Happy 2016 on January 20th!! We survived 2015 and now we have a whole new year to kick some ass and use the nail painting emoji.

We’re kicking things off with a weird quasi-resolution of me trying to eat less meat for absolutely no specific reason. I’m not a vegetarian, I looove meat, I will destroy a chicken thigh, but I figured I’d try and eat less meat as a challenge because apparently I don’t think life is hard enough as an adult. I also like that I can buy a bunch of vegetables in the beginning of the week and use them for whatever I want instead of buying chicken thighs because they’re on sale and then trying to figure out what that smell is two days later.

I also have another resolution of making sure the kitchen is 100 every day when I’m done working in it, before Steve gets home from work, for my own sanity and so far I have to report that I’m probably earning a solid A- with zero witchcraft.

Now before we finally talk about these burgers, two things:

1. I know there’s a difference between sweet potato and yams, yams are orange sweet potatoes are golden and I am going to use them interchangeably because nobody really eats the golden sweet potato.
2. this video, forever and always

I’m nowhere near being a picky eater, trust and believe, but the only acceptable sweet potato vessels in my world are sweet potato fries with ranch and tempura yam and now this burger.

I love it because it’s super easy, super cheap (less than $10 for a lot of burgers), and is packed with all kinds of good shit. There’s a nice play between the spicy/smoky chipotle and the sweet potato that’s super cute and it only gets better because we top that with sour crema and the world applaudes our attempt at meatless eating.

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On the second day of food xmas ur true love is giving yous some rocky road.

I see that half smile on your face like you just got socks or underwear for christmas (both of which I’d be stoked to get as an adult because good socks and underwear are $$$ SEND ME UNDERWEAR) but make dat smile bigger because this stuff is the tits.

Can we call it christmas tits?

Peppermint Christmas Tits.

I know you’re probably looking at this and going no way this is better than fudge, or chocolate bark, but you know what? You’re wrong. Which I know is all v subjective based off what you like in your mouth but there’s something about this stuff that’s sort of magic.

I think it’s a combo of how easy it is + the textures and the ability to switch it up with whatever flavors you want. For me fudge is too finicky and rich while chocolate bark is stupid easy, unless you melt the chocolate wrong, but it’s also what I feel is more money invested for less of a ta-da and I’m like a New Jersey Housewife where I want all of the things but don’t want to spend any money.

The crazy thing about this stuff is that is sort of has that fudge quality but also chocolate bark vibes with all of the mix-ins, you get the best of both worlds.

The OG rocky road is marshmallows and peanuts, and while I know that’s bangin’ peppermint extract and crushed up chocolate graham crackers are just bangin’ on another level.

Go out and get everything and reach that another level for yourself. Do it for the kids.

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Countdown to t-minus less than two weeks until christmas. Countdown to oh shit what am I going to get that one person I don’t want to spend a lot of money on. Countdown to everyone in the world that likes homemade food gifts which should be everyone in your life and those who don’t can be dropped, like the mic when you deliver these blondies.

This whole week we’re going to be talking about food gifts. It’s like the 12 days of christmas but there’s only 5 and every day ur true love gives you carbs and butter and sugar.

It’s the best.

We’re kicking things off with one of my favorites, the chewy toffee bomb blondie, mashed up with one of the greatest ice cream flavors: Tin Roof Sundae.

ring ring
hello?
it’s my childhood i have to take this.

For those of you that lived in a cave growing up, tin roof sundae is vanilla ice cream with fudge ripples (almost wrote nipples what a dream come true) and chocolate covered peanuts and it was always always in our freezer always in my heart.

I guess it’s sort of like a philly cheesesteak hot pocket situation where everything’s sort of there already. YOUR ICE CREAM IS ALREADY A SUNDAE STRAIGHT OUT THE CARTON.

All that means we’re tin roofing these blondies by coating our own peanuts in chocolate, licking all the leftover chocolate out of the bowl then folding said peanuts into the batter. It’s a win-win for everyone. Of course you could just buy chocolate covered peanuts but I think that the chocolate to peanut ratio is way out of line. We want a kiss, not a kid’s choice award sliming.

ALSO BONUS: Since these are blondies they run in the same royal bloodline as all cookies so they’re acceptable for any christmas cookie party, especially if there are awards, you can just cut them smaller so it looks like you made more.

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Hiiiii, it’s currently Tuesday which means tonight is a weeknight which means you should probably make this ragu. I mean, technically this a seven days a week ragu, but weeknight ragu sounds kewter.

This ragu is brought to you by the letter W.

W is for Whip it Up!, Wine, and Whitney.

This recipe is actually from the book, this is something you can whip up, just whip it up with all the whipping it up. There’s wine in there, and Whitney is a friend of mine that has a killer youtube channel dedicated to wine that I really enjoy watching. I’m not a big wine drinker but I’m not shitting you when I say I’ve watched every video. It also just so happens that I’m making an appearance on there today with this goodness, loaded with the wine, pretending the intro is either a Japanese game show or a weird episode of Pokémon. We’re putting wine in your food! but you know about it, it’s not like we’re sneaking it in there.

So if you’re coming from over there, welcome! and if you haven’t watched it yet go over and watch how awkward I am when I eat pasta/just stand there with I’m sure a creepy smile.

