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Easy Fudgy Salted Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Need a fast and easy treat to give as a gift or serve guests? You are going to love these easy, fudgy salted chocolate peanut clusters! I love homemade chocolates, but I'm not a huge fan of having to use a candy thermometer or having to stand at the stove stirring and watching carefully for ages. These little clusters of happiness come together in just minutes - chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, some vanilla and peanuts are the only ingredients you need, (though I do recommend the flaked Malden salt to finish them off with.) They are beautiful to look at and even more delicious to taste. Ingredients: 2 cups chocolate chips 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups peanuts, (salted) Maldon sea salt flakes, (optional but the BEST) In a non-stick large saucepan, add the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk and melt over medium heat until it's smooth. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, then stir in the peanuts. Scoop the mixture on to a waxed p

Nutella S'mores Hand Pies

Sometimes the best recipes come from the very simplest ingredients! With plenty of Nutella and marshmallow creme in the pantry and refrigerated pie crusts that needed using up in the refrigerator, I was immediately inspired to make a Nutella s'mores hand pie! What I love most about these is that they start with pre-made pie crusts. I LOVE store bought, refrigerated pie crusts, especially when I'm in a rush - they one of my favorite short cut products - buttery, flaky and easy to handle - saving lots of time when making any kind of pie. However, if you have a favorite pie crust, recipe you can absolutely use that instead! (You will want the equivalent of two pie crusts.) My hubby adores these irresistible little pockets of heaven. I tried them with regular marshmallows, and you CAN use them if you don't have marshmallow creme on hand, (use three mini or 1 large poked right in to the Nutella), however, the marshmallow creme stands up to the baking time better, is beautif

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

If you have never cooked mashed potatoes in your instant pot, you have no idea what you are missing. They are by far, the easiest, fastest, creamiest, most delicious mashed potatoes that you can make!! We have honestly been making these mashed potatoes forever, but I couldn't get a picture to post with the recipe, being that they get eaten so fast every time! This last time, I made the fam wait so that I can share this super simple recipe with you and make it easier for you to have beautifully creamy, buttery mashed potatoes any time you want them! My favorite thing about making potatoes in the instant pot is that you don't have to babysit them while they are boiling and try and figure out when they are ready to mash - you just set the timer on the instant pot and know they are going to come out perfectly every time! If you don't have a ricer, you can mash these by hand, but I have never had lighter, fluffier mashed potatoes than I do after putting them through the rice

Baked Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

I don't know if you have ever heard of Million Dollar Spaghetti, but let me tell you, you are going to want to make this baked spaghetti casserole as soon as possible for your fam. Layers of noodles, creamy deliciousness and a thick, rich meat sauce smothered in cheese is pure, comforting heaven. What sets this version apart from the other versions out there? The incredible meat sauce! It has a rich depth of savory, umami flavor with just a touch of sweet warmth from the cinnamon and sugar. I have made my pasta sauce and chili with cinnamon and sugar for as long as I can remember and it's always a huge hit. Give this recipe a try and see if you aren't hooked! (Note, if you don't have the mushroom/umami powder you can definitely still make this - it just gives in an extra oomph of umami! Also, I like a cup of mozzarella and a cup of white cheddar - but you definitely just use two cups of mozzarella or white cheddar - whatever you have on hand.) A couple of tips:

Bakery Style Double Chocolate Muffins

I am going to be completely honest here - I don't usually eat a lot of sweets, I'm more of a bread and pasta kind of gal, but there is something positively addictive about these particular chocolate muffins that draws me to them. No one in my family can stop eating them - literally, can't stop. Rich, moist, chocolaty muffins and DARK chocolate chips are a match made in muffin heaven - if you don't think you like dark chocolate, please try them in here just once because the combination of the sweet muffin with the slightly less sweet dark chocolate is incredible. (I use Nestle's dark chocolate chips which are 53% cacao - different percents mean different tastes - and these are beyond delicious.) These taste more like a treat than a breakfast muffin, but that didn't stop my entire family eating one for breakfast this morning. You can eat them plain or if you want to fancy it up, serve with some heavy cream and raspberries for a decadent dessert that will kno

