First, is this Hot & Sweet Pepper Jelly from Trader Joe’s that I’ve been digging. Digging into, literally. It reminds me a bit of their Mango Ginger Chutney The pepper jelly is less chunky than the mango chutney (below) is because there are no big mango chunks and it’s much smoother are more jelly-like but still has a nice kick, no garlic, no onions, and very little added sodium. All great in my book....

Easiest Chocolate Cream Cheese Dessert If you’re a true chocoholic and love rich and decadent desserts, these easy no-bake cheesecake bars are going to be your new be friend. They’re very elegant tasting and would be perfect served after a dinner party or at a holiday event. They’re also a great summer dessert when you don’t want to turn on your oven. The thin yet crunchy chocolate cookie crust pairs perfectly with the super smooth and creamy chocolate cream cheese filling....

I can polish off a purple box in no time. From the chocolate-dipped undersides to the chewiness from the coconut, they’re amazing. But they’re not exactly lite. How they’re called Caramel DeLites in some areas is mind-boggling. Although these bars aren’t as healthy as a cup of steamed broccoli, they’re vegan, gluten-free, no-bake, and made in one bowl without a mixer in under 5 minutes. And they taste lots like the Samoas Cookies I can gobble up....

The BEST Christmas Cut Out Cookie Recipe These rolled Christmas cookies are old fashioned, simple, and delicious! If you have childhood memories of making cut out cookies with your Grandma or your family members, this is the recipe to bring back all that lovely nostalgia! My cut out sugar cookies are thin but soft. Best of all, this recipe makes cut out cookies that hold their shape. There’s nothing worse than making a batch of Christmas cut out sugar cookies, only to take them out of the oven and find that they’ve spread....

comment icon 71 more comments Papaya mango smoothie, papaya in curry, papaya covered with brown sugar and lime, Thai green papaya salad (alright, so far that one just exists in my head)… but all around, sweet and savory and everything else, I am just adoring everything about this tropical fruit. Did you know that papayas have these big seeds in them? Er, actually, they’re little. But there’s a lot of them....

I actually love this cake more than 400% of the other things I’m eating lately, which is why I’ve made it an obscene number of times since it first came into my life. Which, initially, was for a selfless good reason. comment icon 47 more comments It started with a baby shower – my friend is pregnant and beautiful and we wanted to shower her with love, and I was in charge of making a brunch cake....

Once again, NOODLES. comment icon 478 more comments Here we are again, just me and my big bowl-o-noodles… and a few veggies, and a lot of sauce, and a handful of fresh basil and cilantro…. a fork, a hungry mouth, a heart-eyes emoji… ugh. This reunion with me and cooking could not get any happier. This Rainbow Vegetarian Pad Thai is first and foremost RAINBOW, which is the only fun way to eat anything in life....

Everything from my Vegan Creme de Menthe Bars To Holiday Peppermint Chia Seed Pudding To Raw Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Donut Holes To Kale Chips But since that was last week, it’s time to move on to a new, raw, vegan, dessert recipe for this week: Averie’s Raw Vegan Gingerbread Cookies! I had lots of comments on yesterday’s post about how excited you all were for this recipe. After seeing numerous gingerbread, ginger, and molasses recipes abound lately, but not finding something that was really hitting me exactly where I wanted to be in terms of gluten free and with flavor combos I wanted, I decided to create my own recipe....

She knows the words to Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA. Scott lets her watch videos on his computer while he’s multi-tasking with her while I’m cooking or doing other things and her brain is like a steel trap: It remembers everything! Including song lyrics. She walks around her room belting it out. Over and over. Here she is in action. Belting out, “Oh, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, It’s a Party in the USA…....

Unique Cranberry Sauce Recipe I have a recipe for Red Wine Cranberry Sauce that’s been insanely popular over the years. It’s a reader favorite and every year around the holidays I receive glowing comments and emails saying how that cranberry sauce was the star of their holiday meal or they make a double batch every year because it’s so good or that everyone wanted to know where they got the recipe....

