When it is cold outside and you need to warm up, why not do it with a cup of gourmet orange hot chocolate? This hot chocolate can be made in only a few minutes and it only requires 4 ingredients. Come on, it really doesn’t get any better than that. This hot chocolate is a favorite at our house and always seems to put a smile on my kids face. Alright, we have wasted enough time talking about this hot chocolate. Now it is time for you to go make it.
Until next time,
Carrie
When it is cold outside you need to have hot chocolate right? Well you are in luck because I have an amazing gourmet coconut hot chocolate recipe for you. This recipe is kid approved. When I made it the other night after my husband and boys came in from shoveling the driveway they downed their cups with in minutes.
You can find the cream of coconut in the drink aisle in your grocery store next to all the cocktail mixes. I like to top my off with a dollop of whipped cream and a few sprinklings of toasted coconut. I think it would taste really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well!
Until next time,
Carrie
Do you need an crowd pleasing cookie recipe this holiday season? Nothing screams Christmas like the heavenly combination of peppermint and chocolate. This recipe starts out with a super soft chocolate sugar cookie. Then you spread some silky smooth peppermint chocolate guanche. Next you pipe on some velvety chocolate mouse and you top it off with a sprinkling of crushed peppermint. These cookies will not disappoint! The only problem with these cookies is that they tend to bring out the selfish side in people because once you taste these babies, you will want to eat them all yourself!
December is here already. The December month always goes by so fast. It seems like all I have to do is blink and it is over. Luckily, I finished my Christmas shopping a few weeks ago because my schedule is quickly filling up fast with holiday festivities! If your calendar is looking like mine, you might want to put this Cheesy Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Panini on your dinner menu. It takes very little time to prepare and it is so flavorful that your family will be begging for more.
When making this, I like to use the butter spray ” I can’t believe it’s not butter” because it has the butter flavor without all the fat. I found the jars of sun-dried tomato with Italian herbs in Olive oil (cut Julienne style) in the produce section. I like to buy the ciabatta buns at Costco in their bakery section.
If you don’t have a Panini press, don’t worry. You can use a skillet or a flat electric grill. Set your stove top or grill on a medium low setting. Spray the pan with cooking spray and then place the Panini in the pan. Place another heavier saucepan on top of the Panini to help press it down. Watch the Panini carefully so that it doesn’t burn. When the Panini is golden brown, flip it over to cook on the other side. Once the Panini is golden brown on both sides and the cheese has melted, remove it from the pan and serve immediately. For those of you who like meat on your Panini’s, a few slices of roasted turkey would be fabulous!
Until next time,
From my kitchen to yours!
Carrie
Here is a great recipe if you don’t like the tartness in a lemon meringue pie but love the lemon flavor. Growing up we always had a lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving because it was one of my Dad’s favorite pies. I love lemons but the lemon meringue pies are too tart for me. When I tried this recipe, I thought it was the perfect compromise! It is also a pretty simple pie to throw together if you are in a pinch or just don’t want to spend a lot of time making a pie. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Until next time,
Happy Eating!
Carrie
5 Ingredient Key Lime Pie is heaven sent! You will be floored at how such a simple recipe can taste so amazing! The filling is smooth and creamy and sets up beautifully in only 10 to 12 minutes. You can whip this 5 Ingredient Key Lime Pie up in under 20 minutes.
Key limes are hard to find where I live so I use regular limes. I also prefer to use homemade graham cracker crust and homemade whipped cream. I have included the recipes for homemade graham cracker crust and homemade whipped cream below. The homemade graham cracker crust and homemade whip cream are completely optional, you can use store bought if you prefer. It is a matter of personal preference.
I love this pie so much I created a recipe for Raspberry Custard Pie, Strawberries and Cream Bars, Apple Pie Cream Bars, and Easy Flag Cream Bars using the base of this recipe. They are also very simple and delicious! You can find the pictures and the links to the recipes at the bottom of this page.
The most popular recipe on my site is the Italian Lemon Pound Cake, if you love the sweet and tart combination of the 5 Ingredient Key Lime Pie, you should try this cake! I promise you won’t be disappointed!
With love from my kitchen to yours,
Carrie
One 9- inch prepared graham cracker crust
2 cans of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 c. lime juice
1 tbsp. of fresh lime zest (about 2-3 limes), finely chopped
Recipe adapted from Key Lime Pie VII at allrecipe.com.
8 full sized graham crackers
1/4 cup of butter, melted
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. of vanilla
1 tbsp. of granulated sugar
Here are a few other recipes you should try.