Better Than Swig Sugar Cookies

Have you ever gotten a sugar cookie from Swig? They are thick, soft, buttery cookies with the perfect melt in your mouth texture and a beautiful dollop of frosting swirled right over the top. Classic Swig cookies have pink icing, but how could I resist using aqua food coloring? I have to say, after seeing these I don't think I could ever do pink. Aren't they just gorgeous!?!?!?! (Of course you can use YOUR favorite color in your frosting and totally personalize these.) I've recipe tested, adjusted, tweaked some more and am calling these hands down the best sugar cookie I've ever had. One of the secrets? My family LOVES almond extract, so I used almond instead of vanilla in the icing and OH.MY.GOODNESS. It is absolute heavenly perfection! Almond not your thing? Feel free to switch out vanilla but my fam swears that this little change knocks these out of the park over Swig cookies, so give it a try - I only add a 1/2 tsp, so it's not overwhelming, just downr

Homemade Fettuccine Pasta

I spent some time on my stay-cation between Christmas and New Years playing around with making pasta! I've never made pasta before, but my hubby got me the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment set for my birthday in November and I've been dying to try it. What a fun process!! After making a few dough's and reading a TON of information on making pasta, (and binge watching Giada and Bobby Flay in Italy), I found this combination of ingredients to give me some pretty incredible results! My family agrees that it is going to be really hard to ever go back to regular dried pasta after enjoying this amazing stuff! Just this past weekend, (after all my experimenting), my hubby and I enjoyed a Saturday date day making fettuccine together and we seriously had so much fun! (To the point where we then made gnocchi together Sunday.) My hubby now thinks he is a pasta making expert and swears he is going to make it all by himself for me one night. I'll be completely happy with

Weekend French Toast

We have a newly evolving family tradition on Saturday mornings that involves this amazing French toast! It happened out of the blue - a few months ago when I woke up and decided I was going to make French toast for the hubby and the rest was history - he has literally asked for it just about every Saturday since, (to the point where he reminds me to get the bread during the week.) It is that yummy! Part of fun of this tradition involves having multiple toppings available - maple syrup, nutella, biscoff, bananas, berries, pineapple, pecans, (or your favorite nuts), coconut, whipped cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, whatever you like! Your fam can build their own perfect masterpiece! (My hubby loves bananas, pecans and maple syrup.) This french toast is nice and crispy on the outside and custardy, (that's actually not really a word but I'm using it anyway), on the inside. You will want bread that is sliced at least an inch thick so that it doesn't dissolve in the cu

Homemade Fettuccine Alfredo

There is something so comforting and satisfying about a bowl of pasta smothered in a sauce made from butter, cream and Parmesan cheese. If you have never made your own Alfredo sauce you are truly missing out because no bottled jar can compare to the beautiful flavor you get from slow simmering these simple ingredients together! This sauce brings the kids home. Literally. My kids have straight up changed their plans when they find out I'm making this for dinner. It's a family fav for sure, especially when we serve it up with homemade fresh pasta, ( recipe for homemade pasta available here ), but feel free to use regular store bought fettuccine noodles too! They make it so easy to throw together! When having this for dinner, we sometimes like to slice up breaded chicken strips and serve them over the top like you get at Olive Garden, but honestly, it's heavenly just by itself, no frills needed. This sauce also makes a GREAT dip for bread sticks! ( Check out my favorit

Quick & Easy Jam Tarts

Happy New Year! For my final recipe of this year I am sharing this ridiculously easy bite size treat that you could literally throw together right now if you wanted to. Jam tarts were something that my mum made all the time when I was growing up so I completely attribute this recipe to her and my British roots and wonderful childhood memories! We moved to the United States from England when I was about ten, so I remember many international nights at my school here in the US where my mum would do a big display about Great Britain and serve up these little tarts for people to taste. Let me tell you, it was a very popular display! There is something about this little sweet bite that is comforting and fun - and so I think it's the perfect little treat to take us in to 2021. This is definitely a big cheat recipe because I use store bought refrigerated pie crust that you just unroll and cut, but you can absolutely use your favorite pie crust recipe too if you want to go to all that

Phyllo Shell Quiche Bites

I love making mini-quiche with pastry, but I recently started buying these pre-baked phyllo shells , (found in the freezer section), to try out some different appetizers and let me tell you, I'm seriously hooked on these things!! (Note, this is not a paid advertisement, just a product I really enjoy.) These little shells make bite size appetizers and desserts so quick to throw together and they are light, flaky, and have a lovely crunch to them. They are completely delicious and so, so easy! No rolling, cutting, trying to get the pastry out of the mini muffin pans... I will be making these a LOT! Do you know what I love about quiche? You can literally mix and match your fillings and seasonings in any way you want and create something very different from the last time you made them. Some of our favorite fillings include finely chopped cooked bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage, caramelized onions, tomatoes, spinach, asparagus, red pepper, mushrooms, jalapeno, Swiss cheese, Gruyer