Food

Le’ts start out with the fundamental question, why should you bother learning to cook? There are meal kits that can be sent to you with the easiest of instructions, there are microwave and oven ready meals that require no time, and there’s always take out. So why should you bother to learn how to cook? I would argue it’s because when you learn to cook, you gain more than you would believe. Below are 5 reasons that I believe you should learn to cook; I hope that they encourage you to give it a try!

1. Cooking from Home is Healthier

Let me preface this by saying that of course you can make unhealthy things at home! What I am saying is that by cooking from home, you are more inclined to choose and make healthier foods. When you make your food at home you are aware of what is being put in your food and you will slowly start to lower the number of unhealthy items as you see how much you are actually consuming. A good example of this is baking, shortbread cookies are melt in your mouth good but the reason for this is the insane amount of butter that’s involved. When you make shortbread cookies yourself and see how much butter you have to put in it helps you put in perspective how much you should eat and how often. I’ve lowered the amounts of butter and oils I cook with too as I have learned over time I don’t need as much to still get a great taste! Healthy cooking doesn’t happen overnight but it will happen the more you choose to cook at home.

2. Brings Families Together

Cooking and eating at home has a way of bringing families together. It leads to more family dinners and more quality time spent together. I don’t know if its because someone slaved away cooking the meal and everyone feels obligated to sit together or if its just something about a home cooked meal that brings people together; regardless it’s always done the trick. Home cooked meals bring us together and in my opinion, bond us together in ways we couldn’t have imagined. If you are wanting to find a way to spend more quality time with your loved ones, get out a pan and cook a meal!

3. Saves Money

With todays inflation this may not seem true, but it is in fact still true! You will inevitably save more money by going to the store and buying the ingredients to make dinners at home. That’s because you can use many of the ingredients for several meals, leftovers and more. In general I spend around $100-$120 a week and that covers all our dinners, lunches and breakfasts for the week. When my husband and I go out it’s almost always a minimum of $20 for a meal, for a week that would be well over $140 just for seven meals. That doesn’t include snacks, breakfast or lunch. Yes going out to eat is more convenient and less time consuming, but it is rarely the cheaper option.

4. Creative Outlet for You and Kids

This is one of my favorite parts of cooking and baking, trying new recipes and putting your own twist on the recipe. The more I cook the more confident I am changing ingredients or trying a recipe in a new way. I am also thrilled to introduce my daughter to cooking as I hope it’s a great way for her to express herself as well as learn a lifelong skill. You can incorporate your kids by letting them decorate, help measure or stir ingredients together. It bonds you together as a family and also let’s your kid learn new skills that they will always take with them. Get creative with your ingredients and make cooking and eating a fun experience!

5. Stress Reliever

This is one of the main reasons I started to get into cooking, it was an outlet for me to relive my stress. I naturally have a lot of stress and anxiety and cooking helps me to detach and relax. There’s also a long of banging, mixing, and other things that you can do when cooking that are helpful stress relievers. I also love that’s it’s a hobby that you get immediate rewards from. As soon as your item is done cooking, you get to try it! You get a stress reliever and a treat all in one go. I’ve tried so many crafts and other hobbies and lost interest immediately. Cooking is the one thing I have continued to do and enjoy and it’s one of my go-to stress relievers.

Learning to cook takes time and can be challenging, but its worth taking the time to learn. It’s a skill that will always come in handy.

If your interested in some recipes I’ve reviewed and love, head to my Recipe Review page here: RECIPE REVIEWS.

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There are very few desserts as widely celebrated as a good cheesecake! I have been wanting to expand my husband and I’s palette this year, so I asked for a few new cookbooks for Christmas. One of them was this book of Hawaiian Recipes and this Ovaltine cheesecake was one of the dessert options. My parents and sister were coming for Christmas, and I wanted to do something special. If you’d ever watched the movie, A Christmas Story, theres a part that says “Don’t forget to drink your Ovaltine”. I thought this would be the perfect way to blend a new recipe in with the holidays. My family got a kick out of it when I told them I had bought Ovaltine especially for this cheesecake! However, they were pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out.

The Ovaltine is present in two parts of this Ovaltine cheesecake, the crust and the topping. The crust is the perfect place for the Ovaltine because all it really does is give it a chocolate taste. You would never know that it was Ovaltine in there. The topping of this Ovaltine Cheesecake is powdered Ovaltine and that’s a bit more of a giveaway. If you’ve never had Ovaltine before, I would compare it to something like powdered Nesquik.

