appetizer

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

All of the flavors of buffalo chicken wings are packed into this easy, super creamy, ultra cheesy slow cooker dip that’s always a buffet or game day hit!

I asked. You replied. And now here I am, delivering.

When I asked you on Facebook if you’re craving a new recipe with chicken or one with cheese, some said one, the rest said the other. But most of you said, “BOTH!”

Yesterday I fulfilled your request for chicken when I delivered these chicken wings. Today I’m passing out the chips (or veggies if you please) to dig yourself deep into some serious dipping of chicken AND two kinds of cheese. In buffalo sauce. And even more cheese of the blue veined variety.

Because that’s just the kind of gal in the kitchen that I am.continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip

Light and Easy Cheese Ball Recipe

This 5-ingredient cheese ball is lightened up with a combination of Neufchâtel light cream cheese and Greek yogurt cream cheese for nearly guilt free snacking, and it’s guaranteed to be a major crowd-pleaser at any shindig!

The day has come and gone and perhaps your resolve to paint 2015 with a rosier, healthier, more prosperous and organized glow has too.

This past weekend—January 17 to be exact—marked the day most people fall off the resolution band wagon. It even has an official nomiker, Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day.

Really? Only 17 days in and we’re already doomed?

Hardly.

I’m keeping my (re)Solutions going strong—or at least still breathing—by keeping up with my Little Victories tour. Small changes that make it easier for bigger evolutions to come.continue to the recipe… about Light and Easy Cheese Ball Recipe

Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

There are many a day when I comb through the pantry looking for a snack to cure my craving.

A handful of potato chips dunked into cottage cheese was my go-to after school treat as a kid that I can’t seem to shake. And yes! Those Hot Tamales will keep me busy all afternoon as I pick the red jelly insides from my back molars. And don’t make me tell you where I keep my secret stash of dark chocolate with sea salt. Because I won’t.

Sometimes I do want it all—all naughty and not necessarily healthy.

Sometimes.

But most of the time the foodie devil on my left shoulder gets shot down by the secret angel on my right who deftly guides me to the lighter side of snacking with some hefty flavor.

continue to the recipe… about Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Bacon Wrapped Grilled Peaches with Balsamic Glaze

The first bite of recipe creating inspiration for me often starts with—you got it—the first bite.

Case in point, my dinner last Friday night. Even though it was Labor Day weekend, the mountains delivered a chilly preview of what’s soon to be in store. I love fall. I can’t wait.

My husband and I were invited to mark the end of summer at the Wasatch Mountain Table at nearby Solitude Resort. It was a very, very long table set at the bottom of a ski hill among forests of trees and a wandering river.

We met some incredibly fun tablemates and laughed the night away, because that what food and drink does to a crowd. But the real focus of the night was the delicious food accented with beer pairings from one of my husband’s favorite local brewers, Epic Brewery.

Peaches are a staple fruit in Utah with orchards dotting the freeways that run north all the way to the border of Idaho. One of the appetizers at our Friday night dinner was a grill full of these Bacon Wrapped Grilled Peaches. Chef Neville cooked down Epic Brewery’s Brainless on Peaches Belgian Ale into the balsamic glaze.

continue to the recipe… about Bacon Wrapped Grilled Peaches with Balsamic Glaze

Peel ‘n Eat Beer Steamed Shrimp

I met my husband working at a fancy, schmancy seafood restaurant.

It was a lovely setting for a beautiful romance that began with us racing from table to table, sweating it out in standard issue baby blue, long-sleeve, button down shirts that reeked of the deep fryer atop boring black pants with the wild flair of our own choice of windsor knotted ties as we stuffed our nightly wad of tips in our pockets. What individualists we were.

We both still have waiter nightmares about that place. Anxiety riddled nightmares where we can never get to our tables in time, our server trays never seem to empty, the cooks continue to yell and the customers begin to fume.

Hey wait, was that a nightmare or was it reality? Only the shadow knows…

continue to the recipe… about Peel ‘n Eat Beer Steamed Shrimp

Chipotle Honey Baked Chicken Wings

Maybe it’s because I live a relatively drama-free life that I’m so obscenely attracted to spicy food.

