carrots

Beef Stew with Butternut Squash (Instant Pot, Stove Top or Crock Pot)

Tender chuck roast pairs with classic stew veggies and butternut squash in this easy beef stew made even easier in the Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or on the stove top.

Slow Cooker or Instant Pot Beef Stew Recipe

I made this classic Beef Stew with a slew of nutritious veggies in my Instant Pot on the pressure cooking setting, and the whole stew was cooked and ready to eat in just 40 minutes. Compare that to 2 hours or more on the stove top and you’ll know why I’m such a fan.

BUT! If you don’t have an Instant Pot, this beef stew is just as easily prepared on the stove top, or in the slow cooker, with directions for both below.

continue to the recipe… about Beef Stew with Butternut Squash (Instant Pot, Stove Top or Crock Pot)

Easy Hamburger Vegetable Soup

This simple hamburger soup is loaded with vegetables and is an incredibly easy weeknight comfort food dinner because more than likely you’ll have all of the ingredients on hand and ready for soup thanks to your pantry, fridge, and/or freezer.

The first time I had this totally solid, totally comforting hamburger soup was when my mother-in-law made it for a family gathering of which I was not yet part of the family. My husband and I had just started dating and it was dinner at mom’s house and I was invited to go.

No pressure. Nope. None at all.

One of the things I learned that night—along with the fact that as a teen my husband used to wear a nylon over his head so his wet curly hair would dry straight—is that getting friends and family together to share a meal doesn’t have to be over-thought or overdone.

Good food means good times, and that’s really all you need.continue to the recipe… about Easy Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Curry Turkey Pot Pie With Homemade Butter Pie Crust

Put your Thanksgiving leftovers to good use with this turkey 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.

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie Recipe

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 homemade pot pie recipe proved that once you get the basics down, baking pies is really that easy.

The turkey, veggies and creamy filling of the turkey 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

The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

It may be an age-old wives tale, but according to mothers, grandmothers and any soup lover, there truly is no better cure for anything and everything that ails you than homemade chicken noodle soup made with chunky carrots, celery and always savory chicken stock. It’s the ultimate comfort food and incredibly easy to make.

The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Typically when I place my grocery haul on the grocery store check-out line conveyer belt, it’s a hodge podge assortment of ingredients that doesn’t give anyone a hint as to what’s going on in my kitchen at home. As voyeurs peeking into other’s lives, do the checkers notice (or even care) that you buy all organic with a side of doughnuts on every trip? That you buy enough food to feed an army or simply pick up a passel of frozen dinners for one? And do they judge your cooking skills—or lack thereof—depending on what exotic—or mundane—ingredients fill your basket?

So it wasn’t much of a shocker when I showed up to the 15 items or fewer line that the grocery store clerk asked me if I had someone at home who was under the weather thanks to my collection of a bottle of Chloraseptic, two different brands of throat losenges, and all the fixin’s for homemade chicken noodle soup.

I’ll do everything and anything to cure my little girl’s wicked cold and sore throat. So when my baby doll requested a soother of soup for her sickly sore throat, as her adoring mother, I hopped to and got myself into the grocery store check out line and then straight back into the kitchen to whip up a homemade broth that makes the BEST chicken noodle soup from scratch, hands down beating anything out of a can.continue to the recipe… about The Best Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Matzo Ball Soup with Chicken Meatballs and Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe

Matzo Ball Soup with Chicken Meatballs is an easy and homemade way to celebrate Passover or any matzo ball craving—with a twist.

I’m not Jewish. But I am definitely a matzo ball lover.

It all started with late night jaunts to the classic Canters Deli where I became an obsessive fan of matzo ball soup with all the fixins’ — noodles, matzo ball, kreplach, chicken and carrots. What the crap is a kerplach, you ask? It’s sort of a jewish tortellini and pretty darned good.

But oh, THE BROTH. That delicious broth that brought me back to my senses in those wee late night hours. If only I could replicate it—the broth, not the late hours. But I’m no Jewish mother—although my husband will say I do have the stereotypical tendencies. Sadly, those secret, Old World ways of chicken broth making may never make it to my stove.

But I do have a delicious recipe that hits home and curbs my matzo ball craving every time. And what better time to share with you than in celebration of Passover and Easter weekend? Yum. You’ll soon be a believer.

