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Category: Recipes

Healthy and Summery Southern Cucumber Salad

June 22, 2017
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Recipes, Seasonal Favorites

How to Make a Beautiful, Healthy, and Summer-Fresh Southern Cucumber Salad

 

 

So this is hands down one of my favorite summer salads. It’s fast, fresh, and good for you showcasing some of summer’s prettiest veggies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 large cucumber per person
  • 1/2 Medium Large Tomato per serving
  • 1/4 cup of Diced Vidalia Onion per serving
  • Store-Brand Zesty Italian Dressing
  • Fresh Ground Peppercorn Blend if you want an extra kick

 

Directions:

If cucumbers are in season, I like to keep the…

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How to Cook Crab Legs Like a Pro

February 8, 2017
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Entrees, Recipes, Seasonal Favorites

How to Cook Snow Crab Legs Like a Pro

Pretty much everybody loves crab legs, but getting them in a restaurant is expensive. Snow crab season is early in the Spring, so you can get these tasty critters from your local grocer fresh and for a very palatable price starting around Valentine’s day into the Spring months. Follow my recipe below for perfect boiled crab legs at home, and you won’t even know you’re not in a restaurant – Not only will you save some cash, but it’s super nice to get embarrassingly…

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How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds the Right Way

November 20, 2016
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| Categories: Recipes, Seasonal Favorites, Snacks

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How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds the Right Way – An Experiment

 

I grew up in one of those houses – the ones where pumpkin carving involved setting the seeds aside and dad would wash then roast them while we “carved” pumpkins. As with most families with small children, carving for us involved doodling a convoluted Sharpie design onto a sticky, poorly-cleaned pumpkin and waiting for dad to do the knife work. But we were all such seed fiends, that this generally ended with us bailing half an hour in to go eat…

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How to Make Your Own Homemade Pumpkin Puree

November 3, 2016
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| Categories: Desserts, Dips, Sauces, and Seasonings, Recipes

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How to Make Your Own Homemade Pumpkin Puree

 Perfect for making all of your favorite fall desserts using your leftover Halloween pumpkins!

Homemade pumpkin-based desserts and pastries are everyone’s favorite fall treat to pair with everything from Thanksgiving turkey to the infamous #PSL you can’t deny enjoying all season long. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary desserts is using fresh pumpkin puree rather that that year-old canned stuff from the grocery store. To make my famous Pumpkin Spice Bread, I only use fresh rendered pumpkin puree that I make every year.

I generally…

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How to make a Steakhouse-Quality, Crispy-Skinned Baked Potato like a Pro

November 1, 2016
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Grilling, Recipes

pinterest-copy How to make a Steakhouse-Quality, Crispy-Skinned Baked Potato like a Pro

 
 
 
We’ve all done it… gone to a steakhouse, ordered the baked potato, and were totally floored by how salty and crispy that skin was. Then you go home, make your own baked potato in foil and wonder why yours are always mush.

We did it too – and it was completely not ok to be making such amazing quality steaks at home, but having sides that fell short of the restaurant-quality show-piece steak on the plate. It had to be dealt with. And…

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Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe

October 19, 2016
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| Categories: Breakfast Ideas, Desserts, Recipes, Tailgating Favorites

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Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe

Since it totally ain’t fall without it y’all… asian-smile

So I’ve been making this bread for years, and I’ve been keeping the recipe guarded for a long time. I first went in search of a good pumpkin bread recipe back in college, and all I found were a bunch of sad little orphan recipes. Too much flour, not enough moisture, not enough spices or too many spices; one even had 2 tablespoons of baking powder in it which is just stupid on it’s face…

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Steakhouse Filet Mignon Recipe

October 14, 2016
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| Categories: Entrees, Grilling, Recipes

filet-pinterest-copyHow to make Steakhouse-Quality Filet Mignon at Home

Redding and I have been students as long as we’ve been together, and unfortunately, our tastes for awesome steaks have always FAR outweighed our budgets. A few years ago we set out on a mission to figure out how to make epic filet mignon at home so we could escape the wrath of $100+ dollar date nights while still filling the steak-y void in our hearts. After lots of practice, we’ve absolutely nailed it! We can take a Kroger bought filet and make it salty…

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Feta Dip-Stuffed, Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers

June 5, 2016
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Recipes, Tailgating Favorites

Jalapeno Poppers Pinterest CoverBecause just “cream cheese stuffed” is just too darn boring…

So if you’re anything like me, always perusing Pinterest for cool new party-platter recipes, then you probably have a pin called “Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeño Poppers”. Take it from me: DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME!!!

I followed the recipe exactly – seemed simple enough.

De-seed peppers, stuff with cream cheese, wrap with bacon. broil until crispy.

Then came the eating… Bacon, yum! though excessively greasy and it causing the cream cheese to liquefy something fierce (and fattening). Everything sounded so good in my…

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Grilled Asparagus Recipe – The Perfect Side to the Perfect Dish

April 29, 2016
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Grilling, Recipes

Grilled Asparagus

Ingredients:

 Grilled Asparagus Pinterest

 

Directions:

1) When buying your asparagus, shoot for a mid size; the small ones are too stringy and cook limp and the fat ones can be too fibrous and hard to eat. About the diameter of a dime on the bottom usually wok out to be the best for cooking and eating. Take the asparagus out of the fridge and wash only the stems you plan on using. I find…

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Perfectly Simple, Yet Elegant, Six-Ingredient Caprese Salad

March 28, 2016
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Recipes

Caprese Pinterest

Perfectly Simple, Yet Elegant, Six-Ingredient Caprese Salad

…as served at my bridal shower!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ingredients:

– 2 Medium Tomatoes (I prefer the “on the vine” variety that Kroger has for their flavor – slicer and roma tomatoes don’t have any good flavor and are mostly water – As a point of reference, if the tomato is easy to cut without squishing, then it’s not going to be flavorful enough for this dish.)
– 1 Ball of Fresh Mozzarella (Get the good stuff from the cheese counter, not from the refridgerated section by yogurt)
-…

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes

March 17, 2016
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| Categories: Appetizers and Sides, Recipes

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Delicious Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

As I’m sure you’ve figured, we’re 110% red meat and potatoes folks, so naturally, we’ve got a go to mashed potato recipe that would put your favorite steakhouse to shame… and it’s so easy, my husband can do it. asian-smile

Ingredients:

  • 1 fist sized red potato per person eating
  • Minced Garlic
  • Garlic Salt
  • Sour Cream