Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip With the holidays in view, it’s time to dip into the season

As we head into the home stretch of 2024, we’re officially entering snacking season. It’s that time of year when we all concede to our stretchy pants, eat with friends and family, and hope that our New Year’s resolutions will save us from having to size up when shorts season comes around again. That being …

Air Fryer Stuffed Mushrooms Cap off your snack table with simple, air-fried mushrooms

An article by UCLA Health explains that mushrooms are considered a healthy addition to one’s diet. In addition to being lower in fat and calories, there are studies that have linked them to decreased cancer risk, better brain health and even healthier immune systems, among other benefits. That’s pretty neat for a fungus that many …

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake Creating a decadent cheesecake isn’t ‘cherry’ difficult

“We’re in! What can I bring?” I texted my mom about Easter lunch. “A dessert of some kind,” she wrote back. “Make something easy!!!!” “Since when do I make complicated desserts?” I responded, punctuating it with a laughing emoji. So, in other words, here’s a slightly complicated (but amazingly decadent) dessert I made for Easter …

Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars You’ll have strong ‘peelings’ for lemon blueberry bars

Upon being invited to a barbecue recently, I announced that it would be a good time to try out a recipe for some cheesecake-y blueberry lemon bars. “No. No lemon,” one of our friends declared. “Lemon is gross.” (I think he was at least halfway joking.) The rest of the group immediately objected. “Yes! Make …

Amazing Cake Get lost in a piece of amazing cake

The names people choose for recipes often crack me up. There’s the embarrassing-to-talk-about “better than sex” or “sex in a pan” variety of dishes, followed by “blue-ribbon” and “award-winning” options, and of course, there are a million recipes purporting to be “Mom’s” or “Grandma’s,” although few identify which matriarch those actually belong to. So you’ll …

Irish Pub Cheese No need to ‘Harp’ about this amazing pub cheese

At least 10 years ago, I first tried making homemade soft pretzels for this column. They were messy, extremely tricky to knot and delicious. Since that first foray into pretzel-making, I have made the recipe again several times, but I have always opted to make pretzel bites instead of going through the arduous process of …

Cranberry Orange Bites You ‘cran’ easily whip up these delicious holiday bites

For all the complicated dishes that come along with the holidays, I tend to be especially attracted to all the fun snacks, candies and sweets that people make throughout November and December. Our family get togethers always feature a wide array of goodies on the snack table. It would be easy to skip the actual …

Handheld Apple Pies This summer, let’s come together and give ‘pies’ a chance

When I was growing up, my mom’s specialty, which was required at every family get together, was her deviled eggs. I remember my uncle jokingly blocking the door, looking for her tell-tale Tupperware box before we were allowed to come inside. I also remember one fateful day when I accidentally dropped the box, creating havoc …