This ingredient list looks long, but is really easy. If you’re making your own broth, the key is a long, slow simmer for all of those veggie and chicken flavors to marry in holy matzo-mony.continue to the recipe… about Matzo Ball Soup with Chicken Meatballs and Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe

Thai Quinoa Salad

This easy Thai quinoa salad combines protein-rich grains with healthy nutrients from fresh veggies, for a lime-infused flavor bomb with crunch in each bite.

This easy Thai quinoa salad combines protein-rich grains with healthy nutrients from fresh veggies, for a lime-infused flavor bomb with crunch in each bite. It’s great as a side for potlucks and as a main when you add chopped chicken. It’s also an easy and complete weekday lunch too.

I remember being at a Weight Watchers meeting where a woman emphatically stated that she did. NOT. like. quinoa. There was no changing her mind. But in my head I couldn’t figure out why she was putting up the quinoa roadblock.

Quinoa is one of my favorite protein sources, probably because it’s so unassuming. Like a seventh grade girl, it takes on the flavors it’s paired with.

For this quinoa salad, that means the salty flavors of a limey Thai dressing with plenty of veggie crunch. It’s the perfect side dish or main meal if you’re feeling the hug of your waistline just a little too much.

Quinoa is a bona fide super food. It’s gluten-free, packed with protein, fiber and flavonoids with studies showing it as an anti-inflammatory. It’s also loaded with antioxidants to keep those free radicals at bay.

continue to the recipe… about Thai Quinoa Salad

Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Thanks to the Instant Pot pressure cooker, this easy chicken with wild rice soup is rich, creamy (without any added cream), and fast to make, and it tastes even better the next day, making it a great addition to your meal prep plans. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, not to worry, I’m sharing my stove top directions as well.

It’s soup week!

This week I’m sharing a few of my favorite soups, old and new. And a good thing too, because when my daughter came home from school and looked at me with a red-ringed nose and her eyes at half-staff and announced her “throat was sooooooo sore”, as she breezed past me and coughed, wheezed, and hacked her way down the hall and into her room to flop onto her bed like a left-behind Raggedy Ann doll, I knew we were in for the night.

Good thing I had this soup prepped and ready for cookin’.

Creamy chicken and rice soup. Pure comfort and totally right for all that feels wrong.continue to the recipe… about Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

How to Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw

My favorite creamy coleslaw stays crunchy, not soupy, and gets a bit of bite in this slightly sweetened, vinegar-spiked coleslaw dressing.

Potato Salad. Baked Beans. My favorite Burrata and Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad. Those recipes have always made up my barbecue buffet table daydreams. But coleslaw? It was always on the bottom rung of my side dish desires. Show me the shredded cabbage bowl and watch me skip right on by.

But my husband? He’s a coleslaw connoisseur. It’s usually the first thing he goes for. But that doesn’t mean the bites he gets are always good, and that puts our home’s king of slaw down in the dumps.

But this creamy coleslaw recipe always gets not just one, but two big, Big, BIG thumbs up from my man. And now me, too.

It isn’t goopy. Nor is it soupy. And it’s far from overpowered by the bite of raw onion. This here coleslaw, folks, this is the best I’ve ever eaten. And the man agrees.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw

Grilled Shrimp Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Filled with herbs, veggies, and grilled shrimp, these fresh shrimp spring rolls take some patience to assemble, but they’re so flavorful!

One of the things I’ve read in self-help business books, absorbed from my favorite podcasts and basically just learned along the way of life is that the most successful people are the ones who delegate.

Delegation = Getting Shit Done.

Once upon a time I fancied myself a great delegator. I could look at a situation, see the vision of what needed to get done, figure out the most efficient path to achieve it and direct the peeps in my camp to go forth and prosper. But lately, I feel like I’ve lost my knack in finding the track. And it’s left me feeling a little defeated and floundering like a fish out of water.

That said, my husband will still say I’m bossy. I prefer to call it delegating to others by educating them in my view of efficiencies. Okay, I admit it, I’m a nag. So why is it so hard to let others help? To not just do it all yourself? To share those details you’ve learned in the school of hard knocks? Hey, it’s okay to stop being the martyr!

One of the best and worst parts of working as a solopreneur behind the curtain of a 27-inch HD computer screen is exactly that: you work by yourself. You do the drudge work, you own the good with the bad.

