Sure, at first glance, it may just look like a big dish of tender pasta, creamy white sauce, and melted cheese, but it's really so much more than that. Well, actually, that's pretty much exactly what it is. But there's also shredded chicken and spinach tucked between each rolled noodle, which both gives it a...
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Death By Chocolate Chunk Cookies
This cookie is the result of countless hours of inner-debate over which decadent dessert to bake. Do I whip together my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies? Do I mix up some One Bowl Brownies? How's a woman to choose between both sources of sugary splendor? She doesn't. In times of crisis, she makes Death By Chocolate Chunk...
Matcha Cookie Christmas Tree Stacks
It's an exciting day of firsts for me. This is my first post I've written since moving (to my first place I've rented away from home since college), of my first time using matcha in baked goods. I never thought these Matcha Cookie Christmas Tree Stacks would turn out so perfectly on my first go, but what do you know? It's a...
Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms
When it comes to Thanksgiving eating schedules, there are two schools of thought. The first is that you should avoid food up until dinner is served, lest you risk spoiling your appetite. The second is that hours of restraint while the aroma of roasting turkey fills the house requires a level of self-control that is...
Italian Style Stuffing
Here in New Jersey, Italian-Americans make up almost 18% of the state's population-- surpassed in overall number only by our neighbor to the north, New York. This means that, despite the fact that I have not a drop of Italian blood in me, I'm surrounded by plenty of sources for a peek into Italian-American culture. Or...
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Cheesecake
Let's be honest: no matter how great of a cook you are, nor how gracious a host, Thanksgiving gets stressful when you're the chosen one who's preparing the feast. Everyone is counting on you for a delicious day; it is the biggest food-centric event of the year, after all. You spend days planning and prepping,...
Salted Caramel Crunch Cookies
I realize that this is the second post in a row that has "Crunch" in the title. But honestly, who doesn't want a crunchy exterior surrounding their chicken, or some crunchy mix-ins in their cookie dough? After all, if flavor is the leading role, then texture is the director. Did you know that texture actually largely...
Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers
I can feel football season in the air. It's coming. I keep hearing whispers of fantasy football drafts, predictions for the season, and plans for tailgates, and I am beyond excited. Not because of some burning, deep-in-my-soul love for the game (although I have to admit, I get a little bit intense when the season heats up),...
Frico Egg Breakfast Tacos
Raise your hand if you go to bed excited to wake up and eat leftovers for breakfast. (My hand's up, and I really hope I'm not the only one.) Or, better yet, you forget about them, wake up starving, open the fridge, and the refrigerator light illuminates your leftovers like some kind of divine answer to your...
Classic Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
If anyone were ever to call me a recipe purist, they'd be wildly mistaken. I like my foods fusion-ified. I like them loaded with crazy amounts of fillings and toppings, and authenticity always follows far behind enjoyability when it comes to my meals. I do not have a Plain Jane appetite, to say the least....
The Best One Bowl Brownies
You guys, I have been trying for a long time now to come up with the best brownies. I have tested all of the celebrated brownie recipes my little heart could handle, and I found promise in some, but not perfection. I have compared to box mixes. I have compared to bakery brownies. I have talked to...
Freezer-Friendly Everything Bagel Bombs
Raise your hand if you don't have time in the morning before work to make yourself a filling, healthy, and delicious breakfast. Hello, my fellow sad-excuse-for-breakfast buddies. I feel your pain. Not to worry, though. What I'm about to tell you will change your breakfast game forever. You can have ham, egg, and melted cheese stuffed...
Honey Dijon Chicken Cheesesteaks on Pretzel Rolls
My mom is not a big eater. She is perfectly content having salad for dinner most nights, and she sticks to small portion sizes when she eats anything else. I did not inherit my endless (and frighteningly insatiable) appetite from her. But sometimes she surprises me, like when I told her that she could have the first taste...
Butter Chicken Pot Pie with Naan Crust
It never fails-- when there's snow on the ground and a grumbling in my stomach, I always crave comfort food in the form of Chicken Pot Pie. Juicy chicken, tender vegetables, and creamy sauce all nestled beneath crisp, golden crust; that's my idea of cold weather consolation. Everything about Chicken Pot Pie screams "All-American classic"... but...
