Classic, homemade pesto can't be beat, so ditch the store-bought stuff and whip up a batch right in your kitchen. All you need is a few simple ingredients and you'll be making this flavorful, basil-packed summer staple in no time. (And by "no time", I mean 5 minutes or less!) If there was ever a...
Antipasto Tortellini Pasta Salad
Everyone goes crazy over this Antipasto Tortellini Pasta Salad! It's a flavor-packed potluck favorite, and leagues better than anything you can get from the grocery store. This loaded pasta salad recipe features multiple cheeses, meats, olives, peppers, and more to create a hearty summer side dish. It'll definitely become your go-to pasta salad! I've spent...
Grilled Peach and Halloumi Panzanella
Grilled Peach and Halloumi Panzanella. This summer salad includes a mix of quickly grilled peaches, halloumi cheese, and ciabatta bread croutons that are tossed with fresh basil, red onions, and a simple white balsamic vinaigrette. It looks and tastes fancy, but it only takes less than a half-hour to prepare! I placed this platter on...
Cheesy Tuscan Spaghetti Squash
This blog post has been compensated by Borden® Cheese. All opinions are mine alone. #BordenCheeseLove #CollectiveBias #Ad I’ve been promising myself for months that I would start sharing (and making) better for you, easy to make meals more often. We’re just about a month into the new year, and while you all are “new year,...
Blackberry Basil Moscow Mules
Eight years ago, I was finding respite from the constant chaos of my apartment (that's a story for another time) with my upstairs housemates and an oversized bowl of beef-flavored instant ramen. Komal made it for the four of us, because despite being a stereotypical broke and miserable college student-- as we all were, at...
Saucy Skillet Chicken Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Peppers
There's something about stuffed peppers that always feels like the cozy, tuck-you-in type of comfort food to me. They're also the kind of comfort food that I tend to avoid in the warmer months because most recipes require turning on the oven. When it feels like an oven outside, I try not to use the oven inside, you know?...
30 Minute Thai Beef Stir Fry with Sriracha Roasted Peanuts
The toothpaste is out of the tube, and there's no putting it back. Not that anyone would want to. Thai food has been in the US since long before I was born. It was largely introduced when Vietnam War soldiers were on R&R in Thailand and enjoyed local dishes, fell for the women who prepared them, and brought...
Sun-Dried Tomato Crusted Chicken with Goat Cheese and Herb Sauce
My little brother Mark-- or maybe I should say my younger brother, as he's not very little anymore-- doesn't fit the stereotype of the annoying bratty sibling. In fact, he's pretty much the coolest kid-- or I guess man, now-- that I know. That's mainly due to the fact that he spent most of his early years trying to be like me....
Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Chicken Meatballs with Creamy Parmesan Rice
These Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Chicken Meatballs with Creamy Parmesan Rice are a result of what can only be explained as a freak accident on mother nature's behalf: I've managed to keep a basil plant alive in my kitchen for months now. Not only is it alive, it's flourishing. New leaves are coming in. Nothing is wilting. It's survived...
One Pot Pesto Carbonara
Looking outside, I can hardly tell it's spring. The sky is grey, the grass is brownish, and the trees are still barren. O Sunshine, where art thou? We get less and less "spring weather" here in Jersey every year, it seems. Is it like that everywhere? Do you feel like it's either scorching hot summer...
Sun-Dried Tomato & Feta Pull-Apart Garlic Knots
It's 2015, so I finally decided I should start using that personal twitter account I created 4 years ago. Now I'm sucked in-- I think it was the Foodie Band Name hashtag that sealed my fate. I used to tell everyone that I didn't use twitter because I just didn't get it, but I'm starting...
Chicken Cacciatore
When I used to think "date night", I didn't think "chicken". Medium-rare steaks, juicy pork tenderloin, butter-drenched lobster; sure. But chicken? Nah. It's just too boring. Too bland. Not sexy enough. However, after 3 years of James begging me to make Chicken Cacciatore, I finally caved. I had eaten it before-- a simple meal of tomatoes, peppers,...
One Pot Greek Chicken Pasta with Creamy Feta Wine Sauce
Back when I was in college, my signature dish was Pasta Greco, an easy-to-make Greek-inspired pasta dish that I adapted from a local restaurant. When James and I were in the wee-beginning of our relationship and I was just beginning to realize that I could, in fact, make my own food instead of spending all...
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...
Cheesy Bacon Jalapeno Corn Dip
] And so it has begun. Every 3 minutes, James has been getting notifications from ESPN about another football player who is injured and out for the season, roster projections, and anything that might even mildly pertain to football in some obscure way. He keeps patiently explaining to me every single thing that I somehow forgot...
Cucumber Basil Gin and Tonic
I'm gonna be honest with you-- I had a very tame weekend filled with tbs movie marathons, trying to get work done on my laptop, and fried foods. And even though I'm not leaving any crazy spree of excitement behind as I enter the work week, I've got to say, I have a serious case of the Mondays...