If you’re not drooling over the pictures, there’s probably something wrong with you. Big juicy cherries, warm melty chocolate chip and gooey blondie batter? Uhm, yes please. Needless to say, these did not last long and were the cause of several sugar induced comas.

So worth it.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Blondies

(from Averie Cooks)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
• 3/4 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup cherries, quartered

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine. Add the egg and vanilla, and stir to combine. Add the flour and salt, and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and cherries. Smooth batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes, or until center is set and top is golden.

Let cool at least 1 hour before slicing.

I might finally be sick of cherries. Is that even possible? I ended up freezing a bunch since I couldn’t use them all up in time. So the cherries will most definitely be back! I’m thinking pie… send me some good Martha Stewarty thoughts, please!

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Since we move around so much, we’re often living in places where we don’t know anyone. Of course, as anyone in the military knows, we make fast friends. But 98% of those friends are also military vagabonds who don’t know anyone either. It’s rare to burst outside the military bubble and really bond with the locals (though it’s possible and I have definitely made some great local friends).

Now that Nick has finally made it “back home” (for those of you unaware, our current duty station is actually where he was born!), it seems like we have connections to everyone in town. Which definitely has its perks.

I texted Nick’s cousin one day asking which roadside stand was the best for buying cherries. I didn’t get an answer, but a few calls to her friends later and I had a mission. The next day I found myself driving to a cherry packing plant out in the country, with a bag of frozen halibut (caught in Alaska by family) for a little back alley bartering. After awkwardly walking into several packing areas, lost and looking for someone who knew of the trade, I finally bumped into a guy who asked, “Are you Jess? Just wait here, they’re bringing out your cherries.”

Expecting a single bag of delicious fruits, I was somewhat shocked when this is what they brought out:

Like I said, it’s nice knowing people.

Even after giving bags to everyone and their mothers (including the lady who came to tune our piano– ha!), I still had way more cherries than I knew what to do with. I’ve basically put cherries into every single thing I’ve made for the last week.

Including these muffins.

These muffins are also made with coconut flour– something I’ve been wanting to try and finally picked up at a new Whole Foods-esque grocery store– Sprouts! The flour gave the muffins a slight (delicious) coconutty flavor and spongecake-like texture. It was definitely different, but I liked it!

Coconut Flour Cherry Muffins (Gluten-Free)

(adapted from The Scope)

makes 12 muffins

• 6 eggs
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cherries, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in melted butter, sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, stir together coconut flour, salt and baking powder, breaking up any large flour lumps. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until smooth. Fold in cherries.

Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups.

Bake 16-20 minutes, until edges are just beginning to brown. Remove muffins from oven and let cool several minutes in the muffin tin before removing to a cooling rack.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE CHERRIES!!

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But seriously. We all know my love of buffalo chicken. There’s no chicken in this potato salad, but there is buffalo and blue cheese, and obviously those are the best parts of buffalo chicken anyways.

I found this recipe on a package of blue cheese of all places. It was ripped off and saved immediately, and made at the first possible opportunity!

Buffalo & Blue Potato Salad

(adapted from Treasure Cave blue cheese package)

• 1 1/2 lbs red potatoes
• 3 large hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped carrot
• 3 tbsp buffalo sauce (I used Franks)
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup Zesty Buffalo Wing crumbled blue cheese
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise

Boil the potatoes (with skin) until tender. Drain the potatoes and roughly dice them. Coat the potatoes with the hot sauce and let them cool.

Once cool, toss the potatoes with all other ingredients to mix thoroughly. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Seriously, this is like crack. I’m not really even a potato salad fan. But obviously when I saw buffalo I had to try it. And holy moly. I’m now a convert. Bring on the taters!

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I decided to not burn dinner. And not blog about it. I went on my merry way, not thinking about pictures or writing or anything. Dare I say it was actually kind of nice?

But then, once dinner was ready and I had a bite– YUM! The dish– which could have gone either way based on my several changes to the original recipe– turned out really well! So I decided to break out the trusty old iPhone and blog about it anyways.

So excuse the lame photos, but enjoy the delicious recipe!

What else have we been up to lately? Obviously not blogging much. SORRY!!! I really have no excuse. Like, I really have no excuse. I have no job, and, therefore should have lots of free time. But somehow I don’t? What do I spend all my time doing??

Job searching. I’ve been super lucky in the past and have always found a job pretty quickly everywhere we’ve moved. Here is a totally different story. Job hunting is seriously a job in itself. I swear every application takes at least 2 hours, and I have applied to what seems like millions of jobs. Someone hire me!!

Yardwork. Who knew taking care of your own house was so hard! I’ve been mulching up a storm, pulling weeds, and tending to our garden (which is totally getting out of control! Another update to come soon!).

Sickness. I mentioned a couple posts ago that Nick had gotten a stomach bug. Well, I didn’t do much cooking during that week. Then the inevitable happened– I got it. And it really must have loved me, because it stayed for just over TWO weeks. It was not a very fun two weeks, and obviously not much cooking took place then either.

