Caprese Skillet Eggs (gluten-free recipe) Most of my summer afternoons are spent around our half-deflated kiddie pool. Four little bodies splash and shriek, while I watch behind my sunglasses and hold a magazine (I never actually read it, I just look at the same sentence over and over). Their life is pretty much the kid version of an all-inclusive resort. I am the nurse-lifeguard-chef-concierge. I'm not sure why 5 o'clock surprises me every single day, but it does. We're out by the pool, doing our thing, and suddenly all these little people think they are starving. I am out of snacks. It's time for dinner. Fast. This dish is one of those summer Keep Reading
Huevos Rancheros recipe (Rancher’s Eggs)
Huevos Rancheros (Rancher's Eggs) For the past four months, my calendar has had Huevos Rancheros! scribbled across June 13th. This type of behavior no longer phases my husband. I have started circling these random inspirations so he doesn't get confused when trying to figure out what's we're doing on any given Thursday night. I wanted to share this recipe with you the second I ate it, but forced myself to wait until the week before Father's Day because my dad introduced me to this perfect dish. Now understand, my dad is not the master-chef type. He is more of an avoid-the-kitchen-unless-he-is-forced-to-fend-for-himself type. He is totally capable Keep Reading
Make Ahead Sausage Egg Bake
Ok, I guess technically this recipe would qualify as a casserole. Egg Casserole. I've just never been a big fan of the word. It always makes me think of Tuna Surprise. I don't especially like being surprised, least of all by tuna fish. So I go with the ever-descriptive title: Egg Bake! But if you enjoy surprises, think of this as a casserole. Okay, glad we got that settled. My husband and I love lazy weekend mornings. Everyone stays in their pajamas. We read the newspaper or watch the kids' gymnastic routines while enjoying a laid back breakfast. This is my idea of the perfect Saturday morning. I realized early on, though, that lazy Keep Reading
How to make Maple Cluster Granola
Maple Cluster Granola Other than a few stubborn boxes of Cheerios, store bought cereal has finally been cleared from my pantry shelves. It was a long, hard battle over the course of, oh... a year. I'm not one to rush into these things. What can I say? I have a serious weakness for Peanut Butter Panda Puffs. My goal is to swap out processed food for the real deal whenever I can do it and my family will eat it. Cereal was the next item on the hit list. My kids could live off pancakes, but I wanted to find a quick breakfast option to replace the now-absent bowl of Cheerios. No matter how hard I have tried, I cannot seem to maintain any sort of Keep Reading
Breakfast fried rice (gluten-free, dairy-free recipe)
Breakfast Fried Rice I love breakfast food. I could eat it morning, noon, and night. Our family has shifted from sweet to savory, eating fewer scones and muffins and more eggs and oatmeal. Let's start with fried rice! Which might seem like an odd place to start for breakfast, but I promise it is a good one. I once read that fried rice is like the Asian spin on casserole. You're using up bits of leftovers to create a new dish that blends all the flavors together. And as an added bonus, it all comes together quickly in one skillet. You saute some vegetables, crack in a few eggs and scramble them right in the pan, then add the rice and meat, and Keep Reading
Basic Fruit Muffins with Streusel (great way to use fresh berries)
Strawberry Muffins with Streusel Topping I talked about how we can be frugal shoppers and a conscientous consumers all rolled into one. You may lean more to one end of the spectrum or the other, but there is definitely room in the zoo for a happy combination of both. In that post, I made the observation that, "Buying bum produce, no matter how cheap, is a waste of money." Michael Pollan calls it "voting with your fork." In other words, we send a message every time we buy food. Like most of you, I strive to buy quality produce in season. Generally this isn't a problem. No problem, that is, until those cartons of ridiculously red strawberries Keep Reading
The BEST Basic Pancake Recipe
Best Basic Pancake Recipe For years, I used a box mix to make pancakes. It was easy -- just add water (and maybe an egg, depending on the fanciness of the mix) and pour the batter on the griddle. Then the internet came along and showed me that I could make pancakes from scratch and at a fraction of the cost of a mix. And, surprise! The pancakes actually taste better. First, we must master the basic pancake. And while whipping up a batch takes no time at all, there are some rules to pancake creation to make sure your pancakes turn out fluffy and delicious every time: Make sure your ingredients are fresh. For instance, your baking powder Keep Reading