For several weeks during my maternity leave, my go to meal was meatball subs. We’d buy a few baguettes from the bakery in our neighborhood and top them with IKEA meatballs and tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe’s. Oh, and a little fresh basil from our plant too. Getting to the bread store and Trader Joe’s was quite the adventure at that point! These sandwiches were immensely satisfying and so easy to quickly assemble whenever I needed a comforting meal. Now I have very fond memories of meatball subs and decided it was about time I make some with homemade meatballs and » [continue]

Happy Memorial Day weekend! We’re up in Portland, Maine, celebrating our wedding anniversary. I always try to make some sort of treat for snacking during road trips and this time baked up a batch of macaroons, which are Apolinaras’ absolute favorite cookie. I never have to ask him what to order when we’re in bakeries – he always picks macaroons! These are extra special macaroons because they have Nutella in them. I’m not a huge macaroon fan myself, but the Nutella in these makes them pretty irresistible. They also come together really quickly. I whipped them up while we were p» [continue]

Well hello, long time, no post! Things have been a bit hectic, so I took a much needed break from cooking. We had a few too many nights of frozen ravioli and breakfast for dinner, but I finally got back into the kitchen again this weekend– I missed it! The first recipe I created is a very tasty one. These summer chicken quesadillas were inspired by the fresh corn I had for the first time this season during a clam bake at a work retreat last week – yum! I bought 8 ears of corn this weekend and set about making these quesadillas, which are also packed with red bell peppers, shredded c» [continue]

I’m loving the trend of more and more food bloggers periodically featuring their favorite products, so I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and write a post about my own current obsessions every so often as well. I think I’ll do it whenever I have five goodies I can’t wait to tell you about! Of course, some items will be foodie related, but I also plan to touch on other topics too. 1. Let’s start with makeup! Apolinaras likes to joke that Sephora and Harbor Freight Tools, are our respective candy stores. I prefer a natural look, but I kind of love makeup and finding new HG (H» [continue]

This post is a little overdue, but better late than never. Here’s my favorite picture from Greta’s 7 month birthday a few weeks ago. I still can’t believe she spontaneously posed like this, and I managed to catch the shot! And here’s our little cutie with Apolinaras. Her sixth month was filled with some fun firsts, including our first jog in the running stroller (she inevitability falls asleep after a mile or so). And first swimming lesson! She just loves splashing around in the water like her mommy and daddy. We also moved her up to her convertible car seat b» [continue]

I'm finally feeling like I can relax a bit and turn away from the news. Much love to Boston and all the incredible law enforcement officers who worked so hard to keep us safe this last week. I also got back in the kitchen on Sunday night, because I had volunteered to make a dessert for a coworker’s birthday. Since I was feeling too lazy to head out to the store, I rummaged around my kitchen and found frozen berries, cream, and coconut, and this tart was born! I made a coconut sugar cookie crust and added a bit of almond extract to give it that something extra special. Then I filled» [continue]

Our hearts were broken on Monday here in Boston. Thankfully, we were not at the marathon this year, but we've cheered on the athletes in the past when we've had friends running. Watching the marathon is a joyous tradition for many Bostonians. Our city is actually rather small, so everyone who lives here knows someone who was there on Monday. The stories of the first responders and heroes rushing to help the injured, the medical personnel leaping into action at the hospitals, the runners vowing to run again next year, the police officers, investigators, and National Guard members working» [continue]

Have you ever ordered off a restaurant’s “secret” menu? I almost tried ordering the Quesarito when I was at Chipotle this week. Why didn’t I think to wrap a quesadilla around a burrito?! I also used to always order mint Oreo blizzards from Dairy Queen growing up. I don’t think they were officially on the menu, at least when I first started ordering them, so when my former coworker Libby told me she used to always do the same, I knew we were kindred dessert spirits! For Libby’s birthday, I wanted to make a mint chocolate cookie packed with our other mutual dessert love, Tr» [continue]

I’ve been trying to get this post up for a few days now, but I'm nursing a cold and therefore more tired than usual, and I'm having the worst writer’s block....so I’m just going to keep this one short and sweet! Meatloaf is one of our favorite comfort foods and this version has a Cajun twist. It’s packed with spices and onion, green pepper, and celery. It’s very tasty and filling and pretty healthy too - enjoy! Cajun Meatloaf Printable Recipe Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large yellow onion, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 2 garlic clo» [continue]

One of my favorite things about making brownies is that you don’t have to wait for the butter to warm to room temperature since you just melt it with the chocolate. This is especially important when you spontaneously decide to whip up a treat for your hubby’s coworkers and all your butter is in the freezer! These are really rich and decadent triple chocolate brownies that aren’t too sweet. I hope Apolinaras' team enjoyed them at his exciting new gig. They are perfect for dark chocolate lovers! Triple Chocolate Brownies Printable Recipe Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter 6» [continue]