#make it tonight

Grilled Steak Salad

Crispy, crunchy and oh-so flavorful … there’s nothing boring about this salad!

4 servings Preparation time: 30 minutes, not including refrigeration time

Ingredients

8 tablespoons olive oil, divided

¼ cup Lunds & Byerlys Trail Dust Seasoning

4 rib-eye steaks, about 1 ¼-inch thick

1 cup Lunds & Byerlys Corn & Black Bean Salsa

10 ounces romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into ½-inch strips

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup diced yellow bell pepper

1 cup shredded carrot

1 cup sliced red onion

1 cup coarsely crushed corn chips

Directions

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons olive oil with the seasoning.

Dry both sides of the steaks with paper towels.

Rub olive oil mixture into surface of both steak sides. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Heat grill to medium-high; spray grill rack with nonstick cooking spray. Using direct heat cooking method, arrange steaks on grill rack 4-5 inches over the heat. Grill, covered, turning once, until meat thermometer registers 140 F for medium-rare (8-11 minutes), or to desired doneness. Let stand 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine remaining olive oil and salsa.

In large bowl, combine romaine, peppers, carrots and onion.

Drizzle ¾ of the salsa mixture over the romaine and toss to coat.

Weeknight Skillet Shrimp & Veggies

This garlicky shrimp dinner cooks up in a snap, making it a great go-to weeknight meal. If you want to save time and kick the heat up, just pick up our Butchers Kitchen Dragon Breath Shrimp Skewers, which are marinated with sesame oil, Louisiana Fireball Cajun Spice Blend, Tabasco Sauce, garlic, cumin, poblano peppers, dried Arbol peppers and red pepper flakes. They come seasoned and ready to grill! Look for them in the Meat & Seafood department and skip Step 2 in the directions below.

4 serving Preparation time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, thawed if frozen, peeled and deveined (tail shells removed)*

2 teaspoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

1 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

¼ cup finely chopped green onions

2 cups cooked wild rice

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, cook shrimp in hot oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.

Add garlic and ginger; cook 1 to 2 minutes more or until shrimp are opaque, turning occasionally.

Remove shrimp from skillet; set aside.

Carefully add wine and asparagus to hot skillet. Cover and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender.

Add shrimp, green onions and wild rice to skillet; stir to heat thoroughly.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

This creamy soup is the perfect way to warm up on a cool fall evening!

6 servings Preparation time: 55 minutes

Ingredients 2 tablespoons oil 4 cups peeled and seeded 1-inch chunks butternut squash 1 cup chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only) 1 cup peeled and chopped carrot 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped ½ teaspoon dried thyme ¼ teaspoon ground celery seed 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if desired 1 cup apple cider Salt and black pepper to taste L&B uncured bacon crumbled, for garnish

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot set over medium-high heat. Add squash, leeks and carrot. Sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Add apple, thyme and ground celery seed. Add broth and cider. Bring mixture to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Let mixture cool slightly.

Using an immersion blender, purée soup until smooth.

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Burrito Bowls

A flavorful, Korean-inspired twist on burrito bowls from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate. Thanks to your slow cooker, it's incredibly simple to make!

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of bowl meals. I’m pretty sure it started with Chipotle’s burrito bowls way back in grad school, but has grown into a way for me to take all of the random ingredients in my fridge, throw them on some rice or quinoa and call it a meal.  

Of course, I like to make actual recipes that are supposed to be bowls, too! For example, on my blog I have recipes for Falafel Quinoa Bowls, Thai Peanut Turkey Bowls, and my personal favorite: Autumn Nourish Bowls.  Don’t those all just sound so good? I’m super excited about this new bowl recipe too!

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Burrito Bowls is one of those meals that is so full of flavor, but with minimal effort and ingredients. One downside of bowl meals is that there can be a lot of components to assemble and prep at the last minute. Luckily, this recipe is not like that.  

The beef is so simple to throw together – it's a dump-it-all-in-and-set-it slow cooker recipe.  There’s no searing the beef or any other putzy step like that.

Then just cook the rice, chop the cilantro, cut up some cucumber, make a quick sriracha mayo and get your favorite jar of kimchi from the refrigerator. And here’s a little weeknight meal pro-tip for you: Cook a big batch of rice ahead of time and freeze it in whatever portions your family might eat. Then you can just take it out of the freezer in the morning and it will be ready to heat up and eat by dinnertime! The sriracha mayo is also easy to prep ahead of time, if you want.  

One last note about the recipe: You’ll notice I have a range on the amounts of rice. It’s pretty much personal preference per serving, in my opinion. We probably used about ¾ cup of rice for each of us, but for smaller or bigger appetites, you might want less or more.  

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Burrito Bowls

6-8 servings Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 9 hours

Ingredients For the beef: 3-4 pounds beef chuck roast 1 cup beef broth ½ cup soy sauce ¼ cup brown sugar 4 cloves minced garlic 2 tablespoons sesame oil 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger ½ teaspoon onion powder

For the sriracha mayo: ½ cup mayonnaise ½ cup plain Greek yogurt 3 tablespoons milk 1-2 tablespoons sriracha, depending on your spice preference

For the bowls: 4-6 cups cooked rice 1 large cucumber, sliced 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped Kimchi

Directions

Place beef in slow cooker.

In a medium bowl, mix together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, ginger and onion powder. Pour over beef.

Cook on low for 8-9 hours, until the meat shreds easily with a fork.

Once cooked, remove from slow cooker and shred with a couple of forks. Add about ½ cup of the liquid from the slow cooker to the beef to give it all that good flavor.

