One Pan Prep: Orzo with Pancetta and Peas

One pan prep is probably one of the best things to hear for a short-cut type of cook. It's right up there with "don't worry, the potatoes are already peeled" and "I think we'll just order pizza instead." It's the kind of thing that only produces a good meal every so often, but when it does magic happens. The kind of thing that dreams are made of.

This dish has a simple charm and is filled with kinda sweet and crunchy, salty bites that make you hope the bowl is bottomless. It starts with like, 3 or 4 ingredients and only one pan and will probably make your week a little/a lot better. Trust.

Sticky Bourbon Teriyaki Seared Sirloin Steak

This was my lunch today and I have to say that it was delicious! This sticky, smokey, rich, sweet, dark molasses sauce is an amazing complement to steak 

I've been trying to cook out of my comfort zone recently and this recipe is a good example of how I am doing that. The sauce is a sticky-sweet reduction unlike anything I have tried before and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. It is too simple not to try and there is a lot of wiggle room for preferred flavor, which is just lovely!

Mini No Bake Apple Pie Bites

So I have to say that this recipe was totally made up on the fly today because I had a wicked craving for apple pie but did not want to labor over an entire pie because I have other important things to get done, like browsing Netflix! Since it was made up on the spot there aren't any photos of the prep process, sorry... But there are pictures of these cuties all done and ready to be snacked on.

Frozen Bailey's Irish Cream Hot Chocolate with Chocolate Whipped Cream

Chocolate chips are "optional"

That right there is a thing of beauty!

So, even though I will be working on St. Patrick's Day I still feel the need to post a yummy St. Patty's related recipe. Also, since there are so many delicious dinner recipes for the day of already out there I chose to come up with a beverage and, of course, there is Bailey's Irish Cream in it!

I have been thinking about trying my hand at frozen hot chocolate for a while and thought that this is the perfect reason to make some and throw in a splash of Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur. Along with that, because I am struggling with a serious addiction to chocolate, I made some chocolate whipped cream to top it off!

Chocolate Pancakes- Good Morning!

Good morning, beautiful!

I love chocolate for breakfast... There, I said it! So if I can pass the chocolate off for breakfast food I will. Here we have a perfect combination of chocolate and breakfast foods: Chocolate Pancakes.

These sweet flapjacks are the perfect cure for an early morning chocolate craving. This is a tried and true recipe from the Meeker family that never fails. It makes thin, light, fluffy, and flavorful pancakes. If you prefer thicker pancakes just slowly add more Bisquick/pancake flour until the batter is your desired consistency. So without further ado, in order not to delay you from getting your sweet tooth fix here is how to make these chocolate pancakes.

Fondue for Two: Surf and Turf

If there's one thing I love, it's dipping foods into other foods. Chips into dip, strawberries into chocolate, seasoned meats into savory broth, you get the idea... To start from what inspired this post I should say that I ADORE the Melting Pot. If you don't know what the Melting Pot is, I suggest you find the location nearest you and dive in (literally and figuratively). It is an amazing fondue restaurant with over 100 locations in the U.S. and it offers a dining experience completely different from anywhere else I have eaten. The quality of food is top notch and the staff has always been perfectly lovely, however, it is not a dinner-on-a-budget type of place and averages about $50-$75 per person, not including drinks. Yikes! As a fondue lover I needed to find an alternative to get my fix, and so this post was born!

First of all I will apologize for such an agonizingly long post- there are a lot of components to fondue- who knew?!

The Easiest Butternut Squash Soup Ever

Okay, so today is a "stay at home and do nothing because I am sick"  kind of day and the number one thing I ALWAYS want whenever I am sick is soup! Usually I take the easy way out and heat up a can of condensed soup, slurp it down, and crawl back into bed but today was different. It was different for one reason: I had butternut squash. Butternut squash isn't ordinarily considered a game changer but today, for me, it was. The story of how I ended up with butternut squash is not an interesting one. I was in the store, saw a package of Green Giant pre-cubed butternut squash and had to have it, for some reason. I was fantasizing about roasting it, or sauteing it, or whatever else and serving it as a side to some amazing main course. But, alas, I made soup!

Homemade Hummus Recipe

I love hummus and I can't believe I've never made it before. After today I don't think I'll ever buy store bought hummus again! This recipe is super easy and VERY forgiving plus it is naturally gluten free! Basically everything in this is to your personal taste and there are so many options for flavors that it is impossible to mess it up. It only took me about 5 minutes to prep and 5 minutes throw all of the ingredients in a blender and bam! It was done! That easy, I swear... the longest part of the process for me was finding the tahini in my local Safeway.

Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe

Okay, so this last holiday season I made gift baskets with a bunch of homemade goodies in them but the star of the show was the apple pie moonshine (of course)! If you've never had apple pie moonshine before it is exactly like drinking apple pie and even the pickiest cocktail drinker will love it, but it will sneak up on you pretty quick if you don't watch out. What most people don't realize about this delicious drink is that it is super easy to make and I have had A LOT of people ask me for the recipe so I decided to post it here! I also decorated the mason jars that I used to package the hooch and I will include the information for that project as well.