Ingredients:
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups chocolate chips
3 eggs, separated
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups sour cream
1 stick of butter
1 tsp. baking powder
1.5 tsp. baking soda
.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
While buttering a 9×13″ baking dish, preheat stove to 350 degrees. Mix 1.5 cups of the sugar and butter until creamed, and fold in the vanilla and eggs yolks. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, flour, and salt. Mix the flour mixture and sour cream into the butter mixture (alternate between the two as you mix into the butter mixture). Beat the egg whites, and mix them into the batter.
For filling, whisk the cinnamon with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.
Take half of the batter and spread in the baking dish...

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of maple syrup
3 cups of marshmallows
6 yams

Directions:
After washing and peeling the yams, slice them into cubes. Boil the cubes until they’re soft. Combine butter, sugar, maple syrup, and s cups of marshmallows in a large pot. Melt the marshmallows and mix until well combined. Add the yams and stir until mixture is at consistency you desire. Pour into a 9×9″ baking dish, and top the final cup of marshmallows. At 400 degrees, bake dish for 10 minutes to brown the marshmallows. Remove, serve, and enjoy!

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Ingredients:
3.5 oz blood sausage
2 cups beef stock
1 15 oz can of tomatoes
7 oz kidney beans (soaked overnight)
2.5 lbs of beef brisket cut into small cubes
1.5 cups red wine
1 medium onion
2 chopped ancho chilli peppers
4 chipolte chillis
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chilli powder

Directions:
In a heavy-bottom, lidded skillet, fry 3 pressed cloves of garlic and 1 sliced onion together, then brown the diced brisket with garlic and onion. Puree the chipolte chillis with 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Now in a separate sauce pan, fry the other sliced onion with the remaining pressed garlic clove alongside the pureed chipolte chillis. Add this combination to the heavy-bottom skillet along with the black pudding, chilli powder, paprika, and ancho chillis to fry...

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can refried beans
1 pound ground beef
packet of taco seasoning
Shredded cheddar cheese (as much as you desire)
Corn tortilla chips

Directions:
With seasonings added in, brown the ground beef. Set a 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce aside, and add the rest to the ground beef. Simmer until beef is tender, and in a separate container, mix the 1/2 cup tomato sauce with the beans. Next, layer the tortilla chips (crushed) on the bottom of an 8×8″ dish. Then add the ground beef, beans, and more chips on top. Put in stove at 350 degrees for 25 mins. Add cheese, and place back in stove until cheese is melted. Let cool for a few minutes, and enjoy!

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Ingredients:
220 grams flour
120 grams sugar
1 egg
400 grams blueberries
110 grams butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and mix together the flour, sugar, and baking soda. Then add the butter and combine well. Add the vanilla and egg and mix well. Cool the dough in fridge for 20 minutes and stretch the dough. Cut dough in half, and use one half to line your pie dish. Then fill with blueberries and to with some sprinkled sugar. Cut the second-half of the dough into strips to add a lattice decoration on the top. Put pie in oven on lower rack for ~50 mins. When crust is golden brown, let cool, and enjoy!

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Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 bananas
1 cup cranberries
1 stick of melted butter

Drections:
Mix the sugar, flours, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, bananas, and butter, and mix again. Fold in the cranberries. Pour into ~9×5″ bread pan, and proceed to bake at 325 degrees for 75 minutes. Cool pan for 10 minutes and remove to serve with butter and enjoy.

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As with any foodie and cooking enthusiast, I find myself collecting dozens of guides and cookbooks that cover everything you can imagine. In fact, my collection grows so fast, I barely have time to try out a handful of recipes before I’m on to the next book! One of the biggest complaints I hear from casual cooks and the like is the feeling of being overwhelmed with so many options, which can ultimately prevent people from taking any action at all.

To alleviate this, I always recommend one golden rule: select one key cookbook that covers a specific aspect of the culinary arts. For example, you could get a book dedicated solely to barbecue, and then a book dedicated to desserts, and yet another dedicated only to cocktails, etc...

Every now and then, an acquaintance will learn of my love affair with food and cooking, and ask how they can improve in the culinary arts. Before I wax poetic about the many avenues available to them, I usually ask them to assess their current skill level. This usually concludes with me being thoroughly convinced that they can barely make a sandwich. But that’s OK! I love it when people express an interest in learning to cook. For my beginner chefs, I usually like to start them off with something like the Real Food University.

The Real Food University offers a video course developed not by a classically-trained chef, but an enthusiastic and devoted foodie. I find that such an introduction to cooking is best for beginners as foodies can more easily relate to them...

While I personally enjoy cooking, I can definitely relate to those women who are too bogged down with kids and/or their job to have enough energy to prepare a healthy, 5-star meal at the conclusion of a long day. Depending on the person, there are various solutions to this plight of the modern woman, but I have seen none as efficient and cost effective as Online Meal Planning.

This site was developed by the author of the Menu In A Box 100 Day Meal Planning Kit. I actually remember back when the Meal Planning Kit was first released. It garnered positive reviews from women who needed a quick way to plan and prepare well-balanced, simple meals days or even weeks in advance...

I don’t care who you are, everyone enjoys a good pastry. When someone tells me they’re not fond of the confection, I set out to prove them wrong—and I never fail! So as you can imagine, I spend an awful lot of time parsing through pastry recipes. There are so many factors to consider (presentation, man hours, artistry, and crafting, etc.) that you’d be surprised by how many recipes you can burn through in the search for the perfect sweet treat and a set of solid instructions—or maybe you wouldn’t.  If you’re anything like me, or just have a sweet tooth in general, then Keikos-Cake is a life saver!

Keikos-Cake is a membership site that I was introduced to by a pastry chef friend of mine. As the name suggests, it is run by Keiko, a professional patissier and pastry teacher...