Food

When Barilla asked me to create a simple, one-pan recipe for this time-strapped millennial, I was up for the challenge. It can be such a struggle to prepare a healthy and nutritious dinner on demand most nights because, like many of you, I’m juggling a full-time job, two little kids and trying to keep up with my blog. Dinner often takes a back seat to all my other priorities.

My absolute favorite salad is a pear and gorgonzola salad with a light lemon vinaigrette dressing. I recently had lunch with friends at one of our favorite lunch spots, Postino, and after having their mixed green salad, I knew I had to try to replicate it on my own.

We started thinking about what would be a nice alternative to the margarita because Cinco De Mayo is around the corner. It’s a relatively big deal here in Arizona.

We celebrated my hubby’s birthday last weekend. For his birthday cake, I decided to make his favorite thing — cookies — but with a twist. I decided to make him a funfetti skillet cookie, which turned into a deep-dish sugar cookie with all the colorful sprinkles.

There’s this vegetarian restaurant in Phoenix that makes the best Thai peanut tofu dish that I order nearly every time I go there. I love their tofu because it has a crispy exterior and it is just the perfect fried tofu texture. Their peanut sauce is a hint spicy, and works so well with the crunchy veggies.

For my daughter’s birthday this year, we threw a zoo-themed birthday party. Her love of animals and trips to the zoo made it an obvious choice. I decided to try my hand at cake decorating, so I created zoo animal cupcakes — zebras, lions and tigers — to celebrate her big day.

Silk invited me to create a recipe to pair with their new Nutchello drinks, which are dairy, soy and gluten free. I decided vegan strawberry scones made with coconut milk would be the perfect afternoon snack pairing with the new Toasted Coconut & Cashew Nutchello.

The Super Bowl is less than a week away. We aren’t going to a party this year, since it’s a school night, but I plan to create a few fun recipes to celebrate the big game. For inspiration, I pulled together 12 party appetizers that are bite-size and perfect to bring to or serve at a Super Bowl party.

Today is National Peanut Butter Day! To celebrate, I adapted a peanut butter balls recipe to create chocolate covered peanut butter hearts.