But you can also find yourself reverting to that 6-year-old who has to learn how to share—all over again. Because when you share, good things happen.continue to the recipe… about Grilled Shrimp Vietnamese Spring Rolls

7 Spice Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowls

Homemade Japanese 7 Spice (Shichimi Togarashi) infuses homemade teriyaki sauce to boost the flavors of this healthy teriyaki chicken bowl, featuring chicken thighs, edamame, and sushi rice.

There’s a trend afoot. A food trend you’re seeing right, left and center, and it starts with a capital F. No, we’re not talking french fries, fondue, or finger food. While I dig all of those and am especially partial to another F-word (I mean my my mom’s Fudge), they’re not on the scale for making major inroads into every cook’s kitchen.

So what F word is trending? It’s simple, really. The big F starts with flavor. Cooking these days is all about flavor. Trés trendy? Or just good, old fashioned recipe making? I’m betting it’s both.continue to the recipe… about 7 Spice Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowls

Slow Cooker + Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

You can cook it fast or cook it slow, but either way this corned beef and cabbage creates tender, fall-apart chunks of beef thanks to braising it in the crock pot or Instant Pot with beer and vegetables for an unbelievably easy and delicious one-pot dinner.

When asked whether corned beef is actually good for you, I say it may not be something to eat each and every day of the year, but I feel it’s totally fine when you eat it just like everything else you should—say it with me—in moderation!

But is corned beef actually Irish or not? Sure it’s traditionally served in the U.S. each and every St. Patrick’s Day and while you won’t likely find it served at the local pub in Ireland, it IS Irish-American.

I make corned beef and cabbage every single year around St. Patrick’s Day. Because like many of you, it’s a tradition that just can’t be ignored. It’s a ritual. And I’m good with that.

In fact I will cook a whole corned beef just so I can make my favorite Reuben sandwiches loaded with sauerkraut, that delicious sauce and melted cheese piled high on grilled rye bread, because seriously…who can say no to a killer reuben??

continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker + Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Lemon Chicken Stew

A one-pot dinner is a must-make meal for any new mom and dad. And with a lemony twist on the classic chicken and rice soup—this time with orzo pasta that helps thicken this flavor-filled cooking bonanza—my Lemon Chicken Stew, is a spunked up contribution to a virtual baby shower for my fellow food blogger Liz at The Lemon Bowl.

Every mom needs to catch a break, especially in the kitchen. While I’m a lover of the cookin’, I’m not much of a fan of the washin’.

That’s why this lemon chicken stew is the perfect one-pot dinner—with leftovers for the next day—for any new mom and dad ready to pucker up and kiss those newborn baby toes.

One pot, that’s all. Dinner is served.

I met Liz of The Lemon Bowl when we were visiting the farmers who put Dole Salads onto dinner tables across America, and I was immediately drawn to her wit and punchy personality. This girl has charisma to spare.

So when a group of food bloggers invited me to join in her virtual baby shower party I was more than happy to join the party.

In my opinion, baby butt wipe warmers and all of the other needless baby junk can easily be bypassed at the typical baby registry. What really counts as a present is keeping mom and dad out of the kitchen so they can grab some zzz’s and spend their time where they should and shouldn’t be: away from the dish soap, and instead, snuggling with their baby love.

Liz already has a toddler to keep her busy, so with a new babe on the way, I had a feeling a dish that is a minimizer in the kitchen but is full of comfort is a sure winner in these new parentals’ cookbook.

Did I mention it’s her birthday this week too? This is a serious double header.continue to the recipe… about Lemon Chicken Stew

How to Make the Best Minestrone Soup

My Grandma’s easy minestrone soup recipe is one of the healthiest vegetable-loaded soups you’ll make, and it tastes far better than any of those Olive Garden copycat recipes thanks to the secret ingredient in the savory broth.

Easy Minestrone Soup Recipe

“It is well worth the time and effort.”

But then, isn’t most anything when it’s done with love?

My sweet Grandma Frieda passed away when I was a senior in college and while there are many things that remind me of her, as a recipe maker it’s the cookbooks I inherited from her that I see most often.

One of my favorite things about her copies of The Joy of Cooking (pub. 1953) and Epicure’s Delight (pub. 1944) are the pages and margins filled with recipes written in her elegant handwriting that as a German immigrant shows off the hard work it took to become a part of her new country. Like the quote says above, it is well worth the time and effort.

Nestled within those cookbook pages are recipe cards for recipes from friends like Edith’s Coffee Cake and Loretta’s Zucchini Soufflé, which have both moved to my must-make list. But the recipe that shows up time and time again is this Italian minestrone soup recipe from San Francisco’s Petrini Gourmet Grocery Stores, likely cut from the San Mateo Times’ newspaper recipe section to promote more soup bone sales for the homemade beef broth.

