Chilled and Refreshing Cold Pea Salad

Who doesn't love that bacon, cheddar, ranch combo? Even here in this pea salad it works wonders and really builds a basic salad into a memorable side dish.

It's an excellent option for an Easter dinner to serve with a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, and the best homemade dinner rolls. Then for dessert carrot cake of course!

This pea salad is a much tastier option than serving those frozen peas plain, it's worth the bit of extra effort especially for a holiday celebration or weekend dinner.

It has a tempting blend of textures and well rounded flavor with it's sweet pea freshness, salty bacon, toasty almonds, the depth from the cheese, and a rich creamy dressing to polish it off. It's a salad fit for a feast!

A Fun Christmas Appetizer Recipe

This eye catching Christmas tree cheese ball is decorated with plenty of earthy green minced fresh parsley, dotted with tiny red tomatoes and yellow bell pepper pieces, its swirled with a ribbon of pine nuts, then finished with a vibrant golden bell pepper star practically shining atop.

It's a holiday classic with a sophisticated upgrade thanks to its enhancements of herby flavors and fresh vegetables (or technically fruits), the welcomed bold white cheddar goodness, a pine nut finish, and its impressive unique appearance. No boring typical rounded shape plus pecan coating here.

And even though it's quite large this savory treat will be devoured in no time. This charming centerpiece will be a highlight of your gathering and a new striking way you'll want to make the holiday cheese ball every year!

Easy Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board

A charcuterie board has never been so fun to make! Everything you get in a traditional charcuterie board shaped into a festive Christmas tree!

It's simple to assemble, it just takes a little bit of chopping and some basic artistic planning.

This is a family friendly charcuterie board and it's adaptable to swapping out some of the things I've shown here for things you may already have. The idea is just to stick to that simple red, green, and white/yellow theme for those classic Christmas colors. Then of course just keep the "Christmas tree" shape as you go.

A delicious holiday project that may just become a new family tradition at each yearly holiday gathering!

Easy Caprese Salad Christmas Tree Appetizer

Caprese salad is one of the easiest, tastiest Italian side dishes to prepare. And its natural colors just happen to be so perfectly Christmasy too so it only makes sense to bring the two things together for a deliciously festive dish making this cheery "Christmas tree".

This tasty "tree" is party perfect, makes enough for a crowd, doesn't require any special kitchen skills, and only needs a handful of ingredients. It's just a quick and simple, edible art project that will be the talk of the holiday gathering.

It's also a fun thing to do together if you've got friends or family around to help. Someone can slice while the other person assembles. Even kids can help with the layering assembly.

So many reasons to add this easy Christmas side dish to your holiday menu!

Soft Cake-Like Cinnamon Roll Cookies

I made many batches of these cookies until I finally perfected them and achieved that true cinnamon roll flavor and a similar soft texture to what you get from a real cinnamon roll. The secret was to add a whole brick of cream cheese into the cookie dough (rather than making a thick sticky frosting that only covers the pretty design of the cookies). It added great flavor and improved overall texture.

These super tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookies have a fluffy Lofthouse cookie style softness. And their flavor is light tangy, deeply cinnamony, richly buttery, and highlighted with vanilla.

The cookie dough itself isn't very sweet but once you layer it with brown sugar and cinnamon and finish them with a sweet icing it has just the right level of sweetness you hope to get from a cookie.

Just plan ahead with these cookies. You'll need some time for the dough to chill so it's not overly sticky to work with and time to allow the icing to set. They'll make a great weekend baking project.

And fortunate tasters will be smitten with their reminiscent cinnamon roll flavor!

Easy Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies are a simple, richly buttery cookie much like shortbread cookies. They are however even more tender (like butter cookies) thanks to the egg yolks in the dough and also the jam which slightly soaks in and creates more softness.

They have a unique texture differing from most other cookies because of this.

You can use just about any flavor of jam. The most commonly used are raspberry jam, strawberry, apricot, or peach. You can't go wrong with blueberry, blackberry or fig either.

I think you'll appreciate the fact that they use so few ingredients (only six plus salt) and they are fun and easy to make. Though a small and humble cookie they are also such a pretty cookie with a purely delicious taste!

These are a delightful treat that can be adapted to include other flavors, other fillings and even can be rolled in various coatings before baking (see ideas below).

A simple cookie that proves old fashioned favorites are often the best!

Easy Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate shortbread is made from a simple cookie dough using minimal staple ingredients and it blends together quickly in a mixer. The dough is rolled into log shapes then chilled, after that it's just cut into slices and baked.

It's an easy cookie with a decadent flavor upgrade to traditional shortbread.

In other words if shortbread hasn't really been a cookie you care for these chocolate shortbread cookies will have you thinking again. There's nothing boring about them!

And you can even add extra flavors to make things even more interesting. Chocolate and peppermint, for example, is a beautiful combo and perfect for the holidays.

Peppermint Christmas Cookies

We all love that chocolate peppermint combo, but have you tried the white chocolate peppermint combo? These cookies are just that, more of a vanilla meets peppermint cookie and they are completely irresistible in every way!

They are easy to make, similar to a chocolate chip cookie but with the addition of crushing candy canes. And those crushed candy bits add a pretty speckles of red color to these bright and cheery cookies.

You'll find they stay soft for days, thanks to those melted candy cane bits and a fair amount of butter.

They pair beautifully with a cup of chocolatey hot cocoa or deeply flavored coffee. I think they will be a standout addition on a holiday cookie tray and may even become a new tradition on repeat each year.

Put these fun cookies at the top of the baking list this holiday season, they are a must try treat especially if you love peppermint!

Pumpkin Cobbler Style Cake

This homestyle, cozy autumn dessert is something that should be made a least once during the holiday season each year. It comes together in minutes, doesn't require making pie crust and you get the bonus of sweet cake atop.

It's the perfect alternative treat for those who don't prefer pie and would be a welcome addition at a holiday feast.

I've made it the traditional way with box cake mix to make it speedy, though you could try whipping up your own blend if you've got a little extra time (see note below).

It's a no-fuss, minimal effort dessert that uses pantry staples and leaves you with a crowd pleasing old fashioned style, utterly delicious cake!

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

Here's a simplified version of holiday turkey, no oven required. You just need a decent size slow cooker (6 to 7 quart) and to plan a bit of extra time for that low and slow cooking.

It's a no fuss method that yields a deliciously seasoned, butter infused turkey breast, plus plenty of drippings for turkey gravy to pour atop. It's final result of tender juicy turkey made with less hassle may have you turning to this method year over year.

This is also a great option if your family only likes the white meat of turkey, no need to even start with and waste the dark meat. No turkey thighs here.

Pair this turkey breast with some other simple sides to round out the holiday meal such as buttery slow cooker mashed potatoes, quick sauteed green beans, tender 1-hour dinner rolls, and finish with the easiest 5-ingredient pumpkin pie.

A simplified feast with classic, comforting, homestyle flavor.