Salmon and Asparagus - About a Mom

When someone calls and says, “I need something delicious, elegant, fast, and amazing–now!!”—this is what I make for them.Salmon and asparagus are two foods that already, by themselves, promise deliciousness to the diner. But combine them and add just a little flavor and texture enhancers like olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper, and you’ve got all you need to impress even the finest guests.Salmon is an eye-appealing fish, as are long stems of green asparagus, and when you add just the rig...

Oreo Milkshake Recipe - About a Mom

The secret to a heavenly milkshake is to put your favorite cookies in it and on it.The other day, Ms. Harper called me by Walkie Talkie and committed one of several criminal acts that day that almost got her banned from watching Paw Patrol for a week.“Wonna, Mom needs you to add four Oreo Milkshakes to today’s order, over and out.”“There is no today’s order. I just delivered with all meals, including all baked spaghetti dinners, buffalo chicken thises-and-thats, and macaroni and cheeses, and, oh...

Milk Chocolate Brownies - About a Mom

These are the creamiest, dreamiest brownies I’ve ever had, and with these wholesome, delicious ingredients, they’re a small wonder! Little Debbie’s got nothing on these…My favorite little girl in the world, Ellie, loves brownies like I love pizza—which means A LOT.When she was here visiting, we dined on these milk chocolate brownies while we watched the new Paw Patrol movies, and that was one good time—and BOY, was her face a mess of chocolate (I iced mine with this delicious, warm, glossy frost...

Mint Brownies - About a Mom

Sometimes, only the flavors of mint and chocolate will do, and if you’re looking at that picture right there, I bet this is one of those times. These luscious, delicious, and gorgeous Mint Chocolate Brownies are my new favorite dessert to serve for any occasion because they are not only stunning in appearance—they’re a fun, amazingly delicious, and colorful addition to any soirée, no matter how fancy. Throw a mint sprig on the plate and you can serve it by itself at any fancy French restaurant....

Cake Mix Brownies - About a Mom

Requiring only four—count them—four ingredients and 20 minutes in the oven, these hot, rich, fudge-a-licious, chocolaty brownies can be yours to take to bed with a cold glass of milk.You know, cake mix is just a series of ratios of delicious things that go in cakes, some cookies, and definitely brownies—if it’s chocolate cake mix. And one way to put together a fast and easy pan of brownies is to make Cake Mix Brownies. Then they’re done in minutes flat—specifically 30 minutes flat, in fact, but...

Stuffed Salmon - About a Mom

Salmon fillets stuffed with a delectable, savory combo of cream cheese, spinach, Parmesan cheese, and spices; done and on your dinner table in 30 min. Yes, please!Salmon is an important fish for us to get more of in our diet, and dishes like these make it not only easy but scrumptious. Stuffed Salmon, to me, is fine dining at its best because part of tasting good is being good-for-you, too.But healthy or not, this dish is an absolute stunner both in terms of presentation and in terms of its deli...

Oreo Brownies - About a Mom

I would like to take this moment to thank Oreos for making life, well, life.Oreos. We start with these so young; can anyone remember their first one? I remember my first one. I was three. And utterly fascinated by the dish my Mamaw had placed before me on my little TV tray for my dessert as I watched Hee Haw with my Papaw. Where did these little paisley-cut chocolate flowers filled with a heavenly-looking white concoction come from, anyway?And hanging out with her was more fun than hanging out w...

Panko Crusted Salmon - About a Mom

Looking for a new, delicious, crispy, crunchy, and easy way to prepare oh-so-good for you salmon that’s just 25 minutes to be done?! Salmon, especially wild or fresh-caught salmon, is one of the healthiest, most delicious fishes out there. It’s loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids, and the American Heart Association advises that everyone should eat one 6-ounce or two 3-ounce servings of fatty fish a week to get these important nutrients. So eat one of these delicious, crispy salmon fillets tonight, a...

