My daughter's birthday dinner: Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake

Each year on their birthday my children get to pick their favorite dinner - start to finish, as many courses as they want (though usually they only want dinner and dessert). It's a special family tradition and one I look forward to each year. My middle daughter's birthday is this week and he…

The versatile snack: Applesauce Bran Muffins

In honor of this weekend’s holiday, here are some of our favorite St. Patrick's Day dinners plus an all new dessert!

A favorite family recipe: Éclair Cake

In honor of this weekend’s holiday, here are some of our favorite St. Patrick's Day dinners plus an all new dessert!

St. Patrick’s Day Recipe Round-Up!

In honor of this weekend’s holiday, here are some of our favorite St. Patrick's Day dinners plus an all new dessert!

Great family dinner: Shredded Beef Enchiladas

Typically when I make enchiladas I use shredded chicken or ground beef. Last week, however, I wanted to do something with shredded beef so I did a little experimenting and a little adapting, busted out the crock pot and came up with this recipe. It was a big hit (and the extra filling made s…

Valentine Pixie Bites

Today is Valentine's Day. Yes, I tend to agree with many of you that it's a made-up holiday with an inordinate amount of associated pressure. I also think it's a good excuse to give the loved ones around you a little treat, a little smile, an acknowledgement that they mean something special.

Game Day Snack: Peanut Butter Caramel Corn

I receive emails nearly every day from publishers that want me to share a recipe from their latest cookbook. I try some of them, rarely post any of them. But this week one of those emails caught my eye. It is from Cooking Light - one of my favorite recipe resources. And it sounds too delicio…

Family traditions: Ravioli Soup, my birthday dinner

Growing up, we were allowed to pick whatever we wanted for our birthday dinner. (A tradition I extend to my children today.) Every single year I picked the same thing: ravioli soup. These are nothing like the raviolis you're probably used to. They are small and instead of serving them in sau…

A Crock Pot meal for a busy night: Beef in Red Wine Sauce

I love this one because it's one of those recipes that is so easy to toss together in the morning and then forget about until your house starts smelling delicious at dinnertime.

A Feast of Appetizers

It's December and in December we like to host a casual gathering titled: Christmas Cocktails & Feast of Appetizers. It's one of my favorite events of the year.

Thanksgiving menu round-up: A side dish and a dessert

Are you making your holiday food shopping list? I finished my grocery shopping and the cooking starts in earnest Wednesday. I don't host Thanksgiving but I always contribute one side dish and one dessert.

Food With a Dash of Fun: Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

I wanted some sort of a casserole that I could make ahead and just pop in the oven when the day started getting busy. Thanks to some Home Economics teacher from the 1990s at Temecula Valley High School - I found a new recipe for just that.

Family Dinner Idea: Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

A few weeks ago at my son's family birthday party I received a present. My husband's grandfather likes to cook and knows that I like to cook. From time to time he'll send me recipes and this time he gave me an entire cookbook.

Food with a Dash of Fun: It's Pumpkin Season

A few weeks ago my waffle-loving child (a child after my own heart) asked if I could make pumpkin waffles. So on a Sunday morning I did just that.

Hey NWI! It's Pumpkin Season.

October in Indiana is my most favorite time of year. The weather has cool nights and crisp days. The leaves on the trees share a beautiful blast of color with us before winter. And pumpkin is on sale at the grocery store. I love pumpkin recipes and so do my kids. A few weeks ago my waffle-lo…

Food with a Dash of Fun: Game day snack of hearty pizza bread

Whether you're tailgating or having people over to watch the big game, I've got the perfect snack. It's so hearty it's almost a meal on its own.

Game Day Snack: Hearty Pizza Bread

Whether you’re tailgating or having people over to watch the big game, I’ve got the perfect snack. It’s so hearty it’s almost a meal on its own. It’s pizza bread, probably unlike any you’ve had before. (Well, unless you know me personally because I might have made this for you.)

Food with a Dash of Fun: Let's make some soup!

The nights are cool (downright chilly, even). The morning air is crisp. We all broke out sweatshirts for my son's baseball game last night. And the kids requested soup for dinner this week. Yep, fall is in the air.

It’s fall: Let’s make some soup!

The nights are cool (downright chilly even). The morning air is crisp. We all broke out sweatshirts for my son’s baseball game last night. And the kids requested soup for dinner this week.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Crock-Pot Red Beans and Rice

This recipe fills an 8-quart Crock-Pot, so it's definitely intended to feed a crowd and would be great for a tailgate. And it's good enough that I was asked for the recipe multiple times.

Feed a crowd with Crock Pot Red Beans & Rice

We had a little party last weekend. It involved an 84 lb pig cooking on my driveway and just over 100 people partying it up in my yard, garage, kitchen and basement. It was a blast. It was also a serious test of my hosting abilities. That’s a lot of people to feed and, contrary to what my hu…

Food with a Dash of Fun: Back to school traditions

It's 6 a.m. on a Thursday and my waffle iron is on. That can only mean one thing: it's the first day of school.

Back to School Traditions

It’s 6am on a Thursday and my waffle iron is on. That can only mean one thing: it’s the first day of school. It’s our tradition to have homemade, chocolate chip waffles on the first day of school. This food post isn’t about a specific recipe, it’s about food and traditions.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Steak and tortellini

I was looking for some dinner inspiration surrounding fine grocery produce when I spied some sirloin steak marked down for sale that day. And that's when I came up with this plan.

