Thick, chewy, big-batch M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies Bars are simple to make, fun to share, easy to customize with different colored M&Ms, and always a huge hit! Well, I had grand plans to make y’all a berry slab pie decorated like an American flag just in time for Independence Day. Alas, two attempts and several pounds of berries later, my recipe turned out to be a flop…delicious yet falling apart. Le sigh. So since I wanted to share a little {Read More}
Creamy German Cucumber Salad ~ Gurkensalat
June 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Creamy German Cucumber Salad, or Gurkensalat, is a fresh and simple side dish featuring thinly sliced cucumbers in a sour cream and dill dressing! My mom is a native German, so every few years we trek back to the homeland to visit her side of the family. It’s always fun to spend time with the relatives and take in the glorious German countryside and villages, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that one of my favorites things about {Read More}
Summer Peach Cake
June 19, 2017 by 4 Comments
Summer Peach Cake is a delectable summer dessert recipe featuring fresh sliced peaches sunken into a sweet golden cake! The sentiment that simple is best is almost always true when you’re dealing with prime, fresh, perfectly in-season ingredients. And seeing as how June is the peak of peach season, what better ingredient to star in a simple-yet-stunning dessert, Summer Peach Cake? Gloriously sweet and drippingly juicy, there are so many ways to enjoy fresh summer peaches — in cobblers and {Read More}
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
June 15, 2017 by 1 Comment
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting is thick, silky, and bursting with strawberry flavor thanks to a special ingredient…crushed, freeze-dried strawberries! I know a certain little 4-year-old who adores all things strawberry. Strawberry smoothies, strawberry ice cream, strawberry muffins, strawberry cake…if it starts with strawberry, she’s a fan. She’s requested strawberry cupcakes for her last couple of birthdays, and I’ve typically just topped them with my family’s favorite Classic Cream Cheese Frosting recipe with some fresh strawberry puree blended in. The problem {Read More}
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps SALAD
June 8, 2017 by 2 Comments
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps Salad transforms the popular restaurant appetizer into a savory main dish salad, loaded with copycat ground chicken and more! Last week, my boys requested taco salad for dinner. Alas, I was out of taco seasoning — and out of cumin to make another batch (oh, the horror!) — so it was onto PLAN B. A quick scan of the fridge and pantry revealed that I may be low on my Tex-Mex seasonings, but I had {Read More}
Creamy Salsa Dip
June 5, 2017 by 2 Comments
Creamy Salsa Dip is light in calories, bursting with flavor, and easy to make with only four simple ingredients — salsa, Greek yogurt, taco seasoning, and fresh cilantro! Summer is here! Summer is here! Am I alone in wanting to shout it from the rooftops, y’all? May is always a hectic month, but this year it seemed even crazier than usual. The last day of school couldn’t come a moment too soon for this mama… So now that summer vacation {Read More}
Strawberry Snack Cake + Five Heart Home’s 4th Blogiversary
June 1, 2017 by 88 Comments
Strawberry Snack Cake is soft, moist, and easy to make, loaded with sweet, ripe strawberries, creamy buttermilk, and a shower of powdered sugar on top! Today’s a special day, y’all, and I’ve decided we should celebrate with sweet, simple Strawberry Snack Cake! Four years ago today, I published my very first recipe on this blog (incidentally, also a strawberry recipe), thereby launching Five Heart Home. So every year, I commemorate June 1st as Five Heart Home’s birthday…or anniversary…or “blogiversary,” {Read More}
BLT Caesar Pasta Salad with Avocado
May 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment
BLT Caesar Pasta Salad with Avocado is loaded with crispy bacon, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, and tender pasta dressed in tangy Caesar dressing and served atop a bed of fresh lettuce! Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend! After what feels like months of go-go-going, we finally had a relaxing few days at home, with family time and a chance to catch up on things around here. I actually came down with a lovely cold at the end of {Read More}
Greek 7-Layer Dip
May 22, 2017 by 2 Comments
Greek 7-Layer Dip is a Mediterranean spin on the beloved, classic recipe, with layers of hummus, dill-infused Greek yogurt, tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, red onion, and feta cheese! 7-Layer Dip is one of those quintessential party recipes that’s easy to make, familiar to most people, and guaranteed to be a hit. But since most of us already have a recipe or twelve for the classic, Mexican-inspired version of 7-Layer Dip, I decided to swap out Mediterranean ingredients for a new {Read More}
Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars
May 18, 2017 by 4 Comments
Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars are flavored with lemon zest and topped with crunchy sparkling sugar for a sunny, yummy, easy-to-make treat! A few weeks ago, the middle child was “Superstar” at school. Lest this requires an explanation, over the course of the year, each first grader has a turn to be class Superstar for one week. The Superstar gets to share a poster with the class full of facts and photos of them. The Superstar’s family is invited to eat {Read More}
Fiesta Pasta Salad
May 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Fiesta Pasta Salad is loaded with corn, black beans, tomatoes, jalapeño, cilantro, and a fresh lime vinaigrette for a zesty, flavorful, summer side dish! So who else is counting down the days until summer vacation??? We’ve hit that point in May where this mama’s head is about to explode. In addition to the usual chaos that accompanies the last few weeks of school, I’m trying to squeeze in all of my last-minute appointments before I have three kiddos home for {Read More}
Quick Stovetop Baked Beans
