Who needs store-bought pouches of powder when you can make yummy, rich hot chocolate on your stove top? I’m a big fan of knowing what I’m putting in my body, so even though I’ve been known to enjoy a little Swiss Miss from time to time, I’m in love with this homemade hot chocolate recipe.
It only requires one pot and a few minutes to make, so there’s really no excuse to buy the powder kind ever again.
Plus, it has spices. Yum! I modified this recipe from a pin I saw leading me to this hot chocolate recipe on Foodomania. You can make it your own by switching up the type of chocolate and spices you choose to include.
I don’t know about you, but when you think of truffles, I usually think of chocolate. Not this time!
I work at Benigna’s Creek Vineyard and Winery and during the month of March we have the wine trail (Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail) going on. We have food and wine pairings at each of the wineries on the trail. I was looking for some unique recipes to pair up with wine for our appetizer weekend.
I stumbled across the Savory Truffle recipe on myrecipes.com. and decided to experiment. To incorporate wine into the recipe I substituted the fresh lemon juice with wine. Turned out pretty tasty served on crackers!
Potato chips are my guilty pleasure. If I were stranded on a deserted island, I think that’s the snack food I’d miss the most. Yes, over chocolate. Just barely.
I have two issues with potato chips, though. First, they’re really bad for you. Not only are they really fatty, but like all packaged foods, they also usually contain a lot of crap that is totally unnecessary. I hate it when I can’t pronounce ingredients. Second, they’re really salty. Salt isn’t good for you of course, but I legitimately don’t like it when chips are super salty.
So, I decided to test out this microwave potato chip recipe, which is originally from The Kitchn. At least I have a little control over the ingredients if I make them at home! I was definitely skeptical about microwaving potatoes to make chips, though. It just sounds like like won’t work.
Pleasant surprise: This is an excellent recipe! I did have one minor complaint, but I would totally make these microwave potato chips again.
Do you need a sweet treat for Valentine’s Day for your sweetheart? Instead of the traditional heart boxes of chocolate candy, bake some cookies!
Chocolate and peanut butter are one of my favorite combinations, so I just had to try these cookies, which are originally from i heart nap time .
I found the Reeses peanut butter hearts at the local grocery store. If you can’t find them, Dove chocolate has a heart-shaped chocolate piece that you can use instead. Right now is a good time to stock up since lots of places are selling heart-shaped candy for Valentine’s Day.
With the Super Bowl coming up in a few days there are lots of parties being planned. I pinned this recipe from Taste of Home. The Pizza Wonton cup appetizer recipe can be added to your list.
Back in July I posted a Sausage Wonton Cup recipe that is very similar just using some different ingredients in the filling. The step for baking the wonton is the same. It calls for turkey sausage, but you can use whatever kind you like. I happened to have leftover fresh pork sausage in the refrigerator so I used that. And I always use what I have on hand or is left in the refrigerator.
Let’s take a look at how to make this recipe – and at the end, you can find even more links to great party-friendly foods perfect for Super Bowl Sunday.
As I’ve noted in past posts, I’m not the biggest fan of veggies.
This problem is most pronounced when I’m cooking dinner for other people. This past December, I planned a dinner party for 13 people, so I neededsomekind of vegetable dish. What to do, what to do…
Make them as unhealthy as possible, of course! :-p
I saw a recipe for green bean fries on Pinterest, and since I love Applebees green been fries, I thought these would be a great choice for the holidays with friends. I was right – they were a huge hit. Even if we did mess up the recipe a little.
Then I went to look up this recipe again to write this post…and it was GONE! Don’t you just hate that? So I found one that was close (if I’m remembering correctly), but this is a good reminder to print out recipes you really love!
This year, I wanted to make some doggie treats to give out with Christmas cookies, since a lot of my friends have puppies. We’re all kind of at that age where some people are starting to have babies, but most are getting dogs instead!
So, of course I turned to Pinterest! I found this pin that featured several dog treat recipes, and I decided to try The King Arthur Flour Best of Breed Dog Biscuits.
All the doggies who tried these treats absolutely LOVED them! They were easy to make too, and definitely less expensive than buying treats. I’ll definitely be making them again, and if I had a dog of my own, I’d probably make a batch every month!
Exciting news readers! I recently turned one of my biggest freelance clients into a full time position within the company! Now I have to wake up at a normal time every weekday (okay, that’s not so exciting), put on my big girl pants, and go off to work. But wait! Doesn’t this mean you don’t have as much time for testing out new recipes and crafts Jess?!?!
Not at all! In fact, it helps keep me more motivated to test things out! The guy who’s desk is next to mine has a reputation in the office for snacking on everything and anything he can get his hand on in the office. Whenever someone brings something in, he’s usually the first to come sample the goodies. Last week I pulled up my Pinterest board of recipes to test out on my phone and let him pick something out for me to test out and bring in the next day. It’s good motivation to keep me going after a long day because if I didn’t come to the office the next morning with the food I’d promised, I’d surely hear about it all day.
What did he pick? Snickedoodle Muffins, orginally pinned by Alaxandria Marsh from eat me, delicious. And I gotta give my co-worker some credit. He picked out a WINNER. These turned out awesome and the ladies in the office only had good things to say.
These BBQ Meatballs are our favorite meatball recipe of all time. I usually make three or four batches at once and vacuum pack them for the freezer. It’s nice to be able to get some out whenever you need an easy meal.
My husband really enjoys this meal, so we made them fairly often.
Allison’s note: I recently made a big pan full of these for a dinner party with about a dozen people and they were gone in the blink of an eye. We were actually joking about bidding on the last one! No matter where we take these meatballs, everyone LOVES them! They’re great as an appetizer for a party, on a sub for lunch, or as dinner.
This recipe doesn’t from Pinterest, but instead from a close friend of our family.
*Papa Boyer is in the hospital right now getting heart surgery. We’re all praying for a speedy recovery (and planning some healthy recipes for his return). Thoughts and prayers are definitely appreciated.*
Any red velvet cookie always deserves a second look from me. Our whole family likes red velvet goodies. This Red Velvet Cookie recipe was found in the 2010 Betty Crocker Christmas cookie recipe book and I also pinned it from the Betty Crocker website.
The recipe is another easy recipe using a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix, just like the Dark Chocolate Apricot Cookie recipe I recently posted. It makes a nice and easy cookie to add to your Christmas cookie list.
The festive red color is a bonus!
