All year long I look forward to the Fall cooking season, especially the baking portion. These beauties top the list of what I look forward to making once the Fall season hits. Pumpkin Spice Bread Muffins, mmmm. I have added raisins, chocolate chips, walnuts and sometimes a mix to these. But they're good just as is too, with just the pumpkin and spice flavor as the star. Now, if you like pumpkin like I do, you'll be sure to love these muffins, they can be addicting though! In these ... continue reading...
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Think Outside the Blog – Weekly Blog Hop – Week 2!
Last week was week 1 of our all new blog hop, and we had a very successful first week! We met a lot of new friends that are a little different from your typical blogger, and we think that's wonderful. Personally, the best feedback I received was that people that came to visit and join our blog hop found some fun new blogs to read, whereas they hadn't been so successful in doing that previously. THAT is precisely why we came up with this! Last week we got to 36 people joining. Let's see if we can ... continue reading...
Halloween Sugar Cookies with Sugar Frosting
We have fun making sugar cookies for each big holiday, and I love letting the kids have fun cutting the shapes out and decorating how they want.These photos are obviously not a professional sugar cookie decorator, like what you'd find at your supermarket bakery, but they are fun and made with love and taste amazing!D-Man and RiRi decorated most of them, with a few done by myself. I think they came out adorable!We made our own cookie mix, as well as our own icing. The sprinkles we bought, as well ... continue reading...
Deviled Chicken in White Wine Sauce
This recipe for Deviled Chicken in White wine Sauce is perfect for Halloween week, or even to serve on Halloween night with some garlic bread and a salad. It's the perfect blend of fiery spices and savory wine sauce with herb seasonings.Now, I've mentioned before here that I'm pretty obsessed with cooking magazines, cookbooks, and recipes of any sort that I like to collect, play with and make my own. I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but this also includes cooking shows. I LOVE watching some of my ... continue reading...
Classic Macaroni and Cheese
Every time I announce I'm making my Classic Macaroni & Cheese my kids squeal with joy! I've heard in the past that the only Macaroni & Cheese kids are interested in is the boxed variety with the powder. Not when you make this recipe! Not only does this make a ton, so there's plenty for leftovers, but it's just sooo good! Of course this is what I always make when Thanksgiving and Christmas come around (be sure to add this to your bookmarks to refer back to a month from now!), but it's ... continue reading...
Think Outside the Blog – Weekly Blog Hop – Week 1!
There's a pretty spectacular group of women I know.Some I've known for well over 10 years, and some I've newly met, but have met through these older friends that we have in common.We've grown into a tight little group over the past few weeks and months since I started blogging. A few of them are more seasoned bloggers, and some are new to the game, like me.I love all of these ladies, and I feel together we form a pretty strong group of women!We're not your typical bloggers, and felt we could ... continue reading...
Grilled Fried Egg Sandwich with all the fixings
One of the earliest staples for my breakfast meals was a fried egg sandwich. They started with just a fried egg, some melted cheese and some toast with a little mayo, salt and pepper. I loved it that way for years, and then started switching it up a bit. One of my favorite things for breakfast is a breakfast burrito or sandwich and my husband still requests an "egg sandwich original," which is what I call that original version of this sandwich.Sometimes you just get tired of the original way, ... continue reading...
Sweet Beef and Broccoli
A few weeks back I had stocked up on various meats. My local Save Mart had a special of 5 meats for $25, and each additional meat was only $5 more for the package. I picked up a few packages of boneless top sirloin roast steak, each was between 1.5 to 2 pound packages.Last week I was trying to figure out a new quick meal to make, I had some leftover rice in the fridge to make my stir fry rice with, and decided to do something different with these sirloin steaks. Rather than a stew or a roast, I ... continue reading...
Homemade Banana Pudding
There's nothing like a good banana pudding. I love many desserts, but mmmmm, banana pudding, with those Nilla wafers? To die for! Now, of course you can make the pudding with the instant stuff. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it's delicious. But there's nothing like creating your own custard, seeing it form and set right in front of your eyes, and the taste? There's definitely a difference! Banana pudding is one of my husband's favorite desserts. Every big holiday he ... continue reading...
Sweet Golden Cornbread
In my last entry we discussed my slow cooker chili, and I mentioned that I am always sure to serve it with a nice, thick piece of cornbread. Today the cornbread is the star!I love to make this recipe, my husband is a huge fan of cornbread and it can tend to be a southern thing. It's great with so much though, last Thanksgiving I made it with our dinner. I think I mentioned before that my old friend through many years came to join us for the Holiday, and she had brought her new boyfriend for us ... continue reading...
