Blackberry Nectarine Lush

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Easter. I know we did! The hubby and I headed out to his sister's house to have dinner with the family. It also happened to be my mother-in-law's birthday, so we had quite the Easter celebration. We had it all. A turkey and a ham. Two pasta salads. A big chocolatey, butterfinger-y birthday cake. Kids hopped up on way too much sugar... You know, the normal Easter fare 😂

Jalapeño Popper Pizza

It's Friday and we're going to talk about pizza. As such, I hereby open with this quote,

"You can't have Thanksgiving without turkey! That's like Fourth of July with no apple pie, or Friday with no two pizzas!"

I bet you can guess what show that quote is from... 

If you guessed 'Friends', you guessed right 😜 What can I say? I was picking up the house this morning, doing my normal chores, making the bed, and thinking about what I was going to write today. I started thinking about pizza... and that it's Friday... and the quote just popped into my head. Quotes from 'Friends' strike my mind every day in almost any situation, and while we won't be having 2 pizzas this Friday, the quote still made me smile. 

Recipe Redux: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Happy Monday friends! I promised in January that I was going to share this recipe soon, and then... I went on break. However, I'm back, it's spring, and it's time to talk about chocolate and banana. Only one of the best foodie combinations ever, if you ask me. Next to chocolate and peanut butter, and maybe peanut butter and banana, of course 😂  I enjoy a good banana bread on its own but when you add chocolate, it just takes it to another level! 🍌🍫

Short Margaritas

I've got an easy, short, FUN recipe on deck today!

I know I've shared margarita recipes before. First my Mangling Margaritas, and then my old stand-by, my Special Margaritas.  But sometimes you want a margarita and you don't want all the sugar from the mix. Sometimes you want just one margarita, and not a pitcher. What's a girl to do?

Enter the short margarita. Also known as the fresh margarita, the margarita for 1, and in some places, the authentic margarita. 

Slow Cooker Herb-Rubbed Turkey Breast

 -with turkey gravy

Sometimes, as much as you want things to be different... as much as you tell you yourself it will be different... sometimes things take longer to change than our well-intentioned selfs would like. As much as I would like to say that I left 2016 in the dust and 2017 is already waaaaaaay better, sometimes life just doesn't work like that. 

16 days into the New Year and I'm already beating myself up for the lack of posts. I'm mad at myself for still feeling the effects of last year's depression. Why can't it just be gone? 

Pesto Stuffed Shells

It's the first recipe of 2017! Yipee!

11 days into the new year and I'm finally getting around to posting about what I do best- FOOD! This recipe is a keeper, I'm telling you. Perfect for a frigid winter day full of ice and snow which I know a lot of us are dealing with right now. We only got about 2-3 inches last week and most of it melted on Monday. Today's temperature is supposed to be a lot warmer though (thank goodness!) because it's been a week of temperatures in the teens. Brrr! But I guess our snow is nothing compared to what's been going on in my former home of Oregon. They are getting more snow than I've ever remembered them getting, and we never got much snow when I was growing up. A snow day here or there, but not this much! In my mind, it's the perfect weather for staying in and popping a carb-a-licious casserole into the oven for dinner ☃️

Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies

Sheesh, you guys. I knew last week was going to be crazy, with the holiday and all, but not nearly as hectic as it was. I feel like I've had 2 seconds to myself in the last 7 days or so. Besides hosting Thanksgiving at our house, I had the funky cold from Hades, we had a water leak the day before the holiday, I had more MRI's done, and finally, the hubby got the new iPhone he's been dreaming of after we drove 256 miles to get it. Needless to say, it's been cray-cray around here. 

Update:

Cold is gone. Yippee! 

Water leak was fixed and Thanksgiving prep was finished. Thank goodness.

MRI's were completed. They weren't fun, but they are done. I loathe whoever created those detestable machines.

The hubby loves his new phone 😁

Turkey Bacon Avocado Paninis

It has been one of those kind of weeks.

Last Monday, a familiar but most unwelcome acquaintance set up shop in my house- the common cold. And ugh, it has been anything but fun. I've been running the gambit from sore throat to fever to head fog to a lost voice. Truly, by the end of the day Saturday, the hubby and I were communicating by text. I'm normally a very quiet person, but found the sensation of not being able to talk very unpleasant. Not cool when you are trying to watch Oregon football! 😡 Luckily, I'm on the mend. My voice is back and with only a nasty cough left, I'm pretty much over the hump.

Good thing too, because I'm doing the Thanksgiving shopping today 🙀

Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Put down your pumpkin pies, your pumpkin cakes, your pumpkin breads, and your pumpkin muffins. Why not try something new this fall? Something new being pumpkin used in a savory manner, rather than adding the "normal" sugar and pumpkin pie spice. 

I looooooove pumpkin in savory dishes. I'd actually never tried it until 2 years ago when I made Turkey Pumpkin Chili. I don't know if I was expecting my chili to taste like pumpkin pie, but it sooooooo did not. I was instantly hooked on the savory pumpkin 🎃

Easy Tortellini Bake

You guys.

I seriously meant to blog this weekend. Truly, madly, deeply, I did. And then... it was like vacation mode. I didn't even open the blog. I didn't read any blogs. I just watched football. And it was wonderful.

