Need a warming winter dinner idea? This easy mushroom bacon risotto recipe is perfect for weeknight dinners with family or a weekend dinner with friends. Plus easy and healthy alternatives to using bacon if you’ve made heart health a priority! I’ve really been trying to eat healthier the past few months. My dad somehow miraculously avoid a heart attack at 72. However, he also had three heart surgeries over the…
food
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Vanilla Chai Tea Recipe: Make This Easy Spice Mix for DIY Holiday Gifts
Whether you enjoy the delicious flavor of a vanilla chai tea latte or need ideas for DIY holiday gifts, this vanilla chai tea mix is the perfect recipe to spice things up this winter. Keep reading to learn how to make your own easy vanilla chai tea mix for lattes for a cozy winter treat or to package as budget friendly DIY Christmas for friends, family and coworkers. DIY Holiday…
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Easy Gourmet Caramel Apples Recipe with Crushed Cookie Toppings
Learn how to make delicious, homemade caramel apples. A favorite cool weather treat, this easy caramel apples recipe is the perfect way to enjoy apples when they’re in season. They’re perfect not just for after school snacks, but as fun party treats as well. Do you need party ideas? Try setting up a caramel apple bar! Or make these caramel apple pops with your favorite toppings as a fun family…
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Cooking & Baking with Mace: The Vintage Spice You Need to Try
Have you ever used mace in a recipe? No, mace isn’t just a deterrent from assailants. It’s actually a lesser known vintage spice. Mace is closely related to nutmeg and is similar in both aroma and flavor. It is often used in teas and tinctures. And it also makes a great addition to foods and baking recipes. Keep reading to learn more about the vintage spice mace. And to discover…
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Best Ice Cream Milkshake Recipes for Summer
Summer is HOT! But you can cool down and enjoy a summertime treat with one of these best ice cream milkshake recipes for summer! Keep reading to discover 75+ yummy milkshake recipes you can make this weekend to help you cool down from the summer heat. The Best Ice Cream Milkshake Recipes Ice cream milkshakes are a favorite summertime treat. Not only are they cold and delicious, they’re fairy easy…
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Easy Brown Sugar Drop Cookies Recipe (A Delicious Anytime Treat!)
Learn how to bake delicious, easy brown sugar drop cookies for an after school snack or a weekend dessert treat. These quick & easy homemade cookies are simple to make, easy on the budget and taste amazing. You’ll love the lightly crunchy exterior paired with soft fluffy centers! Keep reading to learn how to make these 20-minute brown sugar drop cookies for your family this weekend. Let’s Make Brown Sugar…
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Flank Steak Tacos Recipe with Avocado Crema for Weeknight Dinners
How to make a delicious flank steak tacos recipe with avocado crema, cilantro and a chili lime rub for quick and easy weeknight dinners for taco Tuesday. (It’s also a great way to use that overabundant supply of zucchini July through August when your garden is overflowing!) Let’s Taco About Cooking I’ll admit I’m not the best cook. I learned the basics (my mom taught me to bake, not cook) during…
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You’re About to Discover Your New Favorite Tea!
Whether you’re new to drinking loose leaf teas, or you’re a self described tea connoisseur, you’re going to love the natural, organic loose leaf teas from Mountain Rose Herbs. With a wide selection of every kind of organic loose leaf tea imaginable, it’s hard not to find a tea that you love. However, if you’re still on the hunt for that perfect tea that fits both your tastes AND your…
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White Chicken Chili Recipe
This white chicken chili recipe is pretty darn amazing. Made with a blend of various beans, fried chicken breasts and seasonings, this chicken chili is perfect for those who prefer the heat of their chili somewhere between mild and medium. My friend, Bambi, is brilliant at taking seemingly non-compatible ingredients and throwing them together to create some of the most amazing dinner dishes I’ve ever had. Since I’ve been staying…
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Molasses Cookies Recipe for Cold Winter Days Curled Up with Hot Cocoa
If you’re looking for a cozy dessert to enjoy with warm cocoa this winter, then give this molasses cookies recipe a try! You will absolutely love how these soft cookies taste. Made with blackstrap molasses, warming ginger, cinnamon and clove, these homemade molasses cookies are perfect for sharing with friends, family and co-workers. Adapted by my friend, Bambi, from the giant ginger cookies recipe found in Better Homes and Gardens Test…
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Best Pork Tenderloin Rub Recipe for Your Crockpot Dinner
