Archive

by Kelly J. Larson With my quick poppyseed salad dressing made in advance, this fresh and fruity salad with strawberries, baby arugula, pecans, red onion and blue cheese comes together in just a few minutes. It is fast, flavorful and fantastic. Pecans are browned briefly to enhance the nutty flavor and add to this restaurant-worthy […]

by Kelly J. Larson Pick one. Chips and salsa should be served in heaven, 24-7. Napoleon Dynamite’s cafeteria food movie credits are pretty sweet. Alphabet shaped cookie cutters are a lot more practical on tortillas than with cookie dough. Playing with food is more exciting than working on income taxes. All of the above. Seriously, […]

by Kelly J. Larson Cornbread with green chiles is very Texan and since I live in the capital of Texas, I am a big fan. Literally. At least a pound or two can be attributed to indulging in hot, not-too-spicy cornbread, from places like Z-Tejas and the Roaring Fork, thank you very much. Here’s my […]

by Kelly J. Larson I created this Texas beef chili recipe when our family lived in Taiwan and I was missing home. Ground beef and even cows in general are not easy to find in Taiwan, but lucky for me, a huge Costco had opened in Hsinchu a year before we moved there. I could […]

by Kelly J. Larson Butterfly shaped spritz cookies with M&M candy wings make such beautiful, buttery treats.  The cheerful, fluttering icon can brighten springtime events including baby showers, bridal showers, New Beginnings, Mother’s Day and more. I’m a huge fan of M&M cookies because of the multitude of options that add the right festive pop […]

by Kelly J. Larson Homemade salad dressing is the only kind for me.  Vinaigrettes are my standard, but sometimes I fancy a sweet variation. I have whipped up many winning poppyseed salad dressings that are superb, but sometimes I am too hungry to mess with chopping, pressing or squeezing ingredients to get the fork in my […]

by Kelly J. Larson Lindsey, our lovely oldest daughter, was my inspiration for creating these Banana, Blueberry and Oatmeal Muffins. She’s six months pregnant with their second child, another precious baby boy, and is diligently avoiding gaining too much weight in the process. What a delightful treat these muffins are for breakfast, without being overly […]

by Kelly J. Larson My mother made chicken and dumplings when I was growing up occasionally and I always loved it. A whole chicken get boiled for a few hours in a pot of water with some salt and bay leaves, then it’s deboned and transformed into the epitome of comfort food by adding a […]

Update: This post is from March, 2018, and each time I have layered it differently. This illustrates my latest, although there’s one more layer of cheese as the last ingredient that I didn’t show in the collage. The pesto kind of hides it in the final flip. Today’s version is my favorite with one pasta […]

by Kelly J. Larson Crab Cakes are one of my favorite appetizers. I started making crab cakes a few years ago around St. Patrick’s Day as a way to convince my kids to eat what I called a Krabby Patty. They loved them! I’ve added two kids since then, so now three out of four […]