Guinness Stout Skillet Brownies with Salted Chocolate Guinness Frosting are a perfect treat for celebrating St. Patrick's day. Chocolate and Beer. A perfect food pairing. There are two camps for brownies the fudgy camp and the cakey camp. I am in the fudgy camp when it comes to brownies. I love the ooey gooey goodness...
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Simple Smoked Whole Chicken
Simple smoked whole chicken. Smoking is probably our favorite way to cook whole chickens. Minimal fuss yields perfectly cooked, moist chicken every time. One of the keys to being a great home-cook is having a few simple, but solid recipes in your repertoire. A whole chicken being one of them. There really doesn't need to...
Meyer Lemon Rum Sour Cocktail
Meyer Lemon Rum Sour Cocktail. Taking advantage of the abundance of lemons on my Meyer lemon tree with one of my fave rums from Koloa, their Reserve rum, for my tiki riff on the classic sour cocktail. I love a good sour cocktail. Whisky sour, amaretto sour, rum sour. You name it, I love...
Tropical Pineapple Avocado Smoothie
This tropical pineapple avocado smoothie hits the spot in a two ways: Helps me get off to that healthy start at the beginning of the year and takes care of my cravings for all things tropical and summery. I am a smoothie year round kind of person, not just in hot weather. Same as how...
Smoky Meyer Lemon Risotto
This creamy meyer lemon risotto with smoked gouda is my most favorite risotto recipe that I have ever made, and eaten, and now I am finally sharing it with you all! Finally my first post of 2020. December was so busy that I decided to take a little time off in the beginning of the...
New Year's Golden Tiki Cocktail ( Gold Rum Lychee Champagne Cocktail)
Celebrate the end of the year ( and decade!) with my New Year's Golden Tiki Cocktail. Or as I also call it a : gold rum lychee champagne cocktail. I was trying to decide if I wanted my last recipe of the year to be a cocktail or a cake. Something glitzy and glamorous...
Guava Macadamia Nut Linzer Cookies
Guava Macadamia Nut Linzer Cookies. Traditional Austrian Linzer cookies made tropical with macadamia nuts and guava jam. Linzer cookies are perhaps my favorite Christmas cookie and I had to make them tropical this year. Linzer cookies are such a great cookie; a buttery shortbread sandwiched with jam and dusted with powdered sugar. I love the...
White Chocolate Dipped Soft Molasses Cookies with Pear and Ginger
White Chocolate Dipped Soft Molasses Cookies with Pear and Ginger. Quite possibly the perfect Christmas cookie. I think on everyone's holiday baking list there needs to be at least one variation of spiced soft molasses cookies. They are really easy to make, and can be customized to any way you want them. They are amazing...
Holiday Piña Colada Cookies
Piña Colada cookies bring tropical flavors to your cookie trays and exchanges this holiday season. I know pineapples and coconuts aren't the first flavors people think of when it comes to holiday baking. To me, they are year round flavors, not just summertime. I had to add these to my holiday cookie list. I actually...
Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Cookies
Chocolate Peppermint S'mores Cookies. Your favorite winter drink combined with your favorite summertime treat in one ooey-gooey, delicious holiday cookie. Chocolate peppermint is a classic holiday flavor combination. Is it peppermint chocolate or chocolate peppermint? I call it either way. And either way is so good, especially in all kinds of desserts from cakes, cookies,...
Pear Persimmon Salad with Maple Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Pear Persimmon Salad with Maple Apple Cider Vinaigrette. Also known as the salad I am eating every day until it's not longer persimmon season. It is not a secret how much I adore persimmons. Especially of the Fuyu variety. Such an underrated, versatile fruit. Fall's best fruit. And a wonderful fruit to use in salads...
Reader's Favorite Holiday Recipes
Reader's favorite holiday recipes - appetizers, sides, main dishes, cocktails and desserts. A sampling of festive holiday recipes for you to choose from! Every Thanksgiving and Christmas these are the recipes that reader's love the most from my site year in and year out. I have many recipes that make my top searched recipes every...
Spiced Butternut Squash Hummus
Spiced Butternut Squash Hummus Dip. Colorful and tasty, make this your newest dip recipe on your holiday appetizer table this year. I am a huge fan of butternut squash and love adding it into recipes whenever I think it will take it to that next level. This hummus is definitely next level with the addition...
Tropical Jammy Pie Bars
Tropical Jammy Pie bars. Ay tropical version of Hummingbird High's jammy pie bars from her new ( and first!) cookbook "Weeknight Baking - recipes to fit into your schedule". Fall baking season is in full swing and pie is on everyone's mind these days. When I saw the Jammy Pie Bars in Hummingbird High's baking...
