BACON AND EGGS SAUSAGE BURRITO

My husband loves breakfast burritos. They are the perfect portable breakfast. I keep them in the freezer so he can just grab one and take it to work with him. They are easy and yummy!!

CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day I decided to make my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's a unique recipe, using dark brown sugar and almond extract and the oatmeal gives it a chewy texture which is what I love so much! 

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!

HOMESTYLE MEATLOAF

 I love a good meatloaf! This is not your simple 5 ingredient meatloaf, but most of these ingredients you should have in your pantry. It's a few more steps, but well worth it! I love serving this with a cheesy polenta or mashed potatoes and asparagus or broccoli. A great homestyle recipe that your family will love! 

RUSTIC PEA SOUP

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last posted on my blog. Not since cupcakes took over my life. For those of you that don't know, I opened a cupcake bakery (Copper Lantern Cupcakes) and had cupcakes and buttercream coming out of my ears! I was living out a dream and took a hobby of mine into a full time retail space! Exciting! Well, it was also more than what I and my family bargained for. Lots and lots of time away from home and too much stress to run a family full time and a business full time. I know I'm great at multi-tasking, but somewhere in there I ran out of hours in the day to get it all done and ultimately decided to close the retail space and concentrate on what I really loved to do. Cooking and baking and blogging! Yay!!  So, I'm back to cooking, baking, blogging, cleaning, yardwork, kids, homework, sports, etc and I LOVE IT!! (Gosh, that list is long)

GLUTEN FREE MAPLE CINNAMON CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Still on my quest for the perfect gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I think my recipe that I posted a couple weeks ago is hands down the best standard chocolate chip recipe. I wanted to spice things up a bit, so I tweaked the recipe a little to give it a little kick with some cinnamon and maple syrup. I loved how these turned out. The flavor is yummy and because of the maple syrup, the texture is moise and chewy, just how I like it!

HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS

We are an english muffin eatin' kind of family. Frankly, I'd rather have muffins over toast any day. My son likes them with melted cheese inside and calls it a "cheese muffin". I use the muffin rings to cook eggs then add them to the muffin with sausage or bacon and cheese for an incredible breakfast sandwich!
I've always loved them and now that I make my own, I can't see why I'd ever buy them again, these taste so much better. 

WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH CHICKEN APPLE SAUSAGE

Fall weather is here and soup is calling!! I've been wanting to make this soup for a long time and finally got around to it the other day. I don't handle salt well and therefore, don't buy soups from the supermarket. I wanted to make a flavorful soup that tasted great, without all the salt. It was a success! I hope you enjoy this yummy soup. What I also love about it is that you can throw it all in the crock pot and when you get home, soups on!

CHICKEN FRIED RICE

I've been making this for nearly 20 years. My whole family and I love fried rice, it's one of the first boxes of take-out to be emptied out when we order chinese food. This is a simple straight-forward recipe and it turns out great every time! You can change the protein to beef, pork or lamb and keep the rest the same. It's a staple for any chinese food night in!

PEANUT BUTTER AND MAPLE CHOCOLATE BALLS

I guess I'm revisiting my childhood lately. I've made Snickerdoodles and now these peanut butter balls. I started making these when I was in middle school in a 7th grade cooking class. I've tweaked it over the years and added a few things. I think now they are absolutely yummy. My husband says they taste just like Reese's peanut butter cups with a little crunch. Dipping in chocolate does take a little time, but you don't have to do all of them at once. Also, they can be frozen after they are done so you can save some for later!

RASPBERRY VINAIGRETTE DRESSING

I've been looking for a great raspberry dressing for my spinach salad. Haven't been able to find anything I totally love, so I made up my own. I think it's the best of course, I hope you like it too. It's super simple and will keep for up to a week.

CHEDDAR BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

These biscuits are very versatile. You can serve them with breakfast and with dinner. Well, you can even have them with a hot lunch. I guess anytime will do! Yummy buttermilk biscuit with sharp cheddar cheese. Mmmmmmmm......

GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I'm still on a quest to help my girlfriend, who has celiac, get over feeling like she can't have her baked goodies! Today was all about chocolate chip cookies! I think I have the combination of ingredients down so that when you take a bite of this cookie, you won't even know it's gluten free! My husband ate 4 and he said he didn't even know they were gluten free! That's gotta be a good sign. I think these are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made, gluten free or not! I hope you enjoy them too!

GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

Here's a recipe for creamy, delicious garlic mashed potatoes. It's got to be one of my family's favorite things. You can have these with beef, chicken or just by themselves! I always make lots so we have some for leftovers the next day. Simply delicious!

GRAVY - for all kinds of meat

You can make this gravy after cooking any kind of meat, as long as you have some drippings to work with, it's the same process. Turkey, Pork or Beef, let's make some gravy!!

PANTRY POT ROAST

If you're like me, you've got a pantry full of seasonings, boxed pasta and soups that just sit and sit. Here's a way to use up a whole bunch of those seasoning packets and make one of the best pot roasts you've ever had!

PARMESAN ROASTED ASPARAGUS

Looking for a different way to eat those veggies? Well, here's a simple way to ramp up your asparagus. I usually eat  mine steamed, but this is a treat!

SNICKERDOODLES

Sometimes revisiting classics is just plain fun. It feels like I'm reliving my childhood when I make things I used to eat as a kid. These are simple, yet delicious. Everybody seems to love a good snickerdoodle. Here is my take on an old classic.

CHEWY CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Who doesn't love brownies? I'm not even a chocolate lover and I love brownies! About 10 years ago, my sister and I decided to put an end to wondering which was the better brownie recipe, a mix, from scratch, etc. So we baked a bunch of brownies and had a taste test. This was hands down the best and chewiest brownies ever! I hope you enjoy them!

BREAKFAST STUFFED BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

It's time for Sunday biscuits again. Today I thought about stuffing all the fixin's inside of a buttermilk biscuit. Turned out yummy. A fun way to eat your sausage and eggs all in one bite!

DRUNKEN BURRICHILADA

What's a drunken Burrichilada? It's a sauced up burrito/enchilada! I couldn't think of a better way to describe it so I made up a name. My husband says, this is the best thing I've ever made, so that might give you an idea of how good this is. I made the enchilada sauce and spanish rice that I've posted separately, but I'm sure you could use other versions. I hope you enjoy this yummy dish!

SPANISH RICE

Spanish rice is a favorite Mexican treat in our house. We serve it as a side dish or put it in a burrito. It's pretty versatile when you think about it. If you have some leftover white rice, I'm including the super fast version that uses already cooked rice an is ready in less than 10 minutes. If you don't have cooked rice, the other version is there too and it only takes about 30 minutes. Either way, it's worth the time. YUM! I made this rice to go inside my Burrichilada. Recipe to follow in another post, you don't want to miss that one.

ENCHILADA SAUCE

Anyone that knows me very well, knows that if I'm going to eat Mexican food, it's probably going to have enchilada sauce on it. It's my favorite thing! I thought that it had to be hard to make so I didn't even attempt it for year. I'm so glad I finally made it one day because we use it to make a number of things.  I will be posting a recipe for my "Burrichilada" soon, so keep your eyes out for it. It's incredible. Here's how to make the sauce.

PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS - GLUTEN FREE / SUGAR FREE

I have a good friend who has some recent health issues that have her on a very restricted diet. No gluten, low fat, no sugar, etc. Sounds pretty boring doesn't it? She is a sweets lover, like me, so I wanted to try to make something that would satisfy her sweet craving, but stay within her diet restrictions. Since it's fall, a pumpkin spice muffin seemed like the right choice. So, off to gluten free land I go, a hopping and a skipping, this is going to be fun. I like discovering new things.

HUMMUS WITH TAHINI

I love Hummus. It's one of my daily snacks. I eat it on pita bread, pita chips or baby carrots. It's great to serve at parties, too. This is a very simple thing to make and can be made in advance as I think it's better the next day.

DISHPAN COOKIES

I really like cookies. They are typically easy to make and easy to store, even in the freezer. My husband can take them to work in his lunch and it's easier to be disciplined as I can have just one cookie and not keep taking bites off that lovely cake that's sitting there! This is such an interesting recipe. I think it originally got it's name because the recipe was so large you had to use your dishpan to make them in, there wasn't a bowl big enough. I've cut the recipe down and added a few extras. I think they are easy and wonderful. I can imagine having them with vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of caramel sauce, the ultimate dessert. Enjoy!