The perfect salad for Christmas Dinner

No matter what your entree is for Christmas dinner, I’m willing to be that this Christmas Salad will go with it.

It’s a combination of peppery arugula and crisp radicchio, topped with juicy oranges, creamy goat cheese, cinnamon roasted almonds and beautiful pomegranate seeds.

But the thing that sets this salad apart is the zesty orange dressing. It’s creamy but not too creamy, filled with the flavor of fresh orange juice, sweetened with a bit of honey, and made a bit tangy by white wine vinegar and Dijon mustard.

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Easter is just around the corner, and with it, a decision. Are you going to serve Easter brunch, complete with vegetarian quiche and bacon in the oven, or are you going the dinner route with baked ham with pineapple sauce and balsamic asparagus?

My family goes the dinner route for Easter, and then a brunch celebration about a month later on Mother’s Day.

No matter what you choose, this unique charcuterie board idea could come in handy. You can serve it as part of your brunch buffet, or as an appetizer before dinner.

An Easter Charcuterie Board is the perfect way to showcase a variety of savory and sweet treats and create a beautiful and enticing spread for the holiday.

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While I’ve shared lots of breakfast recipes on this blog, most of them, like cornbread breakfast casserole and lemon pancakes are considered more of a “special occasion” idea in our household.

But today, I’m sharing a recipe that, along with my orange ginger chicken, gets made the MOST in our house, probably on a bi-weekly basis.

While this particular version is made with sweet potatoes, bacon and goat cheese, this classic breakfast casserole is endlessly adaptable to make with whatever you have on hand.

The primary idea here is simply cleaning out the fridge of whatever vegetables and cheese you have, pouring eggs over it, and baking. The ingredients may differ, but the technique is always the same.

Like my egg muffins recipe, we actually eat this Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole most often as a meal prep recipe that I’ll make over the weekend, and then we’ll reheat pieces for lunch on weekdays.

This sweet potato breakfast recipe is also equally at home as part of a brunch buffet. Adults and the kids alike both love this casserole.

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What are your thoughts on Thanksgiving appetizers? I think it kind of depends on what time you eat your main dinner.

I know some families that will do an appetizer lunch earlier in the day, but then have their main dinner with bourbon glazed turkey and grandma’s old fashioned dressing and all the other trimmings later in the evening.

My gathering usually eats our meal around 3pm, so we keep appetizers pretty simple (maybe a very small charcuterie board idea) so that we don’t fill up too much before the main event. I mean, I like to save some room for Thanksgiving salad and Thanksgiving fruit salad, because I’m a weirdo.

This simple baked goat cheese cranberry appetizer for Thanksgiving is a little something to nibble on that won’t fill you up terribly.

Plus, like my cranberry tart pie, this appetizer with goat cheese is a nice way to incorporate cranberries into this seasonal meal if traditional cranberry sauce just isn’t your favorite thing.

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I’m bringing you this recipe today for no reason other than it’s so many of my favorite ingredients all on one platter (which is exactly what my Easter salad and smoked salmon pizza recipes ended up being, as well).

An online grocery ordering snafu brought me a gigantic package of goat cheese instead of the smaller one I thought I was getting. So after I used what I needed for goat cheese pasta salad, I decided to make some fried goat cheese for another meal.

Well, strawberries pair really well with goat cheese (when I’m not using them all in strawberry Moscow mules). And avocados pair with strawberries. And basil and honey and balsamic vinaigrette pair with all of that!

This fried goat cheese salad recipe is decadent while still somehow tasting light and fresh. It’s a plate of food I dream about and crave often!

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Phyllo Dough Cups

My favorite shortcut to the easiest appetizers that also seem the fanciest are store-bought phyllo cups.

You can find these in the freezer section of the grocery store (although sometimes they are sold at room temperature around the holidays), and all you do is open the box up and fill the cups to your liking.

But because they are so dainty and pretty looking with their fluted edges, any appetizer made with these cups automatically ends up feeling super fancy.

These Phyllo Cup Appetizers have a filling made with salty bacon, sweet apple, tangy goat cheese and melty Gouda cheese. They’re so good that a batch will disappear quickly, so you might want to make a double batch!

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How are you doing lately? Are you taking on complicated kitchen projects, or making the easiest meals possible? My attitude on this subject changes day to day.

Some days, just getting through the day as two adults working from home while tending to a toddler (and maybe getting some crockpot soup made for dinner) is all we can handle. Other days (especially weekends) are more relaxed, with literally NOTHING on the agenda.

I’ve started experimenting with baking yeast breads in a way I haven’t done since culinary school. However, I’m still finding that access to yeast is hit or miss at most grocery stores around here, and I’m currently out of yeast.

While I love a great Detroit style pizza, that’s not happening without yeast. So last weekend, I wanted to make homemade flatbread, and lack of yeast wasn’t going to stop me.

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It’s kind of a big day around here, because this is the first Instant Pot recipe I’ve shared on this blog! I actually bought an Instant Pot this past spring, because a client requested some freelance recipe development using one.

I borrowed an Instant Pot cookbook from the library and made a bunch of recipes to learn how to use the appliance (including Instant Pot short ribs and Instant Pot sweet and sour chicken), then completed the freelance project.

Then, I kind of tucked the pot in my office and forgot about it all summer.

Until now, because this Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup with Goat Cheese is on the scene! While I love a long simmered crockpot soup and Old Fashioned Ham and Bean Soup on my stovetop, the depth of flavor of a pressured cooked soup just can’t be beat.

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When it comes to pasta salad, the options are endless, and it’s almost always good.

Growing up in the 80’s in the Midwest, my pasta salad experiences revolved around baby back ribs (hopefully with the best dry rub for ribs on them) paired with my mom’s classic mustard/mayo/celery/onion macaroni salad (I haven’t yet shared that recipe here, but maybe someday), and old school Italian dressing pasta salad.

You know the kind I mean. And it wasn’t along the lines of something updated like Asian noodle salad or acini de pepe pasta salad, or fancy like seafood pasta salad.

Today, I’m sharing a gourmet take on a classic: pasta salad with goat cheese dressing. It’s perfect alongside steak lettuce wraps, and it’s one of my very favorite side dishes for ribs.

I’m also sharing a simple tip to make the best pasta salad ever.

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When the spring weather finally starts to roll into Michigan, I’m usually in the mood for light and simple meals involving as little actual cooking as possible. After all, the less time spent in the kitchen means the more time there is for bike rides and dog walks.

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