Welcome to the weekend, my friends! My youngest son and I spent the past few days in Arizona and New Mexico visiting family and it was a great time for all of us. As much as we love Ohio, it’s a lot of fun to be back in the Southwest for these visits. (Especially before the sun reaches earth-boiling temperatures each summer.)

IN THE KITCHEN THIS WEEK: With traveling this past week and heading home today, I’ve planned some very simple meals to get us through the rest of spring break and into the last of the school year. BBQ chicken stuffed potatoes are always a hit with everyone and they’re literally the easiest meal you can make. 

All the ingredients we love in classic Chinese Egg Rolls come together in this egg roll stir fry recipe. This is an irresistible bowl of deconstructed egg rolls and you’re going to love it.

Tender peas, sweet carrots, and savory bits of celery and onions in a creamy, rich beef gravy baked inside a buttery crust make for a fantastic (and EASY) ground beef pot pie.

Some foods are so basic, so incredibly simple, that it can be difficult to describe their awesomeness. That’s how I feel about cottage cheese with fruit. Two ingredients. Just TWO. I’ll be making these bowls with strawberries all week long. 

With an abundance of sweet ripe berries, fresh green spinach, chewy pasta, and a bright and flavorful light balsamic dressing, this strawberry spinach salad is an unexpected and delicious pasta salad that is certain to become one of your family’s new favorites.

California spaghetti salad is a guaranteed hit for the vegetable lovers in your life! This amped up pasta salad is exploding with fresh vegetables and an irresistible Parmesan dressing.

And with all the berries coming into season, Strawberries Romanoff definitely needs to be on the meal plan. The last berries I bought were so flavorful, I immediately knew this dessert needed to happen asap.

My FAVORITE THING this week is my hand cream. Each time I visit family back in AZ and NM, my skin dries out like mad. Fortunately, this is never far from hand, (ha, pun unintended) I love it so much. 

What I’m LISTENING to: Psalms by Sandra McCracken. This album has a unique sound, reminiscent of Americana and folk. I love her variations on some of the traditional songs she’s included. We initially discovered he

Easy Italian Pasta Salad [+ Video]

This easy Italian Pasta Salad is a crowd-pleasing dish perfect for summer picnics or potlucks. Packed with fresh vegetables, cheese, pepperoni and dressed with a zesty homemade Italian dressing, this salad is sure to be a hit. Plus, check out the recipe video for step-by-step instructions!

Have you made our Greek Pasta Salad? It’s really good and one of the most popular recipes on our site. Here’s the thing though, not everyone is a fan of feta cheese, so we felt like we had no choice but to bust out an amazingly easy pasta salad recipe complete with mozzarella cheese, fresh and flavorful homemade Italian dressing, and meat and colorful vegetables galore.

There’s something about pasta salad recipes and summertime that just make the world happy. I get almost giddy the closer we get to summer just thinking about dusting off the BBQ and pulling out the lawn chairs for outdoor cookouts with friends. Make some grilled chicken and grilled corn on the cob with this pasta salad with Italian dressing, and you have yourself the perfect summer dinner!

What’s in Italian Pasta Salad?

I’ll be honest with you — our kids totally pick out some of the ingredients in this homemade pasta salad. Two of our kids love straight up cold pepperoni. So Cade and I are left to eat whatever’s leftover from this pasta salad with pepperoni. The joys of parenthood!

To make this pasta salad recipe, you’ll need:

• Rotini Pasta: Any short, sturdy pasta works great like penne, farfalle, fusilli, macaroni, etc.
• Pepperoni
• Salami
• Black Olives
• Mozzarella Cheese: Fresh mozzarella balls are preferred.
• Parmesan Cheese: freshly grated
• Bell Pepper: I prefer a red, yellow or orange bell pepper.
• Tomatoes: Grape or cherry tomatoes work great.
• Red Onion
• Italian Salad Dressing: You can grab some at the grocery store or make it at home with the recipe we’ve included below.

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

How to Make Italian Pasta Salad

Don’t let all the mix-ins fool you, this Italian pasta salad with pepperoni is as easy as it gets! It’s just a matter of cooking the pasta, choppi

Double Dipped Crispy Fried Chicken [+Video]

Double-dipped, crispy fried chicken is a crowd favorite with its extra crunch, juicy texture, and incredible flavor. Serve it with creamy coleslaw and warm cornbread for the perfect Southern meal.

Southern friends, I swear y’all are the masters of comfort food. Nobody does it quite like the South—especially when it comes to fried food. And let’s be real, Southern fried chicken is in a league of its own.

Growing up in a home with a dad from Oregon and a mom from Idaho, fried chicken wasn’t really ever made. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t eat it.

Looking back, this is really quite ridiculous and a little embarrassing to admit, but whenever we went out and had a picnic, we would get fried chicken from… well, from KFC. There, I said it.

Oh gosh, lol, it’s kind of funny if you think about it. I mean, my mom cooked all of our meals, and we practically never ate out, but then we go on a picnic and we take a bucket of fried chicken. Bahahaha.