I’m just not one to drum up a whole lot of drama. I don’t create illnesses to obsess over. I don’t overthink the obvious. I pretty much just let things go. Just get over it. I mean, why wouldn’t you?

So when it comes to spicing up my life, I leave it to the happenings going on in the kitchen.

Thai. Cajun. Mexican. Line ‘em up, knock ‘em out and let’s get busy.

Last weekend, I had a surprise guest in my kitchen and did. just. that. and we. got. busy.

continue to the recipe… about Chipotle Honey Baked Chicken Wings

French Onion Cheese Bread

Onions. You either love ‘em or leave ‘em. I’ve always been a fan of melty, gooey cheese with a side of soup so of course my French Onion Soup recipe is my downright, most craveable shhhlurp.

So when I was assigned with coming up with a craveable appetizer recipe, I set my sights on an alteration of caramelized onions, cheese and bread.

They are the three main food groups, right?

While I clearly have a love for the hearty broth that my caramelly onions usually swim in, this time around I left the idea of soup to its own devices in my favorite tortellini soup recipe.

This time, the onions topped crusty halved pieces of melty white cheese topped french bread. The melted cheese pulled from nose to nose ala Lady and the Tramp, with plenty of crunching in between.

continue to the recipe… about French Onion Cheese Bread

Smoked Salmon Spread

Celebrations call for bites of all sizes, big, small and every other. Luckily, my Smoked Salmon Spread fits the bill no matter how big you’re craving is or the size of your eagerly awaiting mouth.

There’s a beautiful reason to add to today’s celebration, because the lovely food blogger Stefanie of Sarcastic Cooking is soon to deliver a bouncing baby boy.

Babies are not only good for nuzzling and snuggling and the reason to max out the credit card buying an exorbitant amount of needless baby gear for, but also because soon enough they turn into expert taste testers. Which comes in handy when mama is a food blogger.

Stephanie has been a kindred spirit of mine for a long time. Not just because she is a consistent supporter of other food blogs, takes mouth watering photos and develops terrific recipes for my kind of food, but also because she makes food I love to eat.

Like…

continue to the recipe… about Smoked Salmon Spread

Crab Cake Poppers

These past few weeks I’ve spent an absurd amount of time with some amazing food bloggers. Absurd to me only because I’m not sure I could have ever imagined the reality of my journey from an office stiff to a travel-when-the-opportunity-strikes online content creator.

While the time I spend ensconced in my home office or toiling away at the library allows me plenty of alone time, these blogging trips and the relationships I’ve created with my fellow bloggers are the glue that binds my love for what I do.

I love creating ebooks, magazines and photography, but creating recipes is the part of the job that truly, mainly because it’s part of my life, it’s what I do to survive. To make food and eat it.

continue to the recipe… about Crab Cake Poppers

Baked Brie Graham Cracker Crostini with Lavender Honey Plus Friday Faves

While some wax on about why you should never again bring Brie to a party, I say, that’s cool, go ahead and don’t do that.

All the more for me to bring.

We all know brie is a favorite classic small bite at parties and gatherings. We know this thanks to observing the multiple visits to the food table your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend makes as he finally hovers over that last scoop of the smooth cheese and you somehow skillfully edge him out of the hunt and pop it skillfully into your mouth because this tutorial showed you how to eat it.

Brie is so passé. Really? I don’t think so.

I mean what person in their right mind (unless they’re lactose intolerant du course) would turn down a slather of gooey, fragrant cheese at an adult mixer?

I for one think brie should be accessible to the taste buds of everyone, whether you’re 5 or 50. And my little secret of bridging the gap of savory and sweet all starts with honey graham crackers. And brie. Made into a little crostini. And drizzled with lavendar honey and topped with Marcona almonds.

And you need this recipe.

continue to the recipe… about Baked Brie Graham Cracker Crostini with Lavender Honey Plus Friday Faves

Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread and Friday Faves

There may be a war breaking out around here soon. I’m not talking about a world war, just a war at my house.

It doesn’t center around who’s done or didn’t do the dishes or who wouldn’t just get out of the car to ask for directions or even who took the last piece of my Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread.

No, this is a serious one. And it’s sort of my fault. But maaayyybe, by design.

I’d been threatening to do it for about a year thanks to the dirth of boringness that appeared before my eyeballs. And finally it happened.

