Welcome to the weekend, my friends! As always, when October rolls around, I simply must quote my beloved Anne girl, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” Our weather has been absolutely lovely this week and I’ve soaked it up whenever possible. As I write this, the sun is shining and there’s a chilly breeze outside. 

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: Cheesy, saucy, rich and hearty Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats are a favorite in my house. Whether you serve them on their own, with a side of rice or potatoes, or chopped up and tossed with pasta (that’s my favorite way to enjoy these for lunch leftovers!), these zucchini boats are likely to be a win with your whole family.

Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, these Roasted Red Potatoes are sure to become a regular feature on your menu. The kids absolutely loved them.

Dip those potatoes or some crispy roasted Brussels sprouts in this Bang Bang Sauce for a side dish delicious enough to steal the dinner show.

Heath Bar Cookies start with a chocolate chip cookie dough base, but in addition to those melting semi-sweet morsels, these rich buttery cookies contain the toffee-tastic magic of Heath bars.

This smooth and creamy Honey Ice Cream with Cardamom and Cinnamon is the ultimate complement to a bowl of berries or grilled peaches. It’s also terrific scooped into a cone or bowl on its own, or drizzled with warm berry sauce. The flavors in this ice cream are unforgettable.

Full of tender apples, beautifully citrusy rhubarb, and crowned with a classic brown sugar oat crisp topping, Apple Rhubarb Crisp blends seasons together in sweet tart harmony.

What I’m CRAVING: I’m really wishing I had some of my cousin Hannah’s Cranberry Bliss Biscotti in the house this morning. I need to put these on my must-make baking list soon! 

My FAVORITE THINGS this week are my dishwashing gloves. They have a cuff that helps prevent water from splashing and getting inside the gloves. I have the medium size and they’re the PERFECT not-too-tight, not-too-loose fit, super easy both to put on and take off. I’ve been using them for almost a year now and still love them as much as the day

This smooth and creamy honey ice cream with cardamom and cinnamon is the ultimate complement to a bowl of berries or grilled peaches. It’s also terrific scooped into a cone or bowl on its own, or drizzled with warm berry sauce. The flavors in this ice cream are unforgettable.

Cardamom Honey Ice Cream

I was chatting with friends a few weeks ago, on a very warm day, and someone asked what our favorite ice cream flavors were. (Side note – that’s a hard question for some of us!)

My favorite flavor at that moment in time was a three-way tie between lemon ice cream, black raspberry ice cream, and birthday cake ice cream. Another friend commented that his favorite flavor was a cardamom honey ice cream he’d made a while back.

Honey Ice Cream

I couldn’t get that cardamom and honey ice cream flavor combination out of my mind. I enjoy pretty much anything if it has cardamom in it and I’d never tried a honey ice cream, so I knew I needed to try this sooner than later.

The depth of the honey flavor in the ice cream will be determined by the time of honey you choose to use when making this recipe. A basic grocery store honey will deliver plenty of honey flavor. However, a darker honey will deliver a stronger flavored ice cream.

Honey ice cream has a rich, creamy texture and it stays soft and scoopable even after several days in the freezer. This isn’t an ice cream that will ever be rock-hard after freezing.

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Creamy Garlic Parmesan Brussel Sprouts and Broccoli

A creamy sauce is the key to our perfect brussel sprouts and broccoli recipe, plus buttery sautéed mushrooms and crisp, salty bacon! It the best easy vegetable recipe.

My mom LOVES mushrooms sautéed in butter. She loves caramelized mushrooms and mushroom soup, but nothing really sold me on the power of a little ‘shroom’ until now. This is the absolute best recipe for brussel sprouts AND their famous green and stalky cousin, broccoli. As the flavors blend and melt together under the blanket of a silky and creamy white sauce the nuttiness from the nutmeg will take over and everyone will be salivating for just one little bite.

It was a Sunday and my plans for dinner ended up being a waste, so I quickly shifted gears and began pulling the leftovers into a new concoction, one I hoped would be decently received.

I had:

Broccoli

Brussel Sprouts

Cream

and Mushrooms.

But I was feeling a bit insecure. I mean, do broccoli and brussel sprouts really hold up next to one another?

