Amazing Artichoke and Goat Cheese Dip

Amazing Artichoke and Goat Cheese Dip

The other evening, my friend hosted a very fun wine-tasting holiday party and she asked me to bring a gluten-free appetizer. I decided that I couldn't go wrong with a warm dip made with my favorite local goat cheese. This amazing artichoke and goat cheese dip turned out to be a big hit. I have no photos of the finished product because it was eaten too quickly... you'll just have to imagine what it looked like when it came out of the oven!

This dip was incredibly easy to make ... you will probably have most of the ingredients on hand. I am making this for our Christmas Eve gathering tomorrow night. I can't wait to have it again!

Rocky Road Gluten-Free Brownies

Rocky Road Gluten-Free Brownies

I decided to bring a little treat over to my friend's house for book club last week - I wanted it to be easy to make but I also wanted it to be a little bit different... Brownies are always an easy dessert option but they just look so... brown. I climbed up on the counter (true story) to get a better look at my dark, dark cupboard and saw a tawdry assortment of fabulous dessert toppings ... mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts. Why not make my super-quick saucepan brownies but top them with this "Rocky Road" combination? If nothing else, I was pretty sure it would look good...

Thankfully, these Rocky Road Brownies looked good and tasted good. I brought them over to my friend's house while the brownies were still a tiny bit warm so cutting apart the gooey marshmallow topping was a bit of a challenge. If you do this at home, let it cool COMPLETELY before you try to cut it into squares.

Chili Cornbread Bake

Chili Cornbread Bake

Chili Cornbread Bake is a post that could definitely use more photos than words. This is another one of my not-really-a-recipe recipes. A super-quick dinner made out of leftovers and desperation...

Got chili? If so, then this recipe is for you. I love to make chili on Sundays ... let it simmer in the crockpot all day, neglected, and it's ready to be devoured whenever the little people get hungry. Last week, I had one bowl of leftover chili. Just one bowl... more than one serving, maybe 2 cups of chili (maybe)... not enough to feed 5 or 6 people for sure, but enough to layer in the bottom of a pie pan and top with cornbread to make a meal for our whole crew.

Zucchini Potato Latkes

Zucchini Potato Latkes

My kids are potato lovers. Any potato. White or sweet. Served any way. With Hanukkah upon us, I wanted to try to make some potato latkes for a meatless Monday meal. The ingredients seemed easy enough - mainly potatoes and onions - so I decided to give it a try. And, since I had a lonely zucchini sitting on the counter, I decided why not add that into the mix as well??

The result was absolutely delicious so I will definitely do it again. The only problem was that we never actually ate the latkes as a sit-down meal. As soon as one batch was ready, I had grabby little hands ready to take them away. Alas, I guess that isn't such a bad problem to have.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

North Carolina Pink Lady Apple

During apple season here in North Carolina, I make an effort to indulge in as many fresh, local apples as I can get my hands on.

One of our current favorite apples is the Pink Lady. Sooo sweet! Nice and crisp, extra good right out of the refrigerator. We rarely have enough apples left over to make apple sauce but tonight I was making (trying to make...) potato zucchini latkes and I had to have fresh apple sauce to serve with it. I usually make my apple sauce on the stove in a large heavy-bottomed pan but today I needed to concentrate on my latke making - hot oil and small children don't mix - so I thought I would test out apple sauce in a slow cooker. It was a complete success and, truthfully, way easier than letting it simmer on the stove. I cooked it on high and it took less than three hours to be absolutely perfect. I might never make applesauce on the stove again!

Arugula Pesto Over Pasta

Arugula Pesto Over Gluten-Free Spinach Raviolis

The other morning my friend and I were gabbing about our current unhealthy (healthy!) obsession with greens. I am currently in love with kale. In everything. My friend, on the other hand, says her family has just about had it with the abundance of arugula coming through her kitchen. Every meal. This got me thinking ... maybe, just for a day, I would give my family a little bit of a break from the kale and switch over to a new green. Why not a little arugula?

Arugula

Arugula is in season all over the south right now. It is one of our amazing cool weather crops. Arugula is absolutely tasty in salad or on a sandwich but I wanted to make something a little bit more substantial for dinner. My kiddos were begging me for some pasta and I just happened to have some delicious gluten-free spinach raviolis in the freezer so it looked like they might be in luck... Spinach raviolis topped with arugula pesto. Yum. Super yum.