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…or the flowers that grow year-round here… Saw this rose on a run the other day and went back with my camera. …but it’s a blessing that fruits and vegetables of all kinds, including avocados, are grown locally here. Including the four, locally grown avocados that I received from California Avocados Direct. The California Avocados Direct farm is a family-owned and operated farm of the Holtz family. It has been in operation for decades, spanning three generations, and it’s located about a half hour north of where I live....

Moist Blueberry Muffins with Sour Cream It’s been about a year since my last blueberry muffin recipe. So I began my seemingly annual quest to create the softest, moistest, and best blueberry muffins. For a jumping off point, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks for classic recipes, The New Best Recipe from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated. It’s a 900+ page Bible and if you don’t have it, it’s well worth the $20 bucks for a classic cookbook with so many recipes, and all tested a million different ways right down to what does an extra egg yolk or one extra quarter cup of sugar do to the final result....

It’s been a fabulous place for her, but all good things run their course and come to an end. Kids grow, they mature; they outgrow certain things and need new challenges. And today she was off to meet that challenge: she started school at a new school. She was thrilled. I have been a basket case. I’ve been consoling myself with a baking project that involved lots of cream cheese frosting....

Every month I put together a report that includes a behind-the-scenes look at Pinch of Yum. This is our 26th traffic and income report. You can browse through all of the previous reports in the Making Money from a Food Blog archive section. I focus on two things with these reports (1) the income and expenses and (2) the traffic. I also include any tips or tricks that we’re learning as we continue to find ways to grow the blog....

Post is brought to you by Santa Cruz Organic. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own. Peanut butter and jelly is an all-time classic that you can’t go wrong with. These super soft bars that are brimming with peanut butter flavor and topped with sweet strawberry spread, peanut butter chips, and a melted peanut butter drizzle are a definite swap up from a PB & J sandwich....

comment icon 103 more comments No contest. And I’m happy to report that fluffy, nutty, honey muffins just came out of my oven. Which has an actual fire inside it. Be impressed. Bonus: I’m pretty sure about one third of me melted during this entire baking/photographing process so I think that means I’m good for another 6 muffins. Ok, wait, stop. I need to tell you a little story about why I have this amazing table....

A one-bowl, stir-together, 5-minute recipe that’s perfect for casual events, parties, and family dinners. Everyone loves this one! Watergate Salad Recipe Watergate salad is light and fluffy sweet fruit salad made with crushed pineapple, pistachio pudding mix (which gives the green color), marshmallows, maraschino cherries, and pecans. The ingredients are enveloped in creamy whipped topping, which helps give this easy Watergate salad recipe its fluffiness and lightness. It takes just 5 minutes to make, one bowl, stir everything together, and everyone in the family loves it!...

Baked Salmon Foil Packets This foil pack recipe is so easy that even a totally inexperienced cook will look like a hero and it’s ready in 30 minutes! Simply place thinly sliced potatoes in a mound on a sheet of foil, top with salmon, olive oil, the juice of an orange and a lemon, seal up the foil, and bake. The baked salmon in foil stays so juicy, moist, and tender because it’s sealed tightly, and the combination of both orange and lemon works beautifully....

Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Muffin Recipe It’s that pumpkin time of year where everything and anything is scented with pumpkin spice! For many people, I know they get very excited when Starbucks breaks out their cream cheese pumpkin muffins for the season. If you’ve ever wanted to recreate the famous coffeehouse treat at home, I am sharing the best copycat recipe for Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins. This is an easy, no mixer base recipe that I have used over the years in these Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, Mini Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins, and Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins....

Pretty but Simple Potato Salad Recipe Pink and purple food. Yes, it’s a thing. Can anyone resist pretty pink and purple potato salad? I think not. I’d much rather have this than your average run-of-the-mill potato salad. I replaced the heavy mayo, mushy potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs with pretty pink (red) and purple potatoes, crisp pink and purple radishes, and crunchy red onions. Lots of flavors and textures in every bite....

