Par-Baked Dinner Rolls

These par-baked dinner rolls are perfect for the holidays. Once you pull the turkey out of the oven and tent it to rest, slide these par-baked rolls into the hot oven to brown for just 15 minutes.

These dinner rolls are so soft and fluffy. They are moist and delicious and stay fresh for at least three days, which makes them perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner leftover sandwiches.

The Sugar Plum Cocktail

This Sugar Plum Cocktail with gin, grapefruit juice, and a pomegranate reduction is perfect for all of your upcoming holiday festivities.

I first tried this cocktail at the Long Beach airport. It's a fabulous airport, The restaurants in the airport are all little outposts of some of the signature restaurants in Long Beach, and the food and cocktail offerings are really nice.

Strawberry Danish Pastries

These Strawberry Danish have just emerged from the oven. They've been brushed with a hot glaze, and then drizzled with a fondant glaze. It's 10 pm and I just ate one. It's all I can do to not to eat the rest.

These Danish rolls are made with a croissant dough shaped into coils, filled with freshly made strawberry jam, and drizzled with a hot glaze. You can also shape the dough into pinwheels and little braids. It is so flaky, buttery, and amazing.

Individual Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole Muffins

These Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole Muffins are an easy to make portable breakfast. Just crack an egg over crispy tater tots in a muffin tin, add some cheese, bacon, sliced cherry tomatoes, and some spinach, and bake.

These breakfast casserole muffins take baked eggs to a whole new level.

Make Ahead Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

These make ahead buttermilk dinner rolls are so soft and fluffy. 

What is wonderful about these buttermilk dinner rolls, besides the fact that they are delicious, is that you can make the dough in advance, assemble the rolls, and then let them sit in the refrigerator up to 24 hours in advance of baking them.

Frito Pie Chili

Frito Pie Chili, old-fashioned ground beef chili with beans topped with lots of Fritos, melty cheese, and a sprinkling of diced onions. 

It's been a long time since I've had one of my favorite comfort foods, Frito Pie Chili. It's a combination of old-fashioned thick chili with beans topped with a handful of Fritos, cheddar cheese, and diced red onions.

Pecan Brittle

This pecan brittle is delicious and nostalgic. The toasted pecans combined with the caramelized sugar create such a delicious treat.

Making brittle takes me back to the days of experimenting with candy making when I was in high school. I wasn't much into cooking, but for some reason, the magic of candy making and all of the stages intrigued me.

Chocolate Mint Mousse Cake

This chocolate mint mousse cake is definitely a showstopper.

This chocolate mint mousse cake begins with a chocolate cake layer, which you split in half, and top with a chocolate mint mousse and finish with a minty green white chocolate mousse.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

This slow cooker turkey chili is creamy and warming, perfect to take off the chill as fall and the football season begins. 

This chili is super creamy and spicy. It gets its creaminess from refried beans. Who knew using refried beans as a thickener would be so tasty? This chili also makes terrific leftovers.

Moroccan Lamb, Chickpea, and Lentil Soup (Harira)

This Moroccan lamb, chickpea, and lentil soup, also known as harira, is hearty, filling, and delicious. 

There are many variations of harira soup, including vegetarian and with pasta, but most versions include tomatoes chickpeas, and lentils, along with a combination of spices such as cumin, turmeric, paprika, and cinnamon.

Poached Cod Cantonese-Style with Chiles

This Cantonese-Style Poached Cod is gently simmered in a green onion and gingery liquid so that the flavor of the mild fish can shine through. 

The poached cod is then topped with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and cilantro right before serving.

Freaky Fruit Cocktails

Today's recipes are for three tropical fruit cocktails, a Freaky Green Cocktail, a Spicy Rambutan Cocktail, and Passion Fruit Margarita.

I received product samples from Melissa's Produce to aid in the creation of #FreakyFruitsFriday recipes. All opinions are mine. 

For the three Freaky cocktails, I used Kiwano melons for the Freaky Green Cocktail, rambutans for the Spicy Rambutan Cocktail, and passion fruit for the Passion Fruit Margarita.

Chocolate Pecan Butter Cups

These chocolate pecan butter cups take the peanut butter cup concept to a whole new level. 

I received chocolate from Divine Chocolate, one of our sponsors, but all opinions are my own. 

With just four ingredients, these mini semi-sweet chocolate pecan butter cups are so decadent and delicious. They are made with a sweet and salty toasted homemade pecan butter nestled in a premium semi-sweet chocolate coating.

Pumpkin Overnight Oats with Flax Seeds and Ginger

Pumpkin Ginger Overnight Oats, with flax seeds and maple syrup, are just about the easiest nutritious and portable breakfast you can make. 

Mix the ingredients for these pumpkin overnight oats with flax seeds, crystalized ginger, and maple syrup in a jar, and place them in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning you will have a filling and nutritious grab-and-go breakfast.

Homemade Thin Mints

These Copycat Homemade Thin Mints are perfect when it's not Girl Scout cookie season and you didn't buy and freeze enough.

