Chicken tikka masala is FAB-U-LOUS. I spent one of the tastiest months of my life traveling around India, and Ben worked there for two summers. Thanks to our mutual food affair, on the nights we order takeout, it’s almost always Indian food. Each time, we pick a different mix of dishes to share. Well, most of the dishes are different, with one notable exception. I think you know where this is going....

At its most essential, authentic chile verde pork is a stew made with roasted tomatillos, roasted green chiles, cilantro, and herbs. It’s more smoky and nuanced than it is spicy. Chile verde pork can be thick or thin depending upon how you want to serve it. Making Chile Verde Pork At Home (The Easy Way) The base for truly authentic chile verde pork calls for roasting tomatillos and an array of green chiles, such as jalapenos, poblanos, and/or Anaheim peppers (or, if you are lucky you can make hatch chile verde)....

My brain (or more accurately, my appetite) do not understand the concept of not being “a breakfast person.” I wake up every morning with a voracious need for sustenance. Some days, I crave it in commendable, well-behaved forms—wholesome grains, lean yogurts, produce-packed smoothies. Other days, I NEED chocolate (and often this Chocolate Granola). Today, I’m embracing 7 a.m. chocolate emergencies with healthy chocolate oatmeal! If we are going to eat chocolate for breakfast and feel excellent about it (and that is exactly the plan), we need and deserve more than a few chocolate chips stirred into a lackluster bowl of instant oats....

Topped with homemade fudge frosting, it’s an iconic dessert that has held a dear place in my heart since I would beg my mom to let us stop at the Great American Cookie Company every time we went to the mall. If there was a cookie cake near me, I was definitely making a beeline for it. In an effort to satisfy my cookie cake craving without driving to the mall, I decided to figure out how to make a from-scratch cookie cake with cookie dough at home....

It’s hard to believe, but we just crossed the one year mark in our new home (where does the time go?)! This cozy butternut squash soup was the first real meal I cooked in our kitchen. I can still recall the way it wrapped me up and made me feel like our “house” had become “home.” Today I’m resharing this easy butternut squash soup recipe in the hopes that it will make your kitchen feel a little homier too, no matter how long you’ve been cooking in it....

I attribute my regular cravings for Mexican flavor to my mother, who I’m convinced needs a dose of Mexican food at least twice a week in order to maintain her equilibrium. Growing up, at least 50% of the meals we ate out were Mexican…or “Mexican” depending upon how strictly you define the term.Our traditional Christmas night dinner? My grammy’s Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas.Clearly, the love of Mexican food spans generations....

Although my Grammy stopped hiding Easter eggs years ago, to the great appreciation (and relief) of her family members, she has maintained the role of Easter Bunny. Each year, she leaves a selection of candy beside our plates at Easter dinner, and we walk away with enough chocolate Easter eggs to satisfy our sweet teeth for weeks. Today, I’m stepping in for the Easter Bunny (and Grammy) by delivering an Easter cake that will please chocolate lovers of all tribes....

This recipe is sponsored by Land O’Lakes If you are a seasoned cook or a newbie, if you bake fish regularly or if cooking fish scares the pants off of you, or (and this is key) if you think you don’t generally like fish, you are going to find something to love about today’s easy cooking method. Fish cooked en papillote (which is French for “in paper” and is pronounced ahn-pa-pee-yawt) means to bake fish inside of a pouch made of folded parchment paper....

When I think about the perfect fall day, I envision crimson leaves against icy blue skies, backyard football games, and piping hot mugs of cider. Of course, my perfect fall day also necessitates a big, warm slice of one of my freshly-baked healthy apple recipes. Something frosted. Or glazed. Or ice creamed. Or frosted AND ice-creamed. Fresh apple cake with cream cheese frosting, you are that apple something of my eye!...

Everything about India captured my heart, from its color to its chaos to the warmth of its people to its cuisine. While there is much about India that I miss, it is the steaming, creamy curries, fluffy, tender naan bread, and vibrant spices I pine for most. I’ve had prior success making healthy, Indian-inspired recipes in my own kitchen, Paneer Tikka Masala, Slow Cooker Butter Chicken, and Instant Pot Lentil Curry being three faves....