Make the sriracha mayo by mixing together mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, milk and sriracha.

Assemble burrito bowls by placing rice, cucumbers and beef in a bowl.

Balsamic Cherry Grilled Chicken

Grilled chicken breasts topped with a savory-sweet balsamic cherry sauce. An impressively easy dinner recipe from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate!

We recently moved, and our new (to us) house has a beautiful backyard and a great patio. We had a pretty nice patio in our old house but our new one has a much better view, is bigger, and gets great evening light. This makes me want to eat every single meal outside, especially dinner. And if it’s raining we’ll just go in our three-season porch. New house, for the win.  

When it comes to grilling, I love chicken as a healthier option than, say, brats and burgers. At the same time, chicken definitely requires a little more prep work and needs to be watched pretty close when it's on the grill. If you undercook it, it’s pretty gross. If you overcook it, it is, again, pretty gross.

My solution is that I always use a meat thermometer when cooking chicken on the grill. I follow the general cooking directions of grilling it for about 5 minutes on each side, but that definitely depends on how thick your chicken is, so using a meat thermometer is really important.

This Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Cherry Sauce is, without a doubt, one of our favorite grilled chicken recipes. While I love anything with balsamic vinegar, my husband is lukewarm on it. That said, he loved this chicken. The chicken itself gets a ton of flavor from a marinade in balsamic vinegar, garlic and olive oil. You can do this for 20 minutes or even prep it a night in advance to really let it soak up that flavor.

Of course, the balsamic cherry sauce just makes this dish. I absolutely love when cherries are in season, and I usually just eat them fresh. This savory use for cherries is really fun and absolutely delicious. This would be a great meal for a date night in, and also a really impressive dish to serve guests. You can definitely make the sauce ahead of time, making it even easier. I served it with some grilled veggies and bread, which was optimal for making sure we got every last lick of the cherry sauce!

Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Cherry Sauce 4 servings Preparation time: 25 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients For the chicken: 4 boneless skinless chicken breast fillets 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ teaspoon salt

For the Balsamic Cherry Sauce: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 small shallot, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 cups cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Marinate the chicken. In a small bowl combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt. Pour over the chicken breasts and marinate for at least 20 minutes, up to overnight.

Make the cherry balsamic sauce. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium skillet. Add the shallot and garlic; cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cherries; cook until cherries are softened and balsamic is slightly reduced, about 8-10 minutes.

Cook the chicken. Heat your grill over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook 4-6 minutes on each side, depending on how thick your chicken is, until internal temperature reaches 165 F. I always use a meat thermometer to ensure my chicken is fully cooked.

Chicken Parmesan

A satisfying, family-friendly dish that's great for company, too! Timesaving tip: You can make the sauce one day ahead of time, or just skip the homemade sauce and use your favorite L&B jarred pasta sauce instead.

5 servings Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes for the sauce, 45 minutes for the chicken

Ingredients Basic tomato sauce: 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ¾ cup chopped onions 2 garlic cloves, minced ⅓ cup coarsely grated peeled carrots 1 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh thyme 1 (28-ounce) can peeled whole tomatoes in juice

Chicken: 5 boneless skinless chicken breast halves 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs 1 large egg ½ cup all-purpose flour 2-3 tablespoons olive oil (more if needed) 1 ½ cups coarsely grated well-drained fresh water-packed mozzarella, divided (or substitute regular mozzarella cheese) ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese ½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley ½ tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram

Directions

For the tomato sauce:

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. 

Add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are soft and golden, about 10 minutes. 

Add carrots and thyme; sauté until carrots are soft, about 5 minutes. 

Add tomatoes with juice; bring to boil, coarsely crushing tomatoes with potato masher or fork.

Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to about 2 cups, about 1 hour. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Make-ahead instructions: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly after cooking. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Rewarm sauce before using.

For the chicken:

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using meat mallet or rolling pin, pound chicken breasts to ⅓-inch thickness. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. 

Spread breadcrumbs on plate. Whisk egg in medium bowl. Spread flour on another plate. 

Coat both sides of chicken with flour, then eggs, then breadcrumbs.

Heat oven to 350 F. 

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. 

Add chicken to skillet (in batches, if necessary) and cook until brown, about 2 minutes per side, adding more oil as needed (chicken will not be cooked through). Transfer chicken to platter. 

Spread a layer of sauce over bottom of 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. 

Arrange chicken over sauce. Spoon remaining sauce over. Sprinkle mozzarella, Parmesan, and Pecorino on top of chicken. Continue to repeat layers until all chicken is used.

Bake until cheeses melt and chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and marjoram and serve.

Make it Tonight SHRIMP FRIED RICE

Shrimp Fried Rice

This flavorful fried rice cooks up fast – the perfect dinner for busy weeknights.

4 servings Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

12 peeled, deveined small shrimp

Kosher salt

8 scallions, whites chopped, greens thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled ginger

3 cups cold cooked white rice

2 large eggs, beaten

½ cup frozen edamame, thawed

½ cup frozen peas, thawed

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Season shrimp with salt and cook, turning once, until just opaque in the center, about 3 minutes; transfer to a plate.

Heat remaining tablespoon vegetable oil in same skillet; add scallion whites, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add rice and stir to coat. Cook until rice is crisp, about 2 minutes.

Push rice to one side of skillet; add eggs to other side and cook, stirring and working into rice mixture, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add edamame, peas, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and cooked shrimp. Cook, tossing constantly, until shrimp and vegetables are heated through, about 1 minute. Top with scallion greens.