May 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Quick Stovetop Baked Beans is a quick and easy, 5-ingredient recipe that dresses up canned white beans for a versatile dinnertime side dish! Sometimes you need an effortless side dish to round out a meal, and bonus points if the entire family loves it. So it goes with these Quick Stovetop Baked Beans. After all, baked beans need not take all day, and today I’m letting y’all in on the simple, 5-ingredient shortcut! One of my favorite dishes to whip {Read More}
Soft-Baked Banana Oatmeal Bars
May 8, 2017 by 3 Comments
Soft-Baked Banana Oatmeal Bars are loaded with wholesome ingredients and make a yummy, portable breakfast or snack! I recently spent several days ignoring two dark brown, overripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter. Even though they were attracting fruit flies, had a combined value of no more than 17¢, and numbered too few to make a batch of banana bread, the thriftster in me didn’t want to throw them away. And so I didn’t…I concocted a pan of Soft-Baked Banana {Read More}
Swedish Meatballs
May 4, 2017 by 1 Comment
Swedish Meatballs are baked in the oven and then simmered in a skillet of easy homemade gravy for a delicious, family-pleasing dinner! There’s just something appealing about meatballs. They’re versatile and hearty…easy to make and fun to eat. It didn’t take me long to figure out that my family will eagerly eat pretty much any variation of meatball, so it was just a matter of time before I added Swedish Meatballs to our repertoire. Anyone who has ever strolled through {Read More}
Tres Leches Cake
May 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Tres Leches Cake is soaked with three types of milk and topped with fresh whipped cream for a sweet, moist, decadent dessert that’s perfect for celebrating Cinco de Mayo! As if I ever needed an excuse to indulge in queso and margaritas, Cinco de Mayo is always a great one. But why stop there? Come May 5th, I like to expand my culinary horizons and whip up a Tres Leches Cake for good measure! Have you ever tried (or made) {Read More}
Creamy Feta Dressing
April 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Creamy Feta Dressing features Greek yogurt, crumbled feta cheese, and fresh dill, making it a delicious complement to salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, and more! So…this Creamy Feta Dressing? It’s quite possibly my family’s new favorite salad dressing. It’s thick and silky, made with a wholesome, protein-packed base of Greek yogurt and a generous amount of salty Feta cheese blended in. Those ingredients get flavored with fresh dill leaves, garlic and onion powder, and a splash of apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire {Read More}
Homemade Caramel Brulée Coffee Creamer
April 20, 2017 by 3 Comments
Caramel Brulée Coffee Creamer is a quick and easy homemade recipe for making Copycat Starbucks Caramel Brulée Lattes at home! Every morning, I depend on a steamy mug of coffee to help me get going. And when I have a batch of homemade coffee creamer in the fridge, I eagerly look forward to that cup o’ joe from the moment I wake up! I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a gal who likes frou-frou coffee…generous on the milk or {Read More}
Nutella Strawberry Granola
April 17, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Nutella Strawberry Granola features wholesome oats coated in chocolate hazelnut spread and studded with crunchy almonds and freeze-dried strawberries for a yummy snack or breakfast treat! With umpteen variations of homemade granola already on the blog, I’ve been wanting to experiment with a Nutella recipe for awhile now. Wouldn’t you know it…I finally succeeded! And even though this Nutella Strawberry Granola looks more pre-Valentine’s Day than post-Easter, I promise that it’s delicious any time of year. My 4-year-old daughter is {Read More}
Cheeseburger Pie {without Bisquick!}
April 10, 2017 by 2 Comments
Impossible Cheeseburger Pie gets a wholesome, from-scratch twist with seasoned ground beef, grated cheddar cheese, and a topping made with whole wheat flour instead of Bisquick! I know I’ve been posting a lot of seasonal spring and Easter-friendly recipes lately, so today I decided to hit y’all with a classic, quick and easy dinner recipe. Impossible Cheeseburger Pie was a meal that I remember my mom making when I was a kid, and it was actually one of the first {Read More}
Bacon & Blue Cheese Egg Salad
April 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Bacon & Blue Cheese Egg Salad makes a flavorful filling for sandwiches or lettuce wraps and is a great recipe for using up leftover hard-boiled eggs! It’s about that time of year when many of us find ourselves with an overabundance of leftover hard-boiled Easter eggs. I mean, who doesn’t love lowering fragile eggs into receptacles of questionable dye with the assistance of jellybean-fueled kiddos? So when leftover hard-boiled eggs abound, classic egg salad is an obvious choice for using {Read More}
Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad with Lemon Honey Vinaigrette (AKA, Easter Salad)
March 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad with Toasted Almonds & Lemon Honey Vinaigrette (AKA, Easter Salad) is a beautiful, delicious addition to any spring or summer meal! I’m of the opinion that every special holiday meal should include a gorgeous, festive, scrumptious salad loaded with seasonal ingredients. And y’all apparently agree, because my Holiday Honeycrisp Salad is one of the site’s most popular recipes from Christmas to New Year’s, and my Thanksgiving Salad gets lots of attention come November. So why shouldn’t {Read More}
Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Thyme
March 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Tender and flavorful Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Thyme is a vibrant spring side dish that’s as gorgeous as it is delicious! I wasn’t planning on adding another Easter-friendly carrot side dish to the ol’ recipes archives. After all, in past years I’ve already shared pan-sauteed carrots and crock pot carrots and carrot slaw. But when I saw these beautiful, colorful rainbow carrots at the grocery store the other day, I knew I couldn’t pass them up! Not to mention the {Read More}
Bird’s Nest Mini Oreo Cheesecakes ~ Easy Easter Dessert!
