Healthy Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (Gluten free!)

An easy recipe for soft, chewy, and healthy oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip breakfast cookies. Gluten free, low carb, and just one simple substitution to make them Paleo too!  Skip to recipe.

I have been trying to get my husband to eat breakfast before work for years. I've tried to emphasize the importance of starting off your day with a quick nutritious meal, but it has always fallen on deaf ears. There are plenty of quick breakfast options on the market (e.x. granola bars), but they are all packed with sugar and carbs and don't offer much in the way of actual nutrition (fiber, protein, etc). This gave me the idea to investigate breakfast cookies. I mean, who wouldn't want to start their day off with a few chocolate chips?

Easy Tex-Mex Grilled Chicken

A quick and easy marinade recipe for delicious, Tex-Mex grilled chicken breasts perfect for tacos, nachos, salads, burritos... you name it! Skip to recipe.

Glance over our recipe index and, given the relatively young age of our blog, you might get the idea that my husband and I have an affinity for Mexican food. This is absolutely true. I don't think you can live in Southern California (or California in general) without developing an appreciation for the delicious flavors from our southern neighbors. I am fully convinced that good street tacos are a gateway drug to a lifelong addiction to light and spicy Latin flavors.

Maple Oat Scones

An easy recipe for soft breakfast scones featuring oatmeal, walnuts, and a sweet maple glaze. The perfect accompaniment to your morning cup of coffee or tea. Skip to recipe.

Maple oat scone with walnuts

In college I worked in several different independent coffee shops. One of them sold these amazing maple oat scones with a light and sweet maple glaze and I probably averaged one scone for every morning shift I worked. I would have eaten them during afternoon shifts, but they always sold out. Yes, a similar product is (was?) available at everyone's favorite corporate coffee giant, but these were fresh baked daily and infinitely superior in every way (not that I'm biased).

Better-Than-Chipotle Corn Salsa

A healthy, fresh, and easy recipe featuring jalapeño, red bell pepper, red onion, and a hint of lime juice. Better than a copycat and delicious served as a dip with tortilla chips, on its own as a side dish, or on top of tacos. Skip to recipe.

Veggies before chopping and dicing.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about my strong affinity for all things corn and while we were planning out which recipes to post over the next few weeks, we instantly decided this one needed to be included. I used to frequent Chipotle in college and grad school, but came to realize that my favorite thing about eating there was the corn 'salsa'. (I know this isn't technically a salsa and you probably know it isn't technically a salsa, but since that's what Chipotle calls theirs I'm going to go with it for continuity and clarity purposes).

Loaded Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten free!)

A simple and easy recipe for chewy, flour-less, and gluten free peanut butter cookies loaded with oatmeal, chocolate chips, walnuts, and coconut. Skip to recipe.

Loaded Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

I mentioned in an earlier post how cookies are my go-to dessert due to how quickly you can go from craving to warm, sugary satisfaction. What this means is that 1) I always have cookie fixings on hand and 2) I'm always up to trying out a new recipe. I've recently been interested in trying out gluten free recipes, not because of an intolerance, but because they often have interesting substitutions that are more nutritious than all purpose flour.

Mexican-Inspired Grilled Corn on the Cob

A grilled corn on the cob recipe with a Mexican-inspired twist that includes instructions on how to prepare in the husk, in foil, or with husks removed. An easy and healthy summer side dish featuring mayonnaise, sour cream, lime, chipotle, and Parmesan cheese.

Skip to recipe.

Mexican-inspired Grilled Corn on the Cob

I love all things corn: on the cob, corn bread, corn pudding, corn tortillas, corn chips, that stuff that comes on the side of your plate at Chevy's and El Torito, tamales, sopes, etc. To me, nothing says summer like corn on the cob and being able to load up on it for 5/$1 at the grocery store. We moved back home to Northern California last summer and one of my favorite things to do here on a warm summer night is hit up the weekly night market for some elotes: husked corn grilled to perfection, brushed with Mexican crema and then coated with ground/dried chipotle and cotija cheese. Fresh, in-season corn already has a delightful sweet flavor and mixing in the perfect amount of char with the savory elements takes it to another level.

