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.