Air Fryer Salmon Bites - About a Mom

In just 13 minutes, these can be yours—and what an air fryer does for these delicious and beyond-crispy Air Fryer Salmon Bites has to be witnessed and TASTED to be believed.I was a skeptic. Now, I am not just a believer. A strong believer. Air fryers, so I learned this week, are the bomb-shahizzle when it comes to foods you might fry or deep fry. I learned this when I had to cook some tater tots up fast because I burned mine. So I quickly Googled, “How do you use the air fryer on a 13-function I...

Cosmic Brownies - About a Mom

These homemade brownies are so delicious they seem otherworldly.I bet you cannot answer this question honestly, even if you want to:How long has it been since you have had a completely homemade brownie?Now, the sound of crickets is becoming loud there, right?Because if we’re really talking completely homemade brownies, and not just opening up a box of Duncan Hines’ Brownie Mix, maybe you’ve never, and I mean never-ever, had the ooey, gooey, yummy, decadent, meltingly delicious flavor sensation t...

Chicken Carbonara - About a Mom

This isn’t just Chicken Carbonara. It’s Bacon Chicken Carbonara, and that makes a whole lot of delectably delicious difference.I’m a sucker for a fancy sauce of any kind, be it Hollandaise, mayonnaise, or—well, you get the point: I love sauces. What makes this little confession of mine all the stranger is that although I went to culinary school, carbonara was new to me until about a year ago when I began reading Lidia Bastianich’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cooking. When I saw the picture for...

Pancetta Pasta - About a Mom

You know what “pancetta” means? I think Pancetta is Italian for “something really freaking tasty.”This Pancetta Pasta is one of the most appropriate illustrations I know of that proves beyond a shadow of doubt that simple dishes can often be the best things we’ve ever tasted.With just six ingredients—two of them being salt and pepper, the others being olive oil, pasta, parmesan, and pancetta—this simple pasta dish will quickly become a family favorite because it’s so utterly and undeniably delic...

Ravioli Carbonara - About a Mom

Can you believe that this naughtily delicious cheese ravioli topped with a pancetta carbonara can be on your table in less than 30 min?I love ravioli like I love unwrapping presents—they’re just like little packets of as-yet unopened surprises on the plate, all delicious and ready to be unwrapped by my fork, which cannot wait to pierce that ravioli and find out what deliciousness awaits me inside.Will that deliciousness match this blessing of a sauce that surrounds it, gracing my tongue with the...

Spicy Rigatoni - About a Mom

Vodka isn’t just something to make a cocktail with—it also makes a marinara sauce literally sparkle in the pan, on the plate, and in your mouth. And this Spicy Rigatoni glimmers and gleams with flavor.Vodka holds a special place in the hearts of many people, not for what it does for beverages so much as when added to dishes—especially red sauces, stews, and goulashes. Vodka dissipates when cooked, leaving behind its spirit, literally, just its ghost—and it’s not a scary ghost, but rather the pro...

Easy Salmon Recipe - About a Mom

With just minutes from prep to table, this delicious, elegant, and super-nutritious meal can be on your table, being hungrily devoured. As it should be.When Sherry’s son and daughter-in-law, Jeremiah and Brooke, and their cute, tow-headed little three-year-old Ellie were here visiting, Brooke, who’s very beautiful, revealed to me that one of the secrets to her youthful appearance is that she insists her family eat salmon twice a week.“I don’t believe so much in Botox,” she said, “as I do in salm...

Bucatini Carbonara - About a Mom

You will not believe the rich flavor of this delicious pasta dish until you taste it.Yesterday, my dear client, Jillian, who lives practically next door, called and said, “Rhonda, what’s that yummy dish called that you fixed us last week… you mentioned something like ‘pasta with holes in it’… Oh, it was so, so good.”I thought about this confusing clue as I flipped through the Rolodex of meals I fixed for her, little Harper, the wee twins, and her hubby, Ferf. It didn’t take me long to figure out...