And because it’s #soupweek (did you see the Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup?) we’re keeping the slurps going by presenting The Gourmet by Petrini’s Minestrone Soup where either the newspaper editors or Petrini himself lured readers with the headnote mentioned above and can describe any meal when it’s made with love: It is well worth the time and effort, and even more so because this minestrone recipe is actually really easy to make.continue to the recipe… about How to Make the Best Minestrone Soup

Easy Tandoori Chicken with Vegetables

Traditional tandoori chicken is made in a clay oven, but this version of the classic Indian chicken dinner is baked on a sheet pan with Indian spiced vegetables for a complete meal any night of the week.

Chicken dinner ideas that are full of flavor but easy to make are definitely my idea of weeknight success.

It’s what I call my dinner flavor jam. Minus the literal jam.

This 30-minute chicken recipe comes to you from the New York Times Best Seller Skinnytaste One & Done Cookbook, written by my friend Gina of the blog Skinnytaste. This is Gina’s third cookbook, and home cooks everywhere are applauding and thanking it every time they use it.

Each of the recipes are family favorites made healthy and Weight Watchers friendly. They’re all cooked in either a skillet, in the slow cooker, in the Instant Pot, in the air fryer, or on a sheet pan in the oven, just like this easy, all-in-one sheet pan Tandoori Chicken dinner.continue to the recipe… about Easy Tandoori Chicken with Vegetables

Chicken and Mango Rainbow Veggie Wraps

If you’re still debating whether a wrap is really a sandwich or not, you can use this one as proof that either which way the vote comes in, we all agree that healthy, crunchy rainbow wrap lunches are what make the world go ’round.

This post is brought to you by Almond Breeze

My daughter is mildly amused with the return to my teenage fascination with rainbows.

Chalk it up to reliving the memories of my eighth grade year as she makes her way through hers. Or it may be thanks to my continuing countdown of the quickly fading days of this age of innocence for my lil’ baby. Or maybe it’s thanks to the ’80s boomerang of denim overalls, scrunchies, boom boxes, Polaroid cameras, casseroles, mom jeans and new remakes of Full House, CHiPs and Roseanne.

🌈 Either/or/and/alloftheabove…ahhh, 8th grade. Best year ever. 🌈

This easy, veg-heavy Thai-flavored lunch wrap represents all the things right with eating the rainbow. You’ve heard it a hundred times. At least I hope you have: Eating the rainbow is one of the best ways to ensure you’re getting all the right nutrients in one fell swoop. And it’s just one more reason that eating a healthy wrap for an easy lunch or quick dinner is a good idea.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken and Mango Rainbow Veggie Wraps

Turkey Bolognese Lasagna Toss

Turkey takes over for traditional pork, veal, and beef in this rich and delicious homemade bolognese sauce to create a short cut lasagna dinner that cuts the calories, without sacrificing flavor.

It’s raining. The leaves on the mountain outside my front window are in the most vibrant change of fall colors I’ve seen in ten years. We pulled the tomato plants this weekend and I’ve harvested all my basil to make pesto before frost does it for me. There are days when comfort food is absolutely called for. And that’s when a rich, delicious lasagna raises its hand and squeals, ” PICK ME!”

I love a good lasagna with a rich, delicious meaty sauce with loads of cheese layered throughout and then melted on top. I mean, is there anything better?

But the thing is, my skinny jeans don’t always agree. My solution? Put all that rich flavor in a healthier turkey bolognese sauce and instead of layering my lasagna, toss it together instead.

I borrowed this lasagna toss idea from my Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup where the creamy ricotta mixture is added on at the end as an accent instead of playing equal parts to the noodle and sauce equation. I’m a cheese girl through and through, so that way, I meet my comfort food cravings but my jeans won’t revolt. continue to the recipe… about Turkey Bolognese Lasagna Toss

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bowls

When weeknight dinner making seems like almost too much to add to your already full plate, prep the ingredients for these slow cooker teriyaki chicken and vegetable rice bowls over the weekend and then toss together for a quick and easy answer to your weeknight dinner question.

These days everyone’s talking about meal prep. There’s a reason for that. Because it works.

