Welcome to the weekend, my friends! My friend Lynne was here this week working in the kitchen and photographing recipes with me and as a result, today I’m dreaming of Thanksgiving dinner and all of the side dishes we’ll be making. 

Do you have a non-traditional favorite holiday dish? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment on this blog post telling me about it.

ON THE BLOGS this week: This Homemade Shrimp Ramen is a quick and satisfying twist on the classic Japanese dish. With simple ingredients and minimal prep, this easy recipe offers a flavorful shortcut to a delicious bowl of noodles, succulent shrimp, and aromatic broth.

Chunks of savory, smoky ham are added to perfectly seasoned, gooey, melted cheese. Mac and Cheese with Ham is a dinner you’ll make more than once.

Juicy, raw corn kernels are tossed with crisp bell peppers and tangy tomatoes in a light dressing to create this zesty Fresh Corn Salad.

Tender potatoes mingle with crisp fresh vegetables in a creamy, herb dressing to take this Loaded Vegetable Potato Salad over the top.

Ripe, juicy tomatoes dance with garlic and fresh herbs, all tossed together a zesty lemon dressing in this irresistible Fresh Tomato Pasta.

Puff Pastry Baklava Bites are delightful, bite-sized treats that offer a modern twist on the traditional Greek dessert, baklava. These miniature pastries are made by filling buttery, flaky puff pastry cups with a sweet honey and nut filling.

Filled with slightly chewy pieces of black walnuts, this sweet and fragrant Black Walnut Ice Cream is a decadent treat.

The sweet, juicy burst of blueberries complements the subtle tang of buttermilk in this delightfully moist and tender Blueberry Buttermilk Cake.

My FAVORITE THINGS this week are these tweezers. Once again, these tweezers came to the rescue this week. Splinter removal has never been easier.

What I’m WATCHING: Book Club: The Next Chapter. This movie caught my eye a while back and I finally watched it this week. Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen were perfect in their roles. Wh

Filled with slightly chewy pieces of black walnuts, this sweet and fragrant Black Walnut Ice Cream is a decadent treat.

Black Walnut Ice Cream

To me, black walnuts and black walnut extract smell just a tiny bit like anise, the flavor of black licorice. I was a little leery of them both initially, as I’m not a fan of black licorice at all.

However, the flavor and fragrance in the finished ice cream is not at all reminiscent of anise. Phew. This is a sweet, nutty ice cream that has been a win with all of the walnut lovers in our family. (I didn’t waste a scoop sharing it with the non-walnut-enjoying child. That’s his loss.)

Homemade Black Walnut Ice Cream

Whether your black walnut extract is specifically labeled as “imitation” or not, it likely is a combination of natural and artificial flavors created to mimic the flavor of black walnuts. This is the extract I used for this ice cream.

I looked around a bit and did not find a single black walnut extract that was actually made from black walnuts, with that information anywhere on the label. So, go ahead and pick up an imitation black walnut extract and make this ice cream without further ado.

Nuts in Ice Cream

With over 70 ice cream recipes here to choose from, there’s sure to be an ice cream for everyone! If you’re new to making ice cream, the Read more

Weekly Menu Plan – Oct. 9 to 15

Here is your menu plan for the week!

Monday: Taco Stew

Tuesday: Chicken Gyros

Wednesday: French Toast

Thursday: Sheet Pan Chicken Stir Fry

Friday: Date Night!

Saturday: Garlic Tomato Basil Orzo

Sunday: Stuffed Pork Chops

READ: Weekly Menu Plan – Oct. 9 to 15

This homemade shrimp ramen is a quick and satisfying twist on the classic Japanese dish. With simple ingredients and minimal prep, this easy recipe offers a flavorful shortcut to a delicious bowl of noodles, succulent shrimp, and aromatic broth. Perfect for busy days when you crave a comforting meal without the fuss.

Shrimp Ramen

It’s been a great week for cookbook reviews over here. My friend Gina’s newest cookbook, Skinnytaste Simple: Easy Healthy Recipes with 7 Ingredients or Fewer, arrived this past weekend and almost immediately I sat down to flip through it. I have at least a dozen recipes bookmarked already and I can hardly wait to try them all.

This Shortcut Shrimp Ramen was a must-make as soon as I spied it in the book. I had shrimp in the freezer, mushrooms in the fridge, and ramen noodles in the pantry.

Easy Homemade Ramen

The simple flavors in this recipe work well together. The result is a mild-flavored broth, not at all salty (like those ramen packets tend to be) and it can easily be kicked up with soy sauce or your favorite hot sauce.

We added generous amounts of gochujang sauce and all voted this meal a complete win. Much like the first time we made Egg Drop Soup a dozen years or more ago, homemade ramen was an instant hit. This is going to be a staple around here now.

Shrimp Ramen Noodles

You’ll need just a few ingredients to make this recipe:

• shrimp
• olive oil
• fresh ginger and garlic
• chicken stock
• mushrooms

Grilled Avocado Tacos Recipe

This easy avocado tacos recipe is made with creamy grilled avocados, a little bit of queso fresco, pickled onions and a tangy lime crema. You’re going to love them!

Grilled Avocado tacos, an absolute must this summer! They may not look like much, but trust me before you know it you’ll be shoveling your 5th taco in your mouth.

Recommended Equipment

• Wusthof Knives
• Tongs
• Pastry Brush

Before You Begin…

I like to make the crema before I start doing anything with the avocados or the grill. The flavors meld together if you let it set for a few minutes so the flavor is more bold and fabulous. Our favorite brand of crema is Cacique!

How This Recipe Came to Be

I once had a roommate who made avocado tacos. At first appearance it seemed almost too easy to me, but then she let me try one. And try it I did, over and over, and over again. They were delicious, light, easy and surprisingly flavorful. And then I got married, moved out and totally forgot about them for a few years.

And then enters my darling friend, Lisa. Lisa is a vegetarian and although I’m all about the meat I find myself frustrated for her when people or restaurants don’t have options for vegetarians. I actually think there is no excuse for a restaurant to not have at least a couple of vegetarian options unless it’s something like a place that specializes in just meat, like J Dawgs.

I’m constantly trying my hand at vegetarian recipes ever since meeting Lisa, kind of like this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, and then one day I remembered the avocado tacos. I’m not saying that these are the most over the top, crazy delicious dinner recipe you could make, but they really are super delicious, and perfect for both vegetarian and meat eaters at get-togethers or BBQ’s.

In fact, we eat them all the time, and if it’s lunch and we don’t want to heat up the grill we just cook the tortillas and skip grilling the avocados. It’s still delicious, I promise. And because Lisa started this new search in us, we’ve actually found that we prefer to not eat meat every single night. Our bodies seem to respond better to meat sparingly. Go figure. But I will say, meat and protein in the form of meat is still essential for us. And Lisa doesn’t mind.

Ingredients for Grilled Avocado Tacos

For the Tacos

• Corn Tortillas: We have become obsessed with this Vista Hermosa brand of corn tortillas. They have such great flavor and hold up well.
• Avocado: You want a ripe but firm avocado that can hold up to the grilling.
• Salt and Pepper: Adds flavor to the avocado as i