Cooking with Kira

Cooking with Kira Hi, I’m Kira. I share quick, realistic weeknight meals! Sometimes that means leftovers, and sometimes I try to do it all homemade in under 30 minutes.
(2)

Nothing fancy, just real life cooking. I am so glad you are here.
📍 Iowa

💌[email protected]

09/01/2026

You knew I was going to try to recreate some of those top new Iowa State Fair foods, right 😅

This definitely needs AE Dairy Parmesan Garlic Cottage Cheese and the sausage IMO.

Ground beef was OK… but that’s it. It really needs to be elevated a bit with the spices in the sausage. S/O Destination Grill for a knockout dish. Your inspo added a new favorite dish to our rotation.

08/31/2026

Part 1: Garlic and Herb Focaccia

400-420 ml warm water (105-110 F)
6 g active dry yeast
5 g honey or sugar
15 ml olive oil
500 g bread flour
10 g sea salt
5 cloves of garlic finely minced
4 T butter
Fresh herbs - I used parsley, rosemary and basil

Come back tomorrow for the full recipe and for Part 2 ☺️

Potluck:What are you bringing? Main dish is provided. I’m tempted to flip through the 100 years of Down-Home Cookin’ chu...
08/29/2026

Potluck:

What are you bringing?

Main dish is provided.

I’m tempted to flip through the 100 years of Down-Home Cookin’ church cookbook here to narrow down the Midwest salad options. We LOVE our salads here in the Midwest 🫶🏻

08/29/2026

Do we have anyone in our house that “went back to school” this week?

Nope.

Nevertheless, I know millions of you did so here is a quick and easy pantry driven supper idea for next week.

Hamburger Helper 🤝 Lasagna

You can use ANY noodle you want.

1 lb Ground Beef
1/2 Onion, diced
2 T Garlic, minced
2-3 T Tomato paste
2 C Frozen Corn
1 8 oz can Tomato sauce
4 C beef broth
12-16 Lasagna Noodles broken into chunks (I used oven ready)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika and your favorite Italian inspired seasoning Blend. Season to taste.

Brown beef, add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for ~30 seconds. Add tomato paste and let caramelize for a few minutes. Deglaze with beef broth. Add corn and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil then add lasagna noodles and cook until noodles are al dente.

Note: you may need to adjust the liquid to have enough to cook the noodles. My corn had some water added and I needed some water to deglaze. Just add more if you think it needs it 💁‍♀️

08/28/2026

Greek Chicken Bowls

I was excited to be back in the home kitchen. A little too excited… I am sorry for yelling at the beginning 😂

Stars of the Show:
🌟 Yogurt marinated roasted chicken. So juicy. Greek yogurt, seasonings + 24 hours in the refrigerator.
⭐️ Tzatziki. Ate it by the spoonful today.
💫 Roasted Chickpeas. Also did not survive today. Sooo good!

You need to replicate that chickpea recipe!

This is an extremely easy dinner and customizable for everyone in the family. Easy quick meal perfect for week nights now that school is back in session.

Greek Chicken Rice Bowls on the menu after having a perfect gyro over the weekend. Full recipe coming soon but for now h...
08/27/2026

Greek Chicken Rice Bowls on the menu after having a perfect gyro over the weekend. Full recipe coming soon but for now here is how I make those crispy chickpeas for the PERFECT crunch 🙌

1 can drained and rinsed chickpeas
Optional: remove skins from the chickpeas if you have all of the time in the world
Dry them really well
Place them in a single layer on an air frying basket
Spritz with a little olive oil
Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika

Air fry at 400 for 20-22 minutes until perfectly crispy.

08/26/2026

Part 2: SWEET CORN DAY

Edit from a few weeks ago in peak sweet corn season here. I just had not gotten around to editing 4 hours into a short 7 min video. 😅 THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME!!

Save this recipe for next year if the sweet corn is already overdone in your area! I WISH this season was not so short. WE MISS IT SO MUCH ALREADY.

Recipe
1. Boil sweet corn in batches for four minutes. Remove from water and cool on a sheet tray on the counter until you can safely hold it. Approximately 5-10 min.
2. Cut corn off the cob, carefully. Serrated knife works the best!
3. Once you’ve cut enough corn off the cob to fill two Bundt pans you’re ready to start bagging. Two Bundt pans = double batch.
4. For each double batch, dissolve 8 Tbsp sugar (1/2 C) and 2 Tbsp kosher salt into 1 quart of warm water. Pour mixture over the corn. Mix well.
5. Portion into quart freezer bags. Be sure to get an even amount of water mixture into each bag. I do about 2.5 cups corn/water mix per quart size bag and would get ~8-10 bags per batch.

Sweet corn cobs range in size but for reference, I processed about 12 dozen ears and ended up with 39 quart sized bags. My goal was 50 quarts but I filled some heavier for harvest meals where we are feeding more people per meal. Everyone portions these a bit differently.

08/25/2026

Nothing says welcome home quite like your garden ☺️

08/24/2026

Until next year Iowa State Fair 🥺

This was one for the books.

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East 30th Street And East University Avenue
Des Moines, IA
50317

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