All it takes are a couple of base recipes and a little extra time over the weekend to partially cook ahead and then whip out a healthy weeknight dinner. Even if you get just one meal prepped ahead and ready to roll, you’ll find yourself feeling surprisingly proud and a little enamored with your forethought and meal-planning ways.

continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bowls

Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls Recipe

Thinly sliced Korean beef Korean tops bowls of rice heaped with fresh vegetables, herbs and a spicy chile sauce for an easy weeknight dinner or lunch.

The other day an acorn nut fell from one of the scrub oak trees that create an awning over my driveway. When it hit my windshield, I heard the “ping” from inside the car, and my sunny summer disposition came to a screeching halt.

One might wonder why one little acorn falling from a tree could cause such a flip flop in my mood, but with that one little nut, I was jarred out of my summer vacation trance with the realization that fall is almost here.

Fall means that my easy, throw-it-together-because-we-can-eat-at-9pm-and-it’s-okay-because-it’s-summer weeknight meals hit the skids. It’s time for more dedicated meal planning. It’s time for making meals on Sunday or Monday that ease the pressure of fitting in the week-long dinner fixing and eating with homework, soccer practice and the return of Monday night football.

This is when we get down to real meal-time business.continue to the recipe… about Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls Recipe

Turkey Pot Pie Soup Plus 10 More Leftover Turkey Recipes You’ll Gobble Up

I’ve converted my favorite way to use up Thanksgiving turkey leftovers from a baked pot pie to a totally comforting slurp able soup.

I asked. You answered. And here is what we have to show for it.

Winner, winner, chicken dinnnnnnnn…HOLD THAT THOUGHT. Move over chicken, because THIS is dinner.

A week or so ago I had 5 quarts of freshly brewed turkey stock in need of a recipe to belong to. Plus, I wanted to give you a new recipe to use up that leftover turkey that most likely you’ll have on hand like I did when I made this glorious guy.

So as I am prone to do, I took to Instagram and asked you what you’d like to see made with it.

The requests were all winners. From spicy turkey chowder with lots of veggies in a bread bowl to a turkey risotto to turkey and dumplings, and more.

But one request hit home because it combines my favorite birthday dinner recipe with the slurpable, bread dipping, request of my daughter. She could eat soup morning, noon and night. And does.

Hello world! Meet your new favorite comfort food: Turkey Pot Pie Soup.

continue to the recipe… about Turkey Pot Pie Soup Plus 10 More Leftover Turkey Recipes You’ll Gobble Up

Thai Coconut Noodle Salad

Almond Breeze Almondmilk Coconutmilk is my secret to a lower calorie instead of canned coconut milk for dressing this flavorful, Thai-inspired noodle salad.

This year I’m partnering with Almond Breeze to create and share recipes using almond milk. This noodle salad recipe takes full advantage of this flavored almond milk’s ability to infuse the distinctive Thai taste of coconut milk, but is a lighter alternative that cuts the calories and keeps the taste.

I’m sure I’ve shared here on the blog that during my sister’s senior year of high school she spent the year as a foreign exchange student in Thailand. Growing up in Utah, the geography, culture and certainly the food was worlds away from what she was used to. And she loved every single minute of her year-long immersion there.

When it was time for her to come home, my parents and I traveled to her adopted land to explore her new world. We quickly became fans, too. The beaches. The kindness of the Thai people. The vibrant heart of the culture. And for a food lover like me, the sumptuous and exotic dishes simply sealed the deal.

Ever since, when I’m craving dishes with a balance of spicy and sweet, Thai flavors are at my cooking epicenter. When you search my recipe archives it’s proof in the pudding, the Thai pudding so to speak. Hey, now! There’s a recipe idea I haven’t tried out yet…

continue to the recipe… about Thai Coconut Noodle Salad

Fish Chowder With Copper River Salmon

This thick and creamy, perfectly chunky, and easy to make chowder made with the best Copper River salmon gets a Thai makeover with flavors of coconut milk, fresh lemongrass, ginger, and kaffir lime, for a unique spin on a comfort food favorite.

This fish chowder, if it could talk, would have a long story to tell about a very short trip I was on that ended in minutes with a very quick fall.

This soup and I met on a rainy Alaskan night. There were no walks on the beach but we did get caught on the rain. The piña coladas were on an entirely different continent and man oh man, how I wished I had champagne to kill the pain. But this soup from Cordova, Alaska’s local Fishwives, and it’s subtle Thai-inspired flavors saved me instead.

continue to the recipe… about Fish Chowder With Copper River Salmon

Sweet Corn, Gouda and Farro Risotto Plus 15 More Farro Recipes You’ll Love Forever

Move over quinoa, there’s a new grain in town.

