Food
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Copy Cat Noodles & Co. Wisconsin Mac’n’Cheese
The first time I tried Noodles & Co.’s Wisconsin Mac’n’Cheese, I was living in Colorado Springs. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Unfortunately, Noodles & Co. is not yet a restaurant that is found nationwide. So, like many other foods I have fallen in love with and then moving away from, I had to figure out how to make this. AND…since my children have inherited the love of cheese and noodles, of course, I had to recreate this recipe for myself. ALSO…did you know that I have family from Wisconsin? And my Great Uncle had a cattle farm in northern Illinois that would occasionally send milk and…
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Conversation Hearts
At one point, when I was VERY young, conversation hearts were the best thing in the world…next to candy necklaces. Come to think of it, both conversation hearts and candy necklaces are very similar in taste and texture. Conversation hearts got their start way back in the mid-1800s with a pharmacist named Oliver Chase. He invented the machine that rolled the candy type dough and cut it into pieces. At the time these candy pieces were actually throat lozenges. After a while though, Oliver abandoned his pharmacy and opened a candy company that later supplied the world with those NECCO wafers. Eventually, the NECCO wafers dough was made into tiny…
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Buckeyes
Several years ago, my kid brother Mikey, made Buckeyes for the first time. When I tasted them, my mouth totally had a party! I’ve always been a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate together. Peanut butter blossom cookies are some of my favorites. These tasty chocolate peanut butter truffles, dare I say, are even better than Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Apparently Buckeyes originated in Ohio. They are named for the resemblance to the nuts on the Buckeye tree. Have you made Buckeyes before? What are some of your family’s holiday baking traditions? Do you generally bake during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah season? Or are you an every holiday baker? I…
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Breakfast Hash & Fried Eggs
Breakfast for dinner is a staple in this household. We have breakfast for dinner at least once or twice a week. Half of the family loves sweet and doughy breakfasts like waffles and pancakes, while the other half goes for savory meals. I’m smack dab in the middle. Sometimes I am feeling Belgium waffles and other times I want a really flavorful breakfast hash. Breakfast hash is actually super quick and easy to make. It is something I live off of whenever Matthew is gone with work. I’ll eat breakfast hash for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plus you can make a Mexican spin on it (which is my favorite) or…
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Instapot Cajun Sausage and Cheesy Rice
After living in Mississippi a decade and a half ago, all things Cajun quickly crept into my flavor palate. Just like most of the other recipes I have in my top favorites, anything Cajun is PACKED full of flavor with each bite. Jambalaya is definitely my favorite Cajun meal, but when your family isn’t a huge fan of seafood or spice…a girl creates another Cajun flavored meal. Plus who can turn down any super cheesy meal? If you use brown Jasmin rice, be sure to adjust the cooking time. Brown rice tends to take longer to cook. Another tasty substitute would be quinoa or couscous. Hope y’all are having an…
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Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
I’m currently taking a chemistry food class for my Dietetic degree and lemme tell you, I have learned A LOT. I recently completed a lab involving baking muffins and learning all about the proper leavening agent ratio to acidity ratio. I thought I made decent muffins in the past, but I’ve totally upped my game. This recipe is my first recipe with my newly learned techniques, and the muffins turned out beautifully. Tips for Perfect Muffins: The wet and dry ingredients MUST be mixed separately in bowls before they are combined. It is extremely tempting to combine it all in one bowl, but this is a HUGE no-no. If the…
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Quick Instapot French Onion Soup
Last month was my mother’s birthday. She and my dad flew in for the holidays on her birthday. Her only request was that no one talk politics (her birthday was the day after the finalization of the House Impeachment Hearings). AND…to everyone’s surprise, my dad appeased her; even though my husband sure tried to goat my dad. As I was meal planning for the holidays, I knew I wanted to create something super special for my mom in honor of her birthday. One of her favorite soups is French Onion soup, but I know she is extra picky about the texture and flavors so she rarely finds one that meets…
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Instapot Brown Noodles
This is a recipe that the 5 of us children begged my mom for dinner almost every week. It’s a sort of spin on Beef Stroganoff, without the sour cream. And bless my mom’s heart, she ALWAYS made egg noodles from scratch. I take the easy way out with Reames Frozen Egg Noodles…which is ALWAYS a staple in my freezer. Making Brown Noodles in the Instapot proved extremely easy and has become my go-to method recently. Brown Noodles is a wonderful recipe for cold nights and is a must my in comfort foods rotation. The next time you are feeling like you need some comfort food and it’s chilly outside,…
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Easy Apple Hand Pies
I LOVE pie! I once heard someone say that their favorite pie was a round pie. I’d have to say I agree, but when you can have a pie and it is portable, what more could you ask for? My parents grew up in Western Oregon, where blackberries grow wild. They are so wild, that the locals actually consider them a weed. But, I’m telling you, driving through Salem on south, you could look out your window and see giant, unruly, bushes of blackberries and those blackberries are some of the most flavorful I’ve ever tasted. Every summer, growing up, we’d trek to Oregon to visit family and I would…
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Mexican Corn Chowder
Right now, the weather has decided to warm up enough to feel like spring…but in the 8 years I’ve lived in Las Vegas, that is rather typical. Winter lasts for approximately a month, or what we natives (or transplanted natives-2 of my kids were born here) call winter. Then usually toward the end of January, we hit 50°F-60°F weather. It is glorious and at the same time depressing…knowing that just around the corner is triple-digit weather. Even though it is the perfect park-playing weather, we are still savoring every moment it is cool enough to consume soup. My kiddos especially love corn chowder, but this time I decided to put…
