Cowboy Stew Slower Cooker Beans {accidentally vegan}

Today I’m sharing my recipe for Cowboy Stew, sometimes called Calico Beans or Cowboy Casserole. My extended family makes the Cowboy Stew from the church cookbook for most holiday gatherings, but since that one contains bacon and beef I’ve gradually created my own vegan adaptation that has taken on an identity of its own. These…

Crockpot Lava Cake (without cake mix!)

When one of my coworkers sent me to her Pinterest board for birthday treat inspiration, she mentioned that I’d quickly notice a theme – “chocolate, peanut butter, and goo” – I laughed and assumed she was joking, but after looking through her pins, I found inspiration for a birthday treat that would tick all of…

Disappearing Vidalia Onion Dip

Is it possible to get fired from your own blog? Because, well, I don’t have any excuses for this, so I’m just going to put it out there: we brought this dip to a neighborhood party, and it was an epic hit. So much so that the only photographic evidence I have of its existence…

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

It’s a cold one here in Minneapolis, which makes it the perfect time for comfort food!! I’m a huge fan of macaroni and cheese, but as much as I hate to admit it, to me the ideal texture is closer to Velveeta Shells and Cheese than the typical dried-out baked version. I’m firmly a stovetop…

Brown Butter Fudge

Every year at Christmastime, my dad makes incredible fudge. It is SO good. Like, “sure I just ate a half dozen cookies AND a full 3 course meal, but there’s always room for fudge!” good. It has become his specialty, to the extent that at holiday time and work potlucks, it is a given that…

Breakfast Enchiladas

While trying to figure out what kind of brunch masterpiece I was going to impress everyone with, I decided that I should probably serve some real food, too. Since I was going to have my hands full with setup and baking, I went in search of a nice breakfast casserole that could be prepped ahead…

Vegetarian Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

After my grandpa passed away we stopped doing a big extended family Thanksgiving, so my mum started doing a smaller scale dinner with just our nuclear family. This meant an abbreviated menu, but one of the items that made the cut was this cheesy hash brown casserole. Originally this recipe wasn’t vegetarian, but it only…

Famous Minnesota Grape Salad

You may remember that a few weeks ago, the internet was abuzz over a New York Times piece called The United States of Thanksgiving that assigned a Thanksgiving staple dish to each state in the Union. The author said that they “scoured the nation for recipes that evoke each of the 50 states”, so most…

Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Every year at my work we do a company breakfast and pajama party. We’ve had it catered in the past (though I’ve been known to bring something anyway – any excuse to bake!) so this year was the first time we’ve officially gone potluck style. I love baking for breakfast, and if you’ve visited before,…

Zucchini-Cucumber Salad

First things first: I’m back, I’ve missed you all terribly, and I can’t wait to get back to cooking! Secondly, why didn’t anyone remind me how much work it is to move house? Seriously. We’ve been working nonstop to settle into the new house while simultaneously getting the old house ready to sell, and it…

Creamy Coconut Chia Pudding with Bananas

When putting together the menu for Mother’s Day, I wanted something yummy, but also super healthy and nutrient rich. I was about to dig out my cookbooks when I remembered this little gem of a recipe that my favorite neighbors shared with me awhile back. When my neighbors served this at a potluck last year…

Salty Olive Cheese Ball

The weekends have been a bit of a blur lately, so when we were tasked with bringing an appetizer to a potluck, we needed something that didn’t take a lot of prep work. I paged through my cookbooks for options, but nothing was popping out at me. Eventually, I turned to scouring the web and…

Foolproof Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ok, I promise this is my last roasted vegetable post for awhile, but I just had to get this recipe out there for you guys! For awhile I was on a huge Roasted Broccoli kick, and was eating that a couple times a week, but lately Brussels sprouts (or “alien heads” as we called them…

Perfect Roasted Broccoli

I can say without hesitation that my favorite food is broccoli – I’ll sit down with a bowl of raw or steamed broccoli for any meal of the week. While I understand that this veggie love certainly isn’t common, I do think that in roasted form, broccoli has the potential to be universally loved. Picky…