butter

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This chocolate chip banana bread is made sans oil and instead uses Greek yogurt to add moisture. This is easily the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever made!

When she speaks, I listen. And when her friends speak, I listen louder.

Yes, I meant to say that. Louder. Because actions are louder than words and when they eat every morsel, every crumb, I know we have a winner.

Smudge is becoming a big help in the kitchen. I find myself stopping in my tracks to watch her flit from counter to cupboard, completely unaware of anything going on around her as she sings softly under her breath to the tune that never seems to end in her head. For good measure she’ll give a twirl, an elegant flick of her wrist then cock her elbow, throw her hand behind her head and rock a pumping sprinkler dance.

And then we return to the never-ending song in her head.

Recently a friend of hers came over for a playdate. What did they want to do? Bake banana bread. Well alright then, let’s do it. And we did. And they ate. And I listened when her friend declared this recipe was, “the best banana bread I’ve ever eaten.”

Umm, yeah. Perhaps because it tastes like a giant slice of banana bread chocolate chip heaven?

Hey, I’m just here to listen.

I’ve experimented with plenty of banana bread recipes, including the recipe I used in 7th grade that called for vegetable oil as the main moistening ingredient, resulting in a greasy crumb that deflated quickly. Using Greek yogurt in this easy banana bread recipe gives ample moisture minus the greasy fingers. This is banana bread, not french fries people.

Of course adding in a few chocolate chips to any recipe can only make the world go ’round a little easier, a little sweeter.

But when I’m in a need for a basic proven recipe I’m often drawn to my go-to 1,028 recipe tomb: The New Best Recipe Cookbook by Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve slightly adapted the recipe by adding a touch more vanilla, subbing pecans for walnuts, and yes, the aforementioned chocolate chips.

What’s in Choc Chip Banana Bread?

The beauty of homemade banana bread is that it uses very few ingredients, but is so incredibly flavorful and moist (yes, I just said moist). This banana bread with yogurt uses the following key ingredients:

All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar
Baking soda
Salt
Chopped pecans
Bananas
Plain Greek yogurt
Eggs
Unsalted butter
Vanilla extract
Chocolate chips

Make sure to buy plain Greek yogurt, preferably whole fat or low-fat (non-fat yogurt is much tangier and the lack of fat will result in a drier loaf). The brand you buy doesn’t matter, just get whatever’s on sale.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

To make this homemade banana bread, you just have to stir together the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet in another. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry, then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

Bake the chocolate chip banana bread for a good 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I like to eat this moist banana bread warm with butter, but it’s also delicious at room temp with a glass of milk.

How to Store Banana Bread

Choc chip banana bread will last for a few days on your counter. Make sure to wrap it in foil to prevent it from drying out, though. If desired, you can rewarm slices of banana bread in the microwave or oven.

Can You Freeze Banana Bread?

Homemade banana bread freezes really well and can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. To freeze the whole loaf, let it come to room temperature before wrapping it in a few layers of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil (this prevents the bread from developing freezer burn). When you’re ready to enjoy the frozen loaf, set it on your counter in its wrappings to thaw.

You can also slice and freeze the banana bread and keep it in a freezer bag, but I find that it dries out more quickly in the freezer if it’s pre-sliced. But if you think you’ll eat the chocolate chip banana bread quickly enough, it shouldn’t be an issue!

Do I Have to Add the Nuts?

If you have a pecan allergy or don’t have any on hand, feel free to omit them. You can also substitute them with another type of nut if preferred.

Tips for the Best Banana Bread

The bananas you use for this chocolate chip banana bread recipe should be overripe and almost black in color. If your bananas are far from being ripe enough to use in banana bread, poke them all over with a fork and then bake them at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned. Let the bananas cool completely before adding them to the batter.

I’ll also say that although I love me some warm banana bread, you don’t want to slice into this loaf when it first comes out of the oven. Give the moist banana bread time to firm up and cool down a bit before slicing.

Lastly, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe because I like how the slightly bitter chocolate contrasts with the super sweet bread. But you’re welcome to use any chocolate chips or chunks you have lying around in this banana bread!

More Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Love

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.

4.29 from 7 votes

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This chocolate chip banana bread is made sans oil and instead uses Greek yogurt to add moisture. This is easily the best banana bread recipe I've ever made!

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Servings 9 people

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup pecans toasted and coarsely chopped
3 bananas very ripe and mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 large eggs beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Whisk first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.
In a medium bowl mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, vanilla and chocolate chips. Gently fold banana mixture into dry ingredients until just combined. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm with a swath of sweet butter or at room temperature with a cold glass of milk.

Recipe Notes

If you need to ripen your bananas quickly, poke them all over with a fork and then bake them at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned. Let the bananas cool completely before adding them to the batter.
Recipe slightly adapted from The New Best Recipe Cookbook from Cook's Illustrated

More Banana Desserts to Try

Obviously as I was creating this post I was on the hunt for more lovely banana-inspired recipes and I must say, the banana is severely neglected out there unless its in a muffin, pancake or bread variety.

I say, “Raise the banana flag!” Let’s give the banana it’s sweetened day in the sun. Here’s a selection of food bloggers doing just that, and doing it well.

Modesty must be Glory’s thing because according to her Glorious Treats’s Banana Caramel Cream Dessert isn’t groundbreaking. I beg to differ.

Gluten- and dairy-free but full of flavor with a history in family lore and subject that leaves Shauna in stitches, Gluten-Free Girl’s Coconut-Banana Cream Pie is sure to make us smile too.

Cassie makes sure the health nuts aren’t left out with a chia see and whole wheat flour recipe for Bake Your Day’s Vegan Banana Nut Breakfast Cake that’s enough to convert even the non-vegans in some of us

Diana layers her nana-nanas with an extra banana-flavored icing thanks to banana extract in Created by Diane‘s Banana Icing on Banana Walnut Muffins.

Craving more life balance, less stress, and better health? Check out my Nourished Planner, the daily planner to help create simplicity and under-schedule your life.

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As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There may be affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.

Indian Butter Chicken and Friday Faves

Ready in under 45 minutes, this Indian butter chicken is an easy weeknight dinner recipe your family will gobble right up!

