Jam Hands

Tender carrots in a luscious brown sugar butter sauce, spiced with a hint of cinnamon and orange zest. This is a great recipe for picky kids. The sauce is sweet and so tasty. Note: Since this is a butter sauce, you want to keep the carrots warm if you are serving them with a meal. Keep them covered in foil or a lid on your serving dish. If they sit out too long at room temperature and cool, the butter will firm back up. If that happens reheat and stir well. Enjoy!

This three ingredients appetizer is a huge hit at our family gatherings. Maple sausage gives these a hint of flavor. Easy to make and loved by all. Spicy sausage would work well here, or even plain sausage as well. Go with what you like, but I urge you to try the maple variety at least once. Warm, tasty and always one of our most popular appetizers. Enjoy!

Folks, these Boston Cream Whoopie Pies are just the best. I've made them a few times over the years and they taste incredibly good. These are best served immediately after assembling. If you are in a time crunch, I would recommend preparing the filling and cake components separately the day before or morning before and waiting to assemble them until absolutely necessary. The reason being the cake can get a little moist the longer these sit. I am of the opinion that the filling for these whoopie pies is phenomenally tasty. One important note is to use heavy cream in the filling -- do not substitute milk, it will not taste anywhere near as good. These are worth the calories of using the cream, trust me. This recipe makes a bunch. To freeze extras, I would line a baking sheet, place the prepared whoopie pies on the tray and set in the freezer for about an hour for them to get firm. Wrap them individually in cling wrap and store in a large ziploc or tupperware in the fre

I think it is still early enough in the year to be posting hot soup recipes, so today I wanted to bring you a recipe from my mom, a delicious Italian Minestrone Soup. Serve this hearty soup with crusty artisan bread and butter. So good. Enjoy!

Creamy Taco Dip is a spicy, creamy dip topped with loads of chopped vegetables and freshly shredded cheese. Adjust the spiciness to your liking using your favorite brand of hot sauce. One important note is that the cheese needs to be freshly grated. Pre-shredded cheese just isn't as good. It is coated with a residue so that it doesn't clump up in the bag which is not very pleasant to eat when it is served cold. Buy a block of cheese and shred it up. Use a food processor with a grater attachment to get this step done in seconds. Serve with tortilla chips or Fritos scoops. Enjoy!

This tasty Neiman Marcus Chicken Salad has a secret ingredient that gives the texture of the salad a wonderfully creamy texture. What is it ? Freshly whipped cream folded into the chicken, almond and grape salad. It works and it is wonderful. Serve on a bed of curly lettuce, with crackers or on a croissant. Enjoy!

Noodle Kugels are new to me and I think I hit the jackpot with this recipe. It was fantastic, I can't stress that enough. The ratio of the custard to the noodles was perfect. When I was researching recipes, I knew I wanted a recipe that had fewer noodles and a bit more custard. I went with a sweet graham cracker topping which was the perfect accent. Serve warm and enjoy!

Sweet Sausage Rolls were a recipe I originally made something like 5-10 years ago and just never got around to taking pictures. Better late than never, right? It is a very rich, comforting sort of breakfast dish. It definitely leans to the sweet side of sweet and savory. The crescent rolls stay pretty soft even after baking and soak up a bunch of the sweet, buttery sauce. The recipe doesn't specify which type of nuts to use, so go with whatever is your preference and affordable for you. I used walnuts but pecans would also be great. Enjoy!

Tart cherries in a silky sour cream pie. This pie is delish! Served warm or cold, it is the perfect end to any meal. A bonus to this recipe is that you don't have to wait for summer for cherries to be in season. Canned sour cherries work out just perfect for this pie. Luscious and tart, a winner of a cherry pie. Enjoy!

Tailgate Queso everybody! Easy to make and it has a unique ingredient, hot no bean chili. It totally works and gives the queso a really nice texture and flavor. I also appreciated that there was no need to add additional liquids to this. All you need is the liquid from the cans of rotel tomatoes, so no milk needed. Creamy, cheesy and delicious. Add jalapenos or Sriracha sauce to bump up the spiciness. Dig in with tortilla chips or Fritos scoops. Many thanks to Carlee from Cooking with Carlee for this recipe. Enjoy!

File this one under salad that is not particularly healthy but tastes damn good. It is addictive! Try to stop at just a small serving, I dare you. Most taco salads I found use a taco seasoning to season the ground beef but I skipped that. I feel like there is plenty of flavor in this salad without adding in a dry mix. Add some to your meat if you'd like but I think if you try it without you'll find that it isn't a necessity. I made my dressing with a whisk and bowl, which is totally doable, it just takes patience and a strong arm. If you go this route, the oil has to be added one drop at a time. Yep, really. Go slow and whisk till you drop. If I can do it, you can too. So good. Enjoy!

I've posted lots of cookie recipes through out the years and here we have it - The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. We've made these about three times now and they've come out perfect every time. Soft, flavorful and the perfect balance of cookie to chocolate. They keep for a long time just kept in a ziploc on the counter, which is a huge bonus. Bonus pups! Please try them out, they really are the best! Enjoy!

As we are slowly but surely moving along towards spring and summer, I find that our household craves more fresh vegetables. Tomato Cheese Delights are the perfect appetizer or side dish featuring ripe tomatoes topped with garlic mayo spread and freshly shredded cheese. Freshly shredded cheese is the key here. Pre-shredded cheese simply will not cut it for this recipe. Since the recipe is so simple with such few ingredients, it is important to use the quality ingredients. It is worth the effort, I promise. Enjoy!

Hot chicken salad was something I'd never tried up until I made this tasty Hot Chicken Salad Casserole. It was as comforting and delicious as I thought it would be, The combination of cheddar and Gruyere cheese gives this dish a sophisticated taste. You can of course use different types of cheese if you'd prefer. For a milder flavor, you might want to use all colby jack cheese. Melty and delicious! Hot Chicken Salad Casserole is a comforting dinner that my entire family gobbled up. Enjoy!

Crunchy, sweet and creamy are how I would describe these tasty Butterscotch Cashew Haystacks. The cashew is a new addition I had never tried before, but it added a lot of flavor to the recipe. This is an easy recipe to make with kids. I added just a touch of shortening so that the butterscotch chips melt really nice and smooth. As you can see, even with the tiny addition of 1 tsp. of shortening, the haystacks set up very nicely and the candy coating is smooth. Enjoy!

I've noticed that between my mom and I, we make a lot of coffee cake. It is one of the easier baked goods to throw together quickly, which is a plus. This version is a pineapple coffee cake topped with a tasty streusel. Fresh or canned pineapple can be used, but we were of the opinion to not use crushed pineapple as the pieces were just too small and the taste got lost. Go for tidbits or chopped fresh diced pineapple instead. A nice little twist on traditional coffee cake. Enjoy!