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I’ve never been a huge fan of traditional jalapeño poppers. You know the kind. They’re usually stuffed with cream cheese, sometimes they’re breaded, and in any case they’ve always just been a little meh for my palate. The exception to that is our buddy James’s homemade poppers! Now those are delicious. What’s even more delicious? Mac and cheese stuffed jalapeño poppers! They’re basically exactly what they sound like – jalapeño peppers stuffed with homemade mac and cheese and baked until golden around the edges. I like to sprinkle them with chives or parsley when they’re done, but cilantro would also be great if you’re a cilantro kind of person! (Does anyone else find it fascinating how polarizing cilantro is? Ha!) In my book of “sure bet crowd-pleasing not to be missed” appetizers, this poppers certainly rank right up there at the top of the list! They’re basically the very best kind of comfort food of all.

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Once upon a time, too many years ago, I went to elementary and eventually high school with a boy named Nick. Some time later, Nick married a sweet girl named Michelle and now after many moves between cities and careers, it just so happens that we are nearly-neighbors with houses around the corner from one another. I recently stumbled upon photos of Michelle and Nick’s incredible kitchen makeover and was really thrilled when Michelle was on board with sharing photos of their revamped space. What I love about the chic, modern boho vibe of their kitchen is the incredible use they made of such a small space, without dramatically altering the footprint. They opened up just one wall to create better flow into the dining room, and paired white upper cabinets and a classic subway tile backsplash with dark grout with black lower cabinets, for a look that is light and bright and cozy. Click through for all the details of this sweet little boho kitchen and visit Michelle’s blog Dreaming Home to see the before photos!

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If you’re reading this chances are good that you’re pretty well versed on my love for entertaining. Bringing people together over a great meal is a true passion for me, and luckily my husband agrees. The result of two people who love to cook and spend time with friends? We entertain a lot. And by “a lot,” I mean as often as a few times a month. I get asked all the time about how we do that, and the answer is that we keep it simple! Sure, there are times that we cook an intricate meal, but most of the time I’m a huge advocate of pulling together a spread that is wow-worthy without taking all day to prepare. One of my favorite entertaining ideas is any kind of “make your own” food station, in this case an awesome pasta bar that I created shopping exclusively at Walmart! The beauty of this pasta bar is how quickly it comes together, how amazingly convenient it is to pick everything up in one shopping trip and how tasty the end results are! Your friends and your kids will go crazy for this one, and the prep time is totally minimal. This is my kind of dinner party!

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It’s Monday morning following an ice storm over the weekend, so the start to my week is looking a whole lot like big cups of coffee, sheltering in place for another 24 hours, and if I’m lucky, some extra snuggles with my kid. (And yes, it’s mid-April and we’re encased in ice.) While the little one sits next to me, armed with a stash of crayons and her favorite coloring book, let’s talk about avocado toast! I know, I know. There’s nothing revolutionary about avocado toast, which is becoming such a mainstay these days that it’s basically ubiquitous. But here’s the thing. We can’t stop eating it! When you have a two year old who is obsessed with avocados and her parents echo those sentiments, well, you buy a lot of avocados. Bob prefers his with tomatoes on top and a big pinch of coarse ground salt. If I’m keeping it simple, I like mine with a generous sprinkle of red pepper flake. If I’m keeping it real though, I love my avocado toast piled high with veggies and herbs and a little bit of interest to keep it fun. Today I’m sharing eight awesome ways to make the best avocado toast on earth. This certainly isn’t the first avocado toast round-up you’ve seen and I bet it won’t be the last, but I can guarantee all of these varieties are crazy delicious. What’s your favorite way to eat it? I have a kitchen full of avocados and marble rye bread and I’m ready to go!

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I’m a really big fan of simple ingredients that are perfectly paired together. I also really love potatoes. While those two things may seem completely unrelated, I’m here to tell you otherwise with these super tasty smashed potatoes! Don’t they look kind of fancy? Well they’re not! You just need to be able to boil water and operate your oven at a very minimal level and these beauties can be making your palate happy with just the teensiest amount of effort. They’re topped with fresh lemon juice, Greek yogurt, lemon zest and chives for a flavor combination that is light and refreshing and seriously delicious. I love these as a party appetizer! You can line them up on a tray so friends can just grab them and bite right in! Or they’d also make a great side to a weeknight or weekend dinner. I like boiling up a bunch of potatoes and then just smashing and baking off a few at a time during the week for breakfast or dinner. So good! And that, friends, is my ode to smashed potatoes. Try these! You’ll love them.

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