There is a glaring omission in the recipe repertoire of FoodieCrush which I am in the process of remedying as we speak. Chicken. Simple, easy and basic chicken.

While this recipe for Indian butter chicken tastes far from basic, it’s one I really can’t forget to share and is so simple to bring together that it works great as a weeknight meal. Even the picky kids will love its creamy, tomato flavor. Well, minus those pesky peas of course.

I’m such a fan of chicken thighs. I know, everyone boasts about the virtues of boneless chicken breast but where’s the flavor? It’s all in the thighs, people.

What other veggies I could throw into the butter chicken mix. Broccoli? Mmm, maybe. Carrots for sure. Mushrooms are an absolute yes, but I love mushrooms. Maybe even zucchini? Mmmm, I think so.

What is Butter Chicken?

If you’ve never tried Indian butter chicken before, I’m so sorry. Because you’ve been missing out your whole life!

Essentially, butter chicken is a creamy chicken dish that’s made with a spiced tomato sauce. As the name suggests, it’s made with a healthy amount of butter and heavy cream. It’s not super spicy, but you’re welcome to amp up the heat if desired.

What’s in This Butter Chicken?

Most of the ingredients needed for this easy butter chicken recipe are spices and other aromatics. You may have to buy a few for this recipe, but they can all be used in lots of other recipes too.

For this Indian butter chicken, you’ll need:

Vegetable oil
Butter
Onion
Spices
Tomato paste
Tomato sauce
Bay leaf
Cream
Chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
Frozen peas
Lime
Fresh cilantro

How to Make Butter Chicken

To make this Indian butter chicken, first cook the diced onion in a little olive oil and butter until translucent. Add the spices to the skillet and continue cooking until fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste and sauce, along with the bay leaf.

Slowly stir in the cream, then bring to a boil before turning down the heat and simmering for 5 minutes.

In a separate skillet, cook the diced chicken in a buttered and oiled skillet until it’s brown on all sides. Transfer the chicken to the tomato cream sauce and continue cooking until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside.

Add the peas and remaining butter to the sauce and continue cooking until the peas are heated through. Serve the butter chicken over basmati rice, then garnish with lime and cilantro.

Is There a Cream Substitute I Can Use?

If you’re trying to make this butter chicken recipe a little healthier, you may be able to use full fat plain Greek yogurt in place of all or part of the cream. I’ve never made this recipe as such, but you can give it a shot. Let me know if you make it this way!

Can I Prep This in Advance?

As with most recipes, Indian butter chicken is best the day it’s made, but leftovers reheat well thanks to the tomato cream sauce. If you have leftovers or want to meal prep this recipe, I recommend reheating it in a saucepan with the lid on to prevent the chicken from drying out.

Depending on how much sauce you have left over, you may need to add a splash of cream to the pan as well to loosen up the leftover chicken.

Tips for Making Indian Butter Chicken

If you only have chicken breasts on hand, go ahead and use them in this easy butter chicken recipe. Thighs have the most flavor though, I’m telling you!

If you prefer spicy Indian dishes, you can add a dash of cayenne to this recipe. A little goes a long way, so be careful.

Finally, you can add in lots of other veggies to this butter chicken, if desired. I kept things super simple with frozen peas, but pretty much any vegetable tastes divine in the tomato cream sauce.

More Easy Chicken Recipes You’ll Love

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats

5 from 4 votes

Indian Butter Chicken

Ready in under 45 minutes, this Indian butter chicken is an easy weeknight dinner recipe your family will gobble right up!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword butter chicken

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
4 tablespoons butter divided
1 onion diced
3 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 cup tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
2 cups heavy cream
1 pound boneless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup frozen peas defrosted
½ lime
Cilantro leaves for garnish

Instructions

In a large, high-sided skillet or 6-quart pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter. Add onion and cook for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
Add garam masala, ground ginger and chili powder and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in tomato paste, tomato sauce and bay leaf and cook for 2 minutes.
Add cream, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, season chicken with kosher salt and pepper. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter to a large skillet over medium-high heat and add chicken. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until chicken is lightly browned on all sides.
Transfer chicken to tomato cream sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Add peas and remaining butter to sauce and cook until peas are warmed through and butter is melted. Garnish with lime and cilantro leaves and serve with basmati rice.

This week started off slightly off-kilter thanks to a flu bug that will keep me from enjoying Mexican food again for a good long while. Such a shame.

Thanks to this bug-imposed cleanse, I spent the entire day of Monday bed-bound which gave me the chance to catch up on all residual episodes of the new season of Real Housewives of OC plus reruns of BH and Atlanta. Sometimes you just need to let your mind not think. Which makes a perfect match with anything on Bravo. I heart Bravo.

After a full day mind-suck filled with 4-inch heels and plenty of contrived circumstances (shockingly placed hand to heart as my jaw drops at just the right banal beat) I balanced out the vixen-fest with my DVR’d episodes of Dr. Oz.

I find myself intrigued with his cheesy visuals of fat expanding in the body or how the liver detoxifies that circle the really good, solid health information he actually delivers. Even if my husband says it’s more like an informercial and some of it simply isn’t pretty. I on the other hand, can’t keep from perusing through each and every episode.

On Monday my husband was at my sick side as we watched Dr. Oz interview Joe Cross about his documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and witnessed his wicked juicing ways.

By Wednesday I figured I may as well keep the unscheduled cleanse going which resulted in this:

With a swift print of a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond and not much food yet in my stomach, the decision to buy the tricked out 900 Watt Breville Juice Fountain was easily made. My justification was food blogger research —aka tax write-off —and hey, it’s almost Mother’s Day. Plus, I WAS SICK!

We’ll see how long this juicing thing lasts. But with husband on board and his obsession with cucumber juice in full swing with a 7-iron in hand as we speak, this Very Green Juice with kiwi and cucumber is at the top of the weekend’s recipe list. After we get our tomatoes planted.

Friday Faves

If they would have taught music history like this I may have actually stayed awake because I would have been singing and along.

In for the save! An on-demand aka printable Mother’s Day card that’ll get you that extra piece of pie.

A future contender on The Voice and she’s only eleven years old. Proud to say she’s a Utahn too.

My mom and Oprah told me I should read this book about loss and healing through inner strength. And a lot of hiking boots.

