Pickled Serrano Peppers

Love spicy food? These pickled serrano peppers are for you! I like making them to add a pop of tangy, spicy flavor to tacos, nachos, and more.

Move over, jalapeños! Serrano peppers are my current chile obsession for one simple reason: they’re spicier. Serrano vs. Jalapeño Peppers On the Scoville Scale, the official system for measuring the pungency of peppers, serrano peppers score higher than jalapeños. They clock in at 10,000 to 23,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units) versus jalapeños’ Scoville rating of 2,500 to 8,000. That’s 3 to 4 times hotter! But lately, I’ve felt like the difference in heat level between jalapeño and serrano peppers is even greater than that. I think the jalapeños at my grocery store are tasting more and more like green bell…

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Grilled Asparagus

This grilled asparagus recipe is my favorite spring and summer side dish. Simply seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, it's fresh and delicious.

spring / side dishes

Grilled asparagus is the best spring and summer side dish! It’s tender, juicy, and lightly charred, and it cooks in minutes on the grill. Seasoned simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, it pairs perfectly with almost any meal. Below, you’ll find my easy method for cooking asparagus on the grill, along with my favorite ways to serve it. Even if you’re an asparagus skeptic, I hope you’ll try this recipe. My husband Jack used to claim he hated asparagus, but once he tried it grilled, he became a convert. Who knows? You might…

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Strawberry Spinach Salad

This strawberry spinach salad is filled with pecans, feta, and a tangy poppy seed dressing. Perfect for spring or summer, it's simple and fresh.

This strawberry spinach salad is perfect for spring and early summer. It starts with a base of fresh spinach—one of the first vegetables to appear at my farmers market each spring—and is topped off with juicy strawberries, crisp red onion, toasty pecans, and salty feta cheese. My sweet and tangy poppy seed dressing ties it all together. I think it’s fair to say that this combination is pretty classic (doesn’t Panera have a strawberry poppyseed salad on its menu?), but I still wanted to share this recipe because it’s so simple and fresh, with a wonderful pop of sweetness and color…

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Poppy Seed Dressing

This poppy seed dressing recipe is easy to make with 6 ingredients. Lightly creamy, sweet, and tangy, it's delicious on green salads, slaws, and more!

I can already tell that this poppy seed dressing is going to be the star of my spring and summer salad dressing rotation. It’s lightly creamy, sweet, and tangy, perfect for adding a pop of bright flavor to green salads, slaws, and more. I first started making it to use on my strawberry spinach salad, but once I had it in my fridge, I found that it went well on SO many different combinations of fruits and veggies. This poppy seed dressing is one to make on repeat. Like all my homemade salad dressings, this poppy seed dressing is easy…

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Eggs Benedict

This eggs Benedict recipe tastes like it's from a restaurant, but it's easy to make at home! My rich, creamy hollandaise sauce takes it over the top.

This eggs Benedict recipe is guaranteed to impress. It consists of crisp English muffins topped with perfectly poached eggs, creamy, dreamy homemade hollandaise sauce, and juicy tomato slices (instead of the traditional Canadian bacon). I love to make it when I host friends or family for brunch, because even though it tastes like something from a restaurant, it’s surprisingly simple to make. You can even do some of the prep ahead! You can find the complete recipe at the bottom of this post. Along the way, I’m sharing my best tips for how to make eggs Benedict as well as serving…

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Hollandaise Sauce

This classic hollandaise sauce recipe is easy to make in the blender! Rich, creamy, and tangy, it's delicious on eggs Benedict, vegetables, and more.

Have you ever made homemade hollandaise sauce? I won’t judge if you say no. This classic French sauce is an emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. For YEARS, it was something I only ate on eggs Benedict at brunch restaurants. It seemed way too fussy to make at home. But a while back, I wanted to serve eggs Benedict at a family brunch, and I decided to try my hand at making hollandaise sauce from scratch. Turns out, hollandaise sauce is actually easy to make in the blender (5 minutes! 6 ingredients!), and I’ve been…

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Easy Carrot Cake

This easy carrot cake recipe is one of our favorite desserts! It's wonderfully moist and warmly spiced. Tangy cream cheese frosting takes it over the top.

spring

Jack declared this carrot cake recipe the best he’s ever tried. Coming from him, that’s high praise, because carrot cake is his favorite dessert of all time! I don’t disagree with him though. I think this carrot cake recipe is just about perfect! It has a wonderful moist crumb and warm depth of flavor from spices, vanilla, and brown sugar. This cake is chock-full of freshly grated carrots, and while it’s delicious plain, it really shines with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting on top. This carrot cake recipe is easy to make with basic ingredients. It’s simple enough to…

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Homemade Granola

There's a lot to love about this homemade granola recipe. It's easy to make, it's healthy, it's delicious, and it will make your kitchen smell amazing!

vegan / snack

If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent hours in the granola aisle at the grocery store, trying to find just the right kind. You know the one—it has lots of fun mix-ins like nuts and dried fruit; it’s sweet, but not too sweet; it’s spiced with cinnamon; and it’s filled with big clusters of oats and nuts. …And if you’re anything like me, you’ve come to realize that it’s nearly impossible to find the perfect granola at the store. Enter: my homemade granola recipe! Instead of using white or brown sugar, I sweeten it naturally with maple syrup (honey works…

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Carrot Muffins

Love carrot cake? Then you HAVE to try these carrot muffins! Moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, they're a delicious breakfast or grab-and-go snack.

breakfast

These carrot muffins combine two of my favorite things: carrot cake and muffins! They’re moist, fluffy, and warmly spiced, with plenty of grated carrots, chewy raisins, and crunchy walnuts mixed in for texture. Unlike my carrot cake cupcakes, which are firmly in dessert territory, these healthy carrot muffins are a great grab-and-go breakfast or snack. I love that they taste like carrot cake while packing in some more nutrition. They freeze perfectly too. When you have time on a weekend, make a big batch and stash it in your freezer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love having these carrot muffins…

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Grits and Eggs

This grits and eggs recipe is delicious for breakfast or any meal! Fried eggs, fresh veggies, and dashes of hot sauce top a comforting bowl of grits.

Did you catch the guide to how to make grits I posted the other day? I’m following it up with this easy grits and eggs recipe, which might be my favorite way to eat grits. As much as I enjoy creamy grits on their own, I love them even more with flavorful fixings. In this recipe, I top the rich, creamy corn porridge with sautéed greens, bursty cherry tomatoes, avocado, and—of course—a fried egg. Hot sauce (any kind you like!) adds a little tangy, spicy pep to make the eggs and grits a delicious, comforting meal. I love this recipe…

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How to Make Grits

Learn how to make grits with this easy recipe! We love this rich, creamy Southern dish topped with eggs, fresh veggies, or a simple pat of butter.

We’ve been on a grits kick in our house lately. Jack grew up in the South, so he has a serious soft spot for this rich, creamy corn porridge (especially when it’s loaded up with butter and cream). Through years of enjoying grits together, I’ve become a huge fan too. I shared a grits recipe in my second cookbook, but I only recently realized that I’d never posted one here. That changes now! Below, you’ll find our simple method for how to make grits, plus tips for cooking them and serving suggestions. I hope you enjoy! Ingredients You’ll Need Here’s…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.