I always love quick and easy, but delicious vegetable side dishes with my meals. One of my absolute favorite veggies to roast is broccoli, and it turns out to be delicious no matter what you put on it! 

You can even take a short cut and thaw a bag of SteamFresh Select Broccoli in the fridge overnight, so you don't have to cut up a bunch of broccoli. So simple!

Total Time: 22 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh broccoli, cleaned and trimmed
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup seasoned Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Place the prepared broccoli in a mixing bowl and toss with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
3. Spread out Panko on a large baking sheet (I cover my sheet in foil for easier clean up!), and place in the oven for a few minutes, until lightly toasted.
4. Remove from oven and toss with broccoli. Return broccoli mixture to same baking pan and spread into a single layer. Roast in oven until the broccoli is tender, 10-12 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and toss with the cheese. Enjoy! (The first time I made this, I was rushing around right before serving and forgot to add the cheese! It still tasted delicious, in case you don't have cheese, or forget like me!)

Source:  Alton Brown

Alright, back on the cupcake kick for a few posts! I figured I'd start off with one of the best in my collection! As I said in my previous cupcake posts, I love to use a box mix. My favorite thing about this particular recipe, is that you use a box mix as the base of the cake, but you add more ingredients to it than it suggests on the box. I guess you could say you're "fancying-up" a box mix! 

I also love that this cupcake has a gooey fudge-filled center and a delicious, light and fluffy mint buttercream frosting. There may be a few steps to this cupcake, but I assure you, it is not difficult!

I actually find it funny, because my husband has never been a big fan of the chocolate-mint combination, (How is that possible??) but he tried one of these and absolutely loved it! I was even asking his advice on which flavors I should make for a party, and he chose the vanilla bean and this recipe! I guess if something is delicious, no matter what your preferences are, you could end up loving it!

I followed the recipe from YourCupofCake exactly for the full-sized cake on the left, and then made a few alterations for the miniature size on the right. I really do love mini cupcakes better than full-sized cupcakes. I think there's a better cake:frosting ratio (I might be a math geek!), plus you can eat more flavors without feeling too guilty!

Total Time: 40 minutes + cooling time
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: approx. 20 minutes (2 trays at a time)

Yield: 7-8 dozen mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cakes:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil's Food cake mix (I really love this particular brand)

Fudge Filling:

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Mint Buttercream:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 6 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• Wilton green gel coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 4 mini cupcake pans with liners. (You may use slightly less than 4 full pans)
2. Using a whisk, mix together the sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each new addition. Combine buttermilk and water in a separate measuring cup. Alternate adding the cake mix and the buttermilk mixture to the sour cream, starting and ending with the cake mix.
3. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake 10-11 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
4. Once the cupcakes are slightly cooled, make the chocolate fudge filling. Melt the chocolate chips and heavy cream together in the microwave or over a double boiler on medium high heat. Stir in the powdered sugar until very smooth. 
5. Using a pastry bag fitted with a medium-small round tip (don't use the smallest round tip as it may clog--trust me from experience!) poke the tip into the center of each cupcake and squeeze until it just bubbles over the top of the cake.
6. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and peppermint extract and beat until well combined. To add the green coloring, either use a very small amount of Wilton gel coloring or 1-2 drops of green food coloring. A little bit goes a long way, and I really love the light pastel green color on these. 
7. Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes using a medium-large star tip. To decorate, I like to drizzle melted chocolate on top and sprinkle Andes mint chips on top. (You can find these in the baking aisle.) Enjoy!

Source:  Adapted from YourCupofCake.com

Everyone has that winter "feel-good" snack that you make every year. This is definitely it for me. Nothing says wintertime like a big bucket full of these delicious pecans! And to top it off, this recipe is so simple and quick! I promise you will love them!

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 1 pound pecans

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pecan halves
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 egg whites

Directions:

1. Toast pecans at 325 degrees F. for 10 minutes on a 10 x 15" cookie sheet with a lip. Remove from oven and pour into a large bowl.
2. Place stick of butter, cut into thirds, on the same cookie sheet and put in the oven to melt, a few minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they start to stiffen. Add sugar and salt and beat until stiff peaks form. Pour over the nuts and stir to coat well.
4. Spread nut mixture oven the melted butter on the pan. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 30 minutes total, stirring after each 10 minutes. Cool on a large sheet of foil.

(Do not double this recipe! It won't turn out the same--you must make separately.)

In our house, fried chicken is eaten several times each month. It's just something that feels so comforting with a heaping amount of mashed potatoes, country gravy and corn.

For yesterday's Sunday dinner with the parents, we made 3 pans full of fried chicken. I barely had any burners left! It's a good chance to use all of my All-Clad, though! :)

This chicken is so simple to make, and it becomes deliciously crispy after frying it!
I know the picture below isn't quite the fanciest, and it truly doesn't do this chicken justice, but I think it sums up how to feed a family that loves a good home-cooked meal!

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: This recipe will serve 4 

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup flour
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Combine garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika and flour in a shallow dish.
2. Pour milk into a separate shallow dish.
3. Pour vegetable oil into the bottom of a large frying pan, enough to coat well. Turn the burner onto medium
4. Dredge chicken in milk, and then coat in flour mixture. Make sure to coat well, covering every spot! (If you want to skip the milk step, I have actually run the chicken under water, so that the coating will stick. It works wonderfully!)
5. Place chicken in frying pan and fry for about 8 minutes on each side. If the coating is getting dark before the insides are cooked through, turn the heat down to medium-low.

I love to serve this with country gravy, mashed potatoes and corn! Enjoy!!

In my house, there are a couple of meals that must include the same side dishes as usual. You can't possibly have chicken croissants without green bean casserole, hamburgers are just never the same if they're served in the summertime without corn on the cob, and Fiesta Lime Chicken is just not right without honey cornbread and pecan butter. It's against all that is good and delicious!

If you have tried my Fiesta Lime Chicken recipe, then you have most likely fallen in love with the meal, as my family also has...but believe me, it's not an A+ meal until you serve it with these scrumptious muffins!

Total Time: 25 minutes
Active Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 dozen medium muffins

Cornbread Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 cup flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cornbread Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Use a nonstick 12-muffin pan or grease each muffin cup.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Set aside.
3. In another medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, butter, honey and vanilla.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Pour batter into the muffin cups about 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and set in the middle.

During the holidays, my family always makes a ton of cookies! A lot of the cookies are traditions, but sometimes we try new recipes. To name a few, Santa will always find M&M, Sand Tarts, Spritz, Mini Nut Rolls, Pecan Tassies, and these delicious Gingerbread cookies.

For years, my mom was trying to find the perfect gingerbread dough recipe.
It had to have plenty of spice and flavor, had to roll and cut well, and had to be slightly soft after it was baked. The result of her experimenting and changing of other recipes is this perfect and delicious dough. 
You honestly won't find a better one!

If you scroll down under the dough recipe, you will also find the best icing recipe! You can see the icing in the pictures--it is beautiful and vibrant, and incredibly easy to make and use!

Cooking Recipe


Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes + chilling time
Active Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Inactive Time: (The dough is best if made and chilled overnight, or at least 3 hours)

Yield: Approx. 2-3 dozen per dough disk / 10-12 dozen for whole recipe (depending on size of cookie cutters)

Cookie Ingredients:

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter, softened to room temp.
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses (or a 12 oz. jar "Grandma's" brand)
• 2 large eggs