There used to be a restaurant chain here in the Midwest called Max & Erma’s that had delicious chicken tortilla soup. It was creamy, lightly spicy and so comforting on a cold day.

Sadly, I think the chain mostly went out of business a few years ago, and the only one still around is at the airport, I think.

This Crockpot Taco Soup is inspired by, but quite a bit different than that restaurant soup. My version is a little lighter (less creamy) and uses ground beef instead of chicken.

Unlike many other crock pot soup recipes out there, this one doesn’t just have a dull, one-note flavor. Deeply browned ground beef, tomatoes, two types of beans, green chiles and lots of seasoning give this soup layers of comforting flavor.

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Avocado Burgers are where it’s at!

Hamburgers made at home don’t have to be just sad patties topped with a Kraft cheese single (but honestly, that’s the way I grew up eating them).

If you like restaurant-style burgers with creative toppings and flavorful sauces (think Red Robin), this Avocado Burger recipe will delight your taste buds.

The cilantro mayo especially is what sets this recipe apart from others. It combines with the avocado to make a flavorful bite that guacamole lovers will appreciate.

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This Baby Back Ribs in Oven recipe couldn’t be easier!

When it comes to the most amount of deliciousness for the least amount of effort, oven baked baby back ribs take the grand prize, in my opinion.

You only need three ingredients – the ribs, seasoning rub (either homemade or store bought) and some barbecue sauce (I always use store bought).

After a quick five minutes of prep work, your oven will literally do all of the work for you.

Whether you’re hosting a backyard cookout or just craving some succulent ribs, this recipe will become a go-to for you!

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Easy Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

You may remember this technique from my potato salad with bacon, and it works just as well with pasta salads of all kinds as it does with potato salad.

This pickle pasta salad uses a technique I’ve been relying on for years – dividing the dressing in half and adding it at two different stages.

Have you ever stirred together your pasta and dressing, refrigerated your salad, and then wondered why all of your dressing has disappeared? Sometimes it seems so dry after you get it back out of the fridge, right?

With this technique, you toss freshly cooked pasta with half of the dressing, then chill the salad to allow the pasta to absorb all of that flavorful dressing.

Then, once it’s chilled, just before serving, you add the rest of the dressing and toss again.

This technique ensures that the pasta is seasoned by absorbing some of the dressing, but there’s also more dressing for the surface of the pasta. It also won’t be a gloppy mayo-laden mess from accidentally over-dressing. It’s just a perfectly dressed pasta salad.

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This lemon shandy recipe is fresh, sparkling and so refreshing!

If you love the IDEA of a lemon shandy more than you actually love the pre-mixed bottled versions, this recipe is for you.

Personally, I think the idea of an ice cold beer with some lemonade in it sounds so refreshing. But the big, well known brand of bottled summer shandy is just too sweet for me. About half a bottle, and I’m totally done with it.

This homemade lemon beer is the perfect balance of lemonade that isn’t too sweet, sparkling water for bubbles, and wheat beer.

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This chicken pizza recipe has layers of flavor!

A recipe with this much flavor is usually one that involves hours and hours to develop that flavor (totally true of my fettuccine bolognese).

But, just like my gyro pizza, this chicken pizza recipe uses shortcuts from the grocery store to achieve a gourmet pizzeria flavor in just about a half an hour.

With unique, chef-inspired ingredients like roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella cheese and everything bagel seasoning, this will be the best chicken breast pizza you’ve ever made at home.

The recipe card includes instructions for cooking it in the oven OR on the grill (a perfect summer meal).

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These buttermilk chicken tenders are so flavorful!

Buttermilk chicken tenders present an opportunity to add a lot of flavor, but not everybody takes advantage of it.

Instead of simply coating chicken tenders in buttermilk, breading them and frying them, let’s add some more flavor to the buttermilk marinade so that the end result is a chicken tender that is not only golden brown and crispy, but hugely flavorful and savory.

Just like with my buttermilk chicken marinade, the garlic, mustard, hot sauce and paprika in the marinade for these buttermilk fried chicken tenders make them flavorful enough to just eat on their own. Your family will be begging you to make these crispy, flavor-packed tenders every single week!

They can also be served with dipping sauces, or added to a Spring salad or piled onto a sandwich for a larger meal.

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Ground Chicken Meatballs

Now that I’m my 40’s and ever-so-predictably watching my cholesterol, ground beef, pork and lamb recipes are happening in our house less and less (lamb bolognese is saved for a special occasion).

In red meat’s place, I’m definitely turning to ground turkey and chicken wherever possible. Meatballs are one recipe where I don’t feel like they NEED to be beef to be delicious.

In fact, these Greek chicken meatballs are not only one of my favorite New Year’s Eve snacks (along with ham and turkey sliders), but I make them just about every other week as a quick dinner by adding a few side dishes.

So grab a rosemary gin cocktail, and let’s chat about these delicious Mediterranean meatballs. They can be baked or air fried, and served with things like feta, orzo and tzatziki to make them extra special.

“I have made this recipe so many times in the last year, I don’t even need to look at it anymore. The meatballs are so tasty, and when I was trying to lose weight, these were one dish I could enjoy guilt free. The whole family enjoys them too; you can throw them in a marinara sauce and use them in a meatball sub, or with pasta, or even cold leftovers out of the fridge!”

—Sharon

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If the name of this blog didn’t already give it away, OF COURSE I have a drawer in my fridge that’s always filled with lemons.

They’re cheap and plentiful and are as perfect for making something sweet like lemon curd cake as they are for making something savory like creamy feta dressing or Greek yogurt mashed potatoes.

My drawer full of lemons always means that homemade margaritas to go along with Sonoran hot dogs don’t have to be a “great, now we have to go buy 20 limes” situation.

It’s more like a “let’s have margaritas because we have a few lemons” situation.

Side note – don’t you hate it when you get those dud limes? Like, the ones that have hardly any juice and are all mealy inside? Seems like I ONLY get those when I want to make margs or basil cocktails and really really need juicy ones instead.

Well, we don’t ever need to worry about dud limes again because we have lemon margaritas!

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When I think of “party food,” it begins and ends with dip for me. Personally, I feel that no party is complete without chips and dip, veggies and dip, crackers and dip, bread and dip, buffalo chicken dip, or maybe all of the above.

And OK, maybe some charcuterie cups or shrimp deviled eggs, but those are in no way as important as the dip.

When I was a kid, I would look forward to my parents’ get-togethers with their friends only for the dip. I knew that a party meant that my mom would be buying potato chips and French onion dip, and I was probably going to eat half of it by myself.

Nowadays, I still love a good creamy dip with simple, delicious ingredients. This Roasted Garlic Dip recipe has a pretty short list of ingredients, but the roasting of the garlic imparts an incredible flavor into the cooling sour cream and creamy mayonnaise mixture.

Add the citrus zing of some lemon juice, and this dip is positively irresistible. 

Use this garlic dip for chips, crackers, toasted bread, or even as a dipping sauce for mini Hasselback potatoes or lamb lollipops.

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