Best French and Italian Food Recipe

Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pull Apart Bread

Bacon. Cheddar. Ranch.... Need I say more??? This is dangerously good.  Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pull Apart Bread is insanely addictively delish!   It doesn't get much easier or cheesier than pull apart bread recipe.  Cut it, stuff it, bake it, eat it.  

The flavor combinations are endless.  I decided to try some of my favorite flavors combined together.  Close, but no, it's not bacon, cheese and beer.  But that sounds delicious!  Bacon, cheddar and ranch pull apart bread brings together a fabulous flavor combination and loads of ooey gooey cheese.
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Happy New Year!

I want to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year! The holiday break has been very nice, but I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow with a brand new video featuring one of my New Year's resolutions. Stay tuned!

Soft Pretzel Bites

A soft and tender pretzel with the most subtle sweetness is the recipe you have been dreaming of.  Even better, they are ready in just 30 minutes.  Quick and easy you can make these Best Ever Soft Pretzel Bites with or without a mixer!

Last time we were at the mall we treated Munchkin to some pretzel bites.  They were soft tender, chewy and delicious.  I knew right then I needed to come up with a homemade version.  I sure did!  I honestly didn't realize they would be THIS good.

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Top 10 Best Ever Appetizers for New Year's

There is no better food option on New Year's Eve than finger food and appetizers!  We have picked out BEST EVER APPETIZERS to share with you.  These disappear like magic at our parties and I am sure they will be a huge hit at yours too!

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7 Layer Mexican Bean Dip

7 Layer Mexican Bean Dip is a go to meal in our house - served with tortilla chips or flour tortillas.  It is served at every party we host and there is never a drop left! It is also an excellent make ahead recipe that I love to freeze and pop in the oven when we have company or a party.

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New Year's Beans and Greens – Like Winning the Lottery, Except You Eat the Ticket!

Eating beans and greens on New Year’s Day is an annual tradition that supposedly brings prosperity and good fortune. Does it work? Who knows, but what do you have to lose? I mean, even if there is nothing to this ancient superstition, at the very least you get to enjoy one of the world’s great comfort foods. 

Here are some ideas that may, or may not, help get you into a higher tax bracket. Just click the recipe name, and you’ll see the original posts with ingredients. Enjoy!

	Italian-Style Beans and Greens So simple, so good, so comforting, and so a lot of other things. Italian soul food at its best.
	Utica Greens and Beans This delicious good luck charm hails from Utica, NY, and in addition to the obvious ingredients, also features pancetta or prosciutto.
	Black Eyed Peas with Pork & Greens They say the coloration on black eyed peas makes them look like coins, which adds to that whole prosperity in the New Year thing. Sure, if you squint, I guess. Very tasty nonetheless.
	Brazilian Feijoada You'll have to serve this with a side of braised greens if you're serious about getting rich in 2015, but either way, this amazing stew is not to be missed.

Spicy Queso Blanco Applebee's Copycat

Now you can enjoy your favorite Spicy Queso Blanco Dip at home.  Our Applebee's copycat recipe couldn't taste better.  This creamy cheesy dip with a little kick is loaded with 2 cheeses, fresh herbs and just enough heat to make your tongue tingle.  

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Simple Homemade Pretzel Dogs

A hot dog baked right inside a soft beer pretzel makes these the tastiest and easiest homemade pretzel dogs you will ever eat!  Ready in just 35 minutes you can enjoy these any night.  They are a great make ahead recipe and they freeze well too.  Just thaw and pop them in a 350°F oven until warm, about 5-8 minutes.

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Of Lobster Bisques and Christmas Breaks

Lobster bisque is one of our yearly holiday traditions, and since I’m making a batch today, I thought I’d repost the video in case you want to add another very special course to your Christmas or New Year’s Eve menu. Markets often have specials on lobster this time of year, and if you can find a couple, this is a real crowd pleaser.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Overnight Baked French Toast Casserole - Prep the night before and throw it in the oven while you are getting ready. Easy breakfast recipe that your family will thank you for!