The Ultimate Cheesecake Cookies

Soft, creamy, and rich these cream cheese cookies are topped with cream cheese buttercream frosting and a light dusting of brown sugar and cinnamon. Cookies don't get much more decadent than this!!

The Ultimate Cheesecake Cookies

I've been baking cookies for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I had a children's cookbook that came with color coded measuring spoons and I must have made that chocolate chip cookie recipe hundreds of times. Suffice it to say, cookies are (and have always been) my go to dessert; the dough comes together quickly and you can usually go from craving to warm, sugary satisfaction in under 30 minutes.

Spicy Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Lime Salsa

Quick, easy, and delicious grilled shrimp tacos with a hint of spice served with a light, creamy sauce packed with fresh flavors.

Cabbage, cilantro, onion, garlic, lime, and jalapeño.

Light and Fluffy Pancakes

A pancake recipe perfected by the pancake obsessed (me) for light and fluffy pancakes that don't require any fancy ingredients (I'm looking at you, buttermilk).

Light and Fluffy Pancakes

Pancakes are probably one of my favorite foods. I have celebrated many birthdays at diners instead of formal restaurants just to get my pancake fix. I've also tried many recipes and methods in search of the perfect homemade variety. This means that my poor husband has eaten more than his fair share of awful to mediocre pancakes over the course of our relationship (sorry!). The biggest issue I struggled with was pancake density, my pancakes were always thin and dense, nothing like the delightful pancakes thousands of half-decent diners across the country pump out everyday. I did a bit of research and came across two methods to combat this issue: carbonated water and buttermilk. These ingredients make good pancakes, but they require that you plan ahead, no rolling out of bed on Saturday morning and whipping up some quick pancakes from your pantry. This all changed when I came across a recipe that didn't require any special ingredients and yielded fluffy pancakes. The secret(s)? Pseudo-buttermilk (aka milk + white vinegar) and two leaveners (both baking soda and baking powder).

Greek-inspired Grilled Chicken

This marinade comes together in a snap and only gets better the longer it sits (1 hour to overnight). The result is a delightfully savory main dish with the right amount of lemon for an acidic brightness.

Fresh rosemary, lemon, and garlic.

Sometimes you come home from the grocery store with half of a plan for dinner. We bought chicken wings and knew we wanted to grill them, but hadn't thought about how to season them. Outside our front door there is a rosemary bush and a large lemon tree that is heavily weighed down with lemons (even in winter!). As we walked up to the front door, I decided that we would be having a Greek-inspired marinade. I coarsely chopped the rosemary, diced a few cloves of garlic, juiced two lemons, added S & P and olive oil and we were in business. An hour later our chicken was on the grill and smelled absolutely heavenly! We knew immediately that this quick marinade was a keeper. Just a little bit later, the chicken came off the grill and, holy yum! This impromptu plan was a success!

Upgraded Cake Mix

A foolproof recipe for enhanced cake mix that will wow you and your fellow cake eaters with its simplicity and deliciousness.

Three years ago, my husband requested a cake for his birthday (chocolate on chocolate, natch) and I knew I wouldn't be satisfied just baking a box cake and slathering it with store bought frosting. Yes, they are simple and straightforward, but I wanted something more! I'd also been DVRing episodes of the Barefoot Contessa (I ❤ Ina!), and felt more than a little inspired by the wedding cake episode. I wanted to bake a yummy cake, make frosting from scratch, and decorate my first-ever layer cake. Because I wasn't quite ambitious enough to bake from scratch, I turned to the interwebs and came across several recipes that promised to improve basic supermarket mixes. I settled on one in part due to its inclusion of sour cream (cuz yum!) and gave it a whirl. OH MY GAWD. It was the best cake I'd ever made.