From the category archives:

Starters and Drinks

Dips and Dippers

Dips and dippers are a great snack or party food. Gather a repertoire of easy recipes and you will be a hit at your next BBQ or family get-together. Sour Cream Onion Dip Super Easy Veggie Tray with Homemade Ranch Dressing Jalapeño Cheese Dip Garlic-Lime Hummus Homebaked Pita Bread – cut these into triangles, brush [...]

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Carrot Salad with Cilantro and Pepitas

Shredded carrots get oomph from a simple dressing of orange juice and spices with pepitas adding some crunch. Years ago, almost twenty in fact, I lived in France for a year. It was a fabulous experience. I ate some of the best meals of my life while living there. One of the things that I [...]

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Easter Dinner Inspiration

Gather Easter Dinner inspiration from these simple courses. One year, many moons ago, I planned a fancy Easter feast right out of a magazine. Featuring grilled leg of lamb, it was definitely a departure from my regular cooking repertoire. It also took a lot longer than I expected. We ate hours later than I thought [...]

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Make Lemon Cubes

Preserve lemon slices in ice for a deliciously cool addition to water. It’s a commonly known fact that drinking water instead of other beverages is less expensive and healthier than many other options. Water is essential to life. And too few of us are as hydrated as we could be. One thing to make water [...]

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Afternoon Tea (& a Giveaway)

Afternoon tea can be a wonderful way to break up the day, enjoy a sweet and a hot spot of tea. Pumpkin Spice Scones Tea time has such a cozy ring to it. My kids embrace tea time, little hobbits that they are, because of all the British literature that I’ve fed them. Well, that, [...]

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Hot Dips for Cold Nights (Recipe: Jalapeno Cheese Dip)

Hot dips are the perfect appetizer to serve on cold nights. Typically, rich and cheesy, they break the ice at any get-together. Artichoke-Chile Dip Savvy readers will have noted that with six children aged 3 to 14, I’ve spent a good portion of my life pregnant. In fact, I think I was continuously pregnant or [...]

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Celebrate the New Year with Appetizers!

Appetizers are perfect New Year’s Eve or Day foods! They are often very make-ahead, and can be varied based on the textures and flavors involved. Try out some of our favorites at your next party or fun night! Stuffed Mushrooms Sour Cream Onion Dip Easy Jalapeno Poppers with Rice and Bacon Cactus Salsa Garlic Lime [...]

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Hospitality Reminder: Prepare a Snack Tray

Be prepared for guests and have your larder stocked with quick snacks and appetizers. Pulling together an impromptu snack tray will be quick and easy. We like fun food around here. We like snacky food. We like to eat fun, snacky food with friends and neighbors. And sometimes, especially around the holidays, friends and neighbors [...]

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Easy Jalapeno Poppers with Rice and Bacon

Enjoy jalapeno poppers, but wondering how to tame the heat? Rice and dairy cool the flames, while bacon keeps it flavorful. I love, love, LOVE jalapeno poppers. But, sometimes they can be so flaming hot that it can give me a tummy ache if I eat too many. Recently, I decided to experiment and see [...]

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Peppermint Syrup and Chocolate Mint Syrup

Recently, there was a bundle of mint in our produce box. Actually, there were two bundles of mint because unbeknownst to me, mint was part of the box that week and I had added on an extra. So, two bundles of mint? What to do? Mint syrup, of course! My friends on Facebook had suggested [...]

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