Loaded with robust garlic, zesty lemon, and a kick of red pepper flakes, this Garlic Butter Sauce (a.k.a. Cowboy Butter Sauce) transforms any vegetable into something crave-worthy.

Cowboy Butter Dipping Sauce

This recipe was inspired by a scoop of leftover cowboy butter. And let me tell you, every vegetable dipped in this sauce was very happily devoured. I’ve since decided to keep cowboy butter on hand for all eternity.

My success with the cowboy butter recipe had me wondering whether I could make a cowboy butter dipping sauce. Turns out, you can! The golden elixir it produces is not simply a sauce; it’s a whole experience.

Lemon Butter Sauce for Asparagus

I’ve made this a couple of different ways and I like it best as made below. Yes, you can melt the butter on the stove and simply add the other ingredients to it at that point.

However, I found that the fresh taste of the lemon, garlic, and parsley are best preserved when made as directed, then warmed in smaller portions as needed. If you have a better strategy, I’d love to hear about it.

If you know that you’ll be using a full batch of this garlic butter sauce recipe, make it with whichever method you find easiest. Just remember that once melted, it will not keep as nicely as the compound butter made in this recipe.

You can absolutely use other vegetables with this sauce. But, if you’re looking for a place to start, you can’t go wrong with a side of roasted lemon butter asparagus using this recipe.

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Loaded with robust garlic, zesty lemon, and a kick of red pepper flakes, Cowboy Butter is absolutely crave-worthy on steak, vegetables, or fresh bread.

What is Cowboy Butter?

My brother Karl first told me about this spread. I had never even heard of cowboy butter. He assured me that this spicy, garlic herb compound butter was indeed a real thing.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I was visiting my friend Sandra and she mentioned making cowboy butter for our steaks that night. It was love at first taste! Juicy, grilled meat topped with scoops of slowly melting cowboy steak butter is pure heaven.

Cowboy Butter

This isn’t your average butter. It is a zesty, garlicky, citrus-kissed, spice-tickled creamy concoction with irresistible flavor. I found myself begging her for the recipe.

Lucky for me, it’s about as easy as can be to make. You can mix this compound butter together in barely 5 minutes. The hardest part is waiting while it chills and firms up again in the fridge.

If you’re serving this over meat, it’s well worth the wait. You want the butter to slowly melt over your steak instead of immediately dissolving. Still delicious after it melts, just better when served chilled over hot steaks.

How to Make Cowboy Butter

One of my favorite things about compound butter recipes is that everyone can adjust the ingredients to suit their taste. You can make it spicier with the inclusion of cayenne pepper or by adding more pepper flakes.

Or, you could increase the lemon juice or even use limes to give it a more prominent citrus flavor. I’ve seen variations with mustard and horseradish, and others that include a host of fresh herbs.

This recipe is for how to make cowboy butter the way that I fell in love with it, the one that my kids go cra

Creamy chunks of avocado are combined with tender pieces of chicken in a fresh and slightly spicy dressing to make this Avocado Chicken Salad.

Avocado enthusiasts will love this dish but even if you’re not wild about the creamy green fruit, I encourage you to give this recipe a try. My family hasn’t always loved avocados, but they went crazy over this chicken salad recipe.

After my boys decided they loved guacamole a few years ago, the Roasted Garlic and Bacon Guacamole and the Pomegranate Guacamole have been on regular rotation. (Side note, don’t knock that Pomegranate Guacamole until you’ve tried it, my friends. It’s incredible!)

Chicken Salad with Avocado

We almost always have avocados in the house these days, because I buy as many as possible every time they’re on sale. I do my best to use them before they are overly ripe, but occasionally we wind up with several ripe avocados that need to be used asap.

There are worse problems to have than an overabundance of avocados, right? Whenever this happens, I take the opportunity to have some fun getting creative in the kitchen.

This Avocado Chicken Salad was the fortunate result of having a few too many avocados in the house along with a rotisserie chicken that was begging to be made into a salad for sandwiches.

When I made this avocado chicken salad recipe for the first time, we couldn’t believe how great it turned out! Everyone in my family opted to eat their chicken salad in a different way, so we can vouch that it’s delicious however you consume it.

My boys enjoyed theirs on top of toasted slices of sourdough bread. I ate mine with a handful of multi-grain crackers and Sean opted for eating it lettuce wrap style.

