DwardCooks

I’ll be back in 2025. Taking a quiet holiday to spend with our family during this time.

Today is the first official day of fall, so it is officially casserole season.

This is one of the easiest dinners you can make—especially if you’re using a rotisserie chicken. It's a creamy, almost Thanksgiving-like casserole with stuffing crust and it's pure, grandmotherly comfort food.

Like some of my favorite grandma casseroles, it has cream of chicken in it. I have directions to make it from scratch OR how to use the canned stuff.

This was actually requested by my youngest. In school, they’re learning about the seasons and she’s been counting down the day until the first official day of fall. She woke up at 5:30am and woke me up excited about fall. I think she thought all the leaves would magically change over night, but she insisted we celebrate fall. We collected leaves on the way to school, listed our favorite things about fall, and talked about our favorite fall food. While her first request was a full thanksgiving dinner, the second request was much more doable. This casserole comes together in about 20 minutes if you have cooked chicken on hand—including making the cream of chicken from scratch. It’s easy to make ahead and it makes killer leftovers too.

Find my Chicken Stuffing Casserole recipe at dwardcooks.com and don't forget to like, comment, and save!

For those that track calories or WW points:
322 calories for 1.5 cup 215 for 1 cup
) 5 for 1.5 cup 4 for 1 cup
7 for 1.5 cup 5 for 1 cup

With back to school season, wild blueberry compote and my Greek yogurt waffles are my go-to recipes for stocking my freezer for east mornings.

My kids love wild blueberries. We usually have two bags in our freezer between their fruit smoothies and this wild blueberry compote. 90% of the annual wild blueberry crop is frozen every year so you’ll find them in the freezer section of most grocery stores.

My kids love this compote in yogurt, oatmeal, and as a topping for waffles. I am freezing this in ice cube trays for an easy individual portion for a quick and sweet breakfast topping for busy school mornings.

Wild blueberries have lower sugar than typical blueberries, 72% more fiber, and twice as much antioxidants. They’re a delicious and nutritious way to start the day.

Wild blueberry Compote Recipe:
-2 cups wild blueberries
-2 tbsp water
-2 tbsp maple syrup (or other sweetener)
-½ lemon
-pinch of cinnamon
-pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container in your refrigerator or freeze.

How are you building your ✨ideal✨ barbecue plate?

For me, I’m doing beef burger (with maple bacon onion jam), dark meat (bbq or Buffalo), extra Mac salad, slaw, and peach cobbler. Not pictured, an extra charred hotdog with cheese is a must for any bbq plate.

Tell me in the comments!

Pictured in each slide:
-Lean beef burger with maple bacon onion jam
-original turkey burger
-grilled chicken drumsticks
-chicken seasoning blend grilled chicken breast
-lightened up potato salad
-healthy deli style macaroni salad
-simple vinegar slaw
-grilled corn elote with chipotle mayo
-peach cobbler
-blueberry cobbler

If you are new to my blog, all of these recipes featured are easy, delicious, family friendly, and lightened-up. Find them all on dwardcooks.com

New blog post: Summer Fruit Salsa with Homemade Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips

In a recent survey about summer recipes, a few people asked about healthy summer desserts they could bring to a party. Now, I love a good summer cobbler (you can find a peach and blueberry cobbler on my blog), but sometimes the simplest is the best.

We have a few summer get-togethers in the coming weeks, and this is one of my favorite things to bring. My summer fruit salsa is a crowd pleasing summer dessert or appetizer perfect for these hot summer weeks. On my post, I have the simple “barely a recipe” recipe for the salsa and my homemade cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. I even included different ways you can include your kids in the cooking process if you have curious chefs at home.

This travels well, it is simple enough the kids can help, and everyone loves it. Each time I bring it to parties, people rave about it. It’s simple enough that I make a smaller batch of salsa all summer for my kids during the week—being real with you, I still make the same amount of tortillas because they’re amazing. You need to add this to your summer barbecue rotation.

BRAND NEW RECIPE - if you’re grilling this weekend, you need to add these Buffalo chicken drumsticks to the menu.

This recipe is great when hosting a barbecue because the chicken is cooked in the oven and finished on the grill. I love this method because it ensures chicken is cooked properly while saving valuable grilling real estate for hotdogs, burgers, and ribs.

