With just a few weeks to go till baby girl makes her debut I am all about easy recipes and shortcuts right now. When Pillsbury asked if anyone had any simple recipes to share for the holidays I knew this was for me! (Click here to see all the cookie ideas — there are definitely [...]]]>

With just a few weeks to go till baby girl makes her debut I am all about easy recipes and shortcuts right now. When Pillsbury asked if anyone had any simple recipes to share for the holidays I knew this was for me! (Click here to see all the cookie ideas — there are definitely more I want to make!) These cookies have one of my favorite combinations, and the colors can be changed up for any celebration. The fact that Kiddo can easily help me with them makes me love them all the more.

You will need:

• 1 chub Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough
• Red and green chocolate candies
• Colored sugar

To make the fun:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Sprinkle colored sugars onto plates
3. Scoop up about an ounce of cookie dough and tuck a few chocolate into the middle. Roll the dough between your hands to make a ball with the candies hidden inside; repeat with remaining dough until you have 16 cookies, about 1 1/2” each.
4. Roll each cookie in colored sugar so all sides are covered. Place 2” apart on parchment lined cookie sheet without flattening dough.
5. Bake at 350° till golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips:

• This is a great project for kids! They can poke in the candies, roll the dough, and love working with the sugar.
• Customize the colors of the sugar for any holiday or team! What about taking these to a tailgate?
• When baking with kids, use a pencil to mark an X on the underside of the parchment paper where each cookie should go; the mark will show through and show kids where to place cookies so they’re well spaced.
• Colored sugar is found in the grocery store baking aisle, or can be easily made by stirring a couple drops of food coloring into 1/4 cup of white sugar (that’s what we did).

My method has evolved a bit over the years, and my friend Vanessa pointed out recently that my super lazy method never [...]]]> I’ve been making yogurt for about three years now, and no matter how I do it one thing never changes: each and every time I am amazed that it actually turns into yogurt. Amazed.

My method has evolved a bit over the years, and my friend Vanessa pointed out recently that my super lazy method never made it to the blog; I’m here to remedy that. My sweet friend Ginger from Mars Hill (it’s huge; I’m sure you’ve heard of it) taught me this one, and it’s brilliant.

You will need:

• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup dry milk powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla or maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. starter yogurt (1 Tbsp. of a previous batch, or of any yogurt that says live and active cultures; ideally one that does not have pectin)

Three steps!

1. Turn your oven on to 350F for one minute and turn it off, and turn the light on in the oven
2. In a heavy saucepan (I use an enameled cast iron one) heat milk to 180F and whisk in remaining ingredients; let it cool to 120F and plop in the tablespoon of starter yogurt
3. Put a lid on the saucepan and stick it in the slightly warm oven for 5-8 hours or overnight

THE. END. Do you see what I’m saying? Lazy and easy. Please to enjoy.

In the fall of 2002 we sat down in our cellblock seats at a Predators game and said hi to the couple sitting next to us.

Fast forward almost ten (!) years, and we’re still friends with that awesome couple. The fact that Tracy brings me cupcakes when she comes to visit sure doesn’t hurt that [...]]]>

In the fall of 2002 we sat down in our cellblock seats at a Predators game and said hi to the couple sitting next to us.

Fast forward almost ten (!) years, and we’re still friends with that awesome couple. The fact that Tracy brings me cupcakes when she comes to visit sure doesn’t hurt that friendship. I’m just sayin.

She brought me these and I am just fascinated by them!

Here’s what you need:

• One box cake mix
• One can of soda

Hello? That’s all?? Now two steps:

1. Mix cake mix and soda
2. Bake according to box directions

Tracy made this particular batch with chocolate cake mix and a diet cherry Dr. Pepper. CRAZY good, and Tracy tells me that baking 24 cupcakes with the mixture makes them one point each, for those counting such things. Isn’t that insane? And there are lots of different combination, too. White cake mix and orange soda? Spice cake and Sprite? Go crazy! What else sounds good?

Behold: my breakfast from now till Christmas!

These are such a lovely start to the morning. Warm and comfort food-ey and delicious even without any butter on them. I’m afraid this is another one of my scrawled-on-a-piece-of-paper recipes so I’m not sure where I originally got it, but I’ve been making them forever.

You will need:

This started as a desperation side dish (i.e. “OMGit’s7:30whatcanImakeintenminutes?!”) and turned out to be so tasty! It’s definitely going in the rotation.

Gather up:

And then:

Y’all will not believe how easy this was! The fact that it cooks in the slow cooker is such a bonus, too, because what’s better than coming home to supper already done?

