Sugar Cookies - Plain, with Icing, or with Frosting

My grandma used to make some of the best sugar cookies in the entire world. No, I'm not being biased. I swear. When we were little, my sister, my cousins and I would look forward to these cookies every Christmas Eve. They were sweet, crunchy, and perfectly sized for little kids and adults alike. I used to get jealous because my sister would be the one who helped my grandma make them and that meant I never got to taste them until our family dinner. And, unfortunately, it also means that I have no idea how to make them. My grandma is gone now so it's been a very long time since those cookies have been around. I used to try really hard to duplicate pretty much everything she used to make, but I've realized that it just isn't possible. She was a Polish grandma. And like pretty much every other grandma out there, she had her own measuring techniques and her own ingredients and I'll never be able to go back in time to figure out what those were. I've finally come to terms with that. So the only thing I can do at this point is do my best to make an updated, albeit different, version to her classics.

Zucchini Pineapple Muffins

These. Oh boy. These are some good muffins. It's almost like a little zucchini bread for one. But better. These muffins are good and good for you. You can be very happy while eating them.

We've really been focusing on the healthy lifestyle over here, but that doesn't mean we're not going to enjoy food. I mean, come on...food is delicious! Why would you deny yourself the good stuff? You just have to make sure the good stuff is good for you. And these muffins totally are. They're so moist and there's just enough sweetness to make you feel like you're getting a great little dessert. Or breakfast. Yeah...I think I may have one for breakfast...

**Update**
I have tweaked the recipe slightly by removing baking soda, lemon juice, and some of the sugar. I have also increased the baking powder by 1 tsp. The muffins have a better texture and taste just as good!

Tortellini Primavera

Every once in awhile I buy fresh tortellini. And when I do it's only from Costco because #1 the price is amazing and #2 it's really good. There is a lot though so I end up freezing about two-thirds of it. I love to create new recipes using this tortellini because it's so easy to work with and it's cheese-filled so it goes with everything.

I also look for new ways to incorporate vegetables into our meals that aren't just sitting as a side dish. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just fun to have them involved with the main course sometimes. This pasta dish is great because you can use any vegetable you have in the fridge or the freezer. You can get really creative with this one so I encourage you to use your favorites to make this dish your own. We love broccoli and always have some in the freezer so this was the main vegetable in this version. I combined it with carrots and red pepper but you can easily use zucchini, peapods, other peppers, onions, tomatoes, or anything else you can think of! Serve it up with a salad or some crusty bread and you're good to go!

Grilled Honey Lemon Chicken Kabobs

The post for this recipe will be short, sweet and to the point. Partly because there isn't much to say other than these little chicken bites were deliciously moist and subtly sweet, but mostly because it's very difficult to type when your good hand is bandaged up. If you follow me on Facebook, you may know that I got some lovely second degree burns from a pan on the stove. Yep, put my hand right on the bottom of a pan that was next to a boiling pot of water. And of course, the part I touched was in the flames. Oh boy, right? Pretty careless on my part so I'm now paying the consequences.

Classic Potato Gnocchi

If you've never had potato gnocchi, you're missing out. It's a dish that seems like it would bog you down, but it doesn't. They're just light, fluffy little pieces of goodness. They are a bit filling, but they don't have that heaviness associated with them.

Mini Veggie Pizza Bites

I love little food. (Let's be real though...is there anyone who doesn't?) So when I came across some little pizza bites one day, I just knew I had to make them for a party we were going to.

Baked Chicken Flautas

My husband loves Mexican food. He actually said he could eat it every day if possible. Well, in this house, that isn't going to happen unless he starts cooking. It's not that I don't like the food, it's just that I can't eat a lot of it. It's not my favorite thing. In moderation though, I'm good.

Denver Breakfast Cups

Sometimes the tastiest of recipes happen on a whim. That's precisely how this one came about. I had some leftover baked ham and I've been trying to think of ways to use it up. A little egg-type breakfast muffin sounded interesting so I just threw some things together in a bowl. 20 minutes later I had a great, little breakfast bite!

Pink Lemonade Cookies

It's so hard to say no to my little guy when he asks if we can make cookies. If he asked more often I could, but it's usually only every couple months or so. I think I can let the boy splurge on cookies every two months...

Tropical Ham Roll-Ups

I have a problem. If I don't make up something new each day, I feel weird. It's to the point where I'll just come up with something on the fly sometimes just so I can blog about it. I know, I know...it's just that I'm a creative person and that creativity has to come out in so many ways! The kitchen is my studio and food is a canvas. Does that even make sense or am I just full of it? Either way, I wanted a snack and I got to thinking...

Pumpkin Spiced French Toast

I've been trying to get creative with some of the pumpkin dishes I've been whipping up and I think I've found a real winner. What better way to be inventive than to do the unexpected? I'm talking pumpkin french toast here, people. Have you ever even thought about it as a possible pumpkin-infused meal? I didn't until yesterday morning.

Easy Pumpkin Mini Muffins

I made these little, itty, bitty, mini muffins last week and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. They're part of my 'Pumpkin Event' and, well,  they're just so darn cute! I love creating things in mini form because food of a 'smaller stature' is just so fun eat.

Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

My latest pumpkin idea had me going in a simple cookie direction. It was between Pumpkin Sugar Cookies and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies so I reached out to my Facebook community to see which one I should make. It was unanimous...everyone wanted the sugar cookies!

Pumpkin Crescent Roll-Ups

Continuing my 'Pumpkin Event' is so much fun. And what's more fun than little pumpkin-flavored bites that are super easy to make and super tasty?

Simple Roasted Garlic Pasta

Have you tried making your own Roasted Garlic yet? If so, good for you! If not, what are you waiting for?

My husband roasted up a couple heads of garlic last week and there were a few cloves still hanging out in the fridge. I wanted to use them up before they went bad so I figured I'd use them in one of the tastiest ways I know: tossed with pasta.

Bacon in the Oven

I am a changed woman. I cooked up my first batch of bacon in the oven and I'm never going back to the pan again. Less clean up, less fat, less wrinkle. It was overall awesome.

Peanut Butter Banana Bites

My kid is weird. I think I may have inadvertently made him skip loving 'kid food' and go straight to the stuff that kids don't usually eat. My sister and I did it when we were little though and I honestly don't really think it impacted anything so it probably doesn't matter in his case either.

Polenta Cakes Topped with Spinach and Tomato Sauté and Fresh Mozzarella

I had polenta for the first time a few weeks ago and it was pretty awesome. It wasn't regular polenta though, it was some pretty nifty polenta cakes! I've seen them on the Food Network a couple times and I always wondered what they tasted like. It had to be somewhere along the lines of a creamy cornbread, right? Well, my expectations were correct and it was darn tasty.

Green Beans Almondine

Green beans are an amazing vegetable. There are so many different things you can do with them and they'll taste great every time. From hot dishes to cold salads, the green bean is the most versatile of all beans.

One of the ways I like to cook them is to make Green Beans Almondine. It is, in my opinion, the absolutely most perfect side dish of all time. When you add butter, almonds and lemon juice to green beans, they are transformed into pure bliss in a pan.

Slow-Cooker BBQ Chicken in Cornbread Cups

The idea for this dish just literally popped into my head one day. I was just sitting there and I thought of pulled chicken and cornbread. And what's better than combining the two into one?