Cozy Spiced Pumpkin Cookies These pumpkin spice cookies are supremely moist, soft, with hints of chewiness at the edges, and their flavor is pure fall. I used pumpkin pie spice in them, rather than pumpkin puree. I have a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies which uses pumpkin puree and it was a hard recipe to nail. In general, baking cookies with pumpkin puree can turn cookies into little pumpkin cakes, unless you’re using a small amount (under 1/4 cup or so)....

Remember my trip to the DMV last week? Well, My Driver’s License arrived today in the mail! Questions: 1. What’s on your agenda this weekend? Anything fun or unique planned? 2. Do you garden? If so, what do you grow? Do you grow things on your patio, in your yard, on your kitchen countertop? Flowers or more edible things like veggies or herbs? It’s clearly amazing when we can grow our own veggies and herbs!...

Easy Grilled Peach and Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe This grilled peach salad recipe screams ‘summer’ and all things fresh, juicy, and bursting with flavor! Between the grilled peaches and grilled chicken, fresh mint, crisp veggies, and lemon dressing, every bite contains all of my favorite flavors of my very favorite season! This grilled peach salad requires minimal ingredients, yet is bursting with contrasting flavors and textures. After being grilled, the peaches add so much juicy freshness to the salad, while the lettuce, cucumbers, and onions add tons of crunch....

[print_this] Sweet & Sour ‘Shrooms 1 c fresh mushrooms 1.5 tbsp ketchup 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp mustard 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tsp all purpose seasoning (i.e. Mrs. Dash blends, TJ’s 21 Salute Seasoning, etc.) Stir all ingredients together, add the mushrooms, and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes before serving. Note: all measurements approximate and use what you have on hand....

Want to make more sauces? Try my Tartar Sauce, Orange Marmalade, Homemade Ranch or the Best BBQ Sauce! Why I love this sauce: Versatile – I use this to marinate chicken, for teriyaki salmon, to make Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry, our favorite Hawaiian Bowls, and as a dipping sauce. The possibilities are endless!Fast – Ready to use in 10 minutes! Quicker than a trip to the store!Pantry Ingredients – You already have everything on hand!...

Thai Chicken Coconut Curry – An EASY one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous flavors!! Low-cal, low-carb, and HEALTHY but tastes like comfort food!! Ham and Cheese Sliders – Baked juicy ham and Swiss nestled in soft Hawaiian rolls and brushed with a buttery Dijon, onion, and poppy seed topping!! Fast, EASY, and a party FAVORITE!! The Best Broccoli Cheese Soup (Better-Than-Panera Copycat) – Make the best soup of your life at home in 1 hour!...

Wayfair is kicking off Way Day, its annual, HUGE two-day sales event that is a great opportunity to grab deals on kitchen appliances, home decor items, and more! And by huge, I’m talking about up to 80% off regular prices! I’ve already found AMAZING deals on beautiful cookware sets, notoriously pricey — but incredible — Dutch ovens, and bakeware sets from my ALL-TIME FAVORITE cookware brand, All-Clad! It’s the time of year for outdoor gatherings, so if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your outdoor space, you’ll DEFINITELY want to check out the Way Day sale on outdoor furniture, including chase lounges, patio tables, and outdoor sofas — up to 70% off....

Skylar was busting out Sun Salutations nonstop yesterday, too. On the bathroom floor of the gym, no less. Sanitary, indeed. And then she’d take a dancing break However, there are posted signs up that discouraging the use of steroids. Okay, whatever. Not sure why anyone wants to hit the juice but I don’t judge. But they also have a sign posted about the showers. That the “showers are there for members to use but that if you were to encounter any inappropriate behavior from others, to let the management know....

Easy Buffalo Chicken Baked Potatoes Recipe When you’re looking for the perfect comfort food chicken and potato recipe, this is the ticket! Soft and tender potatoes that are double baked to perfection and filled with buffalo chicken and smothered with two kinds of cheese. Essentially this is an amped up potato skins recipe. It’s all the heat and tang of hot wings tucked into a hot cheesy potato. Shredded rotisserie chicken is mixed with cream cheese and sour cream before being stuffed inside hollowed out baked potatoes....