Ready for a long list of ingredients? You will need:

So intimidating, [...]]]>

Y’all will not believe how easy this was! The fact that it cooks in the slow cooker is such a bonus, too, because what’s better than coming home to supper already done?

Ready for a long list of ingredients? You will need:

• A pork roast
• Water
• Salt, plus onion powder, rib rub, or whatever spices sound good
• BBQ sauce
• Buns

So intimidating, right?

Now to create the goodness:

1. Put pork roast in a slow cooker and sprinkle on salt and whatever spices your little heart desires; I did onion powder and a rib rub Yankee had in the cabinet. Add enough hot water to fully cover the roast and turn the slow cooker on low; ignore it for the next 8-12 hours or so, depending on size
2. After it’s cooked through remove meat to a cutting board and chop it up, discarding fat and any bone; pour the water out of the slow cooker (pork broth! Feel free to freeze it for later use)
3. Serve! Either on a plate or on a bun, topped with your favorite BBQ sauce

Side note: some folks return the chopped meat to the slow cooker and add in BBQ sauce so they can cook together for a bit; I don’t because I find that cooking the BBQ sauce down makes it too sugary

How easy was that? This is great with green beans!

Enter: Jason’s Guac Starter. It’s made by a local guy, which is awesome, and I can pronounce everything in there. Also awesome. AND [...]]]> I resisted “guacamole mixes” for years. I mean, what exactly is IN those little packets of “spices,” “flavor enhancers” etc.? Likely stuff I can’t pronounce. And you KNOW how I feel about that.

Enter: Jason’s Guac Starter. It’s made by a local guy, which is awesome, and I can pronounce everything in there. Also awesome. AND it’s stuff I put in my guacamole anyway, so it’s a triple threat of awesomeness.

Plus? It’s GOOD.

I’m a woman converted.

So here’s what guacamole looks like in the OPK household these days:

To make this you will need:

• Two ripe avocados
• Two roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup Jason’s Guac Starter
• Salt to taste
• Eight ounces lump crab meat
• Chips (duh)

Quick assembly:

1. Scoop out the avocado into a bowl and mash with a fork, then stir in guac starter and diced tomatoes; taste and add salt as necessary
2. Top with eight ounces crab meat, drained
3. Nom nom nom all the while reminding yourself that avocados are the good fat

Disclaimer: I spent my own monies on Jason’s Guac Starter and was not compensated for this post. I am not a paid spokeseater, I am merely a crazed fan.

I love the simplicity of this one-pot macaroni and cheese; however, after 20 hours in the car with Kiddo (who, by the way, was a car-traveling champ) in the last four days I wasn’t really feeling the urge to watch the pot as closely as I would need to in order to avoid a boiled-over-milk [...]]]>

I love the simplicity of this one-pot macaroni and cheese; however, after 20 hours in the car with Kiddo (who, by the way, was a car-traveling champ) in the last four days I wasn’t really feeling the urge to watch the pot as closely as I would need to in order to avoid a boiled-over-milk scene on the stove.

I also had some pimentos that had ripened in the garden while Kiddo and I were gone.

So I crossed my fingers and totally made up tried this — and it worked!

You will need:

• 3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dijon mustard (optional)
• 1.5 cups dry pasta
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 3 fresh pimentos, peeled (like this, only tiny), seeded and minced

One-pot assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In a heavy, oven-safe sauce pot melt butter till foam subsides, then add flour and whisk until fully combined; add milk while whisking and turn off stovetop heat
3. Stir in salt, mustard, dry pasta, cheese, and pimentos; cover pot and place in oven
4. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through; top with additional cheese and uncover for the last few minutes if you so desire

That’s it!

Eggs. Oh my moly the eggs. The EGGS! They are so good but they are taking over my house. It’s like kale, but the carnivore version.

In an attempt [...]]]> When we signed up for our CSA this year we knew we weren’t veggie-adventurous enough for the produce share, so we went with the meat and eggs option.

Eggs. Oh my moly the eggs. The EGGS! They are so good but they are taking over my house. It’s like kale, but the carnivore version.

In an attempt to use up some a bunch of them at once I came up with this ridiculously easy little number:

This was SO quick, and crazy filling with all the protein in there. You’ll need:

• 1 pound breakfast sausage
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 6-8 eggs
• Salt and pepper

To make breakfast appear:

1. Turn on oven to 350F
2. Brown sausage in a non-stick skillet, crumbling as you go; drain out grease
3. Sprinkle in cheese
4. Beat eggs and add some salt and pepper, then pour over sausage/cheese mixture in the skillet; adjust amount of eggs for size of your skillet, obviously
5. Bake at 350 for about ten minutes until eggs are set in the center. Breakfast is served!