Chocolate Pound Cake Recipe

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Look no further for the very best chocolate pound cake. This decadently delicious cake bakes up perfectly moist and full of rich chocolate flavor. It’s a chocolate lover’s dream come true! We’re putting the pause on pumpkin to bring you the best ever chocolate pound cake. Today’s recipe is one that is close to my … Read more

Broccoli Apple Salad Recipe

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Broccoli, pecans, cranberries, carrots and apples come together to make an amazing salad with delicious flavors and textures. The creamy dressing on top makes this salad absolutely incredible!

Broccoli is amazing in salads, it adds crunch, nutrition and flavor. 

Broccoli in salads is my favorite. I especially love this Broccoli Cashew Salad that is on the blog. But this Broccoli Apple Salad became an instant favorite! As I was eating it, I just couldn’t get enough! I knew this salad would be amazing but I wasn’t expecting it to become a new favorite! SO many delicious new textures and flavors in this salad. The broccoli, carrots, and red onion, was followed by the sweetness of the apples and dried cranberries. The pecans added another yummy flavor and crunch. The creamy dressing on top was THEE best. It completed this fresh and delicious salad perfectly. I know that if you make this salad, it will become an instant favorite as well!

At first you might think that broccoli and apples don’t go together, but they do, trust me. This is truly one of the best salads out there. It’s healthy, full of flavor and the dressing is even light. I traded out some of the mayonnaise for greek yogurt, giving you a boost of calcium, protein and cutting the fat. All without compromising on taste and tang. It’s going to be a new go to salad for sure!

Why This Recipe Needs to be Made Today!

Besides being extremely delicious this broccoli apple salad has so many pros to it, you will truly want to keep this recipe close by.

Nutritious: Packed with vegetables and fruit and even nuts, this broccoli salad is an immune boosting, fiber enhancing delicious dish. This salad is high in vitamin C, K and A plus it’s high in fiber. Pecans add protein and a healthy fat. Even though you have mayonnaise in the dressing, it’s such a big salad that the amount you’ll actually ingest is just little. Unless you eat the whole thing, which I wouldn’t blame you. It’s extremely diet friendly.

Make Ahead: This broccoli apple salad actually tastes better if it sits for at least an hour. The flavors and the dressing all meld together in the most fantastic way. This non lettuce salad is full of hearty ingredients so this will stand up to being made ahead of time beautifully. It’s a great choice for packing in lunches, taking to potlucks, and having as leftovers. Make it ahead of time and free up time for making other dishes before dinner.

Colorful: It’s been said we should eat the rainbow! Well, this broccoli apple salad is definitely a rainbow of colors! It’s as fun to look at as it is too eat! Not only isn’t appealing to the eyes, but to the tastebuds too! It’ll be a salad that gets eaten first at your next picnic

Hearty and Satisfying: This salad is packed with nutritious ingredients that will not only taste good, but fill you up. The crunchiness satisfies your desire to chew and the high fiber will fill up your tummy!

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients. 

Tips and Variations for Creamy Broccoli Apple Salad

This salad is delicious as a side dish for beef, fried chicken or even salmon. Or make it a highlight in a light meal served with a refreshing fruit salad and some bread sticks. Yummy!

Make it Easy: You can make the prep for this salad even easier by buying pre shredded carrots, and pre cut broccoli florets.

Substitute Dried Cranberries: Use raisins, golden raisins, or dried cherries instead of the cranberries if you wish.

Nuts: Try using walnuts or cashews instead of pecans. Also try toasting them in a pan on the stovetop till fragrant and slightly browned for added flavor.

Cheese: For a twist add blue cheese to the broccoli apple salad which adds incredible flavor.

Apples: I used gala apples in this recipe. You want an apple on the sweeter side. Try Fuji or Braeburn as well for excellent results.

