Whether you’re dressing up a salad or slathering it on a burger, Thousand Island brings a punch of flavor that’s downright irresistible. Creamy mayo meets tangy ketchup along with the pop of diced pickles and a sprinkle of zesty onions in this recipe for Thousand Island salad dressing.

Thousand Island Salad Dressing

Want to know how to make your own Thousand Island dressing? It’s still a popular dressing for good reason. Thousand Island was the salad dressing most often seen on the table in my childhood.

And while this zesty-sweet old-fashioned dressing will never replace our beloved ranch, it’s nostalgic for me. Whenever it’s on hand, I can’t resist using it.

Did you know that you can turn Thousand Island salad dressing into Russian dressing? Add ½ teaspoon of plain or sweet paprika and 2 teaspoons of horseradish to the recipe below. Feel free to adjust both to taste.

We use Thousand Island or Russian dressing on these Reuben Sliders and in this Corned Beef Dip. Both of which disappear about as quickly as I can serve them!

Read more

Empty Tomb Rolls [+ Video]

Every Easter our family makes these sweet empty tomb rolls (aka resurrection rolls) where the marshmallow melts down to a caramel sauce inside the roll. This is one of our all-time favorite Easter recipes!

We usually start our Easter with these sweet rolls for breakfast. They can also be eaten as an appetizer, side dish or dessert. They go great with a honey baked ham and potato casserole. No matter when you eat them, they will make a great addition to your Easter celebration.

What are Resurrection Rolls?

These rolls can be called empty tomb rolls or resurrection rolls, heck you can even call them disappearing marshmallow rolls if you prefer. Either way, they are a soft, homemade roll that has a cinnamon sugar, butter-dipped marshmallow inside. The dough is formed around the marshmallow and dipped in more butter and cinnamon sugar then baked. As the dough bakes, the marshmallow melts into a sweet caramel-like sauce inside the dough. When you open the resurrection rolls the marshmallow is gone but the dough is sweet and sticky.

The empty tomb rolls are meant to symbolize the burial and resurrection of Christ. It is a tender object lesson to teach kiddos what we celebrate on Easter. The marshmallow represents Jesus’ body and the roll dough represents the tomb.

If you aren’t religious it doesn’t really matter because you still get to eat a yummy roll! They are easy and so tasty!

Our Story of Faith While Preparing for Another Baby

Heads up, I’m about to get personal so feel free to keep scrolling if you just want the recipe.

We had a special little conversation while making these resurrection rolls. You see, I’ve been incredibly ill with Hyperemesis Gravidarum with all three of my pregnancies. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve endured in my 30 some odd years of life, but it’s obviously been incredibly rewarding too.

Our oldest daughter witnessed so much this last pregnancy that she was able to grasp what was happening a little more than before. She asked me yesterday why I had been willing to be pregnant a third time knowing that it would be so horrible and I jumped at the opportunity to tell her.

Someone was Missing

Have you ever felt this stirring inside of you and you know you are meant to do something? Or had that odd feeling that someone is missing? It may be that you felt this great pull and desire to start your own business, be a teacher, have children, or anything else you can dream up, and all you can say is that you just knew you were meant to do it? We — I especially — have had both feelings each time we’ve had a baby. Every. Single. Time.

It took us five years to put on our brave pants and try for another baby. We had felt strongly that there was another who was meant to be in our family, but we thought

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I’m very much looking forward to a lazy weekend spent mostly at home – this one will be filled with bonus teenagers and an abundance of food too. I love it when everyone is home at the same time these days. 

And seeing how I am as weather-obsessed as ever, I’ll be headed out for a few walks and enjoying the fresh, chilly air as much as possible.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: This is, without doubt, bar none, the best tomato soup I have ever tasted. If you have someone in your family who doesn’t like tomato soup, this three-ingredient crockpot recipe is the one you can use to convince them otherwise. It has made diehard fans of me and my boys.

I’ve been holding out on you, my friends. I first made this ramen egg roll in a bowl over a month ago and I’ve made it four more times since then. It was an immediate family favorite from the very first bite, and right now, I can’t get enough of it.

Sweet and just a little bit spicy, this bell pepper and chicken stir fry is filled with bite-size sticky sweet chunks of honey sriracha chicken and tender-crisp peppers. The whole recipe comes together in under 20 minutes.