We’ve been traveling, too. We spent an extra long Memorial Day weekend in Boston for a college friend’s wedding! The wedding was beautiful and the weather was even better. Never thought I’d be excited about weather in the 60′s, but it sure was a nice break from the 90′s & 100′s we’ve been having for months here!

Crafting. I used to be a crafty person, but in the past 5 years or so, I really haven’t done anything creative. Now that I have so much free time (and therefore no income), I’ve been doing all kinds of fun DIY decor projects for our new house! Once I get everything finished (I kind of tend to start one thing and then put it down and start another… meaning I have 5 unfinished projects cluttering my house), I’ll post about them all!

So somehow, I’ve been busy even though I’m not working. But hopefully I can put some of it aside and get back into blogging more soon. In the meantime, check out my guest post on Jo, My Gosh!, a super cute military wife (to-be) blog. And check out Jo’s awesome care package ideas. I’ve already filed them away for future use.

How ’bout that recipe now?

Spicy Peanut Chicken

(adapted from Betty Crocker)

serves 4

• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
•  3/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 2 medium green onions, sliced
• 4 oz rice stick noodles, prepared per package directions
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Mix broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and red pepper in a bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add oil to coat the pan. Add chicken, garlic and ginger and stir-fry about 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add bell pepper and stir-fry 1 minute.

Add the sauce to the pan. Cook and stir about 1 minute or until sauce is thickened. Toss the noodles with the chicken, then stir in peanuts. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle onions over top.

Enjoy!

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I love fun pizzas. Pepperoni is boring. Combos like Thai Chicken Pizza, Tostada Pizza, and Apple, Bacon & Gouda Pizza are more my style.

Nick made his famous Carne Asada and we had a bunch leftover. Pizza is one of the best ways to transform leftovers, and since I hadn’t made pizza in a while, I figured why not try!

Carne Asada Pizza

(adapted from Paula Deen)

makes 1 pizza

• 1/2 batch homemade pizza dough (or 1 store-bought dough)
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 poblano peppers
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 1 cup chopped leftover Carne Asada
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat broiler.

In a food processor, combine cilantro, garlic, olive oil and lime juice. Process until smooth.

Broil the peppers, turning every few minutes, until charred on all sides. Remove the peppers from the oven and in paper lunch bags (or in a bowl covered with plastic wrap) to steam for 10 minutes. Remove the peppers from the bags. Peel off skin, then remove stem and seeds and dice.

Preheat oven (and pizza stone, if using one) to 400 degrees.

Stretch out the dough and spread cilantro paste over top. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese, then top with carne asada, onions and peppers. Finally, sprinkle on monterey jack cheese.

Bake until crust is crisp and cheese is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

The pizza came out great. The cilantro spread on the pizza was very different and worked well with the other flavors. The poblanos were nice and mild, but I might try jalapenos next time to kick up the heat a bit!

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In case you forgot, members of the Secret Recipe Club are assigned a blog each month. Who has who is a secret until reveal day (today!). The mission is to choose a recipe from the assigned blog, make it, and share it!

I was super excited to be assigned to A Healthy Jalapeno this month, a blog I’ve been following for a long time. It’s written by Laura, a fellow military wife with a couple adorable pups who likes to cook healthy food, but still has a sweet tooth. Sound familiar?

I was totally intrigued by Laura’s recipe for Lemon Lime Basil Cookies, especially since I’ve got basil in my garden, but I wasn’t sure how they’d go over with cookie traditionalists (ahem, Nick). She’s also got a recipe for Ruby Red Grapefruit Bars, which look amazing and which I wish I’d seen sooner because I recently tried making something similar and they were kind of a failure!

It was hard to choose a recipe from so many awesome ones, but in the end, I chose a somewhat basic one. Ever since I made my Strawberry Banana Bread, it’s all I’ve been thinking about. Since it wasn’t healthy at all, I thought I’d try and squash my craving with Laura’s better for you version: Whole Wheat Banana Bread!

Honey Whole Wheat Banana Bread

(adapted from A Healthy Jalapeno)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce, honey, eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Let bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

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The official start of summer!

It’s been hot for months here already, so it’s hard to believe summer is only now just beginning. But it is! So bring on the BBQ’s, pool parties and summer fun! Here are some of my favorite recipes to make for your cookout this weekend.

American Flag 7-Layer Dip – Not only is this dip delicious, it’s also perfectly festive for the holiday. It can be served hot… or cold, for outdoor events.

Key West Grilled Chicken Skewers – Fire up those grills! These chicken skewers are much more fun than burgers and dogs, and the marinade is to die for.

Sweet ‘n Spicy Grilled Wings – These wings are a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, and a whole lot yummy!

Grilled Pork Chops with Summer Salsa – Tasty grilled pork with the perfect summer accompaniment– fresh fruit salsa!

Honey Dijon Potato Salad – This mayo-free side is perfect for warm weather!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad – One of my all time FAVORITE cookout side dishes!

Revolutionary Berries – Get festive with these easy but impressive patriotic treats.

S’mores Brownies – Does anything say summer more than the flavors of s’mores? The brownie version makes them even easier to eat!