Prep Time: 20mins

Total Time: 20mins

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: broccoli apple salad, broccoli salad

Servings: 6 Servings 

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups fresh broccoli florets (about 2 medium heads)
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 1/4 cup diced red onion
  • 2 large apples finely chopped (I used gala apples)
  • 1/2 cup pecans coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Creamy dressing ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup lite mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup low fat greek yogurt
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions:

  1. In a large bowl combine broccoli, carrots, red onion, apples, pecans, and dried cranberries.
  2. Whisk together mayonnaise, greek yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.
  3. Add the dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.
How to Store Apple Broccoli Salad

Broccoli Apple Salad keeps great for up to 3 days before it will start to really get soggy. It’ll still be good for another 2-3 days after, but the quality of the vegetables and fruit will decrease rapidly. If you plan to eat it all week long, try dividing the salad in half and only add dressing to the half you are eating up first. It will help keep the sogginess at bay

Nutritional Info:

Calories: 215kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 334mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 2217IU | Vitamin C: 60mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 1mg

Snowball Cookies Recipe

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These classic Snowball Cookies are little balls of buttery shortbread melt-in-your-mouth goodness with a powdered sugar coating. They are quick to fix, delicious, and freeze well. You may even have the ingredients to make them in your house right now. You might know them as Russian Tea Cakes, Italian Wedding cookies, butter balls, and Mexican Wedding Cookies but in our house, we just call them Snowballs They are the delectable cookies with a thousand names.

This is my absolute favorite Christmas cookie recipe! I love them!!! LOVE THEM!!! These Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies will melt in your mouth. They are so easy! You will find that you have a full batch of cookies ready in under 45 minutes. How can you beat that!!

These delectable holiday cookies are so very easy to make. First, using an electric mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed cream the butter and the powdered sugar until light and fluffy! Then turn the mixer to low speed and add the salt, vanilla, flour, and pecans. Roll into one 1-inch balls and place on parchment-covered baking sheets and bake.

Allow the cookies to cool just enough to handle them. Then gently roll them in the powdered sugar. Place them on a wire rack to cool. When they are fully cooled roll in the powdered sugar again.

CAN SNOWBALL COOKIES BE FROZEN?

They can be baked and frozen ahead of time. Pack the cookies in double Ziploc freezer bags and place them in a sturdy glad-ware freezer container. When defrosting take them out of the containers frozen and place them on serving trays or platters uncovered. Never allow them to defrost in the plastic and the containers. The condensation that builds in there will ruin the cookies. Once the cookies have defrosted place them in airtight containers and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days.

The dough can easily be frozen as well in a practice commonly known as flash freezing. Simply roll the dough and place it on parchment-covered baking sheets. Make sure the dough balls aren’t touching so they don’t freeze to each other. Place the whole sheet in the freezer until frozen and then transfer the balls to a freezer bag. Store that bag in a sturdy freezer container. When you are ready to bake simply place the cookies on a parchment-covered baking sheet and let them thaw just a tad while the oven preheats. Frozen cookies may require an additional one to two minutes of baking time.

RECIPE VARIATIONS

Roll the dough around an unwrapped chocolate kiss

Add 3/4 cup chopped Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips to the cookie dough

Add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips to the cookie dough

Mix 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder at the same time as the butter and powdered sugar. Also, add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips stirred in at the end to make Chocolate Snowball Cookies

Replace the vanilla with lemon juice, add 1-2 tablespoons lemon zest and use finely chopped sliced almonds instead of the pecans to make Almond Lemon Snowballs.

Substitute almonds coarsely ground in a food processor for the pecans and add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. 

This snowball cookie recipe is a Christmas tradition and my favorite cookie! These melt in your mouth buttery pecan shortbread cookies are baked to perfection and rolled in powdered sugar.

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 11 

Total Time: 26 mins Yield: 30-36 

Category: Cookies

Method: Bake Cuisine: American

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1 cup powdered sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment on medium-speed cream the butter and powdered sugar.
  3. Turn the mixer to low and add the salt, vanilla, flour, and pecans. Roll the dough into one-inch balls.
  4. Place on parchment-covered baking sheets a few inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Do not over bake
  5. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool just enough to handle them.
  6. Pour 1 cup powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Gently roll the cookies in the powdered sugar.
  7. Use a fork to scoop under each cookie and gently shake to remove excess powdered sugar. Place on cooling racks.
  8. Once completely cooled roll in the powdered sugar again.