Crispy roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans and bacon is a holiday-sounding side dish you can eat any day of the week.

Do you know how easy it is to make taco soup? (You only need 7 ingredients!) This is a hearty chili-style soup made with beef, tomatoes, beans, and corn. It’s full of Mexican flavors and is the perfect thing to make for busy nights.

Have you heard of mac and cheese ice cream? As the creamy, sweet ice cream melts in your mouth, the flavor softens and leaves you with just a hint of savory flavor. Is it for everyone? Nope. But it has been a huge win with a surprising number of people!

With a sweet, buttery, crispy, cake-like topping and a filling of sweet, warm berries, this blueberry cobbler is dessert perfection with a scoop of ice cream on top.

What I’m CRAVING: These Chocolate Mint Dream Bars are dessert perfection, and my family has loved them ever since my friend Lynne first made them for us. My youngest son made them last night and they’re chilling in the fridge now, ready for dinner tonight. I can hardly wait.

My FAVORITE THING this week is this dish brush. I’d apologize for ho

Apple Empty Tomb Rolls [+ Video]

A soft, buttery, flaky roll stuffed full of chopped up apples in an incredible caramel sauce. But what’s the secret to Apple Empty Tomb Rolls?

If you’ve been following us for a while now you know that there’s a recipe that almost broke our site, do you know which one it is?

Actually, I lied.

There are a few recipes that continue to bring in millions of views, but we can chat about those later if you’d like. But Empty Tomb Rolls is the one I’m talking about right now. And it’s what inspired this version or Apple Empty Tomb Rolls which I think blows the original out of the water.

Our original recipe calls for roll dough, butter, cinnamon sugar and marshmallows.

Crazy, crazy easy.

You’ve got to go check out the recipe and watch the video. It’s a really delicious one.

All summer the idea kept coming to my mind that it would be really delicious if I could make a new version. That’s kind of hard though because there’s literally nothing to the recipe, but the idea came to my mind so many times I knew it was inspiration.

I kept pondering and pondering over what new idea could be used when I asked a question on Instagram about fall and what flavor you all prefer, apple or pumpkin.

On one post it was overwhelmingly APPLE and on another, PUMPKIN! Seriously? How does that help me know what to make?! LOL, it was awesome. And then it hit me, Apple Empty Tomb Rolls. They are even kind of like our Apple Pie Bombs, but no frying needed!

You see, Empty Tomb Rolls, or as some people call them, Resurrection Rolls (there’s a whole story that you tell your kids as you make them, it’s pretty cute) end up with a caramel-y sauce inside of the roll and it’s so good! What goes better with apples than caramel?!

The Secret to Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

Do you know the secret to apple empty tomb rolls?

Marshmallows!!!

Let’s dive in to the recipe.

What to Serve with Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

Actually, hold on a second! Do you know what would be really good? These hot, saucy apple empty tomb rolls are reminiscent of apple pie. In fact, if you made them with two crescent rolls and more filling it would totally look like mini hand pies. But listen, I’m getting too far off here, the point is, it’s like apple pie, so what would really be good is to serve them up with a cold, creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream!

How to Make Apple Empty Tomb Rolls

It’s probably one of the easiest desserts you’ll ever make and it all starts with the apples.

You will need to microwave the apples for about a minutes so that they are beginning to turn tender. The bake time isn’t longing enough to soften them up, so the microwave is going to help out with that.

Next, toss the apples with melted butter and mini marshmallows. As you know, large marshmallows are used in the o

Weekly Meal Plan – Mar. 25 to Mar. 31

We are starting off with a soup that either uses up your leftover ham from last week or that you can keep in your back pocket to use next week with your Easter leftovers. Then we roll through the week with some easy family favorites as we get closer to Easter Sunday!

I love this holiday so, so much! HAPPY EASTER to all our loyal readers and supporters!

Monday: Ham and Vegetable Soup

Tuesday: BLTs

Wednesday: French Onion Chicken

Thursday: Ground Beef Burritos

Friday: Ham Lemon Orzo

Saturday: Chicken Caprese Sandwich

Sunday: EASTER – Honey Baked Ham

READ: Weekly Meal Plan – Mar. 25 to Mar. 31