Well, now, wait a minute. Farro is far from new with its roots running deep, deep, deep (pun intended) and this ancient grain is making major waves in the foodie scene.

The 90’s were all about couscous (which I still adore), the 00’s saw the wave of wild and unusual rices, and who can’t open a cookbook / food blog / food magazine for the past few years without seeing the glories of quinoa being extolled from the high heavens. But do you farro? If not, you should.

Farro is one of those wonder grains that to a lot of us mainstream eaters in the U.S., seems a bit outlandish and even exotic. But is it? If you consider the grain of choice that ancient Egyptian kings dined on as exotic, then yes, exotic it is. I mean, they were KINGS! But that hardly makes this grain unapproachable or intimidating. In fact, farro might be the easiest grain of all to cook and it’s versatility will have quinoa looking hard and fast in the rear view mirror, just waiting for farro to take over it’s first place run in the superfood popularity polls.

continue to the recipe… about Sweet Corn, Gouda and Farro Risotto Plus 15 More Farro Recipes You’ll Love Forever

Baked Balsamic Vegetables and Roasted Garlic

Even if you don’t readily know the name, you’ve certainly taken notice of their brightly colored hues of their noticeably durable, obviously quality cookware.

And if you’re like me, you’ve coveted the day you could add a piece to your growing kitchen collection. What cook doesn’t covet owning a quality, enameled baking vessel that performs each and every duty it’s assigned at the stove or oven and is equally presentable at the table.

If only Le Creuset® also created boyfriends worthy to take home to the parents for presentation, we’d really be in business.

While they may not be in the match making business, Le Creuset® definitely knows cookery. And now, they’ve added yet another baking beauty to their storied line of distinctly cool kitchen cooking accessories and I’m giving you the chance to win not just one, but TWO Cocottes, for yourself.

continue to the recipe… about Baked Balsamic Vegetables and Roasted Garlic

Sweet Carrots with Tarragon and My Easter Inspired Faves

Glazing. Usually reserved for doughnuts, bone-in hams and the special technique my husband uses to make old and tired 1980’s honey oak cabinets magically transform into bright and white brand spakin’ new kitchen cubpoards. He’s a staining magician, that guy.

But today ‘da glaze is saved for ‘da carrots. Ta-’da.

It’s time for Easter eats and you probably have all of your main dish ingredients scribbled on the back of an envelope ready to push into the dark corners of your purse so that when you get to the store you get to frantically dig for the dang piece of paper. That’s just one of the reasons I use this shopping list app, so I don’t go stark raving maniac in the vegetable aisle.

Carrots are the quintessential Easter side dish addition. You can thank Peter and Bugs for that one. But, let’s get real. They’re expected, trite and too often B-O-R-I-N-G.

Not this time folks.

A simple—aka light—glaze of honey and butter sweetens up the orange little jewels. Tarragon and orange zest gives them the ying and yang of earthy licorice and fresh citrus in each bite. Kosher salt, just like with everything else, brings out all of the flavors and melds them together.

It’s a simple recipe. And for any entertaining cook, that’s the recipe for deliciousness.

continue to the recipe… about Sweet Carrots with Tarragon and My Easter Inspired Faves

Gluten-Free Quinoa and Cauliflower Chowder

Do you have your megaphone ready? I’m digging my husband’s out of the garage.

Yep, he has a megaphone because he’s in a band, you know, for “special effects” and stuff. He also has these weirdo 1960’s goggles and a suit covered in Christmas lights—because he’s in a band.

But that’s another story for another day.

Today’s story is that we’re all banding together and shouting at the top of our lungs—or into said megaphone if you have one handy—we’re shouting, “GOODBYE FROZEN TUNDRA, and good riddance.” Why? Because (happy dance) this week marks the official first day of spring. Yes!

But that certainly doesn’t signal the end of eating savory soups and stews. Heck, this is just the beginning.

And since we’ll probably do the winter/spring dance tease of warm one day, cold the next and I’m sure I’ll have to cover my tomatoes for at least two more snow storms, this gluten-free chowder is just one way to walk the tightrope of comfort food cravings and spring clean eats desires.