And hold up they have! This is one of my very favorite recipes to make. If it was 20 years ago I’d have given a hard pass on those brussels, heck probably the broccoli too, so why was I willing to play the game now?

Because of that sauce.

It’s rich and creamy without drowning the vegetables. And I’m convinced that it actually makes you happier when you combine vibrant color with an opposite sauce and texture. For some reason it really does go from being ok to delicious!

How to Make This Recipe

Ingredients for Creamy Brussel Sprouts and Broccoli

This veggie recipe is simple but totally loaded with flavor. Here is what you will need:

• Bacon
• Butter
• Brussels Sprouts
• Broccoli Florets
• Baby Bella Mushrooms
• Garlic Seasoning: like Johnny Garlic Spread or Kinder Buttery Steakhouse Rub
• Heavy Cream
• Buttermilk
• Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Pepper

The measurements for all these ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

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Heirloom Apple Rolls

Heirloom apple rolls are one of my favorite recipes and it’s been passed down through our family for over 200 years! Perfect for breakfast or dessert, these rolls are the perfect treat for a cozy autumn day.

Grandma’s House

My Grandma was such a lovely, sweet, tender hearted woman and these apple rolls are her recipe from over 100 years ago at least (although I did modernize them with butter instead of lard). She pass just a few months ago now so this recipe has taken on a new level of tenderness and memory.

I loved going to Grandma’s house, sitting on her lap to read a bazillion stories and have her tickle my arms or back until both of us were out cold. She lived in the same, cute house in Jerome, Idaho until the end, and I don’t know that many people had a backyard quite like hers. We would have summer picnics where all the cousins would come over and we’d run around playing games while the adults prepared the food and Grandma made homemade ice cream.

The weather was always perfect, the grass green and the trees were strong and tall to climb in. You could always find my older sister up in an apple or apricot tree reading another book. We loved visiting the cows on the farm to give them bottles, collecting “cat tails”, playing in the ditch,  and creating “circus acts” on the swing set during family picnics under the fruit trees. Grandma’s house was magical.

Heirloom Rolls

This apple roll recipe has sooo much sentimental value to me. This is a recipe that just keeps getting passed down through the generations, and I now I’ve taught my darling girls to make them for their future families. Grandma said that this recipe was passed down through the “Mamas” to their new families clear until it got to my mom, who hates cooked apples and dropped the ball. I’m lucky that Grandma taught me to make them so I can continue the tradition. I love how much she loved this recipe and her memories of her mother making them and the kids being so excited and mouths just watering while they waited to eat them.

Here’s what Grandma said about the rolls,

“We used to be so hungry for them, and mama would put them in a big square pan and that’s all we would eat for dinner. We would eat them with fresh cream and we just couldn’t wait to eat them up!”

Grandma was just darling. Seriously, just look at how cute she was! Mary Tyler Thueson was an incredible storyteller. In fact, she wrote a book and gave it to each of her kids and grandkids. So, I thought it would be fun to share her stories every now and again (scroll down past the recipe card to read one of Grandma’s stories). Plus, I love that these old recipes use ingredients that are simple and have been around forever.

Ingredients for Heirloom Apple Rolls

It may come as a surprise but there is no yeast in these sweet rolls. There are just a few ingredients needed to make this treasured recipe. Here is what you’ll need:

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Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, these Roasted Red Potatoes are sure to become a regular feature on your menu. The kids absolutely loved them.

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

This simple side dish recipe can easily be coordinated to bake along with your entree. The last time I made these, I adjusted the cooking times for the potatoes so I could bake them at the same time as the Baked Chicken I was planning to serve.

These potato wedges are a fantastic side dish for just about any occasion. We’ve enjoyed them served alongside Balsamic Glazed Meatloaf and a mixed greens salad, with out-of-this-world tasty Filthy Burgers, and with these Buttered Steak Bites with Mushrooms.

One of the beauties of roasted potatoes is that they are simple enough to go with so many different kinds of main dishes yet still completely delicious in its own right. And you must try them dipped in Po’dunk Sauce, Ranch Dip, or Homemade Ketchup, too!

Making impressive roasted potatoes that are crispy on the outside yet fluffy and tender on the inside takes no special skills or talent in the kitchen. Even brand new home cooks can knock this recipe out of the ballpark.

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