Hey-o and happy Friday! Let’s jump right into the good stuff today – we’ve done this once before, so here goes round two! My goal for today is that you could find one thing that you have in your house right now that can really improve your food photos. Easy! 1. Crumpled Paper Yep, like a piece of crumpled up paper. Crumple, smooth, and voila. Beautiful texture and vibe for your background....

Easy Thai Noodle Soup with Chicken For anyone who’s a regular reader of my site and makes my recipes, you know that I love Thai food and never miss a chance to recreate a Thai restaurant quality meal at home with no hassle, no fuss, and just great tasting results. Which perfectly sums up this soup! You’ll find an abundance of shredded chicken and tender rice noodles in the broth which is made with Thai red curry paste, creamy coconut milk, and plenty of fresh seasonings and herbs including ginger, garlic, basil, cilantro, and green onions....

And in five minutes and I’m NOT EVEN JOKING. comment icon 398 more comments This is The Peanut Butter of peanut butters. It’s peanut butter like you’ve never seen before. Or have you? If you’ve made your own peanut butter, you’re already five hundred light years ahead of me in coolness. But if you haven’t made homemade peanut butter yet, we need to talk. How To Make Homemade Peanut Butter In this little jar of liquid gold, we have peanut butter with the most perfectly melty, creamy texture, and with a barely sweet, peanutty-intense flavor....

So Happy Fourth of July! We just got back from a great 4-day vacation to the beautiful Mississippi River Valley – specifically, this gem of a place called Lake Pepin. And now we’re back home and it’s July 4th! Literally right at this second I can smell someone in the hood grilling up some hotdogs and my happy-summer-o-meter is flying high. Remind me next time I go on vacation to schedule my return over a holiday weekend, because back to back to back fun is, like, super extra sparkly fun....

And I love vacation pictures. I love my vacation pictures and I love your vacation pictures and I love your best friend’s cousin’s sister-in-law’s vacation pictures. I wish there was a way for you to upload your best vacation pictures in the comments. The Great 2018 Vacation Picture Swap. Bjork, can we work on that? This wasn’t our first time to Kauai. We actually came last year. I don’t think I ever really talked about that on the blog....

Charcuterie (shahr-koo-tuh–ree) I find any excuse to make big or small Charcuterie boards, whether for casual Sunday afternoon snacking, Book Club get togethers, or holiday entertaining. I love that they’re quick and easy to throw together with little to no cooking required, and they are so fun! The term “charcuterie” refers to the preparing of cured meats, like prosciutto, bacon, salami, etc., but these days when people say charcuterie, they are usually referring to a fun, meat and cheese board that typically includes cured meats, a variety of cheeses, crackers, nuts, fruits and vegetables, and dipping sauces or spreads....

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies These pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soft, thick, hearty, perfectly chewy and not cakey, which is a problem that often plagues pumpkin cookies. I love pumpkin cake, muffins, and bread but I don’t like cakey cookies. To combat the cakiness, there’s no egg in the recipe. Eggs make things fluffier, but pumpkin puree does that naturally much like bananas do. There’s oodles of chocolate in every bite, and the rich pumpkin flavor just shines....

Bjork here, checking in for the monthly traffic and income report. Quick story… We were hanging out at our friends’ house this weekend and they were showing us clips from the movie The Intern. We weren’t actually watching the movie, just the highlights. Kind of like Sports Center, but with a movie instead of a football game. Here’s the basic premise: Anne Hathaway’s character is the founder of a successful e-commerce company....

This is an easy pumpkin bread with chocolate chips that requires no mixer and goes from bowl to oven in minutes. Between the molasses, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and McCormick’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Extract, the bread is true comfort food and beautifully showcase the flavors of fall. To create this chocolate chip pumpkin loaf recipe, I adapted my beloved Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread for a loaf that’s soft, moist, springy, dense yet still fluffy, and nicely spiced....

I had a nice weekend but it flew by. Weekends always seem to go by quicker than other days of the week. I’m sure you can relate. But it was a happy weekend because I spent some time at the park with Scott and Skylar. It was nice to just be together. Spending more time as a family, even an extra hour or two here or there and whenever we can grab it, was an October goal....