You can find the Buffalo chicken drumstick recipe linked below. You can also find the barbecue chicken version as well as my homemade and healthy ranch and blue cheese dressing on the post too!

https://dwardcooks.com/buffalo-chicken-drumsticks/

Dinners are so much easier now that it’s grilling season.

If you are like me, soaking up as much nice weather as possible these days, you need to put this honey balsamic grilled chicken on the menu. This quick marinade with garlic, balsamic, honey, and herbs gives the chicken a depth of flavor that feels elevated but is actually really simple to put together.

Easily one of the most popular recipes last summer AND featured on Good Morning America last year, this honey balsamic chicken is my favorite go-to chicken for quick dinners.

This chicken is great on its own, but my favorite way to serve it is topped with fresh bruschetta. I like to make extra for salads because this chicken is bursting with flavor and It’s so versatile.

Find the recipe on dwardcooks.com

Are you looking to level up your next Taco Tuesday or meal prep burrito bowls? You need this slow cooker pork carnitas recipe. It is so flavorful, so versatile, and so easy. The slow cooker does all the work, and this freezes so well. It's smoky and pulls through with deep, warm flavors, and you'll never want other tacos again.

This recipe can be assembled in the morning and it’ll be ready by the time you’re home for work.

Check out the recipe here: https://dwardcooks.com/slow-cooker-pork-carnitas/

BRAND NEW RECIPE - Grilled Chipotle Chicken Thighs

Y’alllllllll, I just finished the last bit of these chicken thighs today and I’m already considering making a new batch tomorrow. You’re going to seriously love it.

I’ve been on a huge burrito bowl kick lately, and I’ve been eating these chipotle chicken thighs with my simple vinegar slaw, poblano cream sauce, and cilantro lime rime rice and veggies. It was dinner Monday and lunch the past two days and I am not over it. They’re just so good. The kind of good that makes me real hype for leftovers.

These smoky, slightly spicy chicken thighs take 30 minutes to marinate at ten minutes to cook. They char up nicely on the grill and they’re so flavorful and juicy. They are awesome in burrito bowls, but also so good for chopped salads and wraps. One of these with one of those Prepackaged Southwest Salads would be an amazingly simple meal.

For those that track nutritional info: Each chicken thigh is 13g of Protein, 120 cal, and 2g Carbs. Link to track in the WW app also on my post on dwardcooks.com.

Are you team leftovers after holidays?

Look, I love holiday meals. I love cooking everything, I love decorating for it, I love hosting, but I’m not in love with leftovers. After recipe testing, cooking all day, tasting as I cook—I am done with the meal by the time it’s ready. As you can see from the last slide, I pack up big trays of food to send off home with my guests.

THAT BEING SAID, I do love saving some ham for my ham and cheddar scones. These are tender, savory scones perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast using that leftover ham. For those who did not host, the recipe usually uses 4oz ham steak found in most supermarkets. I also love these because they’re a way to transform your Easter leftovers in a way that’s not the typical ham sandwich the next day.

Whether you have got ham to use up or you’re looking for an easy and healthyish breakfast for the week, check out my ham and cheddar scones on my blog.

For those that track nutritional info: each scone is 183 calories, 10 g Protein, and roughly 6 WW points depending on your plan. Also, this uses full fat cheese and butter because I’m not into the fat free stuff. Check them out on my site, dwardcooks.com, linked in bio.

One of my favorite recipes has been getting extra love lately in my blog and social media—my homemade Chicken and Broccoli.

If you’ve never made it, this is your sign. It’s got a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating with 180 reviews, and it continues to be a fan favorite (especially recently).

It is done in about 30 minutes (which is faster than our typical delivery), it’s really delicious, and it makes a great meal prep too. My oldest asks for this weekly at this point.

For those looking for nutritional info, a 1.5 cup serving is 234 calories, 4g F, 24g C, and 27g P. For those on WW, this tracks at 2-3 points not including a point you earn back from vegetables.

Find the full recipe at https://dwardcooks.com/chicken-and-broccoli/ or Google chicken and broccoli homemade chicken and broccoli and it’ll be on page 1 or 2.