flavor!

The school year is winding down and I'm looking forward to less chaos. Although I am not 100% sure I will switch up how I do my meal plan concerning Mondays because they are still one of the busiest days of the week, even during the summer. I tend to go for pasta dishes because other than lasagna, most pasta dishes are pretty quick.

I was immediately sold on this recipe because it contains kale. Call me a bandwagon-er if you want, but I totally get the kale trend. Is it still a trend? I'm not sure because I was way late to joining in. Kale and sausage are a really wonderful pair and add in cheese and pasta and it's literally heaven. It's such an uncomplicated dish with simple ingredients and doesn't take much effort to throw together.

Chicken Kale Caesar Wraps

6 ingredients for this quick lunch that tastes amazing and fills your belly!

These are the perfect quick lunch and they are so good to boot. Honestly, I think that the sundried tomato and basil tortillas are a must because they pair so well with the savory Caesar dressing. I cooked chicken tenderloins with some salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning before shredding it, but lemon pepper rotisserie chicken is also fabulous. The plus with rotisserie chicken is that the lunch can be made even faster -- or I suppose you could even make this as a quick dinner if you're in a bind, but it was a delicious lunch for me! :)

Spicy Sausage, Kale, and Potato Soup

This hearty soup packs a punch and is ready in 30 minutes!

I did it again and took pictures of my lacking-broth bowl of soup. SORRY! I am not big on a bunch of broth in my soup. So basically I like a soupless soup because I'm a weirdo. Our household is big on soup. We have a weekly soup night and we have a song for soup night. We also have somehow acquired a song for kale as well. So to say this soup is a big deal means it is a big deal! Kale soup is pretty much our new family favorite and this recipe was awesome. It was nice to have slices of potato rather than the customary cubed potatoes in soup. Also...it had kale. AND spicy sausage. All the good stuff, basically :)

Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup

Slow simmered soup that is perfect for a cool autumn night - and is so simple to prepare!

I don't really make a lot of soup in the crockpot, but after making this recipe, I am hoping to do it a bit more. It's so easy to prep the ingredients and then throw them in the crockpot to cook for a few hours. I do agree with Deborah of Taste & Tell that these veggies get mushy if you cook them for too long, so definitely cook until your desired doneness! I love soups with lots of veggies and loved the salty kielbasa in this one. I think it may have been my first soup using kielbasa as the protein :)

Easy Zuppa Toscana Soup Copycat #SundaySupper

Today's #SundaySupper theme is Warming Trends and is hosted by T.R. of Gluten Free Crumbley. It's all about dishes that warm you down to your toes. Of course, the first thing I thought of was soup and I just so happen to have plenty of soup recipes sitting as drafts in my Blogger dashboard. This particular soup is one I've been meaning to post for weeks. I actually cannot take credit for making this one - Nick did!

I planned to make this a few days before I was due to have Mason (on Wednesday - our soup night), thinking that my little guy would be punctual and be born on his due date just like Matthew & Cami were. However, I ended up having real labor contractions on Sunday - that like with the other two, stopped, so on Monday, I got my little kickstart and had Mason early Tuesday morning. So I had to stay in the hospital and I knew I was going to miss soup night and I knew I was going to miss this soup. So I begged Nick to wait for me and not make it until I got home. He graciously agreed and made it on Thursday evening, my first day home from the hospital.

Even though my hospital food was very very good, a homecooked meal was even better. It was February and the kids had been missing a ton of school due to snow days. So that made this soup an even more perfect meal! We used hot Italian sausage as recommended that gives it a little spicy heat in addition to the already lovely warmth that is that actual soup itself. This is sure to warm you up and it tastes just like the real thing from Olive Garden!

Spicy Pork & Kale Soup

I swear that there is broth in my bowl. I swear it!! These pictures were taken last fall, but in recent times, I've tried to take pictures of Nick's bowls of soup. Why Nick's and not mine? I'm that weirdo who won't drink my soup broth...or cereal milk. Nick likes a good amount of broth in his soup, like most normal people do. Alas, this is a soup recipe. I promise :)

And it is a fantabulous soup recipe. Last year began our obsession with kale. We ate all sorts of kale soup recipes for our weekly soup nights. The older two kiddos love kale because it keeps its crunch. They have started to complain about veggies if they are cooked until soft. They definitely look forward to soup when it has kale in it. Let's hope Mason follows suit!

Lastly, if you have trouble finding ground pork (which I do on occasion - I swear the meat department is trolling me), a great substitute would be spicy Italian sausage. Be sure to lessen the amount of red pepper flakes though or it'll be hard to eat!

Bacon & Kale Quinoa Fried Rice

I saved this recipe when I had Amy's blog, Fearless Homemaker, for my Secret Recipe Club assignment a few months ago last May. Apparently, time flew by since I made her Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls. I made it late last summer while at Nick's mom's house and it was a hit. Our kale obsession was just starting and I was basically making anything and everything I could with kale in it. Plus I was on a quinoa-eating spree too. I wasn't really feeling a lot of chicken dishes (since I was pregnant at the time), so this recipe was definitely one of my favorites I had made in a while.

Chicken, Tortellini, & Kale Soup

I'm digging soups that can be made quickly nowadays. Pregnancy is tiring and while I still enjoy cooking...I like meals that don't require a lot of babysitting or anything too time consuming. This soup is filling and flavorful - and it comes together quickly which I just absolutely adore...again...because I love being able to sit back and relax and enjoy a good meal, not slave over the stove :)

Kale Soup

It's definitely not-soup weather for most of the US and finally it's almost not-soup weather in New York. I think we're gonna stay at least in the 70s for now. However, I'm still catching up on recipes I've made in previous months, so you'll have to stash this away for a super cold summer night or fall.

I really didn't like sausage at all prior to this year, but I have come around with all these amazing soups with Italian sausage I've been making. During the cooler months (which is most of the year here), we have soup every Wednesday for dinner. I'm not sure why but Nick is obsessed with soup, so this was his request: Soup Wednesdays. Both of us thought the only thing lacking in this soup was more kale. It was so flavorful.

Italian Wedding Soup

My husband has a thing for Italian Wedding Soup. He is constantly asking me to make it. I've made a few soups pretty close to it, but he wants the traditional stuff. So I remembered not too long ago, I had bookmarked Tracey's recipe. I usually try not to make super new recipes I've found since I have 10 year old recipes that have never been made, but every once in a while, the temptation is too great! So we had this soup on Wednesday - our soup night - and it was absolutely delicious! I loved the meatballs, which is surprising because I don't like sausage. The kale once again though was one of my most favorite parts! I even froze some of the soup for a later time. I was unable to find the ditalini pasta, so I used some other kind of pasta.