I’m super excited that our holiday season is almost here, but it some ways it makes me sad. Sad that it will all go by so quickly, and it will be over. Don’t get me wrong…the new year, fresh start and all that. I get it. But then my mind also shifts to taxes and all the regular to-do’s of life. And I just plain LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas!! I LOVE this time of year!!
I’m pretty sure you can safely call it an addiction when I’ve eaten 6 of these Chicago style hot dogs in 6 days. A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Chicago again courtesy of Kenmore for their Kenmore Blogger Summit. We had an incredible time! I’ll be sharing more about that in another post, but you have to believe me when I tell you these Chicago dogs cannot wait!! Have you ever tried one?
Portillo’s happened to be almost next door to our hotel. Great food, many choices!
My favorite time of the month…..Secret Recipe Club time! This month I was assigned Carrie’s Sweet Life. Carrie describes her blog as, “Simple, comforting, down home food that put a smiles on the face of everyone who tries it.” And I have to agree!! I found so many recipes I can’t wait to try.
Just how do these recipes sound: Thin Mint Popcorn, Lasagna Roll Ups, and Coconut Key Lime Bread? Those and a few more I have bookmarked for future use. I finally decided on this Beefy Macaroni for a few reasons. I needed dinner, I wanted a lot of leftovers and it reminded me of a dish I ate when I was a kid. I’m pretty sure it was a Hamburger Helper meal…what was it Chili Mac? Does anyone remember?
This meal was EASY to make, and one I know I’ll be making again. My girls loved it. They all wanted seconds, thirds and leftovers until it was gone. This big dish of Beefy Macaroni lasted our family of 5 for 3 days. It’s easy to adapt, and change around as you like. Extra spices, add some heat, different cheese…whatever you want. Make sure you stop over and check out Carrie’s site. I’m sure you’ll have several new recipes to add to your meal plan!
My friend Wendy over at Around My Family Table invited me to guest post this month. She’s celebrating National Popcorn Month, and asked if I’d like to share a recipe with her readers. Can you believe it’s my first time guest posting? I’ve been blogging for 3 years now, and have just never gotten around to it. But I knew it’d be fun!
I met Wendy last January at the Kenmore Blogger Summit when we flew into a blizzard, and then last April we had a chance to get to know each other better when we hung out in New York City at the Sandra Lee event. She and I hit it off immediately as we have so much in common. See us having fun in Times Square?
Kristen of Dine and Dish, Me and Wendy in Times Square
So visit me over at Around My Family Table to get the recipe for this incredible Slightly Spicy Maple Cashew Crunch. Make sure you stay and visit awhile….Wendy has an amazing stash of recipes that I know you’ll love!
~ Pinning on Pinterest & sharing on Facebook is greatly appreciated!! ~
When I was 18 I worked as a waitress at Pizza Inn. This pizza chain was very popular in my area of North Carolina, and was well known for their pizza buffets. The buffet was available everyday for lunch, and certain nights of the week. It was a favorite of the local college kids from Wake Forest University. And I’m sure you can see why…for $3.99 they were able to have all you can eat pizza, salad, pasta, soup and dessert. Another perk of the buffet was making special request pizzas. Any request you wanted was made special to order, served to your table first and then the rest was placed on the buffet for others to enjoy.
The dessert was their famous “pizzert,” a fruit and batter topped pizza crust. It was served in apple, cherry, peach and blueberry. I liked all the varieties, but more than the fruit I loved the batter…it was kind of like a pudding type batter and was dotted along the top of the pizzert along with a crumb topping. This berry crumble pizza I created last week is a stab at that dessert. I was in a hurry, so I didn’t attempt the pudding batter, but it was super easy to whip up a crumb topping to sprinkle on top.
Just make my easy homemade pizza crust, or you can pick one up. But if you haven’t made homemade pizza crust before…don’t be scared, it’s super EASY! I promise. I used frozen organic berries that I reduced on top of the stove with sugar, but you can use any fruit you desire. The possibilities are endless with this dessert. Just don’t forget to top it with vanilla ice cream….that just put it over the edge for us. Warm bubbly fruit pizza with a scoop of cold, creamy vanilla ice cream. My girls were in heaven!!
* What’s a dessert you remember from a favorite restaurant? Have you attempted to make it at home?