Schmooze or lose: a lesson in business that doesn’t have to be cheesy. Unless, like me, you love cheese.

After perusing blogs heavy on photos of cupcakes, chicken wings and barrels of pasta, I sometimes like to lose myself in these short stories that bring me along on the journey of two brothers in search of simple adventures.

Have you fallen victim to fellow diners who always want to split the meal but then stiff the tip? This free tip calculator app lets you leave the table still as friends and with your head held high.

I am such a bath whore, savoring my nightly ritual no matter what time I go to bed. These DIY bath salts will make my soak that much more stellar.

My dream Mother’s Day brunch if I wasn’t going out: Salmon Salad Sandwich with Avocado Mayo, Rhubarb Floats and finish it off with Lemon Pound Cake.

Craving more life balance, less stress, and better health? Check out my Nourished Planner, the daily planner to help create simplicity and under-schedule your life.

We send good emails. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and have each post plus exclusive content only for our subscribers delivered straight to your e-mail box.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more FoodieCrush inspiration.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Garlic Butter

This perfectly tender and juicy whole oven roasted chicken gets brushed with a fresh lemon rosemary garlic butter and stuffed with aromatics for extra flavor. It’s perfect for Sunday dinner, but easy enough for a weeknight!

Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe

Searching through cookbooks, leafing through food magazines and trolling through food blogs proves one fact over and over again: cooks love making recipes with chicken.

While the boneless chicken breast seems to be the star in most recipes, the whole bird cannot be ignored. There’s nothing quite like a juicy hen, perfuming the whole house, to get the salivating started.

This whole roasted chicken recipe is like a butter infused invitation to belly up to the Sunday dinner table. But it’s so easy you could totally make it any day of the week.

Chicken on the bone. Chicken with skin. Those two things give chicken a flavor all on its own.

But when you layer that baby bird with the soft, buttery mix of garlic, lemon, and rosemary a totally new flavor permeates our chicken-little under, and over, the skin.

And that skin, oh that lovely, golden skin. Butter baby. It does the trick.

continue to the recipe… about Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Garlic Butter

Daddy’s Baked Hamburgers and Friday Faves

Yep, you read that right! These baked hamburgers are a breeze to make and come together in about 15 minutes. You’ll definitely want seconds!

Hamburgers in the Oven

With The Super Bowl blowing up television screens and beer kegs nationwide, there will be plenty of eyeballs glued to the screen. Will they be watching the game? Shhushing fellow T.V. watchers during the commercials? Or anxiously awaiting to judge the lip syncing skills of Beyonce? You go girl.

Sure that’s all part of the fun, but for wayyyyy more of us it’s all about the food. Americana at its gluttonous best with antacids and Ibuprofen on stand-by, ready to remedy too much revelry when the San Francisco 49ers come home with the ring. That’s right. My team is coming home with the big V.

The recipe for Daddy’s Hamburgers is an homage to the 49ers in a way. My grandparents immigrated to San Francisco, the only place they lived besides communist Germany, and it’s where my dad was born and raised until he came to Utah to play college basketball and, much to my mom’s distress, stayed because of the great hunting in Utah and Idaho. SF is in my family’s blood, it’s one of my favorite cities, and the niners were always a special connection with my dad, the ultimate T.V. sports fan.

Watching 49er games with D was a ritual, not in a weird get dressed in a jersey way—which my husband has done for each game this season—but in a let’s get behind this team and show we care way. Somehow I married a niner’s fan, it was where we took our first trip together, and it’s now Smudge’s favorite team too. What a surprise, she’s such a daddy’s girl.

These baked burgers are my dad’s specialty, one that when I called him to get the recipe, he had made just the night before! When my dad cooks, he is very precise, making even cuts of cheese squares to top basic hamburgers with french rolls or ciabatta. We still call them hamburgers even though they’re topped with cheese, because that’s how my dad has always done it.

It all looks way too simple to taste as delicious as it does. The secret is the pat of butter atop each oven baked hamburger that melt down into the burger meat co-mingling with Worcestershire sauce to create a juicy, lickable drip down each side of your cheering for the 49er’s game face. (Please win. Please win.)continue to the recipe… about Daddy’s Baked Hamburgers and Friday Faves

Creamy Mashed Potatoes Recipe — How to Make the Best!

Knowing how to make mashed potatoes is a basic recipe every home cook needs in their kitchen skill set, and this easy recipe shows how to make the best creamy, buttery, mashed potatoes every time.

The Best Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Does the internet really need another mashed potatoes recipe? To some, the answer could be a “no”, but then the naysayers haven’t tried my easy recipe for the best mashed potatoes that works every single time.

Sure, flavored mashers like garlic mashed potatoes are tasty, and crock pot mashed potatoes might be convenient, but the best mashed potatoes to pair with any recipe are the kind mom used to make. Potatoes that are fluffy and creamy at the same time, and that don’t skimp on the butter.

There are a only a couple of easy tricks you need to master to get a great mashed potato to complete any meal. After years of mashed potato making, I’ve figured them out, and that’s why I’m adding my mashed potato recipe to the internet today.continue to the recipe… about Creamy Mashed Potatoes Recipe — How to Make the Best!

Juicy Roast Turkey Breast

The best way cook roast turkey breast isn’t in the crockpot, but in the oven instead, and it only takes 30 minutes to cook!

Thanksgiving isn’t the only time of the year to talk turkey. Sure, it’s a popular protein over the holidays, but it should totally be considered as a dinner contender any time of year.

Turkey. It isn’t just for sandwiches anymore.

Turkey has so much more to offer than just a side dish to mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Especially when it’s cooked as a roasted turkey breast like this easy-to-make recipe.

My turkey-making-tricks result in an oven roasted turkey breast that’s juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and ready to gobble down, whether it’s served with all the fixins’, in my favorite turkey pot pie, or yes, even as an awesome grilled cheese turkey sandwich.continue to the recipe… about Juicy Roast Turkey Breast

Easy Green Beans with Browned Butter Almondine

This year I’m adding more simple side dishes to the blog’s recipe list because while main dishes are often the star of the dinner time show, it’s the sides that I find always sneak in and steal the spotlight. And this FoodieCrush green bean side dish is proof that statement is true because it’s easy enough to make for everyday, but pretty enough to serve for special occasions too.