I know there are people who don’t like raisins. I happen to think that’s crazy. But that just means more raisins for those of us who do. This bread is for raisin lovers and for those of us who can appreciate the sweet, wrinkly, dried fruit. I said I wasn’t going to make bread from scratch in Aruba because I don’t have a stand mixer here, it’s humid here and damp air and bread dough aren’t friends, and because well, bread takes time and effort....

Here are some ideas for your 4th of July parties and festivities: Red Food Strawberries with Chocolate Coconut Cashew Butter Raw Pasta & Raw Marinara Sauce Vegan Sloppy “Bean & Lentil” Joes Raw Taco Salad with Raw Taco Nut “Meat” White Food White Chocolate Blondies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups with Chocolate Peanut Butter Centers No Bake White Chocolate & Mango Cookie Dough Bites...

Easy Peach White Wine Sangria Recipe Summer parties, get-togethers, barbeques, pool parties, and friends-dropping-by-spur-of-the-moment-parties are what warm weather is all about. And warmer weather means you better hydrate. With booze. This white peach sangria goes down so easily. I love mangoes and pineapple, and they taste especially good after they’ve marinated with peach schnapps and a bottle of wine. It’s a great way to stretch a bottle of wine and get some vitamin C into your diet, you know, from the chunks of fruit in each glass....

What Is a Niçoise Salad? Traditionally, it’s a French salad from the area of Nice, France; hence the name Niçoise. There’s always potatoes, haricots verts (thin French green beans), and briney olives (or capers). I purposely left the olives off because I don’t have any olive fans in my family but they’re an easy addition if you’re an aficionado. Traditional Niçoise salads tend to use tuna but I will always choose salmon over tuna, and that’s what I did here....

Fudgy, caramely, dense and rich with crunch factor. Something for everyone. The brownies are as fast and easy as using a boxed mix, and the brownie batter is whisked together in one bowl in minutes. The brownies are the epitome of dark, rich, and fudgy and are the chocolate version of these Salted Caramel Pretzel Blondies, which have always been popular with readers. They’re like Turtle brownies with pretzels instead of nuts....

comment icon 176 more comments Everything gets thickened up a little, giving it kind of a stewier feel. We added a little smoky paprika, and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end, and we have not one single regret about any of it! Except that maybe it is hard to eat soup and type at the same time right now but listen, we are not engineers. Someone else solve that problem, please....

I’ve got 17 irons in the fire and have been a super busy girl today! Everything from a mega Kinko’s morning with tons of printing and faxing, which is possibly the most expensive place ever to print and fax documents but my little in-home printer and fax machine just was not up to the task I had at hand, to doing a little at-home yoga session to Monday phone calls up the wazoo!...

Easy Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites One of my guilty pleasures when I go to the mall — although that is more and more rare these days when online shopping is just so darn convenient — is to go get a soft warm pretzel. Depending on the mall, that’s likely either an Auntie Anne’s or a Wetzel’s Pretzels. I can’t resist warm dough doused in cinnamon-sugar with sweet glaze on the side or drizzled over....

Easy Spinach Apple Salad Recipe There are so many wonderful textures and flavors in every bite of this spinach apple salad, you can’t help but like it. It’s filling, satisfying, and healthy. Hearty spinach, crisp juicy apples, salty cheese, chewy orange-flavored dried cranberries, and Fisher Natural Sliced Almonds for extra crunch. I made a simple shake-it-together vinaigrette that’s tangy-yet-sweet from the apple cider vinegar, honey, and mustard. It coats each and every bite perfectly....

Easy Slow Cooker Bread Pudding Recipe I have always been a big fan of bread pudding and for this extremely easy bread pudding recipe, I decided to make it in my slow cooker. That’s right, bread pudding in a Crock-Pot which is as simple as adding diced bread cubes, pouring an egg and milk mixture over the top, and then let your slow cooker get to work. Fun fact: There’s no melted butter in this recipe....