Tender crab meat and a flavorful cream cheese sauce combine to make this hot crab dip taste similar to crab rangoon, but in dippable form! Serve with crostini, toasted baguette, crackers, wonton chips, or whichever dippers you like best.

Hot Crab Dip

This dip has its origins in crab stuffed mushrooms. I had leftover filling and sampled it by dipping a cracker into it. Before I knew what was happening, the pan was empty.

This fantastic appetizer has a very tiki bar feel to it and makes a great addition to any party table. Don’t let that keep you from making it any time, though. It’s fast enough to make on a weeknight that needs a little something special to motivate you through the rest of the week.

And if you want to keep the tiki bar theme, you should serve this with our Mai Tai Cocktail which combines light and dark rums with orange liqueur and a tiny splash of pineapple juice for a citrusy, bright and smooth drink.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

I know not everyone is a mushroom fan. I forgive you. But seriously, I know mushrooms can be polarizing in food.

Could you make this without the mushrooms? Sure. Absolutely.

However, I will tell you that the mushrooms add a great flavor and texture without the recipe tasting even remotely mushroomy. It just makes the dip more substantial and savory.

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High-Protein Viral Cottage Cheese Beef & Sweet Potato Bowl

Get ready to fuel up with this High-Protein Cottage Cheese Beef & Sweet Potato Bowl! Packed with lean ground beef, creamy cottage cheese, and roasted sweet potatoes, this protein bowl delivers a perfect balance of savory and sweet in every bite.

With 40 grams of protein per serving, it’s the ultimate comfort food meets clean eating — perfect for meal prep, post-workout refuels, or a quick weeknight dinner that actually keeps you full. Topped with avocado and pickled red onions is my favorite way to eat it!

I kept hearing about these viral sweet potato bowls all over TikTok and other social media channels, and you know I had to jump on the train and create one my family would love. The components all seemed so odd to eat together, but let me tell you, it works! The flavors and textures all together in one bowl are like a party in your mouth.

Here’s the nutritional breakdown on the Oh Sweet Basil version of the viral Cottage Cheese Sweet Potato Beef Bowl: 36g carbohydrates, 40g protein, 32g fat, and 11g fiber.

Ingredients for a Sweet Potato Bowl

Keep in mind that this protein bowl is highly customizable, but this version is my absolute favorite. I’ll include a section below with ideas for creating your own customized bowl. Here are all the ingredients you’ll need for this high protein meal:

• Sweet Potatoes: Peeled and cut into similar sized cubes.
• Olive Oil: Helps roast and caramelize the sweet potatoes to give them crispy texture.
• Smoked Paprika: Adds bold smoky flavor.
• Kosher Salt: Adds flavor.
• Lean Ground Beef: I recommend going with 93/7 or 90/10 if you can find it.
• Kinder’s Carne Asada Seasoning: We are huge fans of Kinder’s seasonings, but if you don’t have it on hand, taco seasoning will work just great. We have found Kinder’s seasonings at Walmart, Kroger stores, Costco and on Amazon.
• Water: Used to keep the meat juicy and flavorful.
• Cottage Cheese: I use low fat cottage cheese and it tastes great!
  • PRO TIP: If the texture of cottage cheese is a hang up for you, give it a pulse in the blender before adding it to the bowl! Then you get all the protein and creaminess without the curds.
• Avocados: Adds creaminess and healthy fat.
• Cilantro: Adds fresh herbaceous flavor.
• Black Pepper: Adds flavor and a little heat.
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Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I’m in Arizona for a few days and as I write this, I’m enjoying a cool morning on the porch at a friend’s cabin a few hours north of the already very warm Valley of the Sun. Every time I visit Phoenix, it makes me appreciate the beauty of cooler weather and changing seasons all the more.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Ohio? I hope I never take for granted what a gift it is to wake up to my favorite place in the world every morning.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: It’s pasta salad season over here and I’m pretty happy about it. Al dente tiny pasta tossed with generous amounts of cooked shrimp, crunchy fresh vegetables, and a citrus-spiked creamy dressing all combine to make this Shrimp Pasta Salad irresistible. It’s about to become your new summer favorite!

Mozzarella cheese, salami, tomatoes, bell peppers, red onion, and black olives are combined with bite-size pasta and tossed in a tangy, garlicky, vinaigrette to make this Salami Pasta Salad. My boys went a little bit crazy over it the first time I made it.

Oh how I’m loving fresh asparagus right now! Asparagus wrapped in bacon is an impressive-looking side dish that is every bit as awesome to eat as it is to admire on the plate. I could happily make a full meal out of this asparagus.