I remember my mom making a version of this super simple green bean side dish since before I could even decide if I liked it or not. At our house, there wasn’t really an option. You ate what was served and that was that. But I always loved these green beans.

They’re crisp. Buttery. A little bit lemony, and always with the crunch of almonds. And they are totally unlike the Brussels sprouts my mom tried to poison me with, where with each forkful I’d chew just enough to be convincing, then fake cough the mouthful into my napkin so I could feed them to our dog Posey. But Posey was smart. She didn’t like Brussels sprouts either. But she would have loved these green beans, if I’d been generous enough to share with her.

And yes, it is true. You can feed dogs green beans to help them lose weight. It was our secret weight loss ingredient for our 120 lb. malamute, Akasha, who shed the pounds but still felt full thanks to the fiber in green beans. Or at least she wasn’t howling and writhing with hunger pangs because she was a dog…and since she couldn’t talk and couldn’t sneak her own food, I’m deciding she was just fine with her mix of dog food and green beans.

I’ve often wondered if the green bean diet would help humans lose weight too? I mean, why not? Green beans are high in dietary fiber, low-calorie and virtually zero fat. Not to mention the loads of vitamins they pass along to our able bodies.

But I digress…

Back to the almondy beans…

While this simple recipe for fresh green beans topped with almonds has always been at the tops of my side dish list, my husband prefers the canned version and has passed that preference along to our daughter, too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially when it’s totally convenient to pull a can out of the pantry to get a quick veg into a meal.continue to the recipe… about Easy Green Beans with Browned Butter Almondine

The Best Baked Chicken Breast

Whether you’re working on making your weekly meal prep easier, or need a quick and simple recipe for weeknight dinners, this recipe has all my secrets for the best baked chicken breast guaranteed to come out perfectly juicy every single time.

The ubiquitous chicken breast could quite possibly be the most popular protein of any out there. Beloved by eaters for its neutral flavor and lauded by home cooks for its versatility, there isn’t much one can’t do—or many who won’t be pleased—when it comes to including chicken in the meal.

Unless it tastes like a piece of dry shoe leather.

This baked chicken breast recipe is the total opposite of some worn-out old loafer, and is about to become your secret weapon when it comes to easy eats. This is my tried-and-true, tested-for-years basic baked chicken breast recipe that is easily mastered no matter what your skill level, and it’s the centerpiece of turning weekend meal prep into successful weeknight eats.

Because let’s face it, even if chicken breasts are easily dressed up to fit most any meal, they can be a bit boring on their own. Unless they’re cooked to juicy perfection. And this my friends, is how you nail baking the best baked chicken breast every time.continue to the recipe… about The Best Baked Chicken Breast

The Best Buttery Parsley Potatoes

Boiled baby red potatoes get an infusion of butter and parsley to make this super easy, 3-ingredient side dish one of my all-time favorite side dish recipes for any meal.

This is one of those recipes that comes so naturally, without much thought, that I didn’t really think about sharing it.

Until someone asked for it.

I bet we had these potatoes at least once a week when I was growing up. They’re the ultimate pairing for any and all comfort food because they’re so insanely simple to add along to any main. And so intensely delicious.

Baby red potatoes are the simple cook’s dream side dish. They’re creamy in texture. They cook quickly. You don’t have to skin them. And they’re easy to prepare no matter what your method. Roasting. Grilling. Smashing. And like here, with your basic quick boil in water.continue to the recipe… about The Best Buttery Parsley Potatoes

Grilled Lobster Tails with Smoked Paprika Butter

Lobster tails just might be the most classic show-someone-special-you-love-’em meal of all time, and when they’re grilled with flavor-packed smoked paprika butter, these tails guarantee you’ll kiss the cook.

Last week I sent out my monthly newsletter for August (you can sign up here if you aren’t already) and asked readers for suggestions on what kind of recipes they’d like to see on the old Foodie le Crush. The response was terrific, thank you so much for all of the amazing replies! While I can’t feature every single e-mail, I’ll be picking out a few that represent some of the more popular requests, so please, keep the suggestions coming!

Our first feature is from Sarah, who wrote:

“I’d LOVE to see some date night dinners for two. Your blog is very family-friendly, which is wonderful, but everyone needs a little date night every once-in-a-while, right? Love your content! I’m 26 and read your blog to get away from the crazy that comes with trying to set yourself up for success at this age. It’s hard! Keep up the great work!”

Thank you Sarah, and good on you for moving yourself forward! I’m totally with you on date night eats, cooking is one of me and my husband’s favorite things to do together.

But if you’d rather spend time being together instead of in the kitchen chopping and sauteíng, this super simple grilled lobster recipe is guaranteed to wow the one you love.continue to the recipe… about Grilled Lobster Tails with Smoked Paprika Butter

Easy 5-Minute Parmesan Zucchini

It takes just three ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and about five minutes to create this zucchini side dish that easily slides into just about any main meal menu plan.

So you’ve answered the question of what the heck you’re going to fix for dinner tonight. Congratulations! Hey, it’s not easy to come up with a dinner plan that pleases everyone’s likes, dislikes, and food craving fancies. But you did it!

Next comes part 2 of the dinner-time equation, the one that is typically a stumper. “So…what should we have with it?”

This question seems to be the one that can lead most home cooks down the rabbit hole only to pop back up with the same rotation of the same side dishes they fix over and over and over again. That’s why, moving forward, my goal here at the FC blog HQ is to provide you with more ideas of simple, sides that appeal to the whole gang at the table, have a healthy bent, and are neutral enough to go with just about anything.

So let’s get started with a super simple side dish I grew up on that right now in August is totally in season now, but can also be made just as easily in February: 5-Minute Parmesan Zucchini. continue to the recipe… about Easy 5-Minute Parmesan Zucchini

5 Favorite Recipes for Flavored Compound Butters

Herbs, citrus, and even cheese flavor these 5 recipes for easy-to-make homemade compound butters to use on everything from hot veggies (roasted corn is a favorite!) to chicken, fish, pasta, and steaks, and it’s one of my secrets for jazzing up a gooey grilled cheese sandwich.

More butter, more better. And when it’s of the infused-flavored variety, there’s always room for even more better butter.