NOTES:

  • Use real honest-to-goodness butter so they taste yummy. I personally use Land O Lakes butter for all my cookies.
  • Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
  • Chop the pecans fairly fine. Remember you can use different nuts.
  • This a thick dough so roll the cookies with your hands because the warmth of your hands will help shape the cookies.
  • Preheat the oven and load the baking sheet in the middle of the oven.
  • Use parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  • If you have time do a test run with one or two cookies. It really helps to establish baking time.
  • Do not over-bake the cookies. These are a type of shortbread cookies with a crumbly melt-in-your-mouth texture.
  • When measuring your flour spoon the flour into the measuring cups and level off with a table knife.
  • Store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: 

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 147kcal (7%)Carbohydrates: 16g (5%)Protein: 2g (4%)Fat: 9g (14%)Saturated Fat: 4g (25%)Cholesterol: 19mg (6%)Sodium: 46mg (2%)Potassium: 26mg (1%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 9g (10%)Vitamin A: 165IU (3%)Vitamin C: 1mg (1%)Calcium: 13mg (1%)Iron: 1mg (6%)

Mexican Barbecue Chicken Skewers

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Mexican Barbecue – tender chicken skewers marinated with a delicious Mexican blend of spices for the perfect barbecue meal.

Mexican Chicken Skewers

Barbecue food doesn’t need to be unhealthy and it doesn’t need to be the usual burger and sausages, there are so many possibilities for food you can cook on your grill. We had some lovely weather here over the weekend, so I decided to do a Mexican inspired Barbecue.

A simple seasoning blend to marinate some pieces of chicken thighs along with vegetables like mixed bell peppers and onion and these are cooked perfectly on the grill or barbecue

The marinade is for these skewers is so easy and uses ingredients most of us have on hand. It will also work well for shrimp, pork or beef.

PREP TIME: 20 minutes

COOK TIME: 15 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 8 small boneless chicken thighs, any visible fat removed (approx 650g/22.5oz)
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed
  • 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons of cumin
  • 2 teaspoons of paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon of oregano
  • handful of fresh coriander
  • juice of half a lime
  • salt and black pepper
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped into square pieces
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped into square pieces
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped into square pieces
  • 1 white onion, chopped, chopped into square pieces
  • cooking oil spray

Instructions:

  1. Add in the spices, jalapeno, lime juice, coriander and a good pinch of salt and black pepper to a mini food processor and pulse until a paste. Add in a little water at a time if needed to help it pulse.
  2. Dice the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces, add the marinade to the chicken and toss to thoroughly coat.
  3. Refrigerate overnight or for a few hours at least.
  4. If using wooden skewers soak this in warm water for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
  5. Then add the chicken to the skewers along with the peppers and onion (I alternate the pieces (so chicken, vegetable, chicken, vegetable on the skewer).
  6. Spray the skewers or chicken and vegetables with cooking oil spray
  7. Cook on a hot barbecue, turning frequently until chicken is cooked through (approx 15 minutes)
  8. Alternatively you can bake these in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 220c, fan 200c or 425f (gas mark 7) or on a grill pan (approx 7 minutes each side)
  9. Great served with Mexican Chopped Salad and Mexican Rice

Notes:

WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs – due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values. 

Nutritional Info:

Yield: 4

Serving Size: 1 SKEWER

Amount Per Serving

Calories251TotalFat7.1gSaturatedFat1.7gTransFat0gCholesterol159mgSodium434mgCarbohydrates11.2gFiber3gSugar3.7gProtein34.6g

Peach Mango Smoothie Recipe

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Reach for this tropical sipper as a supercharged breakfast or afternoon pick-me-up.

Yields: 2

Prep Time: 5 mins

Total Time: 5 mins

Cal/Serv: 155

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 c. coconut water
  • 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 c. frozen sliced peaches
  • 1 c. frozen mango chunks

Directions:

Step 1

  1. Add coconut water and yogurt to blender, then top with peaches and mango.
  2. Puree until smooth.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

About 155 calories, 3 g fat (1.5 g saturated), 7 g protein, 35 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber

Coconut Raspberry Smoothie Recipe

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Ditch the bulky blender and whip up this easy smoothie recipe with an immersion blender! Coconut yogurt, frozen raspberries, and bananas create a creamy breakfast or snack treat.

Yields: 1 serving(s)

Total Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c. low-fat milk
  • 1/2 c. low-fat coconut-flavored yogurt
  • 2 c. frozen raspberries
  • 2 bananas, peeled and cut into pieces
  • Toasted coconut and raspberries, for serving

Directions:

Step 1

Using immersion blender, blend together milk and coconut-flavored yogurt with frozen raspberries and bananas.

Step 2

Serve topped with toasted coconut and raspberries.

Nutritional information (per serving):

About 520 calories, 7 g fat (3.5 g saturated), 21 g protein, 95 mg sodium, 105 g carbohydrate, 25 g fiber