This would also be tasty in a wrap or on top of a garden salad. The last time I made this chicken salad, we ate it layered in between a couple of slices of bread for more traditional chicken salad sandwiches.

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Pina Colada Hawaiian Pulled Pork Nachos Recipe

Hawaiian pulled pork nachos…crispy tortilla chips topped with tender pulled pork, loads of melty cheese, pinto beans, sauteed peppers and a creamy pina colada sauce! It’s what every nachos recipe should be!

Whether you eat them as an appetizer on gameday or a quick weeknight meal, these nachos will get devoured by all the people. My kids think they’ve died and gone to heaven when they get to eat chips for dinner!

This pork nachos recipe will knock your boots off. In fact, they will probably knock you naked. And it will be worth it. They are the best dang nachos I’ve ever had. EVER. And that’s saying a lot because I really thought we loved our Italian nachos with chicken, wontons, and that yummy alfredo sauce…mmmmmm. Seriously though, these rocked our world.

Ingredient for Pulled Pork Nachos

Here is what you will need to make this nachos recipe:

• Pork Butt: 3-4lbs, if you have leftover pulled pork from the night before, that works perfectly
• Pinto Beans: drained and rinsed, and heated through in a pan on the stovetop
• Colby Jack Cheese: you could really use any cheese you want, but colby jack has such a delicious flavor for nachos and gets so creamy and melty
• Tostitos Scoop Chips: I love using scoops because they make the perfect nacho bites, but you could us any type of tortilla chip you prefer.
• Mini Sweet Peppers: I like to chop them into thin strips and then saute them.
• Olive Oil: helps saute the peppers
• Pina Colada Sauce: see recipe below…so creamy with the perfect blend of pineapple and coconut!
• Other toppings: You can load these up as much or as little as you want. Feel free to add more toppings such as tomatoes, diced red onions, fresh pineapple chunks, chopped cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, black olives, jalapenos, etc.

For the Pina Colada Sauce

• Crushed Pineapple: Be sure it is crushed and not the tidbits or chunks and no need to drain it. You want that yummy juice in there for flavor!
• Cream Of Coconut: You can find this by the margarita mixes and alcohol. It is usually in a can.
• Sour Cream: creates the creaminess for the sauce, you could substitute plain Green yogurt if you want

The measurements for all the ingredients and the instructions for making this recipe can all be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. You can also save or print the recipe from there. If you save it, it will be saved in “My Recipe Box” which you can access from the top right corner of any page on the blog. So convenient!

What is the Best Pulled Pork?

These nachos, are super easy to make, and I love that you can make a fresh roast or just use leftovers from dinner the night before. BOO-YAH.  We’ve include a recipe for making the pulled pork here, b

Creamy Lemon Dip served with fresh berries, graham crackers, or shortbread cookies is a light summery dessert that is perfect for sharing with friends.

Lemon Fruit Dip

I made this dip for a pool party with friends a while back and it disappeared lightning-fast. Kids and adults happily scooped it up with the dippers and then nearly licked the bowl clean.

The fluffy sweet fruit dip is tempting enough straight off the spoon, but when you serve it with graham crackers, fresh strawberries, or shortbread cookies? I can tell you for a fact that no one is able to resist it.

For the lemon curd in this dip, I used my 5-Minute Microwave Lemon Curd. It turns out perfectly every time and it’s honestly easier than going to the store to buy lemon curd.

That recipe will make more than you need just for this lemon dip, but you won’t be sad about that.

Easy Fruit Dip Recipes

Fruit dips and plenty of fruit to dip into them are some of my kids’ favorite snacks. I’ll happily find any excuse possible to make and eat all of these dips.

Thick and creamy, cinnamon spice yogurt takes about 10 seconds to stir together and it makes a great dipping sauce for apples. It’s also a terrific breakfast with a sprinkling of granola and berries.

Crunchy peanut butter apple dip is simple and slightly sweet, perfect to enjoy with apples, pretzels, or about anything else you might want to dip into it.

This creamy cranberry jalapeno dip is lightly sweetened and balanced with just a hint of heat from the peppers. Served with crackers and pretzels or spread on toast, this is an unforgettable holiday treat.

This peanut butter and honey yogurt dip was “officially” named a favorite snack in our house when my boys were little. I made it on repeat for months! Who knew that yogurt would be such a great match for peanut butter? It makes the dip smooth and creamy and adds a slight tang that is balanced nicely by a bit of honey.

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