Fall food is rocking the house this month! Pumpkin Alfredo, Chicken Wild Rice Soup, Miracle No Knead Bread, and a revisiting of these Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins? SO MUCH GOOD going around the table right now. Last night was a random fridge-clean-out dinner of butternut squash soup with roasted potatoes and a grainy mustard sauce, and even THAT was everything basic and fall-ish and yummy. We are in the prime of Fall Food Awesomeness....

Oh and to answer yesterday’s burnin question that was blowing up my comments and inbox…yep, the raw vegan chocolate brownies are really as good as they look. They are uber rich and decadent so a little dab’ll do ya. And you don’t have to freeze them, I just like chilled food cuz it’s so hot here. But you can have ’em at room temp. If you do that, I’d scale back on the dates just a smidge or add more walnuts because they may be a little runny otherwise....

In early April. The flowers are blooming, it was 82F, sunny, and bountiful blue skies. Just a stunning day in San Diego. Ironically, I was at the grocery store a couple days ago and mini-watermelons were on sale for two dollars each. “Mini” is all I need at one time. They still provide plenty of melon, days worth for the entire family, but not so much that I have refrigerator space and storage issues....

What is Barbacoa Beef? If you’ve never eaten barbacoa before, it’s essentially slow cooked beef that’s been flavored with a mixture of herbs, spices, and chiles. I used a trimmed boneless beef chuck roast in this Instant Pot recipe. Barbacoa beef made in an Instant Pot is ready in about 1 hour. In traditional preparations of barbacoa, multiple different parts of the beef head were used, as well as sheep or goat, but we’re not going down those roads with this recipe....

Easy Shrimp Scampi Pasta Recipe This shrimp scampi pasta recipe is a spinoff from my Easy 10-Minute Shrimp Scampi recipe. I added onions, Parmesan cheese, and perfectly cooked pasta to today’s version. What results is a restaurant-quality meal, made at home very easily and in just 15 minutes! It’s a testament to the joy of combining simple, fresh ingredients to create a dish that bursts with flavor. This easy garlic shrimp pasta recipe strikes a delightful balance between the sweetness of juicy shrimp, citrusy lemon, tender linguine (or the pasta of your choice), and the richness of butter....

Food is a love language. It says “I love you” and “I see you” and “I am there if you need it” and also sometimes just, “Hi. Here. Tacos.” And that is enough. Food has the words when sometimes we don’t. Maybe you want to drop something off for a friend juggling the world with a new baby or just moved into a new house and who knows where all the kitchen boxes wound up?...

comment icon 97 more comments Plant based magic coming hot to the table in three. two. one. Guys, this is a delicious heaping pile of noodles and it wants to be your dinner. It’s creamy kale pasta and it has come to rescue you and your hungry self. Here’s what we have happening -> KALE. ♡ Chopped up super thinly (think slaw-like) and sautéed in garlic and olive oil. Bringing the powerhouse nutrition and rich color and feel-good vibes, like it always does....

But here’s the question – does it really? For the last four years, as an elementary school teacher and a friend and a wife and a 9-to-5 working person who wanted to enjoy a small amount of weekend freedom, my schedule didn’t allow for time during the day to work with natural light. I felt like if I wanted to take incredible pictures of food, I needed to be waiting next to the window for that perfect ray of light....

Enjoying all the air fryer recipes? Try my Air Fryer Grilled Cheese, Air Fryer Meatballs, or Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets! Why I love them: Just like so many of my other favorite Air Fryer recipes, these Air Fryer Potato Wedges result in a perfect crispy exterior, without the mess (or calories) from frying them in oil. They’re easy to make and pair with any meal. Check out my air fryer tips and tricks!...

comment icon 205 more comments It is impossible for me to order a salad at a restaurant without a side of fries. Um, a little flavor-loaded fresh veg action with a fistful of hot and crispy fried potatoes to carb it up and wash it down? AND YES I WANT A SIDE OF RANCH DRESSING, DUH. What was already a beloved food combo in my heart has just been elevated to a new status....