A few months ago we cancelled our Direct TV. Okay, they disconnected it.

See, ‘someone’ rented a movie and since I have all of the bills on autopay and my husband gets the email notifications because we don’t get paper statements (because we’re oh-so ‘green’ like that), and I was out of town and wasn’t missing the TV so didn’t really pay heed to his requests to get the dang bill paid, a running tally of about $8 bucks caused our traditional viewing habits to bite the dust.

No more Today Show with their pseudo journalism and fakey friendships to wake up to. No more late night bantering back at the TV with Dave. And no more Food Network or Real Housewives. Since that was about the extent of my television viewing habits, especially given the lameness that is produced and titled “Must Watch Summer TV”, we decided we’d rather not.

continue to the recipe… about Smoked Mozzarella Pizza Bread and Friday Faves

Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

My mantra? The simpler the recipe, the more imperative the need for extraordinary ingredients. Case in point: my Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad.

Okay, Okay. I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking.

Yes, I have gone a bit bonkers on the tomato recipes of late. And yes, this basic summer salad barely constitutes an entire blog post. But I realized something when I was looking over my recipes that include the summertime C word, like my Avocado Caprese Wrap, Grilled Caprese Skewers, Quinoa and Burrata Caprese Salad and my Caprese Sandwich with Arugula and Olive Spread.

I realized that the actual basic caprese salad was the missing link in my recipe repertoire.

Plus, once we pulled this dish together I knew those heirloom tomatoes were too darn pretty not to share.

Let’s call this recipe an impulse post. Sadly I have no new impulse-purchased shoes to go with it.continue to the recipe… about Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Frico Cups

Simple, summery and a great little appetizer with a salty parmesan bowl of its own, these Heirloom Tomato Caprese Frico Cups make singing the swan song to summer a little easier.

With the long days turning shorter and my summer escapes coming to a quick end, I’ve been weaning my cravings for simple summer recipes and tank top wearing tan lines and replacing them with thoughts of long oven braises and pulling an ear hugging beanie over my chilly head as I search through my closet for those knit gloves I bought last year that have the touchy things on the tips of the fingers so I can still use my iPhone once the weather turns cold. Those things are genius.

Fall flavors are giving summer bounty a bit of a shove off and I’m not sure how sad I am about it.

Maybe that’s because my garden SUCKS this summer. With a capital S.U.C.K.S.

My stringy and nearly leafless heirloom tomato plants—the ones I was so excited to cultivate so I could pluck juicy mater orbs straight from the vine and take a big old bite out of their still warm flesh—are as lifeless and lilting as a 6 foot, 95-pound fashion model prepping for her fall debut on the catwalk.

Straight up sad I tell you.

And what’s worse is no matter how hard I try, my tomato loving cravings for recipes like Heirloom Tomato BLTs, Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes and my fave weeknight freshie of Avocado, Onion and Tomato Salad have not ebbed the tide. And last year’s post of 55 Fresh and Tasty Tomato Recipes? This year, it’s been a question if I would make it to 56.

Until now.

The thing I love about heirloom tomatoes is how imperfect they are. Let’s just say I can relate. Some are on the pudgy side with a too-tight-in-the-jeans muffin top, some are are cracked and crooked. And for most the color is never quite the same so slicing them to see the rainbow of color inside is always a fun surprise.

continue to the recipe… about Heirloom Tomato Caprese Frico Cups

Thai Chicken Larb Lettuce Wraps

With the release of her latest cookbook, Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites, Jaden Hair once again shows us why she’s one of the top dogs in the world of food blogging with her recipe for Thai Lettuce Wraps.

Food blog author Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen is like Wonder Woman. She’s a food columnist, television chef (ABC’s Recipe Rehab, Daytime Show), cookbook author (The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites), and a wife and mom to two little boys, Andrew and Nathan.

If all that weren’t enough, she helps run “the homestead,”—a five-acre plot she and her family occupy. It’s fully equipped with a small fruit orchard, a pond with tilapia and blue gill, and a chicken coop with ten plucky residents. Their latest endeavor? A homemade aquaponic herb and vegetable garden (growing vegetables and plants over water).

