Halloween is just a few short days away but at our house the festivities have already started. Baby Girl has eaten her own body weight in candy from all the parties and trunk-or-treats already. ‘Tis the season? So… for that reason, I’ve teamed up with Lindsey of LK Cooking to bring you a Halloween dinner that’s healthy enough you can totally justify sneaking a treat (or two, or ten) out of the Halloween stash. That’s not even the best part about this soup, though. The BEST pa

You want to know one of the MANY reason I know there is a God? Because pizza exists. If I didn’t want to be a better example to my children, I would sustain my life solely on pizza. I’ll guzzle down the occasional salad in front of people, too. You know. For morale. But you better believe pizza is my one true love. For this reason, there will probably be an entire section of this blog dedicated to the glorious pie someday. And you KNOW I’m always game to try a new variety. Ri

That’s right. Today you are getting a twofer! That’s awesome because it like, never happens? But today, my friends, you are getting more bang for your buck and that’s a beautiful thing. Because these are the LAST RECIPES that you need to complete your Cafe Rio experience at home. What what?! Yeah. This is happening. At your house! Just a quick PSA: This post has way too many pictures… but Cafe Rio! Back in the day when I didn’t know what was what, I used to just pop open a ca

Okay guys, I promise I’m not going to throw yet another stupid 4 ingredient Sweet Pork recipe at you. I mean, don’t get me wrong… 4 ingredient recipes are SO AWESOME, but if you want a legit copycat recipe, a recipe that actually tastes restaurant quality, I can guarantee you that Cafe Rio isn’t in the back of their store popping open a jar of Pace Picante salsa and dumping it over their pork. I know better than anyone that we all need a handful of those recipes in our back p

Are we all recovering nicely from our sugar hangovers? I kind of wish sugar hangovers were a thing because then maybe it would slow Baby Girl down for an hour or two. She is like a freaking cyclone. And remember how I complained about the stupid Easter grass we are all forced to put in our baskets if we want to be accomplished parents? IT. IS. EVERYWHERE. ALREADY! How does that even happen? I spent yesterday moping because we spent the weekend in bright and shiny Mesquite wit

There’s tortellini, and then there’s alfredo tortellini and then there’s alfredo tortellini with broccoli in it… and THEN there is Broccoli Alfredo Tortellini with BACON. BACON! This stuff is already filthy rich and then I added bacon and I basically went into a delicious cheese covered bacon coma. I think if I was to become a vegetarian, (don’t worry, Dad. I won’t) I would probably miss bacon the most. If I was a pig, I’d probably be a cannibal. Weird thought. One of the thi

DANG, GINA. These meatball lettuce wraps are no freakin’ joke. They are a ridiculously healthy dinner that comes together in a snap. The longest part is that the meatballs take about 15 minutes to bake in the oven, and while they are baking you can be chopping the fresh veggies like a fruit ninja. Or veggie ninja. Or whatever. I wish I chopped my vegetables and fruits like on fruit ninja. I think people would like cooking more if that was the case. I also think there would be

This is one of my favorite weeknight meals. Grilled chicken, tomato sauce bursting with fresh vegetables, and parmesan cheese. It doesn’t really get much better. Oh! And it’s good for you, too. I like that about it as well. Serve it up with a green salad and you’ve got yourself a pretty nice dinner if you ask me. This is actually a little bit of a recipe re-do except the first time I handed out the recipe it was just for the sauce. In the last post I talked about how this was

These fish tacos are insanely awesome. But I am officially super confused. So, almost one year ago, Mr. T finally went to the allergist to figure out the real culprits behind his food allergies. You know, before I accidentally tried to kill him again. Anyway, we found out that he was insanely allergic to shell-fish but not allergic AT ALL to regular fish. Hooray! To celebrate, he went to California on a business trip and ate some salmon sashimi like it was going out of style.

