The holidays can be chaotic. Add in school, parties, sports and more and well...this leaves little time for moments alone together. I hope this gives you a simple and easy snack that fills your home with laughter and smiles. Another favorite using Goldfish crackers can be found HERE!

As a little girl I had the privilege of standing beside one of the most incredible woman I have ever met. Her name was Lucia and she was the first generation of her family to arrive in America from Italy. One thing I learned from her is the importance of making a meal. You use only the best ingredients as you prepare it with love. Gathering around and filling the room with laughter as you dig in spending time with one another.

All this was made easy because of Simply Potatoes®. I was able to stick to Lucia's advice on the best ingredients as they are simply made with always fresh, never frozen potatoes that go from farm, to fridge, to fork. Let me start by saying...these made my life a heck of a lot easier when it came to food prep and I was greatly surprised by how good they REALLY were!


This recipe is a favorite of ours. We paired it with marinara and fried eggs, one of Lucia's specialties brought over from Italy.

Preheat your oven to 450. I used a 13x9 pan ungreased.

You will need:

• 1 bag Simply Potatoes® Diced Potatoes
• Olive Oil 
• Mini portabella mushrooms
• Asparagus 
• Red onion
• Kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• Parmigiano Reggiano cheese 

I start with the Simply Potatoes Diced Potatoes, dumping them into a large bowl. You will then quarter the mushrooms and  toss them in as well.


Set the cheese aside till the very end. Dice up a slice or two of red onion into small bite sized piece. Break apart your asparagus, I always throw away the bottom part of the stalk (so I break into 3...keeping 2, tossing the bottom). Toss into your bowl.

OH my goodness! We made the best pie the other day. My son wanted to help me in the kitchen and we used ingredients we already had in the fridge and cupboard. Here is what you will need to bake your apple pie:

1 can refrigerated cinnamon rolls (set the frosting aside)
1 can apple pie filling
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 375. Open your cinnamon roll tin and press the cinnamon rolls out into a pie plate to make a "crust". I started with the center roll, flattened it out then added around the edges till I formed one big shell. Bake 10 minutes.

Remove the "crust" and immediately spread on the apple pie filling. Using a pastry blender, mix cold butter, cinnamon and brown sugar in a separate bowl then sprinkle over the top. Take aluminum foil and wrap the edges of the pan and cinnamon roll then place back into oven for 20-25 minutes.

Place frosting from cinnamon rolls into a microwavable dish and melt for 5 seconds. Pour onto hot cinnamon roll apple pie once removed from oven. Let cool 10-15 minutes, slice and serve.

Trust me...it is SO ridiculously good!!

Tis the season to be jolly. I dunno about you but I love me some holidays...like, sumpin' fierce! My love language is gifts. I LOVE to make, create and give. One of my most favorite brands to use when baking in the kitchen is NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE. I know whatever I make it is guaranteed to be delish as it is a brand I have used since I was a kid! In fact I was in charge of making the Chocolate Chip Cookies as my recipe was the best!


Have you TRIED their hot cocoa?? It is the best and creamiest. My secretly fabulous hot cocoa consists of lots of whip cream and finely chopped candy canes on top. The powdery dust of the candy canes gives it an unbelievable flavor! Hellooooo holidays! The first things my kids ask for on snowy, cold and blustery days "Mama, can you make your cocoa?" They have no idea but we are doing a Polar Express night with their very own cocoa bar. They can choose their cocoa toppings. Curl up under a cozy blanket and watch one of our favorite Christmas movies!


My friends and neighbors are receiving my famous Christmas bark. I love the combination of milk chocolate and white chocolate combined together with chopped candy canes on top. And it is ridiculously easy!


I personally buy my Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips at Costco! As I said, NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE is the brand we have used since before I was even a thought! I use large mason jars and fill them in pantry so they are pretty! We never not have them on hand. I was THRILLED to find mini morsels which I plan on using for cookie decorating, as well as pancakes! For this bark recipe pick pick a chocolate flavor! I used semi-sweet for this recipe sometimes like to use dark as well! You will also need a large bag of white chocolate morsels. 