Halloween Mai Tai - Halloween Costumes aren't just for people
What happens when Vodka puts on a Halloween Costume. It becomes a Mai Tai! Classic Mai Tai made with Pau Maui Vodka in place of traditional rums. Recipe based off Trader Vic's Mai Tai. Halloween Mai Tai. What happens when one spirit gets dressed up as another for Halloween. Spirit. Get it? I crack myself...
Polenta Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Honey Mascarpone
Polenta Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Whipped Honey Mascarpone is about as Italian as you can get with this lightly sweetened lemony dessert. I love lemony desserts and with this cake its so lemony and bright and not too sweet. I love baking with olive oil and it works so well with lemon. Since this...
Toasted Coconut Layer Cake
Toasted Coconut Layer Cake. A moist two layer coconut cake with a toasted coconut in the cake and buttercream, a rich coconut custard filling and toasted coconut chips. This is definitely for the hard core coconut lovers. It is ALLLL coconut. Toasted Coconut Layer Cake. Just in time for fall. ha ha. This year is...
Spicy Mango Sake Rum Cocktail
Spicy Mango Sake Rum Cocktail. Hints of sweet, spicy, sour and tropical. My kind of drink. Monday. First day of school for us. Summer is over. This calls for a cocktail. How about a Spicy Mango Sake Rum Cocktail made with Koloa Kaua'i Reserve Rum? I had lots of time this summer to create new...
Jamaican Jerk Sockeye Salmon Sliders with Grilled Pineapple and Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Jamaican Jerk Salmon Sliders with Grilled Pineapple and Crispy Sweet Potato Fries. Another awesome summertime recipe made with Prince William Sound Sockeye Salmon. A few years ago I was doing one of those "I don't know what to make for dinner and it's almost dinner time" and decided to scroll instagram to see what my...
Chili Lime Grilled Sockeye Salmon Rice Bowls
Chili Lime Grilled Sockeye Salmon Rice Bowls are a delicious and easy to make summertime meal. This recipe has been in regular rotation all summer long at my house. Thanks to Prince William Sound Salmon for sending me a few absolutely gorgeous Sockeye Salmon Fillets to make this recipe to share with you all. Second...
Fig Nectarine Crostini with Lemon Thyme Whipped Goat Cheese
Summer snacking couldn't be easier with my Fig Nectarine Crostini with Lemon Thyme Whipped Goat Cheese. Oh, and that honey balsamic glaze is *chef's kiss* the icing on the cake, er, crostini. Our fig tree has grown so much since last summer, it is easily 15 feet now and has hundreds of figs in different...
Polynesian Sausage and Shrimp Skewers ( Copycat Disneyland Moana Skewers)
Polynesian Sausage and Shrimp skewers are super easy to make and incredibly delicious. A perfect summertime grilling recipe. Happy Summer Solstice! Summertime is officially here, which I am so excited about since it is my favorite season. Long days, lots of sunshine, time at the pool, the beach, shorts instead of pants, lazy mornings (...
Sweet and Spicy Guava Chicken Skewers
Sweet and Spicy Guava Chicken Skewers Summertime means grilling season and these Sweet and Spicy Guava Chicken Skewers are the perfect recipe for an easy summer dinner. I love making skewered food to grill. From seafood, to veggies, to all kinds of meats. There is just something fun about food on a stick.
Li Hing Pineapple Coconut Margaritas
Happy Aloha Friday! I have a new fun cocktail to share with you all - Li Hing Pineapple Coconut Margaritas. These margaritas are made with Kapena Li Hing Tequila. Kapena sent me two bottles to photograph and create cocktails with their delicious liquor. I adore all things li hing. Li Hing or also known as...
Vodka Pineapple Basil Smash Cocktail
Vodka Pineapple Basil Smash Cocktail. A simple, refreshing, bright, tropical cocktail. Today is Earth Day and I am partnering with Pau Maui Vodka for the second year in a row with another Earth friendly cocktail. This year's Earth Day theme is "Protect Our Species" highlighting the protection of millions of plant and animal species from...
Hawaiian Honi Cocktail ( Strawberry Hibiscus Rum Fizz Cocktail)
Happy Aloha Friday! Cheers to the weekend with my newest cocktail creation - the Hawaiian Honi Cocktail. Or also called a Strawberry Hibiscus Rum Fizz Cocktail. Thanks to Koloa Rum for providing me with their rums to create this cocktail. I have had the idea for this Hawaiian Honi cocktail for quite some time after...
Aloha Kitchen Hawaiian Guava Cake
Happy Aloha Friday!! I am celebrating today with this incredibly delicious Hawaiian Guava Cake from Alana Kysar's cookbook: Aloha Kitchen - Recipes From Hawai'i. It is an incredible cookbook, one that everyone needs to own. Alana's book came out last week and I have been cooking a ton of recipes since I got my hands...
