• Food

    Honey Lemon Chicken Ramen

    Like many other children, mine love Top Ramen. Attempting to keep them healthy and well nourished, I only let them consume Top Ramen when they are sick or when it is really cold and they are begging for soup. In an attempt to create a more nutritious ramen, I decided to try my hand at a homemade version. Needless to say, they loved this version a whole lot more…and to my detriment they now beg for this instead of the quick microwave Top Ramen. I will definitely be attempting more homemade ramen in the very near future. Have you ever made homemade ramen? What do you use in your recipe?…

  • Food

    Candy Cane Cookie

    My boys like to help make cookies, but they aren’t too keen on the decorating sugar cookies…which is perfectly fine with me, because I’m not too keen on the mess clean up after decorating sugar cookies. So instead of cookie cutting, frosting, sprinkling; we like to make candy cane sugar cookies. It still allows them to be involved, but it isn’t nearly as messy. Between you and me, I think they prefer the candy cane cookies because rolling out and shaping the dough is quite a bit like playing with playdoh. These cookies can easily be decorated as well with sprinkling of powdered sugar or addition of crushed candy canes…

  • Food

    Hidden Kiss Meringues

    Holiday baking is in full swing right now and my kitchen has exploded with all things of tasty goodness. Hidden kiss meringues have been a holiday favorite of my family’s for decades. While working with meringue can be intimating, this recipe is nearly foolproof. To top it off, this recipe has 5 ingredients, including the Hershey Kiss center. This recipe is super quick and easy. Bonus is that it is a crowd pleaser and extremely easy to mass produce for a party or to give as a holiday goodie. Have you ever made meringue candy before? Do you find it easy or difficult to create? Stay tuned for more holiday…

  • Food

    Meatless Meal: Veggie Lo Mein

    I’ve been on a no meat meal kick as of late. While I know this is a rather unpopular statement, some might even say controversial…I LOVE MUSHROOMS. And…of course, I married a man who loathes them, or at least the texture of them. Mushrooms are very much a hated vegetable. Typically it is a texture thing because most mushrooms take on the flavor of whatever you add them to. So I have made it my mission to sneak mushrooms in as many meals as I can and see which of my boys’ notices. When I am adding mushrooms to something, I prefer cremini or the white button mushrooms as opposed…

  • Food

    Beef Barley Stew

    We had a few days last week that were chilly, for Vegas. Autumn is a finicky season in the Southwest. We will dip down into the 50s for a few days and then temperatures will rise back up to the high 70s and low 80s. On the sporadic days of lower temperatures, I embrace the cold and plan for a cozy meal. The cooler days seem slower and more at ease. It gives me time to prepare a meal that may take longer than 30 minutes, and beef barley stew is a perfect meal for those kind of days. Actual prep doesn’t take too much time at all, but there…

  • Food

    Southwest Spaghetti Squash Casserole

    My children have all gone through picky eater stages. Some lasted longer than others, but inevitably, I’ve pretty much forced them out of the pickiness. I decided a long, LONG time ago I would not be a tall-order chef (unless I had a child who had food intolerances or some sort of chronic illness that required a special diet). Believe me, my twins were SO terrible with trying new foods they would throw up just looking at a new food they thought they wouldn’t like. I KNOW the picky factor. In fact my twins ended up going through occupational therapy to help them overcome their food aversion. Keegs gag reflex…

  • Food

    Autumn Peach Cobbler

    Every year toward the end of summer beginning of autumn, we make a trip to the local orchard for fresh apples, peaches, and pears. This year with how crazy 2020 has been, I decided instead to pick up a bushel of peaches from someone who picked them from the orchard already. While we missed doing our own picking, the peaches were amazing. Last night, I realized that we are down to our last dozen peaches and decided we needed some peach cobbler in our lives. Homemade peach cobbler is a must every year around this time. What are some of your favorite peach recipes? Do you absolutely love autumn and…

  • Food

    Easy Monkey Bread

    I’ve been told quite often, ‘I wish I could make cinnamon rolls, but I am too intimidated to try.’ The answer to that anxiety is monkey bread. If you have never heard of monkey bread, then let me tell you all about this tasty goodness. Monkey bread does not have bananas, or any other type of foods monkeys typically consume. It is called monkey bread because to eat it you pull it apart and it is so easy even a monkey could do it. It has all of the flavors of cinnamon rolls with a fraction of the prep or time. This is also a recipe that has only 5…

  • Food

    Banana Walnut Bread

    Bananas are a food that doesn’t last terribly long in this house. They are consumed quickly, on average we go through 3 bunches of bananas a week. It’s like I never feed these boys. With this social distancing going on, I may have stocked up on bananas more than usual, so this week I had enough to make a couple of loaves of banana walnut bread. There are many versions of banana bread, some use pecans, others add in chocolate chips. This good o’le version is definitely my favorite. While pecans are tasty, I prefer walnuts. I think this recipe is my favorite because it is relatively lactose-free with no…

  • Food

    Almond Joy Chia Pudding

    If my husband could replace me with an Almond Joy candy bar, I’m fairly certain he would. The combination of chocolate, coconut, and almond is just his jam. When I created the PB Chocolate Chia Pudding a while ago I knew I would have to figure out an Almond Joy version. I know the PB Chocolate version was a huge hit and tastes WAY more decadent than it actually is. So is this one, it ticks all of the tasty boxes and also is low in fat, carbs, and sugar. This is definitely a healthier, just as tasty alternative to the candy bar. Do you have a go-to chia pudding…