If you’ve been a follower (and if not, I’d love if you would; signups for email, facebook, and twitter are to the right) ya gotta know by now that I am a Soup lover, and def a Chili lover (they are all on my main index for Soups Chowders & Chili.) I have all kinds of Chili on my site ranging from old school to family-friendly, green to red, and a few grown-up ones. This Spicy Black Bean Chili is in that last category.

Best Chocolate Cupcakes
It might be time to take a little break from all things “fall” and food made with pumpkin (and the resulting Pumpkin Spice) and put aside all those thoughts about Thanksgiving (coming up so fast!) and have a little sumpin sumpin that’s chocolate, maybe a little sumpin like these Best Chocolate Cupcakes.

Coffee Coriander Rubbed New York Strip Steak
I can be a bit of a snob about steak; see I grew up in an area when some of the best beef is produced. Yeah, Northwest Iowa!! But sometimes you just want a steak and you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg. And sometimes that means less expensive grocery store or “no name” steaks- well frankly, they can use a little help. That’s when you want to make this Coffee Coriander Rubbed New York Strip Steak.

Cafe Latte’s Mabel’s Turtle Cake
This is our “go to” birthday cake, Cafe Latte’s Turtle Cake. Now, since my birthday is smack dab in the middle of Christmas preparations, you know any cake I serve has a) got to stand out and b) be relatively simple. This year I’m at the folks and made it for all of us, and I wanted to share it with you, too!

Frozen Coffee Frappe Goodness
I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but a young friend introduced me to a McDonald’s frozen blend – a Caramel Frappe. I loved the taste, but a little investigation into the nutrition and ingredients left me colder than my ice headache! With summer approaching, I knew I had to come up with a reasonable substitute: My Frozen Fake Frappe.