I received sugar from Imperial Sugar, one of our sponsors, but all opinions are my own. 

In fact, don't tell the Girl Scouts, but these homemade Thin Mints might just be a teeny tiny bit better. For one thing, the chocolate coating is thicker and the cookies are bigger.

Double Chocolate Baked Donuts

For a lighter version of cake donuts, try these Double Chocolate Baked Donuts! These donuts are so easy to make, and you don't have to deep fry them. Just bake them in your donut pan.

The batter for these baked donuts is so easy to put together. Once you've mixed it, you just pipe it into a donut pan and bake the donuts. They take just about 12 minutes to bake!

Nan e Barbari | Persian Flatbread

This Nan e Barbari is a delicious leavened flatbread that is coated in seeds and baked on a heated stone in your oven to replicate one of Persia's favorite breads. 

Nan e Barbari is a Persian flatbread that is traditionally served at breakfast in Iran with a soft spread such as goat cheese. It is made from a very high hydration dough, but is fairly easy to work with, mostly because it is a leavened flatbread.

Monster Cake Pops

These monster cake pops are a huge hit with kids. Between the dark chocolate and frosting filling and the crazy eyeballs, these cute little monsters are hard to resist. 

This post and recipe were created for #HalloweenTreatsWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but, as always, opinions are 100% mine.

These Monster Cake Pops are a totally fun treat for Halloween. They take a little time to make, but they will bring big smiles to everyone's faces.

Chayote with Roasted Tomatoes and Chiles

Chayote with roasted tomatoes and chiles is a wonderful and easy vegetarian side dish. 

I received product samples from Melissa's Produce to aid in the creation of #FreakyFruitsFriday recipes. All opinions are mine. 

This dish with chayote, roasted tomatoes, and chiles is wonderful as a veggie side dish. It has a delicious hint of smokiness and is totally flavorful.

Halloween Pretzel Owls

Halloween Pretzel Owls are such a fun sweet and salty treat!

These chocolate covered pretzel owls are a fun project to make with kids, especially around Halloween. All you need are five ingredients: some mini pretzels, M&Ms, chocolate candy melts or compound chocolate, mini chocolate chips, and candy eyeballs!

White Rye Sandwich Buns

These white rye sandwich buns are light and fluffy, and have a faint rye flavor. 

These white rye buns are great for deli-style sandwiches and burgers. They can also be shaped into rounds for delicious dinner rolls.

Halloween Stuffed Chocolate Whoopie Pies

These Chocolate Whoopie Pies with buttercream filling are like little inside out cupcakes... cake on the outside and frosting in the middle!

This post and recipe were created for #HalloweenTreatsWeek! I was sent samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are 100% mine.

These delicious and chocolatey Halloween Stuffed Chocolate Whoopie Pies also have a little surprise in the middle, a heaping teaspoonful of chocolate syrup ready to ooze out of the little cakes.

Old School Hard Shell Tacos

These old school hard shell tacos will bring back memories of the tacos from the days when you craved a taco after a late night out. They are ridiculously delicious too.

These amazing hard shell tacos are a cross between the Americanized hard shell tacos where meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese are stuffed into a pre-cooked taco shell, and tacos dorados (golden tacos), which are essentially like taquitos, or rolled and deep fried tacos.

Dragon Fruit Waldorf Salad

This dragon fruit Waldorf Salad with apples, grapes, cilantro, and cashews, served on a bed of Bibb lettuce, is fresh, light, and delicious. 

This take on a Waldorf salad includes dragon fruit (also known as the pitaya), the exotic looking bright magenta fruit with a white flesh speckled with tiny edible black seeds. It can also come in other colors, both inside and outside, but the magenta outside and white inside dragon fruit is most common.

Potato Rosemary Bread with Roasted Garlic

This Potato Rosemary Bread with Roasted Garlic, a bread made with mashed potatoes, is soft and fragrant, and completely irresistible. 

I received product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of #FallFlavors recipes. All opinions are mine. 

This potato rosemary bread is exceptionally soft, light, and moist. It's amazing sliced and buttered. I know it's a hardship, but be sure to wait until the bread has cooled before slicing. 

Pork Tenderloin with Bacon, Apple, and Gruyère

This Pork Tenderloin Roulade is stuffed with Bacon, Apple, and Gruyère Cheese. 

This pork tenderloin roulade is stuffed with bacon, apples, cheese, thyme, and shallots. The apples adds a sweetness to the meat and the bacon adds a bacon-y saltiness. The Gruyère cheese binds the stuffing together.

Baby Greens Salad with Pomegranate, Blue Cheese, and Pecans

You will love this Baby Greens Salad with Pomegranate, Blue Cheese, and Pecans. 

I received product samples from sponsor companies to aid in the creation of #FallFlavors recipes. All opinions are mine. 

This baby greens salad with pomegranate, blue cheese, and pecans is refreshing and light, and showcases the fall flavors of pecans and pomegranate. It's similar in looks to this fennel, pomegranate, and arugula salad, but with an entirely different flavor.