When I’m in the mood for Cajun food, I turn to favorites such as dirty rice, New Orleans BBQ Shrimp, Cajun chicken and this simple, yet satisfying shrimp etouffee. I love the rich and unique flavors of Cajun food, and this type of cuisine is actually quite easy to prepare at home. My version of shrimp etouffee is just as good as what you’d get in a restaurant, but you can enjoy it in the comfort of your own home....

The traditional version uses char siu pork(BBQ pork) but I use eggs, chicken & shrimp. You can skip or add any kind of protein your family likes. This is a super weeknight friendly recipe. For the vegetables I use snap peas and red bell pepper, however bean sprouts and bok choy can be used as well. Like any asian or indo chinese recipe, these do need you to prepare the ingredients before hand- chopping the vegetables, preparing the protein, softening the rice sticks etc , I would say about 20-25 minutes worth of preparation, but once you are done, from there these noodles come together in hardly 6-8 minutes....

Switching things up today with your new favorite “fusion” style tacos. These surely are not traditional, and they’re definitely a little on the different side. But these tacos are fun and oh so delicious. The truth is, with all this “pantry cooking” I’ve found myself gravitating towards rice and pasta pretty much every single day. Don’t get me wrong, you know I live for a good pasta dish. And rice is something I’ll never ever tire of, but I needed to change it up....

The first time I heard about this recipe is from my BFF, MP. Her mom is from Tirunelveli, South of Tamilnadu which is very famous for wonderful food. Every part of our country has a food story and beautiful food, isnt it? Everytime I visit her place, I get treated to the specialties that turn out quite new to me. Her mom is an excellent cook and something as simple as plain toor dal and poondu kuzhambu tastes magical when cooked by her 🙂 During one of our conversations a couple of years back, she told me how she made Sodhi for lunch that day....

I really could not be more excited about these cookies. These were actually supposed to be Tuesday’s post, but after I photographed them, I knew they needed to be a Friday post. For some reason I feel like Friday’s posts just need to be super fun, and that’s what these cookie are…fun, easy and so, so, so delicious. Ok and cute. I really cannot get over how cute these cookies are....

And just like that I’m in full on holiday mode. Can’t help it, this time of year makes me so happy! And with Thanksgiving less than two weeks away it’s hard not to be excited. Anyone else feeling the same? We’ve been having the coziest weather up here in the mountains. It’s inspired me to create recipes that will to warm us up from the inside out. That’s honestly one of the cheesiest things I’ll say, but it’s the truth....

Summer officially starts on Friday, but I’m already knee-deep in summertime produce. I know it’s early, but I’m overly excited to be working with new ingredients. It feels so good to be super excited about recipes! Cooking as much as I do, I can sometimes get into recipe development ruts towards the end of a season. I get bored with things very quickly, and by the time a season is coming to an end I’m ready to switch things up....

I have a huge soft spot for lasagna. Especially during these colder months… and especially during the holidays! Something about lasagna just makes people happy. Maybe it’s the slow cooked meat sauce, the carb filled pasta or all the cheese?!? Okay, so it’s probably all three!! With all the snow that fell on Friday and these frigid cold temps at night, I just couldn’t help it, I had to make Lasagna!...

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I think this is my favorite recipe of the week. Maybe of the month. It’s the simplest, but this grilled cheese is really good. The pita is a game-changer, but also the combination of spinach, artichoke, and melted cheese is one that will always be hard to beat. As you guys know, I’ve been on a huge pita kick ever since I shared these turmeric chicken pitas a few weeks back....

After you try this homemade one pot mac and cheese, you’ll never turn to the boxed version again. Serve your mac and cheese with roasted broccoli or glazed carrots for a complete meal. There’s nothing better than homemade mac and cheese, and there are so many different ways to prepare it. I have a really great slow cooker mac and cheese that the family loves, but when we want dinner in a hurry, I turn to this stovetop mac and cheese recipe....