This recipe is an old family favorite that was originally shared with you almost 4 years ago. It is DEFINITELY a reader favorite. So we decided to share it with you again. We enjoy this breakfast every Christmas and it has truly become a tradition that we look forward to every year.

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Wendy's Chili Copycat

This recipe is for the Wendy's chili lover in you.  Say what you will, Wendy's really makes some spectacular beef chili.  It's one of their signature sides, so if you have ever eaten at Wendy's you have to know about the chili.  It's so thick and rich you can stand a spoon straight up in it.  

Well now a fabulous hearty copycat chili packed with beef and beans is now available in your own kitchen!  This recipe is bursting with flavor, the green chiles really give this chili great character; with a little smokiness and a little heat (adjust to your liking).

Chad was not really excited about the idea of making a copycat Wendy's chili recipe at first.  He already had his own favorite recipe and is not a big fan of messing with perfection.  I have to say once the chili was served he was eating his words (along side the chili) as he declared this is some FANTASTIC CHILI!  Well that was a week ago.  He has had it every day for lunch since then.  Yes!  Seriously its that good.

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Edible Holiday Gift Idea: Candied “Buddha’s Hand” Citron

Welcome to our annual homemade edible gift episode, where you finally figure out what to get that “special” (aka super-picky and has everything) foodie on your holiday list. By the way, if you’re a fan of candied citrus, you ‘ll want to make extra, since Buddha’s Hand is a unique and special treat.

Next Up: Candied Citron

Best Ever White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Best Ever White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are the salty-sweet treat that you have been looking for. A simple recipe that comes together quickly will have you making these family favorite cookies all year long.

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Easy Crockpot Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings

Crock Pot Sriracha Honey Wings are so tender the meat falls off the bone and melts in your mouth.  The caramelized sweet and spicy sauce is truly enough to make your taste buds sing!  Made in the slow cooker you won't find an easier recipe!  They just about cook themselves. That makes these an excellent recipe for Christmas eve.

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Sausage Gravy and Biscuit Skillet

Classic Sausage Gravy and Biscuits can be on your table in just 30 minutes.  This is a one skillet recipe that is sure to make it into your permanent recipe file.  Flavorful saw mill gravy made with sausage and scrumptious biscuits that goes from prep to plate in 30 minutes.
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Crispy Honey-Glazed Ham – Looks, Tastes, and Sounds Like the Holidays

A great holiday ham glaze needs to have three things; a wonderful flavor, a gorgeous, shiny appearance, and a crispy, crackling crust you can hear across the room. I’m happy to report this easy to make glaze has all those things in abundance.

19 Chicken Dinners Ready in Just 30 Minutes

Now you can finally answer the question, what can I make with chicken?  How many times have you taken a pound of chicken out of the freezer with no idea what you were going to make with it?  I have to admit that has been the case on more than one occasion.  Here are 19 fabulous recipes that go from prep to plate in 30 minutes or less.
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The Extreme Reese's Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie

Extreme Reese's Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie has an extraordinary pie crust recipe with a special ingredient that will blow your mind, a light and fluffy peanut butter filling and a fully loaded mix of toppings to really make this pie sing it is topped with homemade whipped cream and a generous amount of peanut butter cups, peanuts and chocolate.  This no-bake pie goes from prep to plate in 30 minutes; this is one for the permanent recipe file!

This Peanut Butter No-Bake Pie is a dream come true.  If you could transform your favorite Reese's Peanut Butter Cup into a pie...  This is it! 

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Truffled Cauliflower Gratin – Now 100% Truffle Oil Free

This cauliflower gratin would typically be “truffled” with truffle oil, but I’ve never been a big fan. Truffle oils are almost always synthetically produced, one-dimensional, and way too overpowering. 

So, in this otherwise humble gratin, we’re going to use another, much more delicious delivery system…truffle pecorino. For less than $10 worth of cheese, I think you can get a much nicer, truer truffle flavor – plus, it’s cheese. By the way, if you know they actually make this cheese with synthetic truffle oil, please keep it to yourself, and don't spoil it for me. 