Overall Review: 5/5

I loved this Ovaltine Cheesecake, it was honestly so good and different. I like that it was unique but also still had the classic cheesecake feel as well. Sometimes its just a few changes that make all the difference. Don’t be scared off because Ovaltine is an older brand that is not as widely used today. Take the chance on this recipe and bake this cheesecake for your next get together. You’ll be shocked at the positive response you get back!

xoxo- Kayla

For more of our recipe reviews: Recipe Reviews

To order your copy of Cook Real Hawai’i, click HERE.

We have lived in Pennsylvania for almost two years and I still haven’t been to Philadelphia to get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak! Don’t ask me how that has happened, but it has! So, when I saw this recipe in the Magnolia Table cookbook, I had to give it a shot. These weren’t hard to make at all, but did take a bit of time. The area I struggled with the most was finding the right buns at the grocery store! I mean who is making all the philly cheesesteaks out here and hogging the buns! I ended up having to use what’s called a sausage bun instead because there weren’t any other options. Very annoying, but you do what you got to do.

These philly cheesesteaks were easy to make and were extremely tasty. Definitely worth the time and money to make! This isn’t the cheapest recipe because I had to buy ribeye and that can get very expensive for just a single dinner. The rest of the ingredients aren’t expensive but that cut of meat can be, so just be aware when you go shopping. I don’t think it would be a big issue to swap for a cheaper meat if you are on a budget.

Overall Review: 5/5

I thought these philly cheesesteaks were very good and I loved how easy it was to customize it for my husbands allergies. The cheese is the last step which makes it easy to leave off and accommodate his allergy. He didn’t complain either that they didn’t taste good, even though his weren’t technically ‘cheesesteaks’. Mine had plenty of cheese and were so tasty! Completely worth the time to cook, assemble and broil them!

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think! xoxo-Kayla

Magnolia Table Cookbook- Buy it HERE

For more recipe reviews, head to our page HERE

Is there anything better than chocolate and peanut butter? It’s one of my favorite dessert combinations! I decided to make these Peanut Butter Brownies when we were headed to a friends for dinner. They are very rich so a little goes a long way, but they are AMAZING. The only obstacle of note is that each layer needs to set before you can continue, so be sure to make these the night before or plan accordingly.

My failures: I definitely did NOT add enough powdered sugar to the final layer. I was in a hurry because I was running out of time before we needed to leave for dinner. Don’t rush that last layer!! It needs to be a lot thicker than I made it and it needs the full amount of time in the freezer. Because I didn’t add enough powdered sugar it wouldn’t set right. So please be aware and cautious when you make it, don’t skimp on the powdered sugar! 🙂

You also want to make sure you heat your knife before cutting the brownies. They have been in the freezer for a while so this will make it easier for you to cut. I just run the knife over warm water and then wipe off excess water before cutting. Repeat as necessary to make cleaner cut brownies.

Overall Review 4.5/5

These peanut butter brownies are amazing! They are fudgy, with the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter. This recipe makes plenty because they are a very rich brownie. They would be perfect for a get together, party or if you wanted to hand out treats to friends. A little goes a long way with these brownies! I do think that if you are in a time crunch and don’t want to spend the time making the homemade brownies, you could do a box brownie and still get a good taste. The homemade brownies are fr superior in my opinion, but getting that top layer correct is more important!

For more recipes from Magnolia Table Cookbook Volume 2: CLICK HERE. For more recipe reviews head to our page: HERE.

“We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work, it doesn’t matter. But work is third.” – Amy Poehler

Who doesn’t love a good homemade waffle?! I always think that homemade waffles are much lighter than out of the box or freezer. Makes the waffles easier to eat and it doesn’t feel like they sit as heavy in your stomach. These waffles with strawberry butter are one of my favorite recipes from the Magnolia Table Volume 2 cookbook. I opted to try them for dinner one night and they ended up being exactly what we wanted.

These waffles with strawberry butter are very light and airy. The waffles have a very different consistency than ones that come out of a box, they are more like a sponge cake texture than the thick batter you are used to with waffles. I will say that pairing these waffles with the strawberry butter and vanilla maple syrup makes all the difference. The strawberry butter and vanilla maple syrup aren’t too sugary as to overpower the waffle. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of sugar in this recipe, but it doesn’t taste like a mouthful of sugar. Which is why I do recommend taking the time to make the butter and syrup even if you have regular butter and syrup at home.

