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chicken nOOdle sOup

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I love autumn when the leaves turn colors and there’s a crispness in the air that’s not quite cold enough to be uncomfortable.

When the smells of pumpkin spice, nutmeg, and cinnamon are in the air everywhere you go. It’s time for visiting the orchard to get apple cider and donuts, curling up on the couch in a fluffy robe with a cup of tea….or soup!

It’s definitely a time for comfort food, and chicken noodle soup is on the top of my list to make. This recipe I’ve developed over the years and I’ve tweaked it so many times that I couldn’t tell you what the original recipe was. I crave this soup all the time, even in the summer when it’s hot, it’s that good!

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maple cOcOnut granOla

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My grandmother holds a very special place in my heart.

Most of my happy memories from childhood involve my grandfather, who recently passed away, and my grandmother in one way or another. I spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s kitchen, especially since we lived right next door. I could walk a mere twenty feet and arrive at her doorstep. Grams is an amazing cook and I learned a lot from her over the years and still treasure sharing recipes with her to this day even though I live a bit farther away now. 

She used to make a homemade granola that she baked in the oven with sunflower seeds, oats, nuts, and raisins that was so simple but incredibly delicious. It’s not a recipe that she still has because it was one that she came up with herself and didn’t write down. I was too young to think of getting the recipe from her at the time but I’ve never forgotten the taste, and I crave it still to this day. Those types of dishes are the best, the ones made out of love that you just create as you go.

Over the years as I got older I’ve tried all different granola that you can buy from the store, recipes with ingredients that are similar to what I remember being in my grandmother’s creation…and not one has come close, until now!

I stumbled upon a recipe from Dang who makes toasted coconut chips that uses coconut oil in the recipe and the taste was so close to what I remember that I made three batches in a row of the granola. The taste reminds me of… sitting at grandma’s house in the plush kitchen chairs that are on wheels that roll away because the floor is uneven, and the table comes to my armpits because I’m so little so I have to sit on my legs to be taller. How my grandma would pour me a bowl of her granola and a splash of milk over the top, and I would eat it from a large spoon and crunch away as I smiled at my grandmother’s sparkling deep brown eyes. That is where this recipe takes me to and I love it!

I don’t know about you but my favorite recipes are the ones that take me back to a beautiful memory.

Give this a try and let me know how you like it! This granola is so versatile, you can eat it alone as a snack, with milk or yogurt for breakfast, on ice cream for dessert, or any other way you can think of. The possibilities are endless, and you can also try it with different dried fruits such as cranberries, blueberries or apricots. Change it up and enjoy making your own memories from it.

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white chicken chili

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Need a quick weeknight meal that will taste like you spent hours cooking?

This white chicken chili only takes twenty minutes to simmer and you can throw it all in one pot which makes for a quick cleanup as well. I love taking my time in the kitchen preparing meals, but recently my schedule has changed with work and I need to adjust my time cooking during the week to be a little bit quicker than normal. With this recipe only taking 20 minutes to simmer and limited prep, it’s perfect for me to make on those nights I won’t make it home till late. 

The first few times making this I used a can of drained Swanson’s chicken breast but then decided to try it with a rotisserie chicken from the market, the results were perfection! A little bit of diced avocado on the top is also very good. I used tortilla strips that are for salad toppings but have also used crushed tortilla chips to garnish but you can top your chili however you want…the possibilities are endless!

So the next time you need a quick dinner try this chili instead of stopping for takeout, you won’t be disappointed.

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dOuble chOcOlate bundt cake with ganache glaze

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Bundt pans create beautiful, hassle-free cakes that look like you spent a lot of time creating.

They come in all different designs and sizes that allow you to make your cake a fancy focal point of your table without taking the extra steps of decorating it…simple yet elegant at the same time.  

This recipe is basically my mini double chocolate bundt cakes with ganache glaze but in a large bundt pan. It can be difficult and confusing to adjust your temperature and cook time when changing to a different size pan so I’ve made it easy so that you can make this recipe in mini or large pans. Anyone who has tried making a cake into cupcakes can tell you that you have to lower the temperature of the oven and change how long you cook the batter for…otherwise you could end up with a dried out burnt brick instead of a moist fluffy cupcake.

So for your next dinner party make this simple and elegant dessert and impress your guests, or just make it at home one night for yourself and enjoy!

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brOiled halibut tacOs

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My freshman year of high school my family and I moved to Alaska.

We drove for 6 days straight in a tiny white four-door Chevy Blazer with a small U-haul trailer attached to the back containing just the essentials for five people. When we finally got to Anchorage we didn’t have a place to live so we stayed in a tent at a campsite for close to a month. This is probably why I don’t much care to go camping as an adult.

While driving halfway across the globe was not fun sitting crammed in the backseat with 2 of my younger brothers, and going to a new school in such a foreign place trying to find new friends was difficult…we did have some good times and it was an adventure to remember.

My dad loves to hunt and fish, and while I never got into hunting I did like going fishing, especially in Alaska where you don’t have to sit and wait for a fish to bite for hours…you just cast and a few seconds later you catch something…and something big! I remember one year we went on a halibut fishing trip in Homer, Alaska out on the Pacific on a charter boat with another group of guys and I caught one of the biggest halibut that anyone caught on the boat that day. My dad had to help me as I struggled to reel in a 130 lbs halibut that seemed to take forever! I don’t like to eat a lot of fish, mainly if it has a strong fishy taste…but the halibut we caught was perfect. 

Halibut is a boneless, ultra-lean and mild flatfish that is very versatile and tastes different every way you cook it. It is called “Poor Man’s Lobster” because if you boil it and dip it in melted butter it tastes like lobster, deep fry it and it tastes like cod…it takes on all different tastes with every way you cook it. It is a very meaty and filling fish. My favorite way to eat it is blackened and broiled, so I decided to broil the fish and make some tacos with it…give it a try and see what you think! 

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dipped chOcOlate cupcakes with tiger butter frOsting

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Trick or Treat?

It’s that time of year for sinful and devilishly good treats. These moist cupcakes are made with bittersweet chocolate and are topped with my Tiger Butter frosting that is made with peanut butter and white chocolate, and if that’s not good enough they are dipped in a semi-sweet chocolate coating…..they are so good they will make you scream! I’ve added to the creepy Halloween spirit by making some white chocolate spiders and webs to decorate to get me into the spooky mood for Halloween.

No tricks here, just a little bit of hocus-pocus and poof, a yummy little bite to sink your fangs into…so eat up and have a frightfully spooky Halloween.

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