Chipotle's Copycat Barbacoa

Chipotle's famous barbacoa is the Mexican barbecue of my dreams.  With this amazing copycat recipe (made in a crockpot) it can be a reality for you.  Seared beef is slow cooked in a spectacular spicy adobo sauce and combination of flavors that create the perfect moist and tender Mexican shredded beef.

My sister in law treated Chad and I to Chipotle's for lunch about 6 years ago and I have been hooked ever since.  As I have confessed before I love the food at some restaurants, but for so many reasons eating out is completely lost on me.  Over the last few years I have created copycat recipes of Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice and Guacamole. 

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Culinary School in a Box, and Too-Good-to-Eat Christmas Cookies

My friends at Allrecipes.com have put together a series of online cooking classes, which could make a great gift for the foodies on your list. Whether they admit it or not, we all know your friends and family are envious of your culinary abilities, and secretly wish you’d teach them some of your skills.

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Insanity Cake

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Insanity Cake is a cake to lose your mind over!  A simple recipe, that is the kind of cake that knowing how good it tastes is almost a curse while you are waiting for the cake to cool.  Thus the delicious melty mess of chocolate you see before you.  {{{drool}}}

Our very first summer of The Slow Roasted Italian we shared this fabulous family favorite The Chocolate Insanity Cake.  Now it is affectionately referred to as The Ooey Gooey.  So, why insanity?  It is the kind of cake that knowing how good it tastes is almost a curse while you are waiting for the cake to cool.

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The Cornish Pasty – Going to Fall Down a Mineshaft? This is the Meat Pie For You!

This Cornish pasty is one of those rare recipes that novice cooks will find easier to make than experienced bakers. That’s because to make this to its original, and very sturdy specifications, you’re forced to over-mix the dough…a cardinal sin that literally gives pie makers nightmares.

Perfect Everyday Mashed Potatoes

Perfect Everyday Mashed Potatoes are perfectly buttery and creamy with the ideal texture and flavor with a special ingredient added to give a little something extra. The perfect side dish that is easy enough to make any night of the week and delicious enough for a special occasion. With make ahead instructions these are the ultimate weekday mashed potatoes!

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Next Up: Cornish Meat Pies

Best Ever Top 10 Christmas Cookie Recipes

Looking for fabulous cookie recipes for the holidays?  Look no further, we have compiled our Top 10 All Time Best Ever Christmas Cookie Recipes.

We are getting close to cookie time in my house.  We will be baking and packing up treats for the next week to be delivered to our family, friends and people who have otherwise touched our lives.  We call these our "gratitude baskets".  We started the tradition in 2006 and I can't imagine stopping.  Cooking and baking fills me with love and happiness.  Being able to share that with others by giving homemade gifts is more a present for me.

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10 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge

Scrumptious Peanut Butter Fudge that comes together in just 10 minutes with 7 ingredients is not a dream.  Its our Easy Peanut Butter Fudge recipe and you will thank me later.

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Pine Cone Cheese Ball – So Good, You’ll Want to Hug a Tree

Any cheese ball is a welcome addition to a holiday party spread, but when you bring one that looks like a pine cone, you’re talking about a real showstopper. 

The only danger, as I joked about in the intro, would be hurting the feelings of other guests who also decided to bring a cheese ball, sans camouflage. Hey, they’ll just have to raise their game next year.

Bacon Monte Cristo Finger Sandwiches

Easy Bacon Monte Cristo Finger Sandwiches fully loaded with meat and ooey gooey cheese!  Out of this world delish. This is  rockin' simple recipe that will give you more time to spend with your friends and family and less time in the kitchen.

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Next Up: Whole Roasted Pinecones ;-)

Peppermint Oreo Candy Bark

Peppermint Oreo Candy Bark is loaded with peppermint and chocolate.  It is cool, creamy and chocolaty with just enough crunch to satisfy all your senses.  This recipe has only 4 ingredients and comes together in just 10 minutes. Perfect for gift giving and last minute treats.