Take a large pot, fill 1/4 way with water. Place a metal bowl or glass bowl over top. Be sure water is not touching the bowl on the inside. This will burn your chocolate! Bring water to boil on high and dump in your morsels.

Mix until creamy and smooth. I used a disposable cookie sheet which is lined with parchment paper. Spread your chocolate out evenly and then place in the refrigerator while you start the next process!

Repeat the same steps as above, this time with the white chocolate. When the milk chocolate is cooled pour the white chocolate over top. Spread and sprinkle with finely chopped peppermint sticks. Something you can do for added flavor is using peppermint extract or even spearmint flavor the chocolate before spreading in the pan. You will want to do this after the chocolate is fully smooth. Refrigerate 1-2 hours. When fully solid you can either use your hands or a knife to break the bark into chunks. We place in colorful tins and mason jars we will deliver to our friends. 

I hope you can 'bake' someone's day this holiday! Look for a fun giveaway on Instagram! Do me a favor...click HERE <----- tell me WHAT I should make next!! This will act as an extra entry on the giveaway that is found on Instagram! You can follow my friends at NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE here on Facebook as well as click HERE for a coupon! I can't wait to hear what you think I should make! 

I love the holiday season. It is my excuse to get into the kitchen and create new recipes. My mama raised me on the farm. We had MILES between us and town so most of what we ate we made from scratch in the kitchen. I was the "baker" of the family. My first cookbook instilled a love of baked goods and helped to feed my creativity. My least favorite part...cleaning the dishes! Reynolds Wrap has made my love even easier! With their NEW disposable bakeware as well as non-stick parchment lined my world just got a whole lot easier!


I may have gone a wee bit crazy at the store! This isn't even ALL of it! I purchased disposable bakeware for all my baking needs this holiday season. To say I am excited is an understatement...um. HELLOOOOO!! Who likes spraying oil all over the kitchen?! There was this one time I sprayed "the pan" and really I was spraying the floor as well. Picture one accident prone mama stepping into a slick spot on the kitchen floor! Oil 1 - Me 0

Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.

2 1/2 cups apple pie filling, chopped
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
3 3/4 cup flour

Heat oven to 350. Fill the Reynolds bread pans 2/3 way full. Makes enough for 8 mini loaves of bread! I do not remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Pour directly in! Bake for 35 minutes. Set aside to cool 5 minutes and deliver with love to those who mean the most to you!


Wanna know something cool?! YOU can score a $1 off coupon just by clicking HERE! Oh but there is more! Who wants to win $10 CASH?! Yep! You read that right! 1 reader will win $10 for you to be able to purchase your very own Reynolds Wrap disposable bakeware!


To enter you must be 18 years or older and a U.S. resident! Click HERE before entering below!  Don't forget to check out Reynolds Wrap on Facebook as well as Instagram for more fun ideas!

Happy baking! a Rafflecopter giveaway

This time of year we are always on the search for something fast and easy. With sports 5 out of 7 days of the week our time is limited, but our bellies cannot wait! We are all about eating dinner as a family. Let's face it...easy recipes are hard to come by!

This is a tried and true recipe I made up back in college! Bertolli® Riserva has given it a homemade taste. I grew up on TRUE Italian food. Family dinners were filled with laugher, jokes, stories and food as far as the eye could see. I really don't know how they did it!

The thing I love about Bertolli®...is it has been 150 years since Francesco Bertolli began selling olive oil in the small town of Lucca, Italy! Family history is the best! Although, they are not apart of MY family...in a way they are! We have been using Bertolli® for as long as I can remember. In celebration of 150 years, for each photo shared via social media using #MyTuscanTable throughout October, Bertolli® will make a $1 donation to help end childhood hunger in America through a partnership with No Kid Hungry. With each dollar, No Kid Hungry will provide 10 healthy meals to kids in need, up to a half a million meals. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring kids have the healthy food they need, every day. The Bertolli® brand is proud to lend its passion for uniting people over food to help connect kids struggling with hunger to the nutritious meals they need to grow and thrive.

Here is how I feed my family...

