All Posts By Jennifer

A Bowl of Love for Chilly Nights There’s something about the smell of stew bubbling away that makes a house feel like a home, isn’t there? Especially in the Midwest, when the sky gets a little gray and the breeze has that autumn nip — this kind of meal just feels right. It reminds me of Sunday afternoons growing up: the clatter of a spoon in a Dutch oven, Dad sneaking a taste when Mom wasn’t looking, and the whole house smelling like dinner was giving you a hug. This slow cooker beef and potato stew is one of those …

Creamy, cozy, and practically cooks itself Let me just say this: I never meant to become someone who throws pasta in a slow cooker. Honestly. But somewhere between working, folding laundry, and wondering why there’s glitter on the dog, I realized something — if the food’s good and dinner is ready without me hovering over the stove for 45 minutes? Count. Me. In. This Slow Cooker Spinach and Mushroom Pasta Alfredo is everything I love in a dinner. It’s creamy, rich, packed with flavor, and thanks to the mushrooms and spinach, it feels kind of elevated. You know? Like something …

Simple. Sticky. A little Southern. A whole lotta comfort. Let me tell you something real — I did not grow up with fancy desserts. No crème brûlée, no layered trifles, no tarts with delicate swirls. But what I did have? Banana pudding. Sometimes with vanilla wafers, sometimes without, always warm and sweet and made with love. The kind of dessert that gets plopped onto a plate with a big spoon, no measuring, no precision, just heart. Now, this Banana Foster Pudding isn’t exactly what my grandma made — but oh my goodness, it tastes like something she would’ve. It’s my …

Look, I don’t know about you, but by the time the afternoon rolls around, I’m running on coffee and vibes — and dinner? Oh, dinner feels like a pop quiz I forgot to study for. That’s why I love this honey garlic beef like an old friend. It’s got four ingredients, no fancy prep, and it tastes like something you worked really hard on (even though you absolutely did not). This is the kind of meal I throw in the slow cooker at 9:00 a.m. and then promptly forget about while life happens. By the time evening rolls around, the …

Let me be honest for a second: by 4:30 p.m., I’m usually standing in my kitchen with no clue what I’m making for dinner, a laundry basket in the hallway, and at least one person asking me what time we’re eating. And that’s exactly when this recipe saves the day. This slow cooker chicken and potatoes isn’t flashy. It’s not the kind of thing that goes viral or gets you recipe-of-the-year awards. But you know what it is? It’s simple. It’s filling. It makes your kitchen smell like someone actually cared when they made dinner. It reminds me of the …

There’s something about the smell of beef and noodles simmering away in the slow cooker that makes everything feel alright again, isn’t there? I grew up on this dish. It was a regular sight on my grandma’s stove — always on Sundays, always with bread warm from the oven and corn frozen from the summer garden. She’d toss everything into the pot early in the morning before church, and by the time we came home, the house smelled like home itself. Warm, savory, just a little herby. It’s the kind of food that doesn’t just feed your belly, it feeds …

There’s something about the smell of onions and potatoes frying in oil that takes me back to my childhood kitchen. My grandmother would stand at the stove, her apron smudged with flour, flipping latkes with the kind of care you reserve for something sacred — and, honestly, in our family, they were. She never measured anything, always going by feel, but somehow they turned out perfect every single time: crisp on the outside, creamy in the center, and just the right amount of salty. I used to think there was some secret magic behind them — and maybe there is. …

Let me tell y’all something — when I was growing up in East Tennessee, summer always meant two things: the smell of fresh-cut grass and baskets of peaches from my aunt’s orchard. Sticky fingers, warm sunshine, and that soft fuzz on the skin… we’d eat them standing right there in the field, juice dripping down our arms. But the real magic happened when Mama pulled out her big stoneware dish and made peach pudding. Not cobbler — pudding. A warm, cakey, caramelly hug of a dessert that somehow got crispy on top and stayed tender underneath. The whole house smelled …

I still remember the first time I made these little frozen bites. It was one of those sweltering Saturdays in July where the air conditioning couldn’t keep up, and my daughter had about eight toddlers running wild through the house for her son’s third birthday. I needed a dessert that was easy, fuss-free, and could survive the heat—and I’ll be darned if these didn’t steal the show. They’re creamy, fruity, just sweet enough, and wrapped up in a nostalgic strawberry ice cream hug. And the best part? No oven. No stress. Just a big pan of freezer magic you can …

I still remember the first time I made these ooey gooey bars. It was a chilly fall evening, the kind where the oven does double duty as both heater and heart-warmer. I had a yellow cake mix in the pantry that needed using, a block of cream cheese begging for attention, and a craving for something sweet but not fussy. Thirty minutes later, the house smelled like home — buttery, warm, and sweet with the faintest whisper of vanilla. My husband wandered into the kitchen with that “what smells so good?” face, and my youngest was already dipping a finger …