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Ravioli and Sausage Skillet

30 Minutes, one skillet, and enough inactive time to clean the kitchen:  this is perfect. Loaded with a mind blowing flavor explosion from pasta, cheese, sausage and tomatoes. My meat and potatoes loving husband insisted that this was the meal I serve at our holiday get together.  Even though he does not love Italian food he said if all Italian food tasted this good he would eat it every day.

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Ricotta Pie – Call It “Cheesecake” At Your Own Risk

You would certainly be well within your rights to call this ricotta pie a “cheesecake,’ except then your guests would be expecting cheesecake, and that might cause some problems. 

If you tell me I’m about to get a slice of cheesecake, I’m picturing something tall, dense, sweet, and very rich. Those adjectives are why people order cheesecake in the first place.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are soft, chewy and packed with peanut butter. This is the recipe that great grandma used to make and I am so excited to share it with you. Just stir scoop and bake. This simple recipe will be ready to go in the oven before it is done preheating!

Everyone has those dishes that you whip up without even thinking about it. You have just been making it so long it is a part of who you are. Maybe you mom and your mom's mom did it the same way and by all rational you assume that everyone makes the same things.  Well apparently this is not true. Shocking, I know. Apparently I have been holding out on you.

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One-Skillet Chicken Pot Pie in 30 Minutes

Chicken Pot Pie Skillet features chunks of chicken cooked in a scrumptious creamy sauce with corn, carrots and peas.  A secret ingredient in the drop biscuits really take this dish over the top.  One skillet and 30 minutes until dinner.

Chicken pot pies absolutely rank high on my comfort food radar.  But finding the time to dote over the perfect classic chicken pot pie can take hours and to be honest after a long hard day working and taking care of my 3 year old. I do not have the time or patience for that.

What I do have is a never ending desire for fabulous flavorful food in snap!  This skillet hits the mark.  From the time I put the skillet on the stove until the time it was on my plate was a mere 30 minutes.  That I can do!  Definitely the new family favorite.

With a secret ingredient that really takes this dish to the next level and only 30 minutes from prep to plate this will be on your menu again and again.

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Crockpot Pork Chops

Crockpot Pork Chops are the easiest slow cooker recipe ever. Toss and go. Toss it all in the crockpot and you return to perfectly tender, melt in your mouth pork cooked in the most spectacular sauce.  It is a little sweet, a little spicy, a little barbequey (yes I made that word up) and a lot delicious. Prepped in just 5 minutes.

I know I have been professing my love for my crockpot lately like a teenage girl does her first boyfriend, but I can not help myself. This thing is amazing!  I mean really, the weekend was so busy that I didn't have time to stand in front of the stove for 30 minutes preparing dinner at the end of the day so I tossed in my ingredients and went about my day. When I came back to it, dinner is cooked!?!?

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Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls Copycat Recipe

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Copycat Recipe will make you take a second thought, can it really be that good?  A sweetened roll with a thick cinnamon-sugar filling and a cream cheese frosting that you are likely to remember long after the cinnamon roll is gone!

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Fesenjan (Duck Stewed with Pomegranate and Walnuts) – Better Later Than Never!

Sorry for the delay, but if there's anything that deserves the “better late than never” tag, this duck fesenjan is it. A savory stew featuring duck, pomegranate, and walnuts, which is every bit as exotic as it sounds.

Next Up: Fesenjān

Sorry, but due to a large pot hole and a really small tire, today's Fesenjān video will not air until tomorrow. I think it will be worth the wait. Speaking of waiting, time to call roadside assistance. Stay tuned!

Crockpot Candy

Crockpot Candy is the easiest and most impressive homemade candy ever.  A rich chocolaty, peanutty 4 ingredient recipe that you simply toss in the slow cooker, stir a few times and scoop it out.  It doesn't get much easier than that!

I have a thing for peanut clusters, but the thought of melting the chocolate over the stove or in the microwave, only to have it thicken so quickly because it is chilly in the house frustrates me to no end.
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