Last week I may have said I wasn’t a devout whole foodie. And now, here I am, posting whole foods. To me, that is exactly how a foodie should be. Balanced. Eating what feels right. What cures the craving.

Lightened up, but still savory, this chowder is a great #MeatlessMonday meal. Because that’s what I’m craving now.

continue to the recipe… about Gluten-Free Quinoa and Cauliflower Chowder

Buffalo Chicken Fettuccine

Lazy, dazy comfort food days. That’s what weekends are made of. And that’s when my man takes charge in the kitchen.

I’ve told you before about how my guy (I call him G-Dawg, because we’re gangstas like that) makes appearances here on the blog as a pretty good hand model, a stellar dish washer and super cute sous chef who can dice an onion so precisely it puts Bobby Flay to shame.

But his real talent is in front of the stove creating crazy mash-ups of our favorite foods. And this Buffalo Chicken Fettuccine is sure to be one that will go down as one of his masterpieces.

The recipe is inspired by three of our favorite food groups: pasta, chicken and hot sauce. Yes, you heard it right, hot sauce IS a food group. I’m claiming it now.

continue to the recipe… about Buffalo Chicken Fettuccine

Chicken Pot Pie Pizza

Chicken Pot Pie could quite possibly take the lead in the race for my favorite meal ever. Three different times I’ve started a blog post to share my favorite comfort food, to cook and photograph my traditional Chicken Pot Pie recipe.

And each time it doesn’t happen.

Because it just isn’t perfect enough to take a picture of. Or ~~I’m~~ my family is too dang hungry to wait for a picture to be taken of the final result and we end up destroying the flaky crust with our digging for pot pie gold forks. Those are the reasons I’ve yet to post my Chicken Pot Pie on the bloggity blog.

I’m going to have to make an extra effort to work on that. And that’s why this traditional recipe just found a brand new vessel to take for a test drive.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken Pot Pie Pizza

Skinny Slow Cooker Kale and Turkey Meatball Soup

This healthy spin on classic Italian Wedding Soup is made lighter with turkey meatballs, white beans, and plenty of kale, all in a light and comforting broth.

We’re all feeling it, aren’t we? It wouldn’t be the New Year without focusing on cleaning up, clearing out and and cleansing from tip to toe.

Keeping with my new year tradition every single year, I’m taking advantage of my healthy resolve and I’m eating clean. This week. And maybe next. With just a side of butter and maybe a bite or six of cheese. And please, don’t hold it against me if there’s a nibble of chocolate here and there.

Balance, it’s the new black.

In thinking about eating strategies and menu planning, I still have cravings that need to be filled. Savory but simple. Filling and fortifying.

And can we make it in the slow cooker please?

continue to the recipe… about Skinny Slow Cooker Kale and Turkey Meatball Soup

Beet, Carrot and Pomegranate Salad

Winter brings with it a lot of amazing things. Snowflakes and holiday parties with sparkly shoes are some of the best. Puffy coats that make me feel like Randy in A Christmas Story thanks to ridiculously cold sub-zero temps, not so much. Those freezing temps? They can go find somewhere else to invade while I go shopping for something basic to go with my gold flecked shoes. Or maybe I’ll just wear this Beet, Carrot and Pomegranate Salad. I mean, it’s prettier and more jeweled up than anything I have in my closet.

While I’m snacking a nibble or 83 of cookies, fudge and a waffle here and there, I’m still craving salads in this frigid cold to bring me out of my sugar coma. I crave lettuce-ed leafed salads all summer long but when winter nips the freshness off the local lettuce buds, veggies with girth are what I look for now.

At a recent foray to our winter farmer’s market, I saw these beet beauties carats of carrots and scooped them straight up. Candy striped beets, carrots of red, yellow and purple’d pinks. These things needed a stage, and I knew exactly what to do with them.

continue to the recipe… about Beet, Carrot and Pomegranate Salad

Dinner is for Kids: Spaghetti Tacos Recipe

I know, I know. You’re sitting there, staring at this post and thinking this recipe is one of those “Oh let’s see how outlandish we can be and create an oddball recipe just to be different.”

Well, it is and it isn’t.

Blame it on Spencer. He’s Carly’s big brother.

Smudge has been relentlessly requesting Spaghetti Tacos ever since she saw the first episode of Nickelodeon’s iCarly. Which means its been, like, 2 years.

And surprisinglly, I think it’s pretty good too.

continue to the recipe… about Dinner is for Kids: Spaghetti Tacos Recipe

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