There’s something about taking a sandwich, and squishing it inside of a panini press that just makes it so much more delicious. The bread gets all crusty and warm and the insides get all melty and meld together so beautifully. They are just so much better than normal sandwiches! This panini has three different kinds of meats smashed together with mozzarella cheese melting in every nook and cranny. The addition of sun-dried tomatoes gives it a subtly sweet kick that makes it t

I love potato soup, but this is not your average potato soup. It has something extra, so now we can extra love it. It reminds me of something my grandpa used to make that we called “Sticky Potatoes.” Sticky Potatoes were SO good and SO unhealthy. There was almost more cream cheese, sour cream and heavy whipping cream than actual potato. They. Were. Amazing. I seriously need to go to the gym after just reading that paragraph, though. Seriously. This totally reminds me of that,

Need some ideas for what you are going to serve at your Super Bowl Party on Sunday? These meatballs are pretty versatile. They can be served as an appetizer, as a main dish or even in a sandwich! They are super easy and delicious. Also, I decided that meatballs are just tiny round meatloaves. Meatball just sounds so much better than meatloaf, though. Who the heck came up with that name? If someone I knew invented meatloaf and they were like, “Taylor, come try this thing I jus

Every time Mr. T goes to California, he comes home begging me to recreate “vampire tacos”. Apparently he thinks I’m some culinary genius or something. You know who are culinary geniuses? Those dang kids on Masterchef Jr. I’ve been binge watching the latest season and my jaw drops at least 10 times an episode. These kids are seriously only eight years old, and they could kick my trash up and down the kitchen. They are so cool under pressure, too. I would just be a giant puddle

YOU GUYS!!! Check out the new digs! Nice, right? I’m still trying to get used to it, myself. And I’m sure there will be a few wrinkles to iron out here and there but I am SO happy with how it’s turned out. I’d love to know what you guys think, as well! Feel free to email, facebook, instagram or whatever else me and let me know how you like it! So far, so good! On to the good part: the food. For my first recipe post of the big blog revamp I decided to go with these awesome Ste

Mr. T is obsessed with Panera and there aren’t any here in Utah. Which, by the way, does anyone know why the heck there are no Paneras in Utah?! They are SO good. SO good. I feel like they would make a killing here. ANYWAY… he gets all sorts of sad when he doesn’t get his Chicken Bacon Panini from Panera as often as he would like. And because I like him, and he likes Panera I made him this awesome sandwich… and let me tell ya, I wasn’t complaining one bit. I want to roast tom

These dang chicken wings are the reason football season even exists. Seriously, I mean… why even take the time to watch football if you don’t have a gallon of Honey BBQ sauce smeared all over your face? It’s obviously the best way to watch! I’ll betcha those football players down there would even sneak a bucket or two of these onto the bench if they could. Now THAT is something I would watch. The quarterback has the football in one hand and a wing in the other. Classic. Who a

YO PEEPS! It has been SO long since the last time I posted and I am SO sorry. I hope that you missed me, because I totally missed you. I caught this crazy virus that took me out for almost three weeks. It was like half mono, half pneumonia, half bubonic plague. Granted I’m not super great at math, but it was miserable. Like, seriously. All of my neighbors thought I was dead. I didn’t post on social media, or here on the blog, and my car didn’t move. It’s kind of good to know

So, from what I have heard REAL Philly Cheesesteaks use Cheese Whiz? Is that correct? I am not a huge fan of Cheese Whiz so I went ahead and used real cheese… but can I still call this a Philly Cheesesteak then? I’ll leave that to the professionals. Whether this is the real deal or not doesn’t really matter at this point because it is SO DANG GOOD. And seriously, so easy it’s a little on the crazy side. You can have dinner sitting on your table in a matter of minutes. You can

Happy Monday, peeps! ​It’s a good day to whip out a nice Chinese recipe. I feel like the Honey Walnut Shrimp is a very westernized “Chinese” dish. But, I’m not going to complain for one second about it, because, seriously. Have you ever had it?! It’s one of my favorites! And it’s SOOOO much better when it’s coming out of your kitchen instead of Panda Express’. The shrimp is dipped in a batter and lightly fried to give it a perfect crunchy exterior while keeping a plump interi

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! (tomorrow) I cannot wait to show you guys the costume I made for Baby Girl. It is RIDICULOUSLY CUTE. I got the idea off of Pinterest. Of course. I don’t think I’ll ever have another original idea in my entire life now that Pinterest does all the work for me. What better way to celebrate Halloween than to eat dinner OUT OF A PUMPKIN, though?! Well, I guess there technically are better ways to celebrate. Like dressing up. Or getting chocolate wasted. My aweso