Compound butters are something I like to keep on hand to effortlessly boost the flavor of meats, chicken, and burgers, or slither into pasta with a little cheese, or mix into scrambled eggs and omelets. And of course, it’s absolutely the best slathered on sweet summer corn.

While it would be easy to mix these flavor combinations together and set out in a bowl to serve from there, I like rolling them into logs and then cutting into slices to melt on just about anything for added flavor.

And because these buttery flavor bursts freeze well, it’s simple to pull them out on a whim and use to suit the tastes of everyone at the table. continue to the recipe… about 5 Favorite Recipes for Flavored Compound Butters

French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Today is a big day in the world of cheese lovers. It’s National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. Two snaps and let’s celebrate.

I know. They make food holidays out of the oddest of food themes: Bologna Day (October 24). Fruit cocktail day (May 13). Bicarbonate of soda day (December 30). What?

But for pretty much every food lover everywhere, Grilled Cheese Day is officially one to break bread for. I mean, it’s cheese. And I’ve made it my goal to share a cheesy fave every GCDay since I started this bloggity blog back in 2011. So let’s dig into this melty onion, cheesy favorite between two slices of sourdough bread.

Who needs brothy soup anyway?continue to the recipe… about French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Garlic Butter Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

These easy, from scratch garlic-slathered pizza dough bites are stuffed with cheese and mini pepperoni, then baked for an appetizer everyone at the party will love.

This post is in partnership with DeLallo Foods

One of the earliest recipes I shared here on le bloggity blog was for little nuggets of garlic joy called Killer Garlic Rolls, inspired by a popular restaurant in our old neighborhood of Marina del Rey in California.

Those rolls. Pure love right there.

Today they’ve provided a nod of inspiration to this recipe for stuffed pizza rolls that are bathed in a simlilar garlic and herb butter—and bursting with a cheesy pepperoni pop.

These rolls. Pure love right here X 10.continue to the recipe… about Garlic Butter Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

The Easiest Whole Dungeness Crab Recipe

Boiling whole Dungeness crabs are the simplest way to create a festive dinner that looks totally elegant but is actually deceptively easy to prepare.

This post is in partnership with Universal Pictures

The holiday season is fast approaching and all I can think of is, “What’s on the menu next?”, and for a very good reason.

A few weeks ago my festive meal planning got a jump start when I received a text from my little sister (although she’s actually taller than my 5’10” frame), announcing that for the first time since Smudge and my niece Lauren were babies, she and my bro-in-law and my other niece Olivia will be joining us for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. This is the bittersweet silver lining to Santa focusing on other, younger kids with the magic dust still in their eyes.

That means this celebration will be 12 years in the making, where we will be popping the champs and serving something special.

Special, but easy. Because I for one don’t want to be spending all my time in the kitchen when I can be having fun with the family instead. Enter my plan to serve the easiest but still elegant dungeness crab as party of our holiday feast.

Lucky for me, my family is probably the most drama-free family of any family I know. The skeletons in the closet must be hidden really, really well, and we must have the good kid genes from Grandma Mary Jane and Grandpa Cal because there just aren’t any reasons for us all to not get along.

Which makes it that much more fun to see on the big screen how families that do have a wee bit of holiday drama handle the rest of their clan in their family tree.

Almost Christmas tells the story of a patriarch (played by Danny Glover) who after losing his wife the year before, asks his family for one gift this holiday season: to get along. But with 4 adult children once again under one roof, the sibling rivalry just might be the best of them with five days of family togetherness without killing each other.

And with a bit of naughty banter, comedian Mo’Nique just about steals the show. Catch it all with your own family when this holiday flick opens in theaters this Friday, November 11.

But even with their foibles, this family is just like the rest of us, gathering around the table to create new holiday memories.

It used to be I was a bit intimidated by preparing dungeness crab, a fact that seems absolutely ridiculous now that I have more than a few cracked crabs under my belt. Because honestly…this is the easiest crab you’re ever going to make.

Plan on about 1 crab per person, or if serving as an appetizer, 1 crab for every 2 people.

Because I live in a land-locked state, the dungeness crabs I can get have already been cooked, which means the crab only needs an easy warm up before eating rather than a full immersive steaming or cooking. Simply bring a stock pot of water to boil, turn off the heat, and immerse the crabs in the hot water to gently warm. This keeps the crab from becoming overcooked (for a second time) and tough. Let the crab sit for about 10 minutes or until it becomes fragrant, then drain.

If you’re lucky enough to get fresh crab straight from the ocean, here is a great video showing you how to steam a live crab with ease.

About the Recipe

To serve the crab, you’ll need to clean the crab. The video above shows the fastest and easiest way to clean the crab and prepare it for eating.

After the crab has been cleaned, take the back of a heavy knife and crack the legs to make it easiest to pull the crab from the shell, no crackers required. We use skinny crab forks to pull the meat from the shell, but you can also go au natural and use the sharp ends of the claws to pick through the inside of the shells.

I keep it easy with the dipping sauce and serve a lemon spiked salted butter with a bit of Old Bay Seasoning stirred in. A simple mix of ketchup and hot horseradish give a lower-cal, spicy option, too.

Recipe Ideas to Serve With Your Dungeness Crab

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

4 from 1 vote

The Easiest Whole Dungeness Crab Recipe

Whole Dungeness crabs are the simplest way to create a festive meal that looks totally elegant but is actually deceptively easy to prepare.

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

4 cooked Dungeness crabs about 2 pounds each
1 tablespoon kosher salt
16 tablespoons 1 cup or 2 sticks salted butter
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 lemon juiced
1/2 cup ketchup
1-2 teaspoons prepared horseradish to your taste
Fresh dill and parsley for garnish
Sliced lemon and limes

Instructions

Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil, season with 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Once the water comes to a boil, remove from heat. Immerse two of the crabs into the water for 5-10 minutes until the crabs are warmed through. Remove the crabs from the water and set aside to drain. Bring the water to another boil and repeat with remaining crabs.
Clean the crabs while the other two crabs are warming in the hot water. Crack the legs with the back of a heavy knife. Serve on a platter with fresh dill leaves, parsley and sliced lemons and limes.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Reduce the heat to low and skim the foam from the butter. Stir in the Old Bay Seasoning and the lemon juice. In a small bowl, mix the ketchup with the prepared horseradish. Serve the flavored butter and cocktail sauce alongside the crab.