So there you have it– you can’t possibly have a bad weekend with all of that delicious food.

Want to make your weekend even sweeter? Here’s your chance!

I am partnering with Cookie Gift Baskets to give away two birthday cookie arrangements.

Cookie Gift Baskets sells tons of delicious, mouthwatering treats that you can send to friends and family on their special days. Way better than flowers, right? Here’s your chance to win some cookies!

Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter the contest. To enter the giveaway contest, you must comment on this post to complete the mandatory entry, but then other entry options will become available once you’ve completed that task.

To win, you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the continental US. The two winners will receive their choice of birthday bouquet (up to a $75 value). Click here for all official rules.

Giveaway ends at midnight EST on June 2nd, 2013. The sweepstakes winners will be announced by June 9th, 2013.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and happy weekend!

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First up? Our tomatoes! We planted 5 little tomato plants. You may remember, they looked like this:

How about now? Check it out!

The tomatoes are out of control! I actually need to do some serious pruning on some of them, otherwise I’ll never be able to get through the vines to all of the tomatoes. There are lots of green tomatoes growing, but nothing has turned red yet.

At the end of this planter, I had planted a supposed yellow squash plant. Well, the plant grew huge.

And much to my surprise, the store must have mislabeled the plant– it’s a patty pan squash plant!

My second planter is full of peppers. The peppers don’t seem to be growing that well, however, I do have 2 kinda sad looking jalapenos almost ready to pick, so hopefully more will come! We’ve had a ton of wind in the last month and I don’t think the pepper plants have liked it too much.

I also have a zucchini and a yellow squash in this planter, and they both have little squashes growing already.

My planter of lettuce and herbs is not doing so hot. We ate lots of lettuce this month, but lettuce is a cooler weather veggie so it’s getting to the end of it’s season. I’m not sure why the herbs aren’t doing well. My basil got real woody, yellowish, and stopped producing big leaves. My green onions and chives don’t seem to be growing at all. And something is eating my sage. I also added parsley to this planter, and it seems to be doing OK for now. Any ideas why my herbs are failing? I started some new basil from seed, so I’ll replace the woody stuff once it grows. I also put some rosemary in the tomato planter and it seems to be doing really well.

I’m glad I planted my mint in a separate pot because, as expected, it’s going nuts. And this is after a few weekends of mint juleps!

The planter we planted with green bean and okra seeds is doing great. The plants are huge and I already have skinny beans and tiny okras.

The planter with cucumbers and eggplants, on the other hand, didn’t do so well. Only a couple of eat plants sprouted, and they are still tiny and sad looking. I ended up buying 3 cucumber seedlings and one eggplant, and putting them in the planter. They’re definitely doing better than the ones we started from seed.

The last planter had butternut squash and watermelon. Only 2 butternuts sprouted and they don’t look that great yet. The watermelons, on the other hand, seem to be going strong– but no fruit yet.

Hopefully I’ll have a bountiful harvest and more to report soon. In the meantime, any advice? We’ve always been really successful with tomatoes, but I don’t know much about growing anything else!

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If you’ve been on Pinterest at all, I’m sure you’ve seen the crock pot “rotisserie” or “roasted” chickens, with claims of it being the most delicious ever chicken. I’d been wanting to try it for a while, and finally got around to it.

I love my crock pot and everything it does. It’s so EASY, and it does something magical to chicken and other meat, making is so so so tender. Now, if you’re looking for that perfectly crisped roasted chicken skin, or the caramelized fat bits of a rotisserie, you might be disappointed by this recipe. It’s definitely not the same.

But if you are looking for a super easy way to prepare a whole chicken, with tender, fall-off-the-bone meat, this is definitely a winner.

Crock Pot Whole Chicken

(adapted from Cooking Whims)

• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 whole chicken, giblets removed
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, lightly smashed

Mix the spices together in a bowl. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mixture onto the chicken.

Place the onion, garlic and several balls of aluminum foil at the bottom of your crock pot. The foil will keep the chicken from sitting in its juices. Place the chicken atop the onion, garlic and foil.

Cook on high for 1 hour, then turn to low and cook for 6 additional hours.

I was somewhat worried about the chicken cooking all the way through in the crock pot, but it was definitely fully cooked and falling off the bone. I could hardly even cut it up, it was so tender! A true sign of a perfect crock pot meal! I would definitely make this again, but I’d try to rub some of the spices underneath the skin as well, for extra flavor.

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Nick has had some kind of flu since last Wednesday, so everything in our house has been out of commission. No cooking, no cleaning (well, except my excessive lysoling), no blogging. Just lots of movie watching and taking it easy. He’s finally mostly better and I’m finally catching up on all the chores I’d been putting off.

I made this banana bread last week before the flu rolled in and we basically housed it in 2 days, it was so good! It came out super moist and delicious.

Strawberry Banana Bread

(adapted from Simply Recipes)

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup diced fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. In a large bowl, mix butter into the mashed banana. Mix in the sugars, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flours and mix to combine. Gently fold in the strawberries. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

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