Welcome to the weekend, my friends! Lynne is in town and we’re planning to cook and photograph allllll the things over the next few days. There are a whole lot of vegetables, salads, ice cream, and dream bar recipes in my near future and I have no complaints about this.

ON THE BLOGS THIS WEEK: This easy chili recipe is filled with beans, tomatoes, corn, and plenty of Mexican spices. I’ve made this chili with meat and without and it’s delicious both ways. For about as long as I can remember, this chili has been my go-to dinner plan when we arrive home from traveling and I don’t have time or motivation to head for the store.

Making blistered shishito peppers at home is so easy! All that you’ll need is a bit of oil, a sprinkling of salt, and a squeeze of lemon. Shishitos are one of those things that I rarely can resist when I spy them on the menu, so making them at home is a guaranteed win.

Steak kabobs are summertime entertaining perfection. They can be assembled ahead of time (pro tip: get the kids to help!) and then grilled when you’re ready to eat. The steak for these kabobs rests in a simple Asian-inspired marinade for a few minutes before being skewered along with slices of colorful bell peppers and red onions.

Baked oatmeal, filled with berries, and lightly sweetened with brown sugar is a great way to start the day. This berry baked oatmeal has been a favorite for over ten years now.

Sweet and slightly tart blueberries mingle with the creamy taste of bananas in these perfectly fluffy blueberry banana pancakes.

Layers of sweet, tender shortcake, smooth whipped cream or ice cream, and fresh tangy blueberries meld together perfectly in this blueberry shortcake.

Pistachio ice cream? Oh, yeah. Picture a creamy scoop of freshly churned ice cream with a nutty pistachio kick and then picture me trying to resist going back for “just one more taste” all day long. That pretty much sums up this batch of ice cream.

What I’m CRAVING: I have a weakness for sweet potatoes, so these Read more

Pistachio Ice Cream? Oh, yeah. Picture a creamy scoop of freshly churned ice cream with a nutty pistachio kick and then picture me trying to resist going back for “just one more taste” all day long. That pretty much sums up this batch of ice cream.

Pistachio Ice Cream

This ice cream combines the cold and creamy sweetness of ice cream with the subtle, earthy flavor of pistachio nuts. There’s a hint of vanilla in the background and it compliments that distinct nutty flavor.

Pistachio ice cream has a unique nuttiness (is that even a word??) to it with the pistachio flavor in the creamy ice cream base and the plentiful nuts sprinkled throughout each scoop. Those nuts bring a fun crunch to every bite.

My family enjoys old-fashioned ice creams very much. Rum Raisin, Tin Roof Sundae, Pralines and Cream, and my grandmother’s Six Three’s Ice Cream are popular favorites. And now, pistachio ice cream has earned a seat at the dessert table too.

And in a surprising-to-me twist, my middle son told me a few days ago that pistachio is his new favorite ice cream flavor. While it’s a bit of an acquired taste for some, we all enjoy it.

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Weekly Menu Plan – Apr. 29 to May 5

This week ends with our fabulous steak fajitas as we celebrate Cinco de Mayo! All the days leading up to that are family-friendly, quick and easy meals! Summer is on the horizon, friends! I feel it!

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Monday: Homemade Mac N Cheese

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Tuesday: Cilantro Lime Chicken Burrito Bowl

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Wednesday: Air Fryer BBQ Salmon

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Thursday: Teriyaki Chicken Casserole

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Friday: Loaded Baked Potato w/ Homemade Cheese Sauce

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Saturday: Perfect Scrambled Eggs with a Side of Bacon

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Sunday/Cinco de Mayo: Favorite Steak Fajitas

READ: Weekly Menu Plan – Apr. 29 to May 5

This easy chili recipe is filled with beans, tomatoes, corn, and plenty of Mexican spices. I’ve made this chili with meat and without and it’s delicious both ways.

I’m sharing the easiest chili recipe I make with you today, because as simple as it is, it remains my go-to dinner plan when we arrive home from traveling and I don’t have time or motivation to head for the store.

Simple Chili Recipe

Originally, this was simply an assortment of canned goods that I combined one afternoon when we had just arrived back in town and there wasn’t a bit of fresh food in the house.

After every single person at the table commented on how much they enjoyed the meal, I decided to scribble out a list of the ingredients and make it again. I’ve tweaked the ingredients a little bit here and there but no matter what, it comes out delicious every time.

The convenience of this recipe can’t be beaten. Ten years later, with the same nine cans of beans, tomatoes, green chile, and corn, it all still adds up to a comforting, warm, satisfying, and healthy meal.

Best Easy Chili Recipe

I’ve made many chilis in my day and many, like Hearty Pepper Chili, Whit

The Best 5 Minute Restaurant Style Homemade Salsa Recipe

This is the best 5 minute restaurant style homemade salsa recipe! It is fresh, flavorful and easy to make. You’ll never buy salsa again and you might find yourself eating it every night!

Best Homemade Salsa Recipe

This post has been a long time coming. It’s no laughing matter to set out to make the Best Homemade Salsa Recipe. It all started years ago when my friend, Krysta, made the most delicious homemade salsa EVER.

What’s the key? Oh, friend let me tell you…

Restaurant Salsa Recipe

A restaurant salsa is not big and chunky, that’s a pico de gallo. No, this easy salsa recipe is actually more similar to what you’d pour out of a jar with 100% better flavor.

What makes it a restaurant salsa? Two things:

1. Canned Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2. Blending versus strictly chopping the ingredients.

Oh Sweet Basil Pro Tip

If you live anywhere like we do, fresh tomatoes might not be super easy to get all year round, however they do make for the best salsa.

Let’s break it down even more so that you can be successful whether at the grocery store or at the farmer’s market.

Which Tomatoes are Best for Salsa?

When making a homemade salsa like our chunky tomato salsa you can use a variety of tomatoes, but for a restaurant style salsa you’re going to want to stick to Roma Tomatoes.

How to Pick Good Tomatoes

• Tight Skin- Look for tomatoes with really tight, smooth skin, no wrinkles as that’s a sign of withering from age.
• Coloring- Even coloring without yellow or orange or green marks means it ripened on the vine as it should.
• Weight- The heavier the tomato the better! This is the most important of all. Pick it up and resist squeezing it. The more often you feel tomatoes the better you’ll get at feeling the weight.

Should You Add Sugar to Salsa?

A dash of sugar is used to balance the acidity of the tomatoes which often comes from using store-bought vs garden tomatoes.

Salsa Ingredients

While you can use all canned items (not the onion) for salsa, I’ve found that a combination of fresh and canned works the best for a copycat Mexican restaurant salsa recipe. I think that’s because the canned tomatoes add a more thick and saucy salsa versus a pico de gallo like salsa.

Here’s what we use for Mexican Salsa:

• T