holiday planning tips

22 Ways to Expand your Easter Menu

March 31, 2015 by Tiffany Leave a Comment

I love Easter. Spring has finally arrived, and it’s a special day I get to celebrate with family–and good food of course! Easter dinner is so special for us, and I love having a table filled with a feast of good food! But sometimes planning an Easter Menu can feel complicated. Or sometimes I just want a fresh twist on the classic Easter Dinner ingredients to change things up a bit.

If you are looking for some ways to change up the usual Easter fare a little, or just need some good ideas to expand and round out your Easter Menu, I’ve got 22 easy recipes that are the perfect addition to any Easter Meal. From some main course ideas, to sides and some desserts, hopefully these recipes will give you some new inspiration as you plan your Easter Meals this year. And because you know I’m all about easy cooking, none of these recipes are super complicated or overly time consuming. But they are all delicious! Plus, if you end up with too much left over ham on Monday, two of the ham dishes are perfect for turning leftovers into some great dinners. [Read more…] about 22 Ways to Expand your Easter Menu

80/20 Rule of Christmas Baking (The Law of the Vital Few)

December 9, 2014 by Tiffany King 17 Comments

Do you ever think about all the things you have to do to get ready for Christmas and begin to feel overwhelmed? Some years I’m excited and ready to get started with all the holiday fun.

And other years are more of a struggle. Whether it’s because of sickness in the family (mine or a child’s) or some other reason, the holiday season can get overwhelming.

I’m a big believer in the 80/20 rule. This principle states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

It’s also been called The Law of the Vital Few.

About 20% of the things we do are vital for moving our goal forward. The rest may be important, but 20% of the effort is going to create 80% of the results.

What’s your family’s “vital few” when it comes to Christmas baking? When you think of the memories you’re building in your family, which foods are the most important?

If you find yourself in a place where you just can’t do everything this year, focus on the vital few. For my family, that includes Peanut Butter Balls, Fudge, and Frozen Fruit Cups (I left these out last year and I heard about it!).

Maybe for you it’s your grandma’s Nut Bread recipe. Or the country ham dinner. Or the evening of cookie decorating. Focus on those memory filled dishes and keep everything else simple.

And if you’re just now building traditions for your young family, consider making a couple of them super simple. One of our vital few Christmas breakfast items is canned Grand’s cinnamon rolls. The only time we have these is at Christmas, so they stay special. It doesn’t get easier than popping open a can. On difficult years, we add scrambled eggs and Frozen Fruit Cups. On years with more energy we add something like Western Omelette Casserole and homemade hot cocoa.

I’d love to hear about your vital few recipes in the comments.

And I know we’ve been talking about Christmas baking, since this is a food blog. But you can adapt this line of thinking to any type of holiday tradition. Focus on the vital few and add in other things as time, budget and energy allow.

3 Pink Desserts for Valentine’s Day

February 4, 2014 by Tiffany King 2 Comments

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I like it because there’s no pressure to celebrate. After all, we’ve been married 26 years now and we celebrate our anniversary just 6 weeks before Valentine’s each year.

That leaves February 14 as a simple, no expectations day.

A pink, chocolate, heart doodle day in the middle of a bleak winter month.

What’s not to like about that?

It doesn’t take much to make this day special. For our everyday dinners, I rarely set the table with a table cloth and candles, but sometimes on Valentines, I pull out a white table cloth. Our dishes are red, so that makes decorating easy. Add a pack of heart shaped confetti and a few candles and suddenly the family dinner just got fun!

And sometimes I make a special dessert too. Chocolate is always a hit, but pink is prettier.

Here are three simple pink desserts for Valentine’s Day. [Read more…] about 3 Pink Desserts for Valentine’s Day

21 Hot Sandwich Recipes for Super Bowl plus 1 Snackadium

January 28, 2014 by Tiffany King Leave a Comment

Hot sandwiches and Super Bowl go hand in hand. Maybe you’re like me and don’t really care much about football. But even non-football fans can appreciate the food!

Here are 21 hot sandwich recipes, many of which make use of the slow cooker. Plus, there’s 1 easy snackadium too. I promise, this is an easy project to put together. And it makes a big impression! Not to mention, it feeds a crowd.

Super Bowl Food

January 31, 2013 by Tiffany King Leave a Comment

You don’t have to know me very well to know that I’m not a big time football fan. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like the food! My plan for Sunday is to make a few of these recipes, have a fire in the fireplace and conk out on the couch with a good book. If someone turns on football, that’s fine but I’ll enjoy the day whether there’s a game or not.

If you’re having a Super Bowl party, you’re going to want to check out how to make the Easy Snackadium. It will feed a small crowd and it’s lots of fun!

Our recent Bacon-fest party has a ton of Super Bowl worthy recipes linked up. It’s definitely worth looking over.