And I have a compilation post with The 25 Best Caramel and Salted Caramel Recipes. So imagine my delight when I tried the new SKIPPY Peanut Butter Spread with Salted Caramel. It’s the perfect marriage of smooth, creamy peanut butter with salted caramel undertones. So good. I baked it into super soft, slightly chewy bars that I adapted from Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars. If you can’t find the new peanut butter yet in your area (here’s the store locator), that recipe calls for regular peanut butter and you could use regular peanut butter here too if necessary....

comment icon 87 more comments Prepare your mind today, because torn-up tofu is getting pan-fried into crispiness and made saucy, sticky, and sweet into this sesame apricot tofu that almost kind of resembles fried Asian-takeout-style chicken. There’s a kick of fresh garlic and a bunch of freshly ground black pepper over the top, some chives, cilantro, or whatever greens you like in there along with all of it, and that’s the show....

Anyhoo…Thanks for all the love on the Raw Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls from yesterday. For all you nut buttah fiends, these are perf for you. Onto other matters…My VitaCost.com shipment showed up! If you’re not familiar with VitaCost or iHerb.com, you better get familly in a hurry. I would say on some items like the Burt’s Bees, they are 40% cheaper than retail stores and on this agave they are about 20% cheaper....

Just like so many of my other favorite muffin recipes, these freeze wonderfully for an easy and quick breakfast or snack. These skinny chocolate muffins are way healthier than any store bought chocolate muffin but they still have the same great flavor and texture. I call that a major WIN! How to make Healthy Chocolate Muffins: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray....

These brown butter banana bars are rich, soft, supremely moist, and tooth-sinkingly dense and satisfying. If you’re looking for a fluffy slice of banana cake or banana bread, they’re not that. This is an easy, no-mixer recipe and the brown butter glaze makes the banana bars go from really darn good to out-of-this world amazing. It’s a must-make recipe! I cannot think of two more powerfully flavorful ingredients than browned butter or vanilla beans seeds, and flavor just explodes from the glaze....

comment icon 71 more comments Do you love Fridays or what?! Gee whiz gosh golly gee, I can’t get enough of them. I still work all weekend (bloggity blogga), but Friday nights are always my most favorite time of the whole week. I have always loved the feeling of working really hard all week and then Friday night knocking on my door and being released from the daily grind for two whole days....

Looking for more bars/brownies? Try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars, Blondies, S’mores Bars, or Oreo Bars! Why I love this recipe: Time-Saver: No chilling or cutting out dough! Frost them all at once and slice into bars.Texture: These bars don’t sacrifice a thing when it comes to texture. They are still soft, thick, and chewy. Perfect for parties and potlucks: They are easy to transport, and you can make them and serve them in the same pan....

In life and in recipes, keeping it simple definitely has its perks. There’s nothing fancy about this, but I find it’s the 3-ingredient, 15-minute recipes that my family requests over and over, and that people tend to make. Consider this your get-out-of-dinner-jail free card when you’ve had one of those no planning at all days and it’s 9:30pm on a school night and you still haven’t fed the crew. Whoops, it happens....

Let’s talk about this easy recipe that’s ready in less than 20 minutes, naturally gluten-free, and pretty darn healthy. Tender chicken is tossed in a tahini-based sauce that’s loaded with flavor from not only the tahini but also from lemon juice, honey, and apple cider vinegar. The sauce helps the chicken stay juicy and tender. You’ll have some leftover sauce that you can use to make a Chickpea and Kale Glow Bowl, add over another favorite salad, or use as a veggie dip....

#2: White Flour Sack Towels I’ve always liked using plain, white four sack towels right off my towel rack as a background textile in my food photos, but it wasn’t until I did this example that I truly realized how powerful that little white piece of cloth can be. Holy moly. I had to double check myself to make sure, and yes indeed, both of these photos had the EXACT same camera settings (SS 60, f/2....