Category: Recipes & Food

Spicy Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

By Josh BordenPosted in Recipes & Food
Looking for a Thanksgiving side dish that stands out from the crowd? Try this spicy baked macaroni and cheese — it tastes like jalapeño poppers in the BEST possible way!

It’s crazy to think that it’s time to start to plan our Thanksgiving menus, but it indeed is the time! When thinking up what to share for my November recipe, I found myself reflecting on just how different this holiday will feel. It seems everything this year has been new or breaking with tradition, and rather than running from it, I decided, why not lean into it?  Thanksgiving was always different for my Italian American family. The turkey was always the dry (sorry, Nana!) stepsister to our family’s lasagna, and let me be real; I was just there for the sides. I think most of us were/are. So why not bring something a little fun to the table this year, like this spicy baked macaroni and cheese recipe?

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Chinese Five Spice Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe

By Josh BordenPosted in Recipes & Food
Meet the perfect fall pancakes recipe with a twist: Chinese Five Spice Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe — so good and sooo easy! Recipe by Josh Borden, Wanderlust & Piecrust @wanderlustpiecrust The perfect cozy fall buttermilk pancakes recipe for breakfast and brunch! #pancakes #recipe
Joanna’s note: Exciting news: I am thrilled to welcome a new recipe contributor here on the blog! Meet Josh Borden from Wanderlust & Piecrust. Josh and I connected on Instagram long ago and have been quietly making plans for him to join my team — and it’s finally time! He’s relatively new on the scene and some truly wonderful recipes to share. We can’t wait to share even more! Be sure to follow Josh on Instagram, too.

October has always been a whimsical time of year for me. It signals the opening of the gateway to the holiday season. Nothing contributes to this time of year quite as much as the flavors and foods of fall: soup, pumpkin, spices, and crisp apples. One particular fall favorite of mine is my Buttermilk Pumpkin Pancakes recipe. I am sure I am not alone in the general feeling of disappointment at how pumpkin-flavored things have just become sticky sweet and lacking anything cozy and spicy. Often the standard pumpkin pancake recipes you find rarely carry any of that sought after flavor. When I created this pancakes recipe, the flavor profile needed to give way to those authentic Fall flavors, and that’s precisely what it does. A more unique and robust flavor is achieved by taking a few extra steps when handling the common ingredients found in a standard pancake recipe and by creating your own blend of spices instead of reaching for that premixed pumpkin spice (you know, the one that’s been sitting in the back of our pantry for years).

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How To Make Lamb Souvlaki Like My Greek Grandma

By JoannaPosted in Recipes & Food
My Easy Lamb Souvlaki Recipe — From My Yia Yia's Recipe Collection! Greek food recipe, works well with beef or chicken, too. Ingredients include American lamb, bell peppers, grilled onions, and tzatziki #greekfood #souvlaki #kabobs

This year has definitely been a mixed bag of emotions, but I’m doing my best to stay positive. One bright spot has been consistently working in partnership with Fred Meyer and Kroger on Instagram! They’ve been such awesome brand partners, especially since it gives me more of an opportunity to share recipes I love. I’m also aware that not all of my blog readers follow me on Instagram, so just in case I decided to publish it to the blog, too! This recipe is straight from my Yia Yia’s recipe collection (that’s Greek for grandma, btw).

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8 Cookbooks I’m Loving Lately

By JoannaPosted in book report, Recipes & Food
8 Cookbook Recommendations to Inspire You To Try Something New in the kitchen! Easy dinner ideas, weeknight meal recipes, my favorite must-have cookbooks #cooking #cookbooks #bookrecommendations

As tired as I am of cooking every meal for the past 4 months, it’s also been incredibly gratifying to try new things, explore new ingredients and discover cookbooks to add to my library. The last time I shared cookbooks I love, the list was relatively short. To diversify my collection, I made an appointment at my favorite local shop called The Book Larder. I’m obsessed with it because now you can make an appointment to shop safely — and also it’s totally dedicated to cookbooks! Not all of the ones I’m mentioning in this post are from this source, but if you’re local I definitely recommend checking it out. Anyways, let’s dig into the cookbooks I’m loving lately and why!

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My Full Review of Winc Wine Delivery

By JoannaPosted in Recipes & Food
My Full Review of Winc Wine Delivery (Not Sponsored!) Learn how Winc works, my favorite kind of natural wine, organic wine, and vegan wine — plus get $22 off for your first order. My review of a monthly modern personalized wine subscription service. #winc #wine #winedelivery

Ever since the start of sheltering in place, I’ve admittedly been indulging in wine more. I blame the fact this is summer now and our patio is finally settled enough to sit outside and sip rosé! In order to reduce the number of grocery store outings we have to do, I decided to try Winc, a wine delivery service that I’ve seen tons of ads for on Instagram. A friend of mine swears by it, so I signed up using her code which got me a few free bottles. I figured it was free to try, so why not… and now, I am here to tell you that I am OBSESSED. This is not a sponsored post — I simply want to share with you a service that I’ve been loving lately! I will say, if you do sign up, I get credits for my account to get more wine. But you will also get $22 off your first order, so win-win!

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How to Store Produce So It Lasts Longer

By JoannaPosted in Recipes & Food, sustainability
Store Produce So It Lasts Longer With These Tips! How to store vegetables and fruits in the fridge, on the counter, and in the pantry. Tips for how to make fresh food last longer and reduce food waste (while living a more eco-friendly lifestyle!). #sustainability #foodwaste #foodstorage #produce

Thanks to our burgeoning vegetable garden and my obsession with our local farmers market, we always have a lot of fresh produce on hand. If you’re like me or have a CSA sometimes it’s really hard to keep up with making sure everything is eaten before it spoils. I used to google ‘how to store X’ in order to find out the best way. At some point, it got really annoying, especially when Sean asked me how to do it. So I decided to make a list of what goes where (counter, pantry, fridge, etc). If you’ve ever wondered how to store produce so it lasts longer, this is the post for you!

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Herbs and Spices That I Always Keep on Hand

By JoannaPosted in Recipes & Food
Herbs and Spices That I Always Keep on Hand for a Well-Stocked Kitchen. Must-have herbs, spices, spice mixes, salts, and pepper for cooking and baking. Pantry staples for cooking + a look inside my spice rack #pantryessentials #pantrystaples #pantry #grocerylist #groceryshopping #herbs #herbsandspices #spicedrawer

I was not prepared for how stoked you’d be on my post a few weeks ago about everything I keep in our pantry! But given how much we’ve all been cooking under quarantine (and how grounding it can feel to cook a really, really good meal), I really shouldn’t have been surprised. So building off of that post, today I am sharing the herbs and spices I always keep on hand to maintain a stocked kitchen. This is a list of pretty much everything in my spice drawer + notes on how I use them!

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