Refreshing Watermelon Slushie Cocktail I don’t know what it is about watermelon that I love so much, but every summer I eat my weight in it. I figured it was about time to start drinking it, too. These refreshing slushies combine two of my favorite summer fruits, watermelon and raspberries. A bit of lime juice adds a zingy twist. Tart lime juice in contrast with sweet fruit is a nice pairing....

An update on my blog is that it probably wasn’t hacked like I originally thought. Rather, it was a massive database file error that caused most of my blog to go missing and go down for about 12 hours. AKA: my site crashed. Big time. Why did this happen? More than likely because my blog has been growing and I’ve seen big and sustained traffic increases, and my blog has outgrown the servers that it’s hosted on....

I didn’t know that about myself until I moved to the Philippines. I’ve always been a beach girl, aka Minnesota wannabe beach girl. But sometime in the last 6 weeks my body started rejecting anything resembling hot summer weather and craving anything in the range of 45-65 degrees. Bev pretty much brought me to tears with this ode to fall: “Cooler temperatures… football season… the sounds of ‘aaaahhhh’ in the background as I noodle around in the kitchen over a pot of soup or something with the air conditioning off and the back door open....

Giant Cookie Recipe I have dozens of recipes for oatmeal cookies and recently had a craving for them. Rather than making a whole batch of cookies that I would no doubt eat within a few days, I exercised some self-control and made one extra-large cookie. It’s the oatmeal counterpart to this Single Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie. My craving was handled on the spot and I didn’t have another 18 cookies starting back at me on the counter....

I’ve been so excited to make the house pretty and warm and cozy since we moved in in November, but as I may have mentioned a few million times, these last few months have been, oh, how can I say it? Chaotic and unorganized. Yeesh. –> Which is totally why I’m trying to reset my life with a new job focus (here’s more on the full time blog gig) and you guys?...

Stovetop Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet My daughter loves pizza and I am always experimenting with fast, easy, and foolproof ways to make pizza at home. Making frying pan pizza on the stovetop is one of the fastest and easiest methods that I’ve found, tied with grilled pizza. To save time, I use fresh store-bought plain pizza dough from Trader Joe’s refrigerated case. I do have a 1-hour scratch pizza dough recipe as well as a 2-ingredient pizza dough that uses self-raising flour as a shortcut if you’re feeling like going the extra mile....

It can be sweet or savory, dressed up in a pasta or baked in a muffin, blended into a soup or baked into crunchy granola. It seriously does it all. Here are a few of our favorite pumpkin recipes we’re making this fall – and every fall, TBH. Favorite Pumpkin Muffins Totally top-of-the-list worthy. Made with just oats, pumpkin, Greek yogurt, maple syrup, and eggs. Chocolate chips 100% necessary. Get the recipe here....

In honor of National Chip and Dip Day tomorrow, here are 25 Fast and Easy Dip and Spread Recipes Loaded Baked Tater Tot Dip – My favorite baked potato toppings like cheese and sour cream baked right in with the tater tots Double Melted Cheese and Red Pepper Dip (GF) – Aka ‘Queso Dip’. Comes together in five minutes in the microwave and it’s extremely addictive. Creamy, cheesy, with just a bit of heat and texture...

If chilly weather has you in the mood for a big comforting bowl of soup, this creamy chicken tortellini soup is just the ticket! Made in one pot with easy-to-find ingredients, and ready in just 30 minutes, it’s what i like to think of as quick and easy comfort food in a bowl. This recipe is actually adapted from my Easy 30-Minute Classic Chicken Tortellini Soup recipe – the difference being this is a cream-based broth and that one isn’t....

Easy Butter Chicken Recipe I am by no means an expert in Indian cooking. Or for any ethnic recipes that I share, from Mexican to Asian. But after plenty of research, trial and error, and condensing some very complicated and time-consuming recipes for Indian butter chicken into this very straightforward and easy one, I can definitely say that it’s a winner that my daughter and I loved. It reminds me a lot of my Chicken Tikka Masala, but rather than having to marinate the chicken overnight in a Greek yogurt-based marinade, no planning ahead is required for Indian butter chicken....

Easiest Caramel and Coconut Cake I hadn’t made a poke cake in a while and knew that this easy coconut caramel cake would be perfect for spring and summer events, potlucks, baby showers, bridal showers, and more. Or just to whip up any random time you’re craving cake. Which for me is pretty often. This caramel coconut poke cake is an incredibly easy cake that I adapted from my Caramel Cream Poke Cake....