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The Quest for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
You know that episode of FRIENDS where Phoebe misplaces her grandmother’s chocolate chip cookie recipe (which happens to be the famous Nestle Tollhouse recipe) and Monica spends an entire day in the kitchen making like 23 different chocolate chip cookie recipes so she can try and duplicate the taste and texture of that one amazing chocolate chip cookie that Phoebe gave her? Well, that’s me. I’m in search for a chocolate chip cookie that doesn’t make me grumpy. I’m looking for the best chocolate chip cookie. A cookie that has some depth of flavor to it, subtle nuances, something more than just sugar, butter, flour and chocolate. I want a cookie that makes…
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Not Yo Mama’s Potato Salad
I have a sensitive palate. It’s easily assaulted, intensely opinionated and it rarely fails me when trying to predict all the ingredients in a dish from a restaurant that I wish to duplicate at home. Because of this, I sheepishly admit that my homemade potato salad was rather simple and unassuming. I am a firm believer that simple food is good food. Taking a basic potato and using a few simple ingredients to enhance the flavor of the potato and make it shine is the mark of a good chef. While in culinary school I learned about a Student Culinary Competition Team that competed on a national level for the American Culinary…
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Real Food Roasted Vegetables
TSM (The Stud Muffin) doesn’t care much for veggies. In fact, it would be easier to get a 3 year old to eat their veggies than it is to get TSM to eat them. So I roast them. If they’re roasted he’ll eat them and the skies part and the angels sing and the birdies tweet and the sun shines and every little girl that wished for a pony gets one and my man gets some healthy veggies in his body. I’d roast veggies more often, but sometimes a girl just wants some steamed green beans, ya know? These veggies could NOT be easier to prepare. They are so easy, TSM made a…
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Food Hippie Granola
I love granola. My mom used to buy the Heartland brand of granola (cereal) when we were kids. I remember it had very plump raisins and the trick was to hurry up and eat it as quickly as you could before it sucked up all your milk. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a bowl of that granola. I actually thought the company went out of business years ago because boxes of Quaker, Sunbelt and Kellogg’s granola monopolized every cereal shelf in every grocery store where I shopped. Then one day, whilst perusing the ‘take out a second mortgage to shop here’ aisles, I noticed that Heartland was still making granola…
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Chicken Potpies with Herbes de Provence
Today seemed like a good day to get my French on, and share my chicken pot pie recipe with you! Everyone needs a solid chicken potpie recipe in his or her arsenal and this is one such recipe. What makes it special and a little out of the ordinary, (and a little French) is the addition of Herebs de Provence in the Velouté.
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Mmmm Better Cream of Mushroom Soup (Non-GMO and GF)
I first published this post back in March of 2013. I’ve since made this recipe 3 times (I make large batches and freeze it) in hopes of getting much better photos, or at least photos that make the soup look appetizing and no matter how I tried, the photos still didn’t do the soup justice. It’s not pretty soup. It’s prettier than the condensed cream of crud soups from the grocery store, but it doesn’t photograph well at all. So, I did what any decent blogger would do. I called a good friend in New Zealand who has oodles more photography experience than I do and bribed her to make this recipe and…
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Real & Easy Shrimp-n-Grits
We vacation at Folly Beach once every 2-4 years because it is very close to family and because Folly has 4 of the 5 things I require during a vacation. 1) The ocean and a sandy beach where I can set my beach chair and bronze my spectacular body in the sun. 2) A quaint little town with fun shops, good food, and friendly people.
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Creamy Mushroom & Beef Stroganoff
Shazam America! This dish is FAB.YOO.LUSS! Hand to God, Scouts Honor, swear on someone’s Grandmammy’s grave FABULOUS! And I don’t like stroganoff, so that is saying something! Beef Stroganoff is one of TSM’s most favorite meals. The man has a serious thing for sour cream. He only eats Mexican food because he’s convinced sour cream exists solely to be a delivery system for the Mexican food. I on the other hand could live quite happily without having sour cream so I’ve always been torn when it comes to making Stroganoff for The Stud Muffin because he loves it and I can’t stand it. That is, until tonight. I’ve changed my mind and this…