Today’s post is sponsored by Universal Pictures. As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.

Are you following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest?

Thanks for reading and subscribe to FoodieCrush to have each post delivered straight to your e-mail box.

Market Street Clam Chowder Recipe

This recipe is a favorite I published in the early days of FoodieCrush. This past weekend I ran into a friend at the grocery store who said she’d been searching for the famous clam chowder recipe from Salt Lake City’s Market Street Grill, which reminded me to re-share the recipe with some updated photos for you. So, without further adieu, here is a re-post of the best clam chowder recipe, in my opinion, EVER.

“Hey, Chowda-head!”

It was a greeting that one of my fellow waiters at my post-college/pre-real-life-seafood-restaurant-job has been teased about for lo’ these many years. And he has NEVER been happy about hearing it again, and again, and again.

See, that job at Salt Lake City’s Market Street Grill was all about presentation and customer service. That meant every dish, every cup and even every spoon was served by the waiter from a tray.

So when you had a 6-top—that’s waiter-speak for a table of six—who all ordered the house specialty, famous clam chowder, we would load up a HUGE tray, hoist it high over our heads with the straightest arm we could possible muster, and charge forth through the sea of waiting to be seated customers to serve our eagerly awaiting diners bowls of creamy, white chowder in heavy china bowls with plated liners.

One especially busy night—it must have been a big rush before a Utah Jazz basketball game—my friend had a big table and of course they all ordered chowder. He loaded up the tray, even stacking the bowls two high!

It was a feat to behold for mere waiter mortals.continue to the recipe… about Market Street Clam Chowder Recipe

Grilled Corn With Spicy Buffalo Butter

Easy grilled summer corn gets a kick in the tastebuds with a slathering of yummy buffalo sauce and blue cheese-spiked compound butter.

My husband has three fetishes when it comes to eating seasonally come summer.

First, watermelon. Seedless please.

Second, cucumbers. Even though he’s allergic to them he still puts us through listening to him clear his throat for minutes at a time because he can’t stop eating them. Lovely.

And third, corn. Corn, corn, corn.

Virtually every menu we’ve grilled up this summer has been peppered with the addition of grilled corn. Corn with burgers. Corn with ribs. Corn with chicken. And yes, even corn with (and on) pizza. While we’ve certainly been known to toss the cobs into the big stock pot to cook for a mere minute or three, our most favorite way to enjoy it is cooking it alongside whatever else is on the grill to make it, “charred corn for the win!”

However, corn would be nothing without butter. And this blue cheese buffalo compound butter is all about the slather. Off your chin. Like this butter is guaranteed to be.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Corn With Spicy Buffalo Butter

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Chive Herb Butter

This is my quick and easy go-to method for grilling chicken. Top it with a homemade lemony herb compound butter and you’ll take it to the next level.

Butter. It’s the secret sauce.

We all know it’s best slathered on freshly baked breads and muffins, hot corn on the cob, or as the essential base for the craziest, cheesiest mac & cheese, but it’s quickly become one of my favorite additions for anything that comes off the grill, too.

I’ve shared my penchant for compound butters before, like in this recipe for lime and chili chicken skewers or my husband’s now famous porcini infused butter atop filet mignon.

With flavored butters there’s no need to wait for a marinade to infuse the meat with flavor and moisture. All that’s required is a hot grill, hot chicken and sliced butter flavor boosters straight from the refrigerator in the form of these chive and herb butter slices. From there, the hot grilled breast meat finishes the job by decadently melting flavor onto each morsel of chicken.

Flavored butters are not only becoming my secret sauce, but like Wonder Woman’s golden cuffs they’re becoming my secret grilling weapon. If only I had the rest of the outfit (ahem…and that bod), imagine the work in the kitchen that could be done.

About the Recipe

I shared my favorite tips for the best grilled chicken breast here. It’s a quick and simple recipe and the building block for any BBQ. But when you’re craving more flavor and time is of the essence, flavored butters are a great option.

During the summer months I make different buttered combinations (truffle butter, garlic butter, sriracha butter) to have on hand to use for meats, chicken, fish, veggies and pretty much anything that comes off the grill. Yes, even fruit—honey, cinnamon and thyme is a favorite. The sky truly is the limit on what flavor combinations you can create.

Simply soften the butter until it’s mixable and add your favorite flavors. Dollop onto a piece of plastic wrap, roll into a log and place in the refrigerator for an hour or up to 1 month. Then, simply slice as needed.

Remember flavored butters aren’t limited to the grill. Use them for slathering on the outside of grilled cheese sandwiches, to season steamed veggies or boost your favorite sauces.

And with that, you’ve just become a grilling super hero.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.

5 from 1 vote

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Chive and Herb Butter

There's no marinade involved with this recipe. Instead, this compound butter seeps into the hot grilled chicken to infuse all of the delicious herbed flavor.

Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup 1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
3 chives minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves minced
2 lemons halved, plus zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ lemon
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

In small bowl, combine butter, herbs, lemon zest and lemon juice until well mixed. Lay out large piece of plastic wrap on clean counter. Spoon butter mixture onto bottom third of plastic wrap then roll into log. Refrigerate for hour or until firm.
Bring grill to high heat and oil it lightly. Brush chicken breasts with extra virgin olive oil and season chicken breasts with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Let rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
Put chicken on grill along with 4 lemon halves, cut side down. Grill chicken for about 5 minutes per side or until grill marks form and chicken turns golden. Turn off one side of grill and move the chicken breasts to that side, keeping other side of grill on high heat. Remove lemons from grill. Cook chicken for 8-12 minutes or until 185 degrees internal temperature, turning once if needed.
Slice chive and herb butter into 1/2 inch slices.
To serve, squeeze grilled lemon half over chicken breast and top with pat of chive and herb butter.

As always, thank you for reading and for supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.

Are you following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest?

Thanks for reading and subscribe to FoodieCrush to have each post delivered straight to your e-mail box.

Dilled Red Potatoes and Peas

There are only three steps in this easy recipe for boiled red potatoes and English peas with butter and fresh dill, making this a lovely side for a spring lunch or dinner.

