Best Ever Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe I can’t think of a more classic dinner recipe that everyone loves and never goes out of style. That is, classic spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce. If you’ve never made homemade meatballs or homemade marinara sauce, I promise you not only are you in for a real treat, but they are both so easy! Making homemade meatballs for spaghetti is a cinch because you dump all the ingredients into one bowl, mix, and form your little meatballs before baking them....

And thanks for all your glowing compliments about the pictures of Skylar. Scott’s already talking about keeping the boys away and her dating. We’ve got a few years though as I remind him. Yesterday I was so excited to open a package in the mail and find this lovely gift from Holly! A few weeks ago I sent her a kombucha scoby so that she could start brewing kombucha at home....

If you love homemade jam and jellies, try our Blackberry, Strawberry, Peach or Raspberry Jam, or Orange marmalade. Why I love this recipe: Favorite appetizer: My husband introduced me to pepper jelly served over cream cheese, and it’s always the most popular addition to our charcuterie boards. Gifting: Every year we gift a savory food for Christmas neighbor gifts, and the year we gave pepper jelly was my favorite (we placed it in a bag with a block of cream cheese and sleeve of crackers)....

comment icon 167 more comments Is it just me or is chicken starting to be awesome again? Through the last few years, Pinch of Yum aka my-personal-self went through a phase of chicken rebellion. I was doing things like creating meals with plant-based things like MUSHROOMS or NUTS or TOFU. Okay waaaait I still really love mushrooms and nuts and tofu and I am definitely still a part-time vegetarian with a deep love for the whole plant-based thing....

comment icon 107 more comments That’s what we have going on here today. Lemon lavender muffins, guys! Is this not the most perfect for spring? Also the most perfect for Mother’s Day, because Mother’s Day is brunch city, and because lavender feels like something moms like. I mean, I might be a little biased, but because of my son Afton, I think lavender anything is the best. Muffins included....

The kind of weather than makes you say….ahhh. High 70s, no humidity, no bugs, an Indian Summer weekend in almost December. Can’t beat it. I had a couple glorious runs. The lemon trees are bursting with fruit even in the ‘winter’. That’s what I call locally grown and fresh. We took Skylar to the park over the holiday weekend. She rode her new bike. The sky was blue. The world was right....

comment icon 383 more comments This magic is creamy, rich, smooth like the best chocolate pudding-meets-mousse-meets-chocolate-pots-de-creme of your life. It’s not icy or weirdly textured at all, as many alternative-type frozen desserts can be. And there’s no milk in it. Or cream. Or anything dairy-like. But there’s also no scary vegan ingredients – it’s just all things you could buy at your regular grocery store. My favorite kind of recipe....

Easy Muffins … Made with Sweet Potatoes! These sweet potato muffins are super soft and tender in the interior with slight chewiness around the edges. They’re springy, moist, and accidentally vegan but you’d never guess it. I adapted the my Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe which has been a favorite of mine over the years because the results always taste fabulous. Here I used sweet potato rather than pumpkin, increased the amount of milk since sweet potato is drier than canned pumpkin puree, reduced the flour (again because it’s drier), reduced the sugar because it’s naturally sweeter than pumpkin, and swapped canola/vegetable oil for coconut oil....

If you love zucchini, be sure to try my zucchini cake, zucchini brownies, or roasting it for dinner. What I LOVE about this Recipe: Adaptable – Feel free to add chocolate chips or nuts, see my notes to make healthy zucchini bread, or add some cocoa powder for chocolate zucchini bread. Freezer Friendly: This recipe makes 2 loaves of zucchini bread, so you can save one in the freezer for another day....

I don’t really pay much attention to football except for one thing: football food. Appetizers, bite-sized little things, and of course any and all dips are all right up my alley. I’m helping to promote McCormick’s 50 Dips for 50 States effort during the professional football playoffs this weekend with this dip. The McCormick kitchens have been hard at work over the past six months creating a dip for every state....

Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe I have nearly 40 recipes for chocolate chip cookies from traditional versions to cream cheese to pumpkin. But I’ve never attempted to recreate Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies until now. I don’t know what I was waiting for because growing up Mrs. Fields cookies were an ultimate favorite. When I was in high school I worked at a mall and spent many lunch breaks savoring warm, buttery cookies fresh from the bakery case rather than eating lunch....

comment icon 170 more comments With rich sauteed mushrooms and poblano peppers cooked with tomatillo salsa, broth, soft white hominy, a handful of nutty, chewy bulgur for extra texture and depth, and cilantro and lime to finisheroff. It’s got a zing of tangy deliciousness and a lick of oh-my-goodness spicy heat that is, in the magic ways of food, 800% addicting. With the spicy poblanos and the zippy lime and the healthfulness of it all, this is absolutely my winter soul food right now....

But first it’s time to recap my Thanksgiving Recipes. My day started off hot. And by hot I mean I woke up with a high fever and daggers in my throat. The hurts to swallow, hurts to move, hurts to breathe type of waking up. Skylar has been sick for the past few days and I thought I could avoid getting her cold and getting but no such luck. It’s almost to be expected because I have been burning the candle at both ends, but duty calls....

We had a nice time at the beach yesterday and here are some pictures The sun was going in and out. A few minor sprinkles here and there but nothing that ruined our afternoon. From yesterday’s Pan Seared Ginger & Lemon Pepper Grouper with Sweet Dipping Sauce recipe, thanks to many of you for the compliments on it and for telling me if you’re scared to cook fish or any other foods or recipes that you’re scared to prepare or possibly “mess up”....

No Bake Vegan Chocolate-Coconut-Chia-Oat Dessert Squares/Energy Bars Into the VitaMonster went *2 Tbsp chia seeds that I ground well *Then I added 4 Tbsp of shredded coconut (mine was sweetened because that’s all I had) *1 Tbsp Maple Syrup *1 Tbsp Agave *Dash Vanilla *2 Squares of the TJ’s Dark Chocolate 73% bar(Or, 2 Tbsp Choco Chips/Carob Chips/Cocao Nibs would all work) *2 Tbsp Oats (afterthought because they were really soupy so I needed something to dry them up) *Blended til everything’s incorporated Put into a freezer container And here’s the up close drool shot And another And after sitting in the freezer a few hours, here ya go, squared off and dusted with powdered sugar....

If you love One Pan Meals, try my One-Pan Baked Ziti, Sheet Pan Fajitas, or Taco Soup. I think this Skinny Chicken Alfredo really speaks for itself with a Healthy Alfredo Sauce made without butter, heavy cream, or cream cheese. The flavor is still creamy and amazing with the same “comfort food” type of feel, but way less calories and fat. How to make Healthy Chicken Alfredo: Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces, about 1 inch, and season with salt and pepper....

Easy Orange Juice Cake If you love oranges and orange-flavored foods, you’re going to be in love with this orange bomb of a cake. I worked in orange in three ways: orange juice in both the batter and glaze, orange extract in the batter, and orange zest both in the batter and sprinkled on top. Holy orange. Best way ever to get your Vitamin C! I used my favorite, foolproof, no mixer, buttermilk cake recipe that I also used for Lemon Buttermilk Cake with Lemon Glaze, The Best Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Caramelized Banana Upside-Down Cake, Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze, Homemade Funfetti Cake, and many more....

Pineapple Coconut Seven Layer Bars I combined my love of pina coladas and seven layer bars into a fast, easy, no-mixer dessert that tastes like the tropics. These pineapple coconut bars are like eating a pina colada rather than drinking one. Like any good hello dolly, magic, or seven layer bar (the names are different but the concept is the same), this one starts with a buttery graham cracker crust and then I took a tropical turn....

One of those days that makes me happy to be alive and thankful to live here. Here was the sky at dusk with the crescent moon in the center of the frame and a star to the left of it. Both pictures were taken with my iPhone. Although the skies were lovely today, I am also posting this post as a test to see if Google Reader wants to cooperate and pick up this feed....

Easy Pumpkin Bundt Cake … with Chocolate Chips! I originally posted this recipe in the fall of 2012. I had a little girl in the kitchen that day who was just 5 years old helping me. She’s now a freshman in high school. I feel like I remember more about this cake than I sometimes do about the last 9 years that have seemingly passed by in the true blink of an eye....