Overall Review: 4/5

The only reason I would give this recipe a 4 instead of a 5 is because folding in the egg whites just wouldn’t work. I don’t know if it’s on my end and I did something wrong or what, but I couldn’t get it to cooperate. I ended up having to use a whisk to get the egg whites to incorporate at all, which I’m pretty sure is a cooking sin! ha! But I did what I had to do to make it work and it still ended up tasting great! These are very light waffles, so I did end up eating more than normal just because they weren’t sitting so heavy in my stomach. So be aware, these waffles with strawberry butter can cause you to eat more than you planned!

The strawberry butter and the vanilla syrup recipe can be found in her cookbook which you can find here: Magnolia Table Volume 2. If you are interested in more recipe reviews, head to our page here: Recipe Reviews.

I love french toast on a normal day, but on Christmas, I truly believe its a breakfast staple. This French Toast from the Magnolia Table cookbook (volume 2) is so easy to make but so tasty! I love the simple additions that take the flavor profile to the next level.

First things first, you need to start with the vanilla maple syrup. It takes 20 minutes of simmering to get the syrup completed so make sure that you start this first. It’s an extremely simple syrup to make so don’t worry about the difficulties, it’s just the timing you need to be aware of. Also, make sure to have a mason jar with you to store the syrup in as you will end up making more than you need for the french toast. I also went ahead and made the strawberry butter she mentions in the instructions. The strawberry butter is easy to make as well and adds a nice punch to your french toast. My suggestion is to start with the syrup and the strawberry butter, once those are completed, make your french toast so everything is ready to be assembled.

The only issue I had was not reading the strawberry butter instructions beforehand and whipping the butter on its own. But! It turned out nicely anyways and I’m happy with the taste. I chose to only make half the strawberry butter that it calls for and found that it was more than enough. If you opt to make the entire amount you will definitely have leftovers that you can use for toast or french toast in the following days.

Overall Review: 5/5

Overall, this recipe does have three parts to it, but the taste is amazing! You can premake the syrup and butter ahead of time and that will allow you to throw together the french toast and be good to go. I’m not going to lie and say that this is the best thing you will ever eat in your life, but it is a great french toast recipe and worthy of your time. I am interested in remaking the strawberry butter with raspberries as I think that would be a fun way to spruce up my next recipe. For more recipe reviews head to our page: Recipe Reviews.

Magnolia Table Volume 2: Order Here

Everyone makes cookies during the holidays, this year I decided to go another direction and try a Double Crusted Key Lime Pie. OH. MY. GOSH. So good and so refreshing after a big holiday dinner! It’s also one of the easiest pies I’ve ever made which makes it even better. I love everything about the Magnolia Table cookbooks and have rarely been disappointed in a recipe. The Key Lime Pie recipe is one of my favorites due to its simplicity and taste.

My first key lime pie that I fell in love with was from this whole in the wall chili bar in Los Angelos. I was slightly afraid as key lime pie didn’t exactly fit the asthetic of the chili bar, but oh my gosh it was amazing. Ever since then I’ve been dying for a good key lime pie and haven’t found one. I’m so excited that this pie has fit the bill and I will be recreating this recipe moving forward.

Areas that I had to make adjustments: I decided to make this pie during the holidays so access to ingredients I needed was slightly difficult. For instance, I could not find key limes anywhere so I had to go with standard limes. Additionally I gave up squeezing said limes after about 4-5 of them! haha. So I used the pre-squeezed lime juice you get at the store. Yes, yes I know that is not what the recipe says but I was exhausted and wanted to stop squeezing limes. It seemed to work out just fine using that lime juice as everyone seemed to enjoy it! I also completely forgot to get the lime zest for the top as we were already in the car on the way to dinner when I remembered, so I did miss a final step! Oh the holidays and the forgetfulness that comes with it.

Overall Review: 5/5

Overall, this double crusted key lime pie was delicious, easy to make and the perfect dessert after a big meal. Of course you can make this pie at anytime, but I do suggest making this for holiday dinners. We tend to go toward our classic desserts during the holidays and making a change can be just the ticket! Key lime pie is a much lighter dessert than some of the other pies that you traditionally make. Add some whip cream at the end and you are sure to have no leftovers. Fun fact, Key Lime Pie is actually not a green color, very much a yellowish color due to the egg yolks. So don’t be surprised by the color of the pie, the taste is worth it!

