Jazz Leaf

06/02/2026

No-Boil Baked Ziti From Your Pantry (Easy Family Dinner, Feeds 6 to 8)

This baked ziti is made almost entirely from pantry and freezer staples — dry pasta, jarred marinara, cottage cheese, shredded mozzarella, and chicken sausage. No boiling the noodles first. They cook right in the sauce while it bakes. The cottage cheese melts into a creamy layer that makes it taste like you spent way more time than you did. Made two pans from one batch.

The recipes + the full planning breakdown are in this week's Substack: https://jazzleaf.substack.com/p/what-we-ate-this-week

05/29/2026

Build Your Own Pizza Night (Gluten Free Option, Easy Family Dinner Idea)

Family pizza night doesn't have to mean delivery or processed frozen pizza. Gluten free tortillas or flatbread, jarred marinara, whatever toppings you have in the fridge, into the oven at 400 for 10 minutes. Kids build their own. Adults build their own. Everyone eats. This is the easiest dinner of the week every single time and it's endlessly customizable for picky eaters. Full meal plan is on Substack!

https://open.substack.com/pub/jazzleaf/p/what-we-ate-this-week?r=1lqqnn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

05/28/2026

I’ve tried a lot of supplements but collagen is the one thing I’ve actually been able to stick with and I’ve seen the most benefits from.

I’ve been using Ancient Nutrition Multi Collagen Protein every single morning and they just came out with a lemon iced tea flavor. One scoop in cold water gets you 10g collagen, and it has the vitamin C and probiotics.

what I’ve genuinely noticed:
-my knees feel so much less stiff
-my hair feels healthier, way better texture
-my skin has been looking more plump and smoother

Try it consistently for 30 days or more and you’ll notice differences!

Ancient Nutrition Paid Partner

05/28/2026

My crispy air fryer chicken cutlets are perfect on salads, wraps or for meal prep! They are crispy on the outside, without being deep fried. The coating and the perfect temperature of the air fryer makes them super crispy!!

Comment CHICKEN and I’ll DM you the recipe, along with substitutions, how to freeze them and different ways to serve it.

05/27/2026

I swear once you start reading ingredient labels… you can’t stop 😅

05/27/2026

This week I tried to cook from what we already had before we move back to California. Pantry, freezer, fridge - whatever needed to go, got used.

It made for some of the best meals we've had in a while honestly.
Pizza night with gluten free tortillas and whatever toppings were left in the fridge. Air fryer fish fillets with tallow fries (Troy caught the snapper himself). And a no-boil baked ziti from pantry staples that fed us AND our neighbor who just had a baby.

I also broke down exactly how I plan the week; the pantry walkthrough I do before I touch the grocery list, how I use the weekly sale ads to cut $40 to $50 off the bill, and how I schedule meals around our actual nights so nothing feels last minute.

All three recipes plus the full planning breakdown are in this week's Substack:

a real look at how I plan, shop, and cook for my family every week

05/22/2026

BUFFALO CHICKEN CRISPY TACOS! Here’s a step by step tutorial, it takes 20 minutes, the air fryer does the work, it can be made gluten free and the whole will love it!

comment BUFFALO and I’ll DM you the recipe

05/13/2026

Comment MASK and I will send you a breakdown of the 5 masks I recommend, ranked by skin concern, wavelength, and price, and session time.

I really do believe this tool can be so benefial to people dealing with pigmentation, sun spots, redness, wrinkles and overall dullness of skin.

05/11/2026

We're cleaning out the fridge before a cross-country move and this is what came out of it, Lubia Polo. Persian green bean rice with ground beef, saffron, turmeric, cinnamon, and a crispy lavash tahdig. It's my mom's recipe and one of my all-time favorites to make for the family.

Full recipe with step-by-step instructions here → jazz-leaf.com/recipes-index-full/lubia-polo-recipe