Halfway to Hana Banana Bread Recipe
Halfway to Hana Banana Bread Recipe. My version of the insanely delicious banana bread you get at the roadside stands on the road to Hana, Maui. Why make this banana bread recipe: I have made this banana bread recipe at least thirty times in the past few months. Maybe even more. It is just that...
Captain Marvel Coffee Sugar Cookies
Captain Marvel Coffee Sugar Cookies. Made in honor of Captain Marvel movie FINALLY coming out in theatres this week. I have been waiting years for this movie and it is finally here! It opens nationwide on Friday, March 8th, which also happens to be international women's day. Yay girl power! I love Captain Marvel. And...
Herbed Tahini Grilled Lamb Chops with Israeli Couscous
Herbed Tahini Grilled Lamb Chops with Israeli Couscous is a delicious dinner that is super quick to make on a busy weeknight. My amazing friend Samantha of the Little Ferraro Kitchen wrote her first cookbook this year, The Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen, and it is a fabulous cookbook if I do say so myself. Sam worked...
Hawaiian Slow Cooker Kālua Pork Recipe (slow cooker, instant pot, oven and smoker)
Hawaiian Slow Cooker Kālua Pork Hawaiian Slow Cooker Kālua Pork Originally published in 2012. Updated in 2018 and 2023. My favorite Hawaiian pork dish ever. Typically seen at Luaus in Hawaii this amazingly easy and incredibly delicious Hawaiian Kālua Pork recipe is a mostly hands off recipe, made in your slow cooker with just a...
Boozy Hawaiian Mocha Coconut Hot Chocolate
My Boozy Hawaiian Mocha Coconut Hot Chocolate is an over the top, decadent boozy treat for this holiday season. It will definitely warm you up! I love hot chocolate in the wintertime especially coconut hot chocolate. As soon as it dips below a freezing 60º fahrenheit I am pulling on the fuzzy pajama pants, cranking...
Ginger Cardamom Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Ginger Cardamom Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies Christmas Cookie baking season is upon us, and I am starting out with my newest cookie creation, Ginger Cardamom Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies. They are lemony, sweet and chewy. A perfect addition to your holiday cookie tray or exchange this year. Crinkle cookies are popular cookie during the holidays,...
Sparkling Spiced Hibiscus Cocktail
Sparkling Spiced Hibiscus Cocktail is my newest cocktail creation for this Aloha Friday and just in time for the upcoming holidays. Its sweet, spicy, sparkling, refreshing and delicious. HI! It has been forever since I have update my blog with a new post. I know like since July I think! It's been an insane year...
Seared Sockeye Salmon Salad with Figs and Honey Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
I love salmon on salads and this Seared Sockeye Salmon Salad with Figs and Honey Lemon Basil Vinaigrette is my new fave. Copper River Salmon sent me a few Prince William Sound Sockeye Salmon Filets to make two new recipes. The first recipe is my Grilled Sockeye Salmon with Summer Stone Fruit Salsa. This salad is...
Grilled Sockeye Salmon with Summer Stone Fruit Salsa
Grilled Sockeye Salmon with Summer Stone Fruit Salsa is one of your two new favorite summer salmon recipes. Copper River Salmon sent me two gorgeous Prince William Sound Sockeye Salmon fillets to make recipes with for a fun little salmon vs salmon recipe contest. Gorgeous gorgeous fish. I was on Twitter a few weeks ago...
Golden Layered Piña Coladas
Do you like Piña Coladas? I think if Rupert Holmes had never sang those words would we even think them every time we saw a piña colada? Things to think about. I will ponder this as I sip on my golden layered piña coladas. This is my obligatory Piña Colada cocktail post for National Piña...
Frozen Pimm's Cup Slushies
Frozen Pimm's Cup slushies made just in time for Middle Sunday of this year's Wimbledon tennis tournament. It has been especially hot there this year, which is much better than the rainy days in years past during the tournament, so a frozen version of their signature cocktail is much needed for cooling off.
Hawaiian Wedding Mai Tai Cocktails
Hawaiian Wedding Mai Tai Cocktails. These are the mai tai cocktails we had at our wedding on Kauai 11 years ago and I am finally sharing for National Mai Tai day!! I love a good Mai Tai. I have had them on every Hawaiian island, and have yet to pick a fave. Each one has...
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings with Honey Gochujang Dipping Sauce
Grilled Korean Chicken Wings with Honey Gochujang Dipping Sauce are a spicy and tangy version of chicken wings. Perfect as an appetizer for any party or light summer meal. Summertime is here, so is Memorial Day weekend which means get those grills and BBQ's ready to grill all the foods!! Foods like these crazy tasty...