American

I love fruit dips. Especially the ones you can buy for apples in the Fall time. Well, you can buy it all year long, but if you’re like me, you save that special treat for the Fall. You know what I mean right? Those plastic containers of Caramel Apple Dip usually sold by produce? Yeaaaa, good stuff. But! Despite how yummy I think the dip is I hardly ever buy it simply because I know it’s just loaded with corn syrup. Not as though I am one to be picky considering my own diet… but stuff like that I know you can make from scratch without all the processed garbage. And here is the recipe to prove it!

Often times brown sugar is used to kind of “mock” the taste of caramel in various baked treats and desserts. Caramel pound cakes are basically just brown sugar pound cakes. That’s what this dip does. Instead of complicating your life and asking you to make a homemade caramel, you just use brown sugar. And brown sugar paired with a healthy dose of vanilla extract sure does the job!

You guys are probably wondering what I’m up to seeing as how croutons are usually what you add last to your soup or salad, not first. Yet seeing as how these bad boys are homemade, I wanted y’all to have the recipe for them first. That way these toasty little nuggets of goodness will be ready and waiting to spice up your soup not the other way around. I don’t know about you guys but once my food is ready I’m not one to wait around for anything else to be done.

All you will need to make these croutons are four easy ingredients, Zatarain’s Creole Mustard (which you should be able to find in your local grocery store), cayenne pepper, Cajuns Choice Creole Seasoning and French bread. If these ingredients are not already staples in your pantry, trust me the will be from now on.

I love recipes where pretty much every ingredient called for is in the name. Mostly because recipe names are pretty short, which means that you’ll only need a few ingredients. Take this chicken…you need a bit of real maple syrup (for the love of Beiber, do not use the fake pancake syrup), a bit of dijon mustard, and some chicken. You’ll also need a bit of rice vinegar. You can sprinkle some thyme or rosemary on top too, but that’s only if you’re feeling fancy.

In my opinion, the best part about this is that you don’t have to use softened butter… otherwise known as my arch nemesis. I think we all know that I sort of lack that thing called patience. So it works with cold butter, room temp butter, all butter! No discrimination.

I do, however, like to use unsalted butter. But that’s just me.

These bars are totally simple, but they have flavors that are in-your-face delicious.
Chewy, rich and buttery.  They are perfect and cozy.

I love spinach artichoke dip. I’ve loved it for over half my life. And I’ll love it till the day I croak or become allergic to artichokes. Whichever comes first.

I posted my Spinach Artichoke Dip here over the (long, hot, thank goodness it’s over) summer, and it’s tremendously terrific. But a couple of weeks ago I decided to take a walk on the wild side and make a pasta version.

And then I died from bliss.

I just served this as the main dish along with some fresh out of the oven (unbelievably simple to make) Crusty Rustic Bread and some fresh garlic butter. To make the garlic butter I just combine 1 small clove of crushed garlic with 1/4 cup softened butter then season it with salt and fresh ground black pepper. It's a simple and amazing dinner that everyone will love. Enjoy!

Just a few things to note:

* You can easily halve this recipe. I was making a bunch so I could freeze some for later.
* You can change up the peppers however you like. I just used what I had in my pantry.
* You can use different roasts to your heart’s content.
* You can serve this meat on sandwiches or with noodles or mashed potatoes.
* You can also serve it on tacos, nachos, and tostadas.
* This was very, very yummy.
* I love bullet points.

The peanut butter cheesecake is no-bake, so this is a pretty simple dessert without a ton of hands on time. It does need to chill for four hours before serving, though, so keep that in mind!