The Best Cheese Ball I Ever Had

I had no idea that an easy cheese ball recipe could be this good. Last year I had the best cheese ball I ever had and now I get to share how crazy easy this appetizer is!

Our neighbor, Michelle thought up the most genius idea, she cancelled neighbor gifts at Christmas. Can we all have a moment of cheering for Michelle? Now, I’m not against neighbor gifts, but I don’t know that I’m for pouring out all of that extra stress for a bunch of cookies the neighbors throw away. Don’t worry, I’m going to tie it all together so you know what it has to do with The Best Cheese Ball I Ever Had. 

We were so impressed with not just Michelle, but how the neighbors responded. Michelle sent out a big letter announcing that instead of doing neighbor gifts, what if we donated to a cause. Everyone could come visit at a little Christmas gathering at her house, bring a donation for a family in need or a reputable charity and visit with each other, which is more of what Christmas is about.

Oh it was such a success!! So much money earned, and we stuffed our faces, I mean, we all got into the Christmas spirit so much more!

What is a Good Cheese Ball Recipe?

Another dear friend, Angie was there. I casually walked over to her and seeing the food said, “oh what is a good cheese ball recipe? I’m never as in love as I want to be.” And there we were, standing at the food table, shoveling crackers with the best cheese ball I ever had into our mouths. I finally said, “my gosh, who made this?!!!” And Angie says, “Oh, I did.”

What?! How have I never tasted of this goodness before and how could she stand there so nonchalant?! I mean, it looked like a classic cheese ball recipe, but something about it was different.

Look, I’ve had some pretty good cheese balls in my day. Our BBQ Bacon Cheese Ball and German Chocolate Cheese Ball are pretty dang amazing, but now I am sitting here making a humble pie because Angie’s is the best cheese ball I ever had!

Secret Ingredients in the the Best Cheese Ball

I think it’s the secret, artery clogging ingredient that you all are going to use and not complain a lick about because it’s just that worth it.

Kraft Old English Jarred Cheese.

Yes, it’s cheese in a jar. I’ve linked to it so you can see what to look for.

No, it probably isn’t real cheese. I can’t fight you on that one. Can you pretend it is? Just this once?

The rest of the ingredients are the norm, but I’ll do you a favor and give a quick overview because I love seeing a quick list of ingredients.

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Five years flew by in a little more than a heartbeat and we now have three teenagers in our home. My youngest son Nate turned 13 this year, which meant it was time for our family’s last “teen birthday trip.”

Sean and I have taken each of our boys on a special trip with just the three of us for their 13th birthdays. We visited San Francisco with our oldest son, Sam, and visited Denver with our middle son, Ben.

This time our destination was Pigeon Forge, TN and it did not disappoint. We found a great cabin to rent in Sevierville (complete with video game tables, air hockey, and a hot tub) and Nate declared it the best rental house ever.

We very much enjoyed exploring the area and thanks to your awesome suggestions via my newsletter request, we found a few unexpected things to do too. Hillbilly Golf in Gatlinburg was such a big win, we’d have gone back for another round if we’d had the time.

We stopped at the Tennessee visitor center as we crossed the state line and Nate picked up a bunch of brochures there for activities that caught his eye.

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Texas Roadhouse Loaded Sweet Potato Copycat Recipe

Who doesn’t love that over the top Texas Roadhouse sweet potato?! Oh, Mama!! Check this copycat recipe out!!!!

Tender sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, that signature Texas Roadhouse honey cinnamon butter, and a heavenly caramel sauce. These sweet potatoes are the best side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or just a nice Sunday dinner.

Why do I love Texas Roadhouse so much? Is it the house salad with that thick dressing and those darn hard boiled eggs? Is it those rolls that I shovel into my mouth faster than I can say, “one more please!” Actually, I probably am the rolls because I definitely don’t like how loud it is. Cade would for sure, 100% say it’s the Texas Roadhouse Loaded Sweet Potato. Hence this post and my need to create a copycat recipe.

Ingredients for Texas Roadhouse Sweet Potato Recipe

• Sweet Potatoes
• Mini Marshmallows
• Honey Cinnamon Butter: butter, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey
• Caramel Sauce: butter, brown sugar, honey

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post. Keep scrolling for all the details!!

How to Make Texas Roadhouse Sweet Potatoes

First you’re going to start with the butter and I cannot emphasize enough, real butter is necessary. No margarine. Sorry. And if you’re like us you’ll want to make extra for soft rolls like our famous potato rolls or homemade rolls.