Slow Cooker Chili
We have a small tradition in our house. Every year when the temperature drops significantly in the evening, mornings are a little colder, and even though it's sunny in the day there's still that cold in the air... that's when we know it's time to make some chili. My husband actually started this tradition some years ago in the beginning of our relationship. He's always one for a hearty meal, and what once started from a couple huge cans of chili and a box of Jiffy mix and adding our own ... continue reading...
Award Winning Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
I have a strong passion for baking cookies. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love it, and have numerous recipes for various cookies that I have perfected the recipes to. This peanut butter cookie though, is where it all began.I always loved baking, I think it's my favorite thing, right along with breakfast. Those are just my specialties.When I was a young adult in my teens and early 20's I always made cookies, pies, and cakes - always from the box though. In those early years I think a ... continue reading...
Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Garlicky Bread Crumbs
Want a simple and delicious side dish that is on the healthy side? Try this pasta!It's whole wheat spaghetti noodles with bread crumbs, olive oil, garlic, parsley, garlic, salt, and black pepper! So simple and pairs well with my roasted artichokes or my garlic parmesan asparagus with a light main dish. Very easy to throw together, and the kids will love it!I found the basis for this recipe on Pinterest. It leads to this page which shows a recipe it was based on here. There were various changes ... continue reading...
It’s okay to have vegetarian days – will the kids like it?
In the past few years I have changed my eating habits quite a bit.While I truly love rich and savory dishes, sometimes you have a little too much of something and all you crave is a salad or some fresh fruit. Has this ever happened to you?For many years I have limited parts of my diet. I rarely eat hamburger meat, for example. When I make Lasagna I use ground turkey and Italian sausage. I try to eat leaner meats, and when I do have some red meat it's on a special occasion. There have been many ... continue reading...
Rice Salad – Light and Healthy 2012 Magazine
When I think of salads I automatically think of lettuce, spinach ... maybe even cabbage. Along with that, I think of tomato, carrots, maybe some bell peppers and onions. Sometimes even beans, chicken, even shrimp. I love to mix it up and can never turn down a good, hearty salad.Something that doesn't come to mind when I think of salad is rice. A rice salad? Ahh, yes. It's actually better than you might think, and it pairs well with those lighter dishes, like my baked tilapia and veggie foil ... continue reading...
The "Perfect" Diet – Can you relate?
When I was younger I was always skinny. I could eat ANYTHING I want, and never gained weight.It was actually to the point where in my early 20's I was taking weight gain and going to the gym so I could gain weight and muscle because I was tired of being so tiny. I always thought curves were beautiful.Fast forward to when I hit 25 - my metabolism went out the window. I had horrible eating habits, and had never thought to change them because I was always thin. But when my metabolism slowed, my ... continue reading...
Easy Ham and Jalapeño Macaroni Salad
As a self proclaimed "foodie", I have to admit that I love a good potluck. Ever since the days when I worked the normal 8-5 office job, I always looked forward to them. Trying other peoples favorite dishes, exchanging a recipe or two. I love it!I think potlucks and pasta salads should be synonymous. By the end of a potluck there's more than a few macaroni salads sitting at the serving table. This salad though, is guaranteed to always be the star of the show.One weekend a few years ago we had a ... continue reading...
Breakfast Pita with Hummus, Bacon and Avocado
I have to admit, breakfast is my favorite part of the day. It's one of the first things I knew how to cook, long before I could make a main course for dinner, breakfast was always my specialty.I love making a variety of things. Breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, omelettes, quiche, breakfast casserole, pancakes, waffles, crepes...you name it I make it!I've even been known to make breakfast for dinner once in a while... ok, maybe pretty often.Anything that includes bacon, avocado and eggs ... continue reading...
Ground Turkey Meatloaf
I don't necessarily recall ever eating meatloaf when I was a little girl. I'm sure I did, I mean who hasn't tried it? But as far back as I can remember, I had never tried it until a few years ago when I made my very own for the first time.Meatloaf is one of those meals that make you think of the all American family. For me, it reminds me of the Brady Bunch. Alice would spend hours making that 10 pound meatloaf (does this show my age?)It reminds me of all things retro, families from 1950's-1970's ... continue reading...
Cranberry-Coconut Muffins
I adore making muffins. They are quick to make, fairly simple, and a great on-the-go snack. I'm sure many moms are like me, I'm often running out the door on my way to somewhere, and sometimes I may be running late or I know I'll be out a while so I'll grab a snack or two for the road. Muffins are perfect for that.I had some walnuts still in my pantry from the banana nut bread I had made last month. I also keep shredded coconut for coconut chicken, and I had some dried cranberries I had made ... continue reading...
