Festive season is officially here! Last week it was Krishna Janmashtami and this week we have Vinayaka Chaturthi. Every year, I make sure to post a bunch of special recipes and this year too, I have a couple of special recipes lined up and the first one is a delicious sweet from South of India called Rava Kesari. This is such a simple dessert that it requires no recipe at all but, there is a twist....

Especially when that day is a Saturday (happy Cocktail Saturday!), and when the margaritas are these Rhubarb Passion Margs! You guys, I think these are my new favorite margarita. I know, I say that every time I make something new, but I just LOVE these. They’re fruity, sweet n’ sour, heavy on the lime, and rimmed with flaky sea salt. Yum. OK, so here’s the deal. On Tuesday I asked everyone on Instagram how they felt about rhubarb....

Who agrees that Sunday pasta bakes are a must? Typically around here Sunday night dinner is a little more chill than most other nights, so if all the family is around it’s the perfect night to sit down with everyone and eat a delicious dinner. Oddly, today is one of those Sundays. All of the family is in town after a busy weekend, so I am really excited to be making this bake, because it’s the perfect meal to please everyone....

Hands down, this is one of my favorite recipes right now. It’s so delicious and feels extra luxurious, but the spaghetti squash makes it lighter than most baked pasta dishes! Every fall I love to cook with spaghetti squash. My mom would roast it a lot when I was younger and it’s always been one of my personal favorite foods! I have a lot of fun getting creative every fall and sharing new ways to enjoy this buttery pasta-like squash....

Ingredients Boneless, skinless chicken breasts Extra virgin olive oil Shallot Garlic Fresh rosemary Smoked paprika Chili powder Kosher salt and black pepper Lemon wedges Avocado Thick cut bacon Fresh naan Lettuce and tomatoes Feta cheese Lemon Honey Red pepper flakes Dill, basil, parsley I’m not sure if you guys remember me saying this. But I actually avoid sharing sandwich recipes – for the sole reason that I hate photographing them....

It’s slowly becoming ice cream season with lots of spring weather in New York this week. Plus sunshine and warmth in Miami today, I am so excited! For the longest time I’ve wanted to share a banana pudding recipe, but two reasons have always steered me off the banana pudding path. The first is that I don’t love the idea of using a boxed pudding mix. Most traditional, more retro recipes, use box pudding....

We all have those days where we look for something simple, something quick but also something comforting and at the same time delicious. Today’s recipe Sambar Sadam is all that and more. Instead of making Sambar and rice separately, I often make one-pot Sambar Rice in my pressure cooker. It is loaded with vegetables, as I usually throw in every vegetable in my fridge (best way to clean up your fridge)....

It’s been a minute since I shared a bright and fresh colorful salad. I thought this salad would be perfect to break up all the cozy soups and pasta. It’s all about having a nice balance! As I work away on this post, I’m in New York, but once this post goes live, I’ll be home and back in the kitchen. After a week of eating out, I could not be more excited to cook for myself again....

Yay!! So….. My power went out while writing this post and ALL the words were lost. Ugh. I am actually re-writing this via candlelight and the hotspot on my phone! I had written so much! Things like how this big three-layer cake was for my mom’s birthday. And how for all birthdays around here, two layers simply won’t do. Nope, not two. Three. Because when cake is involved… three layers are always better than two....

It has EVERYTHING I love most in the world; cheese, fresh fruit and grilled bread, I mean, what more could a girl need in life? SO, you guys all know how I am in the midst of finishing up my cookbook manuscript, right (it’s actually due tomorrow…YIKES)? While, thanks to the mass amounts of writing I have been doing the last few weeks, I’ve realized a couple of things. One, I do not have a serious writing style....

Skillet chicken dinners are simply the best. Especially right now during these insanely hectic and very cold December days. I’m sure I’m not alone, but this week is just a crazy one. So I’m loving having dinners like this french onion chicken in my back pocket for busy nights. I made this chicken a couple of weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving, as our family slowly started to pile in. I needed a dinner that I knew everyone would enjoy, and that could be made with little effort....

I’m all about my slow cooker these days. I’m constantly making slow cooker chicken thighs, crockpot BBQ chicken, slow cooker teriyaki chicken and slow cooker beef stroganoff. This chicken drumstick recipe is so simple, yet so very satisfying and it’s kid friendly too! In my opinion, chicken drumsticks are an underutilized cut of meat. They’re inexpensive, widely available, flavorful and super kid friendly. It doesn’t get any easier than these slow cooker chicken drumsticks – 3 ingredients in a crock pot and you’re ready to go!...

A Sunday night recipe…that’s equally great any day of the week. I just love the sound of a slow-cooked “Sunday Sauce” – don’t you? You do, you do! And speaking of Sunday, I hope you all had a very lovely fall weekend (using the word lovely today because I use the words great and amazing way too much). Hoping it was also much warmer than mine. While Saturday was sunny, it was COLD, and then it snowed all day today....

And so excited that I can finally talk about all things Christmas! YESS!! I have been waiting for this since last Christmas. And yes, I am Christmas freak. If you hate Christmas, you should probably just look away now and come back tomorrow for good food. Today is all about Christmas stuff. If you’ve been reading the blog this past week, then you know that we’ve already had our tree up since a week ago last Saturday....

I love a good spinach artichoke dip, and when you take that creamy and delicious dip and add it to fried wontons, you get appetizer perfection. Have you ever found the magical combination of two different appetizers fused into one? These spinach artichoke wontons are the perfect mash up of two popular snacks made into one ultimate appetizer. This snack will definitely be a hit at your next party!...

I mean, I know the Easter bunny may not be real 🙁 But if he was, I think he’d devour this salad. How could he not, it’s full of carrots and fresh spring peas, which we all know are a bunny’s favorite! Ok ok, maybe some chocolate too. Duh. 🙂 So here’s the deal, you all know I am just not into boring salads. Like if I am going to eat a salad, it’s going to be full of goodness, cheese and carbs....

Have you guys been watching the Olympics? So far I have only watched a few runs of the Men’s Half Pipe Snowboard finals and that is only because my family is back it is kind of a big deal around here, seeing as my brothers live and breath snowboarding. Ok, but today is all about the food. No rambling. I am having a ton of fun cooking up some international foods....

You can never go wrong with tacos for dinner, some of my favorites include turkey tacos, slow cooker chicken tacos, barbacoa tacos and these fabulous grilled steak tacos. In my house, every day could be Taco Tuesday, we just love tacos that much! These grilled steak tacos are filled with the most delicious marinated meat, and a little avocado relish adds a cool and creamy finish. You can also use this same meat marinade to make carne asada or fajitas....

Homemade lemonade tastes so much fresher than store bought. Add some ripe strawberries into the mix and you’ve got a delicious drink to cool off with on a hot day. I am lucky enough to have a lemon tree in my yard, which means that we make homemade lemonade all the time. This strawberry lemonade is our favorite, I make it almost every week when the weather warms up! It’s perfect for parties and tastes so much better than the store bought kind....

Don’t you remember? I told you Monday that I had margarita plans for you guys today. Like I said, I went a little Margarita crazy. I couldn’t help myself. I bought a whole stink’n bottle of Tequila and for the price of what I paid you better believe I was going to put it to good use. Seriously, who knew liquor was so much money. Obviously, NOT me. Anyway, I have had a whole lot fun testing out these fun margarita recipes....