I love finding new flavor combos, but I never get tired of the classics either. I’m pretty sure a strawberry banana smoothie was the first smoothie I ever made when my mom first got her Vitamix. We had never had a blender before in our house, and it was a blast getting started with all the fun things you can make in one. Growing up, we always had lots of strawberries from the garden in the freezer....

We love making huge dinner salads in the summer and it would seem you do too! Today’s recipe came about from lots of requests for more dinner salads coming into summer. So first up I thought we’d start with the most summery combination I could think of – pesto and tomatoes. Caprese salads of all kinds are one of my favorite things to make during the summer. And so it’s only natural to turn that classic combination into a full meal....

I think my favorite thing about Pineapple Salsa is that it tastes amazing year round. Decent pineapple is pretty easy to find these days, (I get mine at Costco). And even if it’s a little underripe, caramelizing it brings out its natural sugars, and makes it taste fantastic. Even my husband who isn’t a huge fan of pineapple likes it if it’s been caramelized first. Good tomatoes for a fresh salsa have such a short season that I’ve really gotten into salsas made from anything but tomatoes, (although as a side note, fire roasted canned tomatoes make a pretty good winter salsa)....

We eat some sort of burrito bowl or taco bowl at least once a week year-round! You can change up all sorts of things, and so the combos are absolutely endless. The ingredients for burrito/taco bowls are also easy to make ahead for meal prep which is right up my alley. This Chipotle Chicken is a prime example because it’s so easy to meal prep and reheats well. You can also just make it and serve it right away, but I can’t recommend it enough to make a double batch....

Banana bread is such an old-time comfort food classic and just the perfect way to use up any ripe bananas you have around. Most of the time you’ll find us making my Almond Flour Banana Muffins, but I wanted to share this recipe with you because it’s nut-free. How to make this recipe step by step I really hope you enjoy this Gluten Free Banana Bread with the extra 5 flavors!...

Tyler’s favorite dessert is apple pie, or pretty much anything apple cinnamon related. So over the years, I’ve developed lots of recipes with that combo in mind from this Apple Crisp with a Twist to my Cinnamon Crunch Apple Pie Smoothie Bowls. But unfortunately like we were talking about last week with my Chicken Pot Pie Pasta recipe, gluten free pie crusts can be really problematic. They tend to get gummy with too much moisture....

Did you grow up eating the classic chocolate chip cookies from Toll House? I sure did, and they’re still my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. They are the perfect combination of soft chewy-gooey interiors and crispy edges. I’ve tinkered around with the ratios to get the perfect texture for oat flour. But this recipe is 100% inspired by the classic Toll House recipe! How to make this recipe step by step Step 5: Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire cooling rack....

I’ve been making green smoothies from the classic strawberry-banana combo for a while. However, they’ve always been the most unappealing brownish-pink color. You may have seen me make them over on Insta Stories, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to take photos of them. I just couldn’t figure out how to make a brown smoothie look at all appetizing, even if they’re super delicious. But then I started adding Hawaiian spirulina powder to my smoothies, and that solved the problem....

The Highline Trail is one of my most recommended trails to anyone visiting Glacier National Park! The trail is 7.6 miles to Granite Park Chalet, where you can stay the night and hike in the area the next day. Or you can hike down the loop trail, and catch a shuttle back to Logan’s Pass where this hike begins. My favorite way to do this hike is to the Chalet, and all the way back out to Logan’s Pass....

We rely heavily on leftovers for most of our work lunches because that’s what works best for us. Keeping it simple has always been the perfect and most sustainable solution for lunches. I always make more than we need for dinner so we can pack the leftovers for lunch the next day. But we also mix things up by making something specific for lunch here and there so we don’t get bored....

This recipe for beef queso started completely by accident. Tyler was fishing in the river, and I was cooking tacos on the tailgate of our truck when I discovered we were out of taco shells. Needless to say, the rest is history, and this is now one of our favorite meals to make when camping or entertaining at home! We’ve made this beef queso dip on the tailgate of our truck in Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah now....

Caprese Salad is my all-time favorite salad! I love it so much, that I’m working on variations for all seasons! Tomatoes only come to vine-ripened perfection for a number of weeks, so… we’ll need to get creative when Fall arrives. Right now, we’re eating tomatoes everyday through September and if we’re lucky, right into October. One of the great things about a Caprese Salad is, it’s so easy to make (10 minutes tops)!...

This recipe evolved because I got a great deal on 10 pounds of chorizo sausage. I was craving pasta, and so I turned to my Tomato Cream Sauce recipe for a base to start with. Basically it turned out to be way more of a hit than I could have imagined. So I got right into recipe testing so I could share it with you too! How to make this recipe step by step I really hope you enjoy this creamy Chorizo Pasta recipe!...

A photo of the stunning views from the Conrad Kain Hut prompted me to immediately see if I could a get a reservation. And you know what? We arranged the entire time line of our trip just so we could make the trek in here. I think you’d probably agree, it was more than worth the effort to spend some time in this incredible place! For all the nitty gritty details about how to get here/how long the hike is etc....

I feel a little weird telling you how to make homemade cheese today when usually we talk about how to get dinner on the table as fast as possible! Maybe it would help if I started by telling you that paneer cheese is the easiest homemade cheese I’ve ever made, and there are certain foods I make an exception for in the time department, where the end definitely justifies the means!...

Johns Lake Loop in Glacier National Park is a great year round hike, it’s only 1.8 miles so it’s also a good hike for small children. This hike is wonderful late spring to early summer because the waterfalls are absolutely thundering with all the spring runoff, but it’s also really pretty in the fall when the leaves are changing color. You can hike this in the wintertime, (it makes for a great snowshoe if the snow’s good) but you have to hike an extra mile or so from Lake McDonald Lodge where they close the Going to the Sun Road in the winter....

The combination of lemon and mint is incredibly refreshing, especially on a hot day. We’ve been making pitcher after pitcher of this spa water all summer long. But… even though the weather has been cooling a bit, we’re still making it all the time. It took me awhile, but I finally wrote down the measurements for what we’ve been using. However I’d encourage you just to think of it as a place to start....

What I love about this recipe the most is it’s resemblance in flavor to sushi! Wasabi cucumbers combined with rich juicy salmon and salty miso/soy flavors, all wrapped up in my favorite soft yet still crunchy butterhead lettuce! And… speaking of sushi, I like making sushi and sushi bowls at home, but I never use any kind of raw fish – after all, I live in the landlocked state of Montana....

This apple crisp has a simple secret ingredient that makes it oh so delicious. The secret ingredient was orange zest. This is a fabulous trick I learned from my mother-in-law. She always makes her apple crisp with orange zest, and everyone always wants to know why it’s extra good! And now my second addition (secret ingredient) is a little caramel to the mix. Between these 2 it’s really hard to go wrong, and this apple crisp is sure to be a hit for you too!...

So… there’s always a first time for everything because today is the first time I’ve ever put 2 recipes on the blog in one day! But here’s the thing, I made these s’mores brownies last week, and they were so good I just knew I had to get them out in time for the 4th of July. However I forgot I already had my Grilled Summer Veggie Pesto Pasta Salad scheduled to come out....