It’s a juggling act but one that Hair seems to have managed with ease. She’s driven, but her priority is her family and she puts their health and happiness at the forefront.

I first discovered Jaden thanks to my husband. While trolloping among the www for Asian inspired recipes, he discovered Steamy Kitchen. In fact, he was a follower of her blog well before I even had a nugget of a thought of creating a food blog myself. Or a magazine that features food bloggers. You could say his discovery pretty much set us on this tract of foodie crushes.

In fact, my very first recipe on the blog? One of Jaden’s.

You could say I have a soft spot for this oh so very talented lady.continue to the recipe… about Thai Chicken Larb Lettuce Wraps

Grilled Artichokes with Garlic Butter and Friday Faves

This weekend is a biggie for one 8-year-old about to be 9-year-old in our house. Birthday time!

If you’ve followed be for very long, you know my daughter Smudge prefers pie over cake any day, which means I’ll be making and adorning her favorite Yellow Cake Pie with candles for the third year in a row. This year I’m going to pardon the mousse pudding mix in favor of the homemade pudding I made in Lauren’s Chocolate Cream Pie recipe mixed with some whip cream for loft.

I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a hit once again for the twelve 9-year-olds who are sleeping over. All those girls in one house, high on sugar and water slides and karaoke? Why oh why do I do this to me and my husband? Oh, that’s right. Because I’m a mom to a rock-star-lover-girl! I’d do anything for her, especially on her birthday.

Once we’ve sent the gaggle of girls home with their own parentals, it’ll be time to get the family birthday BBQ into high-speed prep. While we have a few menu ideas on the short list, we haven’t quite made up our minds as to which direction we’re going. Traditional cookout, Mediterranean or something Asian inspired? Any input here readers?

If we go for the traditional grilling route, this Grilled Artichokes with Garlic Butter recipe I created for Go Bold With Butter would be tops on the list. I made them for dinner just two nights ago since my favorite artichoke producer finally showed up in Costco.

I don’t know if I’ll ever eat a choke with plain butter and mayo again thanks to the caramelized garlicky chunks I now scoop up with each leaf. More napkins please.

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Grilled Artichokes with Garlic Butter

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

For the Artichokes
2 large artichokes
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
4 cloves garlic
1 lemon halved
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Lemon Garlic Butter
1/2 cup 1 stick butter
2 lemons zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Leaves from 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme

Instructions

For the Artichokes
With a serrated knife, cut artichokes into quarters and cut sharp tips of leaves off. Scoop out the prickly center part of the artichoke, and discard. Immediately rub the cut side of the artichoke with a lemon half to help avoid yellowing. Place artichokes in a large stockpot filled with cold water.
Add peppercorns and garlic cloves. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the water and add the leftover lemon skin/peel to the water. Bring artichokes to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes or until artichoke leaves easily pull from the head and the bottoms of the artichokes are tender.
Remove from the stock pot and drain.
Prepare a grill with hot coals or a gas grill over high heat. Drizzle artichokes with olive oil and kosher salt and pepper.
When grill is hot, place artichokes on grill and cook for 3 minutes each side or until nice grill marks appear. Remove and serve immediately or at room temperature with garlic lemon butter (recipe follows).
For the Lemon Garlic Butter
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and allow the solids to cool slightly, then skim the fat solids from the clear butter below and discard the solids. Add lemon zest, garlic cloves, kosher salt and fresh thyme and cook on medium until garlic browns slightly and becomes aromatic, about 5 minutes.
Add lemon juice to butter mixture and mix well.
Drizzle over artichokes or on the side as a dipping sauce.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Artichokes with Garlic Butter and Friday Faves

Roasted Garlic and Pickled Jalapeño Guacamole

How many times have you heard it? You know the phrase, the not-so-very-much-original one we all say because it’s just so perfectly descriptive.

You know it. Come on, say it with me. Think it. Live it: “Hoooooooly Guacamole.”

