New Year's Recipes
Cold Pan Seared Steak
Perfectly cooked steaks with a gorgeous crust and tender, juicy insides are easy to achieve with this unorthodox method. No smoky, splattered mess on your stovetop either! Steak night isn’t a weekly occurrence in our house – although the guys likely wish it were! So, when steaks are on the menu, they should really…
Easy Lemon Pie
Fresh, cool, and creamy lemon filling balances perfectly with a graham cracker crust (easily adapted to gluten-free!) in this easy-to-make pie that will brighten anyone’s day! Don’t get me wrong, we love chocolate in all its glory. But some members of my family are sensitive to caffeine, so much so that they have a strict…
Butterscotch Rum Ripple Cake
Butterscotch Rum Ripple Cake reinvents the classic pound cake with the addition of caramel-like swirled layers and an irresistible glaze. This recipe goes WAY back. As a newlywed, my husband, Jack, and I drove to Philadelphia to see his niece, Judy, perform in a play. She was in elementary school and had a part…
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo and Manchego
Chorizo sausage and Manchego cheese give roasted Brussels sprouts a Spanish-style upgrade for a crowd-pleasing tapas or hearty side dish. The loaded sprouts are hearty enough that sometimes I even serve them as a main dish with a salad or side of rice. I first enjoyed a dish that was similar…
Spanish Tapas Board
Elevate your charcuterie game with this epic Spanish tapas board, which comes together easily, looks stunning, and is loaded with savory bites. Perfect for any occasion, from New Year’s celebrations and game days to girls’ nights and book clubs. Optional extras will make it a meal. Charcuterie boards are popular for good reason. They…
Baked Coconut Shrimp
Crisp, golden, and served with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce, baked coconut shrimp are perfect as an appetizer or entrée and may be prepped a few hours in advance. Crunchy on the outside and tender in the middle, these crisp, golden shrimp are baked instead of fried and will vanish off an…
Spanish-Style Marinated Olives
An impressive appetizer recipe that takes five minutes to prep and adds something special to any cocktail hour, cheese board, or antipasto platter. Irresistibly snack-worthy and giftable too! For many of us, olives plucked straight from the jar are incredibly satisfying. They are salty, meaty, and even deliver a dose of monounsaturated fats, fiber,…
Cinnamon Honey Butter
This copycat version of Texas Roadhouse restaurant’s popular cinnamon honey butter recipe is a delightful spread for rolls, bagels, toast, muffins, cornbread, and sweet potatoes. Makes a lovely addition to a food gift too. Every year, Cindy, a former coworker of my husband, experiments with a variety of new recipes for her annual holiday…
Vanilla and Caramel Iced Coffee (or caramel vanilla!)
A café-worthy drink comes together in minutes – faster than a Starbucks drive-thru and more economical too. You can use this recipe as a guide, choosing an easy-to-make syrup, and adjusting the coffee strength, sweetness, and creaminess to taste. A recent New York Times article asked the following question: Does anyone drink hot coffee…
Mini Lemon Pies
Cool, creamy, sweet-tart mini pies are the perfect hand-held dessert for gatherings and can be made in advance with a few key ingredients! When life gives you 🍋🍋🍋…make mini lemon pies! During the first year of COVID, with two small children to wrangle, we often ended up ordering our groceries. It was certainly more…
Gluten-Free Graham Cracker Crust
If you’ve struggled to create a gluten-free graham cracker crust that stacks up to the regular version, your wait it over! The first time I made a gluten-free graham cracker crust several years back, I simply replaced the regular graham cracker crumbs in my traditional recipe with a gluten-free alternative. Cup-for-cup gluten-free flours tend…
Baked Tomato Bruschetta
Canned tomatoes work beautifully in this fresh-tasting, crowd-pleasing appetizer that’s easy to whip up any time of year. I’ve been making these tasty bites for more than 20 years, and they still haven’t lost their luster. A simple tomato mixture (which may be prepared in advance) is scooped onto toasted baguette slices (which may…