Signs of spring are popping up everywhere.

We cleaned out the last of fall’s remnants of fallen leaves so that now the crocus are sprouting through, piles-of-dead-leaves-free, with their yellow and purple happy faces.

This weekend I bought a mess of Girl Scout cookies. How many samoas and thin mints can be eaten in one sitting with three people? 2 boxes is the answer.

And our new rescue pup Zoee is shedding like there’s no tomorrow. Pair the vacuuming of dog hair with the sneezes of hay fever and we have quite the symphony going on at our house.

Ahhh, spring.

But most of all, spring gets me craving simple, flavorful eats. With the emphasis on SIMPLE.continue to the recipe… about Dilled Red Potatoes and Peas

Maple Buttered Sweet Potato Wedges

These wedge-cut sweet potatoes are seasoned with a touch of chili powder, cinnamon, fresh thyme, and a generous drip good maple syrup, and then they get caramelized as they roast in the oven, for a wonderfully sweet and savory side for your Thanksgiving table.

Yesterday I was all about the pie, pie, pie, pie, pie. Today I’m all about the sides, sides, sides, sides, sides. Let’s go T-swift style and Shake! It! Up! Shake! It! Up!

You can find sweet potatoes on pretty much every Thanksgiving table. Except for ours. Growing up we never had sweet potatoes for turkey day. Or yams for that matter. I guess nobody was much of a fan of cooked marshmallows on top of canned orange jewels.

This time around, I’ve turned to the wedge—the sweet potato wedge. Gone is the mush factor found in canned varieties. Instead one of my favorite fall seasonal veggies is partnered with Real® butter, sweet maple syrup and a pinch or two of cinnamon and another smidge of cayenne. Then off on a trip to the hot oven they go.

continue to the recipe… about Maple Buttered Sweet Potato Wedges

Curry Turkey Pot Pie With Homemade Butter Pie Crust

Put your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers to good use with this pot pie! The addition of curry powder lends aromatic flavor in this fun twist on the classic chicken pot pie, which also features the most tender and flaky all butter crust.

Pie, pie, pie. It’s all anyone is talking about this time of year. Today I’m talking pie, too. But not just any pie. I’m diverting from the sweet side and heading South to savory to share my FAVORITE recipe: My mother-in-law’s Curry Turkey Pot Pie. And to make it even more special, it’s topped—and bottomed—with a heaven is waiting for this butter crust.

I may start making pies every day of the week because for this wanna be baker, this recipe proved that once you get the basics down, baking pies is really that easy.

The turkey, veggies and creamy filling of the pot pie are the heart of the dish, but the crust is where it finds its soul. And I like me a buttery, flakey soul.

continue to the recipe… about Curry Turkey Pot Pie With Homemade Butter Pie Crust

Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Almond Streusel

Things around here have floated back into a familiar groove.

Smudge is back in school so sleeping in is saved for the weekends and random mommy daughter excursions during the day have come to a halt. The one thing that stays constant is my little girl’s request for an after school snack as soon as her backpack hits the floor. I wish she’d learn to pick that up. But then, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

We have our routine when she walks in the door. I tell her to wash her hands. She heads straight for the kitchen in search of sustenance.

This sweet after school treat is a mash-up of two food bloggers’ recipes I’ve had the luck to taste for myself straight from their sugar laced ovens.

The result? I think you can tell for yourself by Smudge’s reaction below.

continue to the recipe… about Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Almond Streusel

Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

If you’re like me, cooking is simply part of life’s continuing education. Just when I think, “I’ve got this down pat,” or “There’s no possible way this could taste any better,” I get schooled once again.

Take for example the basic, elemental pasta sauce. The one that is so simple it works as the foundation for so many tomato-based recipes where other ingredients do the glitzy red-carpet-look-at-me-I’m-the-star work and the tomato sauce simply shines in the background.

I thought I knew this recipe just by intuition and from following recipes handed down to me from family or ones I’d learned from my hoarder’s collection of magazines.

But I have just discovered, I was doing it all wrong.

continue to the recipe… about Easy Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

Lime and Chile Butter Chicken Skewers

Please, please, please! Say it ain’t so! But yes, it’s true, we’re headlong into the wind down of summer.

Sniffle here and sob there, I’m harboring some serious resentment at the fact that summer is quickly fading into fall. This is mostly due to the fact that in mid-July I broke my wrist and the elbow of my other arm (of which I’ve lamented about my gimpness on the blog and you’re sick of hearing about since it happened) and that the wrist required surgery to give me a fancy new metal plate and 10 screws surgically inserted into my limp old wrist. Yep, I’ll be the one setting off the alarms, bells and whistles at the airport security line.

It also turned most of my summer of bar-b-ques on the deck and hostessing of summer fun into a self-imposed 3 week marathon of feeling-sorry -for-myself-BRAVO-watching-reality-show-obsession because I couldn’t chop, cook or even pull my hair into a top knot. And if any of you know me in person, the top knot is what really put me under.

But, I gave myself ’til this week to finish my sulk and now I’m back at ‘em, working the wrist so it doesn’t turn into a stiff log of a limb and I even took off my bandages all by my-freak-out-at-any-medical-condition-that-may-result-in-blood-self. I was happy and surprised to see a completely healed 3-inch scar.

Friends, I’m back.

And it’s a good thing too, because yesterday, when Smudge asked me why we haven’t had any parties with and of our friends who are parents of her friends who we would usually have summertime parties with, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling the lack of party pain. Remedy solved, we’re having a party tonight and putting our summer party slump to bed.

This recipe doesn’t require a party to make it special. In fact, if you’re in need of a fast dinner with minimal effort but big flavor, this chicken skewer recipe is a keeper.

continue to the recipe… about Lime and Chile Butter Chicken Skewers

Filet Mignon with Porcini Mushroom Compound Butter

I bet it started in the ‘50s. Maybe the ‘40s even. Of course I could be wrong, but it seems to me a perfect timeline fit. Back when sips of bourbon-and-bitters-based Manhattans and nibbles of caviar topped deviled eggs started the meal and Baked Alaska ended it and The Joy of Cooking lived in every good housewife’s kitchen cupboard.

Somewhere along the food heritage line, steak became the poster child for decadent dinners. And there’s no steak seemingly more decadent than the petite filet mignon.