Okay it’s a little trite, but so true. Guacamole is the ultimate dipper, topper, finger licker. Cinco de Mayo by now is in the holiday back seat but with summer’s festivities on the bright lights horizon, there’s so many more reasons to kick back and “dip-toe through the tortilla chips.” Okay, that was a stretch but let’s just roll with it.

photo via Garlic Girl’s Instagram

My recipe for Roasted Garlic and Jalapeño Guacamole is a riff on a recipe created at this spring’s Big Traveling Potluck by Jodi of Garlic Girl, Des of Life’s Ambrosia and Melba of Out a Thyme, the ladies who stole the show and won the Best Tasting Recipe award at the Guacamole Challenge we all competed in. It was a friendly competition. That said, there may have been some tears shed when the winner was announced and my team didn’t win.

We were CONVINCED we were shoe-ins with mango and bacon in our version of guacamole. We were wrong.continue to the recipe… about Roasted Garlic and Pickled Jalapeño Guacamole

Roasted Artichokes with Chorizo Dressing and an Artichoke Recipe Round-Up

I look forward to this time of year, all year long. That may not make sense when you read it but try saying it out loud. Loud and proud. There you go. See, it works.

With the neighbors firing up their lawn mowers for the first spring shave (as we currently sit in the midst of a snow storm) and the grasses green and the trees bloom (where’s my hay fever meds?) I find myself craving the same foods I do every spring: Fresh, clean and flavorful. Gotcha! You thought I was going to say chocolate and cheese. No, that’s every day, not just a particular season.

Flavor. That’s what makes these roasted Artichokes with Chorizo Dressing leap straight to the top of the want list.

I have a lot of artichoke recipes in my go-to recipe drawer, er, filed in my head: pasta, pizzas, with eggs and chicken. So far only Chicken Tzatziki Pizza with Artichokes, Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese (come back tomorrow for another grilled cheese recipe to celebrate Grilled Cheese Month) and my second post ever, Spring Artichokes have made it to the blog.

Which leaves plenty of room to develop and share a lot more with you lucky devils.

Some of my favorite recipes are from canned artichokes—my faves are from Trader Joe’s—packed in water. Which is awesome because then I can cure the crave any time of year. But when fresh artichokes are in season? Forget about it. I’m going fresh.

While I usually hold out for the Ocean Mist brand at Costco because they are big, have tightly bunched leaves and I’ve found have the most meat on the leaf, my local store isn’t carrying them yet. So I went mini. I found these baby artichokes at Whole Foods, and bingo, they’re from Ocean Mist, so the first time I bought them I knew they’d be good. I was right.

This recipe is one I’ve kept in my piles, and I mean piles (just ask my husband who I believe is currently devising a strategic plan to rid the house of all “reference material”) of recipes pulled from magazines over the past 10 years. And even more when it comes to Thanksgiving, but that’s another season entirely so it’ll have to wait.

continue to the recipe… about Roasted Artichokes with Chorizo Dressing and an Artichoke Recipe Round-Up

Quinoa and Avocado Chimichurri Salad for Food Bloggers Against Hunger

One out of every two children is on some sort of food assistance today. Families are living on a daily food budget of three dollars a day for an entire family. I’ll spend twice that on an afternoon doughnut treat for my daughter and her friends. Or for a morning coffee and copy and a magazine that talks about food.

It’s time to put our voices where our mouths are and make some noise to fix what is wrong with the state of nutrition in our country. Thanks to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry initiative and education of the general public through documentaries like A Place at the Table, the food plight of millions of American’s is being exposed.

When I walk into my daughter’s classroom in the morning, that’s when the notion that this is a real problem hits home. As I look around the continually changing and growing faces, I watch and wonder about who had what for breakfast. Do they look deflated because it’s early and they didn’t want to crawl out from their covers or because breakfast didn’t give them the energy their growing minds need? If they did eat was it a meal balanced with protein, whole grains and calcium or did they swiftly down a sugar soaked cereal that will bring them to a mid-morning crash? Or maybe they had nothing at all?

My daughter and I have an after school routine where she tells me three things about her day. The one I always care about most is about her lunch and how much she ate. While I loved school lunch as a kid, I pack my Smudge’s lunch instead. I want her meal to be balanced. I want to know what is in it and I want to know how much of it she’s eating. I’m not totally hard core about organic and avoiding sugars at all costs, but I definitely don’t want her eating frozen pizza or deep fried french fries everyday in lieu of fresh fruit and whole grains. The funny thing is she doesn’t even know what she’s missing. She doesn’t like french fries anyway. Is that why?