Granted, it was technically a terrible weekend of football. Just terrible. The Duck's had an ugly game on Saturday, and let me tell you, the Steeler's on Sunday was no picnic either. But it was nice to just relax. Drink some wine. Yell and throw my slippers at the TV every so often. 

But now it's Monday and I haven't posted in almost a week. Eek. Luckily, I've got something on board that is easy. Delicious. And most of all, comforting. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish

All right. Here's the deal- 

Over the next couple of days, I'm going to be crafting a recipe with my alpine strawberries. I know I said last month that my strawberries were starting to peter out, but I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG. They are still going and I'm collecting about 20 berries every 2 days. Something needs to be made with these lovely little berries...

Over a year ago (geez) the hubby and I went to Oregon for our 2015 trip. Whilst on our fantastic trip, my brother's girlfriend whipped up a couple of desserts for us. Her parents own an upscale hotel and restaurant in Ashland, OR, and it's safe to say cooking skills and knowledge were passed from parent to child. She made a delectable homemade raspberry tart with the most amazing filling. One of the best parts of the tart, however, was the crust. Oh, that crust. I asked her for the recipe and I've had it in my back pocket for well over a year now. I'm guessing you know where this is going...

Oven-Roasted Sea Bass with Spiralized Veggie Stir-Fry

Today, I feel like posting something pretty. Oh, I know those Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes were gorgeous in their own way 😉 But this dish is beautiful in it's own way! I mean, who doesn't love colorful food? That little saying "Eat the rainbow" comes to mind for me. I love eating the rainbow! And that's kind of what I was aiming for with this dish...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

You know what I just realized this morning when I opened the blog?

I haven't posted a dessert recipe since June 20! Remember Copy-Cat Girl Scout Tagalongs? Yeah, that was my last recipe to satisfy sweet tooth's (teeth? I don't know about that one 😁). Let's remedy that!

Dad's Cucumber-Dill Salad

Does anyone still have cucumbers left??

Good, let's do this! 

I made this salad all the way back for the 4th of July. Almost 2 months ago. Remember how I said this was one of the downfalls of taking a long summer break? You miss posting cucumber recipes at the height of the season. And this is a good one, too. My dad sent me the recipe at the end of last summer, and it took me all the way till this summer to get on it. 

See Dad? I don't just delete all those recipes you send me. They get filed away until it's almost a year later and you forgot you even sent it to me! I get to them eventually 😁

Raspberry Peach Jam

Fall is coming!

Yeah, it's still August, but it's starting to feel a bit like fall around here. Some of my trees are changing color and losing leaves already. The hummingbirds are beginning to get fatter and there's a lot more of them around the last couple of days, something that usually doesn't happen for a couple of weeks around here. This morning when I let the dogs out, my glasses didn't fog up which means... dun dun dun...no humidity. Always a sign of fall around here. 

How can this be happening already? Wasn't I just lamenting that late frost we had in March? Didn't I just get tomato starts to baby before planting in the raised beds? How does summer always go so fast?

Garden Veggie Pasta Soup

Happy Saturday everyone!

I was going to post yesterday, but you know what? I wasn't feeling it. While still trying to be my most authentic self, I just didn't feel like putting fingers to keyboard. It might still be the writer's block a little bit. It might be because the hubby's on a business trip and I've become obsessed with findings on Netflix. It's true, I discovered "Stranger Things" and nothing was done for 8 hours while I binged. If you like sci-fi, you'll like that one. Then I stumbled on "Shameless". Oh man, I'm deep into that one too. There's nothing like watching a show about a huge family with lots of problems when you have an empty house 😜

So, to set aside my TV bingeing for a moment or two, let's talk about the opposite of TV bingeing- gardening!

Basil For Days (And 3 Pesto Recipes!)

Summer may be winding down, but no one has told my basil that. I don't know about you guys, but I've got it coming out of my ears! If there's one crop in my garden that never fails to produce, it's that large-leafed Italian favorite, basil. I normally plant plenty of it in my herb garden, but this year I went a bit further. I read that it's a great companion plant for tomatoes, keeping hornworms away and infusing the tomatoes with even greater sweetness. And I can confirm, I've had little problem with hornworms this year. In fact, since the basil has exploded and grown, I haven't see a single hornworm. I'll be pairing these two together from here on out!

Pesto Zoodles with Grilled Chicken & Burst Tomatoes

Today, folks, might actually be a sunny day!

Indeed, I've been (impatiently) waiting for a sunny day for almost a week now. The hubby worked his tail off last weekend to finish the patio and the garden area out back for our rained-out 4th of July barbecue. The area frankly looks amazing, and I've had no chance to take pictures of it all week thanks to clouds, rain, and general gloominess. But not today! It's finally sunny, and I plan on taking full advantage of that. And I can't wait to share the results. The hubby is truly a miracle worker.

Garlicky Caprese Flatbread

There are no words.

I can not express how much I love to make this flatbread. Literally, there are no words. 

Well, I probably shouldn't say that, because let's face it- it's me we're talking about here. Girl who has something to write about almost anything. Girl who may not talk that much, but girl who writes prolifically. And yeah, I guess I do have words that describe how much I love this flatbread.

Homemade Salmon Shmear

Sunday recipe, what up!

What better for Sunday morning brunch (or lunch! Or dinner!) deliciousness than bagels with extra-whipped and fluffy flavored cream cheese? Not a lot, my friends. Not a lot.