Cacio e Pepe - About a Mom

If you’ve seen the movie Chef and drooled as the main character fixed a simple pasta dish for Scarlett Johansson that made her go all swoony and moony for him, you’ll enjoy making—and devouring—this very similar recipe.In the movie Chef, the main character swirls up, literally, a pasta dish in a sauté pan that looks to be little more than pasta on a plate. One wonders, “What is he feeding her to produce that ‘ahhhhh’ moment of the whole closed eye and look of sheer pleasure on her face if it’s j...

Easy Salmon Recipe - About a Mom

With just minutes from prep to table, this delicious, elegant, and super-nutritious meal can be on your table, being hungrily devoured. As it should be.When Sherry’s son and daughter-in-law, Jeremiah and Brooke, and their cute, tow-headed little three-year-old Ellie were here visiting, Brooke, who’s very beautiful, revealed to me that one of the secrets to her youthful appearance is that she insists her family eat salmon twice a week.“I don’t believe so much in Botox,” she said, “as I do in salm...

Creamy Pasta Salad - About a Mom

This creamy mayo and sour cream sauce with its magical sprinkling of vinegar and sugar makes this the most delicious pasta salad this chef has ever tasted – and it’s yours in 20 minutes flat!There’s always that dish that makes kids try new vegetables and discover them to be ‘dee-licious’. When I was just eight years old and hadn’t even ventured to try a salad with ranch dressing yet, it was my mother’s fresh spinach, red onion, and mandarin orange salad with this amazing sour cream, vinegar, and...

Ground Beef and Potatoes Recipe - About a Mom

My mom called this dish hash, so I always thought the word “hash” meant good food, made well, that no one can resist. Dinner doesn’t have to be fancy to be delicious. Some of our most prized meals are the simplest ones. Eggs with bacon, seasoned with salt and pepper. Chicken and rice, seasoned with salt and pepper. An omelet, seasoned with salt and cooked in butter. That’s all you need. Same goes for this meal. It’s simple, but that makes it simply amazing as well. That’s something we’ve forgott...

Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe - About a Mom

This beautiful and scrumptious Chicken Pasta Salad is drenched in a heavenly sauce made of Greek yogurt, honey, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar, and it’s simply ambrosial.One of the families I cook for has a daughter, Harper, who turns five in a month. The other day she said, “What’s a blog, Rhonda? My mom says I’m going to be famous.” So, please, let’s make Harper famous if, for nothing else, every hilarious thing she says just like that. The other day she came over to go swi...

Chicken Shepherd's Pie - About a Mom

This Chicken Shepherd’s Pie has just the right bit of sage, rosemary and thyme to coax new flavors out of the chicken and mashed potatoes …. eating this, you’ll feel like you just took a bite of HOME.For me, nothing tastes more like soothing comfort in a meal than a warm, steaming plate of meat and mashed potatoes. Especially a whipped blanket of potatoes atop seasoned chicken and vegetables with the welcome surprise of savory gravy. Every bite is a velvety rich, savory forkful of the flavors of...

Smoked Chuck Roast - About a Mom

With Smoked Chuck Roast—it’s all about that beautiful, delicious, rich, savory, cooked skin that forms on that meat called the ‘bark’.If you’ve never had a smoked chuck roast, boy, you’re in for a real treat. Chuck roast (also known as chuck pot roast) is called a poor man’s brisket for a reason. Like brisket, chuck roast is full of fat and marbling that just melts in that smoker and creates the most amazing bark—and people who practice the art of smoking meats are all about the bark.In fact, al...

Easy Chili Recipe - About a Mom

When you want chili fast (…or chili fries fast…or chili dogs fast) this savory five–ingredient chili is on your table in 25 minutes flat.  Do you ever just want a hot bowl of chili with some crackers but want it done fast? Or do you ever just want a chili dog like right now? I do, all the time. So, I have at least six flattened freezer bags full of this quick chili at all times.I think chili is good for all kinds of days–even in August. Why? Because it just floods the body with the comfort of be...
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