I’m pretty sure the majority of the children’s families in my daughter’s school have a pretty healthy notion of eating. But even having money to buy food doesn’t necessarily translate into buying the right food. You still have to make good choices. continue to the recipe… about Quinoa and Avocado Chimichurri Salad for Food Bloggers Against Hunger

Stuffed Jalapeños with Gorgonzola and Bacon plus 10 Jalapeño Popper Recipes

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen these Jalapeno Hotties before.

It was another game day, I think you’ve heard of it, a little thing called the Superbowl, you remember…where Beyonce outperformed every other two-legged being on the planet? We had a couple of friends over, made some grub and ate and drank our fill.

While the centerpiece of that dinner was my dad’s classic Daddy’s Hamburgers, these Stuffed Jalapenos with Gorgonzola and Bacon have been weighing heavy on my mind. My friend Angie showed up with a gorgeous baking sheet full of them, and you can rest assured, there was not a single one left within a half hour of them exiting the oven.

Ever since then, this recipe has been tugging at my stomach strings. It’s one of those you keep telling yourself, “No, no, no. You don’t need to make those. Eat kale instead. Have an apple. Juice a beet.”

What do I say to that? Take one guess. Or should I say, take one look.

With another big playoff game putting an end to the build up of March Madness (BTW, why do they confuse us by pushing the orange ball finale into April?) I laugh in the face of the notion of eating anything too calorie conscious while cheering on cute college boys in shorts.

We all have our vices. I have several. Cheese and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are at the top of my list and are not mutually exclusive.

Those RHOBH can get preeeeety cheesy. And I LOVE them for it.continue to the recipe… about Stuffed Jalapeños with Gorgonzola and Bacon plus 10 Jalapeño Popper Recipes

Mini Blue Cheese Balls and Friday Faves

So, say someone was going to an Easter brunch and needed a little something to contribute to the feast of the bunnies. Something a little savory, easy to whip up because that egg hunt takes some time to finish and a dish that lets guests sneak a few bites popped right into their mouths in between sneaks of the chocolate covered eggs that ‘somehow’ found their way into the palms of their hands.

I won’t be partaking of tulips and Easter Ham at a loved ones home this Easter, unless you count your loved ones as those who are bellied up to the sounds of ringing slot machines and the hoots and hollers of winners at the roulette wheel. But I bet I will find a buffet that will offer a little something to snack on, although nothing is as good as a home cooked meal made with love.

Unless its the 943,287 desserts that the hotel buffet offers up. That I most likely won’t pass by without taking full advantage of as I plot my escape plan to take another spin on the Wheel of Fortune machine. I can hear it now…”Wheel. Of. FOOOOOORRTUUNE.” It’s my Vegas vice. What can I say…continue to the recipe… about Mini Blue Cheese Balls and Friday Faves

Hot Crab Dip and Friday Faves

Yes sir! It is FRRRRIIIDAY! And that means my work is just about to begin.

This weekend will be jam packed: A photo shoot on the mountain (snow, skis and sunscreen), a video shoot with kids and dogs (what was I thinking?), green food eating—and drinking—and somewhere along the line the toilets need to get cleaned. I bet I can find volunteers for just about everything on my to-do list the above minus the last item. Which is the only one I REALLY don’t want to do. So, maybe I won’t!

Life is about living, not about toilets. It’s about dressing up dogs in funny outfits—in video shoots with kids. Oh, poor Pippa. And who is the tween who took over my daughter’s room and threw-up teen dreams all over it? That’s why you spend time living, not doing toilets, because it goes way, way too fast.

How did a week go by, or maybe even two, where I haven’t posted a recipe with cheese? Let’s remedy that toot sweet. And how about we add some crab? Now there’s an idea.

I’m heading to a St. Paddy’s day party on Sunday and will be taking my Stout Brownies, as requested, but thought I better bring a little something more in hand besides my green chardonnay.continue to the recipe… about Hot Crab Dip and Friday Faves

Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Before making the change to a low-sodium diet, Jess Goldman Foung, the author of the popular blog Sodium Girl, was like a lot of Americans who ate fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, not nearly enough servings of vegetables and rarely strayed from her comfort zone of basic food groups.

