Erin's been cooking a lot. A lot! But this meal of all the meals probably shows just how good she's gotten. An important step in improving your skills as a chef is try your own thing. Lots of times, you should follow the recipe and learn, but sometimes you just need to wing it and go on a hunch. Erin went on a hunch, and the meal came together...

We finally used the wild rice from Minnesota that Dustin's mom brought for us at Thanksgiving. The back of the bag had a recipe for wild rice soup using ham that I decided to modify and use chicken instead. Wild rice looks so much more exciting than plain white or brown rice cooked Here is the rich and creamy soup we made— a much better...

This meal, inspired by this recipe from Prevention magazine, is incredibly light and fresh. There are a lot of flavors, but they are simple and all go so well together. It's all about the ingredients and how they work off of each other. First, bring a pot of water to boil and cook approximately six ounces of pasta (serves two) until al dente....

I know Dustin was a little disappointed we didn't go all out on with our traditional Valentine's Day meal, omitting the Caesar salad. I hope these sandwiches can offer him a little consolation. They maximize the best parts of a chicken Caesar salad— chicken, Caesar dressing, and parmesan cheese, while minimizing the more boring parts (i.e....

After weeks of waiting, I finally managed to get my bag of cinnamon chips. According to the Hershey's product locator, the only stores remotely close to us that sell Hershey's cinnamon chips are Albertson's, which we never go to. This quick trip to Albertson's marked our fourth trip to a grocery store that day (no, not looking for cinnamon...

I eat peanut butter sandwiches at least three or four days a week. I do like to vary them up slightly each day. I have several varieties of Peanut Butter & Co. butters, and sometimes I add some banana or a sprinkling of cinnamon, but even with these changes I recently got tired of my commonplace peanut butter sandwich, and decided to switch my...

Oh, wow in the simplicity of this. My mom gave me this recipe from way back before I was born. Butter Dips are delicious, golden brown, crunchy-on-the-outside, warningly-soft-on-the-inside treats soaked and baked in melted butter. It's perfect for a quick prep meal that gets everyone eating and dipping and sharing. And if you have a few left...

In honor of Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, I decided to make a King Cake. It had been awhile since my last tasting of the New Orleans treat. I remember wanting to buy one at the grocery store last year, but it seemed a little silly to buy an entire cake for just the two of us. Fortunately this year, we had guests over the weekend, so we had the...

These peanut butter and oatmeal dog treats are super easy to make— there are only four ingredients, one of which is water— and Bonnie gobbles them up. They are basically a combination of two of mankind's favorite cookies— oatmeal and peanut butter (no chocolate chips for puppies) minus all of the sugar and bad stuff. So these are actually...

We found another great use for cheddar grits— as brunch topped with fried eggs. The runny yolk spreading over the cheese grits is pretty amazing and yet it is so simple. We'll definitely make this again another lazy morning. We served this alongside a mimosa with a splash of Grand Marnier. We had a fantastic and relaxing Saturday morning, not...