We are still stuck inside and with dine-in restaurants being closed for the foreseeable future in Oregon, now is the perfect time to pick up a cooking hobby! I am a total foodie, and while I prefer to have other people cook for me, I can also whip up a pretty tasty meal. Below are some of my favorite recipes for cooking, baking, drinking, or throwing yourself a mini dinner party! You could even have your friends cook the same meal and do a virtual dinner party via Zoom, Skype, or Google!!
Easy Meals
I’m a mom of a toddler, so easy is basically my go to these days. These recipes taste delicious, are quick, and don’t involve too much prep work!
- Salmon Bowls
- Super simple grilled salmon, tossed with healthy veggies with a Mediterranean flair. Easy and super healthy too!
- Shrimp Tacos
- Grilled shrimp topped with simple fresh ingredients for a great punch.
Slow Roasts
Sometimes you just need to let things simmer. I love my Dutch oven and firmly believe that everything just tastes better after it has cooked for 3 hours. These are my top slow-cooked choices!
- Braised Short Ribs
- Wolfgang Puck knows how to cook, so you can bet that this will be one of the best meals you have ever had.
Dinner Party Ideas
It is almost my birthday, and because we are still social distancing, I plan to have a little dinner party for myself. Here are 3 multi-course meals that I have made before that turned out phenomenally! You could always practice some of these recipes and then have a celebration with friends when we can finally see each other again!
- Traditional NW Meal
- 4 course meal with pretty simple recipes to help ease you into hosting a full blown party (for yourself or your family)
- Mexican Inspired Meal
- 4 course meal with some of my favorite Mexican flavors. This is one that is simple to pull off but is sure to impress!
- Citrus and Seafood Meal
- This one is easily my favorite, but it does require some cooking skills to pull off the protiens. This can be done as the full 7 course meal, or you can take out one salad and one entree to make it 5 courses.
Baking
Maybe cooking isn’t really your thing and you would rather whip up something sweet? Here are some of my favorite things to make when I feel like spoiling myself.
- Key Lime Cheesecake
- Key lime pie, and cheesecake are easily my 2 favorite desserts, so why not mash them up? Also DO NOT use regular lime juice, you will do this dessert a serious disservice.
- Amaretto Apple Crisp
- This is so so so good, I think I have made it 6 times. Pro tip – add some Amaretti cookies to the crisp to really make the amaretto flavor shine!
Cocktails
Lastly, if you really don’t actually want to spend a bunch of time cooking in the kitchen, we have you covered with some of our favorite drinks! If you don’t want to go and buy special things to make drinks, we also have you covered. THIS WEBSITE will send you recipes that match what you already have at home…it’s a game changer.
French 75
Literally what your dreams are made of.
- 1.5 oz gin
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 1/4 C sparkling wine
- Shake gin, lemon, and simple syrup over ice for 30 seconds, top with sparkling wine.
White Peach Sangria
It’s the perfect no fuss sunny day beverage.
- 1 bottle pinot gris
- 1/2 cup Peach Vodka
- 1/2 cup Peach Schnapps
- 1 cup soda water
- 3 sliced peaches
- 1 cup raspberries
- combine all ingredients and serve over ice. If you want it to be more boozy, soak the fruit overnight in the peach vodka.
Perfect Margarita
Honestly, this one is hard to beat.
- 2 oz white tequila
- 1 oz cointreau
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1/2 oz agave syrup
- combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain and serve over fresh ice with a lime wedge.
Hopefully this will all keep you busy for at least a week while we put together another list of great things for you to do! If you missed the last couple weeks we did: Netflix Binges, Books to Read, and Running Playlists.
As always please stay safe and healthy and know that if there is anything we can do for you, we are definitely still here to help!