The Recipe: A simple, summery fruit salad arranged in a pretty and symmetrical pattern around a mound of cottage cheese. So simple and surprisingly tasty – and yes, we know, more of a suggestion than a "recipe" even if it's a great illustration of how we're using common Mexican ingredients and serving them in untraditional but Mexican-ish ways. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Come along as we dive deep into Mexican food for a month-long cooking and eating adventure. We're calling it "Deep Mexico," a concentrated effort to combine three food shopping, meal planning and meal prep techniques into good eats and good fun. It's a whole new way to shop and cook. This page is a brand-new addition to my popular series, How to Save Money on Groceries . A Month-Long Experiment, A Deep Dive into Mexican and Mexican-Style Meals with a Focus on Pantry Shopping, Cooking with What We Have on Hand and Meal Prep.

The Recipe: An asparagus tart that's simple to make but impressive in appearance. Perfect for spring brunches and light suppers. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ BEST RECIPES! Asparagus Custard Tart Made the List! Best Recipes of 2006 Hoot Hoot! We Have New Neighbors! A great horned owl has taken up a perch on the next block. He’s big: two feet tall and wings aspan, four feet wide. And loud: since the mating season commenced in February, neighbors have asked, "Did you hear The Owl last night? He woke me out of a dead sleep!" Two years ago, a pair of owls took up nest in a tree hollow a block the other direction. Soon there were little owls, owlets they’re called, all fluff and famish. Good neighbors, these owls, if a tad noisy. Family folk too, it’s nice to have little ones around. Welcome to the neighborhood! Finally, Spring! And Spring Asparagus! Spring arrived late this year. But it's here in full force and bloom now, that means...

The Recipe: A mustard sauce that's a tiny-bit spicy and a tiny-bit sweet and totally addictive. The investment is just a handful of pantry ingredients but the return is big, a Carolina BBQ mustard sauce that we turn to again and again. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

The Recipe: The twelve spices I mix for making herb bread. If you want to turn good homemade bread into great homemade bread, especially for burger buns, sandwich rolls and excellent toast, just add this DIY herb blend to your favorite bread dough – or use my recipe, the wonderful bread I call " Our Daily Bread ". It's the easy, European-style bread I make every few days. Big No-Calorie Flavor. Easy Way to Change Up a Good Bread Recipe. ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Warm pudding in ten minutes? Relax, you're here, this is it, a vegan, plant-based chocolate pudding, a healthy (and delicious!) solution to a chocolate craving or a late-night snack attack or Pudding Prep for the week. Just Five Ingredients & Ten Minutes. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Naturally Gluten Free. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Great for Meal Prep, errr, Make That Pudding Prep.

In all of 2017, I read twenty books. So far in just the first three months of 2018, I've already read twenty-one books! Who wouldn't want to make 4X as much money? Run 4X as far? Spend 4X as much time with someone you love? Here's how I'm reading more than four times more than last year. ~ Skip Straight to the Quick Links ~

My go-to savory breakfast egg casserole, made without bread and a small amount of cheese. Instead, its richness comes from the green chile flavor and protein-packed cottage cheese, creating a tender breakfast casserole that's all about flavor, protein and healthy eggs. Best of all, it's super flexible, it bakes up perfectly in a casserole dish, a cast iron skillet, muffin tins, ramekins and even in a tart pan. And did I mention? De-lish! Brunch, anyone?! Low Carb. High Protein (wow, 22 grams!). Weight Watchers Friendly. Perfect For a Relaxed Weekend Breakfast. Great for Meal Prep. Vegetarian.

Last-Minute Pantry Pie, the easy-easy no-bake cheesecake-style pie that's so simple to throw together at the last minute with pantry ingredients easily kept on hand for pie on a whim. Just five ingredients plus your favorite crust! So good, it moves the table to silence ... Fresh & Flexible. Summer Classic. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special.

The Recipe: A rustic potato and broccoli casserole, a mix of creamy potatoes and fresh broccoli that just works, somehow. This is one of my very oldest recipes, perhaps because it's such a good recipe for using up leftover mashed potatoes – or an excuse to make extra! ~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~ Comfort Food, Never Quite the Same Twice SMASHED POTATOES AND BROCCOLI is one of those recipes you’ll make again and again and still, it’ll never turn out the same. It’s highly forgiving. If you don’t have ricotta or sour cream, substitute cottage cheese. If you have other leftover vegetables, throw them in too. If you want, turn the dish upside down by reducing the potato and increasing the broccoli. You get the picture! Okay so let's be real. Leftover mashed potatoes are about as likely as leftover chocolate. This casserole is so tasty, it's worth making mashed potatoes just to make the casserole. Here's the simple recipe I follow. MASHED POTATOE...