Four Cheese Sausage & Spinach Lasagna
This is the last thing I made before burning the ever-loving you-know-what out of my fingers. About two weeks ago, I was making this Four Cheese Sausage and Spinach Lasagna and some Jack Daniels Burgers to bring to my friend's surprise party. My lasagna was fresh out of the oven and I was trying to position it...
Nut-Crusted Fried Brie Bites
I don't know about you, but I feel like there is not nearly enough cheese in the traditional Thanksgiving spread. Cheese, in all of its variations, definitely makes my "Grateful For:" list every year. As a result, I put cheese in my mashed potatoes, cheese in my dessert, and used warm, buttery, melted cheese as...
Slow Cooker Sausage, Spinach, and Artichoke Dip
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about that Spinach and Artichoke Dip Alfredo I made last year. And the oft requested Crab and Artichoke Dip. Oh, and Spinach Dip Bites, too! Mainly because they're all freakin' delicious, but also because I have an obsession with any recipe that uses a ton of cheese, spinach, and/or artichokes....
The Best Chewy Café-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are my most popular recipe ever, and for good reason. But I went ahead and messed with them anyway. After years of making them, I've very slightly tweaked the recipe (to be seriously perfect, because I'm obsessive), but the original recipe will be preserved in the notes section for all who prefer it. I've...
Chipotle, Black Bean, and Roasted Garlic Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
I love this combination of flavors so much that I've made 4 recipes now using chipotle peppers, black beans, roasted garlic, and sweet potatoes, trying to find the perfect way to use them on the blog. I've tried taquitos, soup, and quesadillas, but the recipe that really let all of the tastiness shine was Chipotle,...
Mexican Stuffed Peppers (Chorizo-Stuffed Poblanos)
Do you want to know the absolute worst part of being a food blogger? I hope you said yes; I'm going to assume you said yes. The WORST part of food blogging is that you almost never have the time to make a recipe more than once or twice. Think about it-- you spend all...
Bacon Egg & Cheese "Everything" Egg Rolls
When it comes to breakfast, I'm the worst. It's probably easy to imagine that I wake up every morning to make myself omelettes stuffed to the max with fresh veggies and melted cheese that oozes out of the folds like a little egg volcano. And being that homemade meals are kinda my thing, there are always plenty of...
Maple Bourbon Brown Butter Peach Pie
I'm firmly convinced that there is no better dessert in this world than Maple Bourbon Brown Butter Peach Pie. Yes, I said it. I, the fruit skeptic, the haphazard baker, the Thanksgiving-dessert-skipping monster (seriously, who turns down a slice of warm apple pie?!) made this pie twice in one week. It was just that delicious. And...
Mom's Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers
When I first posted this recipe for Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers years ago, I knew it would become a favorite with my readers because it was already a favorite of mine. Of all of the recipes that I post on this blog, this one is undoubtedly the one I make most often. It's the perfect...
Mozzarella-Stuffed Chicken Parm Meatballs
At all times, I have at least 3 varieties of mozzarella in my fridge. Bocconcini, shredded, sliced, mozzarella di bufala... it's all got its place in my heart and in my meals (especially since I learned how to make my own fresh mozzarella). I could --and would-- eat mozzarella in everything, but I try to...
Skillet Scalloped Potatoes
Put some cheese-covered carbs in front of me, and I get weak in the knees. You could serve up pasta with Parmesan, mac and cheese, or crusty bread with melted mozzarella, and I would dive in face-first with reckless abandon. Cheesy carbs of any sort are just my thang... but the true obliterator of any...
Cheesy Crab and Artichoke Dip
Even before this dip was ready, I was hovering by the oven, mouth watering, impatiently waiting to dig in and burn the absolute life out of my mouth. I knew it was going to be good. It was loaded up with cheese, lump crab meat, and artichokes. There was no way it was going to...
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip
There is not enough coffee in the world to save me today. I woke up at the crack of dawn yesterday to get my cooking done (look out for the Carrot Cake Cheesecake recipe coming up-- it should be illegal, it's so sinfully good) and then took a long, hurried drive/train ride to Newark for...