Southern Fried Chicken

It’s crunchy on the outside and with juicy divine chicken underneath. This is the best fried chicken. It is our absolute favorite and totally irresistible. We use tender chicken breasts, but you could easily swap them for thighs, drumsticks, and even wings!

Southern food is a favorite around here, like our smoked beans, southern cheese crackers, and southern corn bread (which is the best corn bread EVER.)

Ingredients for Double Dipped Crispy Fried Chicken

The secret to making the best Southern Fried Chicken starts with the perfect ingredients. Let’s break down everything you need to make this classic comfort food right at home!

• Water: The base for the brining process
• Kosher Salt: Essential for seasoning and brining
• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: The star of the dish

Spring Easter M&M Cookies [+Video]

Deliciously thick, soft, and chewy spring Easter M&M Cookies! These cookies are the epitome of a perfect chocolate chip cookie: delightfully crunchy around the edges with a warm, soft center. Trust me, you absolutely must enjoy one while it’s warm!

I have seriously never worked so quickly to get a recipe out to you all, but the response on our Instagram for our M&M cookies was out of control, so I just had to put these Easter cookies into your hands!

I am almost always making and photographing recipes a year in advance. Therefore, these last few weeks, I’ve been developing, making, and photographing recipes for next spring and Easter. However, I just couldn’t resist showing you all the most perfect and awe-inspiring Easter M&M cookies that I had made last week. They were simply too glorious not to share…and you all agreed!

In fact, you agreed so much that I got bombarded with emails, DMs, comments, and all the things (which I LOVE). So, here they are—you don’t have to wait a whole year because I’m just that nice!

Endless Possibilities for Add-Ins

Even though Easter is over, this recipe works great with any add-ins you want. For instance, you can swap the Easter M&M’s for regular M&M’s or any holiday M&M’s. Since the 4th of July is just around the corner, can you imagine them with red, white, and blue? I can’t wait! Additionally, you could use Reese’s Pieces or pretty much anything else you desire. I’m going to write a whole section about add-ins below.

Furthermore, these cookies do not need to wait in the fridge, but I believe that they taste a little better if you let the dough rest. The key is that anytime you refrigerate or freeze a cookie, you want to give it about 15-30 minutes on the counter (if refrigerated overnight) to rest, the same goes for frozen cookies.

Ingredients for Easter M&M Cookies

This will be pretty much your standard list of ingredients for classic chocolate chip cookies plus some M&M’s. Here is what you will need:

• Unsalted Butter – using unsalted allows you to control the saltiness of the recipe and make sure it is softened but not too soft!
• Brown Sugar – you want fresh moist brown sugar to make the texture of these cookies perfect
• White Sugar – just regular granulated white sugar
• Egg – gives structure to the cookies and helps hold everything together
• Vanilla Extract – adds to the flavor, and use the real stuff…no imitation vanilla

• Flour – make sure to measure the flour correctly so they come out chewy and soft
• Baking Soda – gives the cookies their rise and fluffiness
• Cornstarch – helps make the cookies stay thick and soft
• <

Berry Avocado Chicken Salad – Healthy Version

Juicy chicken breast adds a little protein to this simple berry avocado salad with a light poppyseed dressing. Throw on a little gorgonzola, candied nuts and you’ve just made the most perfect dinner salad recipe.

We chose to use Greek yogurt instead of the oil, sour cream or mayonnaise versions. We also found that because of the creaminess of the Greek yogurt there was no need to use an entire cup of sugar like many of the recipes out there. Plus bonus protein from the yogurt! I love when I can make something a little healthier and it still tastes fabulous!

Years ago my friend invited me to a girls night dinner to chat. She had a gift card for us both at a local restaurant and as we were fighting to survive unemployment (link to fighting faith) it was a blessing so I hopped in the car with her. Little did I know she was going to change my whole salad and soup life! She taught me how to turn a “nuts about berries” salad into something incredible, how to take tomato soup and creamy cauliflower soup and combine them with a little orzo on top for the best soup ever and now I’ve been making this berry avocado chicken salad ever since! I think the candied nuts and cheese are essential, but you can do any changes you’d like- feta instead of Mild Blue Cheese or gorgonzola is great too for example. See our entire list of possibilities below!

Ingredients for Chicken Berry Avocado Salad

This berry avocado salad only uses just a few wholesome and fresh ingredients. You’ll only need 4 ingredients for the light poppyseed dressing! Here is everything you will need:

• Chicken Breasts
• Brown Sugar BBQ Rub: Salt and pepper would work great too.
• Butter Lettuce
• Spinach and Kale Combo
• Avocado
• Berries: Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries and Blackberries
• Candied Pecans
• Crumbled Mild Blue Cheese, or gorgonzola

Poppyseed Dressing

• Plain Greek Yogurt
• Sugar
• Prosecco or Champagne Vinegar
• Poppy Seeds

The measurements and details for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe at the end of the post so keep scrolling!

How to Make Berry Avocado Salad

This salad recipe is so easy to make, and taking the time to cook the chicken and make the candied pecans is so worth the extra effort! Here are the basic steps!

1. Cook the Chicken: Season each chicken bread on top and bottom with the BBQ rub and cook over medium-high heat either on the grill or in a pan on the stove top with a drizzle of oil. Then turn the heat d