I love stuffed peppers, but it seems like they take forever to bake, and I always end up with peppers that are either too crunchy or too mushy. Stuffed pepper soup has all the same flavors but is so easy to put together on a busy weeknight. Looking for more amazing soup recipes? Don’t miss my albondigas soup, pasta e fagioli soup, turkey soup and matzo ball soup! Stuffed Pepper Soup Ingredients To make this stuffed pepper soup recipe, you will need olive oil, ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, a can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, Italian seasoning, white rice and fresh parsley....

This post is sponsored by Florida’s Natural. Happy Saturday! Such a fun cocktail to share with you all today, Bellinis 3 ways with my favorite summer fruits. It’s been a few weeks since my last cocktail Saturday post so I’m excited for today’s Bellinis. First off, I’ve never shared any kind of Bellini with you guys before, so these feel especially fun. I was inspired to make the simple summer Bellinis by an overflowing fridge full of summer berries and sweet overly ripe peaches....

Have you ever walked into a house and smelled fresh baking bread? Oh my gosh, if you are nodding your head no right now than it is time to change that. Like right this very second. If you are not one of those poor unfortunate souls than you know that it is probably one of the coziest and most comforting smells there is. Well, I don’t know that might be a bit of a stretch....

Well, isn’t this fun?! Homemade spaghetti O’s! And SO MUCH better than anything you’d dump out of a can. So much better. I’ve said it many times now, but it’s back-to-school season. And as much as I dreaded this time of year as a kid, there was (and is) something so exciting about starting off a new year. It’s odd since the new year isn’t officially until January. But as a kid, the start of the school year meant so much more than the actual new year....

Thengai Paal is a traditional Tamilnadu recipe made with milk extracted from fresh coconut, sweetened with jaggery flavored with fresh cardamom pods. Sweet Coconut Milk is served as a side dish for Appam and Idiyappam. It is such a humble and simple homestyle recipe that is quite common in many Tamil households. It has been gaining popularity in restaurants too, where appams or idiyappam is served with both Vellai Kurma or Veg Kurma and Thengai Paal....

This post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes. I often have a hard time deciding between two recipes. Both can sound so delicious and exciting to create that I just can’t choose between them. That was the situation a few weeks ago when I was going back and forth on just what sweet Easter recipes I wanted to share this year. Both carrot cake and cheesecake are Easter classics (and in general very spring)....

Tawa Pulao is one of the easiest and tastiest lunch recipes that can be made very quickly. Supposedly, this pulav is a very famous Mumbai street food. Although I have never tasted it, I loved how this is prepared and had been wanting to try it in my kitchen since long. Making Sunday Biryani – be it egg biryani, mushroom biriyani or vegetable biriyani is so common in our house that we do not think of anything else....

In this post, I am sharing thandai recipe made with instant homemade thandai masala powder. Our Holi celebration is incomplete without Thandai. With its creamy texture and aromatic taste, it such a crowd pleaser drink. In weeks leading to Holi, I make a large batch of thandai masala to last us for a while. Not just for making thandai, thandai powder is amazing in dessert recipes such as thandai spiced nankhatai and rose thandai cheesecake bars or thandai tiramisu....

(All photography by Kristen Kilpatrick) I have been hinting about this collection for so long now. I can’t believe the launch is finally here! You guys! I am so excited. And nervous! Sure, I’ve now launched two cookbooks and done some other fun collaborations over the years, but this is our biggest collaboration yet! We now have HBH product, and I couldn’t be more excited to have partnered with Etsy and 12 of their incredible sellers/ artisans to design this....

It’s pretty clear that I am in spring GO mode. Even though our weather forecast is for more snow, I am determined to keep the days bright! Sooo, I thought I might share this fun cocktail creation of mine. This drink was one hundred percent inspired by fresh hibiscus flowers that showed up on my door step one afternoon. Since I have hard time finding them at my local grocery store or even Whole Foods, I order my edible flowers online from California at least once a month....