While I’ll ever be a fan of spaghetti and Baked Turkey Meatballs, cooking spaghetti in a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot has distinct advantages. In fact, I’d argue Instant Pot spaghetti tastes better than stovetop spaghetti. Here’s why: As the pasta noodles cook, they release starch.Similar to Crockpot Lasagna, since the water isn’t drained off when making pasta in a pressure cooker, those starches become a part of the sauce, making it thick and silky....

If you are looking for a simple, classic Southern cornbread recipe, this isn’t it. It’s stuffed with spices, cheese, and includes another ingredient that would make many a cornbread purist squirm: honey. If you are in the camp that doesn’t believe in sweetening cornbread, I volunteer as tribute to eat your slice. If you are trying to make cornbread with Jiffy mix, I hope you’ll stay. This Mexican cornbread is made from scratch (not the box), but I pinky promise homemade cornbread is truly one of the easiest, highest-payoff recipes you’ll try....

This has been my go-to gravy recipe for years because unlike classic Turkey Gravy, you don’t need drippings to cook it. No drippings means no waiting for the turkey to cook, so you can make this gravy in advance. By the time I’ve finished cooking the perfect turkey, I am happy the gravy is already done.If you’ll have guests at your party with a range of dietary needs, mushroom gravy is vegetarian and easy to adapt to be vegan and/or gluten free....

Life improvement might sound like an overstated achievement to award a pickled vegetable, but having a jar of these ruby beauties in your refrigerator sends the kind of positive life signals that can you make you feel better about your existence at large. It is as if, so long as I can keep a mason jar of pickled onions on hand—easy to do considering it takes all of five minutes to stir them together—surely I must have the rest of my act together too....

Though I’ve eaten pita bread for as long as I can remember, I primarily use it as a socially acceptable method to shove hummus (like this Edamame Hummus) into my mouth at dangerous speeds. However, one evening, when I was in a horrific rush to meet up with friends, I entered cooking emergency mode. With no sandwich bread (and no time to make Oatmeal Bread) in sight, I grabbed a whole wheat pita that was hanging out in the fridge, topped it with leftover roasted vegetables and cheese from our fridge, then shoved the entire thing into my toaster oven while I finished finding my right shoe....

No matter what other appetizers are on any given menu, the spinach artichoke dip is a shoe-in for one reason: everyone loves it. The creamy, satisfying spinach and artichoke filling in these peppers is inspired by the flavors and ingredients of the beloved dip and lightened up with everyday ingredients. As with my classic Stuffed Peppers, this recipe comes together quickly for dinner tonight and reheats well all week long....

How do I explain this oriental ramen noodle salad to those of you who didn’t grow up in the Midwest? If you’ve never eaten crunchy ramen salad, my hunch is that you might be skeptical of crumbling an uncooked ramen noodle packet (yes, I do mean the same ramen noodle packet that helped you survive college) over a bowl of bagged cabbage coleslaw. You might not believe me when I tell you that canned mandarin oranges are mandatory....

Have you ever hosted a party for 12? This was one of my biggest bashes yet, and I knew I needed the right recipe to ensure that: No one went hungry (my biggest party fear, aside from maybe running out of wine).Those with dietary restrictions could still enjoy since a few of my friends are gluten free (these Slow Cooker Carnitas were another contender).AND, importantly, the hostess (ahem, yours truly) could actually enjoy herself....

This noodle stir fry recipe uses anything, and the taste is everything. It’s ready in 30 minutes (fewer if you chop your vegetables in advance), and its flavor bests any noodles you’ll eat out of a takeout carton. If your experiences with Asian food growing up were anything like mine (mall food courts and the takeout section of our Kansas grocery store), to you stir fry noodles might mean noodles cooked in oil (usually a lot of oil), with a sugary sauce and very few vegetables....

Finding easy, never-fail ways to appreciate and be kind to yourself is harder than it should be. One trick that always works for me: I make a smoothie. I call this the smoothie effect. Recipes like this healthy strawberry blueberry smoothie leave me feeling fabulous about the day ahead, my health, and even myself for taking the time to prepare a wholesome breakfast. It’s easy work—this smoothie requires just five minutes and minimal ingredients, most of which I already have in my freezer or refrigerator....