Tender pasta, shrimp, bacon, and asparagus are tossed with garlic in a creamy sauce to make this irresistible Shrimp Asparagus Pasta. This is a deceptively easy recipe, friends. While the directions look lengthy at first glance, I promise you that this is a quick and straightforward recipe.

With layers of sweet vanilla pudding, sliced bananas, and vanilla wafers tucked under a fluffy layer of whipped meringue, this Old-Fashioned Banana Pudding is a hit every time it is served.

Rich, sweet, and infused with whiskey that has been mellowed by heavy cream, Homemade Irish Cream is dreamy. It’s much more subtle and sophisticated than its commercial counterpart.

And if you’re a fan of Bailey’s Irish Cream: this Irish cream infused Bailey’s Ice Cream is going to make you weak at the knees!

What I’m CRAVING: My friend Christi’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies. If you love chocolate and peanut butter, this recipe is about as good as it gets. I could very happily eat this entire batch myself. These cookies really are THAT good.

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Easy BLT Pasta Salad

This easy BLT pasta salad recipe is unique with it’s creamy basil dressing and fun shaped pasta. Load it up with salty, crispy bacon, juicy tomatoes and don’t forget the smokey cheddar cheese! BBQ side dishes are jealous when our best pasta salad shows up!

STOP cooking your pasta al dente for pasta salads! This might go against everything you’ve ever heard, but pasta that is slightly overcooked will hold the flavor of the dressing better making a more flavorful pasta salad.

BLTs are Claire’s obsession and she’s always encouraging me to make it into another recipe, so here we are with another pasta salad recipe. We like this served at room temp or slightly warm though cold works as well, but tbh an accidental warm pasta was used once and we’ve really never gone back as it turned out the best.

We also used to make a mayo-based dressing for this pasta salad, but we tried it with this healthier basil dressing and we’ve only used it since. So that’s the dressing we are including in the recipe with a shortcut for using a store-bought ranch if you’re short on time.

If you aren’t familiar with a BLT sandwich, BLT stands for bacon, lettuce and tomato. For a sandwich, we layer those between two pieces of toast that have been slathered with mayo and then devour. We are keeping those same delicious flavors in this tasty pasta salad and adding a fabulous basil dressing, pasta, smoky cheese and creamy avocado.

Ingredients for BLT Pasta Salad

You’ll need a few ingredients for making the homemade dressing, but the pasta salad itself is only needs 6 simple ingredients. Here is everything you will need:

For the Dressing

• Plain Greek Yogurt: lightens up the dressing a little while adding good protein
• Mayonnaise: adds creaminess and tang to the dressing
• Buttermilk: added to thin out the dressing a little while keep the tangy flavor
• Fresh Herbs: Basil, Parsley, Dill and Chives
• Worcestershire: adds depth of flavor
• Seasonings: Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Kosher Salt and Black Pepper

For the Salad

• Radiatore or Cavatappi Pasta
• Smoked Cheddar Cheese: sharp cheddar cheese
• Romaine Lettuce: chopped into bite-sized pieces
• Cherry Tomatoes: halved
• Bacon: cooked ahead of time and chopped
• Avocado: adds creaminess and healthy fats

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Easy BLT Pasta Salad

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Calling all Bailey’s Irish Cream lovers: this Irish cream infused Bailey’s ice cream is going to make you weak at the knees!

Bailey’s Ice Cream

Whiskey, chocolate, and coffee. Is there any more tempting combination? It’s a classic for good reason, and it makes for one very lush (pun intended) ice cream.

Irish cream is made from heavy cream, Irish whiskey, coffee, chocolate, and vanilla which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from being a legitimate ice cream base on its own. Alas, pure Irish cream will never freeze to an ice cream because of the alcohol content.

A little bit of kitchen know-how gets us around the problem, though, as we can amplify all the flavors that we get in a shot of homemade Irish Cream or commercially available Bailey’s Irish Cream. Adding a generous amount of Irish cream to our ice cream base does the trick.

If you want to treat yourself to a memorable dessert designed to impress, put a scoop of this ice cream into a martini glass and pour a shot of espresso over it for the world’s best affogato. That is a guaranteed hit!

Bailey’s Ice Cream Recipe

To make this indulgent ice cream, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• whole milk
• heavy cream
• Irish cream
• sugar
• kosher salt
• vanilla extract

The most popular question I get is whether it’s possible to make ice cream without a machine. The answer is YES. You can make ice cream without a machine. Find the full directions here!

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