Guinness Beef Stew with Cheddar Herb Dumplings
Rich and hearty Guinness Beef Stew is a classic that you'll find at pubs and family dinner tables all across Ireland. This version features ultra-tender meat, deep flavors, and Cheddar Herb Dumplings that will make you swoon. It's the ultimate comfort food. It's been cruelly cold and frosty for the past couple of days up...
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Quesadillas
I take after my dad in many ways-- my endearing disorganization (can't blame me for trying to make it sound like a good thing), my creativity, and of course, my desire to cover anything and everything in jerk seasoning if given a chance. There was always a jar of Walkerswood in the fridge growing up,...
Tequila Lime Chicken Sandwiches with Guacamole and Chipotle Mayo
When I go out to eat at a casual restaurant, there's about a 75% chance I'm going to get a chicken sandwich if there is one on the menu. It's only 75% because sometimes I like to "broaden my horizons", or whatever you'd like to call it. But the truth is I could get chicken...
Boozy Raspberry Hot Chocolate
I've never been a huge fan of hot chocolate, but I also never realized that real hot chocolate doesn't come from a powder packet. In real hot chocolate, you actually melt chocolate and add milk and cream, which probably should be obvious but I never even considered it. It tastes like liquid happiness. Or at least...
Freezer-Friendly Athenian Chicken Quesadillas
I'm not ashamed to admit that out of all the awesome places I've eaten (and there have been many), my favorite place to frequent has always been a little dive bar just up the road from my mom's house. It's an unassuming spot that's far too small for the amount of locals who crowd in for...
Skillet Pumpkin Cornbread with Cinnamon Maple Butter
As you may or may not remember, I finally made my way down to North Carolina this past summer to visit my cousin Ashley and her fiance Evan. I came back missing my cousin more than ever (isn't it funny how seeing someone after a few years actually makes missing them worse?) and also missing...
Glazed Doughnut Cocktail
"Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?" - Homer Simpson When I was in kindergarten, my mom and my childhood best friend's mom would take turns driving us to school every morning (there were no buses that went to our area), and every time Talia's mom drove, we'd stop to get fresh doughnuts at...
Mexican Stuffed Peppers (Chorizo-Stuffed Poblanos)
I remade these Mexican Stuffed Peppers so that they're better than ever. Check out the new post, recipe, and photos HERE. This past weekend, James and I went to an awesome little barbecue place in his town and pigged out (see what I did there?). It was fantastic, and I've definitely been inspired for some future...
Breaking Bad Blue Margarita (with Blue Salt and Blue Ice Chips)
With the Breaking Bad season premiere coming up this Sunday, you probably need something to sip as you and your friends gasp at the TV. If you're looking for drink inspiration for your premiere party, it's about time you break out those bottles and get mixing! You don't need your chemistry set to come up...
Grilled Pesto Chicken Sandwiches
Considering that I was obsessed with roasted red peppers for the first few years of learning to cook, I can hardly believe that I have included just one lonely recipe that uses them as an ingredient since starting this blog. In fact, obsessed might be an understatement here-- it was extremely rare that I ever made...
Maryland Crab Cakes with Horseradish-Sriracha Remoulade
It all started about 2 months ago, when my good friend and past housemate (and avid reader of this blog-- hi, Rachel) mentioned that she wants to meet up at Chickie's & Pete's some day over the summer, which may or may not be my favorite sports bar due to it's abundance of shellfish, mollusks,...
S'mores Martini
S'mores Martini. This creamy, chocolatey cocktail tastes like a boozy version of your favorite campfire treat. I have been so tempted to say "bring the bonfire inside with these martinis" but I feel like I am opening myself up to lawsuits. So instead I'll say that this drink is like your favorite bonfire treat, but with...
Pretzel Rolls
Homemade Pretzel Rolls: soft on the inside, salty and chewy on the outside, and now better than ever! No lye necessary, these fluffy, perfectly browned, slider-sized pretzels are surprisingly easy to make. Fill them with ham and cheese, bratwurst, or even mini burgers. Hot. Tempting. Perfectly tanned. I'm talking about pretzels, ladies and gents. You’ve had...