Do you need a quick and easy recipe idea to liven up your weekday dinners? Give this best pork tenderloin rub recipe a try on your next crockpot pork loin for some fantastic flavor infusion! It’s been literally years, I believe, since I last posted an actual food recipe. However, I’ve been staying with my dear friend, Bambi, since the last week of December and I am constantly bombarded with…
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Must Have Wine & Cheese Night Party Essentials
Without a regular wine & cheese night it’s possible my sanity would go flying out the window. I mean who couldn’t use a night out with the girls, some wine, a fab cheese board and some crafty DIY projects or card games? Since I love to host I’ve slowly been filling up my sideboard and bar cart and decorating my conversation space with all the comforts a girl needs. And,…
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Pitcher Sangria Recipe & Other Fun Things for Your Taco Tuesday
Planning a Taco Tuesday brouhaha? Why not pair some adult drinks to go along with the mischief? You’ll love these recipes for making both a pitcher sangria recipe and an adult summer punch! These adult drink recipes are both passed on from Ladles & Linens. The adult summer punch recipe I rediscovered in a Timehop from the Ladles & Linens facebook page a few years back. While the pitcher sangria recipe…
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Green Salad Recipe with Avocado + Pistachios
This Green Salad Recipe with Avocado + Pistachios is simply amazing! Supercharged with good for you ingredients, this healthy green salad recipe is part of a collection of food recipes gifted to my son, Cody, from his girlfriend this past Christmas. This green salad recipe was created by two members of Cody’s girlfriend’s family, Kate and Adam Reinhard, and part of a compilation of original recipes they added to his own unique…
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Party Pleasers: Rooibos Peach Tea Rum Punch Recipe & Black Bean Dip
Learn how to host a fun party for adults with this collection of party pleasers and recipe ideas. You’ll love my original peach tea rum punch recipe for a crowd. This recipe for party punch with alcohol is perfect for entertaining this summer and it tastes amazing. Plus discover my crowd favorite black bean dip recipe along with creative ways to style your next gathering including ideas for drink stations…
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Blue Cheese and Bacon Arugula Salad Recipe
This homemade blue cheese and bacon arugula salad recipe is one of my favorites! I can literally eat this salad for lunch every day of the week without tiring of it. It’s basically a spin off a blueberry and bacon arugula salad recipe at one of my favorite restaurants. However, as I am unable to find a blueberry vinaigrette anywhere and am not talented enough in the food department to make…
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Ginger Lemongrass Martini Cocktail Recipe
While the fourth of July has come and gone, it did inspire me to try a new vodka. I’ve been on a huge gin kick lately but after seeing the Spud Ginger Lemongrass Vodka at the ABC store I just couldn’t resist. A fifth of this flavored potato vodka was a reasonable $20 and it’s distilled five times so I decide why not. In the end I was pretty pleased…
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Homemade Tea Gifts for the Holidays with Printable Chalkboard Labels
Make simple homemade tea gifts for Christmas with this easy, homemade holiday tea gift idea. All you need are a few metal tins, some tea and the free printable labels. These are perfect for last minute gifts as well as an element in homemade tea gift baskets! Homemade Tea Gifts Looking for a simple homemade Christmas gifts for tea lovers? Then this simple tea gift idea is a must. These…
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Homemade Dog Biscuits Recipe
So, one of my favorite boys – my miniature dachshund, Jasper – recently ran out of dog treats. As one of my resolutions this year is to try more DIY projects outside of the scope of what I normally make, I decided I’d start by trying my hand at making him some homemade dog biscuits. In doing this I discovered that it’s a lot more expensive to make dog treats…
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DIY Mulling Spices – Homemade Christmas Gift Idea with Printable Labels
Make your own mulling spices in a jar to give as homemade Christmas gifts to co-workers, friends and family. These also make lovely hostess gifts and favors as you can make up several jars at one time. To get started you’ll need a clean empty spice jar or a small mason jar, paint chip samples or decorative papers, washi tape, bakers twine or ribbon, mulling spice ingredients (below), markers (optional),…
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Chai Tea Mix Recipe: Easy Winter DIY Holiday Gifts
Learn how to make an organic chai tea mix to give as DIY holiday gifts this winter. Don’t forget to make extras though! This easy DIY chai tea mix recipe is so delicious, you’ll want to keep a few extra bags of this spicy, homemade chai tea mix for yourself. Package this recipe for chai tea mix in a jar or in a bag – for personalized gifting and storage.…
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Homemade Vanilla Extract Recipe with a Mint Twist (Plus Easy DIY Vanilla Sugar)