The thing that makes this weeknight worthy is that it comes together in less than an hour with very little hands on time. Most of it is just waiting for things to brown, liquid to evaporate, etc, and the sauce itself is made in a blender, onion chunks and all. I got you boo.

If you want to see what I look and sound like then head over here but if you’re like nahh I just want some ragu then scroll on hater.

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Happy Cyber Monday! The holiday where you get to shop without pants on and get good deals without having to show your boobs on a webcam, despite what the name leads you to believe.

I figured it was a better time than ever to go over the blogger book tour that happened a few weeks ago because cyber monday means there has to be a sale somewhere (30% off on amazon today with code holiday30) so we’re just taking care of all the business right neow.

But real quick, before we kick it off I need to mention that the food blogging community is just the coolest most supportive, rad group of people. luv u guyz.

Nik from A Brown Table and the boys over at the Food Gays made the pumpkin flaxseed treats for the dog section, mainly just really excited they did that so I can see pictures of dogs.

Jon from The Candid Appetite and Graham from Glazed & Confused made the vanilla apple crumble which is current right now in my food moods. I just want a whole pan to myself with ice cream.

So far this list is v gay heavy, I am v into it.

There were a couple ‘most popular’ recipes that were made. The espresso snickerdoodles were one, with Brett from Fig and Bleu, Alana from Fix Feast Flair, and Cindy from Hungry Girl Por Vida being all cool for the winter cookie season.

The most most popular, for good reason, was the Nutella Brownie Tart. Erika from Southern Souffle gave a shout out and proof it doesn’t have to be a tart which I love, along with Michelle from Hummingbird High who tried to expose my evil plans. Gab from the Artful Desperado made it (WITH COFFEE SALT), Jessica from How Sweet It Is trashed it up with all the halloween candy, and Sarah from the Vanilla Bean Blog topped it with no churn pumpkin ice cream, amen.

Also on the brownie track was the most chill bowl of  brownie granola that Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen made. I love it with the yogurt and honey.

Christina from Dessert for Two went and dessert for two’d the caramel banana pudding which makes me happy because now I can make and have two servings to myself whenever I want.

I went to go hang out with Oh Happy Day and I brought some pumpkin Butterscotch sauce with me.

Stephanie from i am a food blog and Brandon from Kitchen Konfidence made the honey sriracha chicken skewers. Stephanie took the mini route (luv) and Brandon went the rice bowl route (also v much luv)

There was some waffle talk with the ricotta waffles that the boys at Probably This made with the vanilla strawberry sauce and Sarah from The Sugar Hit pimped her ride with blueberries and whipped cream.

Sydney from the Crepes of Wrath made tacos happen with the chicken tinga tacos (one of my favorites that we’ll talk about next week) and she kicked up the spice a little because she’s a spicy gurl.

Tracy from Shutterbean went and almond joy’d the breakfast rolls from the book yes please.

Last but definitely not least is the bourbon gingersnap ice cream that says suck it to winter because the flavor itself is just winter holiday extravaganza. Lily from Kale and Caramel made it and topped with hot fudge and the maple glazed cornflakes from the book which is top notch and Megan from Take a Megabite went and made it with all the cutest things ever for ice cream topping.

For those of you that’ve bought the book, thank you! For those of you that are on the fence go use the 30% off deal and grab a copy! and if you guys could, take a sec to rate the book wherever you buy it, and use the hashtag #whipitupcookbook and show me what you’ve made!

p.s. if amazon is your devil then you can check it out on Target’s website (usually the best deal with a Red Card #notsponsored) and if that’s still not your thing, check out indiebound for local bookstores that carry it! aaaand if you’re in the UK, here’s that Amazon Link.

Surprise! Another internet post about cranberry sauce.

I realize that there’s approximately 7.2 million recipes out there but the whole point of this series is to show you the basics and there’s nothing more basic than the big bowl of red that maybe half the people at the thanksgiving table actually like.

Growing up we always used the can but sort of mashed up a little so it didn’t look like a can, and then sometime in the early 2000s every single food network host decided it was time to make your own cranberry sauce so my parents gave me that job every thanksgiving after. MTV True Life I hated eating it, but I made it anyways, trying to gussie it up and impress everyone that at some point thought the stuff in the can was good enough.

I know cranberry sauce is still a touchy subject for some (I’m still not the craziest about it) but I think there’s people that don’t believe in Thanksgiving without it on the table.

For me I actually like to make it, probably forget it in the fridge, then use it to make all the leftover sandwiches. It’s perfect whipped up with cream cheese for bagels the next day, and next week we’re going to talk about being proactive by mixing it with everyone’s thanksgiving favorite: alcohol.

The thing I love the most about it though is that it’s such a formula that just involves liquid and sugar that you could really do anything you want with it to make it your own. In the end though I really like the tart flavor of the cranberries to shine so my favorite just ends up being super basic with grapefruit juice and peel. Then if we were on a cooking show this is where I would stun the crowd by folding in some pomegranate seeds.

It really is the easiest thing you’ll make for thanksgiving this year and if you’re still kind of meh about it make a half batch and use it for the turkey paninis the next day or a full batch and use the leftovers for cranberry bottom cheesecake bars.

Whatever you do, just promise me you’ll make some for the drinks.

ALL. OF. THE. DRINKS.

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