We made it – a recipe meant to be an appetizer for a crowd – and devoured so much of it that neither of us was very hungry for the main course. There was something about the pops of tart cranberry with chewy, buttery cubes of brie and the rich caramelized onions piled on fluffy focaccia that made us keep going back for “just one more slice.” This recipe has now become a holiday staple in our family, often requested and happily made....

One thing you can do with the excess fruit of the season is to make fruit leather, sort of the beef jerky of fruit. I used to love this stuff as a kid! It made for a great snack, gave us instant energy, and was easy to pack. Guidelines for Fruit Leather What follows is a general guideline to making fruit leather, no set recipe. So much of it depends on the specific fruit you are working with....

I like to serve this with kale mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, or pasta. Why you will love this garlic mushroom chicken recipe This recipe is a hybrid of garlic chicken and mushroom sauce. It is quick and easy to make and takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish, perfect for a weeknight meal! Economical! This is a budget-friendly meal and perfect for the whole family. It is freezer-friendly if that is your thing....

Freezer Instructions One way to make this snowflake bread recipe ahead of time is to prep and then freeze it. You can either freeze the dough before baking or freeze it after you’ve baked it: Dough Options There are several different options you can use when it comes to the dough for making star bread, each of which has its own fun twist on the texture and design of your final loaf....

Between Easter, a Patriots Day parade and museum trips, we finally got a chance to do some baking. Reilly (8) and her sister Alden (6) helped me make scrumptious lemon bars that have candied ginger in the crust from a recipe in a 1987 issue of Gourmet magazine. To make the bars first you make and pre-bake the shortbread crust with specks of candied ginger. Then you make the lemon filling, pour into the pre-baked crust, and bake again, until the filling has set....

A great solution? Chicken breast skewers! If you grill chicken breasts that have been cut into chunks and threaded on skewers, there will be more surface area exposed to the heat of the grill. As long as you grill them quickly on high direct heat, the inside will be done when the outside has lovely grill marks. It also helps to marinate the chicken chunks first. Some salt in the marinade will help the chicken hold on to moisture, and acid from yogurt or lemon juice will tenderize the meat....

I recently reconnected with a Trini friend, Asher, who with her husband Keith, brought me some wonderful homemade curries and roti for dinner. One of Keith’s favorites is curry apple, or a simple curry made with tart green Granny Smith apples, taking the place of tart green mangos, which is one of the most common and well loved curries for roti in Trinidad. What I love about this simple curry is just that, it is so simple, nothing fancy....

The Trick To Good Grilled BBQ Chicken But chicken takes longer to cook than either hot dogs or hamburgers and loves lower cooking temperatures, so it’s easy to mess up by under-cooking, over-charring, or both. The trick to good BBQ Chicken? Patience. How Long To Grill Chicken Done right, it will take at least an hour, and even up to 2 hours. Remember that barbecue is slow and low, grilling is hot and fast....

How do you grill corn on the cob without husks? Corn on the cob can be grilled without the husks in two different ways. First, you can grill the corn directly on the grill grates. This results in a drier corn on the cob with a lot of smoky, grilled flavor. The sugar caramelizes in the corn caramelizes a bit more when grilled directly on grill grate, giving it a unique flavor....

Their smokey spicy sweetness reminds me of outdoor meals growing up with my family because we would take them with us to the park, on camping trips, road trips. These ribs are made in three easy steps: par-boil, 30 minute marinade, and a finish on the grill to lock in the flavor and make the meat fall of the bone tender. This is the flavor of my childhood and evokes memories of carefree moments playing with my siblings and running through the sprinklers on sunny summer days....

We serve the grilled shrimp in tacos topped with a colorful mango and avocado salsa, which you can easily put together while the grill is heating up. Crazy good! A few tips for perfect grilled shrimp. First, use large shrimp, they’ll hold their moisture better on the grill and won’t dry out in the time it takes to cook them on high heat. If you are using frozen shrimp, defrost them in salty cold water....

Once the outdoor cooking season kicks off, it only makes sense to combine avocados and tomatoes with the smoky sweet flavors of charred sweet corn and bacon. You’ve been forewarned, this guacamole will be on heavy rotation. Mix up a pitcher, or two, of margaritas, shake out a bag of tortilla chips to serve alongside this guacamole, and your party is bound to be a hit. How to Pick the Perfect Avocado It may seem impossible, but you can pick perfect avocados for your guacamole every time you go to the grocery store....

“When you Google “ham cheese french toast roll up”, there are zero search results. When I hit “publish”, there will be 1 result!” I didn’t expect to post this recipe. I’ve seen countless french toast roll ups on the internet so I thought there was little point in adding mine into the mix. But the other day, I realised that all those french toast roll ups I’d seen were sweet ones, usually filled with cream cheese and berries, then coated in sugar....

Can I add cheese to tomato salad? Yes you can! This recipe would go well with 1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, or some fresh mini mozzarella balls. Just be warned that the dressing will discolor the cheese so it is best to add the cheese right before serving. If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious salad recipes: Easy Cucumber SaladHealthy Cucumber Tomato SaladDill Pea and Cucumber SaladThe Best Macaroni SaladCreamy Potato Salad...

No eggs, nuts or refined sugar We love this edible cookie dough recipe because it’s super easy to make, and it’s healthier than the average edible cookie dough. Of course, there are no eggs and that makes it edible and no bake. Then, we used cassava flour to keep it nut-free and pure maple syrup to ditch refined sugars. The magic comes from the coconut butter though. It makes the texture just right and adds this buttery flavor without any added dairy....

Disclaimer: We partnered with Bob’s Red Mill to bring you this post. We only work with companies and brands we truly believe in and use ourselves. Therefore, all opinions and recipes are entirely our own. Thank you for supporting The Real Simple Good Life and our partners. Ingredients for the best gluten free and vegan oatmeal cookies These healthy oatmeal raisin cookies are easy to make and use basic pantry staples that you probably already have in your gluten free kitchen....

They are so good, that everyone loves them, regardless of their way of eating. And the best part? They are VERY easy to make, and they’re ready in about 20 minutes. What can be better than a one-ingredient homemade snack that tastes better than many processed snacks? These parmesan crisps are AMAZING. They are way better than any commercial cheese cracker that I have ever tried. I just love them....

Disclaimer: We partnered with Bob’s Red Mill to bring you this post. We only work with companies and brands we truly believe in and use ourselves. Therefore, all opinions and recipes are entirely our own. Thank you for supporting The Real Simple Good Life and our partners. A gluten and grain free flatbread mix We were so excited when Bob’s Red Mill introduced their new Grain Free Flatbread Mix! It’s got all the regular flours we use, but in the exact right measurements with no guesswork....

Every time I walk under our grape arbor in this season, just the smell of those ripe grapes conjures up memories of childhood—wolfing down a PB & J, slurping a rapidly melting frozen grape juice bar (mom was way more into those than neon popsicles), or greedily munching on a grape flavored jelly bean, Lifesaver, or any of those turn-your-mouth-purple candies that we loved. We used to make grape juice from Welch’s frozen concentrate; sometimes the lid didn’t come off so easily and splat there went a purple goopy mess all over our shirts....