If you decide to make this recipe, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. For more recipe reviews head to our page here: Recipe Reviews.

Peppermint is iconic, especially around the holidays. Peppermint hot cocoa, peppermint patties, candy canes and more. My husband spent an entire evening one day browsing Pinterest with me for mint flavored desserts. These mint chocolate brownies popped up and I knew this is what I wanted to make.

Let me just start off by saying that these brownies take TIME. Lots of time for layers to cool and set, so don’t make this if you are on a time crunch! The brownie base is honestly so easy to make and is delicious, I will be using that layer for other brownie recipes in the future as it was so easy and tasty!

When it comes to the mint layer, be careful! You are adding peppermint extract and that stuff is intense and if you accidentally put too much in you won’t be able to eat the brownies they will be so strong. The amount they recommend is pretty strong, I personally think that the brownies taste a lot like a peppermint patty. If you don’t want your peppermint to be too strong, I would put half of the recommended amount and once its combined taste it and see if it’s too your liking. Additionally, this layer is where you add the food coloring to make it green. Be light on the food coloring, one drop was perfect for a light mint green look. Remember you can’t take back food coloring once its in there!

The top and final layer is basically a layer of yummy chocolate. its butter and chocolate melted together and poured on top. Pour this in the center of the brownie and spread from there. You will have a little drip off the side but it shouldn’t be bad. This chocolate mixture cools pretty quickly so be quick about spreading it!

Overall Review: 4.8/5

These brownies are so tasty and rich! However, they do take a significant amount of time due to cooling and setting times. You just need to go into these knowing that it will take a little bit to complete these mint chocolate brownies. Otherwise, be ready for a tasty and amazing brownie!

I can’t not bring something unique and different to a Friends-giving, it makes me crazy if I don’t! But I wanted something easier to make because I don’t have a lot of time with my daughter needing all my attention. So I found this quick but festive cheese log that fit the bill perfectly!

This pistachio and cranberry goat cheese log was such a unique take on the classic cheese ball. It does look more like a Christmas treat so it would be a perfect for a Christmas appetizer! It’s got thyme, rosemary, ginger, cinnamon and pepper in the goat and cream cheese filling along with the pistachio and cranberry blend. These flavors blend so well together and combined with the coating outside there’s lots of crunch to go with the creaminess of the cheese. I would highly recommend making this for a larger group as a little goes a long way. You will also need a real rigid cracker with this cheese log. My favorite crackers are the Ritz soft crackers but they all apart trying to cut through this log. Some good stuff crackers are what you are after. Be sure to get plenty as this cheese log is rich and will take a good chunk of crackers to eat!

Sometimes the best things to eat are the easiest things to make. This cheese log only takes about 10-15 minutes to actively make. Now, it does require a food processor or something similar to chop the pistachios and cranberries to the right consistency.

Original Recipe: Carlsbad Cravings

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I swear these post pregnancy hormones have been throwing off my baking like crazy! But here we go again getting back in the swing of things. Now that it is fall and Mia is a bit older, I’m working on baking all the yummy fall treats! This recipe is from —- magazine, and these whoopie pies looked phenomenal.

Let’s talk about where I went wrong, I went wrong in several places it seems! First, my pumpkin tops and bottoms are so thick! They looked to be more cookiesque in the photos in the magazine. My only thought is I added too much of my rising agents which made my cookies too big. However big they might have been, they still tasted amazing! Additionally, my cream didn’t seem thick enough, it seemed slightly runnier than what I saw in the photos. For the cream, I think I should have spent longer whipping it and the texture might have gotten better. But HOLY CRAP was the flavor good. I really think its the addition of the syrup that knocks the filling out of the park.

Personally, I think even if you are a bit off on something in this recipe, the flavors are so good they will still taste great! Because the thing is, even though I obviously made some mistakes these pumpkin whoopie pies were so soft and full of flavor. If I were to do it again and adjust the issues I mentioned earlier I’m sure these would be event better and look more appetizing to a group.

If you do end up trying these pumpkin whoopie pies let me know how it goes! Did yours turn out more like a cookie? What do you think of that frosting flavor? Let me know in the comments below.

Be sure to check out the rest of our recipe reviews here: Recipe Reviews.

xoxo – Kayla