• Summer Corn & Bacon Chowder

    I’m a soup person.  I love it, and I can eat it year ’round – yes, even when it’s 103 degrees outside.  (Which is good because it was PRECISELY 103 degrees outside when I made this yesterday!) There’s something about this particular recipe thought that really doesn’t feel like a soup – or a chowder – but feels lighter and screams summertime.  The combo of the fresh sweet corn with potatoes and bacon is a marriage made in heaven, so I was particularly excited to team…

  • Hearts of Palm Street Tacos

    So, guys.  Gals.  Friends.  We need to talk. This taco is LIFE.  CHANGING. I’m not one to be overly dramatic (haha…no, seriously) about food, but holy-fried-middle-of-a-palm-tree-leaf, this is a tasty, tasty taco. Uh, yeah.  The guts of this taco are totally fried palm tree leaves.  Wikipedia says so.  Well, if we’re being technical, they’re actually the inner core of certain types of palm tree leaves, but either way, I had no idea that they were even a thing.  Especially an edible thing. PS, they’re also called…

  • Healthy Chicken Salad

    As I’m sure is the case with many of you, January always brings a renewed focus on health and fitness in our household.  The gluttony of November and December is long-gone, and the reality of dusty treadmills and suddenly snug pants starts to sink in. So, we happily dig out our favorite healthy recipes, and wonder why we ever stopped eating them in the first place.  I don’t know what it is about November and December – I know there’s a lot of food around…

  • Charred Poblano White Chicken Chili

    I had a heck of a time naming this recipe for you, because – I don’t know.  This feels like a soup to me, but “White Chicken Chili Soup” sounds funny to me.  It’s one teeny-tiny step away from a Rachael Ray made up word, like “stoup” or “sammie” or something equally annoying. Disclaimer:  I love Rachael Ray, but I CAN’T DEAL with the made up words.  All of the time.   WHY, RACHAEL, WHY ALL OF THE PRETEND WORDS?  I know it’s a combo…

  • Spinach Ravioli Lasagna

    Figuring out the new normal around here has been a challenge. Over the last few years, I’ve become really good at cooking elaborate, time-consuming dinners for my family. Fresh bread at dinner was not uncommon, nor were comforting, simmer-all-day kind of meals. But then, I started working away from home again, and now I get home after 6pm, and even then I’m at the mercy of my girls’ schedules. Dinner has become somewhat of an afterthought, and as a food blogger, that’s a really, really…

  • Creamy Skillet Mac & Cheese

    My oldest daughter is learning a hard lesson this week.  She’s found her independence a bit, and has used her new-found “power” to voice her opinions rather loudly and forcefully to her Dad and me. In other words, she’s a back-talking fool. We’ve noticed it more lately, the back-talking with a twinge of sassy-attitude, and it’s just gotten worse.  She’s particularly offended by chores it seems, and when her Dad told her to go “pick up the office a little bit before lunch,” she did…

  • Tomato & Basil Bruschetta

    Two quick things today.  One is related to the picture above, and one is a story that you must endure to get to the yumminess. So, first of all, my four year old says the cutest-ever things right now.  She’s right between that baby-talk and big-kid speak…and she makes up words and misuses words all of the time and it’s so stinkin’ adorable that I can’t even stand it.  For instance, instead of “accident,” she says “ax-ca-dent.”  Like, “Sorry, Mommy, but it was just an…

  • Easy Marinara Sauce

    So, if a magic genie in a lantern gave me three wishes, I think mine might be for 1) money (duh), 2) more wishes (also duh) and 3) that pasta would become a health food.  As in, I could eat it all day every day and have the same results as if I lived on raw green veggies. I’m really not kidding.  And don’t try to tell me that you wouldn’t wish for money or more wishes, because that’s what makes the game fun.

  • The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever

    I’m kind of not kidding.  Although I didn’t name these waffles, they are honestly the best I’ve ever had.  Not that I’m a big waffle aficionado or anything, but I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect waffle recipe after we got married.  We received a really nice waffle iron as a gift, and I was determined to find a really nice recipe to go with it.

  • Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burgers

    I’m pretty sure I’m driving everyone in my life crazy right now.  I’ve been on a meatless, vegetarian diet-kick for several weeks.  I have my reasons, and I really don’t know where this new lifestyle will lead me.  I’m not even sure if it is a lifestyle yet.  Maybe it’s just a phase.

  • Bacon, Egg & Pepper Jack on Toasted Ciabatta

    Uncharacteristic trait of a food blogger number 982:  I don’t really like eggs.  Clearly, I eat my fair share of them in baked goods,  and I even enjoy quiche.  Plain old eggs, though, I can’t really get behind. Runny yolks?  Don’t get me started.  (But why?  Why would you eat runny yolks? Help me understand!)