Kitty Deschanel

Here in the New Mexico mountains, we're been snowed in the last few days. Even our 4WD truck could barely make it down our street - it was spinning and sliding the entire way!  It was perfectly fine once it escaped our neighborhood, as someone had actually done their job and plowed the streets outside our neighborhood, rather than simply allowing the snow from multiple storms to keep piling up, like inside our neighborhood. Not that I'm bitter, of course. We are at the height of a wonderful culinary time of year - soup season! With the weather so frigidly ridiculous outside, you can't beat a hot bowl of flavorful soup to warm you up. How frigidly ridiculous? SN asked me the other day how cold I thought it had gotten overnight and I guessed 2 degrees. No , he insisted. It got down to 1.8 degrees. *rolls eyes* Lamb Soup with Noodles Guest Post from Amber at Le Meh Ingredients: 4 med. tomatoes 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 lb. lean lamb, cut into 1 inch st

Oh. My. Goodness. Forget what you were planning to make for dinner tonight. Pasta? Steak? This is better. Chicken and waffles?? THIS IS BETTER. We're taking "breakfast for dinner" to the next level. The savory level. Not only is this recipe scrumptious, these chili-covered cornmeal waffles seem like the kind of meal that you slaved over all day long, though they're actually quick and easy. Sexy Nerd is impressed whenever he comes home to this dinner. Sucker. Start by making the chili, which needs to simmer. Homemade, Easy Peasy Chili Recipe Serves 3 Ingredients: 1 can diced tomatoes with green chili (Do not drain.) 1 can white, black, or pinto beans (Do not drain.) 1/4 C creamed corn (Yes, creamed. This will add just the right touch of sweetness.) 1 C cooked ground meat 1 diced bell pepper 1 diced onion 1 diced garlic clove 1 bay leaf 1/2 Tbsp cumin 1/2 Tbsp chili powder 1/2 C water salt, black pepper, cilantro, and red chili flakes

Mmmm, I'm eating the best lunch right now. It looks so indulgent, doesn't it? Side note: The beautiful table this plate is on? SN made it! I mean, not the trunk of the olive tree, obviously, but the rest of it. I really need to update my site with more New Home blog posts. He has been busy! Surprise - it's (almost) healthy! I cooked up a big batch of collard greens in the Instant Pot (lots of great IP collard green recipes online, plus my own below). You can also make them the conventional way, but I love that I can just throw everything in the Instant Pot and forget about it. Spread the cooked collards in the bottom of a baking dish, top with a layer of cottage cheese, then a layer of mozzarella, and finally top everything with slices of pepperoni. Broil it for a few minutes.  Collard Greens Instant Pot Recipe Southerners will probably cringe at my bastardized collard greens. Everyone else? Enjoy! Collard pizza lasagna? SO GOOD! Collard Greens Instan

When we crave ice cream, what comes to mind tends to be an unhealthy, albeit delicious, pint from the grocery store. Unfortunately, even the ones that market themselves as 'wholesome' are often full of chemicals. (I'm looking at you, Bluebell , with your phony baloney almonds.) Great news - it doesn’t have to be this way. Peanut Butter Banana Nice Cream   It looks so indulgent, doesn't it? But this homemade ice cream has a secret... It’s possible to create ice cream, or “nice cream,” out of whole ingredients and make it taste just as good (or better!) than the unhealthy junk from the store. What's a nice cream?   A nice cream is like an ice cream that is healthy. You don't need an ice cream maker and it comes together in minutes. Instead of thickening with cream, nice creams get their thick, creamy texture from frozen fruit. Bananas are the most popular fruit for making nice cream. With fresh bananas and good-for-you ingredients, it won’t leave y

This reader-favorite recipe is *almost* as popular as my Cake Mix Cookie Bars recipe .  When making Cake Mix pancakes , the scrumptious possibilities are endless. Red Velvet cake mix pancakes. Chocolate cake mix pancakes. Butter Pecan cake mix pancakes. Funfetti cake mix pancakes. (Yes, Funfetti cake mix pancakes!) With this 2-ingredient recipe, you can turn your favorite cake mix into your favorite pancakes. Pancake making at its finest. Cake Mix Pancakes Personally, I think my funny napkin is the icing on the (pan)cake. It's Sunday morning and you're planning to do all the things today - scrub those grody baseboards, polish your quartz countertop that was supposed to be low maintenance but actually isn't at all, sort through the disaster that is the freezer.  While on your superhuman kick, you think I'm going to make my family pancakes for breakfast. Not just any pancakes - the best pancakes ever. I may even serve them as breakfast in bed! You pu

I slaved over these homemade crepes all day. Just kidding! My secret ingredient? Prepackaged crepes, which taste just as good, if not better, than homemade. Ham and Cheese Crepes For something so simple, don't these look so fancy? I have a fantastic recipe for you today. But first, behold the 50 calorie giant cookie...   Giant YUM! And only 1 measly gram of fat. Can you believe it? Best of all, with the help of your toaster oven, these mega-cookies crisp up in less than ONE minute! Prepackaged crepes, where have you been all my life? Of course, you can also devour these  Frieda's French Style Crepes (or other prepackaged crepes) as they are intended, with a fruit or mascarpone filling. It couldn't be easier to fancy up a crepe.  Filling them with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows before their party on the stove or in the toaster oven gives you smores crepes. Blueberries and whipped cream (skip the toaster oven!) is also yummy. But h

You're in for a treat. Today I'm sharing my best canned cinnamon roll hacks and improvements for turning store-bought cinnamon rolls, like the Pillsbury Grands ones or even the store brand, into something special.  Dry cinnamon rolls? No thank you. They need to be OOEY and GOOEY. That's just Cinnamon Roll 101. All of these ideas keep Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls soft, company-worthy, and delicious. These are also great for taking homemade cinnamon rolls up a notch, but what a pain that is. With these better-than-homemade canned cinnamon roll hacks, you'll never bother to bake them from scratch again. Test out some of these ideas tomorrow. Won't it be nice to dig into a mouthwatering cinnamon roll for breakfast? You can't get a better start to your day than that. Canned Cinnamon Roll Hacks Actually, make that 11 easy ways to improve store-bought cinnamon rolls: you can top them with homemade coffee whipped cream . Yum! Nope, make that 12 canned cinnam