Family-pleasing Pasta: Steak & Tortellini

I was wandering around the grocery store this week with a cart full of fresh vegetables. I was looking for some dinner inspiration surrounding that fine produce when I spied some sirloin steak marked down for sale that day. And that’s when I came up with this plan:

Lemon Blueberry Bread

As happens every year, this time of year, we went blueberry picking. I freeze about half of the harvest. The kids eat at least half of what’s left and then I start digging through recipes for the remainder. I decided I wanted something snackable that we could take on our road trip. I started…

Food with a Dash of Fun: Turtle Ice Cream Pie

I love ice cream all year round but it tastes especially good now at the height of summer.

Summer Dessert: Turtle Ice Cream Pie

I love ice cream all year round but it tastes especially good now at the height of summer. It’s almost as if when the sweet corn is good, ice cream is also in season. Here’s a fun and yummy way to make ice cream seem like a fancy dessert. Now I need to invite some people over or something so…

Food with a Dash of Fun: Food on a stick!

With a veggie on the side, peanut chicken skewers are substantial enough to have for dinner. And since they come on a stick, they are very kid friendly; my gang all loved them.

What kid doesn't like food on a stick?! Peanut Chicken Skewers

For Father’s Day my husband requested that he be able to watch the US Open uninterrupted. That’s fine except the tournament falls right on top of dinner time. So the kids and I decided that instead of making him take a dinner break, we’d just make appetizers all afternoon & evening. Ther…

Food with a Dash of Fun: A family favorite

I love making a recipe that tastes like it's filled with cream and butter when it's not.

A Family Favorite: Creamy Cajun Linguine

I love making a recipe that tastes like it’s filled with cream and butter when it’s not. This one started as a Cooking Light recipe but it doesn’t taste like it.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I love this healthy twist on chicken salad. Make some tomorrow and you'll have it in the fridge all weekend for easy sandwiches!

Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Last weekend some grandparents came to watch J’s baseball game in the morning. They were staying for lunch and I wanted to have something in the house besides deli sandwiches (or peanut butter & jelly). I did not however want to cook anything - particularly because the weather is warming…

Food with a Dash of Fun: My favorite cookbooks

I'm often asked how I come up with my recipes. And while I do make some of them up, nearly every recipe I've got in my kitchen started from a cookbook.

Food with a Dash of Fun: How to get your kids to eat asparagus

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, especially in the spring when it's so fresh. I wanted to find a recipe with a new twist, and even the kids who don't normally eat asparagus loved this one.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Easter coffee cake

Easter is just around the corner and I'm starting to come up with a brunch menu in my head. In my menu searching I dug up this idea for Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Red velvet cookies

I'd been wanting to bake cookies for a while but couldn't decide which kind to make. Then the idea of cake mix cookies crept into my head, so I went with a classic combo of cream cheese and chocolate.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Crispy pork medallions

This recipe is easy, delicious and only 210 calories per serving. We had roasted veggies on the side, so not only is this meal yummy, it is healthy and budget-friendly, too.

Food with a Dash of Fun: The last banana bread recipe you'll ever need

We all have a recipe for banana bread. But I have the last banana bread recipe you'll ever need. And trust me, I've tried enough of them to know.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Game day appetizer

I needed to bring an appetizer to a New Year's Eve celebration when I stumbled across this recipe for jalapeno sausage balls. Kids and adults alike came back for seconds (and thirds).

Food with a Dash of Fun: Easy holiday breakfast ideas

Breakfasts on holidays where you'd rather be sitting with your family instead of standing in the kitchen can be an extra challenge. That's why the breakfast casserole was invented.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Andouille sausage and white beans

After Thanksgiving's turkey feast, this is exactly the sort of recipe that your taste buds are seeking. It's comfort food with just a little bit of a kick. It's one of my favorites, especially if I have enough time to make a batch of cornbread to sop up the sauce when the bowl is empty.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Simple spaghetti dinner

I love spaghetti, but I hate spaghetti sauce from a jar. I have a well-honed recipe for spaghetti sauce that simmers away all day in the crock pot, but sometimes I wish I had something a little quicker and easier. Now I do.

Food with a Dash of Fun: It's soup season!

The air is getting chilly, sometimes a little wet and windy, the temperature is dropping...It's soup season. Around here we make soup almost weekly. Served with a warm piece of pumpkin bread, it makes an especially nice fall meal.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Quick, creative breakfast ideas

One thing about breakfast: some people love it, and would eat breakfast food three times a day. Other people despise it; they do not like cereal or eggs or bagels. Another thing about breakfast: there are no such things as breakfast foods.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Tomato recipes

This is the time of year, at least in Indiana, when tomatoes are at their peak. I had just sent a friend links to some of my favorite tomato recipes when my sister-in-law said that they had just tried a new recipe for stuffed tomatoes and it was delicious and easy.

Breakfast and after-school snack ideas for your children

Once school starts, kids tend to be on a somewhat rigid schedule. With school, homework and after-school activities they are very active both mentally and physically. That kind of work demands the right kind of fuel. Donuts and chips might be delicious, but they aren't going to go the distan…

Food with a Dash of Fun: Lemon cupcakes

The kids and I hit up a cupcake bakery just a block away from Millennium Park called Sugar Bliss. I chose a Lemon Drop cupcake and it was sweet yet refreshing, like all good lemon desserts should be. That got me in the mood to make some of my own lemon cupcakes.

Food with a Dash of Fun: Family road trip!

Every summer we take our three kids on at least one road trip. And by road trip, I mean something that takes more than six hours of driving. In fact, last summer we took a 13-day road trip -- that's a lot of time in the ol' minivan. If you're not careful, that can also be a lot of time and m…