Maybe it’s how it’s spelled with that sneaky, silent ‘g’ that shows off it’s Frenchie, linguistic ways. Maybe it’s because when you say “filet mignon” it simply rolls off the tongue and you sound so upscale. “Minnnnn-yon.”

Or maybe it’s because it’s such a dang expensive cut of meat. Because doesn’t expensive mean it’s the best? Maybe if you’re a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, but when it comes to especially flavorful food, hardly ever.

As things will happen over time, the filet mignon went from rock star status to a C-list contender on Dancing With the Stars, even getting lambasted by some of America’s top chefs. No flavor because it’s so low in fat. Overrated after becoming overexposed on nearly every American menu for years. And far too often, way overcooked for such a lean meat. Why oh why do people cook their meat well done?

But when this tender filet is cooked just right at a medium rare temperature, and a pat of fat is added to the ingredient list, suddenly we have a whole new ball game.

continue to the recipe… about Filet Mignon with Porcini Mushroom Compound Butter

Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

I’m finishing up my unofficial, undeclared week of delicious cream cheese dips with just one more cheesy wonder: Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

While I’ve been slathering my Smoked Salmon Spread on bagel crisps, and dipping chips into this Porter Caramelized Onion Dip (check out the cookbook giveaway that features it), I figured what better time than this very moment to break out a Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

Because I haven’t broken into the crackers yet!

continue to the recipe… about Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Growing up there was pretty much just a handful of cookies that we (as in the royal ‘we’ that would pretty much just be ‘me’) would make at home to satisfy the old sweet tooth. No Bake Cookies, Sugar Cookies and Snickerdoodles were all part of the arsenal. But none got as much action as this recipe did in my teenage cookie craving days.

I’m pretty surprised it’s taken me this long to pull this recipe out of the proverbial hat and post on the blog. But in reality, I’ve been giving this recipe the cold shoulder while I’ve been on the search for the ‘perfect’ chocolate chip cookie. You know, the one that makes me weak in the knees, the one that has me reaching for a glass of the coldest mug of dunkable milk.

After making these babies again for the first time in several years, I’m convinced I was looking in all the wrong places, and that like so many things in life, I had the ‘perfect’ formula in front of me all along.

This recipe came from my mom’s friend Annette and was the only chocolate chip cookie I made until the age of about 26 since it was the only chocolate chip cookie recipe I could fathom to exist. Until the afore-mentioned quest led me astray. Until I FINALLY experienced for myself that the grass is not always greener.

continue to the recipe… about Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chorizo and Peppadew Pepper Grilled Cheese

What is that you see? A towering inferno? No, just a deliciously lipsmackerlicious Spanish-style grilled cheese sandwich. What? What’s that you say? Oh man! Say it ain’t so! Grilled Cheese Month has nearly closed it’s doors, making way for Mother’s day brunch, Cinco de Mayo spiciness and so many asparagus recipes bopping about the web we probably won’t even have to eat the tender stalks to feel their superpower affects.

I may have to rebel and stay in April with my gooey grilled cheese. Although I do have one final grilled cheese recipe that I’m saving to transition into May. I have a hard time saying goodbye.

So. I’m going to be judging a contest, the Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown, and I can’t believe the goodness that’s been submitted so far. Like a marathon runner in training, I’ve been doing my due diligence and expanding my stomach in preparation for the big event. Like that was hard. If you haven’t yet, I really, really hope you enter. Because there are some SERIOUS prized to be won. Like serious. And I can’t win them. So I want you to instead. Plus I want some inspiration to glean for grilled cheese month NEXT year. Enter and get more info at the Grilled Cheese Academy site.

This photo of my husband hand modeling is for Chung-Ah of Damn Delicious. We have a thing about using our men for free labor. And have you seen her amazing grilled cheeses? Blueberries on a waffle. And cheese!

And now let’s get to that recipe with more cheese…continue to the recipe… about Chorizo and Peppadew Pepper Grilled Cheese

Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

My fetish with lemons has yet to recede or fade to the background. But it is sadly digressing fast. And I’m blaming my supplier. My supplier who has created a habit that will be hard to break, and who is breaking it for me, against my will.

Think of me as the Lindsay Lohan of the lemon world. Rehab, here I come.

I’m so sad to see my Meyer lemon train making it’s final stop at my beloved Costco. Costco has been the key ingredient in keeping my overwhelming love and sense of tartness in the front seat of my recipe list that has included both savory —Meyer Lemon Fettuccine—and sweet—Meyer Lemon Tart.

Lemons are making way for sweet strawberries and skinny asparagus, which will soon enough pass the favorite ingredient hat to home-grown tomatoes, jalapeños and the plethora of zucchini.continue to the recipe… about Lemon and Cherry Mini Bundt Cakes

Strawberry Bruschetta Grilled Cheese and Friday Faves

It was that sock that sat right in the middle of the floor for over a week. And her flip-flops that were haphazardly strewn about the living room along with a pile of papers and markers and other 8 year old stuff. And the pile of yet to be cleaned paint brushes sitting on the counter after my husband deposited them, left to languish next to the pile of clean towels that never seemed to get put away.

The little annoyances that last week gave me prickly heat every time I saw them, melted to the background after several national events reminded me that life as we know it can change in an instant.

I’m just grateful I get to once again have this gentle nudge to not take “stuff” so seriously. It is, afterall, just stuff.

As I show you my favorite recipes or share the latest shoes I covet, I don’t want to be insensitive—or on the flip side too melancholy—to events beyond our control. I think it’s important to remember that while we’re all affected by national circumstances, and while saddened or frustrated by them, we must also learn something from them. So I’m working on learning to turn a blind eye to MY issues with what gets my dander up, and be thankful I have loved ones to contribute to my self-induced peeves.

Yesterday I asked Facebook what you were craving to continue my Grilled Cheese Month Friday recipes: Savory or sweet? While the savory side seemed to weigh in pretty heavy, there were a fair number of you in the sweet camp as well. So I made a compromise: Let’s do a savory AND sweet grilled cheese this week. And here she is.

I present…Strawberry Bruschetta Grilled Cheese.continue to the recipe… about Strawberry Bruschetta Grilled Cheese and Friday Faves

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