Now that I have had a few months of cooking under my belt, I thought I would share some of my go-to recipes. I am all about meals that are cheap, somewhat healthy, quick to prepare, and of course tasty! Unfortunately, most of these recipes require products exclusive to Trader Joe’s but I wonder if other stores might sell something similar? Anyways, I love TJs….best grocery store ever!!

Since I work very late hours, by the time I get home I really don’t have time to spend hours in front of the stove if I want to eat at a reasonable time. This meal looks fancy but literally takes about 15 mins to prepare! Plus, I always have the ingredients on hand for an emergency dinner if I have nothing else to eat :)

Clams With Linguine

Ingredients:
Linguine Pasta
Trader Joe’s Clams in Garlic Butter Sauce
2TBSP Lemon Juice (fresh would be great but I always have some lemon juice in those plastic lemon bottles on hand in case)
Basil (fresh or dry)

1. Cook pasta (you know, dump in boiling, salted water til al dente)
2. Meanwhile cook the clams (dump package in pan and heat)
3. Add lemon to the clams and stir
4. Drain pasta, pour the clams over the pasta, and sprinkle basil (and parmesan cheese if you’d like!)

You can always make some garlic bread and a salad on the side. Dinner’s never been so easy!

We’re finally done with all of our housewarming parties…one dish I made that I thought was really tasty (and super easy!) was this artichoke dip. This will definitely be my go to potluck/big party dish now if I can’t find anything else to make.

Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:
TJs 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
1C reduced fat mayo
1C freshly shredded parmesan cheese
8oz light cream cheese, softened
TJs 1 pkg of Sweet and Spicy Pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Drain and chop the artichoke hearts, then mix them with everything except for the nuts in a baking dish
3. Chop nuts
4. Sprinkle nuts on top of mixture
5. Pop in the oven for 35 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips, bread, crackers, whatever you like! I got a lot of compliments for this at my last housewarming. You know when people ask you for the recipe that they like it! And I know the nuts sound weird but it really is GOOD and gives it a little kick!

My go to dessert is a simple chocolate cake that I also made at one of my housewarming parties. I’m not sure if people were just being nice but everyone really liked it and it was the only dish that was completely gone at the end of the day! Warning: This is not healthy at all!!!

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1(18.25oz) package deveil’s food cake mix
1(5.9oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1C sour cream
1C vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2C warm water
2C semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all of the ingredients with the chocolate chips being last
3. Pour into a 12C bundt pan
4. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until you do the toothpick trick and it comes out clean
5. Dust with powdered sugar

I loved how this recipe didn’t even need a hand mixer which has prevented me from making so many desserts! Super easy!

Sorry I don’t have pictures to accompany these recipes….too busy eating them before I could remember to snap a photo :)