I’d like to offer you some facts. Fact 1: Mashed potatoes are glorious wonderful things. Fact 2: Bacon, green onions, sharp cheddar cheese, creamy havarti cheese and gruyere cheese are also wonderful. Fact 3: If you mix creamy, fluffy mashed potatoes with bacon, green onions, sharp cheddar cheese, creamy havarti and gruyere you have one heck of a Thanksgiving side dish. Fact 4: I ate two huge plates of these last night. Fact 5: My jeans are tighter this morning. Fact 6: These mashed potatoes are totally worth it.

I know a few people, I’m sure you do too, that refuse to eat their veggies. You might even be one of them. If you are one or know someone that refuses to eat anything green, believe me when I tell you it will be hard for anyone to turn up their nose to these Green Beans with Pepper Bacon. That’s right bacon. Crispy, crunchy, salty, peppery bacon. If the bacon isn’t enough, I add a splash of white wine to the dish as well. Its a nice way to perk up your traditional green bean side dish and is sure to get those who don’t like their veggies to give them a shot.

I don’t know if you have noticed it yet, and I don’t mean to scare you but we’re halfway through October. Being halfway through October means that before we know it the Halloween costumes and jack-o-lanterns will be replaced with turkeys and pumpkin pie. And practically a second after that, those same turkeys will be replaced with Christmas trees and Santa Claus.  And with the holidays comes, my favorite part,  big holiday family meals.  If your life revolves around food like mine then you have probably already thought about these upcoming meals and have begun to do a little planning.   Well let me help you, to spice things up a bit serve these deliciously creamy horseradish and sour cream mashed potatoes.

While Ryan and I were in Italy we had plenty of steaks. And trust me when I tell you they make a mean steak there. Each and every steak we had was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Why am I talking about steak on a recipe titled roasted rosemary potatoes? Well because each time we ordered one of those slice with a butter knife, melt in your mouth steaks, we would also order a side dish of roasted potatoes. Each dish of potatoes we were served was perfectly roasted and simply seasoned with fresh rosemary, salt and cracked pepper. I enjoyed these potatoes so much that even though I ate more than my fair share on our trip, they were the first thing I tried to recreate when I got home.

When I made the Creamy Herb Fettuccine that I shared yesterday, it seemed only logical to me to make some crunchy garlic bread. Can you think of a better way to soak up some of that wonderful creamy sauce? I can’t. And since I already had some fresh herbs why not add them to the mix as well? The result was buttery and garlicky, just as garlic bread should be.

When Ryan and I left for Italy, we pretty much kissed our tomato plant goodbye. It had been struggling a bit in the recent weeks and we just knew that it would not survive while we were gone. That is what we thought anyway. Imagine my surprise when, after we got home, Ryan went outside to check his plants and came back in with a handful of perfectly plump, red tomatoes. I was super excited and knew just what to do.

I can hardly believe that it is already September 1st. This weekend is Labor Day and somehow summer has slipped away. Even more shocking is that summer has slipped away without me making potato salad. This is quite the surprise because potato salad is one of my favorite summer time dishes. But the season isn’t over just yet. So with only a few days left until summer’s last hurrah, I finally decided to whip some up and share with you my version of this classic.

Ryan and I don’t eat fast food very often , but offer me Burgerville and I suddenly forget that a burger and fry combo is not number one on my list of things I should eat in any given day. But today I’m not talking about burgers and fries, I’m talking onion rings, crispy delicious, Walla Walla sweet onion rings to be exact. About this time every year Burgerville starts selling these little devils and every one goes a little nutty over them, OK maybe not everyone, but I certainly do.  Just the thought of their crispy, salty, sweet goodness makes me giddy and sad at the same time. Sad because there are people lining up to get their hands on these treasures but the closest Burgerville to me is eighty-five miles away. Tragic. So what is a girl to do? Make a version at home of course.  And as a bonus I don’t have to worry about looking silly as I scarf them down a little faster than I probably should.