With a degree from Stanford and a budding career as a Development Manager, Jess was becoming an expert at fundraising and grant writing, and loved it. Her body, however, did not.

“The autoimmune disease, Lupus, was aggresively attacking my brain and my kidneys and after three months of chemo, dialysis, and amazing medical care, I survived. My kidneys didn’t, ” she says.

After researching and educating herself, Jess realized she needed to take her health into her own hands, and she started with nutrition. “I swore I would do what I could with my own two hands to help stay strong and live a full life and that meant going on a strict low-sodium diet. But I also happened to be an extremely stubborn person, who refused to eat dull food or miss out on anything life had to offer. So that meant rewriting the low-sodium rules.”

“After a tough-love session with my mother, who asked, ‘Do you want to live five years or fifty years?” I realized I needed to quit my job and find a career that let me take care of myself,” Jess acknowledges. “It wasn’t until a fateful day when I watched two movies back-to-back —Julie and Julia and then Food, Inc.—that I realized what I should do: 1) blog and 2) write about the power of food.”

And that she does with the release of her new book Sodium Girl’s Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook.continue to the recipe… about Sweet and Spicy Popcorn Recipe

Game Day Chicken Nachos with Avocado

Back in high school I considered myself a pretty good cook. Or at least better than most of my friends who subsisted on string cheese and instant cup o’ noodles. I’ve never been one who was too lazy to cook when I’m hungry and if the pangs struck I would come up with some pretty satiating recipes. And anything with melted cheese was my favorite snack of all. Slices of cheese, tomato soup and of course tortilla chips.

In our house my dad was the nacho maker, and I’ll share that recipe and his tenacity with you sometime soon, but today I have another nacho recipe for you, something hearty and spicy and cheesy.continue to the recipe… about Game Day Chicken Nachos with Avocado

Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche Stuffed Avocados

The most tasteful things in life are usually the simplest. And this dish is a shining example.

After weeks of nipping at our ankles like border collies herding sheep, Christmas Eve is here and New Years Eve will be scurrying right up behind it. I for one am ready to welcome in a new year of hope and gratitude with clinks of champagne and air kisses galore.

These occasions scream for something decadent, but with the flurry of social activities, travel time and overall high expectations, why don’t we all decide to keep it simple, shall we? Simply decadent.

This year I’ll be celebrating New Years on a beach in Mexico. No, not just in my mind as I settle into below freezing temperatures as my husband suggests I warm up that snow shovel. No, this is all real life baby. Sand, surf and shrimp will be tops on my itinerary, and not necessarily in that order.continue to the recipe… about Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche Stuffed Avocados

Friday Faves and a Harry & David Gift Basket Giveaway

I can’t start this post without first squeeling a gigantic, “THANK YOOOOOOUU!” to everyone who has taken time out of their busy holiday-preparing-lives, opened a new browser window and read about the amazing food bloggers and contributors featured in the Holiday Issue of FoodieCrush mag.

Sharing these food bloggers stories, recipes and photography is such a reward, one that I hope shows through in the flippable, online pages I hope you’re inspired to cook from. I also encourage you to visit their blogs where there is so much more to discover.

Last week I featured a few food bloggers in my Holiday Gift Guide, all of whom generously donated items for a giveaway for FoodieCrush readers. Please be sure to enter the giveaway before Monday at 11:59 p.m. MST to be entered to take home some foodie blogger swag.

In addition to getting the mag uploaded, I’ve been doing a bit of traveling of late—some for the mag and some for me and my man to do some celebrating of a big number anniversary. Let’s just pretend I got married at 14 so it doesn’t hurt so much to think of the fact that much time has passed us by so quickly.

The travel combined with the holiday eats within the pages of FC magazine and barking dogs welcoming packages delivered to our door…well, it’s starting to feel like the hubbub and crazy energy of Christmas is in full swing at casa del Larsen.

continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and a Harry & David Gift Basket Giveaway

Cheesy Chorizo Caramelized Onion Dip Recipe

Boys will be boys. And boys like football. And cheese. And sausage.

My husband, like so many guys out there and quite a few ladies with a penchant for competition, is a big football fan.

