my favs of 2013

peanutella [chocolate peanut butter]

i eat a lot of peanut butter atop ritz crackers and apples dipped in peanut butter. one of my all time favorite snacks is to melt equal parts peanut butter and chocolate - the darker the better - in the microwave until smooth. while it's nuking, core and slice a crisp, juicy apple. dip until your heart's content. that was one of my favorite snacks when i lived alone and something i still eat relatively frequently now. until i made this chocolate peanut butter. i think of it as a much better tasting version of my bachelorette snack.

peppermint yule log

last year was the first and only year that i have hosted christmas. granted there were only four of us, including a six month old, but it was still the first time jason and i cooked christmas eve and christmas dinner at our house. while we decided early on to have ham for dinner, i became slightly obsessed with finding the perfect christmas dessert. my mother has made what we affectionately call chocolate log - chocolate sponge cake filled and covered with chocolate buttercream - for years, i have never made a rolled cake before. luckily i had been around more than once to help prepare the chocolate log and learned her trick to prevent any rolled cake from cracking. and while this is a bit late for your christmas gathering, it would be perfect for a new years eve party as it can easily serve a lot of people or your new years eve dinner.

cheesy artichoke bread

this bread is a simpler and easier way to both make and eat one of my favorite party foods - artichoke dip. instead of baking the dip in a dish, it's spread on loaves of crusty italian bread. not only is it easy, it's delicious. since we aren't much of the partying type anymore - with all the duplos, little people, talking dinosaurs, and dump trucks hanging around - ours accompanied dinners of fish and salad. with a whopping five minutes of prep, this bread could be a side any night of the week.

fish in crazy water

one of our default every-other-week dinners is baked tilapia with lemon and rice. it's delicious, quick, and easy. and boring.

secret recipe club: almond butter cookies

it must be this time of year: i am craving cookies like crazy. not fancy, fussy kind, but more of the slice and bake or drop variety. last month, jason and i were out somewhere, eating some kind of almond flavored dessert - a cake, maybe? - when he casually mentioned that it had been a long time since i made anything almond flavored. he was right and i've been on the lookout for an easy almond cookie ever since. when i spied these iced lemon butter cookies at cooking mimi for this month's secret recipe club, i knew with some simple swaps, i could have exactly what i wanted.

coffee blondies

every once in a while, a girl  needs a non-chocolate sweet treat, know what i mean? while perusing my pinterest boards a couple weeks ago, i realize i don't make bars and brownies nearly enough - considering i still have 90+ pinned on my board. considering how easy and delicious they usually are, i need to add them to my holiday baking list.

my favorite 30-or-less minute meals

lately i've been on the lookout for easy weeknight dinners that can be made in 30 minutes or less. bonus if they are relatively light, nutritious, and toddler friendly. as i was going through my archives, i realized there are almost 100 posts in "dinners in 30 or less" - 96 to be exact - and many of them are worth repeating. here are a few of my favorites -