Learn how to make homemade vanilla extract as well as easy DIY vanilla sugar for your baking recipes. These easy recipes also make lovely homemade gifts, whether you’re making them for a housewarming basket or gifting them for the holiday season. Keep reading to learn how to make vanilla extract with a chocolate mint twist using herbs and whole vanilla bean. Plus a simple DIY for vanilla flavored sugar to…
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Homemade Strawberry Mint Wine Cooler Recipe
Recently I found myself with some very ripe strawberries on hand. So I decided to use it to make a refreshing and tasty summertime drink using fresh picked, ripe strawberries from my parents’ garden! What I came up with was my own homemade strawberry mint wine cooler recipe – complete with strawberries, of course! Here’s how you can make your own! Strawberry Mint Wine Cooler Recipe Ingredients: 1lb. ripe strawberry…
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Easy Homemade Pita Pizza Recipe
Ever wondered what to do with that tiny bit of leftover spaghetti sauce? Our solution was to make homemade pita pizzas! It’s inevitable. You make spaghetti and sauce and once dinner’s over it seems you’ve either made too much sauce or too much spaghetti. In our case, we still have leftover pizza sauce. So rather than have spaghetti again and have to buy another jar of sauce, Scott and I…
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DIY Easter Chicks Mashed Potatoes for Easter Dinner with the Kids
Traditionally Easter is a time that families spend together celebrating family as well as the resurrection of Christ. But that doesn’t mean Easter has to be entirely a serious occasion. You can add an interesting twist to your Easter dinner this year by crafting these DIY Easter chicks mashed potatoes with the kids! These DIY Easter chicks are actually mashed potatoes. Crazy, right?! They are both fun to make and…
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Fresh Shrimp Salad Recipe
I recently purchased an amazing pot of lettuce and field greens from Walter’s Greenhouse on the Roanoke City Market. After getting a few side salads with dinner, it was really time to pick a good portion of the more mature lettuce to eat so some more could grow back in it’s place. So Scott used our home grown container greens to make a really great fresh, shrimp salad. Following is…
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Scott’s Easy Pan Fry Rib-eye Recipe
There’s been a little bit of cooking going on in the apartment. Of course, it’s all been on Scott’s end. We made a deal. He cooks and I’ll clean. Because each of us hate to do the other but don’t mind the roles we’ve agreed to. Our first night in the new apartment Scott made some excellent Chicken Parmesan. The next night, we were in desperate need of groceries, however,…
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Scott’s Simple Homemade Chili Recipe
Learn how to make this simple homemade chili recipe with an India Pale Ale for a hearty winter dinner idea. During the cold winter months there’s nothing like a huge bowl of chili to warm you up! So I thought I’d share my boyfriend, Scott’s, homemade chili recipe. It’s easy to make and tastes delicious even leftover the next day! Scott’s Simple Chili Recipe Ingredients: 2 1/2 pounds ground beef…
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Seared Sashimi Tuna with Sauteed Shrimp in an Orange-Soy-Ginger Reduction Sauce Recipe
For New Year’s Eve my boyfriend cooked me up a special dish choosing from several of my favorite foods to eat: tuna, shrimp and asparagus with the fact that I love sushi niggling in the back of his head. The dinner was in truth a great experiment that we both thought turned out to be a great success. Scott, my boyfriend, calls it Seared Sashimi Tuna and Sautéed Shrimp in…
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Last Minute Holiday Gifts and Stocking Stuffers (Easy DIY Ideas)
Do you need last minute holiday gift and stocking stuffer ideas? You’re in luck! I’ve rounded up some amazing DIY holiday gifts you can craft at home. You don’t need much time to make these quick and easy homemade Christmas gifts. Just a fast trip to the grocery store for supplies and you can polish off your gift list ASAP. Whip up these last minute holiday gifts for friends, family…
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Easy Homemade Refrigerator Dill Pickles
Refrigerator dill pickles are an easy and delicious way to use up those extra cucumbers in your garden. They also make healthy addition to your diet. Learn how to make my easy, small batch, homemade refrigerator pickles at home. Plus discover the health benefits of fermented foods and the difference between pickled and fermented foods. Now that we have our cucumber plants in the ground I’m already thinking about all…
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My Favorite Cornbread Recipe with Just 4 Ingredients That Even Kids Love
Regular cornbread is fine and dandy, but I like mine best moist and little sweet. Here’s my favorite cornbread recipe for a cake like cornbread that will have you and your family coming back for seconds! This kid-friendly cornbread recipe makes a great addition to family dinners and is the perfect side for a kid-friendly chili recipe. Made with just four simple ingredients, this homemade cornbread recipe is, and has…