He isn’t as nutty as some dudes out there who are obsessed with their Fantasy Football leagues or who lay down hard-earned cash on the spreads in Vegas. And you won’t find him sporting his favorite team’s football jersey other than on the occasional game day. But you will hear him yelling very naughty, naughty words at the T.V. when a bonehead referee makes a bad call—or at least a call against his team.

Yes my husband is a fan. But my dad…oh my dad. HE is THE fan. Over the years he’s been known to be somewhat obsessive with his viewing pleasures. continue to the recipe… about Cheesy Chorizo Caramelized Onion Dip Recipe

Pickled Strawberry with Roasted Beet Salad and a Recipe Contest

I mean seriously. This salad is sweet. Seriously sweet.

But, really, how sweet is this girl?

How much can we possibly love our little babes, especially in those unscripted moments of pure, sweet bliss, savoring the moment and creating our earliest memories of where food comes from.continue to the recipe… about Pickled Strawberry with Roasted Beet Salad and a Recipe Contest

Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings and Friday Faves

It’s officially here. Summer!

The best part: swimming with my Smudge, backyard barbeques and playing outside ’til the night sky glistens with stars as the moon crests the mountain tops.

The worst part: The longest day of the year has officially come and gone. June 20, my dad’s birthday marked summer solstice and the march toward the days all food bloggers dread: winter. Which equals shorter days. Which means come dinner time we’ve lost all the natural sunlight to shoot our beautiful food.

But that’s a long time away yet and we have much to savor and stock up on.continue to the recipe… about Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings and Friday Faves

Mini Hot Dog Rolls and My Academy Award Recipe Round-Up

Paparazzi-chased limousines and never-ending flash of camera flashes. Form-fitted, haute couture-dressed beauties dripping in diamonds floating down the cascading red carpet. Acceptance speeches that have been rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed because, “It’s just an honor to be nominated.” Uh-huh. We’ve heard that one before.

The Academy Awards telecast is one of my favorite TV nights of the year, when the pomp and circumstance of Oscar’s big night and the celebrity falderal come front and center and we cheer—and jeer—the winners and the losers of Hollywood’s biggest popularity contest.

Which makes it the perfect night for us to pop some champers ourselves, invite some friends over and party like the Hollywood royalty we aren’t.

Who will be the big winner? It’s anyone’s guess with Vegas bookies as nervously sweaty about the odds as the ravenous, 10-day cleanse-ed actresses starvingly awaiting Wolfgang’s braised short ribs to be served.

For me, I have my odds-on favorite to win and a recipe to honor it in all the glory it’s leading man and his abs deserves.

Ever since the 1996 Golden Globes, when Brad—yeah, we’re on a first name basis, just don’t tell my husband—won the award for Best Supporting Actor and thanked his “love o’ my life, the angel Gwyneth Paltrow”—oh, if only that had worked out—I have been rooting for the poor little guy who just can’t catch a break to win at The Big Show. Maybe this will be his coup de grace, the one thing that will put him on a cover of a magazine.

So what’s my tribute to the big night?continue to the recipe… about Mini Hot Dog Rolls and My Academy Award Recipe Round-Up

Pork Belly Sliders and Recipes for Superbowl Bites

I have a long tradition with the Superbowl, and most of them I even remember past the 3rd quarter.

Now let me just say, in my defense, those memories usually depended upon which team I picked to win. And sometimes I wasn’t such a good picker.

Back in the day when my friends and I still thought we could hang like we did in college, if your chosen team was scored upon in any which way, it was a side game bet for our fellow party goers to see just how easily us losers could traverse crawling OUT the living room window, dropping DOWN to the driveway and partaking of a penalty shot. Oh. How. Dumb. In. Our. Youth. Yet another reason I’m thankful my twenties are in my rear view mirror.

This year, given my beloved 49ers are out of the running, it REALLY, really, really is all about the food: making, eating and grazing again.

G-dawg was fiddling around with a recipe for Pork Belly—which turned out deliciously—to top Ramen—that failed miserably—so we had a bunch of the bacon-ey slabs of love left over.

Always a fan of pork in any form—especially when it’s salty, peppery and crusty—he pulled together a quick and delicious version of a Banh Mi sandwich but in a manageable mini variety.

He’s a good cook that boy.

continue to the recipe…

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