American

I was imagining us sitting at the table with a bottle of prosecco, roasted chicken wings, and these artichokes. We’re eating everything with our hands, unabashedly scraping artichoke leaves with our teeth and eyeing the last few cloves of the braised garlic. I haven’t had much success preparing artichokes in any other way besides the old Italian–American standby—stuffed with breadcrumbs and steamed—that is, until I prepared these little babies. This recipe is insanely good and I’m going to make artichokes in this way forevermore. I needed to add water throughout the cooking process. In the end, I added an additional 3/4 cup of water in 1/4-cup intervals when the pot threatened to run dry and scorch. Don’t add the additional water up front, as you’ll never deeply brown your garlic or artichokes and those crispy brown bits are treasures. Add a little salt into the heart cavity with the parsley. I also used baby artichokes, which surprisingly took the same amount of time to cook, yet I didn’t have to scoop out the choke during prep. Enjoy—this recipe is a true crowd-pleaser. I can’t wait to serve these to friends.

Bread pudding is usually considered a dessert. But this rich and savory version packed with spinach, artichokes and cheese is a perfect side for both dinner or brunch.

Pumpkin AND crunchiness…now this is a great combo b/c usually everything with pumpkin is smooth and I love some crunchy textures mixed into things!

When you flip this moist, fluffy cake out of the pan and onto a plate, it just looks so pretty! And by the time I bit into my first bite, I had forgotten about the cream cheese filling hidden inside... talk about a nice surprise!

I baked this delicious quiche in a 9-inch spring form pan. It slid out easily onto a serving plate which made it look very inviting. When I saw the mushrooms, bright green asparagus and gooey cheese, I couldn't wait to take a bite! I wasn't disappointed. It tastes great!

Oh, cream cheese…. I don’t know what it is that is so appealing about cream cheese, but man, it really knows how to turn the delicious dial up on things! haha Seriously, whether it is used in a savory casserole or a cake frosting, cream cheese wins me over every time. So it is no surprise that I have been eyeing this coffee cake for a long time now. I finally couldn’t wait another minute longer and had to throw it together as soon as I got back home

This is a kind of “show-stopping” coffee cake. It comes out picture perfect- exactly what you want to serve to guests that you are trying to impress. And of course the best part is not only that it looks great, but it tastes wonderful. Everything is so moist and creamy, contrasting beautifully with the crunchy almond-sugar topping. You really win in every aspect with this cake.

A few words of advice with this cake- to get the absolute best results with the cream cheese filling, it is super important for your cream cheese to be soft! If it’s not soft enough, you’re batter will be lumpy and no matter how much you mix, there will always be lumps. I always beat the sugar into the cream cheese to soften it up really well before adding anything else, especially liquids. This usually helps quite a bit.

These are pudding cookies.
Actually they are Oreo Pudding cookies.  If you don’t have Oreo pudding, just use vanilla.  If you don’t have pudding at all, don’t make these cookies.  Sorry.

And I also used chopped up Cookies and Cream Dove Promises.  If you can’t find Dove Promises, use Hershey’s Cookies and Creme Bars.  If you can’t find the Hershey’s Bars either, you could use Cookies and Creme Drops.  If you don’t have any of those things,  don’t make these cookies.  Sorry.

I have had cornbread for lunch and dinner...how about breakfast? I can't remember a breakfast that I have had that included fresh-baked cornbread. The vest part about this recipe is it is quick to assemble and a quick bake for the morning. You can get up throw everything together and bake. When you make you can eat it right as it is out of the oven with melting butter and drizzled honey and a few sprigs of freshly toasted rosemary leaves! You will not be able to stop at 1 piece!

Since this makes an entire sheet pan, you most likely will have left overs. Pop these in the toaster in the morning and repeat the process of butter, honey and rosemary. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea and you are in sweet cornbread bliss.

The right kind of chicken and dumplings are the kind that Brandon’s grandmother makes. They are the kind you get at Cracker Barrel. They are true southern style, and they don’t actually have dumplings, it’s more like slabs of tender and delicious biscuit dough. You could think of them as really big, thick noodles. There are no silly things like vegetables in here, it’s just chicken, chicken stock and dumplings. Period. You can eat your green beans and fried okra on side like the real Southerners do. Every single time we go to Cracker Barrel, that’s what Brandon gets. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And you know that’s going to be hard to live up to because I’m sure Cracker Barrel makes those things with lard and crack cocaine like everything else they serve. (I kid, I love Cracker Barrel, lard and all!)

I know, I know ... the flavor combination may sound a bit, well, ... odd.  But believe me, it's soooooo good.  The sweetness of the pomegranate seeds and dried currants, with the 'refreshingness' (yup, I think I just made that word up) of the fresh mint is wonderful.  And the pomegranate seeds and walnuts also bring a fantabulous crunch.  Mmmmmmm, mmmmm ... yummy for my tummy.  It makes my tummy do a little happy dance.