I made this recipe as a side dish for a birthday lunch for my Dad. Growing up, my family ate a lot of squash. However, my older sister was a picky eater as a kid and she had never tried squash until I made this. She loved it and wanted the recipe so she could make it for her family. I bought another squash the next day to make it again, that’s how good it is.
After I roasted the squash, I tossed it in some parmesan cheese. This helped kicked the flavor up another notch. This recipe was so simple and quick to throw together. I love that on top of being delicious, it is also healthy. It would make a great addition to any meal.
Until next time,
Happy Eating!
Carrie
Creamy Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes is going to change the way you think about mashed potatoes. They are silky smooth and full of flavor. This make ahead recipe is as simple and easy as it gets!
There is just something about a bowl of Creamy Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes. They always warm me up on cold days like today. I love all the memories I have as a child of sitting around the dinner table for Sunday dinner and enjoying a helping of my dad’s fluffy and oh so tasty mashed potatoes.
Mashed Potatoes is one of the most popular side dishes in United States. Really if you think about it, they can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Babies can start eating them around four months. You can eat them even when you are older and no longer have any teeth.
If you want a really creamy and fluffy mashed potato, I would recommend using a potato ricer. After all, if you whip or mix the potatoes too much you can turn them into a gummy mess. If you use a potato ricer, you will have a consistent creamy and smooth mashed potato.
I found a recipe for crock pot mashed potato recipe on Pinterest. It had never crossed my mind to cook the potatoes in the crock pot. I knew I had to try them to see if it would really work. After some tweaking, I have to say that I am in love! This recipe would be great for Thanksgiving dinner if you have a lot of things that you will need to be cooking on your stove top. I loved how flavorful the chicken broth made the potatoes. I felt that they really didn’t need a whole lot of spices added because they were so flavorful from the broth alone.
Once the potatoes were fully cooked, I put them through the ricer one large full ladle at a time. I didn’t bother straining the extra liquid. This way, I was able to keep the flavor from the liquid in the mashed potatoes and I didn’t have to use as much milk or sour cream.
If you don’t have the time to cook them in the crock pot, you can use this same recipe and cook them on the stove top. These potatoes are just as good the next day for leftovers. Go ahead, give it a try. I dare you to!
Until next time,
Happy Eating!
Carrie
5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp. garlic, minced
3 c. chicken broth
½ c. sour cream
½ c. milk, warmed
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 oz. light cream cheese
¼ c. butter
Instructions:
Here are a few other recipes you should try.
Autumn Havest Salad with Pumpkin with Creamy Pumpkin Dressing
Stuffing is one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. I guess technically it would be called dressing since I do not stuff it in the turkey. I have heard many conflicting things about putting the stuffing in the turkey while it cooks. So I just don’t do it. I don’t want to risk making everybody sick.
I must confess that I have made the box stuffing many times because when ever I made stuffing from scratch, it was either too dry or too soggy. It always had a good flavor but the texture was off. I knew there had to be some secret to keeping it moist but not soggy.
I recently came across an article on Foodnetwork.com that broke down the steps of making stuffing. It had instructions on how to make the classic stuffing and then they listed different variations. The thing I found most interesting was the fact that they added eggs to the stuffing and baked it for about an hour. I had never tried having eggs in it before so I decided to give it a shot. I followed the basic instructions, but like always, I decided to add a few new twists to the recipe and I could not be more thrilled with the out come. I found that adding the egg and then baking it really helped give the stuffing more stability. I also decided to use French bread because it is more hardy than your average sandwich bread. I bought two French bread loaves and cut them up into 1 to 2 inch cubes. Then I spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and let them dry for one full day. You need to make sure that the bread is evenly spread out so it will dry evenly. I used gala apples, but really you could use any apple that bakes well. I do not recommend using red delicious apples because they tend to get mushy when they are cooked.
This stuffing was even good the next day. I was surprised at how well it held up over night in the fridge. It was so good, I even ate some of it while it was cold when I was warming the rest up and it even tasted great when it was cold.
Come on my friends, give this recipe a try and you will understand what I am talking about when I say this is my new go to stuffing recipe!
Until next time,
Happy Eating!
Carrie
This is the kind of pie that you can use as leverage to get things done around the house. The other day when I made this, my kids were all standing around drooling and waiting for the moment that they could devour their slice. They whined when I told them that they were going to have to wait till after dinner to eat it. It ended up working out great for me because during dinner I only had to tell them once that if they didn’t finish their food they wouldn’t get any pie. I have even considered making it every day just so I can get them to cooperate a little bit better when it comes time for homework, cleaning their room, and getting along with one another.