1 box penne rigate pasta
1 jar Bertolli® Riserva Pasta Sauce
Swiss Cheese
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs


Using my grill pan (a regular skillet will work too!) I cook 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs on medium heat. Flavored with crazy mixed up salt, pepper, garlic seasoning salt. I love using chicken thighs as they are juicer and hold more flavor than chicken breast.


Now comes the hard part...deciding which flavor sauce to use! I am a sucker for the jars! Aren't they pretty! When chicken is cooked through, no pink. Dice in pan using your spatula. Turn to low and pour in 1 jar of Bertolli® Riserva sauce. I do not drain the chicken, I let all the juices simmer together into the sauce.

While the sauce is simmering cook your penne rigate noodles till al dente. <---- cooked just right! Preheat oven to 350.


Pour into a baking dish and top with layers of swiss cheese. YES, swiss! Just trust me! Stick in oven. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted completely.


Want to find some more easy recipes?! Just go HERE and pin to your hearts content...for real yo! You are going to be hungry just perusing!

Ever just have a day. Not like an average day...but like a "I just need to cram chocolate into my face super fast" sorta day? Well, that was this day for me!

From the moment I woke up my day was NOT playing in my favor! But you know what did? I made up a recipe and have dubbed it my "Get in my belly" fast pie! Yep, start to finish this bad boy took about 20 minutes to make! And then an hour to "set up"! NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE put me up to a challenge! Recently they did a hackathon. You can click HERE to see some super incredible recipes that are tasty AND easy!! Like...um, who DOESN'T like easy?? The challenge was to use NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE products and come up with a tasty little treat. I brainstormed ideas with my big. Her request...that it be lactose free so she could partake! Here is the Speed Scratch recipe we came up with!



We first picked a cookie. Our pick was Chocolate Chip Lovers...the more chocolate the better! Let stand 10 minutes before starting to let the dough get a bit softer.



Using a rolling pin, we flattened out the cookie dough and pressed it together to make 1 large cookie. 



When lifting the dough, find something flat or else it will fall apart in your hands!

Once rolled out we pressed into an ungreased pie plate. Forming it around like a pie crust. Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for 15-18 minutes.

These days, my family has been looking for fast and easy dishes that are so simple we could cook it with our eyes closed. OK. Probably not with our eyes closed, cause that comes with liabilities! BUT you get my point! Here is what you will need:

1 cup of cherry tomatoes sliced
2 large garlic cloves chopped
1 8 oz package of green beans, washed and ends cut
1 box linguine
Olive oil
1 whole lemon
1/2 cup Ricotta cheese

Here is where it gets ridonkulously easy, you ready for this? Boil a pot of salted water and cook linguine as says on package. Meanwhile in a pan, heat up 3 TBSP olive oil and throw in chopped garlic and green beans.


Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and pepper and then cook 4 minutes. Before draining the linguine use 1 cup of the water and pour into the pan of the green beans. Let boil 4 minutes, or until the green beans are edible.

Drain pasta and in a glass dish toss with ricotta cheese. Combine with green beans and then add in fresh tomatoes and zest with lemon. Fresh Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top is delish and served with crusty bread is of course the way to go!


Delectable dining...no go get em tiger!

A few years back my friend Elizabeth shared the most AMAZING recipe with me. It was the year we all grew more Zucchini's than we even knew what to do with. We were frying them, BBQ'n them. Freezing them. Baking them...but she gave me this recipe and it has been a household favorite ever since! Be forewarned you won't be able to eat just 1, the batch makes about 30 muffins, they freeze awesome OH and best part...kids think they are eating a treat because of the word "chocolate"! Boy, if they only knew!


Preheat your oven to 350 and line your muffin tins with paper liners.

I stick all the ingredients into Prudence (my Kitchen-Aid mixer) in this order:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce (the Tree Top applesauces that you would stick in your kids lunches...you know the small bowl like ones? They are the PERFECT size/amount!)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

Turn on and mix. Then add in:

• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves (I like to ground mine myself in my coffee bean grinder...smells SO good and is so yummy fresh!)
• 3 cups of flour

Mix. I then use a scoop to divide into my muffin pans. Bake for 22 minutes. Stick a toothpick in to make sure comes out clean and then let cool on a cooling rack. Good luck keeping your mitts off of them as they cool!