March 24, 2017 by 1 Comment
Simple cheesecake filling is studded with Oreos, baked in muffin pans, and topped with chocolate shavings and candy eggs for Bird’s Nest Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, a fun spring dessert recipe that’s perfect for Easter! Easter is on the horizon! However, since stores are rather overzealous about setting up for the next holiday before the current holiday is even over, I’ve had a bag of white Cadbury Mini Eggs in my pantry for over a month now. Well, last week, I {Read More}
Whole Wheat Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
March 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Tender, fluffy Whole Wheat Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes are wholesome and delicious, drizzled with a scrumptious Lemon Poppy Seed Syrup to take them over the top! Happy Spring, y’all! I hope today finds you enjoying flowers, sunshine, and lovely weather…and perhaps, if you’re lucky, a stack of Whole Wheat Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes. 😉 We’re returning to reality this morning after Spring Break, and I have to say…hopefully reality will be more enjoyable than the past week has been at {Read More}
Coconut Shortbread Cookies
March 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Tender, buttery shortbread is loaded with toasted coconut in these delicious, addictive, easy-to-make Coconut Shortbread Cookies! Sometimes the simplest recipes are the tastiest, and that’s certainly the case with shortbread, where just a handful of basic ingredients magically transform into a melt-in-your-mouth treat. I’ve already got recipes on the blog for basic Scottish Shortbread and jazzed-up Pistachio Shortbread Cookies, so today I’m adding Coconut Shortbread Cookies to the line-up! It’s hard to pick a favorite when it comes to shortbread, {Read More}
Cheesy Garlic Roasted Potatoes & Asparagus
March 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Cheesy Garlic Roasted Potatoes & Asparagus is an easy, one-pan side dish recipe that makes a gorgeous, delicious addition to a special holiday meal or a regular weeknight dinner! Spring Break is upon us, Easter is around the corner, and I say it’s high time we bid adieu to winter recipes and ring in the new season with some fresh, spring fare! I don’t think an Easter menu would be complete without asparagus, so this year I’ve paired this quintessential {Read More}
Crunchy Baked Chicken Tenders
March 6, 2017 by 2 Comments
Juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside, Crunchy Baked Chicken Tenders are a simple, delicious dinner recipe that the entire family will love! Any time I want dinner to be a surefire hit with the kids (and, let’s be honest, the adults), I know that I can call upon trusty homemade chicken nuggets. But sometimes I just don’t feel like cutting and dipping all of those little chunks of chicken. So I take a slight shortcut and make {Read More}
Stovetop Tuna Noodle Casserole
March 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Stovetop Tuna Noodle Skillet is a quick and easy, comforting dinner recipe loaded with tuna, egg noodles, peas, and a creamy, cheesy, from-scratch white sauce! When I need to get dinner on the table in a flash but didn’t exactly plan ahead, I often find myself throwing together a one-pot, stovetop recipe based around ground beef. But {gasp}…sometimes there’s nary a pound of ground beef to be found in the fridge or freezer! And on those occasions, it’s nice to {Read More}
Parmesan Ranch Popcorn
February 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Freshly popped popcorn is drizzled in real butter and sprinkled with a savory mixture of Parmesan, dried herbs, and spices for Parmesan Ranch Popcorn, a perfect movie night treat! Between three crazy kids, two busy jobs, and a partridge in a pear tree, movie night is one of our favorite ways to unwind after a long, hectic week — and reconnect as a family — come Friday evening. Granted, due to the varied ages and interests of our offspring, it’s {Read More}
One-Pot Taco Pasta Skillet
February 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Loaded with ground beef and pasta, flavored with taco seasoning and salsa, and studded with black beans and corn, this cheesy Taco Pasta Skillet quickly comes together in just one pot! Y’all know how much I love getting dinner on the table using a pound of ground beef and just one pot. So today I’ve got another meal to add to that beloved, ever-expanding recipe category…One-Pot Taco Pasta Skillet! Some of you may recall that I shared a One-Pan Cheesy {Read More}