Then there’s the caramel sauce. I really think this is more a dessert than anything else, but we can all pretend I didn’t say that when you eat it with your big, juicy steak at dinner. The caramel sauce actually keeps really well and heck, you could eat that caramel over ice cream if you wanted!

But really, these sweet potatoes are the best because it’s honey cinnamon butter, caramel and lots of gooey marshmallows. I tell Cade over and over it’s more like dessert than a side dish, but he just gives me that little smile and dives in.

All you do is bake the sweet potatoes, and then top with the butter, marshmallows, and caramel sauce. Then you bake it a little longer to get those marshmallows roasted, and you’re done! You could even switch the oven to broil to toast them up really quickly. You’ll only need a minute or so on broil, so keep a close eye on them!

Are Sweet Potatoes Healthier than Regular Potatoes?

Both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes are an excellent source of fiber with a great nutritional punch.

Sweet potatoes have fewer calories and fewer carbs, but more sugar. Sweet potatoes are also higher in fiber.

Sweet potatoes are higher in vitamin A, providing 400% of daily

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! There are just a few more days until Thanksgiving and we’re in full holiday mode over here. We put up the Christmas tree and hung some garland last night and I’m loving it.

Except for 2020, (because who didn’t need an early holiday pick-me-up that year?) we’ve never decorated for Christmas so early. We have family coming in this week and thought it would be fun to have the house sparkling with twinkle lights to surprise the little kids.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: Creamy, nutty, and just a little bit salty, these four-ingredient cheese balls are incredibly simple to throw together, perfect for elevating your next charcuterie night.

Honey glazed carrots are a welcome side dish combining the natural sweetness of carrots with a light and buttery honey glaze.

Fresh green beans, a drizzle of oil, a dash of spices, and a generous sprinkling of cheese add up to these crispy parmesan roasted green beans. They’re wonderfully crunchy on the outside and tender inside with so many great flavors in the mix.

Rich with butter and cream, aromatic, and seasoned very simply with salt, pepper, and thyme, these herb mashed potatoes are simply delicious.

Without any added sugars at all, these whipped sweet potatoes are one of the best sweet potato dishes I have ever tasted. Fluffy, creamy, sweet, and fragrant with vanilla, these whipped sweet potatoes are so good, you just might find yourself choosing a second helping for dessert in lieu of pie.

Creamy toffee ice cream swirled with caramel sauce and then filled with bits of crunchy toffee is sure to satisfy any ice cream lover.

The sweet fluff of mini marshmallows and the crunch of slivered almonds make these decadent rocky road brownies a killer treat. You’ll find yourself coming back to the pan for just one more, more than once if you’re like me.

What I’m CRAVING: These cheesy spinach stuffed chicken breasts caught my eye yesterday and I’m still thinking about them. I think they need to happen soon.

My FAVORITE THING this week is my very basic to-do-list style, undated planner. I switched to this style of planner a couple of years ago and it’s been a great fit for me. Both the size an

The BEST Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies + Video

It was hard work but someone had to do it. We searched for the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies recipe and today we are sharing it with all of you!!

Why are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so popular? Even if you don’t like them, you probably know someone who can’t get enough of these festive cookies. We are going to walk you through the steps for making them.

These pumpkin cookies thick and chewy, loaded with chocolate chips and perfectly spiced with those fall flavors we love!

Creating This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

You know where this all started for us, don’t you? The grocery store. It’s not very often that I buy cookies at the grocery store because:

1. We enjoy making cookies together.
2. We love cookie dough (don’t you dare pull the egg thing on me. I know, I know).
3. I happen to think we make really good cookies, so why buy them?

None of that matters when it comes to pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We tried so many recipes and just didn’t love them so we kept buying the big, pillowy cookies on a tray from the store. Until last year. Last year everything changed. We discovered the most melt in your mouth pumpkin cookie recipe EVER.

You see, Pinterest was bonkers about pumpkin last year. I’d say it was one of the biggest pumpkin years ever, and with all of the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipes we just had to start testing them all. And you know what, it was the one that was plastered all over Pinterest we liked the least.

We discovered that often those really high cookies were either too dense and soggy or 90% of the time way too dry. So scratch that. We needed pillowy but height was no longer a concern.

Too little or too much pumpkin led to flavorless or eating squash tasting cookies. We found that 1 cup was the perfect amount. Recipes that were doubled or even tripled didn’t come out as well so we stuck to our 3 dozen batch.

It took some time and patience, but now that we’ve discovered the secret to making truly phenomenal pumpkin cookies with gooey chocolate chips, we’ll never go back to the store-bought kind.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients

The ingredients for these pumpkin cookies are nothing out of the ordinary, but the &l