CHICKEN Caesar Pasta Salad Active Time: 10 Minutes Start to Eat: 30 Minutes Serves: 4-6 INTRODUCTION Love that cheesy, creamy, crunchy caesar salad? Give it an upgrade and add some pasta! It makes for a heartier meal but you still get the salad. Win-win. Now, most of you are going to look at the anchovy ingredient and say "not for me". BUT DON'T! Anchovy is in 90% of the Caesar salads you already eat and it does not tasty fishy at all. It gives an amazingly salty and flavorful bite that, if you omit it, will lessen the tastiness of this dish. So please give it a try - you won't regret it! PLEASE ROMAINE CALM INGREDIENTS Chicken: 5-6 Chicken thighs, cubed 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder Dressing: 1/2 cup of mayonnaise 2 teaspoons dijon mustard (I use Grey Poupon) Zest from one lemon (roughly 1 tablespoon) 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 3 teaspoons minced garlic 1 tablespoon finely chopped anchovies (I always do a heaping tablespoon) 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon malt vinegar (other vinegars work too, red wine, white, rice) 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping Pasta Salad: 12 ounces pasta, like bowties, rotini, or penne 2 large hearts of romaine lettuce INSTRUCTIONS First, let's make the dressing! Whisk in all the ingredients except for the parmesan cheese until well combined. Then add the parmesan cheese and mix well again. Set aside. Now, let's cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta al dente (I usually cook it 3 minutes before the time on the box). Drain and put into a large serving bowl to cool completely to room temperature (at least 10 minutes). While the pasta is cooking, let's cook the chicken! Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet, add the chicken. Now add the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and toss to evenly cover the chicken. Cook completely, 5-8 minutes then add to the bowl with the pasta, also let cool to room temperature. Cut the romaine hearts into 1-inch pieces. Don't add the romaine until ready to serve (this avoids wilting the lettuce). If you plan to eat it right away, once the pasta and chicken have cooled, add in the romaine and dressing and toss to evenly coat each delicious piece. If you want to eat it later, put everything in the fridge separately, and when you are ready to serve it, add in the dressing and lettuce and toss to coat. (I personally love it cold!) And don't forget to top off with some more parmesan and freshly ground pepper! BON APPETIT! BACK TO SALTY

PINK PICKLED EGGS AND BEETS Active Time: 25 Minutes Start to Eat: 24 Hours Makes: 8 Eggs and 3 Beets INTRODUCTION I LOVE making these honestly all year long but they are perfect for holidays. The pink color stands out so much, it’s a crowd pleaser and looks awesome in photos. Plus who doesn’t like eggs? Let alone sweet, tangy, salty, eggs. These are perfect for devlied eggs too! They look beautiful filled and swirled. Make them for Mother's day, Valentines day, Christmas, or just a cozy Sunday! WELL, PICKLE ME PINK INGREDIENTS 8 large eggs 1/2 yellow or vidalia onion, sliced 3 large red beets ¼ cup of sugar ½ cup cider vinegar ½ cup red wine vinegar 8 whole peppercorns ¼ teaspoon allspice (or 4 whole allspice berries) INSTRUCTIONS Let’s hard boil some eggs! Fill a medium saucepan with water (the water should be about an inch above the eggs once you put them in. Bring the water to a boil, then place the eggs into the boiling water. Boil the eggs for 8 minutes. Drain the water, fill the pot (with the eggs still in it) with cold water and set aside. I usually add ice to the water to ensure they stop cooking - it also helps the “easy-peel” part of the eggs! First, let’s roast the beets because these take the longest. Preheat your oven to 400°F. I usually wear gloves when preparing or cutting beets because they stain your hands. So...cut off the greens of the beets and cut off the long tip of the beet as well. Scrub the beets in cold water until all of the dirt is gone (this is very important because you are going to use the juice from the beets and you don’t want to find any dirt in the juice). Place the beets in a small baking pan and add water to about ⅓ of the height of the beets. Cover with foil. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until fork tender. In a medium saucepan, combine the beet liquid, sugar, vinegars, peppercorns and allspice. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Let it cool slightly. Meanwhile, peel the eggs and place them in a large container (this is where everything will “pickle” in the fridge overnight). Place the sliced onion into the container. Next, cut the beets into 1 inch chunks (or however big you want them) and place them in the container with the eggs and onions. Next, pour the liquid over the eggs, beets and onions. The liquid should cover everything. If it doesn’t, it’s okay to add some water. Cover the container, and place in the fridge! I like to stir it up every 8 hours or so to make sure everything is getting evenly pickled. Beware of splashing because again, this will stain. You can prepare these 48 in advance and they last for 7 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Well ready to eat, serve them whole or cut them in half lengthwise to really make the pink and yellow contrasting yoke shine! BON APPETIT! BACK TO SALTY

DOUGHNUT COOKIES Active Time: 45 minutes (Including Decorating) Start to Eat: 5 Hours (Including Chill Time) Makes: 30 Cookies INTRODUCTION These sugar cookies are the ultimate sugar decorating cookie. They have amazing flavor and texture plus they keep their shape from cookie cutting through cooking and they are very easy to decorate! This recipe is my go-to for every holiday cookie and these doughnut cookies are such a crowd-pleaser. Also, the only "flavor-forward" ingredient in this cookie is nutmeg and I always use freshly grated nutmeg, I think it makes all the difference! But I obviously know that not everyone has fresh nutmeg in their cabinet which is fine too! Modified from Bon Appetit 's Holiday Sugar Cookies recipe DONUT YOU FORGET ABOUT ME INGREDIENTS Dough: 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best!) 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter minus 1 tablespoon, room temperature 1 cup light brown sugar, packed 1 large egg, room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla Icing: 4 cups powdered sugar 3.5 tablespoons meringue or egg white powder 6 tablespoons of lemon juice (or water ) Gel food coloring, I used pink, turquoise, and brown. Leaving a small amount of the plain icing to use as “white”. Topping: Rainbow Sprinkles! You can also use coconut, mini chocolate chips, icing decoration, etc. you can get creative here! INSTRUCTIONS Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl, set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix flour mixture into butter mixture until fully incorporated. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for about 1 minute. Shape dough into two ever circles (about ½ inch thick). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day. Take out one circle of dough, let soften for about 15 minutes at room temperature before rolling out. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, silicone mats, or butter. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛ inch thick. Take circle cutters, roughly 3 ½ inches in diameter for cookie shapes and 1 1/4 for middle cut out. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart, they will not spread much. Gently reroll dough scraps, be sure to flour the surface again. Cut out more cookies and transfer them to the baking sheets. Bake cookies until light brown on the edges, roughly 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second round of dough. The dough can be frozen for up to a month - it can actually be frozen for longer but be sure to watch for freezer burn. While the cookies cool, make the icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar, meringue powder, vanilla extract, and milk. Separate into 4 equal-sized bowls. Using gel food coloring, take a tip of a toothpick and add different colors to each bowl (use a tiny bit at a time, you can always add more!). Place each icing bowl into a plastic bag or piping bag, I like to use regular sandwich-size plastic bags. When ready to decorate, cut the tiniest slit off of a corner of each bag and pipe the outside and inside lines of the “doughnut” icing lines. Once that dries, fill in the rest of the icing making sure to use cookie picks or toothpicks to smooth the icing to the edges. Next, sprinkle on those sprinkles! BON APPETIT! BACK TO SWEETS