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....

I've seen Coca Cola used to make roasts and meat glazes, but when I saw this recipe for pulled pork sandwiches that used Dr. Pepper I was definitely sold on trying it out. This dish reminded me of home so much. Dr. Pepper is quintessentially Texan, and even though we really don't eat pulled pork barbecue back home, we haven't had anything...

Every Valentine's Day back in Houston, we ate out at Barry's Pizza. They had a great Valentine's Day special, which included two salads, a heart shaped pizza for two, and a brownie a la mode. Pretty amazing, right? We decided to spend this Valentine's day at home and cook up our own version of a heart shaped pizza. We usually just buy a...

When I found the risotto recipe on Creative Culinary, I also stumbled upon this recipe for smoked chicken with a cheddar beer sauce. We just grilled up some chicken and topped with the sauce for a fun twist on a basic and easy chicken dinner. It was really good served with a side of caramelized onions and green chile mashed potatoes.

Dustin isn't a mushroom guy, but I love them and would put them on just about every dinner I make! So when I promise to make him something delicious, even if it has mushrooms like this risotto from Creative Culinary, he'll eat them for me. What a good guy I found. I've wanted to try to risotto for awhile, and I really wanted to find a recipe...

This sandwich is definitely not low fat— lots of avocado and gooey cheese— but not flavor. We slathered a layer of guacamole, a slice of Havarti cheese (we did use lite, so it was a tad healthier), and a few slices of tomato on deliciously baked sourdough bread. Then we grilled the sandwich up on the stove until the bread was nice and crispy...

Dustin and I've been talking about making a trip to San Francisco together for as long as I can remember. I've never been, but always wanted to go, and Dustin has been a number of times and has told me about all of the fabulous things to do and places to eat. We already have an itinerary planned out for a nonexistent trip. One of our plans is to...